Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-09-03
DANCE THAT CURES
BR|ND|SI INVENTION
Birthplace of TaranteIla,
Weighted With History,
Looks to Future.

Especial Correspondents Of The Star
and the Chicago Daily News)
BRINDISI. Italy. July 16.-Brindisi
lisa naval base and a center of coast
defense, and in these stirring times
the streets of this ancient city offer
passage to many soldiers in gray
green and to white-clad sailors OF
three or four nationalities. Occasion
ally a spot of khaki or a pair of domed
colonial hats come into view and l
recognize the tall figures of British
army officers on their way to the east.
/. too, am on my way to the east. To-
morrow. thanks to generous aomirai-
ty, 1 leave on an Italian torpedo boat
for Albania. -s,
There is little to see in Brindis'. The
columns. one intact, the other reduced
to stump, which mark, according 10
tradition. the end of the old Appian
built in the days when young repub-
lican Rome aspired to become q
"world power" repay a sentimental
visit, nothing more. The few Norman
Gothic houses. the Suaoian castle 5uilt
by Frederick ii. while he waited In
Rrindisi with his army before leaving
for the Holy Land on crusade. and
today the seat of the admiral com
handing the town, count ior it,'s ri, IN
this land of beautiful architecture. The
few Roman ruins have been destroyed
almost to humiliation. The church of
Santa Maria del Casale. with hand
some facade. is ugly within, despite It's
But I like the museum. located in
circular eoihce. once pagan temple,
then a Christian church with Byzan-
tine doors. today storehouse OF re"
valuable mosaics. statues, urns and in
scriptions.
Many View Old Treasures.
Chiefly, however. I like the museum
because there 1 had thrill. The place
was crowded. but fully half the visitors
were laborers, most o. them ignorant.
many ilIiterate. But they stood and
thrilled at the sight of scuiptured
beauty and their eyes were big with
admiration of these scant treasures
from foregone ages.
Again this evening. in Piazza Carroll.
L went among 1900 persons. soldiers
and sailors. men. women and children.
and we stood for an hour while a mill
tary band organized in few days from
among the soldiers of the garrison
played the entire first act of Boito's
opera 'Mephistopheles. proba bly, the
most intellectual opera Italy has ever
produced. And seeing the people about
me. the women leaning Electrically.
but without thought IF pose. from bal
Italy holds such an unrivaled place in
the history of world music.
Brindisi. the Roman Brundusium. has
truly purple past. Successfully a
zantine-Greek holding. it then passed
back and forth between the Goths and
Greeks six times. was next taken by
the LON bards in 668 and destroyed by
the Saracens in S36. The Greeks laid
hands on 1t last time. then in 1910
the Normans of Sicily stormed its walls.
losing not fewer than 10000 men in the
siege. the Hohenstaufen built its castle.
IT on to the house of the Durazzo. who
lost 1t to Aragon. whence 1T fell to
Austria. came under the rule of the
Neapolitan Bourbons. then of the
time. to be finally integrated in the
present kingdom of Italy. Brindisi is
a patriotic city, but who shall trace
the ethnology of the inhabitants?
future after the war. when Italy ex-
poets to be closely linked to the other
shore of the Adriatic. Before the war
Brindisi was port Of call for the P.
two japanese destroyers dropped an
Choir among the other allied warships
a week ago the east seemed indeed
very near.
How Tarantella Came About.
Yet the most extraordinary thing I
ever heard about very dull town is
Brirdisi.' compiled by one of the par
ish priests. Father Camassa. I give II
In his words and all may believe it who
can:
'Tarantuiism-It happens especially
In summer that. while working in the
fields around Brindisi. people are bitten
by a spider called Lycosa tarantula, and
fall into a state of muscular prostra-
ton. They feel tickling sensations and
an Intellectual desire to vomit. and Ian
Kuors of the stomach: the appearance
becomes corpselike. the eyes fixed and
fmmobile. the eyes become clouded, the
moisten all the person. Having tried in
vain each remedy of the healing art,
they have recourse to music and the
dance. as the sole eficacious reagents
70 the virus inoculated by the taIantu
las bite.
The stranger who Is not from Puglia
Is most astonished when, at Brindisi,
he sometimes witnesses the dance of a
woman The room is decorated with
ohawls and handkerchiefs of the most
striking colors. Musicians are called.
usually tambourtne. a violin and a
cello. The woman stricken by the ill is
found either reclining on the bed or
sitting with her head lying back on
cushions. The orchestra commences TO
play melancholy winnings and the pa
the players. ceasing the whining, begin
dance in minor key, the sick wom-
an leaps up suddenly and, waving be-
tween her hands colored handker-
chief. begins to dance wildly. still emit
ting signs.
The Dance That Cures,
The dance lasts. with brief intervals,
from eight to ten hours a day, and is
sometimes repeated for several days
according to the gravity Of the ILL Ger
tain II is that with this therapeutic
music the persons bitten by the taran-
fula are cured. but the same phenom-
ena Of the ailrnent. with a varying Pc
rtodfcity. return within a year, and
they are hence constrained to have re-
course to the same musical treatment"
But not having seen a true tarantula,
shall leave Brindisi on the morrow
with glad heart.
LONDON STOCK MARKET.
LONDON. September 3.-Money de-
mand better for the purchase of treas
ury bills. Discounts quiet
The stock market was of a week end
character. which consisted principally