Seventh Annual Report Part 75

As the medical formulas are first in number and importance it may be well, for the better understanding of the theory involved, to give the Cherokee account of

THE ORIGIN OF DISEASE AND MEDICINE.

In the old days quadrupeds, birds, fishes, and insects could all talk, and they and the human race lived together in peace and friends.h.i.+p.

But as time went on the people increased so rapidly that their settlements spread over the whole earth and the poor animals found themselves beginning to be cramped for room. This was bad enough, but to add to their misfortunes man invented bows, knives, blowguns, spears, and hooks, and began to slaughter the larger animals, birds and fishes for the sake of their flesh or their skins, while the smaller creatures, such as the frogs and worms, were crushed and trodden upon without mercy, out of pure carelessness or contempt. In this state of affairs the animals resolved to consult upon measures for their common safety.

The bears were the first to meet in council in their townhouse in Kuwahi, the Mulberry Place,[4] and the old White Bear chief presided. After each in turn had made complaint against the way in which man killed their friends, devoured their flesh and used their skins for his own adornment, it was unanimously decided to begin war at once against the human race. Some one asked what weapons man used to accomplish their destruction. Bows and arrows, of course, cried all the bears in chorus. And what are they made of? was the next question. The bow of wood and the string of our own entrails, replied one of the bears. It was then proposed that they make a bow and some arrows and see if they could not turn mans weapons against himself. So one bear got a nice piece of locust wood and another sacrificed himself for the good of the rest in order to furnish a piece of his entrails for the string. But when everything was ready and the first bear stepped up to make the trial it was found that in letting the arrow fly after drawing back the bow, his long claws caught the string and spoiled the shot. This was annoying, but another suggested that he could overcome the difficulty by cutting his claws, which was accordingly done, and on a second trial it was found that the arrow went straight to the mark. But here the chief, the old White Bear, interposed and said that it was necessary that they should have long claws in order to be able to climb trees. One of us has already died to furnish the bowstring, and if we now cut off our claws we shall all have to starve together. It is better to trust to the teeth and claws which nature has given us, for it is evident that mans weapons were not intended for us.

[Footnote 4: One of the High peaks of the Smoky Mountains, on the Tennessee line, near Clingmans Dome.]

No one could suggest any better plan, so the old chief dismissed the council and the bears dispersed to their forest haunts without having concerted any means for preventing the increase of the human race. Had the result of the council been otherwise, we should now be at war with the bears, but as it is the hunter does not even ask the bears pardon when he kills one.

The deer next held a council under their chief, the Little Deer, and after some deliberation resolved to inflict rheumatism upon every hunter who should kill one of their number, unless he took care to ask their pardon for the offense. They sent notice of their decision to the nearest settlement of Indians and told them at the same time how to make propitiation when necessity forced them to kill one of the deer tribe. Now, whenever the hunter brings down a deer, the Little Deer, who is swift as the wind and can not be wounded, runs quickly up to the spot and bending over the blood stains asks the spirit of the deer if it has heard the prayer of the hunter for pardon. If the reply be Yes all is well and the Little Deer goes on his way, but if the reply be in the negative he follows on the trail of the hunter, guided by the drops of blood on the ground, until he arrives at the cabin in the settlement, when the Little Deer enters invisibly and strikes the neglectful hunter with rheumatism, so that he is rendered on the instant a helpless cripple. No hunter who has regard for his health ever fails to ask pardon of the deer for killing it, although some who have not learned the proper formula may attempt to turn aside the Little Deer from his pursuit by building a fire behind them in the trail.

Next came the fishes and reptiles, who had their own grievances against humanity. They held a joint council and determined to make their victims dream of snakes twining about them in slimy folds and blowing their fetid breath in their faces, or to make them dream of eating raw or decaying fish, so that they would lose appet.i.te, sicken, and die. Thus it is that snake and fish dreams are accounted for.

Finally the birds, insects, and smaller animals came together for a like purpose, and the Grubworm presided over the deliberations. It was decided that each in turn should express an opinion and then vote on the question as to whether or not man should be deemed guilty.

Seven votes were to be sufficient to condemn him. One after another denounced mans cruelty and injustice toward the other animals and voted in favor of his death. The Frog (walsi) spoke first and said: We must do something to check the increase of the race or people will become so numerous that we shall be crowded from off the earth. See how man has kicked me about because Im ugly, as he says, until my back is covered with sores; and here he showed the spots on his skin. Next came the Bird (tsiskwa; no particular species is indicated), who condemned man because he burns my feet off, alluding to the way in which the hunter barbecues birds by impaling them on a stick set over the fire, so that their feathers and tender feet are singed and burned. Others followed in the same strain. The Ground Squirrel alone ventured to say a word in behalf of man, who seldom hurt him because he was so small; but this so enraged the others that they fell upon the Ground Squirrel and tore him with their teeth and claws, and the stripes remain on his back to this day.

The a.s.sembly then began to devise and name various diseases, one after another, and had not their invention finally failed them not one of the human race would have been able to survive. The Grubworm in his place of honor hailed each new malady with delight, until at last they had reached the end of the list, when some one suggested that it be arranged so that menstruation should sometimes prove fatal to woman.

On this he rose up in his place and cried: Watan Thanks! Im glad some of them will die, for they are getting so thick that they tread on me. He fairly shook with joy at the thought, so that he fell over backward and could not get on his feet again, but had to wriggle off on his back, as the Grubworm has done ever since.

When the plants, who were friendly to man, heard what had been done by the animals, they determined to defeat their evil designs. Each tree, shrub, and herb, down, even to the gra.s.ses and mosses, agreed to furnish a remedy for some one of the diseases named, and each said: I shall appear to help man when he calls upon me in his need. Thus did medicine originate, and the plants, every one of which has its use if we only knew it, furnish the antidote to counteract the evil wrought by the revengeful animals. When the doctor is in doubt what treatment to apply for the relief of a patient, the spirit of the plant suggests to him the proper remedy.

THEORY OF DISEASE--ANIMALS, GHOSTS, WITCHES.

Such is the belief upon which their medical practice is based, and whatever we may think of the theory it must be admitted that the practice is consistent in all its details with the views set forth in the myth. Like most primitive people the Cherokees believe that disease and death are not natural, but are due to the evil influence of animal spirits, ghosts, or witches. Haywood, writing in 1823, states on the authority of two intelligent residents of the Cherokee nation:

In ancient times the Cherokees had no conception of anyone dying a natural death. They universally ascribed the death of those who perished by disease to the intervention or agency of evil spirits and witches and conjurers who had connection with the s.h.i.+na (Anisgina) or evil spirits.... A person dying by disease and charging his death to have been procured by means of witchcraft or spirits, by any other person, consigns that person to inevitable death. They profess to believe that their conjurations have no effect upon white men.[5]

[Footnote 5: Haywood, John: Natural and Aboriginal History of East Tennessee, 267-8, Nashville, 1823.]

On the authority of one of the same informants, he also mentions the veneration which their physicians have for the numbers four and seven, who say that after man was placed upon the earth four and seven nights were inst.i.tuted for the cure of diseases in the human body and the seventh night as the limit for female impurity.[6]

[Footnote 6: Ibid., p. 281.]

Viewed from a scientific standpoint, their theory and diagnosis are entirely wrong, and consequently we can hardly expect their therapeutic system to be correct. As the learned Doctor Berendt states, after an exhaustive study of the medical books of the Mayas, the scientific value of their remedies is next to nothing. It must be admitted that many of the plants used in their medical practice possess real curative properties, but it is equally true that many others held in as high estimation are inert. It seems probable that in the beginning the various herbs and other plants were regarded as so many fetiches and were selected from some fancied connection with the disease animal, according to the idea known to modern folklorists as the doctrine of signatures. Thus at the present day the doctor puts into the decoction intended as a vermifuge some of the red fleshy stalks of the common purslane or chickweed (Portulaca oleracea), because these stalks somewhat resemble worms and consequently must have some occult influence over worms. Here the chickweed is a fetich precisely as is the flint arrow head which is put into the same decoction, in order that in the same mysterious manner its sharp cutting qualities may be communicated to the liquid and enable it to cut the worms into pieces. In like manner, biliousness is called by the Cherokees dalni or yellow, because the most apparent symptom of the disease is the vomiting by the patient of the yellow bile, and hence the doctor selects for the decoction four different herbs, each of which is also called dalni, because of the color of the root, stalk, or flower. The same idea is carried out in the tabu which generally accompanies the treatment. Thus a scrofulous patient must abstain from eating the meat of a turkey, because the fleshy dewlap which depends from its throat somewhat resembles an inflamed scrofulous eruption. On killing a deer the hunter always makes an incision in the hind quarter and removes the hamstring, because this tendon, when severed, draws up into the flesh; ergo, any one who should unfortunately partake of the hamstring would find his limbs draw up in the same manner.

There can be no doubt that in course of time a haphazard use of plants would naturally lead to the discovery that certain herbs are efficacious in certain combinations of symptoms. These plants would thus come into more frequent use and finally would obtain general recognition in the Indian materia medica. By such a process of evolution an empiric system of medicine has grown up among the Cherokees, by which they are able to treat some cla.s.ses of ailments with some degree of success, although without any intelligent idea of the process involved. It must be remembered that our own medical system has its remote origin in the same mythic conception of disease, and that within two hundred years judicial courts have condemned women to be burned to death for producing sickness by spells and incantations, while even at the present day our faith-cure professors reap their richest harvest among people commonly supposed to belong to the intelligent cla.s.ses. In the treatment of wounds the Cherokee doctors exhibit a considerable degree of skill, but as far as any internal ailment is concerned the average farmers wife is worth all the doctors in the whole tribe.

The faith of the patient has much to do with his recovery, for the Indian has the same implicit confidence in the shaman that a child has in a more intelligent physician. The ceremonies and prayers are well calculated to inspire this feeling, and the effect thus produced upon the mind of the sick man undoubtedly reacts favorably upon his physical organization.

The following list of twenty plants used in Cherokee practice will give a better idea of the extent of their medical knowledge than could be conveyed by a lengthy dissertation. The names are given in the order in which they occur in the botanic notebook filled on the reservation, excluding names of food plants and species not identified, so that no attempt has been made to select in accordance with a preconceived theory. Following the name of each plant are given its uses as described by the Indian doctors, together with its properties as set forth in the United States Dispensatory, one of the leading pharmacopoeias in use in this country.[7] For the benefit of those not versed in medical phraseology it may be stated that aperient, cathartic, and deobstruent are terms applied to medicines intended to open or purge the bowels, a diuretic has the property of exciting the flow of urine, a diaph.o.r.etic excites perspiration, and a demulcent protects or soothes irritated tissues, while hmoptysis denotes a peculiar variety of blood-spitting and aphthous is an adjective applied to ulcerations in the mouth.

[Footnote 7: Wood, T. B., and Bache, F.: Dispensatory of the United States of America, 14th ed., Philadelphia, 1877.]

SELECTED LIST OF PLANTS USED.

1. UNASTETSTIY = very small root-- Aristolochia serpentaria-- Virginia or black snakeroot: Decoction of root blown upon patient for fever and feverish headache, and drunk for coughs; root chewed and spit upon wound to cure snake bites; bruised root placed in hollow tooth for toothache, and held against nose made sore by constant blowing in colds. Dispensatory: A stimulant tonic, acting also as a diaph.o.r.etic or diuretic, according to the mode of its application; * * * also been highly recommended in intermittent fevers, and though itself generally inadequate to the cure often proves serviceable as an adjunct to Peruvian bark or sulphate of quinia. Also used for typhous diseases, in dyspepsia, as a gargle for sore throat, as a mild stimulant in typhoid fevers, and to promote eruptions. The genus derives its scientific name from its supposed efficacy in promoting menstrual discharge, and some species have acquired the reputation of antidotes for the bites of serpents.

2. UNISTILnIST[8] = they stick on-- Cynoglossum Morrisoni-- Beggar lice: Decoction of root or top drunk for kidney troubles; bruised root used with bear oil as an ointment for cancer; forgetful persons drink a decoction of this plant, and probably also of other similar bur plants, from an idea that the sticking qualities of the burs will thus be imparted to the memory. From a similar connection of ideas the root is also used in the preparation of love charms.

Dispensatory: Not named. C. officinale has been used as a demulcent and sedative in coughs, catarrh, spitting of blood, dysentery, and diarrhea, and has been also applied externally in burns, ulcers, scrofulous tumors and goiter.

[Footnote 8: The Cherokee plant names here given are generic names, which are the names commonly used. In many cases the same name is applied to several species and it is only when it is necessary to distinguish between them that the Indians use what might be called specific names. Even then the descriptive term used serves to distinguish only the particular plants under discussion and the introduction of another variety bearing the same generic name would necessitate a new cla.s.sification of species on a different basis, while hardly any two individuals would cla.s.sify the species by the same characteristics.]

3. nNAGI = black-- Ca.s.sia Marilandica-- Wild senna: Root bruised and moistened with water for poulticing sores; decoction drunk for fever and for a disease also called nnagei, or black (same name as plant), in which the hands and eye sockets are said to turn black; also for a disease described as similar to nnagei, but more dangerous, in which the eye sockets become black, while black spots appear on the arms, legs, and over the ribs on one side of the body, accompanied by partial paralysis, and resulting in death should the black spots appear also on the other side. Dispensatory: Described as an efficient and safe cathartic, * * * most conveniently given in the form of infusion.

4. KSDTA = simulating ashes, so called on account of the appearance of the leaves-- Gnaphalium decurrens-- Life everlasting: Decoction drunk for colds; also used in the sweat bath for various diseases and considered one of their most valuable medical plants.

Dispensatory: Not named. Decoctions of two other species of this genus are mentioned as used by country people for chest and bowel diseases, and for hemorrhages, bruises, ulcers, etc., although probably possessing little medicinal virtue.

5. ALTSASTI = a wreath for the head-- Vicia Caroliniana-- Vetch: Decoction drunk for dyspepsia and pains in the back, and rubbed on stomach for cramp; also rubbed on ball-players after scratching, to render their muscles tough, and used in the same way after scratching in the disease referred to under nnagei, in which one side becomes black in spots, with partial paralysis; also used in same manner in decoction with Ksduta for rheumatism; considered one of their most valuable medicinal herbs. Dispensatory: Not named.

6. DISTAIYI = they (the roots) are tough-- Tephrosia Virginiana-- Catgut, Turkey Pea, Goats Rue, or Devils Shoestrings: Decoction drunk for la.s.situde. Women wash their hair in decoction of its roots to prevent its breaking or falling out, because these roots are very tough and hard to break; from the same idea ball-players rub the decoction on their limbs after scratching, to toughen them.

Dispensatory: Described as a cathartic with roots tonic and aperient.

7. UGA-ATASGISKI = the pus oozes out-- Euphorbia hypericifolia-- Milkweed: Juice rubbed on for skin eruptions, especially on childrens heads; also used as a purgative; decoction drunk for gonorrhoea and similar diseases in both s.e.xes, and held in high estimation for this purpose; juice used as an ointment for sores and for sore nipples, and in connection with other herbs for cancer. Dispensatory: The juice of all of the genus has the property of powerfully irritating the skin when applied to it, while nearly all are powerful emetics and cathartics. This species has been highly commended as a remedy in dysentery after due depletion, diarrhea, menorrhagia, and leucorrhea.

8. GNIGWALISKI = It becomes discolored when bruised-- Scutellaria lateriflora-- Skullcap. The name refers to the red juice which comes out of the stalk when bruised or chewed. A decoction of the four varieties of Gnigwaliski-- S. lateriflora, S. pilosa, Hyperic.u.m corymbosum, and Stylosanthes elatior-- is drunk to promote menstruation, and the same decoction is also drunk and used as a wash to counteract the ill effects of eating food prepared by a woman in the menstrual condition, or when such a woman by chance comes into a sick room or a house under the tabu; also drunk for diarrhea and used with other herbs in decoction for breast pains. Dispensatory: This plant produces no very obvious effects, but some doctors regard it as possessed of nervine, antispasmodic and tonic properties. None of the other three species are named.

9. K'GA SKnTAGI = crow s.h.i.+n-- Adiantum pedatum-- Maidenhair Fern: Used either in decoction or poultice for rheumatism and chills, generally in connection with some other fern. The doctors explain that the fronds of the different varieties of fern are curled up in the young plant, but unroll and straighten out as it grows, and consequently a decoction of ferns causes the contracted muscles of the rheumatic patient to unbend and straighten out in like manner. It is also used in decoction for fever. Dispensatory: The leaves have been supposed to be useful in chronic catarrh and other pectoral affections.

10. ANDANKALAGISKI = it removes things from the gums-- Geranium maculatum-- Wild Alum, Cranesbill: Used in decoction with Yn Unihyesti (Vitis cordifolia) to wash the mouths of children in thrush; also used alone for the same purpose by blowing the chewed fiber into the mouth. Dispensatory: One of our best indigenous astringents. * * * Diarrhea, chronic dysentery, cholora infantum in the latter stages, and the various hemorrhages are the forms of disease in which it is most commonly used. Also valuable as an application to indolent ulcers, an injection in gleet and leucorrhea, a gargle in relaxation of the uvula and aphthous ulcerations of the throat. The other plant sometimes used with it is not mentioned.

11. nLE UKILTI = the locust frequents it-- Gillenia trifoliata-- Indian Physic. Two doctors state that it is good as a tea for bowel complaints, with fever and yellow vomit; but another says that it is poisonous and that no decoction is ever drunk, but that the beaten root is a good poultice for swellings. Dispensatory: Gillenia is a mild and efficient emetic, and like most substances belonging to the same cla.s.s occasionally acts upon the bowels. In very small doses it has been thought to be tonic.

12. SKWALI = Hepatica acutiloba-- Liverwort, Heartleaf: Used for coughs either in tea or by chewing root. Those who dream of snakes drink a decoction of this herb and Inat Gan?ka = snake tongue (Camptosorus rhizophyllus or Walking Fern) to produce vomiting, after which the dreams do not return. The traders buy large quant.i.ties of liverwort from the Cherokees, who may thus have learned to esteem it more highly than they otherwise would. The appearance of the other plant, Camptosorus rhizophyllus, has evidently determined its Cherokee name and the use to which it is applied. Dispensatory: Liverwort is a very mild demulcent tonic and astringent, supposed by some to possess diuretic and deobstruent virtues. It was formerly used in Europe in various complaints, especially chronic hepatic affections, but has fallen into entire neglect. In this country, some years since, it acquired considerable reputation, which, however, it has not maintained as a remedy in hmoptysis and chronic coughs. The other plant is not named.

13. DAYEW = it sews itself up, because the leaves are said to grow together again when torn-- Cacalia atriplicifolia-- Ta.s.sel Flower: Held in great repute as a poultice for cuts, bruises, and cancer, to draw out the blood or poisonous matter. The bruised leaf is bound over the spot and frequently removed. The dry powdered leaf was formerly used to sprinkle over food like salt. Dispensatory: Not named.

14. ATALI KLI = it climbs the mountain.-- Aralia quinquefolia-- Ginseng or Sang: Decoction of root drunk for headache, cramps, etc., and for female troubles; chewed root blown on spot for pains in the side. The Cherokees sell large quant.i.ties of sang to the traders for 50 cents per pound, nearly equivalent there to two days wages, a fact which has doubtless increased their idea of its importance.

Dispensatory: The extraordinary medical virtues formerly ascribed to ginseng had no other existence than in the imagination of the Chinese.

It is little more than a demulcent, and in this country is not employed as a medicine. The Chinese name, ginseng, is said to refer to the fancied resemblance of the root to a human figure, while in the Cherokee formulas it is addressed as the great man or little man, and this resemblance no doubt has much to do with the estimation in which it is held by both peoples.

15. TSATI UWADSISKA = fish scales, from shape of leaves-- Thalictrum anemonoides-- Meadow Rue: Decoction of root drunk for diarrhea with vomiting. Dispensatory: Not named.

16. KKWE ULASULA = partridge moccasin-- Cypripedium parviflorum-- Lady-slipper: Decoction of root used for worms in children. In the liquid are placed some stalks of the common chickweed or purslane (Cerastium vulgatum) which, from the appearance of its red fleshy stalks, is supposed to have some connection with worms. Dispensatory: Described as a gentle nervous stimulant useful in diseases in which the nerves are especially affected. The other herb is not named.

17. AHAWI AKATA = deer eye, from the appearance of the flower-- Rudbeckia fulgida-- Cone Flower: Decoction of root drunk for flux and for some private diseases; also used as a wash for snake bites and swellings caused by (mythic) tsgya or worms; also dropped into weak or inflamed eyes. This last is probably from the supposed connection between the eye and the flower resembling the eye. Dispensatory: Not named.

18. UTISTUGI = Polygonatum multiflorum latifolium-- Solomons Seal: Root heated and bruised and applied as a poultice to remove an ulcerating swelling called tusti, resembling a boil or carbuncle.

Dispensatory: This species acts like P. uniflorum, which is said to be emetic. In former times it was used externally in bruises, especially those about the eyes, in tumors, wounds, and cutaneous eruptions and was highly esteemed as a cosmetic. At present it is not employed, though recommended by Hermann as a good remedy in gout and rheumatism. This species in decoction has been found to produce nausea, a cathartic effect and either diaph.o.r.esis or diuresis, and is useful as an internal remedy in piles, and externally in the form of decoction, in the affection of the skin resulting from the poisonous exhalations of certain plants.

19. AMADITA?T = water dipper, because water can be sucked up through its hollow stalk-- Eupatorium purpureum-- Queen of the Meadow, Gravel Root: Root used in decoction with a somewhat similar plant called Amaditti tanu, or large water dipper (not identified) for difficult urination. Dispensatory: Said to operate as a diuretic. Its vulgar name of gravel root indicates the popular estimation of its virtues. The genus is described as tonic, diaph.o.r.etic, and in large doses emetic and aperient.

20. YNA UTSESTA = the bear lies on it-- Aspidium acrostichoides-- s.h.i.+eld Fern: Root decoction drunk to produce vomiting, and also used to rub on the skin, after scratching, for rheumatism--in both cases some other plant is added to the decoction; the warm decoction is also held in the mouth to relieve toothache. Dispensatory: Not named.