Evening star., 1936-04-25
STARS, MEN AND ATOMS
Notebook of Science Progress in Field,
Laboratory and Study.
BY THOMAS K. HENRY,

A system of do-psychoanalysis IS
practlsed by the medicine men Of the
Eastern Cherokees on their reservation,
in the Great Smokes.
Their colorful system of dream inter-
pretation is described by DR.. Franz NJ
Olbrechts, Belgian authority on the
ethnology Of medicine. for the Smith
sonian Institution. The shaman, he
found. may investigate the entire dream
life Of his patient for two or three years
In seeking the cause of a particular
sickness. It rests with the doctor"
himself how deeply he will probe into
the past to find a dream that will ex-
plain case.
Originally the shaman proceeded on
the theory that the dream itself caused
the sickness. 1t was looked upon as q
material experience having an imme-
diate or delayed physical aftermath. At
present the tendency is to regard the
sleep experience as an omen, rather than
as an actual happening.
DIR. Olbrechts was guided In his study
of Cherokee medicine by an old Indian
manuscript in the possession of the
Bureau of American Ethnology, the
editing of which had been left unfin-
ished by the late James Mooney of the
Smithsonian staff. Apparently, he
found, most of the dreams used for
diagnostic purposes were Nightmares.
One of the worst Nightmares is that
in which "the little people" appear.
These are evil fairies of the hills with
long hair falling down to their heels.
Their appearance in a dream causes
insanity" The dream of the sun, the
moon, or of birds causes, or presages.
fever. Dreams of a rattlesnake, deep
water or lean meat result in toothache.
When one dreams of wasps, bees or
hornets it means blindness. To burn
the foot, hand or finger in a dream
means that the dreamer is going to be
bitten by snake. The dream of ball
game In which the dreamers team wins
means that some one in the village will
die soon. The nightmare of train
rushing to cabin indicates that some
inmate will die in less than a year. A
dream train journey with companion
means that the companion shortly will
perish. If one dreams that a member
of the family is leaving home it means
that person is marked for an early
death.
There are large number OF dreams
causing, or presaging, sickness in gen.
eral. Such dreams are of snakes, floods,
great gatherings of people, loss Of small
personal belongings, the appearance Of
dead person, the burning of q cabin.
1t is common to interpret dreams in
terms Of their opposites. Thus a dream
Of cold day indicates that the next
will be warm, or Of rain that the next
day will be fair.
~ -
The sand-dwelling copepods-a large
and important group of microscopic ami
mails hitherto unknown to science-are
described by DR.. Charles Branch Wilson
in bulletin just issued by the Smith
sonian Institution.
The copepods, sometimes known as
"sea lice," are a family Of minute
crustaceans which make up q large part
of the plankton of the oceans. This con-
stitutes the food of many fishes and Is
Of inestimable economic importance. DR..
Wilson has found that many varieties
actually spend their lives in the sand or
bottom mud and have undergone sig
nificant evolutionary changes in adapt
ing themselves to such habitat.
Beaches along Cape Cod and the Maine
coast, he finds, literally are teeming with
them. They not only live in the sand
and mud while it Is coyeEed by the tide.