OlbrecIts] the swimmer MANUSCRIPT 57 



another; it may mean anything from a minimum of 2 to a maximum 

 of 6 to 7 Hters a day. This appalling amount of liquid by itself is 

 often sufficient to account for the emetic results the Cherokee obtain 

 by the use of simples that are devoid of emetic properties. 



A few words remain to be said about the animal and mineral 

 materia medica in use in Cherokee therapeutics. 



Against rheumatism and stifTnoss in the joints eel oil (t^'^te^'ca 

 Go.i') is used. The oil is fried out of the animal in a frying pan. 

 The eel owes the honor of thus being admitted into the Cherokee 

 pharmacopoeia to its considerable suppleness and litheness. 



Bear grease (yo*'no'' Go.i'), known to most of the North American 

 Indian tribes and extensively used in the Southeast, is likewise known 

 to the Cherokee. The rapidly progressing extinction of the bear in 

 the Great Smokies Avill, however, soon account for the untimely end 

 of this popular article. 



A prescription against a disease that can only be identified as 

 tuberculosis specifies among otlier ingredients the brains of an otter, 

 mixed with "rock treacle," i. e., the moisture oozing out of the natural 

 fissures of a mossy rock. 



Stones, especially worked and fashioned arrowheads, may be added 

 to the water in which roots and stems are put to boil, but they owe 

 their therapeutic value chiefly to the belief that "they will cut the 

 disease to pieces" in the patient's body. The stones and flints are, 

 of course, removed before the decoction is drunk. 



Water enters into practically every remedy, in so far as it is used 

 to boil the other ingredients in. It usually has to be dipped out of 

 the river, to where, in some cases, it has to be taken back after use. 

 (See p. 68.) There are no specific instructions as to whether the 

 water has to be dipped "with the stream" or "against the stream" 

 as is so frequent in primitive medicine. One instance has come to 

 my knowledge where the water has to be taken from a cataract. 



The use of snow water and of ice is common in treating cases of 

 frostbite. 



"Stumpwater " is but rarely referred to, and its use, together with 

 the belief in its marvelous properties, may have been borrowed 

 from the whites. 



Disposing of used ingredients. — As a rule proper care is taken to 

 dispose of the materia medica after its use ; it is never carelessly thrown 

 away, but is usually kept on outside shelves, with at least two of 

 which every cabin is provided. It is quite likely that formerly there 

 was a proper ceremony to dispose of these decocted barks and herbs, 

 bat although this has been lost, enough of the custom is remembered 

 to prevent the used ingredients from being thrown away as refuse. 

 A few fomiulas have directions appended to them, which direct 

 that the medicine, after its use, has to be "stored in a dry place," 

 or has to be placed in a rock fissure with an appropriate formula. 



