136 



INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY— PUBLICATION NO. 3 



HEART PAIN 



Orange flowers, lemon flowers, and toronjil are 

 placed in a cup. Boiling water is poured over them, 

 after which white and red carnation petals (clavcl 

 bianco y negro) are put into the mixture and two 

 drops of agiia dc ftorida are added. After the mix- 

 ture has cooled, a pinch of white sugar is added. 

 The liquid is given to the patient every morning for 

 a week. 



VENEREAL DISEASE 



Syphilis and gonorrhea do not seem to be clearly 

 recognized among the Mocheros, nor have I seen 

 much evidence of them among the people. However, 

 it is recognized that men sometimes get sores (llagas) 

 on their sexual organs. As a treatment for this 

 condition oil of canime {aceite de canime) and 

 hydrogen peroxide {agita oxigcnada) are used. 

 First the sore is washed with the peroxide, then the 

 oil is applied and a bandage tied on. 



COLIC (COLICO) 



The symptoms are extreme abdominal pain, some- 

 times in the lower right quadrant of the abdomen. 

 The idea of appendicitis is not clear either to curers 

 or to lay informants. "Colic" probably covers indi- 

 gestion, liver and gall bladder trouble, appendicitis, 

 and all abdominal pains. Treatment is as follows. 

 ( 1 ) Three stalks of the leaves of the ycrha santa are 

 washed in a basin of water and wrung out. The 

 water itself, by now green, is thrown away, but the 

 pulpy leaves are placed in a bottle. (2) Two corn- 

 cobs of the red variety (tusas ncgras) are burned or 

 toasted until they are carbonized. They are then 

 put in a pot with water and boiled, stirred meanwhile 

 with a spoon. The resulting water is then poured 

 into the bottle on top of the ycrba santa pulp. (3) 

 Then a tablespoonful of sugar — one-half raw, one- 

 half burnt white sugar — is added. (4) About two 

 tablespoonfuls of the liquid is administered to the 

 patient. (5) The first result is vomiting. (6) 

 After the patient has vomited, a whole cupful of the 

 liquid is given ; the result is a strong purgative action. 



Apparently the Mocheros do not suffer much from 

 infected appendi.xes. Otherwise I would have heard 

 more about conditions resembling peritonitis as an 

 aftermath of this treatment. 



PREGNANCY AND CHILDBIRTH 



These matters are not necessarily handled by curers 

 who treat susto, njco, and the like, although some 



women who specialize in curandismo are also mid- 

 wives. The profession of midwife {partera or 

 ciiriosa) is, however, more generalized and less 

 esoteric than that of curandcra. Nevertheless it is a 

 speciality in Moche, and it is not customary for 

 women to be delivered by untutored, unspecialized 

 members of their families. 



It is well-known among Rlocheros that sexual in- 

 tercourse is the cause of pregnancy and that the stop- 

 page of menstruation is an indication of its onset. It 

 is popularly believed that a male child is born 8 

 months and 8 days after conception, whereas the term 

 of a female child is 9 months and 9 days. According 

 to a partera who explained her calling to me, it is pos- 

 sible to determine the sex of the child after the seventh 

 month. The midwife palpates the head of the foetus 

 in the woman's abdomen ; if the head is hard, the child 

 will be a male ; if soft, it will be a female. Neither 

 parteras or lay informants have any theory of pre- 

 determination of sex. This is purely a matter of 

 chance ("casualidad"), and there is no other ex- 

 planation. 



I did not witness a delivery in Moche, and the fol- 

 lowing information concerning midwifely techniques 

 was obtained from midwives and from women who 

 had passed through the experience. 



After a woman knows that she is pregnant, or at 

 least after the seventh month, she retains a midwife, 

 who advises her for a period before childbirth. In 

 general, there seem to be no stringent rules for preg- 

 nant women. They go about their usual duties, nurse 

 their latest child, and have sexual intercourse, even 

 during the last months. They are not supposed to 

 bend over or lift heavy loads during the last 2 months, 

 and it is advisable, although not required, to eat only 

 "cold foods." 



When the labor pains begin, the midwife is called 

 and the patient lies on her back either on a bed or on 

 a mat on the floor. The midwife massages the abdo- 

 men from above downward, but does not have the 

 patient sit up. No ropes or poles are provided for 

 the patient to pull on, nor are any instruments used 

 by the midwife, although a tight band is usually bound 

 about the upper abdomen. During labor the midwife 

 palpates the abdomen in order to determine the type 

 of presentation. If it appears that a breech presenta- 

 tion, or some other abnormality is in the making, a 

 member of the family is sent at once to the telephone 

 office to call an ambulance from Trujillo. Some mid- 

 wives claim to be able to work a transverse foetus 

 around into the proper position with their hands, but 



