Browse:Doctor Absorbs Disease (Volume 1, entries 1007)
Doctor Absorbs Disease
Volume 1, entries 1007. Source context: THE DOCTORS AT WORK: REPORTS FROM LAYMEN → FOLK MEDICINE → FOLK MEDICINE (1) PRINCIPLES OF HEALING. Entries listed under this heading in the source volume.
Entries
Entry 1007
[This man spoke so rapidly I could repeat only snatches of his conver- sation to my Ediphone. After his departure I pieced together a few beliefs such as the following:] [The informant and another man quarreled about a woman. Sometimes later, not suspecting any evil motive, he accepted a drink of whiskey from his rival. After a few days came four paralytic strokes in his left side, one following the other and all on the same morning. Failing to be helped by five doctors, he went to Norfolk, Virginia to consult a conjurer. This healer, stating that he could rid him of paralysis, demanded a fifty-dollar fee in advance. The patient offered to pay twenty-five dollars down and the balance on recovery but these terms were refused. At this point my informant became so skeptical orally, the conjurer defended his power by claiming he could take the paralysis upon himself - absorb it into his body. Negotiations collapsed.]