giving the nerves a degree of tension equal to that of some strings of an instrument, puts the nerves in unison to certain tones; and after being agitated by the undulations and vibrations of the air proper to those tones, obliges them to shake. 1743, Aug. A genuine Letter from an Italian Gentleman, concerning the Bite of the Tarantula.. SIR, ACCORDING to your desire I send you an account of the effect the bite of a Tarantula has upon the human body. I shall only give a distinct detail of all the circumstances that I have seen, having once been instrumental to the cure of a poor ploughman that was bit by that insect. I will not undertake to give you any account of the Tarantula itself, being sure you are perfectly well acquainted with it: I shall only tell you what has happened in my country, at a small village, called La Torre della Annunziata, about ten miles from Naples, where I was at the time the affair I am going to relate happened. It was in the month of October, a season of the year when all the students in Naples, that have any relations in the country, have leave to visit them. I was one of those that enjoyed the privilege of visiting the place of my nativity; and as I was then studying music in the college of Naples, whenever I went into the country, I brought my violin with me. It happened one day that a poor man was taken ill in the street, and it was soon known to be the effect of the Tarantula, because the country people have some undoubted signs to know it by, and particularly (they say) that the Tarantula bites on the tip or under lip of the ear, because it generally bites those who sleep on the ground, and the wounded part becomes black, which happens three days afterwards, exactly at the hour of the hurt received: and they further assert, that if no person was to undertake to cure him who had been bitten, he would feel the effect of it every day at the same time for the space of three or four hours, till it would throw him into such madness as to destroy him in about a month; some (they say) have not died till three months after they have been bit; but this I cannot believe, because it never happens that any are suffered to die by such distemper, the priest of the parish being obliged to play on the fiddle in order to cure them; and none have been known, in the memory of man, to have died of it: but to proceed. A poor man was taken ill in the street (as I said before) and as the priest was out of the way, several gentlemen begged of me to play to the poor fellow. I could not help going, without offending a number of friends; when I was there I saw a man stretched on the ground, who seemed as if he was just going to expire. The people at the sight of me cried out-play-play the Tarantella: (which is a tune made use of on such occasions.) It happened that I had never heard that tune, consequently could not play it. I asked what sort of tune it was? They answered, that it was a kind of jig. I tried several jigs, but to no purpose, for the man was as motionless as before. The people still called out for the Tarantella; I told them I could not play it, but if any would sing it, I would learn it immediately: an old woman presented herself to me to do the good office, who sung it in such an unintelligible sound of voice, that I could not form an idea of it; but another woman came, and helped me to learn it; which I did in about ten minutes time, it being very short: but you must observe that while I was learning the tune, and happened to feel the strain of the first two bars, the man began to move accordingly, and got up as quick as lightning, and seemed as if he had been awakened by some frightful vision, and wildly stared about, still moving every joint of his body; but as I had not as yet learned the whole tune, I left off playing, not thinking that it would have any effect on the man. But the instant I left off playing, the man fell down, and cried out very loud, and distorted his face, legs, arms, and every other part of his body, scraped the earth with his hands, and was in such contortions, as clearly indicated him to be in miserable agonies. I was frightened out of my wits, and made all the haste I could to learn the rest of the tune; which done, I played near him, I mean about four yards from him. The instant he heard me, he rose up as he did before, and danced as hard as any man could do; his dancing was very wild; he kept perfect time in the dance, but had neither rule nor manner, only jumped and ran to and fro, made very comical postures, something like the Chinese dances we have sometimes seen on the stage, and otherwise every thing was very wild of what he did; he sweated all over, and then the people cried out faster-faster, meaning that I should give a quicker motion to the tune, which I did so quick, that I could hardly keep up playing, and the man still danced in time. I was very much fatigued, and though I had several persons behind me, some drying the sweat from my face, others blowing with a fan to keep me cool, (for it was about two o'clock in the afternoon) others distancing the people that they might not throng about me; and yet notwithstanding all this, I suffered long patience to keep up such a long time, for I played, without exaggeration, above two hours, without the least interval. When the man had danced about an hour, the people gave him a naked sword, which he applied with the point in the palm of his hands, and made the sword jump from one hand into the other, which sword he held in equilibrium, and he still kept dancing. The people knew he wanted a sword, because a little before he got it, he scratched his hands very hard, as if he would tear the flesh from them. When he had well pricked his hands, he got hold of the sword by the handle, and pricked also the upper part of his feet, and in about five minutes time his hands and feet bled in great abundance. He continued to use the sword for about a quarter of an hour, sometimes pricking his hands, and sometimes his feet with little or no intermission; and then he threw it away, and kept on dancing. When he was quite spent with fatigue, his motion began to grow slower, but the people begged of me to keep up the same time, and as he could not dance accordingly, he only moved his body and kept time: at last after two hours danc ing, he fell down quite motionless, and I gave over playing. The people took him up and carried him into a house, and put him into a large tub of tepid water, and a surgeon bled him; while he was bathing, he was let blood in both his hands and feet, and they took from him a great quantity of blood: after that they tied up the orifices, put him in a bed, and gave him a cordial, which they forced down, because the man kept his teeth very close. About five minutes after, he sweated a great deal, and fell asleep, which he did for five or six hours. When he awoke he was perfectly well, only weak from the great loss of blood he had sustained; and four days after he was entirely recovered, for I saw him walking in the streets; and what is remarkable, he hardly remem bered any thing of what had happened to him, and has never felt any pain since. This is what I know of the Tarantula, which I hope will satisfy your curiosity, and as you are a great philosopher may philosophize as you please. I need not make any apology for my bad writing, you must excuse it, considering that it was only to obey your commands: if you have any other, you may dispose of, 1753, Sept. SIR, Your most humble servant, [*** Our readers will make proper allowance for the style of the above letter, as it was written by a foreigner. A few sentences, which were almost unintelligibles spe have taken the liberty to correct. E.] MR. URBAN, WE were lately presented in one of the public papers with a letter from Doctor Cirillo, Professor of Natural History in the University of Naples, to Doctor Watson, F. R. S. in which the learned Professor refutes the common opinion, that the bite of the Tarantula is only to be cured by music. I remember to have formerly read, with a good deal of surprise, the histories of several persons, said to be so cured, in the works of Baglivi, the celebrated Italian Physician, mentioned by the Professor; one of which, if I mistake not, (for I have not the author by me) is to the following purport. The person affected was seized immediately after the bite with a heavi ness and stupor, and in a short time fell down in a state of insensibility. Upon this, some of the people about him procured the first musical instrument that was at hand, and played several tunes upon it for some time without effect; till at last they luckily hit upon one, which struck the man's fancy, and raised him upon his legs; when he instantly began dancing to it, and continued to do so till he sunk down quite covered with sweat, and overpowered with fatigue.He repeated the same exercise three or four days successively, with the same violence; by which means he at length got the better of the poison, and was restored to perfect health. The account which Baglivi gives of the manner in which this very extraordinary remedy operates, is, if I remember right, something like this. He supposes, that the quick motion impressed by the impulse of the musical sounds on the air, and from thence communicated through the ear to the blood and animal spirits, gradually dissolves the coagulation which the poison had produced in them; so that by means of these repeated vibrations the humours recover their original state of fluidity, and now, circulating duly through the fine tubes of the vessels that were before obstructed, enable them to perform again their several functions. Thus the patient regains the use of sense and motion, is roused from his lethargy, springs up upon his feet, and continues to exercise them, till the great profusion of sweat, which the exercise occasions, eliminates out of the mass of blood all the remaining virulence of the poison. Now though Baglivi's reasoning, how ingenious soever, is ill-founded, as he was certainly imposed upon with regard to the facts on which it is built; yet it is equally certain, that this doctrine of the cure of disorders being effected by the powers of music, is no novel notion. We find it mentioned by Macrobius, who, in enumerating the several virtues ascribed to music, reckons this also among the rest: CORPORUM QUOQUE MORBIS MEDETUR. [In Somn. Scip. lib. ii. cap. 3.] And Gellius had, before him, remarked the great efficacy of it in giving ease, particularly in the SCIATICA; adding, that Democritus speaks of it as a specific in most other diseases. Nay, he mentions a case perfectly similar to that under consideration, namely, the bite of the Viper; which he observes from Theophrastus, finds an effectual remedy in the skilful harmonious touches of the musician: and concludes with remarking," So intimate is the union between the bodies and the minds of men, and consequently between the disorders and the remedies, by which each is affected."[TANTA PRORSUS EST AFFINITAS CORPORIBUS HOMINUM MEN. TIBUSQUE, ET PROPTEREA quoque VITIIS AUT MEDELIS ANIMORUM ET CORPORUM. Gell. Noct. Attic. lib. iv. cap. 13.] 1771, Oct. I am, &c. Q VIII. Dissertation on a Poison of the Ancients called Bull's Blood MR. URBAN, I WAS in great hopes of meeting with something, in Dr. Mead's book about the poisons of the ancients, on the Cicuta given to criminals at Athens,* the Bull's blood, &c. but I am disappointed, and I lament the disappointment, because I labour under some difficulty in regard to the Bull's blood. Some have fancied that by Taugu apa, or Bull's blood, some drug might be meant, just as at this day a certain gum is called sanguis draconis, or dragon's blood; but that cannot be the case, since in some of the instances of persons dying by this means, express mention is made of their receiving the blood directly from the victim. The persons recorded to have killed themselves by drinking Bull's blood, are Æson in Apollodori, Lib. I. c. 9. s. 27. Midas, king of Phrygia, Strabo, Lib. I. Hannibal, Plutarch. in Flaminio; and Themistocles, according to various authors. We are bound to understand those passages literally, for the reason given above; and the question is, whether Bull's *Plato in Phadone. |