Hoyme and Bass] 



SKELETAL REMAINS 377 



in osteitis deformans," suggesting that neither of these conditions 

 was present. The one instance of possible colhipse of the bodies of 

 the kimbar vertebrae occurred in an old female (USNM 380903) ; the 

 other bones of this skeleton are light and demineralized, but there 

 is no reason for attributing this to tuberculosis of the bone. 



Cranial pathology was uncommon at both sites. In one child from 

 each site (USNM 380890, -873), the cranial lesions seem to be associ- 

 ated with inflammatory changes elsewhere in the skeleton. The skull 

 of one Tollifero man (USNM 380917) showed perforations of un- 

 known origin ; while a healed lesion on the right coronal suture of one 

 of the Clarksville men (USNM 380844) may have been associated with 

 the accident in which his thiimb was fractured. The skulls of two 

 Clarksville children about 12 years old (USNM 380860, -862) show 

 cribra orbitalia, honeycomblike patches on the roofs of the orbits, 

 usually considered early stages of osteoporosis symmetrica. Although 

 this condition is familiar to anthropologists, its etiology is as yet un- 

 known; but causes ranging from mahiutrition to congenital blood 

 dyscrasias have been suggested (cf. Hooton, 1930, p. 316 ff.). The 

 orbital lesions in these children are small ; the rest of the skull and 

 skeleton of USNM 380862 appears normal; and X-rays of the long 

 bones show neither lines of arrested growth nor other abnormalities. 

 The bones of USNM 380860 are thickened and bowed. 



The writings of the early explorers are not detailed enough to be 

 helpful in identifying the aboriginal diseases of the Southeastern 

 Indians. There are references to "fluxes," "agues," "distempers" and 

 pains in joints and limbs caused by "hmnours," which were treated 

 by sweating, drinking bark infusions, applying poultices, sucking and 

 scarifying. In describing scarifying, which seems to have been a 

 popular practice, Beverley (1947, p. 217) says: "They seldom cut 

 deeper than the Epidermis, by which means they give passage to those 

 sharp waterish Humours, that lye between the two Skins, and cause 

 Inflamations. . . ." Perhaps such treatments may have been bene- 

 ficial, but they raise the possbility that some of the pathology seen may 

 have been, in a sense, iatrogenic. Aside from the descriptions of med- 

 ical practices, most of the evidence is negative, consisting of lists of 

 diseases which the people did not have. For example, Lawson, writing 

 in 1714 about the Carolina Indians, says : 



They are never troubled with the scurvey, dropsy, nor stone. The phthisic, 

 asthma, and diabetes, they are wholly strangers to. Neither do I remember I 



'^ In osteitis deformans, the bones also become thickened, softened, and bent ; but the 

 process may affect any of the bones of the skeleton, and the erratic pattern of demineral- 

 Ization and new bone formation bears no resemblance to the uniform demlnerallzatlon seen 

 In the X-rays of these bones. 



