﻿322 
  SACRED 
  FORMULAS 
  OF 
  THE 
  CHEROKEES. 
  

  

  done 
  by 
  the 
  animals, 
  they 
  determined 
  to 
  defeat 
  their 
  evil 
  designs. 
  

   Each 
  tree, 
  shrub, 
  and 
  herb, 
  down 
  even 
  to 
  the 
  grasses 
  and 
  mosses, 
  

   agreed 
  to 
  furnish 
  a 
  remedy 
  for 
  some 
  one 
  of 
  the 
  diseases 
  named, 
  and 
  

   each 
  said: 
  " 
  I 
  shall 
  appear 
  to 
  help 
  man 
  when 
  he 
  calls 
  upon 
  me 
  in 
  

   his 
  need." 
  Thus 
  did 
  medicine 
  originate, 
  and 
  the 
  plants, 
  every 
  one 
  

   of 
  which 
  has 
  its 
  use 
  if 
  we 
  only 
  knew 
  it, 
  furnish 
  the 
  antidote 
  to 
  coun- 
  

   teract 
  the 
  evil 
  wrought 
  by 
  the 
  revengeful 
  animals. 
  When 
  the 
  doc- 
  

   tor 
  is 
  in 
  doubt 
  what 
  treatment 
  to 
  apply 
  for 
  the 
  relief 
  of 
  a 
  patient, 
  the 
  

   spirit 
  of 
  the 
  plant 
  suggests 
  to 
  him 
  the 
  proper 
  remedy. 
  

  

  THEORY 
  OF 
  DISEASE— 
  ANIMALS, 
  GHOSTS, 
  WITCHES. 
  

  

  Such 
  is 
  the 
  belief 
  upon 
  which 
  their 
  medical 
  practice 
  is 
  based, 
  and 
  

   whatever 
  we 
  may 
  think 
  of 
  the 
  theory 
  it 
  must 
  be 
  admitted 
  that 
  the 
  

   practice 
  is 
  consistent 
  in 
  all 
  its 
  details 
  with 
  the 
  views 
  set 
  forth 
  in 
  the 
  

   myth. 
  Like 
  most 
  primitive 
  people 
  the 
  Cherokees 
  believe 
  that 
  dis- 
  

   ease 
  and 
  death 
  are 
  not 
  natural, 
  but 
  are 
  due 
  to 
  the 
  evil 
  influence 
  of 
  

   animal 
  spirits, 
  ghosts, 
  or 
  witches. 
  Haywood, 
  writing 
  in 
  1823, 
  states 
  

   on 
  the 
  authority 
  of 
  two 
  intelligent 
  residents 
  of 
  the 
  Cherokee 
  nation: 
  

  

  In 
  ancient 
  times 
  the 
  Cherokees 
  had 
  no 
  conception 
  of 
  anyone 
  (lying 
  a 
  natural 
  

   death. 
  They 
  universally 
  ascribed 
  the 
  death 
  of 
  those 
  who 
  perished 
  by 
  disease 
  to 
  the 
  

   intervention 
  or 
  agency 
  of 
  evil 
  spirits 
  and 
  witches 
  and 
  conjurers 
  who 
  had 
  connec- 
  

   tion 
  with 
  the 
  Shina 
  (Anisgi'na) 
  or 
  evil 
  spirits. 
  * 
  * 
  * 
  A 
  person 
  dying 
  by 
  disease 
  

   and 
  charging 
  his 
  death 
  to 
  have 
  been 
  procured 
  by 
  means 
  of 
  witchcraft 
  or 
  spirits, 
  

   by 
  any 
  other 
  person, 
  consigns 
  that 
  person 
  to 
  inevitable 
  death. 
  They 
  profess 
  to 
  be- 
  

   lieve 
  that 
  their 
  conjurations 
  have 
  no 
  effect 
  upon 
  white 
  men. 
  1 
  

  

  On 
  the 
  authority 
  of 
  one 
  of 
  the 
  same 
  informants, 
  he 
  also 
  mentions 
  

   the 
  veneration 
  which 
  '"their 
  physicians 
  have 
  for 
  the 
  numbers 
  four 
  

   and 
  seven, 
  who 
  say 
  that 
  after 
  man 
  was 
  placed 
  upon 
  the 
  earth 
  four 
  

   and 
  seven 
  nights 
  were 
  instituted 
  for 
  the 
  cure 
  of 
  diseases 
  in 
  the 
  human 
  

   body 
  and 
  the 
  seventh 
  night 
  as 
  the 
  limit 
  for 
  female 
  impurity. 
  3 
  

  

  Viewed 
  from 
  a 
  scientific 
  standpoint, 
  their 
  theory 
  and 
  diagnosis 
  are 
  

   entirely 
  wrong, 
  and 
  consequently 
  we 
  can 
  hardly 
  expect 
  their 
  thera- 
  

   peutic 
  system 
  to 
  be 
  correct. 
  As 
  the 
  learned 
  Doctor 
  Berendt 
  states, 
  

   after 
  an 
  exhaustive 
  study 
  of 
  the 
  medical 
  books 
  of 
  the 
  Mayas, 
  the 
  

   scientific 
  value 
  of 
  their 
  remedies 
  is 
  ' 
  ' 
  next 
  to 
  nothing. 
  " 
  It 
  must 
  be 
  

   admitted 
  that 
  many 
  of 
  the 
  plants 
  used 
  in 
  their 
  medical 
  practice 
  pos- 
  

   sess 
  real 
  curative 
  properties, 
  but 
  it 
  is 
  equally 
  true 
  that 
  many 
  others 
  

   held 
  in 
  as 
  high 
  estimation 
  are 
  inert. 
  It 
  seems 
  probable 
  that 
  in 
  the 
  

   beginning 
  the 
  various 
  herbs 
  and 
  other 
  plants 
  were 
  regarded 
  as 
  so 
  

   many 
  fetiches 
  and 
  were 
  selected 
  from 
  some 
  fancied 
  connection 
  Avith 
  

   the 
  disease 
  animal, 
  according 
  to 
  the 
  idea 
  known 
  to 
  modern 
  folk- 
  

   lorists 
  as 
  the 
  doctrine 
  of 
  signatures. 
  Thus 
  at 
  the 
  present 
  day 
  the 
  

   doctor 
  puts 
  into 
  the 
  decoction 
  intended 
  as 
  a 
  vermifuge 
  some 
  of 
  the 
  

  

  1 
  Haywood, 
  John: 
  Natural 
  and 
  Aboriginal 
  History 
  of 
  East 
  Tennessee, 
  267-8, 
  Nash- 
  

   ville. 
  1823. 
  

   'Ibid., 
  p. 
  281. 
  

  

  