MAGIC STONES AND ELECTRIC GEMS 19
completed
the sorcerer was clever enough to feign extreme exhaustion, as though
his vital forces had been subjected to a tremendous strain.33
In
British New Guinea similar tactics are resorted to by the native
doctors. A native who was suffering from lumbago fully believed the
tale that his disease was caused by a stone embedded in his flesh. When
the sorcerer made passes over this man's back and then exhibited a
stone which he pretended to have taken thence, the sufferer was
convinced that the disease had left his body, and he began to feel
relief. When examined, his back showed some superficial cuts at the
spot where the stone was said to have been extracted. In another case,
however, when a child was to be operated upon in a like way, the
child's father became suspicious and seized the operator's hands before
they came into contact with the little one's body; the result being
that the disease-laden stone was found concealed in the operator's hand.34
Pebble-mania
or lithomania is an inherent trait in all mankind. From the most
primitive man to the most modern, especially those of optimistic and
investigating tendencies, this trait is present in a greater or lesser
degree. That is, curious people would collect pebbles for their bright
colors,or markings, for their transparency or trauslucence, and those
of an investigating turn of mind, under the impression that the find
was perhaps a diamond or a gem of some kind. In modern times this kind
of collecting has developed into a regular industry, pebbles found on
the shores of the United States and which are either pure white,
transparent or translucent quartz, being cut and offered for sale.
These pebbles
"Vogt, "Die Indianer des oberen Parana," Mitteilungen d. Anthrop. Gesellech. in Wien, 1904, vol. xxxiv, pp. 206, 207.
"Hovorka and Kronfeld, "Vergleichende Volksmedizin," vol. il, p. 900; communication from Dr. Rudolf Pöch.
