His reasonings amount to this, that he considers the
disease to be a very marked form of melancholia, and compares the
effect of the tarantula bite upon it to stimulating with spurs a
horse which is already running. The reality of that effect he
thus admits, and, therefore, directly confirms what in appearance
only he denies. By shaking the already vacillating belief in this
disorder he is said to have actually succeeded in rendering it
less frequent, and in setting bounds to imposture; but this no
more disproves the reality of its existence than the oft repeated
detection of imposition has been able in modern times to banish
magnetic sleep from the circle of natural phenomena, though such
detection has, on its side, rendered more rare the incontestable
effects of animal magnetism. Other physicians and naturalists
have delivered their sentiments on tarantism, but as they have not
possessed an enlarged knowledge of its history their views do not
merit particular exposition. It is sufficient for the
comprehension of everyone that we have presented the facts from
all extraneous speculation.
CHAPTER III--THE DANCING MANIA IN ABYSSINIA
SECT.
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