The Black Death, and The Dancing ManiaHecker, J. F. C. (Justus Friedrich Carl)
History
The Black Death, and The Dancing Mania
Hecker, J. F. C. (Justus Friedrich Carl)
Black Death; Chorea, Epidemic; Epidemics
"It is known that in India and the vicinity of the Great Sea, the
constellations which combated the rays of the sun, and the warmth of the
heavenly fire, exerted their power especially against that sea, and
struggled violently with its waters. (Hence vapours often originate
which envelop the sun, and convert his light into darkness.) These
vapours alternately rose and fell for twenty-eight days; but, at last,
sun and fire acted so powerfully upon the sea that they attracted a great
portion of it to themselves, and the waters of the ocean arose in the
form of vapour; thereby the waters were in some parts so corrupted that
the fish which they contained died. These corrupted waters, however, the
heat of the sun could not consume, neither could other wholesome water,
hail or snow and dew, originate therefrom. On the contrary, this vapour
spread itself through the air in many places on the earth, and enveloped
them in fog.
"Such was the case all over Arabia, in a part of India, in Crete, in the
plains and valleys of Macedonia, in Hungary, Albania, and Sicily. Should
the same thing occur in Sardinia, not a man will be left alive, and the
like will continue so long as the sun remains in the sign of Leo, on all
the islands and adjoining countries to which this corrupted sea-wind
extends, or has already extended, from India. If the inhabitants of
those parts do not employ and adhere to the following or similar means
and precepts, we announce to them inevitable death, except the grace of
Christ preserve their lives.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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