The Medicine-Men of the Apache. (1892 N 09 / 1887-1888 (pages 443-604))Bourke, John Gregory
Religion
The Medicine-Men of the Apache. (1892 N 09 / 1887-1888 (pages 443-604))
Bourke, John Gregory
Apache Indians -- Medicine; Apache Indians -- Religion; Apache Indians -- Rites and ceremonies; Shamans -- New Mexico
The men of Panuco were so addicted to drunkenness that we are told:
"Lorsqu'ils sont fatigués de boire leur vin par la bouche, ils se
couchent, élèvent les jambes en l'air, et s'en font introduire dans le
fondement au moyen d'une canule, taut que le corps peut en
contenir."[91] The administration of wine in this manner may have been
as a medicine, and the Aztecs of Panuco may have known that nutriment
could be assimilated in this way. It shows at least that the Aztecs
were acquainted with enemata.
"Quando la enfermedad les parecia que tenia necesidad de evacuacion,
usaban del aiuda ò clister [clyster], con cocimientos de Iervas, i
polvos, en Agua, i tomandola en la boca, con yn canuto de hueso de
pierna de Garça, la hechaban, i obraba copiosamente: i en esto pudo
esta Gente ser industriada de la Cigueña, que con su largo pico se
cura, como escriven los Naturales."[92] Smith says that the
medicine-men of the Araucanians "are well acquainted with the proper
use of emetics, cathartics, and sudorifics. For the purpose of
injection they make use of a bladder, as is still commonly practiced
among the Chilenos."[93] Oviedo says of the medicine-men: "Conoçian
muchas hiervas de que usaban y eran apropiadas á diversas
enfermedades."[94] One of the most curious remedies presented in
Bancroft's first volume is the use of a poultice of mashed poison-ivy
leaves as a remedy for ringworm by the Indians of Lower California.
The Indians of Topia (in the Sierra Madre, near Sinaloa), were in the
habit of scarifying their tired legs and aching temples.[95] The
Arawaks, of Guiana, also scarified, according to Spencer.[96] The
inhabitants of Kamchatka use enemata much in the same way as the
Navajo and Apache do.[97] They also use moxa made of a fungus.[98]
It has never been my good fortune to notice an example of trephining
among our savage tribes, although I have seen a good many wounded,
some of them in the head. Trephining has been practiced by the
aborigines of America, and the whole subject as noted among the
primitive peoples of all parts of the globe has been treated in a
monograph by Dr. Robert Fletcher, U. S. Army.[99]
Dr. Fordyce Grinnell, who was for some years attached to the Wichita
Agency as resident physician, has published the results of his
observations in a monograph, entitled "The healing art as practiced by
the Indians of the Plains," in which he says: "Wet cupping is resorted
to quite frequently. The surface is scarified by a sharp stone or
knife, and a buffalo horn is used as the cupping glass. Cauterizing
with red-hot irons is not infrequently employed." A cautery of
"burning pith" was used by the Araucanians.[100]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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