54 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 99 



all ferns . . . The doctor explained that the fronds of the young fern 

 are coiled up, but unroll and straighten out as the plant grows; ergo, 

 a decoction of ferns will give to the rheumatic patient the power to 

 straighten out the contracted muscles of his limb." 



Not only is there great importance attached to this symbolism of 

 the outwa,rd appearance, also due regard is to be paid to the sacred 

 numbers; in scores of cases the medicine is only efl'ective if four or 

 seven of the plants (usually of the same "family") are used, and thus 

 it often happens that the actual ofTicinal value of one plant is abso- 

 lutely neutralized, to say the least, by three or five others. 



Another consideration that is not of a nature to stimulate our faith 

 in the efficacy of Cherokee materia medica is the tremendous impor- 

 tance laid on the use of certain plants that arc not held to have any 

 inherent curative properties but that are considered to possess remark- 

 able power in virtue of a mysterious way of behavior — an uncommon 

 way of growing, a quaint inclination of their branches, grotesque 

 parasitical excrescences, or that show any other evidence of so-called 

 freaks of nature, as the roots of an "inverted raspberry branch," 

 i. e., the branch of a raspberry shrub that has come back to the soil 

 and taken roots again (pi. 6, a) is often used in cases where the Cher- 

 okee consider the roots of the "parent plant" as being destitute of 

 any curative properties. Or it w.ill be specified that the roots used 

 must be those of a plant that has only one stalk, even if the plant 

 named has usually several stalks. Or again, it will be prescribed that 

 the bark has to be stripped from a "crippled" tree, i. e., a tree that 

 has been broken by some accident while it was still young, but that 

 has nevertheless continued its growth in its "crippled" condition. 



The curious, the unusual, that which is rare and difficult to find, 

 have always and everywhere played a considerable role in the materia 

 medica of all times and of all peoples, and we here find ourselves con- 

 fronted with these same considerations. 



The same trend of thought is no doubt also responsible for the 

 remarkable properties ascribed to lightning-struck wood, especially 

 of a tree that has continued to live after the accident, although this 

 belief may have to be explained partly by an additional element, the 

 respect for thunder and its "emissary," lightning. (Cf. Mooney, 

 Myths, p. 422.) Also the mysterious power ascribed to the root that 

 looks like an insect, "that has (a stalk) growing from its mouth" (see 

 p. 30) is no doubt to be explained by this belief in the uncanny 

 properties of the unusual. 



Finally, such prescriptions as are made with regard to the time of 

 coUecting a plant (during a storm), or the mode of selecting a par- 

 ticular part of it (the bark on the "sunny side" of trees (pi. 6, b) the 

 roots running out to the east, etc.), prove again to what an extent the 

 materia medica of the tribe is influenced by mythological conceptions. 



