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Ishi’s Double Standard
Ishi has a dual interpretation: One for M. Geddes Gengras himself and one for us.
In the former case, it is a reference to “the last wild Indian”.
“In August of 1911 a starving native-American man walked out of the Butte County wilderness into Oroville and became an instant journalistic sensation. He was identified by UC anthropologists Alfred Kroeber and T. T. Waterman as the last of a remnant band of Yahi people native to the Deer Creek region. The UC anthropologists immediately went north to Oroville and brought him back to live on the Parnassus campus, giving him the name “Ishi” which meant “man” in the Yahi language.“
In the latter case, however, things go dim and scary. Our picture of Ishi in mind goes back to the Epidemic Prevention and Water Purification Department of the Kwantung Army!
“Both the United States and Great Britain tested biological weapons during World War II, but for ethical reasons such tests were limited to animal subjects. Japanese medical officer Shiro Ishii had no such scruples, and he unleashed some of nature’s deadliest pathogens on helpless humans, with horrifying results.”
