FOOTNOTES:[1]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.[2]Odor. Raynald.Annal. Ecclesiastic. A. 1374. Lucæ, 1752. fol. Tom. VII. p. 252.[3]Joh. Wier’sample Catalogue of Spirits gives no information on this point. Pseudomonarchia dæmonum. Opera omnia, Amstelod. 1660. 4to. p. 649.—Raynaldmentions the wordFrisckesas 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,vrischind 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.[4]Cyr. Spangenberg, Adels-Spiegel—Mirror of Nobility, a detailed historical account of what nobility is, &c. Schmalkalden, 1591. fol. Fol. 403. b.[5]Petr. de Herentals, Appendix, No. I.[6]Jo. Trithem.Chronic. Sponheimense, A. 1374. Opera historic. Francof. 1601. fol. p. 332. Also:Abrah. BzoviiAnnal. Ecclesiastic. Tom. XIV. Colon. Agripp. 1625. fol. Ann. 1374. (Maniaca passio. S. Johannis chorea.)[7]Jo. PistoriiRerum Familiarumque Belgicarum Chronicon magnum. Francof. 1654. fol. p. 319. Here the persons affected are calleddansatores,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. thedansersappeared. Gens impacata cadit, dudum cruciata salvat.” This should be salivat; a quotation from a Latin poem not now extant.[8]The Limburg Chronicle, published byC. 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. CompareMöhsen’sHistory of the Sciences in the Mark of Brandenburg, p. 498. f.[9]Petr. de Herentals.Appendix, No. I.[10]Respecting the exorcisms used, see E. G.Förstemann, the Christian Societies of Flagellants. Halle, 1828. 8vo. p. 232.[11]Limburg Chronicle, p. 71. Cologne Chronicle, loc. cit. See Appendix, Nos. III. and IV.[12]Dans la ville y eut des dansans, tant grands que petits, onze cents. Journal de Paris, 1785.[13]Schenk.v.Grafenberg.loc. cit.[14]“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 ofpalsie. 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.[15]J. of Köningshoven, the oldest German Chronicle in existence. The contents are general, but devoted more exclusively to Alsace and Strasburg, published bySchiltern, Strasburg, 1698. 4to. Observat. 21, of St. Vitus’s Dance, p. 1085. f.“Viel hundertfingen zu Strassburg anZu tanzen und springen Frau und Mann,Am offnen Markt, Gassen und StrassenTag 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.”[16]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 wasHylas; that he went from thence withCrescentia(probably his nurse) andModestusto Lucania, with both of whom he suffered martyrdom underDiocletian. 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 AbbotHilduwinus, of St. Denys, to the AbbotWarinus, 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. InG. 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.[17]Probably a corruption of Apotropæi. The expression is constantly met with; for example, inAgricola, Proverbs, No. 497. These are theθεοὶ 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.[18]J. Agricola.Sybenhundert und fünffzig Teutscher Sprichwörter. No. 497. Seven hundred and fifty German Proverbs. Hagenau, 1537. 8vo. fol. 248.[19]St. Augustinehad 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. AugustiDenkwürdigkeiten aus der Christlichen Archäologie. Vol. III. p. 166. Leipzig. 1820. 8vo. Memorabilia of Christian Archæology.[20]Wirthwein.Series chronologic. Epistolarum S. Bonifacii ab ann. 716–755. LVII. Concil. Liptinens. p. 131. XV. De igne fricato de ligno, id est, Nodfyr. SeeJoh. 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.[21]The BishopTheodoretof 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 Photiusspeak of the St. John’s fires in Constantinople, and the first looks upon it as the remains of an old Grecian custom. SeeReiske, 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.[22]The Life and Adventures ofNathaniel Pearce, written by himself, during a residence in Abyssinia from the year 1810 to 1819. Edited byJ. J. Halls. 2 Vols. 8vo. London, 1831. chap. ix. p. 290.[23]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.[24]What took place at the St. John’s fires in the middle ages (about 1280) we learn by a communication from the BishopGuil. Durantesof Aquitania (Rationale divinorum officiorum. L. VII. c. 26. InReiske, 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.[25]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.[26]MartiniMinoritæ Flores temporum, inJo. Georg. Eccard, Corpus historiæ medii ævi. Lips. 1723. fol. Tom. I. p. 1632.[27]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 theKnecht Ruprecht.[28]“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.[29]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.[30]BzoviiAnnal. ecclesiastic. loc. cit. 1468.[31]See Appendix, Nos. III. and IV.[32]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.[33]Chorea procursiva of the moderns.Bernt, Monographia Choreæ Sti. Viti. Prag. 1810. p. 25.[34]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 celebratedStorch, of the school ofStahl, 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.[35]SeeAgricola, loc. cit. p. 269. No. 498.[36]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.[37]J. Schenkii a GraffenbergObservationum medicarum, rariarum, &c. Libri VII. Lugdun. 1643. fol. L. I. Obs. VIII. p. 136.[38]It is related byFelix 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. PlateriPraxeos medicæ opus. L. I. ch. 3. p. 88. Tom. I. Basil. 1656. 4to. Ejusd. Observation. Basil. 1641. 8. p. 92.[39]The 15th of June. Here therefore they did not wait till the Festival of St. John.[40]Gregor. HorstiiObservationum medicinalium singularium Libri IV. priores. His accessit Epistolarum et Consultationum medicar. Lib. I. Ulm. 1628. 4to. Epistol. p. 374.[41]Jo. Bodin.Method. historic. Amstelod. 1650. 12mo, Ch. V. p. 99.—Idem, de Republica. Francofurt. 1591. 8vo. Lib. V. Ch. I. p. 789.[42]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.[43]CompareOlaus Magnus, de gentibus septentrionalibus. Lib. XVIII. Ch. 45–47. p. 642, seq. Rom. 1555. fol.[44]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, whichAvicennacallscucubuth, otherslupinam 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.) andPaulus(Lib. 3. cap. 16.) call it a kind ofmelancholy; but I should rather refer it tomadness, 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, (Hippocrateslib. 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 readAustinin 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, saithAvicenna, troubleth men most in February, and is now-a-days frequent in Bohemia and Hungary, according toHeurnius. (Cap. de Man.)Schernitziuswill 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,) saithAltomarus: 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 asBurtonshould not have alluded to Oribasius, who flourished 140 years beforeAëtius, and of whomFreindsays, “In auctore hoc miri cujusdam morbi prima mentio est; isΛυκάνθρωποςsiveΛυκανθρωπίαdicitur, 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 elegantemBöttigeridisputationem inSprengeliiBeitr. z. Gesch. d. Med. 11. p. 1–45.Blancard. Lexic. Med.Edit. noviss. 8vo. Lipsiæ, 1822.—Transl. note.[45]Born 1430, died 1480. Cornucopiæ latinæ linguæ. Basil. 1536. fol. Comment. in primumMartialisEpigramma, 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 similitertarantulavocatur. Morsus ejus perraro interemit hominem, semistupidum tamen facit, et varie afficit,tarantulamvulgo 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.”[46]Lycosa Tarantula.[47]The Aranea Tarantula ofLinnæus, 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, seeGriffith’sTransl. ofCuvier’sAnimal Kingdom. Vol. XIII. p. 427 and p. 480. et seq. The author states thatM. Chabrierhas published (Soc. Acad. de Lille 4ecahier) some curious observations on theLycosa tarantulaof the south of France.—Transl. note.[48]Matthiol.Commentar. in Dioscorid. L. II. ch. 59. p. 363. Ed. Venet. 1565. fol.[49]Perotti, loc. cit.[50]Probably Lacerto Gecko, as also the synonymes,κωλώτηςandγαλεώτηςquoted by him.[51]Lacerta Stellio. It need scarcely be observed that the venomous nature of this harmless creature was a pure invention of Roman superstition.[52]SeeAthan. Kircher.loc. cit.[53]From 1451–1458.Tiraboschi.VI. 11. p. 356.[54]See p. 12. et seq.[55]Aëtius, who wrote at the end of the sixth century, mentions six which occur in the older works. 1.ῥάγιον, 2.λύκος, 3.μυρμήκειον4.κρανοκολάπτης, by others,κεφαλοκρούστης, 5.σκληροκέφαλον, and 6.σκωλήκιον. Tetrabl. IV. Serm. I. ch. 18. inHen. Steph.CompareDioscorid.Lib. VI. ch. 42.Matthiol.Commentar. in Dioscorid. p. 1447.Nicand.Theriac. V. 8. 715. 755. 654.[56]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.[57]He lived in the middle of the eleventh century, and was a junior contemporary withConstantineof Africa.J. Chr. Gottl. Ackermann, Regimen sanitatis Salerni sive Scholæ Salernitanæ de conservanda bona valetudine præcepta. Stendal. 1790. 8vo. p. 38.[58]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.[59]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.)[60]1347 to 1350.[61]Athanasius Kirchergives 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.[62]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 historianGaudentius Merula, who became celebrated about 1536, makes only a very slight mention of the Tarantism. MemorabiliumGaud. MerulæNovariensis opus, &c. Lugdun. 1656. 8vo. L. III. ch. 69. p. 251.[63]Petr. And. MatthioliCommentarii in Dioscorid. Venet. 1565. fol. Lib. II ch. 57. p. 362.[64]Athanas. Kircher.Magnes sive de Arte magnetica Opus. Rom. 1654. fol. p. 589.[65]Joann. Juvenisde antiquitate et varia Tarentinorum fortuna Lib. VIII. Neapol. 1589. fol. Lib. II. ch. 17. p. 107. With the exception of the statement quoted,Juvenishas borrowed almost every thing fromMatthioli.[66]Simon. Alloys.Tudecius, physician to Queen Christine, saw a case of this kind in July, 1656.Bonet.Medicina septentrionalis collatit. Genev. 1684. fol.[67]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.[68]Kircher, loc. cit. pp. 588, 589.[69]Ferdinand.p. 259.[70]For example:—“Allu mari mi portatiSe 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.[71]Ferdinand.loc. cit. p. 257.[72]Kircher, p. 589.[73]Plin.Hist. Nat. Lib. XXVIII. ch. 2. p. 447. Ed.Hard.[74]Cael. Aurelian.Chron. Lib. I. ch. 5. p. 335. Ed.Amman.[75]DemocritusandTheophrastusmade mention of it. SeeGell.Noct. Attic. Lib. IV. ch. 13.[76]Ferdinand.p. 260.[77]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.[78]Il carnevaletto delle donne.Bagliv.p. 617.[79]Ferdinand.pp. 254. 260.[80]Ferdinand.p. 259. Slow music made the Tarantel dancers feel as if they were crushed: spezzati, minuzzati, p. 260.[81]A. Kircher, loc. cit.[82]See Appendix, No. V.[83]Bagliv.loc. cit. p. 623.[84]A. Kircher, loc. cit.[85]Ferdinand.p. 262.[86]This is said of an old man of Avetrano, who was ninety-four years of age. pp. 254. 257.[87]Idem, p. 261.[88]Ferdinandosaw 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.[89]Idem, p. 260.[90]Idem, p. 256.[91]Idem, p. 260.[92]Idem, p. 261.[93]Ferdinand.p. 256.[94]Idem, p. 258.[95]Idem, p. 257.[96]Idem, p. 256.[97]De Contag. Lib. III. ch. 2. p. 212. Opera Lugdun. 1591. 8vo.[98]De Contag. p. 254.[99]Idem, ibid.[100]Idem, p. 262.[101]Idem, p. 261.[102]“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.”—Zimmermannon Solitude, Vol. II. Leipsig. 1784.—Transl. note.[103]Georg. Baglivi, Diss. de Anatome, morsu et effectibus Tarantulæ. pp. 616, 617. Opp. Lugdun. 1710. 4to.[104]Ferdinando, p. 257.[105]Idem, pp. 256, 257, 258.[106]Ferdinando, p. 258.[107]Adam Olearius.Vermehrte Moscowitische und Persianische Reisebeschreibung. Travels in Muscovy and Persia. Schleswig, 1663. fol. Book IV. p. 496.[108]Geor. Baglivi, Dissertatio VI. de Anatome, morsu et effectibus Tarantulæ. (written in 1595.) Opera omnia, Lugdun. 1710. 4to. p. 599.[109]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.[110]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.[111]Franc. Serao, della Tarantola o vero Falangio di Puglia. Napol. 1742.—SeeThom. Fasani, De vita, muniis et scriptisFranc. Serai, &c. Commentarius. Neapol. 1784. 8vo. p. 76. et seq.[112]Thom. Fasani, De vita, muniis et scriptisFranc. Serai, &c. Commentarius, p. 88.[113]Idem, p. 89.[114]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. CompareJ. 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. FromAlexander ab Alexandro, and several later writers.—Stalpart van der Wiel, Observatt. rarior. Lugdun. Bat. 1687. 8vo. Cent. 1. Obs. C. p. 424. According toKircher.—Rod. a Castro, Medicus politicus. Hamburg, 1614. 4to. Lib. IV. ch. 16. p. 275. According toMatthioli.—D. Cirillo, Some account of the Tarantula, Philosoph. Trans. Vol. LX. 1770, describes Tarantism as a common imposture. So also doesJ. A. Unzer, The Physician, Vol. II. pp. 473. 640, Vol. III. pp. 466, 526, 528, 529, 530, 533, 553; likewiseA. 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 withR. Boyle. An essay of the great effects of even languid and unheeded motion, &c. London, 1685. ch. VI.—So alsoJ. F. Cartheuser, Fundamenta pathologiæ et therapiæ. Francof. a. V. 1758. 8vo. Tom. I. p. 334.Th. Willisde morbis convulsivis. cap. VII. p. 492. Opp. Lugdun. 1681. 4to. According toGassendi,Ferdinando,Kircherand others.—L. Valetta, de Phalangio Apulo opusculum. Neapol. 1706.—Thom. Cornelio(professor at Naples in the middle of the seventeenth century). Letter toJ. Dodingtonconcerning 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 fromBaglivi.—J. Schenk, aGrafenberg. 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.—BurseriiInstitutiones 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.[115]This may, however, be considered merely as a conjecture, founded upon the following passage inLudolf’sLexicon Æthiopic. Ed. 2da. Francof. 1699. fol. p. 142.Astarāgaza, de vexatione quadam diabolica accipitur. Marc. i. 26. ix. 18. Luc. ix. 39. Græcus habetσπαράττειν, 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.[116]The Life and Adventures ofNathaniel Pearce, written by himself, during a residence in Abyssinia, from the year 1810 to 1819. London, 1831. 8vo. Vol. I. ch. ix. p. 290.[117]The Evangelist andSt. Johnthe 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.[118]She was a native Greek.[119]Pearce, p. 289. Compare p. 34.—E. G. Förstemann, Die christlichen Geisslergesellschaften. The Christian Societies of Flagellants. Halle, 1828. 8vo.[120]Idem, loc. cit.[121]Among the ancient Greeksβασκήσις. This superstition is more or less developed among all the nations of the earth, and has not yet entirely disappeared from Europe.[122]Paracelsus.[123]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.[124]This account is given byFritze.Hufeland’sJournal der practischen Heilkunde, Vol. XII. 1801. Part I. p. 110. Hufeland’s Journal of Practical Medicine.[125]CompareJ. 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.[126]This statement is made byJ. Cornish. SeeFothergillandWant’sMedical and Physical Journal, vol. xxxi. 1814. pp. 373–379.[127]Samuel Hibbert, Description of the Shetland Islands, comprising an account of their geology, scenery, antiquities, and superstitions. Edinburgh, 1822. 4to. p. 399.[128]About this time the following couplet was circulated:—“De par le Roi, défense à DieuDe faire miracle dans ce lieu.”[129]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. SeeRenault(parish priest at Vaux, near Auxerre; obiit, 1796), Le Secourisme détruit dans ses fondemens, 1759. 12mo. and Le Mystère d’Iniquité, 1788. 8vo.[130]Arouet, the father ofVoltaire, 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.[131]J. Phil. Hecquet(obiit 1737). La Naturalisme des Convulsions. Soleure, 1733. 8vo.[132]De Melancholia et Morbis Melancholicis. Paris, 1765. 2 vols. 8vo.[133]Especially from 1784 to 1788.[134]SeeGrégoire, 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.[135]“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, whiledancingon 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 holydance; 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.[136]For examples seeOsiander, Entwickelungskrankheiten. Loc. cit. p. 45.[137]Among 108 cases of insanity,Perfectmentions eleven of mania and methodistical enthusiasm,in nine of which suicide was committed. Annals of Insanity. London, 1808. 8vo.[138]Harris RowlandandWilliam Williams.[139]John Evans, Sketch of the Denominations of the Christian World. 13th edition. London, 1814. 12mo. p. 236.—SeeGrégoire, loc. cit. tome iv. chap. xiii. p. 483.[140]Mrs. Trollope’sDomestic Manners of the Americans. A Revival, pp. 108–112. Shaking Quakers, pp. 195–196. Camp Meeting, p. 233. London, 2 vols. 1832.—Transl. note.[141]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.[142]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.[143]Idem. p. 498. These are theBarkers. Numerous other convulsive Methodistical sects abound in North America. TheShakers, who are inimical to marriage, would also have been mentioned, were not their contortions much less violent than those of the Jumpers.—SeeGrégoire, tome v. p. 195.Evans, p. 267.[144]SeePerrin 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.[145]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.
FOOTNOTES:
[1]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.
[2]Odor. Raynald.Annal. Ecclesiastic. A. 1374. Lucæ, 1752. fol. Tom. VII. p. 252.
[3]Joh. Wier’sample Catalogue of Spirits gives no information on this point. Pseudomonarchia dæmonum. Opera omnia, Amstelod. 1660. 4to. p. 649.—Raynaldmentions the wordFrisckesas 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,vrischind 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.
[4]Cyr. Spangenberg, Adels-Spiegel—Mirror of Nobility, a detailed historical account of what nobility is, &c. Schmalkalden, 1591. fol. Fol. 403. b.
[5]Petr. de Herentals, Appendix, No. I.
[6]Jo. Trithem.Chronic. Sponheimense, A. 1374. Opera historic. Francof. 1601. fol. p. 332. Also:Abrah. BzoviiAnnal. Ecclesiastic. Tom. XIV. Colon. Agripp. 1625. fol. Ann. 1374. (Maniaca passio. S. Johannis chorea.)
[7]Jo. PistoriiRerum Familiarumque Belgicarum Chronicon magnum. Francof. 1654. fol. p. 319. Here the persons affected are calleddansatores,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. thedansersappeared. Gens impacata cadit, dudum cruciata salvat.” This should be salivat; a quotation from a Latin poem not now extant.
[8]The Limburg Chronicle, published byC. 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. CompareMöhsen’sHistory of the Sciences in the Mark of Brandenburg, p. 498. f.
[9]Petr. de Herentals.Appendix, No. I.
[10]Respecting the exorcisms used, see E. G.Förstemann, the Christian Societies of Flagellants. Halle, 1828. 8vo. p. 232.
[11]Limburg Chronicle, p. 71. Cologne Chronicle, loc. cit. See Appendix, Nos. III. and IV.
[12]Dans la ville y eut des dansans, tant grands que petits, onze cents. Journal de Paris, 1785.
[13]Schenk.v.Grafenberg.loc. cit.
[14]“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 ofpalsie. 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.
[15]J. of Köningshoven, the oldest German Chronicle in existence. The contents are general, but devoted more exclusively to Alsace and Strasburg, published bySchiltern, Strasburg, 1698. 4to. Observat. 21, of St. Vitus’s Dance, p. 1085. f.“Viel hundertfingen zu Strassburg anZu tanzen und springen Frau und Mann,Am offnen Markt, Gassen und StrassenTag 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.”
J. of Köningshoven, the oldest German Chronicle in existence. The contents are general, but devoted more exclusively to Alsace and Strasburg, published bySchiltern, Strasburg, 1698. 4to. Observat. 21, of St. Vitus’s Dance, p. 1085. f.
“Viel hundertfingen zu Strassburg anZu tanzen und springen Frau und Mann,Am offnen Markt, Gassen und StrassenTag und Nacht ihrer viel nicht assen.Bis ihn das Wüthen wieder gelag.St. Vits Tanz ward genannt die Plag.”
“Viel hundertfingen zu Strassburg anZu tanzen und springen Frau und Mann,Am offnen Markt, Gassen und StrassenTag und Nacht ihrer viel nicht assen.Bis ihn das Wüthen wieder gelag.St. Vits Tanz ward genannt die Plag.”
“Viel hundertfingen zu Strassburg anZu tanzen und springen Frau und Mann,Am offnen Markt, Gassen und StrassenTag und Nacht ihrer viel nicht assen.Bis ihn das Wüthen wieder gelag.St. Vits Tanz ward genannt die Plag.”
“Viel hundertfingen 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.”
[16]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 wasHylas; that he went from thence withCrescentia(probably his nurse) andModestusto Lucania, with both of whom he suffered martyrdom underDiocletian. 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 AbbotHilduwinus, of St. Denys, to the AbbotWarinus, 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. InG. 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.
[17]Probably a corruption of Apotropæi. The expression is constantly met with; for example, inAgricola, Proverbs, No. 497. These are theθεοὶ 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.
[18]J. Agricola.Sybenhundert und fünffzig Teutscher Sprichwörter. No. 497. Seven hundred and fifty German Proverbs. Hagenau, 1537. 8vo. fol. 248.
[19]St. Augustinehad 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. AugustiDenkwürdigkeiten aus der Christlichen Archäologie. Vol. III. p. 166. Leipzig. 1820. 8vo. Memorabilia of Christian Archæology.
[20]Wirthwein.Series chronologic. Epistolarum S. Bonifacii ab ann. 716–755. LVII. Concil. Liptinens. p. 131. XV. De igne fricato de ligno, id est, Nodfyr. SeeJoh. 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.
[21]The BishopTheodoretof 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 Photiusspeak of the St. John’s fires in Constantinople, and the first looks upon it as the remains of an old Grecian custom. SeeReiske, 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.
[22]The Life and Adventures ofNathaniel Pearce, written by himself, during a residence in Abyssinia from the year 1810 to 1819. Edited byJ. J. Halls. 2 Vols. 8vo. London, 1831. chap. ix. p. 290.
[23]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.
[24]What took place at the St. John’s fires in the middle ages (about 1280) we learn by a communication from the BishopGuil. Durantesof Aquitania (Rationale divinorum officiorum. L. VII. c. 26. InReiske, 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.
[25]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.
[26]MartiniMinoritæ Flores temporum, inJo. Georg. Eccard, Corpus historiæ medii ævi. Lips. 1723. fol. Tom. I. p. 1632.
[27]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 theKnecht Ruprecht.
[28]“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.
[29]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.
[30]BzoviiAnnal. ecclesiastic. loc. cit. 1468.
[31]See Appendix, Nos. III. and IV.
[32]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.
[33]Chorea procursiva of the moderns.Bernt, Monographia Choreæ Sti. Viti. Prag. 1810. p. 25.
[34]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 celebratedStorch, of the school ofStahl, 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.
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 celebratedStorch, of the school ofStahl, 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.
Ὡς τοῦτον τὸν καρὸν ἐγὼ σὺν δαίμονι τάκω,Ὡς τάκοιθ’ ὑπ’ ἔρωτος ὁ Μύνδιος αὐτίκα Δέλφις.
Ὡς τοῦτον τὸν καρὸν ἐγὼ σὺν δαίμονι τάκω,Ὡς τάκοιθ’ ὑπ’ ἔρωτος ὁ Μύνδιος αὐτίκα Δέλφις.
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.”
“Lanea et effigies erat, altera cerea.”
“Lanea et effigies erat, altera cerea.”
“Lanea et effigies erat, altera cerea.”
Lib.1.Sat.8.l.30.
Transl. note.
[35]SeeAgricola, loc. cit. p. 269. No. 498.
[36]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.
[37]J. Schenkii a GraffenbergObservationum medicarum, rariarum, &c. Libri VII. Lugdun. 1643. fol. L. I. Obs. VIII. p. 136.
[38]It is related byFelix 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. PlateriPraxeos medicæ opus. L. I. ch. 3. p. 88. Tom. I. Basil. 1656. 4to. Ejusd. Observation. Basil. 1641. 8. p. 92.
[39]The 15th of June. Here therefore they did not wait till the Festival of St. John.
[40]Gregor. HorstiiObservationum medicinalium singularium Libri IV. priores. His accessit Epistolarum et Consultationum medicar. Lib. I. Ulm. 1628. 4to. Epistol. p. 374.
[41]Jo. Bodin.Method. historic. Amstelod. 1650. 12mo, Ch. V. p. 99.—Idem, de Republica. Francofurt. 1591. 8vo. Lib. V. Ch. I. p. 789.
[42]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.
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.
[43]CompareOlaus Magnus, de gentibus septentrionalibus. Lib. XVIII. Ch. 45–47. p. 642, seq. Rom. 1555. fol.
[44]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, whichAvicennacallscucubuth, otherslupinam 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.) andPaulus(Lib. 3. cap. 16.) call it a kind ofmelancholy; but I should rather refer it tomadness, 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, (Hippocrateslib. 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 readAustinin 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, saithAvicenna, troubleth men most in February, and is now-a-days frequent in Bohemia and Hungary, according toHeurnius. (Cap. de Man.)Schernitziuswill 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,) saithAltomarus: 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 asBurtonshould not have alluded to Oribasius, who flourished 140 years beforeAëtius, and of whomFreindsays, “In auctore hoc miri cujusdam morbi prima mentio est; isΛυκάνθρωποςsiveΛυκανθρωπίαdicitur, 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 elegantemBöttigeridisputationem inSprengeliiBeitr. z. Gesch. d. Med. 11. p. 1–45.Blancard. Lexic. Med.Edit. noviss. 8vo. Lipsiæ, 1822.—Transl. note.
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, whichAvicennacallscucubuth, otherslupinam 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.) andPaulus(Lib. 3. cap. 16.) call it a kind ofmelancholy; but I should rather refer it tomadness, 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, (Hippocrateslib. 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 readAustinin 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, saithAvicenna, troubleth men most in February, and is now-a-days frequent in Bohemia and Hungary, according toHeurnius. (Cap. de Man.)Schernitziuswill 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,) saithAltomarus: 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 asBurtonshould not have alluded to Oribasius, who flourished 140 years beforeAëtius, and of whomFreindsays, “In auctore hoc miri cujusdam morbi prima mentio est; isΛυκάνθρωποςsiveΛυκανθρωπίαdicitur, 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 elegantemBöttigeridisputationem inSprengeliiBeitr. z. Gesch. d. Med. 11. p. 1–45.Blancard. Lexic. Med.Edit. noviss. 8vo. Lipsiæ, 1822.—Transl. note.
[45]Born 1430, died 1480. Cornucopiæ latinæ linguæ. Basil. 1536. fol. Comment. in primumMartialisEpigramma, 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 similitertarantulavocatur. Morsus ejus perraro interemit hominem, semistupidum tamen facit, et varie afficit,tarantulamvulgo 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.”
[46]Lycosa Tarantula.
[47]The Aranea Tarantula ofLinnæus, 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, seeGriffith’sTransl. ofCuvier’sAnimal Kingdom. Vol. XIII. p. 427 and p. 480. et seq. The author states thatM. Chabrierhas published (Soc. Acad. de Lille 4ecahier) some curious observations on theLycosa tarantulaof the south of France.—Transl. note.
The Aranea Tarantula ofLinnæus, 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, seeGriffith’sTransl. ofCuvier’sAnimal Kingdom. Vol. XIII. p. 427 and p. 480. et seq. The author states thatM. Chabrierhas published (Soc. Acad. de Lille 4ecahier) some curious observations on theLycosa tarantulaof the south of France.—Transl. note.
[48]Matthiol.Commentar. in Dioscorid. L. II. ch. 59. p. 363. Ed. Venet. 1565. fol.
[49]Perotti, loc. cit.
[50]Probably Lacerto Gecko, as also the synonymes,κωλώτηςandγαλεώτηςquoted by him.
[51]Lacerta Stellio. It need scarcely be observed that the venomous nature of this harmless creature was a pure invention of Roman superstition.
[52]SeeAthan. Kircher.loc. cit.
[53]From 1451–1458.Tiraboschi.VI. 11. p. 356.
[54]See p. 12. et seq.
[55]Aëtius, who wrote at the end of the sixth century, mentions six which occur in the older works. 1.ῥάγιον, 2.λύκος, 3.μυρμήκειον4.κρανοκολάπτης, by others,κεφαλοκρούστης, 5.σκληροκέφαλον, and 6.σκωλήκιον. Tetrabl. IV. Serm. I. ch. 18. inHen. Steph.CompareDioscorid.Lib. VI. ch. 42.Matthiol.Commentar. in Dioscorid. p. 1447.Nicand.Theriac. V. 8. 715. 755. 654.
[56]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.
[57]He lived in the middle of the eleventh century, and was a junior contemporary withConstantineof Africa.J. Chr. Gottl. Ackermann, Regimen sanitatis Salerni sive Scholæ Salernitanæ de conservanda bona valetudine præcepta. Stendal. 1790. 8vo. p. 38.
[58]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.
[59]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.)
[60]1347 to 1350.
[61]Athanasius Kirchergives 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.
[62]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 historianGaudentius Merula, who became celebrated about 1536, makes only a very slight mention of the Tarantism. MemorabiliumGaud. MerulæNovariensis opus, &c. Lugdun. 1656. 8vo. L. III. ch. 69. p. 251.
[63]Petr. And. MatthioliCommentarii in Dioscorid. Venet. 1565. fol. Lib. II ch. 57. p. 362.
[64]Athanas. Kircher.Magnes sive de Arte magnetica Opus. Rom. 1654. fol. p. 589.
[65]Joann. Juvenisde antiquitate et varia Tarentinorum fortuna Lib. VIII. Neapol. 1589. fol. Lib. II. ch. 17. p. 107. With the exception of the statement quoted,Juvenishas borrowed almost every thing fromMatthioli.
[66]Simon. Alloys.Tudecius, physician to Queen Christine, saw a case of this kind in July, 1656.Bonet.Medicina septentrionalis collatit. Genev. 1684. fol.
[67]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.
[68]Kircher, loc. cit. pp. 588, 589.
[69]Ferdinand.p. 259.
[70]For example:—“Allu mari mi portatiSe 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.
For example:—
“Allu mari mi portatiSe voleti che mi sanati.Allu mari, alla via:Cosi m’ama la donna mia.Allu mari allu mari:Mentre campo, t’aggio amari.”
“Allu mari mi portatiSe voleti che mi sanati.Allu mari, alla via:Cosi m’ama la donna mia.Allu mari allu mari:Mentre campo, t’aggio amari.”
“Allu mari mi portatiSe voleti che mi sanati.Allu mari, alla via:Cosi m’ama la donna mia.Allu mari allu mari:Mentre campo, t’aggio amari.”
“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.
[71]Ferdinand.loc. cit. p. 257.
[72]Kircher, p. 589.
[73]Plin.Hist. Nat. Lib. XXVIII. ch. 2. p. 447. Ed.Hard.
[74]Cael. Aurelian.Chron. Lib. I. ch. 5. p. 335. Ed.Amman.
[75]DemocritusandTheophrastusmade mention of it. SeeGell.Noct. Attic. Lib. IV. ch. 13.
[76]Ferdinand.p. 260.
[77]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.
[78]Il carnevaletto delle donne.Bagliv.p. 617.
[79]Ferdinand.pp. 254. 260.
[80]Ferdinand.p. 259. Slow music made the Tarantel dancers feel as if they were crushed: spezzati, minuzzati, p. 260.
[81]A. Kircher, loc. cit.
[82]See Appendix, No. V.
[83]Bagliv.loc. cit. p. 623.
[84]A. Kircher, loc. cit.
[85]Ferdinand.p. 262.
[86]This is said of an old man of Avetrano, who was ninety-four years of age. pp. 254. 257.
[87]Idem, p. 261.
[88]Ferdinandosaw 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.
[89]Idem, p. 260.
[90]Idem, p. 256.
[91]Idem, p. 260.
[92]Idem, p. 261.
[93]Ferdinand.p. 256.
[94]Idem, p. 258.
[95]Idem, p. 257.
[96]Idem, p. 256.
[97]De Contag. Lib. III. ch. 2. p. 212. Opera Lugdun. 1591. 8vo.
[98]De Contag. p. 254.
[99]Idem, ibid.
[100]Idem, p. 262.
[101]Idem, p. 261.
[102]“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.”—Zimmermannon Solitude, Vol. II. Leipsig. 1784.—Transl. note.
“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.”—Zimmermannon Solitude, Vol. II. Leipsig. 1784.—Transl. note.
[103]Georg. Baglivi, Diss. de Anatome, morsu et effectibus Tarantulæ. pp. 616, 617. Opp. Lugdun. 1710. 4to.
[104]Ferdinando, p. 257.
[105]Idem, pp. 256, 257, 258.
[106]Ferdinando, p. 258.
[107]Adam Olearius.Vermehrte Moscowitische und Persianische Reisebeschreibung. Travels in Muscovy and Persia. Schleswig, 1663. fol. Book IV. p. 496.
[108]Geor. Baglivi, Dissertatio VI. de Anatome, morsu et effectibus Tarantulæ. (written in 1595.) Opera omnia, Lugdun. 1710. 4to. p. 599.
[109]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.
[110]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.
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.
[111]Franc. Serao, della Tarantola o vero Falangio di Puglia. Napol. 1742.—SeeThom. Fasani, De vita, muniis et scriptisFranc. Serai, &c. Commentarius. Neapol. 1784. 8vo. p. 76. et seq.
[112]Thom. Fasani, De vita, muniis et scriptisFranc. Serai, &c. Commentarius, p. 88.
[113]Idem, p. 89.
[114]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. CompareJ. 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. FromAlexander ab Alexandro, and several later writers.—Stalpart van der Wiel, Observatt. rarior. Lugdun. Bat. 1687. 8vo. Cent. 1. Obs. C. p. 424. According toKircher.—Rod. a Castro, Medicus politicus. Hamburg, 1614. 4to. Lib. IV. ch. 16. p. 275. According toMatthioli.—D. Cirillo, Some account of the Tarantula, Philosoph. Trans. Vol. LX. 1770, describes Tarantism as a common imposture. So also doesJ. A. Unzer, The Physician, Vol. II. pp. 473. 640, Vol. III. pp. 466, 526, 528, 529, 530, 533, 553; likewiseA. 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 withR. Boyle. An essay of the great effects of even languid and unheeded motion, &c. London, 1685. ch. VI.—So alsoJ. F. Cartheuser, Fundamenta pathologiæ et therapiæ. Francof. a. V. 1758. 8vo. Tom. I. p. 334.Th. Willisde morbis convulsivis. cap. VII. p. 492. Opp. Lugdun. 1681. 4to. According toGassendi,Ferdinando,Kircherand others.—L. Valetta, de Phalangio Apulo opusculum. Neapol. 1706.—Thom. Cornelio(professor at Naples in the middle of the seventeenth century). Letter toJ. Dodingtonconcerning 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 fromBaglivi.—J. Schenk, aGrafenberg. 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.—BurseriiInstitutiones 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.
[115]This may, however, be considered merely as a conjecture, founded upon the following passage inLudolf’sLexicon Æthiopic. Ed. 2da. Francof. 1699. fol. p. 142.Astarāgaza, de vexatione quadam diabolica accipitur. Marc. i. 26. ix. 18. Luc. ix. 39. Græcus habetσπαράττειν, 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.
[116]The Life and Adventures ofNathaniel Pearce, written by himself, during a residence in Abyssinia, from the year 1810 to 1819. London, 1831. 8vo. Vol. I. ch. ix. p. 290.
[117]The Evangelist andSt. Johnthe 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.
[118]She was a native Greek.
[119]Pearce, p. 289. Compare p. 34.—E. G. Förstemann, Die christlichen Geisslergesellschaften. The Christian Societies of Flagellants. Halle, 1828. 8vo.
[120]Idem, loc. cit.
[121]Among the ancient Greeksβασκήσις. This superstition is more or less developed among all the nations of the earth, and has not yet entirely disappeared from Europe.
[122]Paracelsus.
[123]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.
[124]This account is given byFritze.Hufeland’sJournal der practischen Heilkunde, Vol. XII. 1801. Part I. p. 110. Hufeland’s Journal of Practical Medicine.
[125]CompareJ. 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.
[126]This statement is made byJ. Cornish. SeeFothergillandWant’sMedical and Physical Journal, vol. xxxi. 1814. pp. 373–379.
[127]Samuel Hibbert, Description of the Shetland Islands, comprising an account of their geology, scenery, antiquities, and superstitions. Edinburgh, 1822. 4to. p. 399.
[128]About this time the following couplet was circulated:—“De par le Roi, défense à DieuDe faire miracle dans ce lieu.”
About this time the following couplet was circulated:—
“De par le Roi, défense à DieuDe faire miracle dans ce lieu.”
“De par le Roi, défense à DieuDe faire miracle dans ce lieu.”
“De par le Roi, défense à DieuDe faire miracle dans ce lieu.”
“De par le Roi, défense à Dieu
De faire miracle dans ce lieu.”
[129]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. SeeRenault(parish priest at Vaux, near Auxerre; obiit, 1796), Le Secourisme détruit dans ses fondemens, 1759. 12mo. and Le Mystère d’Iniquité, 1788. 8vo.
[130]Arouet, the father ofVoltaire, 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.
[131]J. Phil. Hecquet(obiit 1737). La Naturalisme des Convulsions. Soleure, 1733. 8vo.
[132]De Melancholia et Morbis Melancholicis. Paris, 1765. 2 vols. 8vo.
[133]Especially from 1784 to 1788.
[134]SeeGrégoire, 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.
[135]“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, whiledancingon 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 holydance; 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.
“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, whiledancingon 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 holydance; 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.
[136]For examples seeOsiander, Entwickelungskrankheiten. Loc. cit. p. 45.
[137]Among 108 cases of insanity,Perfectmentions eleven of mania and methodistical enthusiasm,in nine of which suicide was committed. Annals of Insanity. London, 1808. 8vo.
[138]Harris RowlandandWilliam Williams.
[139]John Evans, Sketch of the Denominations of the Christian World. 13th edition. London, 1814. 12mo. p. 236.—SeeGrégoire, loc. cit. tome iv. chap. xiii. p. 483.
[140]Mrs. Trollope’sDomestic Manners of the Americans. A Revival, pp. 108–112. Shaking Quakers, pp. 195–196. Camp Meeting, p. 233. London, 2 vols. 1832.—Transl. note.
[141]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.
[142]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.
[143]Idem. p. 498. These are theBarkers. Numerous other convulsive Methodistical sects abound in North America. TheShakers, who are inimical to marriage, would also have been mentioned, were not their contortions much less violent than those of the Jumpers.—SeeGrégoire, tome v. p. 195.Evans, p. 267.
[144]SeePerrin 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.
[145]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.