8o 
toner's address. 
amples from those but little advanced we will find facts 
sufficient for the present purpose. 
The Indian is patient in suffering, courageous in 
visible danger, but apprehensive of the unknown 
and occult powers of nature which environ us, but 
which are so much more of a mystery to him than to 
civilized man, as often to transform the hero into a 
coward. It is unquestionably true that the uncivilized as 
well as the semi-civilized Indians have many unmean- 
ing practices and superstitions; chiefly because they 
know nothing of remote or secondary causes. Like 
all unlettered races, they are fond of ceremonies and 
spectacular exhibitions, and the person among them 
who becomes the most expert in these and acquires the 
most comprehensive knowledge of the laws of nature 
is at once elevated to the rank of a medicine-man" 
or physician. Poorly qualified as are their physicians, 
they have among them pretenders to medical knowl- 
edge, mere jugglers, who practice by incantations, the 
exhibition of charms, and other fetish measures which 
appeal almost exclusively to ignorance and credulity.* 
Every physician and reflecting person can recall dozens of charms 
made use of, or worn, even by intelligent people, which are purely fet- 
ish in character and without influence. Some of these proceedings 
and cures" are handed down from generation to generation, and can 
be traced far back into the early ages. I will only record a few • 
As a strap of eel-skin worn around a limb to strengthen a joint and 
to prevent or cure a sprain. The carrying of a buckeye-nut in the 
pocket to prevent or cure the piles. The carrying of a raw Irish 
potato in the pocket to cure or ward off rheumatism. The wearing of a 
black ribbon around a child's neck to prevent croup. The wearing 
the rattles of a rattle-snake about the head to prevent headache. To 
remove warts, the tying of a string or thread over the wart and then 
