Note 90 — THE ETHNOLOGY OF PEYOTISM

“A sweatbath was always undergone by warriors preparing for war ... and perhaps generally, before any serious or hazardous undertaking.... Sweating was important in medical practice for the cure of disease.... Sometimes the friends and relatives of the sick person ... assembled in the sweathouse, sang and prayed for the patient’s recovery” (Handbook of the American Indians, 2:661b). The peyote meeting and sweating present many such analogies.