790 
“soberness of life.’ The Jew drinks less 
than his Christian brother ; he takes as a 
rule better food ; he takes better care of his 
poor and he takes better care of himself. 
How much his sanitary code of laws has 
accomplished in this direction I will not 
undertake to estimate. 
A study of the habits of the primitive 
peoples in different parts of the globe shows 
that a desire to prevent disease is innate to 
all men. Among matters of personal 
hygiene may be mentioned massage for the 
purpose of overcoming fatigue, ocean, 
river, hot-air and vapor baths as practiced 
among many Indian tribes, the employment 
of eye-protectors against the glaring effects 
of snow among the inhabiants of the Arctic 
region, the use of respirators by the Kwix- 
pagmut, an Eskimo tribe, to prevent the in- 
halation of smoke during their sweat baths. 
(Max Bartels, p. 222). 
Many of our North American Indians 
have their medicine dances, the chief object 
of which appears to be the preservation of 
health. Thus the men of the Nez Perces 
tribe, between the ages of 18 and 40, assem- 
ble annually for the purpose of conquering 
‘Mawisch,’ the spirit of fatigue; the cere- 
mony lasts from three to seven days, and 
consists in the introduction of willow bou- 
gies into the stomach, followed by hot and 
cold baths and abstinence from food. The 
Indians are of the firm belief that they 
secure thereby increased strength and 
power of endurance (Bancroft), andI see 
no reason why a perfect cleansing of the 
body and temporary fasting should not re- 
sult in a thorough purification of the blood 
and tissues, a more perfect metabolism and 
increased nutrition and power of resistance 
of the individual cells. 
The disposal of the dead by cremation, 
and the destruction of the tepee and per- 
sonal effects by fire after fatal cases, is a 
practice in vogue among a number of In- 
dian tribes, and are worthy of mention, as 
SCIENCE. 
[N. 8. Vou. VI. No. 152. 
fire is the best known germicide. Many 
of these primitive peoples appear to have 
correct ideas as to the communicability of 
certain diseases. Ehrenreich tells us that 
consumption prevails extensively among 
the Karay4 in Brazil, and whenever a 
stranger approaches their huts he is asked 
whether he suffers from a cough, and un- 
less the answer is negative he is not ad- 
mitted—a very suggestive precept in view 
of the fact that scientific medicine has es- 
tablished the infectious character of tuber- 
culosis. Pallas writes that the Kirgise 
during small-pox epidemics do not hesitate, 
to use their arrows if necessary to keep in- 
fected subjects from entering their homes. 
In passing I may remark that such a brutal 
system of quarantine was practiced only last 
year in ourcountry. A man suffering from 
small-pox was expelled from Arkansas and 
refused admittance into Mississippi. As he 
could not remain in or on the Mississippi 
River until the disease ran its course, he 
attempted to evade the quarantine and land 
on the river bank in the latter State, but 
was shot and killed by one of the quarantine 
officers. 
As an example of public health measures 
may be mentioned the fact that Harmond, 
during an expedition to Mé Khong, in Far- 
ther India, in the land of the Khas, found, 
suspended outside of all villages which had 
been previously visited by cholera, a piece 
of wood, carved with a sign language to the 
effect, ‘‘ Whosoever dares to invade our pal- 
isade during the next twelve days will be 
imprisoned and must pay a fine of four buf- 
faloes and twelve ticals;” the sign on the 
reverse side gave the number of men, 
women and children in the village. The 
same observer noticed that the inhabitants 
of villages occupied by the Attapeu, which 
are close neighbors of the tribe of Laotes, 
laid pieces of lumber in the form of a star 
across their roads and paths, or suspended 
similar signs with bunches of leaves with- 
