THE '' JUMPERS'' OF MAINE. \-jj 



of whom I obtained information, but did not study, there were three 

 cases, an uncle, a mother, and a brother. In another family there were 

 two boys, both Jumpers. Here, then, were fourteen cases in four fam- 

 ilies. By the study of these cases, it was possible to trace the malady 

 back at least half a century. 



Endemic and contagious. Jumping seems to be endemic, con- 

 fined mainly to the north woods of Maine and to those of French 

 descent, and is psycho-contagious that is, can be caught by personal 

 contact, like chorea and hysteria. 



Shortly after I began these researches, I found in a copy of the Lon- 

 don " Medical Record " brief reference to precisely similar phenomena 

 on the other side of the globe, among the Malays. The notice was very 

 brief, indeed, but it was sufficient to show that there was no difference 

 in the phenomena as exhibited in these different races. I have been 

 told that in northern Michigan these Jumpers are to be found, but 

 have obtained no evidence on that point that is entirely satisfactory. 

 It would not be improbable that this assertion should be proved to be 

 true, since the class among whom Jumpers are found is somewhat mi- 

 gratory, although not so much so as the English and Americans. 



Origin and Philosophy of the Disease. Jumping is probably 

 an evolution of tickling. Some, if not all, of the Jumpers, are ticklish 

 exceedingly so and are easily irritated by touching them in sensi- 

 tive parts of the body. It would appear that in the evenings, in the 

 woods, after the day's toil, in lieu of most other sources of amusement, 

 the lumbermen have teased each other, by tickling, and playing, and 

 startling timid ones, until there has developed this jumping, which, by 

 mental contagion, and by practice, and by inheritance, has ripened into 

 the full stage of the malady as it appears at the present hour. This 

 theory is in harmony with the general facts of physiology, and ex- 

 plains, better than any suggestion that has occurred to me, the his- 

 tory of what would otherwise appear to be without explanation, and 

 almost outside of science. In a certain sense, we are all Jumpers ; 

 under sudden excitement, as of a blow, or a violent, unexpected sound, 

 any person, even not very nervous, may jump and cry, somewhat as 

 these Jumpers do, though not with all the manifestations of the Jump- 

 ers. Hysterical women, jumping and shrieking on slight excitement, 

 we have all seen. 



Everything about this subject is incredible. I do not expect that 

 my readers will believe all, if they believe any, of what is here re- 

 ported ; rather they will find it easier to believe that I have been 

 deceived ; that the six sources of error that are involved in all experi- 

 ments with human beings were not fully eliminated ; that the Jump- 

 ers, in short, experimented with me, and not I with the Jumpers ; and 

 that, through all of this half century, the guides and physicians, the 

 proprietors of hotels, and their neighbors, and relatives, and friends, 

 have been the victims of intentional or unintentional fraud. But to 



VOL. XVIII. 12 



