268 



THE AMERICAN MOOSE 



to aid them in childbirth, reducing it to powder^ 

 and swallowing it in water, or in soup made from 

 the animal."^^ Fr. Rasle seems to give an Indian 

 origin to this belief also, for he records an Abnaki 

 word, ^skanitehann, meaning ^'/'oj qui est au 

 milieu du cxur de rorignal/' But this supersti- 

 tion was probably an importation from Europe, 

 along with that relating to epilepsy. In the 

 Grand Dictionnaire Universelle of Larousse "o^ de 

 coeur de cerf' is defined as an ancient medical term, 

 meaning "the bone which is found in the heart 

 of the deer, and which formerly was considered a 

 powerful therapeutic agent." This bone is not 

 an imaginary thing, however, as some writers 

 have assumed. It is known to zoologists as os 

 cordis. It is a local ossification of the septum 

 between the ventricles of the heart, and is found 

 in a number of varieties of ruminants, including 

 domestic cattle, after they pass a certain age. Its 

 medicinal value is nil. 



r When the settlement of America by Europeans 

 began the Indian medicine man had advanced 

 about as far in his efforts to solve the mysteries 

 of disease as the most learned professor of that day 

 in all the Old-World universities. Neither could 

 justly ridicule the beliefs and practices of the other. 



^9 Uhi supra, vol. ii., p. 321. 



