6 BUREAU OP AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



[Bull. 



some cases considerably influenced the free translations, so that, in 

 the second part of this paper, viz, the texts, all responsibility for the 

 phonetic texts, and the interlinear and free translations rests with the 

 editor. 



As for the explanatory notes and comments which Mooney had 

 written for every formula, these could not possibly be improved upon. 

 In some cases, however, I was able to collect items of information 

 that cast an additional light on the subject; sometimes I was able to 

 actually catch a belief or a practice in the process of change and evolu- 

 tion ; or again, I got the individual point of view of different medicine 

 men. All this was carefully noted and is added to Mr. Mooney's 

 explanations, inclosed in brackets. 



I have furthermore collected all the botanical specimens of which 

 mention is made in the manuscript. For the identification of these I 

 am obliged to Mr. Paul C. Standley of the United States National 

 Muse\nn. 



Finally I wrote an introduction which gives as extensive a survey 

 of Cherokee beliefs and practices with regard to disease and medicine 

 as is necessary to fully understand the formulas and prescriptions of 

 the Ay. manuscript. Although eveiy foniiula contains a few ele- 

 ments that inherently belong to it, and may not be met with in any 

 of the otliers, yet there is in all of the formulas an underlying complex 

 of ideas that is basically the same. Whereas those elements that 

 specifically belong to a given formula are better explained in a short 

 note commenting on them, and affixed to that particular formula, it 

 has been thought advisable, in order to avoid constant repetitions, 

 and also in order to present a more synthetic picture of the whole, to 

 give a broadly sketched and general outline of the subjects treated: 

 Disease, its nature and its causes; the means by which disease is 

 diagnosed and cured; the materia medica and the curing methods; of 

 the person who is constantly associated with all of this, the medicine 

 man. Short chapters on birth and death have been added, as well 

 as a general introduction to the formulas. 



Lengthy as these introductory notes may seem, yet they have been 

 strictly limited to the subject matter contained in the Ay. manuscript. 

 I have modified my first intention, which was to append in copious 

 notes any parallels with whicli I am acquainted. However, the time 

 for a comparative work of wide scope on primitive medicine has not 

 yet come, our special knowledge being far too inadequate to justify 

 generalizations. I have therefore considered that it would be better 

 to give as exliaustive a survey as possible of Cherokee medical lore 

 and custom; a collection of monographs of this kind will be the mate- 

 rial from which once a comparative study of the medicine and of the 

 science of "primitive" peoples, will be compiled. The only parallels I 

 have drawn attention to are such as may shed light on questions of 



