Show THE INDIAN MEDICINE MAN wonderful Wonder rux feats feat of wrestling with altu tike the demons of disease although the indian medicine man does docs not practice with white mens medicine lie evidently can do much m the powerful influence of the beliefs which aln cli acthia actuate to his subjects is as well as himself the following declaration is certainly remarkable 1 I havo have known neuralgias rheama timms fevers diarrhoeas agues paralyses cystitis etc to be permanently manent ly relieved or benefited tumors to dimp disappear pear convulsions controlled ortro or produced persons to tobe become como instantaneously stricken with blindness or palsy rendered oblivious to pain and torture deprived of muscular power and made as rigid as maible to drop as it if dead and rise and walk when an instant before incapable of tho the slightest exertion all by the conjurations conjugations and incantations of medicine men also I 1 am personally conversant with the prediction of events in the far future exactly as they subsequently occurred and with scrupulous fidelity to details the movements of persons and individuals to be described in minutiae minu who had never been seen much less heard of and who were hundreds of miles away at the time moreover blore over I 1 have witnessed feats of legerdemain jugglery and necromancy exhibited in broad daylight under the full glare of the sun as well as at night without paraphernalia or mystic aids that would puzzle the most astute professor of civilized magic some to be sure susceptible of explanation under physical and psychical laws and others not so readily disposed of save as optical and aural delusions and tricks of the imagination noise and odor are the means by which the medicine man operates upon the demons which afflict the sick man the patient is shut up in a close and stifling atmosphere and submitted to combinations of sounds and smells calculated to drive the most obstreperous of foul devils to the remote confines of space odors so very infernal and nauseous that oven even dogs are am made ill thereby when the medicine man is called he proceeds to business at once the diagnosis does not bother jilin him for all diseases have a similar origin and by means of the amulets in his medicine bag lie he can immediately find out which is the special foul fiend ho he lias has to deal with as well as discern the proper treatment only one opinion is possible the number and malignancy of the demons at work in a given case is the only thing to bo be determined ter mined if possible the incantation is put off until night because the spirits are more easily brought under discipline in darkness the proceedings usually begin with a monotonous chant that disep rises and falls with abrupt inflections inflection in this the demons are alternately coaxed humored or threatened and in in every way abjured to leave their present habitation and resume their proper forms in the meantime the assistants keep up a running accompaniment with drums and rattles made from gourds geurds and parchment gradually the songs become louder lot tiler and more violent the drums and rattles increase their din higher and higher shriller sh riller and still more shrill becomes tho the voice of the conjurer until it becomes a frantic piercing and the dm din is a pandemonium altogether fiendish crazing and excruciating beyond comprehension finally utterly exhausted the chief performer black in ia the face and streaming perspiration from froin ev every ery pore pauses pause sand and eats all Ali present fall to and fill themselves to repletion this performance for mance is repeated again and again while the smoke and fumes of burning gunpowder fish entrails bears hair parchment fur and other odorous substances too disgusting to mention fill the lodge to suffocation with smells that can fairly bo be felt during the interval the patient is blown upon with the breath the painful parts sucked with the mouth or gashed with knives or flints so that an imitation of wet cupping can be practiced by means of a bison horn born from which the air has been exhausted by suction to complete the expulsion of the demon and to keep him away the tha incantation ends with a discharge of firearms through the lodges and all around and this is sometimes kept up for hours after the medi tine teine man has taken his departure sometimes the demon shows but little strength and is driven away quite easily but a strong and malignant individual may require a granli grand council of practitioners and several weeks of efforts like those just described before the patient gets well or dies in other words before the demons prove amenable to discipline or show themselves too strong unfortunately tuna tely in spite of all precautions the demon frequently returns there is a relapse or as tho the unbeliever might say the nervous excitement and impression upon the imagination wear off and tho the same old conditions are found to bo be present as before this of course requires more incantations until at last nature comes to the sick mans aid or death closes the scene in the tha latter event the practitioner is not blamed it is to bo expected that a demon of any power or reputation would endeavor to outwit the medicine men and come back with every opportunity and tho the more powerful its manifestations when it does come back the greater the evidence of abilia on the part of the practitioner besides the one first in possession may have called in others to help mm him defy tho the medicine men or tho the supreme spirit himself may mav I 1 have ibave taken matters into lug his own hands anil and interfered with all efforts to save the patient because the latter lias has broken some vow mado made years roars before perhaps at all events the result was inevitable for the savage is a firm be believer llever in fate globe democrat |