Among the instances in which imposture successfully taxes popular credulity, perhaps there is none more remarkable at the present day than that afforded by the Psylli of Egypt, a country which furnishes another illustration of our author’s remark at the commencement of the next chapter. This sect, according to the testimony of modern writers, continues to exhibit the same strange spectacles as the ancient serpent-eaters of Cyrene, described by Strabo, 17 Dio. 51. c. 14. Lucan, 9. v. 894. 937. Herodot. 4. c. 173. Paus. 9. c. 28. Savary states that he witnessed a procession at Rosetta, where a band of these seeming madmen, with bare arms and wild demeanour, held enormous serpents in their hands which writhed round their bodies and endeavoured to make their escape. These Psylli, grasping them by the neck, tore them with their teeth and ate them up alive, the blood streaming down from their polluted mouths. Others of the Psylli were striving to wrest their prey from them, so that it seemed a struggle among them who should devour a serpent. The populace followed them with amazement, and believed their performance to be miraculous. Accordingly they pass for persons inspired, and possessed by a spirit who destroys the effect of the serpent.
Sonnini, though not so fortunate as to witness a public exhibition of such performances, yet gives the following interesting account of what he justly calls a remarkable specimen of the extravagance of man. After adverting to the superstitious origin of the sect, he goes on to say that a Saadi, or serpent-eater, came to his apartment accompanied by a priest of his sect. The priest carried in his bosom a large serpent of a dusky green and copper colour, which he was continually handling; and after having recited a prayer, he delivered it to the Saadi. The narrative proceeds:—“With a vigorous hand the Saadi seized the serpent, which twisted itself round his naked arm. He began to appear agitated; his countenance was discomposed; his eyes rolled; he uttered terrible cries, bit the animal in the head, and tore off a morsel, which we saw him chew and swallow. On this his agitation became convulsive; his howlings were redoubled, his limbs writhed, his countenance assumed the features of madness, and his mouth, extended by terrible grimaces, was all in a foam. Every now and then he devoured a fresh morsel of the reptile. Three men endeavoured to hold him, but he dragged them all three round the chamber. His arms were thrown about with violence on all sides, and struck every thing within their reach. Eager to avoid him, M. Forneti and I were obliged sometimes to cling to the wall, to let him pass and escape his blows. We could have wished the madman far away. At length the priest took the serpent from him, but his madness and convulsions did not cease immediately; he bit his hands, and his fury 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.
[111] 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.
[112] Thom. Fasani, De vita, muniis et scriptis Franc. Serai, &c. Commentarius, p. 88.
[113] Idem, p. 89.
[114] 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 Tarantism as a common imposture. So also does J. A. Unzer, The Physician, Vol. II. pp. 473. 640, Vol. III. pp. 466, 526, 528, 529, 530, 533, 553; likewise A. F. Büsching, Eigene Gedanken und gesammelte Nachrichten von der Tarantel, welche zur gänzlichen Vertilgung des Vorurtheils von der Schädlichkeit ihres Bisses, und der Heilung desselben durch Musik, dienlich und hinlänglich sind. Observations and statements respecting the Tarantula, which suffice entirely to set aside the prejudice respecting the venom of its bite, as also its cure by music. Berlin, 1772. 8vo. A very shallow criticism.—P. Forest. Observatt. et Curatt. medicinal. Libri 30, 31 et 32. Francof. 1509. fol. Ob. XII. p. 41. diligently compiled from his predecessors.—Phil. Camerar. Operæ horarum subcisivarum. Francof. 1658. 4to. Cent. II. cap. 81. p. 317.—R. Mead, a mechanical account of poisons: London, 1747. 8vo. p. 99. contends for the reality of Tarantism with R. Boyle. An essay of the great effects of even languid and unheeded motion, &c. London, 1685. ch. VI.—So also J. F. Cartheuser, Fundamenta pathologiæ et therapiæ. Francof. a. V. 1758. 8vo. Tom. I. p. 334. Th. Willis de morbis convulsivis. cap. VII. p. 492. Opp. Lugdun. 1681. 4to. According to Gassendi, Ferdinando, Kircher and others.—L. Valetta, de Phalangio Apulo opusculum. Neapol. 1706.—Thom. Cornelio (professor at Naples in the middle of the seventeenth century). Letter to J. Dodington concerning some observations made of persons pretending to be stung by Tarantulas. Phil. Transactions, No. 83. p. 4066. 1672. considers Tarantism to be St. Vitus’s dance.—Jos. Lanzoni, de Venenis, cap. 57. p. 140. Opp. Lausann. 1738. 4to. Tom. I. mostly from Baglivi.—J. Schenk, a Grafenberg. Observatt. Medicar. Lib. VII. Obs. 122. p. 792. Tom. II. Ed. Francof. 1600. 8vo. was himself an eye-witness.—Wolfg. Senguerd, Tractatus physicus de Tarantula. Ludg. Bat. 1668. 12mo.—Herm. Grube, De ictu Tarantulæ et vi musices in eius curatione conjecturæ physico-medicæ. Francof. 1679. 8vo—Athan. Kircher, Musurgia universalis. Rom. 1650. fol. Tom. II. IX. ch. 4. p. 218.—M. Köhler, in den Svenska Vetenskaps Academiens Handlingar. 1758. p. 29. Transactions of the Swedish Academy of Sciences—Berlin Collection for the Furtherance of the Science of Medicine. Vol. V. Pt. I. p. 53. 1772.—Burserii Institutiones medic. pract. tom. III. p. 1. cap. 7. § 219. p. 159. ed. Hecker.—J. S. Halle, Gifthistorie. History of Poisons, Berlin, 1786. 8vo.—Blumenbach, Naturgeschichte, Natural History, p. 412.—E. F. Leonhardt, Diss. de Tarantismo, Berol. 1827. 8vo. and many others.
[115] This may, however, be considered merely as a conjecture, founded upon the following passage in Ludolf’s Lexicon Æthiopic. Ed. 2da. Francof. 1699. fol. p. 142. Astarāgaza, de vexatione quadam diabolica accipitur. Marc. i. 26. ix. 18. Luc. ix. 39. Græcus habet σπαράττειν, vellicare, discerpere. Sed Æthiopes, teste Gregorio, pro morbo quodam accipiunt, quo quis perpetuo pedes agitare et quasi calcitrare cogitur. Fortassis est Saltatio S. Viti, vulgo St. Veitstanz.
[116] The Life and Adventures of Nathaniel Pearce, written by himself, during a residence in Abyssinia, from the year 1810 to 1819. London, 1831. 8vo. Vol. I. ch. ix. p. 290.
[117] The Evangelist and St. John the Baptist have been at all times, and among all nations, confounded with each other, so that the relation of the latter to one and the same phenomenon in such different ages and climates is very probable.