greater than what is caused by the Sting of a Bee, yet the Part quickly
after is discoloured with a Livid, Black, or Yellowish Circle, and
raised to an inflam’d Swelling; the Patient within a few Hours is
seized with a violent Sickness, Difficulty of Breathing, universal
Faintness, and sometimes Trembling, with a Weakness of the Head; being
asked what the Ail is, makes no Reply, or with a querulous Voice,
and melancholy Look, points to his Breast, as if the Heart was most
affected.
During this mournful Scene, all the usual _Alexipharmick_ and
_Cordial_ Medicines are of no Service; for notwithstanding their
repeated Use, the Patient growing by degrees more melancholy, stupid,
and strangely timorous, in a short Time expires, unless _Musick_ be
called to his Assistance, which alone, without the Help of Medicine,
performs the _Cure_.
For at the first Sound of the _Musical Instrument_, altho’ the Sick
lie, as it were, in an Apoplectick Fit, they begin by Degrees to move
their Hands and Feet, till at last they get up, and fall to Dancing
with wonderful Vigour, at first for three or four Hours, then they
are put to Bed, refreshed from their sweating, for a short time, and
repeat the Exercise with the same Vehemence, perceiving no Weariness
or Weakness from it, but professing they grow stronger and nimbler the
more they dance.
At this Sport they usually spend Twelve Hours a Day, and it continues
Three or Four Days; by which time they are generally freed from all
their Symptoms, which do nevertheless attack ’em again about the same
time the next Year; and if they do not take Care to prevent this
Relapse by Musick, they fall into a _Jaundice_, Want of Appetite,
universal Weakness, and such like Diseases; which are every Year
increased, if Dancing be neglected, till at last they prove incurable.
As Musick is the common _Cure_, so they who are bitten are pleas’d
some with one Sort of it, some with another; one is raised with a
Pipe, another with a Tymbrel; one with a Harp, another with a Fiddle;
so that the Musicians make sometimes several Essays before they can
accommodate their Art to the Venom; but this is constant and certain,
not withstanding this Variety, that they all require the quickest and
briskest Tunes, and are never moved by a slow, dull _Harmony_.
While the _Tarantati_, or Affected, are Dancing, they lose in a manner
the Use of all their Senses, like so many Drunkards, do many Ridiculous
and Foolish Tricks, talk and act obscenely and rudely, take great
Pleasure in playing with Vine-Leaves, with naked Swords, red Cloths,
and the like; and on the other Hand can’t bear the Sight of any thing
black; so that if any By-stander happen to appear in that _Colour_, he
must immediately withdraw, otherwise they relapse into their Symptoms
with as much Violence as ever.
It may afford some Light towards Understanding the Nature of this
Poison, to observe that _Apulia_ is the hottest Part of all _Italy_,
lying _Eastward_, and having all the Summer long but very little Rain
to temper the Heats, so that the Inhabitants, as one of that Country
observes (50), do breath an Air, as it were, out of a fiery Furnace;
hence their Temperament is dry, and adust, as appears by their being
generally lean, passionate, impatient, ready to Action, quick-witted,
very subject to inflammatory Distempers, Phrensies, Melancholy, and
the like, upon which Account there are more mad People in this, than
in all the other Parts of _Italy_; nay, what in other Countries is
but a light Melancholy, arises here to a great Heigth; for Women in a
_Chlorosis_ do suffer almost the same Symptoms as Persons poisoned by
the _Tarantula_ do, and are cured the same Way; and in like manner the
Venom of the _Scorpion_ does here in Effects and Cure agree very much
with that of this _Spider_.
From all this History it sufficiently appears, that those that are
bitten by a _Tarantula_, do thereupon become _Delirous_, and that
in order to account for their surprizing Symptoms; the Nature of a
_Delirium_, from which many of them proceed, ought to be understood.
Such is the Constitution of the _Human Œconomy_, that _as_ upon the
Impression of outward _Objects_ made upon the _Organs_, and by the
Fluid of the Nerves conveyed to the _Common Sensory_; different
_Species_ are excited there, and represented to the Mind; _so_ likewise
upon this Representation, at the Command and Pleasure of the Soul, part
of the same Fluid is determin’d into the Muscles, and mixing with the
Arterial Blood there, performs all the Variety of Voluntary Motions and
Actions.
This Order has been always so constant in Us, that at length by a kind
of natural Habitude, without the Intervention of the Reasoning Faculty,
Representations made to the Mind do immediately and necessarily
produce suitable Motions in the Bodily Organs. When therefore these
Representations are irregular, the Actions consequent to them must
necessarily be so too.
This being premis’d, it may perhaps be probably said, that a _Delirium_
is the Representation and various Composition of several _Species_
to the Mind, without any Order or Coherence; together, at least most
commonly, with irregular, or, as it were, undesigned Motions of the
Body; that is, such a wandring and irregular Motion of the Nervous
Fluid, whereby several Objects are represented to the Mind, and upon
this Representation divers Operations perform’d by the Body, tho’ those
Objects are not impress’d upon the Organs, nor those Operations or
Motions deliberately commanded by the Soul.
The Mind indeed is the first Principle of all Muscular Motion; but
in such Cases as these, its Promptitude to Action or Habit being
so great, it is in a manner surpriz’d, and cannot recover it self
after the Spirits are with violent Force determin’d pursuant to the
Representation of the _Species_. For, _as_ in the former State of
Things a Man is said to act Rationally, _so_ this latter Case is call’d
a _Perturbation of Mind_, that is, a _Delirium_; tho’ it is very
manifest, that in reality the Defect is not in the _Rational_, but
_Corporeal_ Part; such _Species_ being really presented to the Mind,
upon which by the Order of our Constitution such Motions ought to
follow in the Body.
Thus, for Instance, if the Liquor of the Nerves is, without the
Presence of any thing hurtful, put into a Motion like unto that which a
painful Impression makes in it, the same Bodily Actions must insue as
proceed from Fear, Anger, or the like Passion, determining the Spirits
towards the Muscular Parts; and a By-stander, who sees no reason for
such a Representation made to the Mind, will presently conclude that
the Person thus acting acts without or besides his Reason, that is, is
_Delirous_; especially if the Hurry and Confusion of the Spirits be
such, that not only _one_, but _several_ different _Species_ be at the
same time presented to the Mind; for a Man in this Case may act the
Part of one Joyful, Angry, Timorous, or the like, without any appearing
Reason, and all this almost in the same Moment of Time.
In one Word, _Deliria_ are the _Dreams_ of those who are _Awake_; and
_as these_ in Us _Sleeping_ are infinitely various and wonderfully
Compounded, and all from the same common _Cause_, diversely pressing
the Orifices of the Nerves, and thus making different _Repercussions_
of their Fluid; and _as_ we all know that this Confusion making the
Representation of several _Species_ to the Mind, there do hereupon
follow, tho’ the Body seem now at Rest and in perfect Repose, such
Motions in the Organs as are usually the Effect of the Arbitrary
Determination of the Spirits thither; _so_ We are now to enquire what
Alteration of the Body made by this Venom, can be the Occasion of this
Disorder and Tumult in the Nervous Fluid, which excites in the Party
infected such surprizing, and almost contradictory, Representations.
Most of the Symptoms of those who are bitten by the _Tarantula_ are at
the first, that is, before they rise to a _Delirium_, plainly the same
with those which the Bite of a Viper induces; without doubt therefore,
as we have before observed of the common Spider, that it pierces the
Flesh with its hooked _Forceps_, and at the same time instils from the
_Proboscis_ in the Mouth a liquid Venom into the Wound; so the like
_Claws_ in _This_ (of which I have taken the Figure (51) out of _P.
Bonanni,_ very much magnified (52),) do serve to make Way for an active
and penetrating Juice emitted from the same Part.
Of the Nature of which we may probably conjecture, that it is, when
mixed with the Blood, being exalted by the Heat of the Climate, of so
great Force and Energy, that it immediately raises an extraordinary
Fermentation in the whole Arterial Fluid, by which its Texture and
_Crasis_ is very considerably altered; the Consequent of which
Alteration, when the Ebullition is over, must necessarily be a Change
in the _Cohæsion_ of its Parts, by which the _Globules_, which did
before with equal Force press each other, have now a very differing and
irregular _Nisus_ or Action, so that some of ’em do so firmly cohere
together, as to compose _Moleculæ_, or small Clusters; upon which
Account there being now a greater number of _Globules_ contained in the
same Space than before, and besides, the _Impulse_ of many of these
when united together differing according to the Conditions of their
_Cohæsion_, as to Magnitude, Figure, _&c._ not only will the _Impetus_,
with which this Fluid is drove towards the Parts, be at some Strokes at
least greater than ordinary; but the Pressure upon the Blood Vessels
must be very unequal and irregular; and this more especially will be
felt in them which are most easily distended; such are those of the
Brain, _&c._ And hereupon the Fluid of the Nerves must necessarily be
put into various _Undulatory_ Motions, some of which will be like unto
those which different _Objects_ acting upon the Organs or Passions of
the Mind, do naturally excite in _It_, whereupon such Actions must
follow in the Body, as are usually the Consequents of the several
_Species_ of Sadns, Joy, Despair, or the like Determinations of the
Thoughts; and we shall readily pronounce one in this Condition, _Sad_,
_Joyful_, _Timorous_, _&c._ and all without any apparent Reason or
Cause; that is, in one Word, we shall say he is _Delirous_.
This is in some Degree a _Coagulation_ of the Blood, which will the
more certainly, when attended with an extraordinary Heat, as in the
present Case, produce such like Effects as these, because the _Spirits_
separated from the Blood thus Inflamed, and Compounded of hard, fixt
and dry Particles, must unavoidably share in this Alteration; that
is, whereas their Fluid consists of two Parts, _One_ more active and
Volatile, the _Other_ more Viscid and Glutinous, which is a kind of
Vehicle to the former; their _Active_ Part will bear too great a
Proportion to the _Viscid_; and thus they must necessarily be of more
than ordinary Volatility and Force, and will therefore, upon the least
Occasion imaginable, be irregularly determin’d to every Part; and
hereupon will follow Tremblings of the Body, Anger or Fear upon a light
or no Cause, extream Pleasure at what is but a Trivial Entertainment,
as Red, Green Colours, or the like; and on the other hand, wonderful
Sadness at any thing not agreeable to the Eyes, as dark and black
Things; nay, ridiculous Laughter, obscene Talk and Actions, and such
like Symptoms; because in this Constitution of the Nervous Fluid, the
most light Occasion will make as real a _Reflux_ and _Undulation_ of
it to the Brain; that is, will present as lively and vivid _Species_
there, as the strongest Cause and Impression can produce in its natural
State and Condition; nay, in such a Confusion, the Spirits cannot
but sometimes, without any manifest Cause at all, be hurried towards
those Organs, to which at other times they have been most frequently
determined; and every one knows which they are in hot Countries and
Constitutions.
We must however here remember what in the former Essay we mention’d of
the Fluid of the Nerves, being _immediately_ altered by the venomous
Juice.
It will perhaps make this Theory more than probable, to consider that
_Baglivi_ (53), in the Dissection of a _Rabbit_ kill’d by a _Tarantula_,
found the Blood Vessels of the Brain very turgid, and the Substance
of the Brain it self, that is, the Beginning of the Nerves, lightly
inflamed, and with livid Spots here and there, the _Lungs_ and other
_Viscera_ distended, with concrete glotted Blood, and large Grumes
of Blood with _Polypous_ Branches in the Heart, a large Quantity of
extravasated _Serum_ upon the Brain, which is (as he takes Notice)
mostly observed in those Subjects which died by a Coagulation of the
Blood.
Neither is it amiss to remark, that in a _Chlorosis_ there is nothing
preternatural but an _infarctus_ of the Arteries, and hence a retarded
_Circulation_, from an Evacuation suppress’d; and in this Country
too much Heat; that is, a beginning _Coagulation_, together with an
Inflammatory Disposition.
In short, _Bellini_ has at large demonstrated, how _Deliria_, as well
as _Melancholic_ as _Manaical_, do proceed from a State of the Blood
and Spirits, not unlike to that I have here described.
But no less a Confirmation of these Notions may we have from the
_Cure_; as to which it is observable, that the _Tarantati_ have no
Inclination to _dance_ before they hear the Musick; for being ask’d to
do it, they answer, it is impossible, they have no Strengh.
As for the Reason therefore of their starting up at the first Noise of
the Instrument, we must reflect upon what we have just now been saying
concerning the Cause of the Motions of the Body in a _Delirium_; and
consider withal, that muscular Motion is no other than a Contraction
of the Fibres from the Arterial Fluid making an Effervescence with the
Nervous Juice, which by the light Vibration and Tremor of the Nerve, is
derived into the Muscle.
And thus we have a twofold Effect and Operation of Musick, that is,
both upon the Mind and Body. For a brisk Harmony excites lively
_Species_ of _Joy_ and _Gladness_, which are always accompany’d with
a more frequent and stronger Pulse, or an increased influx of the
Liquor of the Nerves into the Muscles, upon which suitable Actions must
immediately follow; and if we remember what we before hinted, that
People in this Country are sprightly and ready to Exercise, and that
in such a state of the Fluids as we have describ’d, a slight Occasion
presents as strong _Species_, as a greater can at another time: The
Influence of Musick on the _Mind_ will appear to be so much the more
powerful and certain.
As for the _Body_, since it is sufficient for the purpose of putting
the Muscles into Action, to cause those _Tremors_ of the Nerves by
which their Fluid is alternately dropt into the moving Fibres; it is
all one whether this be done by the determination of the Will, or the
outward _Impulsions_ of an _Elastic_ Fluid; such is the _Air_; and that
Sounds are the _Vibrations_ of It, is beyond dispute.
_These_ therefore rightly modulated may shake the Nerves as really as
the _Imperium Voluntatis_ can do, and consequently produce the like
Effects.
That This is so, besides what we shall add anon, we may be convinced by
a Story which M^r. _Boyle_ (54) relates out of _Scaliger_, of a Knight
of _Gascony_ whom the sound of a _Bagpipe_ would unavoidably force to
make Water; for this Secretion we know is regularly the Effect of an
Arbitrary Contraction of the Muscle of the Bladder.
The obstinate continuing of the _Tarantati_ in this Exercise, is
doubtless in a great Measure owing to the strong Opinion they have of
receiving Advantage from it, being incouraged by the By-standers, and
having always believed, and been told, that it was the only Cure in
these Cases.
The _Benefit_ from Musick is not only their Dancing to It, and so
evacuating by _Sweat_ a great Part of the Inflammatory Fluid; but
besides this, the repeated Percussions of the Air hereby made, by
immediate Contact shaking the Contractile Fibres of the Membranes of
the Body, especially those of the Ear, which being continuous to the
Brain, do communicate their Tremblings to its Membranes and Vessels; by
these continued Succussions and Vibrations, the _Cohæsion_ of the Parts
of the Blood is perfectly broken, and its _Coagulation_ prevented; so
that the Heat being removed by Sweating, and the Coagulation by the
Contraction of the Muscular _Fibrillæ_, the wounded Person is restored
to his former Condition.
If any one doubts of this force of the _Air_, let him consider that
it is in _Mechanics_ (55) Demonstrated, that the smallest _Percussion_
of the smallest Body, can overcome the resistance of any great Weight
which is in Rest; and that the Languid Tremor of the Air, which is made
by the Sound of a Drum or Trumpet, may shake the vastest and strongest
Edifices.
But besides all this, We must allow a great deal to the _determinate
Force_, and particular _Modulation_, of these trembling Percussions;
for contractile Bodies may be acted upon by one certain Degree of
Motion in the ambient Fluid, tho’ a greater Degree of it differently
qualified may produce nothing at all of the like Effect; this is not
only very apparent in the common Experiment of Two String’d Musical
Instruments tuned both to the same Heigth, the Strings of the one being
struck upon, those of the other will found, and yet a much greater
Motion of the Air may not Cause any sensible Vibration at all in
the same Chords; but also by the _Trick_ which many have of finding
the Tone or Note peculiarly belonging to any _Wine Glass_, and by
accommodating their _Voice_ exactly to that Tone, and yet making it
loud and lasting, they will make the Vessel tho’ not touch’d, first to
Tremble, and then Burst; which it will not do if their Voice be but a
little eithet too low or too high.
This last Consideration makes it no very difficult matter to conceive
the reason, why different Persons, infected with this Venom, do
require oftentimes a different sort of Musick in order to their Cure,
in as much as their Nerves and _Distractile_ Membranes have differing
_Tensions_, and consequently are not in like manner to be acted upon by
the same _Vibrations_.
Nor are We to wonder at the Oddness of this Method and Practice; for
_Musick_, altho’ it be Now-a-days applied to quite different Purposes,
was anciently made great Use of for the removing of many, and those too
some of the most difficult and obstinate Diseases.
For this we have a Famous Testimony in _Galen_ himself, (56) who tells
us, that _Æsculapius used to recover Those in whom violent Motions of
the Mind had induced a hot Temperament of Body, by Melody and Songs_.
_Pindar_ (57) mentions the same thing; and indeed from hence not only
the Notion, but the very Name of _Charming_ (58) seems to have taken
its Origine. _Athenæus_ (59) relates that _Theophrastus_ in his Book of
_Enthusiasm_ says, _Ischiadic Pains are Cured by the Phrygian Harmony_.
This sort of Musick was upon a _Pipe_, and the most vehement and brisk,
of all the Ancients knew; so that indeed it was said to raise those who
heard it to downright Fury and Madness (60): And such we have observed
to be required to the Venom of the _Tarantula_.
But what is besides in this last Authority very observable to our
Purpose, is the manner of using this Remedy, and that was (61) by
_Playing upon the part affected_, which confirms what we have just now
advanced concerning the Effect of the _Percussion_ of the Air upon the
Contractile Fibres of the _Brain_, for _Piping upon_ any Member of
the Body, cannot be suppos’d to do Service any other way, than by such
Succussions and Modulated Vibrations as we before mention’d. And this
indeed _Cælius Aurelianus_ (62) agrees to, who calls this Practice,
_Decantare Loca dolentia_; and says, that the _Pain is mitigated and
discuss’d by the Tremblings and Palpitations of the Part_.
_Aulus Gellius_ (63) not only relates this same Cure of _Ischiadic_ Ails
as a thing notorious enough, but adds besides out of _Theophrastus_,
that _the Musick of a Pipe rightly managed healed the Bites of Vipers_.
And not only does _Apollonius_ (64) mention the Cure of Distractions of
the Mind, Epilepsies, and several other Distempers this same way; but
_Democritus_ (65) in his Treatise of Plagues, taught, that _the Musick
of Pipes was the Medicine for most Diseases_; which _Thales_ of _Crete_
confirmed by his Practice, when sent for by the _Lacedæmonians_ to
remove from them the Pestilence, he did it by the help of Musick (66).
All which Instances do evince this Remedy to have been very ancient in
many Cases; and indeed as _Cælius-Aurelianus_ (67), takes notice that
the first use of it was ascrib’d to _Pythagoras_ himself, so He having
settled and founded his Sect in those very Parts of _Italy_ which are
the Country of the _Tarantulæ_, going then under the Name of _Græcia
magna_, now _Calabria_, it is not, I think, at all improbable that he
may have been the Author and Inventor of this Practice there, which
has continued ever since. Especially since _Jamblichus_ affirms (68),
not only that he made use of Musick in Physick, but particularly that
he found out and contrived some Harmonies to ease the Passions of the
Mind, and others for the _Cure of Bites_: But of Musick enough.
To conclude with this Poison, we may take notice that, as to the
_Return_ of the Symptomes the next Year, That is owing to the same
excessive Heat in those Months, acting again upon the small remains
of the Venomous _Ferment_; thus _Bartholin_ (69) relates a Story of
a Melancholy Physician at _Venice_ who suffer’d the Attacks of his
Disease only during the Dog-days, which yearly ended and return’d with
them. A convincing proof how great a share Heat has in all these Cases.
[Illustration]
_Of the Mad DOG._
More difficult and terrifying are the Symptoms from the Bite of a _Mad
Dog_, whose Venom has this also surprising in it, that the bad Effects
do not appear oftentimes till the Cause of ’em is forgot; for the Wound
is as easily cured as a common Bite is; but nevertheless a considerable
time after, a melancholy Tragedy succeeds, sometimes sooner, sometimes
later; for there are Instances of its being deferred to Two, (70) Six
Months, nay, a Year, and longer, tho’ the attack is generally within
Forty Days after the Wound; about that time, the Patient complains of
Running Pains all over his Body, especially near the Part wounded,
like unto those in a Rheumatism, grows pensive and sad, prone to Anger
upon little or no Occasion, with an intermitting Pulse, Tremblings and
Contractions of the Nerves, with a great inward Heat and Thirst; and
yet in a few Days (when the Disease is come to its height) a Dread and
Fear of Water, and any Liquor whatsoever; so that at the very sight of
it he falls into dismal Convulsions and Agonies, and cannot drink the
least drop; and this _Hydrophobia_, or _Aquæ Timor_, has been always
accounted the surest Sign and Mark of this Poison, as distinguishing it
from all others.
The Ancients have at large described these Symptoms, as _Galen_,
_Dioscorides_, _Aetius_, _Ægineta_, but most particularly of all,
_Cælius Aurelianus_ (71); and later Writers have given us several
Instances of the _Hydrophobia_; Two Histories of it published, the
one by Dr. _Lister_ (72), the other by Dr. _Howman_ (73), I shall more
especially take Notice of, and refer to, as containing the most exact
and large Account of any I have met with; he that desires more, may
consult the several Authors cited by that diligent Observer, _Stalpart
van der Wiel_ (74).
That this Disease is accompany’d with a _Delirium_, is almost the
common Opinion both of Ancients and Moderns; _Damocrates_ called it
the barking Phrensie (75); but Dr. _Lister_ agrees in this Point with
_Petrus Salius Diversus_ (76), and will not allow a _Delirium_ to be the
necessary consequent of this Venom; and yet at the same time he tells
us, that his Patient barked like a Dog, and bit at the By-standers;
that he threw into his Mouth what was given him more hastily and
suddenly than it is Natural or Customary for Men to do.