Chapter XVII: Appendix: I (2)

+----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | 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._ | | | +----------------------------------------------------------------------+