LII ADMINISTEATIVE EEPORT [eth. a.nx. 20 



erty is not a concomitant of the body and inherent in the body 

 itself, bnt that mind is independent of body and can hve apart 

 from it, and when the mind leaves one body another mind 

 may take np its residence there. This is the doctrine of ghosts 

 as free, independent, and wandering minds. 



There are many phenomena which to the savage mind lead 

 to this opinion. I may briefly mention them: The phenomena 

 of dreams, where men seem to go out of their own bodies and 

 wander about the earth; the phenomena of ecstasy, produced 

 by excessive mental or physical activity, where men seem to 

 have visions of other times and places or to hear voices which 

 do not speak in their ears; the phenomena of hypnotism, 

 where men seem to see scenes which are not naturally pre- 

 sented to the hypnotized person; the phenomena of intoxica- 

 tion, where men believe they observe that which bystanders 

 know to be not true; the phenomena of insanity, wliei-e the 

 diseased person has thoughts which are erroneous, in which 

 case the savage believes that the ghost of another lias taken 

 possession of the invalid. The doctrines derived from these 

 sources seem to be confirmed to the savage mind by the phe- 

 nomena of shadows and especially of echoes. Hence, in 

 triljal society a ghost life is held in universal belief. Thus to 

 imputation is added the ghost theory, or spiritism. 



The savage man imputes the diseases which aftlict mankind 

 not to the bodies with which he peoples the world, but to tlie 

 S'hosts of these bodies. Hence we often find in a savage tribe 

 that diseases are classified in a more or less vague way as the 

 diseases of the stars, the diseases of the waters, the diseases of 

 the rocks, the diseases of plants, and the diseases of animals. 

 He does not consciously classify them in this manner, but he 

 im])ntes them to the ghosts of these objects. When a patient 

 is examined by the medicine-man, he may affirm that he has 

 the elk disease, the bear disease, the wolf disease, the rattle- 

 snake disease, or the green-snake disease, or he may say that 

 he has the spider disease, or the fly disease. Especially are 

 animals selected as the authors of ailments. I once witnessed 

 the treatment of a child by an Indian shaman who claimed 

 that its ailment was due to a little fossil abundantly found in 



