The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1873-01-01

TILL OGAhSs
In the early part of the present century q |
religious revival was begun in the United
States, and was attended by physical phe-
nomena which were simply extraordinary
At a camp-meeting in a Western State some
Of the worshippers we're SO powerfully affect
ed by the intense excitement incident to the 1
devotional exercises that they were thrown
into something which resembled commissions.
They apparently lost all control over themselves
their bodies were racked by terrible spasms,
and they executed the widest capers that can
be imagined, until they fell to the earth in
completely exhausted condition
One of the most remarkable peculiarities of
this nervous agitation--for such it is known
to have been--was that persons who witnessed
its effects were impelled in the strongest man.
ner to initiate the furious demonstrations of
the afflicted. The consequence was that the
disease. lift may so be called, became epidemic.
Not only were a large majority of the persons
at the camp-meeting in question seized, in
moments of intense religious enthusiasm, with
the paroxysms, but as the news of the strange
manifestations spread throughout the country,
other devotees, and good sensible people, too,
in most cases, were affected in the same man.
her.
1.-THE jerks" as the atlliction was vulgarly
termed, from the spasmodic movements which
it gave to the body, the hands and the limbs,
were to be seen at almost every camp-meeting
in the land, and in many of the churches in
which religious excitement prevailed in an
unusually intense form, and the attention of
scientific men and of the general public was
attracted in the strongest manner to the phe-
nomena presented.
Our information respecting "The Jerks "
comes almost entirely from clergymen who
were witnesses Of the performance which they
describe, and the accounts of these persons
agree so nicely that there is no reason for
supposing that the stories have been exaggera-
ted. From one writer upon the subject we
learn that person who was seized with the
Jerks would often suddenly be cast to the
ground in violent manner, doubled with head
or feet together, or stretched out at full length
and turning over swiftly as dog does when
rolling at play. The exercise frequently be-
gan with the head, which would fly backward
and forward and from side to side with fright
full velocity and though the persons would
endeavor to suppress the motion, the effort
would be in vain. He would be compelled to
continue, and would either be thrown down to
writhe upon the earth OF to bounce from place
to place like football, or would hop around
with head legs, arms and trunk twitching and
iolting and jerking, as If they must inevitably
fly asunder. The display generally began
soon after the sermon, which would be inter-
ruptcd with loud cries and CALCULATIONS. The
uproar would then increase until the meeting
would exhibit scene of confusion which can
hardly be described in language.
Dow, in his Journal, asserts that upon one
occasion he preached in Knoxville, Tennes-
see, in the presence of about one hundred and
fifty persons of various denominations, and
the whites and blacks men and women, and
even children, were convulsed by the Jerks.
He also says that it was tic custom, viii
clearing away the trees for the camp-meeting
grounds, to leave near the preachers stand a
number of stout saplngs to which the victims
of the commissions might cling in their agi-
tation, and he asserts that he passed by one
such place where the ground around nearly
one hundred such trees was kicked up and
indcnted as if a number of horses had been
standing there in hy-time This is pretty
tough, but Mr.. Dow is reputable man, and
we must Of course believe him.
Some persons after the widest agitation
had passed, would fall into a condition of in
eane;bilitv and romain In the france for sey-
eral days at time. A Rev. Mr.. Sunderland,
writing Of his experience in 1924 said that he
had seen more than twenty persons in such a
state at one time, and these not always pious
persons, but those who were not professors of
religion, scoffers, who, strangely enough, were
infected with the prevailing epidemic. Mr..
Sunderland relates, among other instances,
that two shoemakers came to one Of the meet
ings who were wholly indifferent to religion.
Upon their return to their shops they were
both stricken perfectly stiff and they remained
under their bench for nearly forty-eight hours
with their work in their hands unable to move
muscle.
We may say in concluding this brefrefcrence
,, to a most interesting subject, that the Jerks
appeared in France in the middle of the last
), century among religious enthusiasts, in almost
the same form as that in which they were
presented here. The victims of the affection
were called by the French, Conculsiomaires.-
Phitadelphia To-Duy.
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The value Of earth as a disiniectant and
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