82 



NATURE 



\May 30, 1872 



bility that the change in the mode of life of the Esquimaux in 

 their new country (to which they were probably forcibly driven), 

 and a change in the manner of carrying the child in infancy, may 

 have caused a material alterati-m in the form of the head, whilst 

 other peculiarities of face and form remained nearly the same. 



The Esquimaux infant is carried in the hood of the mother's 

 coat, and its head is perfectly free, witli no pressure on one part 

 more than another. 



The peculiar form of liead of the Red Indian of America may 

 in a greater or less degree be caused by the kind of cradle used. 

 The baby is fastened in its cradle in such a manner that the 

 whole weight of the little creature's head rests almost constantly 

 on the back part or occiput : the effect would be to reduce the 

 longitudinal and increase the lateral diameter of the skull. 



Of course I do not allude to the intentional and artificial altera- 

 tion of the form of the skull, as practised among the Chenooks. 



The discovery of many reindeer and muskcattle by the Swed- 

 ish (? German) expedition on the East Coast of Greenland, as 

 mentioned by Mr. Howorth, where previously none had been 

 seen, may be accounted for by these animals — after having been 

 much hunted and harassed by the natives near Smith's Sound 

 and Melville Bay, on the north-west extremity of Greenland- 

 migrating to the east shore, where, finding food and rest, they 

 remained unmolested to increase and multiply, which they do 

 very rapidly under such conditions. 



Deer, muskcattle, and hares were found in great numbers, and 

 very tame and in good condition on the Parry Islands, in latitude 

 76°, and on Banks Land in latitude 74° N., by several of the 

 recent Arctic expeditions, and these do not appear to have migrated 

 southward in tlie autumn. I have no doubt that were those locali- 

 ties visited by a band of hunters, these animals would after a few 

 years become shy and timid, and finally move off to a more safe 

 position, either north or south, as their own instinct or the trend- 

 ing or nature of the country might lead them. This I have 

 known to occur frequently in America farther to the south. 



These sudden and unforeseen migrations (being an exception 

 to the usually very regular habits of the animals) are among tlie 

 chief causes of the suffering and deaths by starvation among the 

 Esquimaux. 



Although what I have written above has been the result of my 

 own observation, it may have been spoken or written by some one 

 else before, much better than I can pretend to do. If so this 

 communication will find its way, as it deserves, to the waste- 

 basket. John Rae 



A Scientific "Bone-Setter" 



The interesting article on "Bone-Setting" in Nature for 

 May 9 induces me to narrate ray own experience. More than 

 twenty years ago, in the city of New York, while swinging upon 

 parallel bars in the gymnasium, I fell backwards, and to save my 

 head threw out my left arm, tlius catching the fall upon the 

 palmer end of the radius, and, as it proved, fracturing the neck 

 of the radius at the point of articulation with the ulna. I sent 

 for one of the most eminent surgeons, then Professor and surgeon 

 to a large hospital, but several hours elapsed before his arrival ; 

 and by that time the swelling and inflammation at the elbow had 

 all the appearance of a sprain, and the fracture was not detected. 

 Some days afterwards the surgeon discovered that there had been a 

 fracture, and that a false adhesion had begun. This was broken 

 up, and the arm set in splints, according to the approved method. 

 After the usual time the bandages were removed, but the fore- 

 arm was incapable of flexion, extension, or rotation. Every 

 appliance was used to restore it to its normal condition, such as 

 lifting, friction, sponging, &c., but without effect. The arm 

 became useless, and began to shrivel. It was examined by ihe 

 first surgeons of New York and other cities. Some thought that 

 the radius had adhered to the ulna, others that there was a de- 

 posit of interosseous matter, but none could suggest a remedy. 



Nine montlis after the accident I chanced to lie in Philadel- 

 phia, and called upon Dr. Rhea Barton, who, though he had 

 retired from practice, consented to look into my case. After 

 careful examination, he said, " If you will consent to suffer the 

 pain (it was before the use of chloroform) I will agree to restore 

 the arm." He went on to say that pressure demonstrated a slight 

 crepitation at the joint, and also a slight elasticity ; and this 

 assured him that the trouble was in the ligaments ; that in con- 

 sequence of the long imprisonment of the arm in splints, while 

 under inflammation, a ligamentous adhesion had taken place, 

 and the synovial fluid had been absorbed. He then applied 



one hand firmly to the elbow and the other to the 

 palmer extremity of the radius, and, diverting my attention by 

 anecdote and wit, thus relaxing the resistance of the will to pain, 

 he gave a sudden wrencli, there was a sound bke the ripping of 

 cotton cloth, and the arm lay outstretched before me, quivering 

 with pain, but capable of motion. Mechanical appliances for a 

 few weeks so far completed the restoration that I have ever since 

 had .about four-fifths of its normal use and power. 



Now, Dr. Barton did, upon scientific knowledge, what the 

 "bone-setter" does empirically— " by manipulation, suddenly 

 and forcibly tearing asunder the adhesions " formed between the 

 ligaments and the bone ; and he assured me that the whole 

 difficulty would have been averted had the aiTn, when under 

 trea'ment for fracture, been gently moved at times according to 

 nature. I think he has published a monograph upon this point, 

 but I cannot now refer to it. JusErH P. Thompsu.n 



Berlin, May 22 



Pathological Legends 



Mr. Tylor speaks of vampires as illustrations of Savage 

 Animism, and regards them as inventions to explain wasting 

 disease. Tlie records of such unseen agents point to two classes 

 of vampires, one of which has nothing to do with wasting disease. 

 To take two extreme cases : the story of Grettir's conflict with 

 Glam the house churl, contrasts with the Vampire Cat of Nabe- 

 shimes, as told by Mitford in the " Tales of CJld Japan." The 

 Northern hero seeks the evil one and overpowers him, but his 

 success is dearly bought, for evil temper and nervousness never 

 leave him, and his after life is unlucky from these two causes. 

 The Japanese Prince is visited nighily by the counterfeit of his 

 lovely concubine, he pines away, and is only saved by the energy 

 of a retainer, who slays the fair persecutor. Here are types of 

 two kinds of malady ; one is truly wasting, the other is of that 

 kind which ends in apoplexy, epilepsy, acute mania, or if death is 

 not speedy and sudden, dyspepsia may reduce the hero to Grettir's 

 state without obviously impairing his strength. Ttie Japanese 

 story gives the common superstition among polygamous people 

 witli whom progressive e.xhaustion is not uncommon, as 

 " Hawke's Voyages" quaintly explain. The Grettir Saga gives 

 a pagan version of what figures more than once in Christian 

 legends as saintly intervention. Thus, the Scandinavian invader 

 blasphemes the English saint, who straightway appears to him, 

 and points the finger ; the blasphemer drops down dead. Glam, 

 the churl, gorges himself with food, and goes to the hill, the next 

 morning he is found crushed and distorted, and the horror of his 

 punishment is proportioned to his crime, for he ate meat on a 

 Church fast, and it was doubtless sweet to his neighbours to 

 recall the fact that they heard his shrieks when sitting in church. 

 Glam's successors perish violently, one of them being found con- 

 vulsed and broken on Glam's cairn, just as 'in more places than 

 one in Scotland men have been found in convulsions near places 

 which superstition had made terrible on account of some great 

 crime. 13ut Grettir, for twenty years after his fight with Glam, 

 leads a life of incessant fighting as an oatlaw. lie cannot go 

 alone, his nerve is shaken, he sees things in the dark, and his 

 temper is irritable. It is of course impossible to separate out 

 the various forms of unseeen agency to wliich men in rude 

 times Avere subject. But the Vampires of the North and 

 Incuhi are members of the same family ; the Vampires of Asia 

 belong to another family. The former represent indigestion, the 

 results of gross overeating and drinking, aggravated, doubtles.s, 

 by the circumstances that the opportunities of excess were not 

 frequent, and that semi-starvations occurred often between copious 

 meals. The demons are mostly men ; in all cases they give rise 

 to violent conflicts, in which, if a man dies, his distorted con- 

 vulsed body suggests the presence of a corporeal enemy, a reason- 

 able enough notion among those to whom natural death meant, 

 in the case of a strong man, death by the sword. The latter re- 

 presents the results of lechery in some form or other ; there is 

 no tale of conflict, though now and then sudden death is accom- 

 panied by convulsions such as, we know, frequently terminate 

 cases of general paralysis and Tabes dorsa/is. The correspond- 

 ence between the Northern Berserker and the furious IMalay wlio 

 runs amuck, is interesting ui reference to this contrast. The in- 

 sanity of the Berserker is that of an individual ; the persecution 

 of the Northern vampire falls on the whole family of the sufferer ; 

 and, while it is difficult under ordinary circumstances for any large 

 number of people to become simultaneously aflected by genuine 



