This story, which is classed in the group entitled "Stories of Ratiocination" (see Introduction), was first published in The Dollar Newspaper of Philadelphia in June, 1843, winning a prize of one hundred dollars.
Page [23]. Tarantula: the bite of this spider was once supposed to cause a form of madness which made the victim dance. Compare the musical term "tarantelle." Huguenot: French Protestant. Many fled to South Carolina from persecutions in France. Sullivan's Island: Poe has been criticised for his inaccuracies concerning this island. He should have known it well, as he was stationed at Fort Moultrie in 1828 when a private in the United States Artillery.
[24]. Swammerdamm: Jan Swammerdam—one final m according to the Century Dictionary—(1637-1680). A distinguished Dutch naturalist.
[27]. scarabæus caput hominis: (Latin) a man's head beetle. There is no such species known.
[29]. syphon: Negro dialect for ciphering, a colloquial word for "reckoning in figures." Poe hardly seems successful in representing the sounds of the speech of Negroes. Not much attention had been paid to the subject in literature at that time. To-day, since the work of Joel Chandler Harris in "Uncle Remus" and of Thomas Nelson Page in "In Ole Virginia," we rather look down on these early crude attempts. noovers: Negro dialect for manœuvres in the sense of movements.
[32]. empressement: (French) eagerness.
[44]. curvets and caracoles: the prancing and turning of a horse.
[45]. violent howlings of the dog: it is popularly supposed that a dog, through its extraordinary sense of smell, can indicate the presence of parts of a human body, though buried.
[48]. counter: obsolete term for pieces of money.
[49]. solution of this most extraordinary riddle: this story exemplifies Poe's power in such work. He specialized on it in magazines.