“I had occasion to witness at Cairo another species of religious fanaticism. I heard one day, at a short distance from my residence, for several hours together, singing, or more properly crying, so uniform and fatiguing, that I inquired the cause of this singularity. I was told that it was some dervise or monk, who repeated, while dancing on his heels, the name of Allah, till, completely exhausted, he sank down insensible. These unhappy visionaries, in fact, often expire at the end of this holy dance; and the cries of the one whom I heard, having commenced in the afternoon, and continued during the whole of the night, and part of the following morning, I doubt not that his pious enthusiasm cost him his life.”—Recollections of Egypt, by the Baroness Von Minutoli. London, 1827.
In Arabia the same fanatical zeal exists, as we find from the following passage of an anonymous history of the Wahabis, published in Paris, in 1810: “La prière la plus méritoire consiste à crier le nom de Dieu, pendant des heures entières, et le plus saint est celui qui répète ce nom le plus long temps et le plus vite. Rien de plus curieux que le spectacle des Schekhs, qui, dans les fêtes publiques, s’essayent à l’envi, et hurlent le nom d’Allah d’une manière effrayante. La plupart enroués sont forcés de se taire, et abandonnent la palme au sainte à forte poitrine, qui, pour jouir de sa victoire, s’efforce et jette encore quelque cris devant ses rivaux réduits au silence. Epuisé de fatigue, baigné de sueur, il tombe enfin au milieu du peuple dévot, qui s’empresse à le relever et le porte en triomphe. Les principales mosquées retentissent, tous les Vendredis, des cris dictés par cette singulière émulation. Le Schekh, que ses poumons ont sanctifié, conserve son odeur de sainteté par des extases et des transports, souvent dangereux pour les Chrétiens que le hazard en rend témoins malgré cux.”—Transl. note.
[136] For examples see Osiander, Entwickelungskrankheiten. Loc. cit. p. 45.
[137] Among 108 cases of insanity, Perfect mentions eleven of mania and methodistical enthusiasm, in nine of which suicide was committed. Annals of Insanity. London, 1808. 8vo.
[138] Harris Rowland and William Williams.
[139] John Evans, Sketch of the Denominations of the Christian World. 13th edition. London, 1814. 12mo. p. 236.—See Grégoire, loc. cit. tome iv. chap. xiii. p. 483.
[140] Mrs. Trollope’s Domestic Manners of the Americans. A Revival, pp. 108–112. Shaking Quakers, pp. 195–196. Camp Meeting, p. 233. London, 2 vols. 1832.—Transl. note.
[141] In Kentucky, assemblies of from ten to twelve thousand have frequently taken place. Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and New York, are also the theatres of these meetings.—Grégoire, tome iv. p. 496.
[142] At one of these camp-meetings a traveller saw above eight hundred persons faint away. Idem. He nowhere met with more frequent instances of suicide in consequence of Demonomania, than in North America.