Abstract
ON p. 1033 of this issue extracts are given from an account of some remarkable magico-religious observances recorded by. Dr. Robert Gessain in the district surrounding Huehuetla, a village in the State of Hidalgo, Mexico, in which in certain respects the use of paper figurines, or munecos, recalls practices of Old World witches and the employment of waxen images against their victims. The expedition, of which Dr. and Mme. Gessain were the personnel, was the fifth of a series sent out by an organization for which Dr. P. Rivet of Paris is mainly responsible. This organization, known as the “École française de Mexico”, sends out each year a research worker to carry on investigations in that country. In view of Dr. Gessain's qualifications as medical man and anthropologist, in which capacity he had already worked in Greenland, the objective of the expedition was mainly to record observations in physical anthropology, including racial pathology, combined with linguistic and ethnographic inquiry as a subsidiary aid in gaining the confidence of the people. Equipment for testing blood groups and making psychophysiological observations was also carried. Unfortunately much delay in reaching the base of operations was caused by difficulties in getting the scientific equipment into the country; and after a few weeks work only, both members of the expedition were taken seriously ill and had eventually to return to France. This happened at a peculiarly inopportuno moment, as they had just made a beginning in breaking down the hostility and suspicion with which their early inquiries had been received. Notwithstanding this unfavourable attitude of the inhabitants, a number of interesting anthropographic and demographic observations have been made—the congenital or ‘Mongolian’ patch was found on all infants —and, in addition to the cultural evidence noted above, songs, technological films and a large number of anthropological and ethnographical photographs have been secured.
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Anthropological Investigation in Mexico. Nature 144, 1039 (1939). https://doi.org/10.1038/1441039b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/1441039b0