Olbrechts] the swimmer MANUSCRIPT 293 



of disease. To the rubbish of the yard is also often imputed such a 

 role.] 



The measure worm is driven out with white switches by the little 

 wizards, who finally dispose of him by putting him in the branches of 

 a post oak {Quercus stellata Wang.) upon the mountain. Throughout 

 most of the formula the medicine man speaks directly to the disease 

 spirit. 



The meaning of the sentence with regard to the white knife is 

 obscure and could not be satisfactorily explained by either of the two 

 medicine men who were familiar with the formula. 



The ceremony was described jointly by two medicine men. The 

 medicine man first prepares a sort of pestle or stamper of the wood of 

 siili', Diospyros virginiana L., common persimmon, about 3 or 4 inches 

 long and an inch in diameter at the large end. The stamper must be 

 newly made in every case, but why this should be so, or why the 

 wood selected should be persimmon, the medicine man could not 

 explain. One of these instrmnents [collected by Mr. Mooney] forms 

 part of the Cherokee collection in the United States National Museum, 

 Washington, D. C. 



The medicine man recites the first paragraph while warming the 

 stamper over the fire. He then presses the broad end upon the several 

 aching places a nmnber of tunes. The same operation is repeated 

 [during the recitation of] every one of the three [next] paragraphs, after 

 which he blows four times upon each of the sore spots. The whole 

 ceremony is repeated four times before noon, the expression 

 i;Do''t8GwuD8' ("all day ") in the prescriptions [often] being understood 

 to mean until the completion of the fourth and final ceremony about 

 noon. After this final application the medicine man scratches the 

 patient about the joints with a brier (see p. 70) and rubs into the cuts 

 a warm infusion of four varieties of fern (tGo'^^li) (see p. 71). 



The taboo list for a rheumatic patient as given by the two medicine 

 men includes the aG0''"l9 or sun perch; the Ga'^siina' or drumfish, 

 also called buffalo fish; the tsi;'ntGi"'tsty5'''sti or hornyhead; the 

 a'ndiitsa' or speckled trout; the squirrel, siilo*'"b; and the buffalo, 

 yaN'sa'. The taboo extends through life, and with the exception of 

 the tsi;'ntGt"'tsiy5°'sti which is prohibited in a number of diseases on 

 account of its tendency to rapid decay (see p. 182), is owing to a 

 mythic connection between the disease and the tabooed animal. 

 This formula in fact furnishes a perfect illustration of the ideas under- 

 lying the whole theory and practice of medicine among the Cherokees. 

 The disease, rhemnatism, is caused by the measure worm, because the 

 cramped movements of the patient resemble those of the worm. The 

 remedial herbs used are ferns, because, as these plants grow, their 

 fronds unroll and straighten out, just as the medicine man wishes the 

 contracted muscles and limbs of the patient to do. 



