Now, since it is quite out of the
question that the bole could have anything to do with the result
in this case, notwithstanding Fracastoro's belief in its virtues,
we can only account for the cure by supposing, that a confidence
in so great a physician prevailed over this fatal disease of the
imagination, which would otherwise have yielded to scarcely any
other remedy except the tarantella. Ferdinando was acquainted
with women who, for thirty years in succession, had overcome the
attacks of this disorder by a renewal of their annual dance--so
long did they maintain their belief in the yet undestroyed poison
of the tarantula's bite, and so long did that mental affection
continue to exist, after it had ceased to depend on any corporeal
excitement.
Wherever we turn, we find that this morbid state of mind
prevailed, and was so supported by the opinions of the age, that
it needed only a stimulus in the bite of the tarantula, and the
supposed certainty of its very disastrous consequences, to
originate this violent nervous disorder. Even in Ferdinando's
time there were many who altogether denied the poisonous effects
of the tarantula's bite, whilst they considered the disorder,
which annually set Italy in commotion, to be a melancholy
depending on the imagination.
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