The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1884-01-31
TarantiSnuS.

The earliest mention of tarantismus
is found in the works of Nicolas Perot-
ii, who died in 1850. 1t appeared first
in Apulia, and at the time of this au-
thor seems to have fairly well estab-
lished itself as disease in that prov
ince. 1t is spoken of as having been
produced by the bite of the wolf-spider,
an earth species of light-brown color,
with black stripes, known to science as
the LycoSG tdrdntuIG Apulicd. This
creature Is found generally distributed
throughout Italy and Spain, and many
an old traveller has told wonderful sto-
rieS of tho effect of its bite, which was
accredited as poisonous. The part bit
ten, according to the common belief,
became swollen, and smarted, the VIC
tim became low-spirited, trembled and
was anxious: he was troubled with
nausea, giddiness, and at length fell
down in a swoon. All exterior cir
cumstances powerfully affected him; he
was easily excited to frenzy or de-
pressed to melancholy, and behaved
generally as an hysterical subject would
do. The strangest effect, or rather
supposed effect, of the bite was the be-
haviOr of the patient at the sound of
music; for he Immediately rose and
danced as madly as do the wicked peo-
pie in the fairy tale at the sound of
the hero's enchanted pipe. However
the patient may have been affected al
the outset, he seems invariably to have
fallen into swoon-the result of nerv-
nx-h ,aL
and music only could relieve him; but
neither music nor any other remedy
could permanently cure him.
Poisonous spiders were supposed by
the ancients to have been common
enough; but they do not seem to have
recorded the supposed effects of their
bite. In fact, they appear to have re.
served them as Del er machinG to bring
about the denouement of a much in
volved popular tale. The absence,
however, of particular descriptions OF
furnish us with proofs either one way
or the other as to its existence or non.
existence; for, in early times, all those
who suffered from strange or little un.
derstOOd mental or nervous diseases
we're roughly classed together as un.
fortunates suffering from the touch OF
Satan. Hence, in the fifteenth century
we suddenly come upon a full descrip.
ton of the tarantismus as a common
and widely spread disease. In the nexl
century FracaStro, celebrated physi-
clan, relates that his steward having
been bitten in the neck by the tarantula
or some other creature, fell down in 9
death-like stupor; but when he gave
him the remedies then in vogue fol
plague and hydrophobia he recovered.
Meanwhile, tarantismus passed the
boundaries of Apulia; and shortly aft
erwards there was scarcely corner o1
Italy where it was not too well known.
As it spread, it obtained more believers
and the more credence it obtained the
more victims it attacked. This alone
would tend to prove that the disease
depended greatly for its existence on
the power of the imagination. Every
where, as we suppose, it was the hys-
terical temperamentS which suffered,
for dull heavy louts are rarely subject
to affections of the nerves.
Of course, ordinary medical treat
ment failed to touch the disease; and
this of itself would tend to exaggerate
its power and frequency. Nothing
brought relief but lively dance-music,
and of this the old tunes La Pastorale
and La Tarantola were the most effica-
cious; the former for phlegmatic, the
latter for eXcitable temperaments.
When these tunes were played with
correctness and taste the effect was
magical. The tarantanti danced ener-
getically until they fell down exhausted.
Old and young, male and female,
healthy and infirm, began dancing like
machines worked by steam. Old writers
would have us believe that even old
cripples threw away their crutches and
danced with the best. Hysterical
females were the principal victims.
Other ailments were forgotten, pro-
priety of time and place ignored, and
soul and body, they delivered them
selves up to this dancing frenzy. They
shrieked, they wept. they laughed, they
sang. all the time dancing like bac-
chantes or furies, till at last they fell
down bathed in perspiration and utterly
helpless. If the music continued, they
at length arose and danced again, until
once more they fell prostrate. These fits
seem to have continued two or three
days, sometimes four, or even six, for
the relief seems to have been in direct
ratio to the amount lost by perspira-
ton. When the tarantant had by this
means recovered, he or she remained
free from the disease until the approach
of the warm weather of the next year,
and then was again relieved in the
same manner. Once a tarantant, how
ever, always a tarantant; one woman is
mentioned as being subject to these at
tacks for thirty summers. Chambers