hedlicka] 



PHYSIOLOGICAL AND MEDICAL OBSERVATIONS 



183 



Of rarer diseases there existed among the Pima one case apparently 

 of elephantiasis of the foot and one case of marasmus. Chief Antonio 

 recollects but a small number of imbeciles and insane in the tribe ; a 

 few of the latter exist now. One insane man developed a desire to 

 kill his wife and then ran away to the hills, but was not violent. Later 

 on he recovered. It was apparently a case of mild, acute mania. 

 Chief Antonio never heard of any child in the tribe born blind or deaf. 

 He knew of one case in which a child never learned to walk. 



The Pima say that if a stalk of the bush cul-icJc-un-elc (Dondia suf- 

 frutescens) wounds a man and is not promptly removed, it is liable 

 to give rise to blood poisoning and may have fatal results. The 

 lid-van tdtat (''crows'-feet": Phacelia, probably infundibuliformis) is 

 a plant growing on the flats along the Gila, contact with wliich is 

 followed by inflammation of the skin. The Pima say that when it 

 touches the naked legs or arms it produces sores which, though they 

 do not extend beyond the parts that came in contact with the plant, 

 will last from three weeks to a month before they heal. 



The Sacaton midwife and medicine-woman says that female disor- 

 ders of a serious nature are uncommon. One of her patients, an old 

 woman, had an umbilical hernia. Such a hernia, usually of small 

 dimensions, is found occasionally in the little children of this tribe, as 

 well as among the Maricopa. Breast affections are very infrequent; 

 rarely an abscess develops in the side of the breast. 



In children foul breath is met with remarkably seldom (the same 

 applies to the other tribes examined). Within three or four years 

 there were tliree cases of chorea among the school children at Sacaton. 

 Only one of the schoolgirls, and she probably a half Mexican, was 

 known by the present matron to have had some form of hysteria. 

 After crying tliis girl became rigid, remaining so for some time. Cry- 

 ing spells occur occasionally in others, but are usually controllable; 

 they are -not attended by motor derangements. Complaints due to 

 menstruation among the schoolgirls are rare; occasionally, however, 

 a girl will complain of pains during the period. In four of the school- 

 girls and one boy there were found quite large scars on the head on 

 which the hair did not grow. These are said to have been produced 



