5 o2 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



McNemar instances boys of eight and ten years, and the Rev. John 

 Lyle mentions one of seven, who called on sinners to repent, with an 

 eloquence singularly overpowering. Possessed by one dominant idea, 

 the people gave themselves up to the wildest enthusiasm, and it was 

 no uncommon thing for them to spend the whole night in religious 

 orgies such as have been described.* 



The spectacle of persons falling down in a paroxysm of feeling 

 was first exhibited at Gasper River Church, in one of McGready's con- 

 gregations in the summer of 1779. The movement proved highly 

 contagious and spread in all directions. After a rousing appeal to the 

 feelings of the listeners, and especially during spirited singing, one 

 and another in the audience would fall suddenly to the ground and 

 swoon away. Not only nervous women, but robust young men were 

 overpowered. Some, continues the historian, fell suddenly as if struck 

 by lightning, while others were seized with a universal tremor before 

 they fell shrieking, f Dr. Ely the, who often witnessed scenes of this 

 sort, assured Dr. Davidson that he had once felt the sensation himself, 

 and only overcame the tendency to convulsion by a determined effort 

 of his will. A few shrieks never failed to put the assembly in motion, 

 and set men and women to falling all around. A sense of " pins and 

 needles " was complained of by many of the subjects, and others felt 

 a numbness of body, and lost all volitional control of their muscles. 

 It soon grew into a habit, and those who had once fallen were ready 

 to fall again under circumstances by no means exciting. "Women who 

 had suffered repeated attacks sometimes fell from their horses on their 

 way to or from the meeting-house, while relating their past religious 

 exercises. 



The condition in some of the subjects was cataleptic, lasting gener- 

 ally from a few minutes to two or three hours ; but in a few cases it 

 continued many days. Others were violently convulsed as in hysteria 

 or epilepsy, " wrought hard in fitful nervous agonies, the eyes rolling 

 wildly." Most were speechless, but some were capable of conversing 

 throughout the paroxysm. The extremities were cold ; the face was 

 pale or flushed, the breathing hard. Sensibility was annulled. Mr. 

 Lyle, one of the prominent preachers of the times, having been fur- 

 nished by Dr. Warfield with a vial of hartshorn, applied it to a stout 

 young man who was lying flat on his back, and, inadvertently, let 

 some of the fluid run into his nostrils ; but he took not the slightest 

 notice of it. J Others who fell hard to the ground, or in running en- 

 countered stumps or trees, felt no pain from the violence. So many 

 fell at Cabin Creek camp-meeting, it is related, that to prevent their 

 being trodden upon " they were laid out in order on two squares of 

 the meeting-house, covering the floor like so many corpses. At Paint 

 Creek Sacrament two hundred were estimated to have fallen ; at Pleas- 

 ant Point three hundred were prostrated ; while at Cane Ridge, as has 



* Davidson, op. cit. f Lylc's " Diary." % Davidson's " History." 



