Devereux] MOHAVE ETHNOPSTCHIATRY AND SUICIDE 279 



Presenting symptoms.— Inability to urinate for 2 days.— Discharge of pus 

 from urethra. It hurts him to urinate and he experiences a burning sensation. 

 The prepuce is inflamed ; it is reddened and slightly edematous. Otherwise the 

 patient is in good health and appears well nourished. 



Laloratory findings. — A smear was taken and the presence of intracellular 

 micrococci, presumably gonococci (diplococci), was demonstrated. 



Etiology.— ThQ patient denied any form of exposure to infection. 



Other findings.— After 28 days of hospitalization the patient was briefly under 

 observation for cerebrospinal fever. The findings were negative. 



Treatment consisted of local applications of argyrol, etc., for about a month. 

 During the treatment period the meatus was stuck together several times. 

 Thirty-two days after admission there had been no discharge for 3 days past 

 and no inflammation. Patient was discharged. 



R.'s medical record: 



This 9-year-old girl was hospitaUzed (9 days before Hamteya:u) with an 

 acute gonococcic urethritis and vaginitis. 



Presenting symptoms. — The patient complained of pain when urinating. She 

 also had pains when sitting down. There was a vaginal discharge ; the vagina 

 was markedly excoriated, and the labia maiora were swollen. The entire 

 genitals were covered with a pustular exudate and the labia maiora were exco- 

 riated with breaks in the mucosa. The genitalia were swollen, and tender to 

 the touch of the cotton swab. The eyes were apparently not infected. The 

 condition was of several days' duration. Otherwise the patient seemed healthy 

 and well nourished. 



Laboratory findings. — Smears were taken. 



Etiology. — The patient reports that other members of her family have also 

 had discharges." She denies immoral contacts (sic !) . 



Discharge against medical a(7vice.— Three days after the patient's hospitaliza- 

 tion there arrived at the hospital a delegation of the family, led by W. S., a 

 fairly well acculturated man. The delegation charged that the patient was 

 being neglected and asserted that the child's pads had not been changed for 2 

 days ; all of these charges were proved untrue." Since, despite this demonstra- 

 tion, the family demanded that the patient be discharged, the child was per- 

 mitted to leave the hospital against medical advice. 



Comment 



Tentative diagnosis. — Neurotic negativism in a badly ridiculed boy who 

 overreacted to ridicule because he was an insecure, depressive, "attention 

 seeking" clown even before this traumatic teasing. 



The fact that he was not ridiculed by adults, but only by other school- 

 children—whose attitudes were presumably actively Influenced by the occi- 

 dental morality of their teachers— reveals certain basic aspects of the Mohave 

 Indians' attitude toward juvenile sexual activities. 



From the Mohave point of view Hamteya :u was delinquent only in that he 

 abused his small sibling and was a truant and an exceptionally bad student 

 From the point of view of the adult Mohave, his sexual activity was one suitable 



" Gonorrhea was common among the Mohave. 



"For years after the death of their mnch-beloved reservation physician, M. A. I. Nettle, 

 M.D., who was "our doctor" for some 22 years, the Mohave refused to place real trust In 

 their subsequent Agency physicians, and often complained of being neglected, though at 

 least In the case of one flrst-rate doctor, James L. Tronpln, M.D., I myself was able to 

 ascertain that the charges were totally unfounded. 



