350 



THE OLD-WORLD ELK 



treatment of similar human ailments, Pomet 

 states, men in Lithuania went in parties of four, 

 armed with the arquebus, and lay in wait for the 

 elk in the woods. When they saw one in the 

 midst of an attack of epilepsy, they would shoot 

 simultaneously, but only to cripple the animal, 

 for the hoof possesses its wonderful curative 

 properties only when taken from the living elk. 



The victim, helpless on the ground, was tied 

 with ropes, and the hoof was then removed, after 

 which the sufferer was dispatched, and the car- 

 cass dressed for the sake of the venison. Meanwhile 

 a gunshot was fired occasionally to frighten away 

 the rest of the herd, for we are assured that they 

 are dangerous antagonists."^ 



Referring to the superstition in Europe regard- 

 ing epilepsy among elk and men, and its cure, J. G. 

 Bujack wrote in 1837 that the same false belief 

 prevailed among the Indians in America, and that 

 the belief in America had an independent origin, 

 quite free from any European influence.^ Dr. 



*Htstoire General des Drogues, by Sieur Pomet (Paris, 1735), vol. ii., 

 pp. 120-122. Pomet's elk bears a very close resemblance to Montanus's 

 moose. See p. 20. 



5 " Sonderbarer Weise herrscht in Amerika bei den Indianem derselbe 

 Wahnglaube, und hat sich, auffallend genug, unfehlbar ganz unab- 

 hangig von dem Europaischen Einfluss, dort selbststandig gebildet." 

 — " Naturgeschichte des Elchwildes oder Elens," in Preussische Pro- 

 vinzial-Bldtter, vol. xviii., p. 149 (Konigsberg, 1837). 



