Men are
sometimes afflicted with this dreadful disorder, but not
frequently. Among the Amhara and Galla it is not so common."
Such is the account of Pearce, who is every way worthy of credit,
and whose lively description renders the traditions of former
times respecting the St. Vitus's dance and tarantism intelligible,
even to those who are sceptical respecting the existence of a
morbid state of the mind and body of the kind described, because,
in the present advanced state of civilisation among the nations of
Europe, opportunities for its development no longer occur. The
credibility of this energetic but by no means ambitious man is not
liable to the slightest suspicion, for, owing to his want of
education, he had no knowledge of the phenomena in question, and
his work evinces throughout his attractive and unpretending
impartiality.
Comparison is the mother of observation, and may here elucidate
one phenomenon by another--the past by that which still exists.
Oppression, insecurity, and the influence of a very rude
priestcraft, are the powerful causes which operated on the Germans
and Italians of the Middle Ages, as they now continue to operate
on the Abyssinians of the present day.
Pages:
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197