man is subject to the government of invisible and malignant beings of whom he can know nothing, and whose anger, when aroused, no merely material agencies can appease. So in every case of sickness offerings must be made to the offended spirits; readings from the sacred books and prayers must be rehearsed.
These beliefs, however, as long as they remain general and theoretical, are mild in their effects in comparison with another superstition of the Laos, which I must not fail to mention. Abandoning the vague and general, in this superstition their belief becomes terribly specific: they imagine that the spirit or essence of one living person may enter the body of another person and inflict serious injuries, and, unless expelled, even destroy life; furthermore, they can ascertain whose spirit it is. This kind of spirit they term Pee K'a. Hysteria, delirium, variation of surface temperature are among the symptoms supposed to indicate this kind of possession. The treatment is a specialty, and the doctors who understand these cases gain great notoriety and are sent for from far and near to exorcise the spirits. The exorcism involves a practice full of savage cruelty to the patient and of barbarous injustice to the unfortunate neighbor whose spirit is accused of having entered the patient. I had repeatedly requested permission to witness an investigation of one of these cases,
