60 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 99 



Curing Methods 



As we have seen in our paragraph on materia medica, the Cherokee 

 do not only attach officinal value to the intrinsic properties of the 

 simples used, but they expect as much, if not more, curing power from 

 cbser^4ng and complying with sundry regulations when selecting, 

 picking, preparing, and administering them. 



We are again faced with conceptions of the same order, when it 

 comes to the actual use of the plants or of the other materia medica — 

 not only the object used is of importance, but the method of using it 

 is of great consequence. A short description of these modes and 

 methods \\t11 form the object of the following paragraphs. 



Whatever be the method used, the act of treating a patient is 

 usually referred to as Dt'Galo°" M^tsta'N'ti' "to work for him " (DaGtlo'°'= 

 wista'ne'a' "I work for him ") . This expression is also frequently used 

 when referring to "examining A^dth the beads" or to the nefarious 

 machinations of an enemy. It is also used by the people in everyday 

 language to render "to work for (someone)," i. e., to do manual 

 labor, and only when it is used in the medical jargon does it have this 

 restricted meaning of "treating a patient." 



It will be superfluous to state that the enumeration as well as the 

 description of the different methods as they appear in the following 

 pages are the result of patient observation and of infoniiation from 

 many different sources, both oral and as v/ritten in the sundry manu- 

 scripts; not one Cherokee medicine man realizes that his science can 

 boast of such a wealth of curing methods. 



Some of the methods have no specific name in Cherokee. The 

 names of those that do have one wiU be found in the relevant formulas. 



Administerinfj the medicine. — A given disease may be cured by 

 merely administering the decoction or the infusion of the medicine 

 prescribed. This procedure has been amply described on page 56 and 

 does not here call for any further comment. 



Often the root or the bark of the simple prescribed is chewed by 

 the patient, instead of being drunk by him in a decoction or in an 

 infusion . 



Blowing the medicine. — In certain diseases, even if the ailment is 

 held to be of an internal order, the medicine is not taken internally 

 at all, but is sprayed over the patient, either over the whole of his 

 body or only over parts of it (e. g., over his head, his breast, etc.). 

 This is usually done by means of the blowing tube (p. 58). The 

 medicine man takes a long draught of medicine, A^thout swallowing 

 it, and then blows it vrith one continued jet over the patient. 



Often, instead of blowing the medicine over the patient the medicine 

 man merely blows his breath. This may be done again by means of 

 the blowing tube, but this instrument is often dispensed with. It 

 could not be ascertained whether the use of the blowing tube is of 



