| continued. The priest then grasped him in his arms, passed his hand | | gently down his back, lifted him from the ground, and recited some | | prayers. By degrees his agitation diminished, and subsided into a | | state of complete lassitude, in which he remained a few moments. | | | | “The Turks who were present at this ridiculous and disgusting | | ceremony were firmly persuaded of the reality of this religious | | fury; and it is very certain that, whether it were reality or | | imposture, it is impossible to see the transports of rage and | | madness exhibited in a more striking manner, or have before | | your eyes a man more calculated to inspire terror.”—_Hunter’s | | Translation of Sonnini’s Travels_, 8vo. 1799.—_Transl. note._ | | | | [313] _Franc. Serao_, della Tarantola o vero Falangio di Puglia. | | Napol. 1742.—See _Thom. Fasani_, De vita, muniis et scriptis | | _Franc. Serai_, &c. Commentarius. Neapol. 1784. 8vo. p. 76. et seq. | | | | [314] _Thom. Fasani_, De vita, muniis et scriptis _Franc. Serai_, | | &c. Commentarius, p. 88. | | | | [315] Idem, p. 89. | | | | [316] _H. Mercurialis_, de Venenis et Morbis Venenosis, (Venet. | | 1601. 4to. Lib. II. ch. 6. p. 39.) repeats the silly tale, that | | those who were bitten continued, during their paroxysm, to be | | occupied with whatever they had been engaged in at the time | | they received the bite, and proves, by a fact which had been | | communicated to him, that already, in the sixteenth century, | | they were able to distinguish impostors from those who had been | | really bitten. _H. Cardani_, de Subtilitate Libri XXI. Basil. | | 1560. 8vo. Lib. IX. p. 635. The baneful effect of the venom of | | the tarantula was obviated, not so much by music as by the great | | exertion used in dancing. Compare _J. Cæs. Scaliger_. Exoteric. | | Exercitt. Libri XV. de Subtilitate, Francof. 1612. 8vo. Ex. 185. | | p. 610.—_J. M. Fehr_, Anchora sacra vel Scorzonera. Jen. 1666. | | 8vo. p. 127. From _Alexander ab Alexandro_, and several later | | writers.—_Stalpart van der Wiel_, Observatt. rarior. Lugdun. Bat. | | 1687. 8vo. Cent. 1. Obs. C. p. 424. According to _Kircher_.—_Rod. | | a Castro_, Medicus politicus. Hamburg, 1614. 4to. Lib. IV. ch. | | 16. p. 275. According to _Matthioli_.—_D. Cirillo_, Some account | | of the Tarantula, Philosoph. Trans. Vol. LX. 1770, describes |