6. Similar fanatical sects exhibit among all nations[337] of ancient

and modern times the same phenomena. An over-strained bigotry is, in itself, and considered in a medical point of view, a destructive irritation of the senses, which draws men away from the efficiency of mental freedom, and peculiarly favours the most injurious emotions. Sensual ebullitions, with strong convulsions of the nerves, appear sooner or later[338], and insanity, suicidal disgust of life, and incurable nervous disorders[339], are but too frequently the consequences of a perverse, and, indeed, hypocritical zeal, which has ever prevailed, as well in the assemblies of the Mænades and Corybantes of antiquity, as under the semblance of religion among the Christians and Mahomedans. There are some denominations of English Methodists which surpass, if possible, the French Convulsionnaires; and we may here mention, in particular, the Jumpers, among whom it is still more difficult, than in the example given above, to draw the line between religious ecstacy and a perfect disorder of the nerves; sympathy, however, operates perhaps more perniciously on them than on other fanatical assemblies. The sect of Jumpers was founded in the year 1760, in the county of Cornwall, by two fanatics[340], who were, even at that time, able to collect together a considerable party. Their general doctrine is that of the Methodists, and claims our consideration here, only in so far as it enjoins them, during their devotional exercises, to fall into convulsions, which they are able to effect in the strangest manner imaginable. By the use of certain unmeaning words, they work themselves up into a state of religious frenzy, in which they seem to have scarcely any control over their senses. They then begin to jump with strange gestures, repeating this exercise with all their might, until they are exhausted, so that it not unfrequently happens that women, who, like the Mænades, practise these religious exercises, are carried away from the midst of them in a state of syncope, whilst the remaining members of the congregations, for miles together, on their way home, terrify those whom they meet by the sight of such demoniacal ravings. There are never more than a few ecstatics, who, by their example, excite the rest to jump, and these are followed by the greatest part of the meeting, so that these assemblages of the Jumpers resemble, for hours together, the wildest orgies, rather than congregations met for Christian edification[341]. In the United States of North America, communities of Methodists have existed for the last sixty years. The reports of credible witnesses of their assemblages for divine service in the open-air (camp meetings)[342], to which many thousands flock from great distances[343], surpass, indeed, all belief; for not only do they there repeat all the insane acts of the French Convulsionnaires and of the English Jumpers, but the disorder of their minds and of their nerves attains, at these meetings, a still greater height. Women have been seen to miscarry whilst suffering under the state of ecstacy and violent spasms into which they are thrown, and others have publicly stripped themselves and jumped into the rivers. They have swooned away[344] by hundreds, worn out with ravings and fits; and of the Barkers, who appeared among the Convulsionnaires only here and there, in single cases of complete aberration of intellect, whole bands are seen running on all fours, and growling[345] as if they wished to indicate, even by their outward form, the shocking degradation of their human nature. At these camp-meetings the children are witnesses of this mad infatuation, and as their weak nerves are, with the greatest facility, affected by sympathy, they, together with their parents, fall into violent fits, though they know nothing of their import, and many of them retain for life some severe nervous disorder, which, having arisen from fright and excessive excitement, will not afterwards yield to any medical treatment[346]. But enough of these extravagances, which, even in our own days, embitter the lives of so many thousands, and exhibit to the world, in the nineteenth century, the same terrific form of mental disturbance as the St. Vitus’s dance once did to the benighted nations of the middle ages. APPENDIX I. _Petri de Herentals_, Prioris Floreffiensis Vita _Gregorii XI._, in _Stephan. Baluzii_ Vitæ Paparum Avenionensium. T. I. Paris, 1693. _4to. p. 483_. Ejus tempore, videlicet A. D. MCCCLXXV., mira secta tam virorum quam mulierum venit Aquisgrani de partibus Alamanniæ, et ascendit usque Hanoniam seu Franciam, cujus talis fuit conditio. Nam homines utriusque sexus illudebantur a dæmonio, taliter quod tam in domibus quam in plateis et in Ecclesiis se invicem manibus tenentes chorizabant et in altum saltabant, ac quædam nomina dæmoniorum nominabant, videlicet _Friskes_ et similia, nullam cognitionem in hujusmodi chorizatione nec verecundiam sui propter astantes populos habentes. Et in fine hujus chorizationis in tantum circa pectoralia torquebantur, quod nisi mappulis lineis a suis amicis per medium ventris fortiter stringerentur, quasi furiose clamabant se mori. Hi vero in Leodio per conjurationes sumptas de illis quæ in catechismo ante baptismum fiunt, a dæmonio liberabantur, et sanati dicebant, quod videbatur eis _quod in hora hujus chorizationis erant in fluvio sanguinis, et propterea sic in altum saltabant_. Vulgus autem apud Leodium dicebat quod hujusmodi plaga populo contigisset eo, quod populus male baptizatus erat, maxime a Presbyteribus suas tenentibus concubinas. Et propter hoc proposuerat vulgus insurgere in clerum, eos occidendo et bona eorum diripiendo, nisi Deus de remedio providisset per conjurationes prædictas. Quo viso cessavit tempestas vulgi taliter quod clerus multo plus a populo fuit honoratus. De ista autem chorizatione seu secta talia extant rigmata: Oritur in seculo nova quædam secta In gestis aut in speculo visa plus nec lecta. Populus tripudiat nimium saltando. Se unus alteri sociat leviter clamando. _Frisch friskes cum gaudio clamat uterque sexus._ Cunctus manutergio et baculo connexus. Capite fert pelleum desuper sertum. _Cernit Mariæ filium et cœlum apertum._ Deorsum prosternitur. Dudum fit ululatus. Calcato ventre cernitur statim liberatus. Vagatur loca varia pompose vivendo. Mendicat necessaria propriis parcendo. _Spernit videre rubea et personam flentem._ Ad fidei contraria crigit hic gens mentem. Noctis sub umbraculo ista perpetravit. Cum naturali baculo subtus se calcavit. Clerum habet odio. Non curat sacramenta. Post sunt Leodio remedia inventa, Hanc nam fraudem qua suggessit sathan est convictus. Conjuratus evanescit. Hinc sit Christus benedictus. II. _Jo. Pistorii_ Rerum familiarumque Belgicarum Cbronicon magnum. Francof. 1654. _fol. p. 319_. De chorisantibus. Item Anno. Dn. MCCCLXXIV. tempore pontificates venerabilis Domini Joannis de Arckel Episcopi Leodiensis, in mense Julio in crastino divisionis Apostolorum visi sunt dansatores scilicet chorisantes, qui postea venerunt Trajectum, Leodium, Tungrim et alia loca istarum partium in mense Septembri. Et cœpit hæc _dæmoniaca pestis_ vexare in dictis locis et circumvicinis masculos et fœminas maxime pauperes et levis opinionis ad magnum omnium terrorem; pauci clericorum vel divitum sunt vexati. Serta in capitibus gestabant, circa ventrem mappa cum baculo se stringebant circa umbilicum, ubi post saltationem cadentes nimium torquebantur, et ne creparentur pedibus conculcabantur, vel contra creporem cum baculo ad mappam duriter se ligabant, vel cum pugno se trudi faciebant, rostra calceorum aliqui clamabant se abhorrere, unde in Leodio fieri tunc vetabantur. Ecclesias chorisando occupabant, et crescebant numerose de mense Septembri et Octobri, processiones fiebant ubique, litaniæ et missæ speciales. Leodii apud Sanctam crucem scholaris servitor in vesperis dedicationis, cœpit ludere cum thuribulo, et post vesperas fortiter saltare. Evocatus a pluribus, ut diceret Pater noster, noluit, et Credo respondit in diabolum. Quod videns capellanus, allata stola conjuravit cum per exorcismum baptizandorum, et statim dixit: Ecce inquit, scholaris recedit cum parva toga et calceis rostratis. Dic, tunc inquit, Pater noster et Credo. At ille utrumque dixit perfecte et curatus est. Apud Harstallium uno mane ante omnium Sanctorum, multi eorum ibi congregati consilium habuerunt, ut pariter venientes omnes canonicos, presbyteres et clericos Leodienses occiderent. Canonicus quidam parvæ mensæ minister Simon in claustro Leodiensi apud capellam Beatæ virginis, in Deo confortatus, scalam projecit in collum unius, dicens Evangelium: In principio erat verbum, super caput ejus, et per hoc fuit liberatus, et pro miraculo statim fuit pulsatum. Apud S. Bartolomæum Leodii, præsentibus multis, cuidam alii exorcisanti respondit dæmon: Ego exibo libenter. Expecta, inquit presbyter, volo tibi loqui. Et postquam aliquos alios curasset, dixit illi, loquere tu personaliter et responde mihi. Tum solus respondit dæmon: Nos eramus duo, sed socius meus nequior me, ante me exivit, habui tot pati in hoc corpore, si essem extra, nunquam intrarem in corpus Christianum. Cui presbyter: Quare intrasti corpora talium personarum? Respondit: Clerici et presbyteres dicunt tot pulchra verba et tot orationes, ut non possemus intrare corpora ipsorum. Si adhuc fuisset expectatum per quindenam vel mensem, nos intrassemus corpora divitum, et postea principum, et sic per eos destruxissemus clerum. Et hæc fuerunt ibi a multis audita et postea a multis narrata. Hæc pestis intra annum satis invaluit, sed postea per tres aut quatuor annos omnino cessavit. III[347]. Die Limburger Chronik, herausgegeben von _C. D. Vogel_. Marburg, 1828, _8vo. s. 71_. Anno 1374 zu mitten im Sommer, da erhub sich ein wunderlich Ding auff Erdreich, und sonderlich in Teutschen Landen, auff dem Rhein und auff der Mosel, also dass Leute anhuben zu tantzen und zu rasen, und stunden je zwey gegen ein, und tantzeten auff einer Stätte einen halben Tag, und in dem Tantz da fielen sie etwan offt nieder, und liessen sich mit Füssen tretten auff ihren Leib. Davon nahmen sie sich an, dass sie genesen wären. Und lieffen von einer Stadt zu der andern, und von einer Kirchen zu der andern, und huben Geld auff von den Leuten, wo es ihnen mocht gewerden. Und wurd des Dings also viel, dass man zu Cölln in der Stadt mehr dann fünff hundert Täntzer fand. Und fand man, dass es eine Ketzerey war, und geschahe um Golds willen, das ihr ein Theil Frau und Mann in Unkeuschheit mochten kommen, und die vollbringen. Und fand man da zu Cölln mehr dann hundert Frauen und Dienstmägde, die nicht eheliche Männer hatten. Die wurden alle in der Täntzerey Kinder-tragend, und wann dass sie tantzeten, so bunden und knebelten sie sich hart um den Leib, dass sie desto geringer wären. Hierauff sprachen ein Theils Meister, sonderlich der guten Artzt, das ein Theil wurden tantzend, die von heisser Natur wären, und von andern gebrechlichen natürlichen Sachen. Dann deren war wenig, denen das geschahe. Die Meister von der heiligen Schrift, die beschwohren der Täntzer ein Theil, die meynten, dass sie besessen wären von dem bösen Geist. Also nahm es ein betrogen End, und währete wohl sechszehn Wochen in diesen Landen oder in der Mass. Auch nahmen die vorgenannten Täntzer Mann und Frauen sich an, dass sie kein roth sehen möchten. Und war ein eitel Teuscherey, und ist verbottschaft gewesen an Christum nach meinem Bedünken. IV. Die Chronica van der hilliger Stat van Coellen. A. D. MCCCLXXIV. fol. 277. Coellen, 1499. fol. In dem seluen iair stonde eyn groisse kranckheit vp vnder den mynschen, ind was doch niet vill me gesyen dese selue kranckheit vur off nae ind quam van natuerlichen ursachen as die meyster schrijnen, ind noemen Sij maniam, dat is raserie off unsynnicheit. Ind vill lude beyde man ind frauwen junck ind alt hadden die kranckheit. Ind gyngen vyss huyss ind hoff, dat deden ouch junge meyde, die verliessen yr alderen, vrunde ind maege ind lantschaff. Disse vurss mynschen zo etzlichen tzijden as Sij die kranckheit anstiesse, so hadden Sij eyn wonderlich bewegung yrre lychamen. Sij gauen vyss kryschende vnd grusame stymme, ind mit dem wurpen Sij sich haestlich up die erden, vnd gyngen liggen up yren rugge, ind beyde man ind vrauwen moist men vmb yren buych ind vmp lenden gurdelen vnd kneuelen mit twelen vnd mit starcken breyden benden, asso stijff vnd harte als men mochte. Item asso gegurt mit den twelen dantzten Sij in kyrchen ind in clusen ind vp allen gewijeden steden. As Sij dantzten, so sprungen Sij allit vp ind rieffen, _Here sent Johan, so so, vrisch ind vro here sent Johan_. Item die ghene die die kranckheit hadden wurden gemeynlichen gesunt bynnen. VV. dagen. Zom lesten geschiede vill bouerie vnd droch dae mit. Eyndeyll naemen sich an dat Sij kranck weren. vp dat Sij mochten gelt dae durch bedelen. Die anderen vinsden sich kranck vp dat Sij mochten vnkuyschheit bedrijuen mit den vrauwen. jnd gyngen durch alle lant ind dreuen vill bouerie. Doch zo lesten brach idt vyss ind wurden verdreuen vyss den landen. Die selue dentzer quamen ouch zo Coellen tusschen tzwen vnser lieuen frauwen missen Assumptionis ind Natiuitatis. V. In the third volume of the Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, p. 434, there is an account of “some convulsive diseases in certain parts of Scotland, which is taken from Sir J. Sinclair’s statistical account, and from which I have thought it illustrative of our author’s subject to make some extracts; the first that is noticed is peculiar to a part of Forfarshire, and is called the leaping ague, which bears so close an analogy to the original St. Vitus’s Dance, or to Tarantism, that it seems to want only the “foul fiend,” or the dreaded bite, as a cause, and a Scotch reel or strathspey as a cure, to render the resemblance quite complete. “Those affected with it first complain of a pain in the head, or lower part of the back, to which succeed convulsive fits, or _fits of dancing_, at certain periods. During the paroxysm they have all the appearance of madness, distorting their bodies in various ways, and leaping and springing in a surprising manner, whence the disease has derived its vulgar name. Sometimes they run with astonishing velocity, and often over dangerous passes, to some place out of doors, which they have fixed on in their own minds, or, perhaps, even mentioned to those in company with them, and then _drop down quite exhausted_. At other times, especially when confined to the house, they climb in the most singular manner. In cottages, for example, they leap from the floor to what is called the baulks, or those beams by which the rafters are joined together, springing from one to another with the agility of a cat, or whirling round one of them, with a motion resembling the fly of a jack. Cold bathing is found to be the most effectual remedy; but when the fit of dancing, leaping, or running comes on, _nothing tends so much to abate the violence of the disease, as allowing them free scope to exercise themselves, till nature be exhausted_. No mention is made of its being peculiar to any age, sex, or condition of life, although I am informed by a gentleman from Brechin, that it is most common before puberty. In some families it seems to be hereditary; and I have heard of one, in which a horse was always kept ready saddled, to follow the young ladies belonging to it, when they were seized with a fit of running. It was first observed in the parish of Kenmuir, and has prevailed occasionally in that and the neighbouring parishes, for about seventy years: but it is not now nearly so frequent as it was about thirty years ago. The history of this singular affection is still extremely imperfect: and it is only from some of the medical practitioners in that part of the country where it prevails, that a complete description can be expected.” Our author has already noticed the convulsive disease prevalent in the Shetland Islands, and has quoted Hibbert’s account of it. The following, however, from a very valuable manuscript account of the Orkney and Shetland Islands, drawn up about 1774, by George Low, with notes, by Mr. Pennant, is given in the journal already cited, and will be read with interest. The facts were communicated to Mr. Low by the Rev. Wm. Archibald, parochial clergyman of Unst, the most northerly of the Shetlands. “There is a most shocking distemper, which has of late years prevailed very much, especially among young women, and was hardly known thirty or forty years ago. About that period only one person was subject to it. The inhabitants give it the name of convulsion fits; and indeed, in appearance it something resembles epilepsy. In its first rise, it began with a palpitation of the heart, of which they complained for a considerable time; it at length produced swooning fits, in which people seized with it would lie motionless upwards of an hour. At length, as the distemper gathered strength, when any violent passion seized, or on a sudden surprise, they would all at once fall down, toss their arms about, with their bodies, into many odd shapes, crying out all the while most dismally, throwing their heads about from side to side, with their eyes fixed and staring. At first this distemper obtained in a private way, with one female, but she being seized in a public way, at church, the disease was communicated to others; but, whether by the influence of _fear_ or _sympathy_, is not easy to determine. However this was, our public assemblies, especially at church, became greatly disturbed by their outcries. This distemper always prevails most violently during the summer time, in which season, for many years, we are hardly one sabbath free. In these few years past, it has not prevailed so extensively, and upon the whole, seems on the decline. One thing remarkable in this distemper is, that as soon as the fit is over, the persons affected with it are generally as lively and brisk as before; and if it happens at any of their public diversions, as soon as they revive, they mix with their companions, and continue their amusement as vigorously as if nothing had happened. Few men are troubled with this distemper, which seems more confined to women; but there are instances of its seizing men, and girls of six years of age. With respect to the nature of this disease, people who have made enquiry about it differ, but most imagine it hysterical; however, this seems not entirely the case, as men and children are subject to it; however, it is a new disease in Shetland, but whence imported, none can imagine. “When the statistical account of this parish was published, this awful and afflicting disease was becoming daily less common. In the parishes of Aithsting, Sandsting, and Northmaven, in which it was once very frequent, it was now totally extinct. In the last of these the cure is said to have been effected by a very singular remedy, which, if true, and there seems no reason to doubt it, shows the influence of moral causes in removing, as well as in inducing convulsive disorders.” The cure is attributed to a rough fellow of a kirk officer, who tossed a woman in that state, with whom he had been frequently troubled, into a ditch of water. She was never known to have the disease afterwards, and others dreaded the same treatment. “It, however, still prevails in some of the northern parishes, particularly in Delting, although, according to the description given of it, with some alteration in its symptoms. “Convulsion fits of a very extraordinary kind seem peculiar to this country. The patient is first seized with something like fainting, and immediately after utters wild cries and shrieks, the sound of which, at whatever distance, immediately puts all who are subject to the disorder in the same situation. It most commonly attacks them when the church is crowded, and often interrupts the service in this and many other churches in the country. On a sacramental occasion, fifty or sixty are sometimes carried out of the church, and laid in the churchyard, where they struggle and roar with all their strength, for five or ten minutes, and then rise up without recollecting a single circumstance that happened to them, or being in the least hurt or fatigued with the violent exertions they had made during the fit. One observation occurs on this disorder, that, during the late scarce years it was very uncommon, and, during the two last years of plenty (1791), it has appeared more frequently. “Similar instances of epidemical convulsions are already upon record; but the history of that which occurred in Anglesea, North Wales, is the most remarkable, as its progress was, in all probability, checked by the judicious precautions recommended by Dr. Haygarth. “In 1796, on the estates of the Earl of Uxbridge and Holland Griffith, Esq., 23 females, from 10 to 25, and one boy, of about 17 years of age, who had all intercourse with each other, were seized with an unusual kind of convulsions, affecting only the upper extremities. It began with pain of the head, and sometimes of the stomach and side, not very violent; after which there came on violent twitchings or convulsions of the upper extremities, continuing with little intermission, and causing the shoulders almost to meet by the exertion. In bed the disorder was not so violent: but, in some cases at least, it continued even during sleep. Their pulse was moderate, the body costive, and the general health not much impaired. In general they had a hiccough; and, when the convulsions were most violent, giddiness came on, with the loss of hearing and recollection. During their convalescence, and they all recovered, the least fright or sudden alarm brought on a slight paroxysm. “Dr. Haygarth, who was consulted on the means of relieving these unfortunate people, successfully recommended the use of antispasmodics; that all girls and young women should be prevented from having any communication with persons affected with those convulsions; and that those who were ill should be kept separate as much as possible.” The same paper from which the above extracts have been taken, quotes a remarkable instance in which religious enthusiasm was the exciting cause of a convulsive disease analogous to those already noticed. The account is given by the Rev. Dr. Meik, at great length. It appears, that in January, 1742, about 90 persons in the parish of Cambuslang, in Lanarkshire, were induced to subscribe a petition to the minister, urging him to give them a weekly lecture, to which he readily assented. Nothing particular occurred at the first two lectures, but, at the third, to which the hearers had been very attentive, when the minister in his last prayer expressed himself thus, “Lord, who hath believed our report; and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?—where are the fruits of my poor labours among this people?” several persons in the congregation cried out publicly, and about fifty men and women came to the minister’s house, expressing strong convictions of sin, and alarming fears of punishment. After this period, so many people from the neighbourhood resorted to Cambuslang, that the minister thought himself obliged to provide them with daily sermons or exhortations, and actually did so for seven or eight months. The way in which the converts were affected, for it seems they were affected much in the same way, though in very different degrees, is thus described. “They were seized, all at once, commonly by something said in the sermons or prayers, with the most dreadful apprehensions concerning the state of their souls, insomuch that many of them could not abstain from crying out, in the most public and frightful manner, ‘bewailing their lost and undone condition by nature; calling themselves enemies to God, and despisers of precious Christ; declaring that they were unworthy to live on the face of the earth; that they saw the mouth of hell open to receive them, and that they heard the shrieks of the damned;’ but the universal cry was, ‘What shall we do to be saved?’ The agony under which they laboured was expressed, not only by words, but also by violent agitations of body; by clapping their hands and beating their breasts; by shaking and trembling; by faintings and convulsions; and sometimes by excessive bleeding at the nose. While they were in this distress, the minister often called out to them, not to stifle or smother their convictions, but to encourage them: and, after sermon was ended, he retired with them to the manse, and frequently spent the best part of the night with them in exhortations and prayers. Next day, before sermon began, they were brought out, and, having napkins tied round their heads, were placed all together on seats before the tents, where they remained sobbing, weeping, and often crying aloud, till the service was over. Some of those who fell under conviction were never converted; but most of those who fell under it were converted in a few days, and sometimes in a few hours. In most cases their conversion was as sudden and unexpected as their conviction. They were raised all at once from the lowest depth of sorrow and distress, to the highest pitch of joy and happiness; crying out with triumph and exultation, ‘that they had overcome the wicked one; that they had gotten hold of Christ, and would never let him go; that the black cloud which had hitherto concealed him from their view was now dispelled; and that they saw him, with a pen in his hand, blotting out their sins.’ Under these delightful impressions, some began to pray, and exhort publicly, and others desired the congregation to join with them in singing a particular psalm, which they said God had commanded them to sing. From the time of their conviction to their conversion, many had no appetite for food, or inclination to sleep, and all complained of their sufferings during that interval.” The following account, which closes the paper whence the above quotations have been extracted, is taken from an Inaugural Essay on Chorea Sancti Viti, by Felix Robertson of Tennessee, 8vo. Philadelph. 1805. “The Chorea, which is more particularly the subject of this dissertation, made its appearance during the summer of 1803, in the neighbourhood of Maryville, (Tennessee,) in the form of an epidemic. Previously to entering on its history, I think it necessary to premise a few cursory remarks on the mode of life of those amongst whom it originated, for some time before the appearance of the disease. “I suppose there are but few individuals in the United States, who have not at least heard of the unparalleled blaze of enthusiastic religion which burst forth in the western country, about the year 1800; but it is, perhaps, impossible to have a competent idea of its effects, without personal observation. This religious enthusiasm travelled like electricity, with astonishing velocity, and was felt, _almost instantaneously_, in every part of the states of Tennessee and Kentucky. It often proved so powerful a stimulus, that every other entirely lost its effect, or was but feebly felt. Hence that general neglect of earthly things, which was observed, and the almost perpetual attendance at places of public worship. Their churches are, in general, small and every way uncomfortable; the concourse of people, on days of worship, particularly of extraordinary meetings, was very numerous, and hundreds who lived at too great a distance to return home every evening, came supplied with provisions, tents, &c., for their sustenance and accommodation, during the continuance of the meeting, which commonly lasted from three to five days. They, as well as many others, remained on the spot day and night, the whole or greater part of this time, worshipping their Maker almost incessantly. The outward expressions of their worship consisted chiefly in alternate crying, laughing, singing, and shouting, and, at the same time, performing that variety of gesticulation, which the muscular system is capable of producing. It was under these circumstances that some found themselves unable, by voluntary efforts, to suppress the contraction of their muscles; and, to their own astonishment, and the diversion of many of the spectators, they continued to act from necessity, the curious character which they had commenced from choice. “The disease no sooner appeared, than it spread with rapidity through the medium of the principle of imitation; thus it was not uncommon for an affected person to communicate it to the greater part of a crowd, who, from curiosity or other motives, had collected around him. It is at this time, in almost every part of Tennessee and Kentucky, and in various parts of Virginia, but is said not to be contagious (or readily communicated) as at its commencement. It attacks both sexes, and every constitution, but evidently more readily those who are enthusiasts in religion, such as those above described, and females; children of six years of age, and adults of sixty, have been known to have it, but a great majority of those affected are from fifteen to twenty-five. The muscles generally affected are those of the trunk, particularly of the neck, sometimes those of the superior extremities, but very rarely, if ever, those of the inferior. The contractions are sudden and violent, such as are denominated convulsive, being sometimes so powerful, when in the muscles of the back, that the patient is thrown on the ground, where, for some time, his motions more resemble those of a live fish, when thrown on land, than any thing else to which I can compare them. “This, however, does not often occur, and never, I believe, except at the commencement of the disease. The patients, in general, are capable of standing and walking, and many, after it has continued a short time, can attend to their business, provided it is not of a nature requiring much steadiness of body. They are incapable of conversing with any degree of satisfaction to themselves or company, being continually interrupted by those irregular contractions of their muscles, each causing a grunt, or forcible expiration; but the organs of speech do not appear to be affected, nor has it the least influence on the mind. They have no command over their actions by any effort of volition, nor does their lying in bed prevent them, but they always cease during sleep. This disease has remissions and exacerbations, which, however, observe no regularity in their occurrence or duration. During the intermission a paroxysm is often excited at the sight of a person affected, but more frequently by the common salute of shaking hands. The sensations of the patients in a paroxysm are generally agreeable, which the enthusiastic class often endeavour to express, by laughing, shouting, _dancing_, &c. “Fatigue is almost always complained of after violent paroxysms, and sometimes a general soreness is experienced. The heart and arteries appear to be no further affected by the disease, than what arises from the exercise of the body; nor does any change take place in any of the secretions or excretions. It has not proved mortal in a single instance within my knowledge, but becomes lighter by degrees, and finally disappears. In some cases, however, of long continuance, it is attended with some degree of melancholia, which seems to arise entirely from the patient’s reflections, and not directly from the disease. “The state of the atmosphere has no influence over it, as it rages with equal violence in summer and in winter; in moist and in dry air.” In the above examples, nervous disorders bearing a strong resemblance to those of the middle ages, are shown to exist in an _epidemic_ form, both in Europe and America, at the present time; but in these instances some general cause of mental excitement—and none is more powerful than religious enthusiasm—seems to have been requisite for their propagation. Their appearance, however, in _single cases_, is occasionally independent of any such origin, which leads to a belief, not without support in the experiments of modern physiologists, that they occasionally proceed from physical causes, and that it is therefore not necessary to consider them in all cases as the offspring of a disordered imagination. A well marked case of a disease approximating to the original Dancing Mania, is related by Mr. Kinder Wood, in the 7th volume of the Medico-Chirurgical Transactions, p. 237. The patient, a young married woman, is described to have suffered from headache and sickness, together with involuntary motions of the eyelids, and most extraordinary contortions of the trunk and extremities, for several days, when the more remarkable symptoms began to manifest themselves, which are thus recorded:— “February 26. Slight motions of the limbs came on in bed. She arose at nine o’clock, after which they increased, and became unusually severe. She was hurled from side to side of the couch-chair upon which she sat, for a considerable time, without intermission; was sometimes instantaneously and forcibly thrown upon her feet, when she jumped and stamped violently. She had headache; the eyelids were frequently affected, and she had often a sudden propensity to spring or leap upwards. The affection ceased about eleven o’clock in the forenoon, the patient being very much fatigued; but it returned about noon, and a third time in the afternoon, when she was impelled into every corner of the room, and began to strike the furniture and doors violently with the hand, as she passed near them, the sound of which afforded her great satisfaction. The fourth attack was at night; was very violent, and ended with sickness and vomiting. She went to bed at half-past eleven. Her nights were invariably good. The last three attacks were more violent than the former ones, but they continued only half an hour each. “February 27. The attack commenced in bed, and was violent, but of short duration. When she arose about ten, she had a second attack, continuing an hour, except an interval of five minutes. She now struck the furniture more violently and more repeatedly. Kneeling on one knee, with the hands upon the back, she often sprang up suddenly and struck the top of the room with the palm of the hand. To do this, she rose fifteen inches from the floor, so that the family were under the necessity of drawing all the nails and hooks from the ceiling. She frequently danced upon one leg, holding the other with the hand, and occasionally changing the legs. In the evening, the family observed the blows upon the furniture to be more continuous, and to assume the regular time and measure of a musical air. As a strain or series of strokes was concluded, she ended with a more violent stroke or a more violent spring or jump. Several of her friends also at this time noticed the regular measure of the strokes, and the greater regularity the disease was assuming; the motions being evidently affected, or in some measure modified by the strokes upon the surrounding bodies. She chiefly struck a small slender door, the top of a chest of drawers, the clock, a table, or a wooden screen placed near the door. The affection ceased about nine o’clock, when the patient went to bed. “February 28. She arose very well at eight. At half-past nine the motions recommenced; they were now of a more pleasant nature; the involuntary actions, instead of possessing their former irregularity and violence, being changed into a measured step over the room, connected with an air, or series of strokes, and she beat upon the adjacent bodies as she passed them. In the commencement of the attack, the lips moved as if words were articulated, but no sound could be distinguished at this period. It was curious indeed to observe the patient at this time, moving around the room with all the vivacity of the country dance, or the graver step of the minuet, the arms frequently carried, not merely with ease, but with elegance. Occasionally all the steps were so directed as to place the foot constantly where the stone flags joined to form the floor, particularly when she looked downwards. When she looked upwards, there was an irresistible impulse to spring up to touch little spots or holes in the top of the ceiling; when she looked around, she had a similar propensity to dart the forefinger into little holes in the furniture, &c. One hole in the wooden screen received the point of the forefinger many hundred times, which was suddenly and involuntarily darted into it with an amazing rapidity and precision. There was one particular part of the wall to which she frequently danced, and there placing herself with the back to it, stood two or three minutes. This by the family was called ‘_the measuring place_.’ “In the afternoon the motions returned, and proceeded much as in the morning. At this time a person present, surprised at the manner in which she beat upon the doors, &c., and thinking he recognised the air, without further ceremony began to sing the tune; the moment this struck her ears, she turned suddenly to the man, and dancing directly up to him, continued doing so till he was out of breath. The man now ceased a short time, when commencing again, he continued till the attack stopped. The night before this, her father had mentioned his wish to procure a drum, associating this dance of his daughter with some ideas of music. The avidity with which she danced to the tune when sung as above stated, confirmed this wish, and accordingly a drum and fife were procured in the evening. After two hours of rest, the motions again reappeared, when the drum and fife began to play the air to which she had danced before, viz. the ‘Protestant Boys,’ a favourite popular air in this neighbourhood. In whatever part of the room she happened to be, she immediately turned and danced up to the drum, and as close as possible to it, and there she danced till she missed the step, when the involuntary motions instantly ceased. The first time she missed the step in five minutes; but again rose, and danced to the drum two minutes and a half by her father’s watch, when, missing the step, the motions instantly ceased. She rose a third time, and missing the step in half a minute, the motions immediately ceased. After this, the drum and fife commenced as the involuntary actions were coming on, and before she rose from her seat; and four times they completely checked the progress of the attack, so that she did not rise upon the floor to dance. At this period the affection ceased for the evening. “March 1. She arose very well at half-past seven. Upon my visit this morning, the circumstances of the preceding afternoon being stated, it appeared clear to me, that the attacks had been shortened. Slow as I had seen the effects of medicine in the comparatively trifling disease of young females, I was very willing that the family should pursue the experiment, whilst the medical means were continued. “As I wished to see the effect of the instrument over the disease, I was sent for at noon, when I found her dancing to the drum, which she continued to do for half an hour without missing the step, owing to the slowness of the movement. As I sat counting the pulse, which I found to be 120, in the short intervals of an attack, I noticed motions of the lips, previous to the commencement of the dance, and placing my ear near the mouth I distinguished a tune. After the attack of which this was the beginning, she informed me, in answer to my inquiry, that there always was a tune dwelling upon her mind, which at times becoming more pressing, irresistibly impelled her to commence the involuntary motions. The motions ceased at four o’clock. “At half-past seven the motions commenced again, when I was sent for. There were two drummers present, and an unbraced drum was beaten till the other was braced. She danced regularly to the unbraced drum, but the moment the other commenced she instantly ceased. As missing the time stopped the affections, I wished the measure to be changed during the dance, which stopped the attack. It also ceased upon increasing the rapidity of the beat, till she could no longer keep time; and it was truly surprising to see the rapidity and violence of the muscular exertion, in order to keep time with the increasing movement of the instrument. Five times I saw her sit down the same evening, at the instant that she was unable to keep the measure; and in consequence of this I desired the drummers to beat one continued roll, instead of a regular movement. She arose and danced five minutes, when both drums beat a continued roll: the motions instantly stopped, and the patient sat down. In a few minutes the motions commencing again, she was suffered to dance five minutes, when the drums again began to roll, the effect of which was instantaneous; the motions ceased, and the patient sat down. In a few minutes the same was repeated with the same effect. It appeared certain that the attacks could now be stopped in an instant, and I was desirous of arresting them entirely, and breaking the chain of irregular associations which constituted the disease. As the motions at this period always commenced in the fingers, and propagated themselves along the upper extremities to the trunk, I desired the drummers, when the patient arose to dance, to watch the commencement of the attack, and roll the drums before she arose from the chair. Six times successively the patient was hindered from rising, by attending to the commencement of the affection; and before leaving the house, I desired the family to attend to the commencement of the attacks, and use the drum early. “March 2. She arose at seven o’clock, and the motions commenced at ten; she danced twice before the drummer was prepared, after which she attempted to dance again four several times; but one roll of a well-braced drum hindered the patient from leaving her seat, after which the attacks did not recur. She was left weakly and fatigued by the disease, but with a good appetite. In the evening of this day an eruption appeared, particularly about the elbows, in diffused patches of a bright red colour, which went off on the third day.” Other cases might be adduced, (see 23d vol. of the Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, p. 261; 31st vol. of ditto, p. 299; 5th vol. of the Medico-Chirurgical Transactions, pp. 1 to 23, &c.,) but as there is none more striking than this, they would unnecessarily swell this number of the Appendix, which has already extended to an undue length. VI. MUSIC FOR THE DANCE OF THE TARANTATI, FROM ATHAN. KIRCHER. _Magness. de Arte magnetica. Rom. 1654. fol. p. 591.—Repeated in Sam. Hafenreffer, Nosodochium, in quo cutis affectus traduntur. Ulm. 1660. 8vo. p. 485._ [Illustration: I. _Primus modus Tarantella._] [Illustration: II. _Secundus modus._] [Illustration: III. _Tertius modus._] [Illustration: IV. _Antidotum Tarantulæ._] [Illustration: V.] Stu pettu è fattu Cimbalu d’Amuri: Tasti li sensi mobili, e accorti: Cordi li chianti, sospiri, e duluri: Rosa è lu Cori miu feritu à morti: Strali è lu ferru, chiai so li miei arduri: Marteddu è lu pensieri, e la mia sorti: Mastra è la Donna mia, ch’à tutti l’huri Cantando canta leta la mia morti. Some strophes, which are no longer extant, were usually sung between these and the following lines:— Allu mari mi portati, Se voleti che mi sanati. Allu mari, alla via: Cosi m’ama la Donna mia. Allu mari, allu mari: Mentre campo, t’aggio amari. [Illustration: VI. _Tarantella._] [Illustration: _Ritornello._] [Illustration: VII. _Tono hypodorio._] [Illustration] [Illustration: VIII. _Alia clausula._] [Illustration] +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | FOOTNOTES: | | | | [203] By this term the reader is now to understand the “Epidemics | | of the Middle Ages.” This work not having been published, as a | | whole, in the original, there is no general preface by the Author. | | His Address to the Physicians of Germany is therefore prefixed as | | an appropriate substitute. | | | | [204] _Odor. Raynald._ Annal. Ecclesiastic. A. 1374. Lucæ, 1752. | | fol. Tom. VII. p. 252. | | | | [205] _Joh. Wier’s_ ample Catalogue of Spirits gives no information | | on this point. Pseudomonarchia dæmonum. Opera omnia, Amstelod. | | 1660. 4to. p. 649.—_Raynald_ mentions the word _Frisckes_ as the | | name of a spirit; but this mistake is easily accounted for by his | | ignorance of the language; for, according to the Chronicle of | | Cologne, the St. John’s dancers sang during their paroxysm: “Here | | Sent Johan. so so, _vrisch_ ind vro, here Sent Johan.” St. John so, | | so, brisk and cheerful, St. John. Die Cronica van der hilliger Stat | | van Coellen, fol. 277. Coellen, 1499. fol. | | | | [206] _Cyr. Spangenberg_, Adels-Spiegel—_Mirror of Nobility_, a | | detailed historical account of what nobility is, &c. Schmalkalden, | | 1591. fol. Fol. 403. b. | | | | [207] _Petr. de Herentals_, Appendix, No. I. | | | | [208] _Jo. Trithem._ Chronic. Sponheimense, A. 1374. Opera | | historic. Francof. 1601. fol. p. 332. Also: _Abrah. Bzovii_ Annal. | | Ecclesiastic. Tom. XIV. Colon. Agripp. 1625. fol. Ann. 1374. | | (Maniaca passio. S. Johannis chorea.) | | | | [209] _Jo. Pistorii_ Rerum Familiarumque Belgicarum Chronicon | | magnum. Francof. 1654. fol. p. 319. Here the persons affected | | are called _dansatores_, _chorisantes_. See the whole passage in | | the Appendix, No. II. Compare Incerti auctoris vetus chronicon | | Belgicum, Matthæi veteris ævi Analecta. Hag. com. 1738. 4to. Tom. | | I. p. 51. “Anno MCCCLXXIV. the _dansers_ appeared. Gens impacata | | cadit, dudum cruciata salvat.” This should be salivat; a quotation | | from a Latin poem not now extant. | | | | [210] The Limburg Chronicle, published by _C. D. Vogel_, Marburg, | | 1828. 8vo. p. 27. This singular phenomenon cannot but remind us | | of the “Demon of Fashion,” of the middle ages. Extravagant as the | | love of dress was after the middle of the fourteenth century, | | the opposition of the enemies of fashion was equally great, and | | they let slip no opportunity of crying down every change or | | innovation as the work of the devil. Hence it is extremely probable | | that the fanatic penitential sermons of zealous priests excited | | this singular aversion of the St. Vitus dancers. In later times | | also, signs and wonders took place, on account of things equally | | insignificant, and the fury of the possessed was directed against | | the fashions. Compare _Möhsen’s_ History of the Sciences in the | | Mark of Brandenburg, p. 498. f. | | | | [211] _Petr. de Herentals._ Appendix, No. I. | | | | [212] Respecting the exorcisms used, see E. G. _Förstemann_, the | | Christian Societies of Flagellants. Halle, 1828. 8vo. p. 232. | | | | [213] Limburg Chronicle, p. 71. Cologne Chronicle, loc. cit. See | | Appendix, Nos. III. and IV. | | | | [214] Dans la ville y eut des dansans, tant grands que petits, onze | | cents. Journal de Paris, 1785. | | | | [215] _Schenk._ v. _Grafenberg._ loc. cit. | | | | [216] “Chorus Sancti Viti, or St. Vitus’ Dance; the lascivious | | dance, Paracelsus calls it, because they that are taken with it, | | can do nothing but dance till they be dead, or cured. It is so | | called for that the parties so troubled were wont to go to St. | | Vitus for help; and, after they had danced there awhile, they were | | certainly freed. ’Tis strange to hear how long they will dance, | | and in what manner, over stools, forms, tables; even great bellied | | women sometimes (and yet never hurt their children) will dance | | so long that they can stir neither hand nor foot, but seem to be | | quite dead. One in red clothes they cannot abide. Musick above all | | things they love; and therefore magistrates in Germany will hire | | musicians to play to them, and some lusty, sturdy companions to | | dance with them. This disease hath been very common in Germany, as | | appears by those relations of Schenkius, and Paracelsus in his book | | of madness, who brags how many several persons he hath cured of it. | | Felix Platerus (_de Mentis Alienat. cap. 3._) reports of a woman in | | Basle whom he saw, that danced a whole month together. The Arabians | | call it a kind of _palsie_. Bodine, in his fifth book, de Repub. | | cap. 1. speaks of this infirmity; Monavius, in his last epistle to | | Scoltizius, and in another to Dudithus, where you may read more | | of it.”—_Burton’s Anatomy of Melancholy_, Vol. I. p. 15.—_Transl. | | note._ | | | | [217] _J. of Köningshoven_, the oldest German Chronicle in | | existence. The contents are general, but devoted more exclusively | | to Alsace and Strasburg, published by _Schiltern_, Strasburg, 1698. | | 4to. Observat. 21, of St. Vitus’s Dance, p. 1085. f. | | | | “_Viel hundert_ fingen zu Strassburg an | | Zu tanzen und springen Frau und Mann, | | Am offnen Markt, Gassen und Strassen | | Tag und Nacht ihrer viel nicht assen. | | Bis ihn das Wüthen wieder gelag. | | St. Vits Tanz ward genannt die Plag.” | | | | “Many hundreds of men and women began to dance and jump in the | | public market-place, the lanes, and the streets of Strasburg. Many | | of them ate nothing for days and nights, until their mania again | | subsided. The plague was called St. Vitus’s Dance.” | | | | [218] _Cæs. Baron._ Annales ecclesiastic. Tom. II. p. 819. Colon. | | Agripp. 1609. fol. See the more ample Acta Sanctorum Junii (The | | 15th of June is St. Vitus’s day) Tom. II. p. 1013. Antwerp. 1698. | | fol. From which we shall merely add that Mazara, in Sicily, is | | supposed to have been the birth-place of our Saint, and that | | his father’s name was _Hylas_; that he went from thence with | | _Crescentia_ (probably his nurse) and _Modestus_ to Lucania, with | | both of whom he suffered martyrdom under _Diocletian_. They are all | | said to have been buried at Florence, and it was not long before | | the miraculous powers of St. Vitus, which had already manifested | | themselves in his life-time, were acknowledged throughout Italy. | | The most celebrated of his chapels were situated on the Promontory | | of Sicily (called by his name), in Rome and in Polignano, whither | | many pilgrimages were made by the sick. Persons who had been bitten | | by mad dogs believed that they would find an infallible cure at | | his altars, though the power of the Saint in curing wounds of this | | kind was afterwards disputed by the followers of St. Hubertus, the | | Saint of the Chase. In 672, his body was with much pomp moved to | | Apulia, but soon after the priests of many churches and chapels | | in Italy, gave out that they were in possession of portions of | | the saint’s body which worked miracles. In the eighth century the | | veneration of this youthful martyr extended itself to France, and | | the honour of possessing his body was conferred on the church of | | St. Denys. By command of the Pope it was solemnly delivered on | | the 19th of March, 836, by the Abbot _Hilduwinus_, of St. Denys, | | to the Abbot _Warinus_, of Corvey, (founded in 822). On its way | | thither, which occupied three months (to the 13th of June), many | | miracles were performed, and the subsequent Abbots of Corvey were | | able for centuries to maintain the popular belief in the miraculous | | healing power of their relics, which had indiscriminate influence | | on all diseases, more especially on those of a demoniacal kind. See | | Monachi anonymi Historia translationis S. Viti. In _G. H. Pertz_, | | Monumenta Germaniæ Historica. Tom. II. Hannov. 1828. fol. p. 576. | | As a proof of the great veneration for St. Vitus in the fourteenth | | century, we may further mention that Charles IV. dedicated to him | | the Cathedral of Prague, of which he had laid the foundation, and | | caused him to be proclaimed Patron Saint of Bohemia, and a nominal | | body of the holy martyr was, for this purpose, brought from Parma. | | Act. Sanctor. loc. cit. | | | | [219] Probably a corruption of Apotropæi. The expression is | | constantly met with; for example, in _Agricola_, Proverbs, No. 497. | | These are the θεοὶ ἀλεξικάκοι, the dii averrunci of the antients. | | The fourteen saints, to whose churches (between Bamberg and Coburg) | | thousands still annually make pilgrimages, are the following: | | 1. Georgius. 2. Blasius. 3. Erasmus. 4. Vitus. 5. Pantaleon. | | 6. Christophorus. 7. Dionysius. 8. Cyriacus. 9. Achatius. 10. | | Eustachius. 11. Ægidius. 12. Margaretha. 13. Catharina. 14. Barbara. | | | | [220] _J. Agricola._ Sybenhundert und fünffzig Teutscher | | Sprichwörter. No. 497. Seven hundred and fifty German Proverbs. | | Hagenau, 1537. 8vo. fol. 248. | | | | [221] _St. Augustine_ had already warned the people against | | committing excesses and singing profane songs at the festival of | | St. John: “Nec permittamus solemnitatem sanctam cantica luxuriosa | | proferendo polluere.”—_St. Augusti_ Denkwürdigkeiten aus der | | Christlichen Archäologie. Vol. III. p. 166. Leipzig. 1820. 8vo. | | Memorabilia of Christian Archæology. | | | | [222] _Wirthwein._ Series chronologic. Epistolarum S. Bonifacii ab | | ann. 716–755. LVII. Concil. Liptinens. p. 131. XV. De igne fricato | | de ligno, id est, Nodfyr. See _Joh. Reiskii_. Untersuchung des bei | | den Alten Teutschen gebräuchlichen heidnischen Nodfyrs, imgleichen | | des Oster-und Johannis-Feuers. Enquiry respecting the heathen | | Nodfyrs customary among the ancient Germans, and also the Easter | | and St. John’s fires. Frankfort, 1696. 8vo. | | | | [223] The Bishop _Theodoret_ of Cyrus in Syria, states, that at | | the festival of St. John, large fires were annually kindled in | | several towns, through which men, women and children jumped; | | and that young children were carried through by their mothers. | | He considered this custom as an ancient Asiatic ceremony of | | purification, similar to that recorded of Ahaz, in 2 Kings, xvi. | | 3. (Quæstiones in IV. Libr. Regum. Interrogat. 47, p. 352. _Beati | | Theodoreti_, Episcop. Cyri Opera omnia, Ed. _Jac. Sirmondi_, Lùt. | | Paris. 1642. fol. T. I.) _Zonaras, Balsamon and Photius_ speak of | | the St. John’s fires in Constantinople, and the first looks upon it | | as the remains of an old Grecian custom. See _Reiske_, loc. cit. p. | | 81. That such different nations should have had the same idea of | | fixing the purification by fire on St. John’s day, is a remarkable | | coincidence, which perhaps can be accounted for only by its analogy | | to baptism. | | | | [224] The Life and Adventures of _Nathaniel Pearce_, written by | | himself, during a residence in Abyssinia from the year 1810 to | | 1819. Edited by _J. J. Halls_. 2 Vols. 8vo. London, 1831. chap. ix. | | p. 290. | | | | [225] _Joann. Trithem._ Annal. Hirsaugiens. Oper. Tom. II. Hirsaug. | | 1690. fol. p. 263. A. 1374. See the before-mentioned Chronicle of | | Cologne, fol. 276. b., wherein it is said that the people passed in | | boats and rafts over the city walls. | | | | [226] What took place at the St. John’s fires in the middle ages | | (about 1280) we learn by a communication from the Bishop _Guil. | | Durantes_ of Aquitania (Rationale divinorum officiorum. L. VII. c. | | 26. In _Reiske_, loc. cit. p. 77.) Bones, horns, and other rubbish, | | were heaped together to be consumed in smoke, while persons of all | | ages danced round the flames as if they had been possessed, in the | | same way as at the Palilia, an ancient Roman lustration by fire, | | whereat those who took part in them, sprang through a fire made of | | straw. (Ovid. Met. XIV. 774. Fast. IV. 721.) Others seized burning | | flambeaux, and made a circuit of the fields, in the supposition | | that they thereby screened them from danger, while others, again, | | turned a cart wheel, to represent the retrograde movement of the | | sun. | | | | [227] _J. Chr. Beckmann_, Historia des Fürstenthums Anhalt. Zerbst. | | History of the Principality of Anhalt. Zerbst. 1710. fol. Part III. | | book 4. chap. 4. § 3. p. 467. | | | | [228] _Martini_ Minoritæ Flores temporum, in _Jo. Georg. Eccard_, | | Corpus historiæ medii ævi. Lips. 1723. fol. Tom. I. p. 1632. | | | | [229] _Beckmann_, loc. cit. § 1. f. p. 465, where many other | | observations are made on this well known circumstance. The priest | | named, is the same who is still known in the nursery tales of | | children as the _Knecht Ruprecht_. | | | | [230] “Das dich Sanct Veitstanz ankomme.” May you be seized with | | St. Vitus’s Dance. _Joh. Agricola_, Sybenhundert und fünffzig | | Teutscher Sprichwörter. Hagenau, 1537, 8. No. 497. p. 268. | | | | [231] _Spangenberg_ (Adels-Spiegel. Mirror of Nobility, loc. cit.) | | in his own forcible manner, thus expresses himself on this subject: | | “It was afterwards pointed out by some, that these people could not | | have been properly baptized, or at all events, that their baptism | | was ineffectual, because they had received it from priests who | | shamelessly lived in open cohabitation with unchaste harlots. Upon | | this the lower classes rose in rebellion, and would have killed all | | the priests.” Compare Appendix, No. I. | | | | [232] _Bzovii_ Annal. ecclesiastic. loc. cit. 1468. | | | | [233] See Appendix, Nos. III. and IV. | | | | [234] _Theophrasti Bombast von Hohenheym_, 7 Buch in der Artzney. | | Von den Krankheiten, die der Vernunft berauben. 7th Book on | | Medicine. Of the diseases which produce insanity. Tract I. chap. 3, | | p. 491. Tract II. chap. 3, p. 501. Opera. Strassburg, 1616. fol. | | Tom. I. | | | | [235] Chorea procursiva of the moderns. _Bernt_, Monographia Choreæ | | Sti. Viti. Prag. 1810. p. 25. | | | | [236] This proceeding was, however, no invention of his, but an | | imitation of a usual mode of enchantment by means of wax figures | | (peri cunculas). The witches made a wax image of the person who | | was to be bewitched; and in order to torment him, they stuck it | | full of pins, or melted it before the fire. The books on magic, | | of the middle ages, are full of such things; though the reader | | who may wish to obtain information on this subject, need not go | | so far back. Only eighty years since, the learned and celebrated | | _Storch_, of the school of _Stahl_, published a treatise on | | witchcraft, worthy of the fourteenth century. “Abhandlung von | | Kinderkrankheiten.” Treatise on the Diseases of Children. Vol. IV. | | p. 228. Eisenach, 1751–8. | | | | The ancients were in the habit of employing wax in incantations. | | | | Thus Simoetha in Theocritus: | | | | Ὡς τοῦτον τὸν καρὸν ἐγὼ σὺν δαίμονι τάκω, | | Ὡς τάκοιθ’ ὑπ’ ἔρωτος ὁ Μύνδιος αὐτίκα Δέλφις. | | _See Potter’s Antiquities_, Vol. II. p. 251. | | | | and Horace— | | | | “Lanea et effigies erat, altera cerea.” | | _Lib._ 1. _Sat._ 8. _l._ 30. | | _Transl. note._ | | | | [237] See _Agricola_, loc. cit. p. 269. No. 498. | | | | [238] _Johann Schenck von Graffenberg_, born 1530, took his degree | | at Tübingen, in 1554. He passed the greater part of his life as | | physician to the corporation of Freiburg in the Breisgau, and died | | in 1598. | | | | [239] _J. Schenkii a Graffenberg_ Observationum medicarum, | | rariarum, &c. Libri VII. Lugdun. 1643. fol. L. I. Obs. VIII. p. 136. | | | | [240] It is related by _Felix Plater_ (born 1536, died 1614) | | that he remembered in his youth the authorities of Basle having | | commissioned several powerful men to dance with a girl who had | | the dancing mania, till she recovered from her disorder. They | | successively relieved each other; and this singular mode of cure | | lasted above four weeks, when the patient fell down exhausted, and | | being quite unable to stand, was carried to an hospital, where | | she recovered. She had remained in her clothes all the time, | | and, entirely regardless of the pain of her lacerated feet, she | | had merely sat down occasionally to take some nourishment, or to | | slumber, during which the hopping movement of her body continued. | | _Felic. Plateri_ Praxeos medicæ opus. L. I. ch. 3. p. 88. Tom. I. | | Basil. 1656. 4to. Ejusd. Observation. Basil. 1641. 8. p. 92. | | | | [241] The 15th of June. Here therefore they did not wait till the | | Festival of St. John. | | | | [242] _Gregor. Horstii_ Observationum medicinalium singularium | | Libri IV. priores. His accessit Epistolarum et Consultationum | | medicar. Lib. I. Ulm. 1628. 4to. Epistol. p. 374. | | | | [243] _Jo. Bodin._ Method. historic. Amstelod. 1650. 12mo, Ch. V. | | p. 99.—Idem, de Republica. Francofurt. 1591. 8vo. Lib. V. Ch. I. p. | | 789. | | | | [244] A very remarkable case, illustrative in part of this | | observation, where, however, not the person who was supposed to be | | the subject of the demoniacal malady, but its alleged authors, were | | punished, is thus reported by Dr. Watt of Glasgow:—“It occurred | | at Bargarran, in Renfrewshire, in 1696. The patient’s name was | | Christian Shaw, a girl of eleven years of age. She is described | | as having had violent fits of leaping, dancing, running, crying, | | fainting, &c., but the whole narrative is mixed up with so much | | credulity and superstition, that it is impossible to separate truth | | from fiction. These strange fits continued from August, 1696, | | till the end of March in the year following, when the patient | | recovered.” An account of the whole was published at Edinburgh, | | in 1698, entitled, “A true Narrative of the Sufferings of a Young | | Girl, who was strangely molested by evil spirits, and their | | instruments, in the West, collected from authentic testimonies.” | | | | The whole being ascribed to witchcraft, the clergy were most active | | on the occasion. Besides occasional days of humiliation, two solemn | | fasts were observed throughout the whole bounds of the Presbytery, | | and a number of clergymen and elders were appointed in rotation, to | | be constantly on the spot. So far the matter was well enough. But | | such was the superstition of the age, that a memorial was presented | | to his Majesty’s most honourable Privy Council, and on the 19th | | of January, 1697, a warrant was issued, setting forth “that there | | were pregnant grounds of suspicion of witchcraft in Renfrewshire, | | especially from the afflicted and extraordinary condition of | | Christian Shaw, daughter of John Shaw, of Bargarran.” A commission | | was therefore granted to Alexander Lord Blantyre, Sir John Maxwell, | | Sir John Shaw, and five others, together with the sheriff of the | | county, to inquire into the matter, and report. This commission is | | signed by eleven privy councillors, consisting of some of the first | | noblemen and gentlemen in the kingdom. | | | | The report of the commissioners having fully confirmed the | | suspicions respecting the existence of witchcraft, another warrant | | was issued on the 5th of April, 1697, to Lord Hallcraig, Sir | | John Houston, and four others, “to try the persons accused of | | witchcraft, and to sentence the guilty to be burned, or otherwise | | executed to death, as the commission should incline.” | | | | The commissioners, thus empowered, were not remiss in the discharge | | of their duty. After twenty hours were spent in the examination | | of witnesses, and counsel heard on both sides, the counsel for | | the prosecution “exhorted the jury to beware of condemning the | | innocent; but at the same time, should they acquit the prisoners in | | opposition to legal evidence, they would be accessory to all the | | blasphemies, apostacies, murders, tortures, and seductions, whereof | | these enemies of heaven and earth should hereafter be guilty.” | | After the jury had spent six hours in deliberation, seven of the | | miserable wretches, three men and four women, were condemned to | | the flames, and the sentence faithfully executed at Paisley, on | | the 10th of June, 1697.—_Medico-Chirurg. Trans._ Vol. V. p. 20, et | | seq.—_Transl. note._ | | | | [245] Compare _Olaus Magnus_, de gentibus septentrionalibus. Lib. | | XVIII. Ch. 45–47. p. 642, seq. Rom. 1555. fol. | | | | [246] _Burton_, in his Anatomy of Melancholy, has the following | | observations, which, with the ample references by which they are | | accompanied, will furnish materials for such a history. | | | | “_Lycanthropia_, which _Avicenna_ calls _cucubuth_, others _lupinam | | insaniam_, or wolf-madness, when men run howling about graves | | and fields in the night, and will not be persuaded but that they | | are wolves, or some such beasts. _Aëtius_ (Lib. 6. cap. 11.) and | | _Paulus_ (Lib. 3. cap. 16.) call it a kind of _melancholy_; but I | | should rather refer it to _madness_, as most do. Some make a doubt | | of it, whether there be any such disease. _Donat. ab Altomari_ | | (Cap. 9. Art. Med.) saith, that he saw two of them in his time: | | _Wierus_ (De Præstig. Demonum, 1. 3. cap. 21.) tells a story of | | such a one at Padua, 1541, that would not believe to the contrary, | | but that he was a wolf. He hath another instance of a Spaniard, who | | thought himself a bear. _Forestus_ (Observat. lib. 10. de Morbis | | Cerebri, c. 15.) confirms as much by many examples; one, among the | | rest, of which he was an eye-witness, at Alcmaer in Holland.—A poor | | husbandman that still hunted about graves, and kept in churchyards, | | of a pale, black, ugly, and fearful look. Such, belike, or little | | better, were king Prœtus’ daughters, (_Hippocrates_ lib. de | | insaniâ,) that thought themselves kine: and Nebuchadnezzar, in | | Daniel, as some interpreters hold, was only troubled with this | | kind of madness. This disease, perhaps, gave occasion to that bold | | assertion of Pliny, (Lib. 8. cap. 22. homines interdum lupos fieri; | | et contra,) _some men were turned into wolves in his time, and from | | wolves to men again_; and to that fable of Pausanias, of a man that | | was ten years a wolf, and afterwards turned to his former shape; to | | Ovid’s (Met. lib. 1.) tale of Lycaon, &c. He that is desirous to | | hear of this disease, or more examples, let him read _Austin_ in | | his eighteenth book, _de Civitate Dei_, cap. 5; _Mizaldus_, cent. | | 5. 77; _Schenkius_, lib. 1. _Hildesheim, Spicil. 2. de maniâ_; | | Forestus, lib. 10. _de morbis cerebri; Olaus Magnus; Vicentius | | Bellavicensis, spec. met._ lib. 31. c. 122; _Pierius, Bodine, | | Zuinger, Zeilgur, Peucer, Wierus, Spranger, &c._ This malady, saith | | _Avicenna_, troubleth men most in February, and is now-a-days | | frequent in Bohemia and Hungary, according to _Heurnius_. (Cap. de | | Man.) _Schernitzius_ will have it common in Livonia. They lie hid, | | most part, all day, and go abroad in the night, barking, howling, | | at graves and deserts; _they have usually hollow eyes, scabbed legs | | and thighs, very dry and pale_, (Ulcerata crura; sitis ipsis adest | | immodica; pallidi; lingua sicca,) saith _Altomarus_: he gives a | | reason there of all the symptoms, and sets down a brief cure of | | them.”—_Burton’s Anatomy of Melancholy._ Tenth Edit.: 8vo. 1804. | | Vol. 1. Page 13, et seq. | | | | It is surprising that so learned a writer as _Burton_ should | | not have alluded to Oribasius, who flourished 140 years before | | _Aëtius_, and of whom _Freind_ says, “In auctore hoc miri cujusdam | | morbi prima mentio est; is Λυκάνθρωπος sive Λυκανθρωπία dicitur, | | estque melancholiæ, aut insaniæ, species quænam ita ab illo | | descripta: ‘Quos hoc malum infestos habet, nocturno tempore domo | | egressi, Lupos in omnibus rebus imitantur, et ad diem usque circa | | tumulos vagantur mortuorum. Hos ita cognosce: pallidi sunt, oculos | | hebetes et siccos, non illachrymantes, eosque concavos habent: | | lingua siccissima est, nulla penitus in ore saliva conspicitur, | | siti enecti; crura vero, quia noctu sæpe offendunt, sine remedio | | exulcerata.’—‘Quod ad morbum ipsum attinet, si peregrinantibus | | fides adhibenda est, fuit olim in quibusdam regionibus, ut in | | Livonia, Hibernia, et aliis locis visi non infrequens,’” &c.—_J. | | Freind. Opera omnia Med._ fol. London. 1733. | | | | De hujus morbi antiquitatibus vide elegantem _Böttigeri_ | | disputationem in _Sprengelii_ Beitr. z. Gesch. d. Med. 11. p. 1–45. | | _Blancard. Lexic. Med._ Edit. noviss. 8vo. Lipsiæ, 1822.—_Transl. | | note._ | | | | [247] Born 1430, died 1480. Cornucopiæ latinæ linguæ. Basil. 1536. | | fol. Comment. in primum _Martialis_ Epigramma, p. 51, 52. “Est et | | alius stellio ex araneorum genere, qui, simili modo, ascalabotes a | | Græcis dicitur, et colotes et galeotes, lentiginosus in cavernulis | | dehiscentibus, per æstum terræ habitans. Hic majorum nostrorum | | temporibus in Italia visus non fuit, nunc frequens in Apulia | | visitur. Aliquando etiam in Tarquinensi et Corniculano agro, et | | vulgo similiter _tarantula_ vocatur. Morsus ejus perraro interemit | | hominem, semistupidum tamen facit, et varie afficit, _tarantulam_ | | vulgo appellant. _Quidam cantu audito, aut sono, ita excitantur, ut | | pleni lætitia et semper ridentes saltent, nec nisi defatigati et | | semineces desistant._ Alii semper flentes, quasi desiderio suorum | | miserabilem vitam agant. Alii visa muliere, libidinis statim ardore | | incensi, veluti furentes in eam prosiliant. Quidam ridendo, quidam | | flendo moriantur.” | | | | [248] Lycosa Tarantula. | | | | [249] The Aranea Tarantula of _Linnæus_, who, after the technical | | description, says, “Habitat in Europa australi, potissimum | | Apulia, in Barbaria, in Tauria, Russiæque, australis desertis, in | | Astracania ad montes Sibiriæ Altaicos usque, in Persia et reliquo | | Oriente, in solo præsertim argillaceo in antris, morsu quamvis | | interdum dolente, olimque famosum tarantismum musica sanandum | | excitare credito, vix unquam periculoso, cinerascens, oculis | | duobus prioribus rubris, thorace in areas nigras diviso in centrum | | concurrentes, abdomine supra fasciis maxillisque nigris.”—_Systema | | Naturæ._ Tom. I. pars v. p. 2956. | | | | For particulars regarding the habits of the Lycosæ, see | | _Griffith’s_ Transl. of _Cuvier’s_ Animal Kingdom. Vol. | | XIII. p. 427 and p. 480. et seq. The author states that _M. | | Chabrier_ has published (Soc. Acad. de Lille 4^e cahier) some | | curious observations on the _Lycosa tarantula_ of the south of | | France.—_Transl. note._ | | | | [250] _Matthiol._ Commentar. in Dioscorid. L. II. ch. 59. p. 363. | | Ed. Venet. 1565. fol. | | | | [251] _Perotti_, loc. cit. | | | | [252] Probably Lacerto Gecko, as also the synonymes, κωλώτης and | | γαλεώτης quoted by him. | | | | [253] Lacerta Stellio. It need scarcely be observed that the | | venomous nature of this harmless creature was a pure invention of | | Roman superstition. | | | | [254] See _Athan. Kircher._ loc. cit. | | | | [255] From 1451–1458. _Tiraboschi._ VI. 11. p. 356. | | | | [256] See p. 12. et seq. | | | | [257] _Aëtius_, who wrote at the end of the sixth century, | | mentions six which occur in the older works. 1. ῥάγιον, 2. λύκος, | | 3. μυρμήκειον 4. κρανοκολάπτης, by others, κεφαλοκρούστης, 5. | | σκληροκέφαλον, and 6. σκωλήκιον. Tetrabl. IV. Serm. I. ch. 18. in | | _Hen. Steph._ Compare _Dioscorid._ Lib. VI. ch. 42. _Matthiol._ | | Commentar. in Dioscorid. p. 1447. _Nicand._ Theriac. V. 8. 715. | | 755. 654. | | | | [258] Aranearum multæ species sunt. Quæ ubi mordent, faciunt multum | | dolorem, ruborem, frigidum sudorem, et citrinum colorem. Aliquando | | quasi stranguriæ in urina duritiem, et virgæ extensionem, intra | | inguina, et genua, tetinositatem in stomacho. Linguæ extensionem, | | ut eorum sermo non possit discerni. _Vomunt humiditatem quasi | | araneæ telam_, et ventris emollitionem similiter, &c. De communibus | | medico cognitu necessariis locis. Lib. VIII. cap. 22. p. 235. | | Basil. 1539. fol. | | | | [259] He lived in the middle of the eleventh century, and was a | | junior contemporary with _Constantine_ of Africa. _J. Chr. Gottl. | | Ackermann_, Regimen sanitatis Salerni sive Scholæ Salernitanæ de | | conservanda bona valetudine præcepta. Stendal. 1790. 8vo. p. 38. | | | | [260] The passage is as follows: “Anteneasmon est species maniæ | | periculosa nimium. Irritantur tanquam maniaci, et in se manus | | injiciunt. Hi subito arripiuntur, _cum saltatione manuum et pedum, | | quia intra aurium cavernas quasi voces diversas sonare falso | | audiunt, ut sunt diversorum instrumentorum musicæ soni; quibus | | delectantur, ut statim saltent_, aut cursum velocem arripiant; | | subito arripientes gladium percutiunt se aut alios: morsibus | | se et alios attrectare non dubitant. Hos Latini percussores, | | alii dicunt dæmonis legiones esse, ut dum eos arripiunt, vexent | | et vulnerent. Diligentia eis imponenda est, quando istos sonos | | audierint, includantur, et post accessionis horas phlebotomentur, | | et venter eis moveatur. Cibos leves accipiant cum calida aqua, ut | | omnis ventositas, quæ in cerebro sonum facit, egeratur. In ipsa | | accessione silentium habeant. Quod si spumam per os ejecerint, _vel | | ex canis rabidi morsu causa fuerit_, intra septem dies moriuntur.” | | _Garioponti_, medici vetustissimi, de morborum causis, accidentibus | | et curationibus. Libri VIII. Basil. 1536. 8vo. L. I. ch. 2. p. 27. | | | | [261] _J. P. Papon._ De la peste, ou les époques mémorables de ce | | fléau. Paris, an 8. 8vo. Tome II. page 270. (1119. 1126. 1135. | | 1193. 1225. 1227. 1231. 1234. 1243. 1254. 1288. 1301. 1311. 1316. | | 1335. 1340.) | | | | [262] 1347 to 1350. | | | | [263] _Athanasius Kircher_ gives a full account of the instruments | | then in use, which differed very slightly from those of our days. | | Musurgia universalis, sive Ars magna consoni et dissoni. Romæ, | | 1650, fol. Tom. I. p. 477. | | | | [264] Genialium dierum Libri VI. Lugdun. Bat. 1673. 8vo. Lib. II. | | ch. 17. p. 398. _Alex. ab Alexandro_, a distinguished Neapolitan | | lawyer, lived from 1461 to 1523. The historian _Gaudentius Merula_, | | who became celebrated about 1536, makes only a very slight mention | | of the Tarantism. Memorabilium _Gaud. Merulæ_ Novariensis opus, &c. | | Lugdun. 1656. 8vo. L. III. ch. 69. p. 251. | | | | [265] _Petr. And. Matthioli_ Commentarii in Dioscorid. Venet. 1565. | | fol. Lib. II ch. 57. p. 362. | | | | [266] _Athanas. Kircher._ Magnes sive de Arte magnetica Opus. Rom. | | 1654. fol. p. 589. | | | | [267] _Joann. Juvenis_ de antiquitate et varia Tarentinorum fortuna | | Lib. VIII. Neapol. 1589. fol. Lib. II. ch. 17. p. 107. With the | | exception of the statement quoted, _Juvenis_ has borrowed almost | | every thing from _Matthioli_. | | | | [268] _Simon. Alloys._ _Tudecius_, physician to Queen Christine, | | saw a case of this kind in July, 1656. _Bonet._ Medicina | | septentrionalis collatit. Genev. 1684. fol. | | | | [269] _Epiphan. Ferdinand._ Centum historiæ seu observationes et | | casus medici. Venet. 1621. fol. Hist. LXXXI. p. 259. _Ferdinando_, | | a physician in Messapia at the commencement of the seventeenth | | century, has collected, with much diligence, the various statements | | respecting the Tarantism of his time. He “_was himself an eye | | witness of it_,” (p. 265.) and is by far the most copious of all | | the old writers on this subject. | | | | [270] _Kircher_, loc. cit. pp. 588, 589. | | | | [271] _Ferdinand._ p. 259. | | | | [272] For example:— | | | | “Allu mari mi portati | | Se voleti che mi sanati. | | Allu mari, alla via: | | Cosi m’ama la donna mia. | | Allu mari allu mari: | | Mentre campo, t’aggio amari.” | | | | _Kircher_, loc. cit. p. 592.—Appendix, No. V. | | | | [273] _Ferdinand._ loc. cit. p. 257. | | | | [274] _Kircher_, p. 589. | | | | [275] _Plin._ Hist. Nat. Lib. XXVIII. ch. 2. p. 447. Ed. _Hard._ | | | | [276] _Cael. Aurelian._ Chron. Lib. I. ch. 5. p. 335. Ed. _Amman_. | | | | [277] _Democritus_ and _Theophrastus_ made mention of it. See | | _Gell._ Noct. Attic. Lib. IV. ch. 13. | | | | [278] _Ferdinand._ p. 260. | | | | [279] _Bagliv._ loc. cit. p. 618. From more decided statements, | | however, we learn, that of those who had been bitten only one or | | two in a thousand died. _Ferdinand._ p. 255. | | | | [280] Il carnevaletto delle donne. _Bagliv._ p. 617. | | | | [281] _Ferdinand._ pp. 254. 260. | | | | [282] _Ferdinand._ p. 259. Slow music made the Tarantel dancers | | feel as if they were crushed: spezzati, minuzzati, p. 260. | | | | [283] _A. Kircher_, loc. cit. | | | | [284] See Appendix, No. V. | | | | [285] _Bagliv._ loc. cit. p. 623. | | | | [286] _A. Kircher_, loc. cit. | | | | [287] _Ferdinand._ p. 262. | | | | [288] This is said of an old man of Avetrano, who was ninety-four | | years of age. pp. 254. 257. | | | | [289] Idem, p. 261. | | | | [290] _Ferdinando_ saw a man who was hard of hearing listen with | | great eagerness during the dance, and endeavour to approach the | | drums and fifes as nearly as possible. p. 258. | | | | [291] Idem, p. 260. | | | | [292] Idem, p. 256. | | | | [293] Idem, p. 260. | | | | [294] Idem, p. 261. | | | | [295] _Ferdinand._ p. 256. | | | | [296] Idem, p. 258. | | | | [297] Idem, p. 257. | | | | [298] Idem, p. 256. | | | | [299] De Contag. Lib. III. ch. 2. p. 212. Opera Lugdun. 1591. 8vo. | | | | [300] De Contag. p. 254. | | | | [301] Idem, ibid. | | | | [302] Idem, p. 262. | | | | [303] Idem, p. 261. | | | | [304] “The imaginations of women are always more excitable than | | those of men, and they are therefore susceptible of every folly | | when they lead a life of strict seclusion, and their thoughts | | are constantly turned inwards upon themselves. Hence in orphan | | asylums, hospitals, and convents, the nervous disorder of one | | female so easily and quickly becomes the disorder of all. I have | | read in a good medical work that a nun, in a very large convent | | in France, began to mew like a cat; shortly afterwards other nuns | | also mewed. At last all the nuns mewed together every day at a | | certain time for several hours together. The whole surrounding | | Christian neighbourhood heard, with equal chagrin and astonishment, | | this daily cat-concert, which did not cease until all the nuns | | were informed that a company of soldiers were placed by the police | | before the entrance of the convent, and that they were provided | | with rods, and would continue whipping them until they promised not | | to mew any more. | | | | “But of all the epidemics of females which I myself have seen | | in Germany, or of which the history is known to me, the most | | remarkable is the celebrated Convent-epidemic of the fifteenth | | century, which Cardan describes, and which peculiarly proves | | what I would here enforce. A nun in a German nunnery fell to | | biting all her companions. In the course of a short time all the | | nuns of this convent began biting each other. The news of this | | infatuation among the nuns soon spread, and it now passed from | | convent to convent, throughout a great part of Germany, principally | | Saxony and Brandenburg. It afterwards visited the nunneries of | | Holland, and at last the nuns had the biting mania even as far as | | Rome.”—_Zimmermann_ on Solitude, Vol. II. Leipsig. 1784.—_Transl. | | note._ | | | | [305] _Georg. Baglivi_, Diss. de Anatome, morsu et effectibus | | Tarantulæ. pp. 616, 617. Opp. Lugdun. 1710. 4to. | | | | [306] _Ferdinando_, p. 257. | | | | [307] Idem, pp. 256, 257, 258. | | | | [308] _Ferdinando_, p. 258. | | | | [309] _Adam Olearius._ Vermehrte Moscowitische und Persianische | | Reisebeschreibung. Travels in Muscovy and Persia. Schleswig, 1663. | | fol. Book IV. p. 496. | | | | [310] _Geor. Baglivi_, Dissertatio VI. de Anatome, morsu et | | effectibus Tarantulæ. (written in 1595.) Opera omnia, Lugdun. 1710. | | 4to. p. 599. | | | | [311] This physician once saw three patients, who were evidently | | suffering from a malignant fever, and whose illness was attributed | | by the bystanders to the bite of the tarantula, forced to dance by | | having music played to them. One of them died on the spot, and the | | two others very shortly after. Ch. 7. p. 616. | | | | [312] Among the instances in which imposture successfully taxes | | popular credulity, perhaps there is none more remarkable at the | | present day than that afforded by the Psylli of Egypt, a country | | which furnishes another illustration of our author’s remark at | | the commencement of the next chapter. This sect, according to the | | testimony of modern writers, continues to exhibit the same strange | | spectacles as the ancient serpent-eaters of Cyrene, described by | | Strabo, 17 Dio. 51. c. 14. Lucan, 9. v. 894. 937. Herodot. 4. c. | | 173. Paus. 9. c. 28. Savary states that he witnessed a procession | | at Rosetta, where a band of these seeming madmen, with bare arms | | and wild demeanour, held enormous serpents in their hands which | | writhed round their bodies and endeavoured to make their escape. | | These Psylli, grasping them by the neck, tore them with their teeth | | and ate them up alive, the blood streaming down from their polluted | | mouths. Others of the Psylli were striving to wrest their prey from | | them, so that it seemed a struggle among them who should devour a | | serpent. The populace followed them with amazement, and believed | | their performance to be miraculous. Accordingly they pass for | | persons inspired, and possessed by a spirit who destroys the effect | | of the serpent. | | | | Sonnini, though not so fortunate as to witness a public exhibition | | of such performances, yet gives the following interesting account | | of what he justly calls a remarkable specimen of the extravagance | | of man. After adverting to the superstitious origin of the sect, | | he goes on to say that a Saadi, or serpent-eater, came to his | | apartment accompanied by a priest of his sect. The priest carried | | in his bosom a large serpent of a dusky green and copper colour, | | which he was continually handling; and after having recited a | | prayer, he delivered it to the Saadi. The narrative proceeds:—“With | | a vigorous hand the Saadi seized the serpent, which twisted itself | | round his naked arm. He began to appear agitated; his countenance | | was discomposed; his eyes rolled; he uttered terrible cries, bit | | the animal in the head, and tore off a morsel, which we saw him | | chew and swallow. On this his agitation became convulsive; his | | howlings were redoubled, his limbs writhed, his countenance assumed | | the features of madness, and his mouth, extended by terrible | | grimaces, was all in a foam. Every now and then he devoured a fresh | | morsel of the reptile. Three men endeavoured to hold him, but he | | dragged them all three round the chamber. His arms were thrown | | about with violence on all sides, and struck every thing within | | their reach. Eager to avoid him, M. Forneti and I were obliged | | sometimes to cling to the wall, to let him pass and escape his | | blows. We could have wished the madman far away. At length the | | priest took the serpent from him, but his madness and convulsions | | did not cease immediately; he bit his hands, and his fury | | continued. The priest then grasped him in his arms, passed his hand | | gently down his back, lifted him from the ground, and recited some | | prayers. By degrees his agitation diminished, and subsided into a | | state of complete lassitude, in which he remained a few moments. | | | | “The Turks who were present at this ridiculous and disgusting | | ceremony were firmly persuaded of the reality of this religious | | fury; and it is very certain that, whether it were reality or | | imposture, it is impossible to see the transports of rage and | | madness exhibited in a more striking manner, or have before | | your eyes a man more calculated to inspire terror.”—_Hunter’s | | Translation of Sonnini’s Travels_, 8vo. 1799.—_Transl. note._ | | | | [313] _Franc. Serao_, della Tarantola o vero Falangio di Puglia. | | Napol. 1742.—See _Thom. Fasani_, De vita, muniis et scriptis | | _Franc. Serai_, &c. Commentarius. Neapol. 1784. 8vo. p. 76. et seq. | | | | [314] _Thom. Fasani_, De vita, muniis et scriptis _Franc. Serai_, | | &c. Commentarius, p. 88. | | | | [315] Idem, p. 89. | | | | [316] _H. Mercurialis_, de Venenis et Morbis Venenosis, (Venet. | | 1601. 4to. Lib. II. ch. 6. p. 39.) repeats the silly tale, that | | those who were bitten continued, during their paroxysm, to be | | occupied with whatever they had been engaged in at the time | | they received the bite, and proves, by a fact which had been | | communicated to him, that already, in the sixteenth century, | | they were able to distinguish impostors from those who had been | | really bitten. _H. Cardani_, de Subtilitate Libri XXI. Basil. | | 1560. 8vo. Lib. IX. p. 635. The baneful effect of the venom of | | the tarantula was obviated, not so much by music as by the great | | exertion used in dancing. Compare _J. Cæs. Scaliger_. Exoteric. | | Exercitt. Libri XV. de Subtilitate, Francof. 1612. 8vo. Ex. 185. | | p. 610.—_J. M. Fehr_, Anchora sacra vel Scorzonera. Jen. 1666. | | 8vo. p. 127. From _Alexander ab Alexandro_, and several later | | writers.—_Stalpart van der Wiel_, Observatt. rarior. Lugdun. Bat. | | 1687. 8vo. Cent. 1. Obs. C. p. 424. According to _Kircher_.—_Rod. | | a Castro_, Medicus politicus. Hamburg, 1614. 4to. Lib. IV. ch. | | 16. p. 275. According to _Matthioli_.—_D. Cirillo_, Some account | | of the Tarantula, Philosoph. Trans. Vol. LX. 1770, describes | | Tarantism as a common imposture. So also does _J. A. Unzer_, The | | Physician, Vol. II. pp. 473. 640, Vol. III. pp. 466, 526, 528, | | 529, 530, 533, 553; likewise _A. F. Büsching_, Eigene Gedanken und | | gesammelte Nachrichten von der Tarantel, welche zur gänzlichen | | Vertilgung des Vorurtheils von der Schädlichkeit ihres Bisses, | | und der Heilung desselben durch Musik, dienlich und hinlänglich | | sind. Observations and statements respecting the Tarantula, which | | suffice entirely to set aside the prejudice respecting the venom | | of its bite, as also its cure by music. Berlin, 1772. 8vo. A very | | shallow criticism.—_P. Forest._ Observatt. et Curatt. medicinal. | | Libri 30, 31 et 32. Francof. 1509. fol. Ob. XII. p. 41. diligently | | compiled from his predecessors.—_Phil. Camerar._ Operæ horarum | | subcisivarum. Francof. 1658. 4to. Cent. II. cap. 81. p. 317.—_R. | | Mead_, a mechanical account of poisons: London, 1747. 8vo. p. | | 99. contends for the reality of Tarantism with _R. Boyle_. An | | essay of the great effects of even languid and unheeded motion, | | &c. London, 1685. ch. VI.—So also _J. F. Cartheuser_, Fundamenta | | pathologiæ et therapiæ. Francof. a. V. 1758. 8vo. Tom. I. p. | | 334. _Th. Willis_ de morbis convulsivis. cap. VII. p. 492. Opp. | | Lugdun. 1681. 4to. According to _Gassendi_, _Ferdinando_, _Kircher_ | | and others.—_L. Valetta_, de Phalangio Apulo opusculum. Neapol. | | 1706.—_Thom. Cornelio_ (professor at Naples in the middle of the | | seventeenth century). Letter to _J. Dodington_ concerning some | | observations made of persons pretending to be stung by Tarantulas. | | Phil. Transactions, No. 83. p. 4066. 1672. considers Tarantism | | to be St. Vitus’s dance.—_Jos. Lanzoni_, de Venenis, cap. 57. p. | | 140. Opp. Lausann. 1738. 4to. Tom. I. mostly from _Baglivi_.—_J. | | Schenk_, a _Grafenberg_. Observatt. Medicar. Lib. VII. Obs. | | 122. p. 792. Tom. II. Ed. Francof. 1600. 8vo. was himself an | | eye-witness.—_Wolfg. Senguerd_, Tractatus physicus de Tarantula. | | Ludg. Bat. 1668. 12mo.—_Herm. Grube_, De ictu Tarantulæ et vi | | musices in eius curatione conjecturæ physico-medicæ. Francof. | | 1679. 8vo—_Athan. Kircher_, Musurgia universalis. Rom. 1650. fol. | | Tom. II. IX. ch. 4. p. 218.—_M. Köhler_, in den Svenska Vetenskaps | | Academiens Handlingar. 1758. p. 29. Transactions of the Swedish | | Academy of Sciences—Berlin Collection for the Furtherance of | | the Science of Medicine. Vol. V. Pt. I. p. 53. 1772.—_Burserii_ | | Institutiones medic. pract. tom. III. p. 1. cap. 7. § 219. p. 159. | | ed. _Hecker_.—_J. S. Halle_, Gifthistorie. History of Poisons, | | Berlin, 1786. 8vo.—_Blumenbach_, Naturgeschichte, Natural History, | | p. 412.—_E. F. Leonhardt_, Diss. de Tarantismo, Berol. 1827. 8vo. | | and many others. | | | | [317] This may, however, be considered merely as a conjecture, | | founded upon the following passage in _Ludolf’s_ Lexicon Æthiopic. | | Ed. 2da. Francof. 1699. fol. p. 142. _Astarāgaza_, de vexatione | | quadam diabolica accipitur. Marc. i. 26. ix. 18. Luc. ix. 39. | | Græcus habet σπαράττειν, vellicare, discerpere. _Sed Æthiopes, | | teste Gregorio, pro morbo quodam accipiunt, quo quis perpetuo pedes | | agitare et quasi calcitrare cogitur._ Fortassis est Saltatio S. | | Viti, vulgo St. Veitstanz. | | | | [318] The Life and Adventures of _Nathaniel Pearce_, written by | | himself, during a residence in Abyssinia, from the year 1810 to | | 1819. London, 1831. 8vo. Vol. I. ch. ix. p. 290. | | | | [319] The Evangelist and _St. John_ the Baptist have been at all | | times, and among all nations, confounded with each other, so that | | the relation of the latter to one and the same phenomenon in such | | different ages and climates is very probable. | | | | [320] She was a native Greek. | | | | [321] _Pearce_, p. 289. Compare p. 34.—_E. G. Förstemann_, Die | | christlichen Geisslergesellschaften. The Christian Societies of | | Flagellants. Halle, 1828. 8vo. | | | | [322] Idem, loc. cit. | | | | [323] Among the ancient Greeks βασκήσις. This superstition is more | | or less developed among all the nations of the earth, and has not | | yet entirely disappeared from Europe. | | | | [324] _Paracelsus._ | | | | [325] Gentleman’s Magazine, 1787, March, p. 268.—_F. B. Osiander_, | | Ueber die Entwickelungskrankheiten in den Blüthenjahren des | | weiblichen Geschlechts. On the disorders of young women, &c. | | Tübingen, 1820, Vol. I. p. 10. | | | | [326] This account is given by _Fritze_. _Hufeland’s_ Journal der | | practischen Heilkunde, Vol. XII. 1801. Part I. p. 110. Hufeland’s | | Journal of Practical Medicine. | | | | [327] Compare _J. G. Zimmermann_, Ueber die Einsamkeit. Leipsig, | | 1784. 8vo. Vol. II. ch. 6. p. 77. On Solitude.—_J. P. Falret_, De | | l’hypochondrie et du suicide. Paris, 1822. 8vo. and others. | | | | [328] This statement is made by _J. Cornish_. See _Fothergill_ and | | _Want’s_ Medical and Physical Journal, vol. xxxi. 1814. pp. 373–379. | | | | [329] _Samuel Hibbert_, Description of the Shetland Islands, | | comprising an account of their geology, scenery, antiquities, and | | superstitions. Edinburgh, 1822. 4to. p. 399. | | | | [330] About this time the following couplet was circulated:— | | | | “De par le Roi, défense à Dieu | | De faire miracle dans ce lieu.” | | | | [331] This kind of assistance was called the “Grands Secours.” | | _Boursier_, Mémoire Théologique sur ce qu’on appelle les | | Secours violens dans les Convulsions. Paris, 1788. 12mo. Many | | Convulsionnaires were seized with illness in consequence of this | | singularly erroneous mode of cure. A Dominican friar died from the | | effects of it—though accidents of this kind were kept carefully | | concealed. See _Renault_ (parish priest at Vaux, near Auxerre; | | obiit, 1796), Le Secourisme détruit dans ses fondemens, 1759. 12mo. | | and Le Mystère d’Iniquité, 1788. 8vo. | | | | [332] _Arouet_, the father of _Voltaire_, visited, in Nantes, a | | celebrated Convulsionnaire, _Gabrielle Mollet_, whom he found | | occupied in pulling the bells off a child’s coral, to designate the | | rejection of the unbelievers. Sometimes she jumped into the water, | | and barked like a dog. She died in 1748. | | | | [333] _J. Phil. Hecquet_ (obiit 1737). La Naturalisme des | | Convulsions. Soleure, 1733. 8vo. | | | | [334] De Melancholia et Morbis Melancholicis. Paris, 1765. 2 vols. | | 8vo. | | | | [335] Especially from 1784 to 1788. | | | | [336] See _Grégoire_, Histoire des Sectes Religieuses, tome ii. | | ch. 13. p. 127. Paris, 1828. 8vo. The following words of this | | meritorious author, on the mental state of his countrymen, are | | very well worthy of attention. “L’esprit public est dans un état | | de fluctuation persévérante: _des âmes flétries par l’égoïsme | | n’ont que le caractère de la servitude_; l’education viciée ne | | forme guère que des êtres dégradés; la religion est méconnue ou | | mal enseignée; _la nation présente des symptômes alarmans de sa | | décrépitude_, et présage des malheurs dont on ne peut calculer | | l’étendue ni la durée.” P. 161. | | | | [337] “I had occasion to witness at Cairo another species of | | religious fanaticism. I heard one day, at a short distance from my | | residence, for several hours together, singing, or more properly | | crying, so uniform and fatiguing, that I inquired the cause of | | this singularity. I was told that it was some dervise or monk, | | who repeated, while _dancing_ on his heels, the name of Allah, | | till, completely exhausted, he sank down insensible. These unhappy | | visionaries, in fact, often expire at the end of this holy _dance_; | | and the cries of the one whom I heard, having commenced in the | | afternoon, and continued during the whole of the night, and part | | of the following morning, I doubt not that his pious enthusiasm | | cost him his life.”—_Recollections of Egypt, by the Baroness Von | | Minutoli._ London, 1827. | | | | In Arabia the same fanatical zeal exists, as we find from the | | following passage of an anonymous history of the Wahabis, published | | in Paris, in 1810: “La prière la plus méritoire consiste à crier | | le nom de Dieu, pendant des heures entières, et le plus saint est | | celui qui répète ce nom le plus long temps et le plus vite. Rien | | de plus curieux que le spectacle des Schekhs, qui, dans les fêtes | | publiques, s’essayent à l’envi, et hurlent le nom d’Allah d’une | | manière effrayante. La plupart enroués sont forcés de se taire, et | | abandonnent la palme au sainte à forte poitrine, qui, pour jouir | | de sa victoire, s’efforce et jette encore quelque cris devant ses | | rivaux réduits au silence. Epuisé de fatigue, baigné de sueur, il | | tombe enfin au milieu du peuple dévot, qui s’empresse à le relever | | et le porte en triomphe. Les principales mosquées retentissent, | | tous les Vendredis, des cris dictés par cette singulière émulation. | | Le Schekh, que ses poumons ont sanctifié, conserve son odeur de | | sainteté par des extases et des transports, souvent dangereux pour | | les Chrétiens que le hazard en rend témoins malgré cux.”—_Transl. | | note._ | | | | [338] For examples see _Osiander_, Entwickelungskrankheiten. Loc. | | cit. p. 45. | | | | [339] Among 108 cases of insanity, _Perfect_ mentions eleven of | | mania and methodistical enthusiasm, _in nine of which suicide was | | committed_. Annals of Insanity. London, 1808. 8vo. | | | | [340] _Harris Rowland_ and _William Williams_. | | | | [341] _John Evans_, Sketch of the Denominations of the Christian | | World. 13th edition. London, 1814. 12mo. p. 236.—See _Grégoire_, | | loc. cit. tome iv. chap. xiii. p. 483. | | | | [342] _Mrs. Trollope’s_ Domestic Manners of the Americans. A | | Revival, pp. 108–112. Shaking Quakers, pp. 195–196. Camp Meeting, | | p. 233. London, 2 vols. 1832.—_Transl. note._ | | | | [343] In Kentucky, assemblies of from ten to twelve thousand have | | frequently taken place. Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and | | New York, are also the theatres of these meetings.—_Grégoire_, tome | | iv. p. 496. | | | | [344] At one of these camp-meetings a traveller saw above eight | | hundred persons faint away. Idem. He nowhere met with more frequent | | instances of suicide in consequence of Demonomania, than in North | | America. | | | | [345] Idem. p. 498. These are the _Barkers_. Numerous other | | convulsive Methodistical sects abound in North America. The | | _Shakers_, who are inimical to marriage, would also have been | | mentioned, were not their contortions much less violent than those | | of the Jumpers.—See _Grégoire_, tome v. p. 195. _Evans_, p. 267. | | | | [346] See _Perrin du Lac_, Voyage dans les deux Louisianes. | | Paris, 1805. 8vo. chap. ix. pp. 64, 65. chap. xvii. pp. 128, | | 129.—_Michaud_, Voyage à l’ouest des Monts Alleghanys. Paris, | | 1804. 8vo. p. 212.—_John Melish_, Travels in the United States of | | America. Philadelphia, 1812. 8vo. vol. i. p. 26.—_Lambert_, Travels | | through Canada and the United States. London, 1810. 8vo. vol. iii. | | p. 44.—_John Howison_, Sketches of Upper Canada. Edinburgh, 1822. | | 8vo. p. 150.—_Edward Allen Talbot_, Cinq Années de Résidence au | | Canada. Paris, 1825. 8vo. tome ii. p. 147. | | | | [347] The substance of Nos. III. and IV. having been embodied in | | the text, it seems only necessary to insert here the original | | old German, which is couched in language too coarse to admit of | | translation.—_Transl. note._ | | | +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ THE SWEATING SICKNESS. PREFACE. The present work is a continuation of my treatises on collateral subjects, and, like them, maintains the opinion, that great epidemics are epochs of development, wherein the mental energies of mankind are exerted in every direction. The history of the world bears indisputable testimony to this fact. The tendencies of the mind, the turn of thought of whole ages, have frequently depended on prevailing diseases; for nothing exercises a more potent influence over man, either in disposing him to calmness and submission, or in kindling in him the wildest passions, than the proximity of inevitable and universal danger. Often have infatuation and fanaticism, hatred and revenge, engendered by an overwhelming fear of death, spread fire and flames throughout the world. Famine and diseases, among which may be instanced the fiery plague of St. Anthony, were no less powerful in calling forth the chivalrous spirit of the crusades than the enthusiastic eloquence of Peter the Hermit—the Black Death brought thousands to the stake, and aroused the fearful penances of the Flagellants—while the oriental leprosy cast a gloomy shade over society throughout the whole course of the middle ages. With all such commotions, the most striking events of the world are in intimate relation, and unquestionably, amid the changing forms of existence in the human race, more has always depended on the prevailing tone of thought than on the rude powers by which those events were produced. The historian, therefore, who would investigate the hidden influence of mind, cannot dispense with medical research. The facts themselves convince him of the organic union of the corporeal and the spiritual in all human affairs, and consequently of the innate vital connexion of all human knowledge. Hence, in a medical point of view, how vast is the field for observation presented by the history of popular diseases. Present bodily sufferings[348], are, collectively, but a step in the development,—but one phase of morbid life amid a long series of phenomena, and hence are not fully understood without a previous knowledge of the past, and historical research. How can we recognise the ring of Saturn as such, so long as our axis of vision is in its plane, and we see it only as a line. Great pestilences have vanished or been dispersed; from causes apparently the most insignificant, the most important consequences have resulted, and throughout the vicissitudes of danger and devastation, the operations of mighty laws of nature are everywhere manifested in the social tendencies of entire centuries. This is no aërial realm of transitory conjectures—facts themselves speak in a thousand reminiscences. If we do but investigate the past with unprejudiced assiduity—if we do but consider even the few successful researches which have hitherto been made in historical pathology, (perhaps those who are kindly disposed will recognise even mine,) we shall not fail to arrive at a centre of reality, which the healing art, to its great detriment, has hitherto been far from reaching, whilst it has occasionally penetrated into a less fertile soil, or even encumbered itself with the accumulated rubbish of the pedantic dogmas of the schools. The state, which founds its legislation on a knowledge of realities, which expects from the physical sciences information respecting human life collectively, considered in all its relations, has a right to demand from its physicians a general insight into the nature and causes of popular diseases. Such an insight, however, as is worthy the dignity of a science, cannot be obtained by the observation of isolated epidemics, because nature never in any one of them displays herself in all her bearings, nor brings into action, at one time, more than a few of the laws of general disease. One generation, however rich it may be in stores of important knowledge, is never adequate to establish, on the foundation of actually observed phenomena, a doctrine of popular diseases worthy of the name. The experience of all ages is the source whence we must in this case draw, and medical investigation is the only road which leads to this source, unless, indeed, we would be unprepared to meet new epidemics, and would maintain the unfounded opinion that medical science, as it now exists, is the full result of all preceding efforts. An insight, not only into general visitations of disease, which in the course of ages have appeared in divers forms, but also into every single disease, whether it occurs in intimate connexion with others or not, is rendered more distinct by a knowledge of the contemporary circumstances which attend its development. I would fain hope, therefore, that the future research and diligence of physicians devoted to the pursuit of truth and science, will be more generally directed to historical investigation; and that universities and academies will concede to it that prominent place, which, from its high importance, as an extensive branch of natural philosophy, it justly demands. Whether the following inquiry into one of the most remarkable diseases on record corresponds with these views, I must leave my readers to judge. The historian will discern what social feelings are produced among nations by great events, and to the physician a picture of suffering will be unveiled, to which the diseases of the present time afford no parallel. I have throughout kept in view the spirit and the dignity of the sixteenth century, which was as remarkable for military triumphs as for tragic events; and I look with confidence for the same indulgence and goodwill now, which, through the kindness of friends, I have already enjoyed both at home and abroad, in a higher degree than my sincere gratitude can find words to express. THE SWEATING SICKNESS.