EPIDEMIC CONVULSIONS. 505 



infatuated creatures who rolled over screaming in the mud, and prom- 

 ised jestingly to stand by and assist each other in case that either 

 should be seized with the convulsions. They had not been long on 

 the ground, looking upon the strange scene before them, when the 

 young woman lost her consciousness and fell to the ground. Her com- 

 panion, forgetting his promise of protection, instantly forsook her and 

 ran off at the top of his speed. But flight afforded him no safety. 

 Before he had gone two hundred yards, he too fell down in convul- 

 sions, " while a crowd flocked round him to witness his mortification 

 and offer prayers in his behalf." 



These nervous disorders assumed many other grotesque forms be- 

 sides those which have been described. The subjects often rolled over 

 and over on the ground, or ran violently until worn out with the exer- 

 tion. Hysterical laughter was another modification. Instances of 

 laughter were only occasional at first, but it grew, until in 1803 the 

 " holy laugh " was introduced systematically as a part of religious 

 worship. Sometimes half the congregation, apparently in the most 

 devout spirit, were to be heard laughing aloud in the midst of a lively 

 sermon. As the excitement grew, the infatuated subjects took to 

 dancing, and at last to barking like dogs. McNemar says they actu- 

 ally assumed the posture of dogs, " moving about on all-fours, growl- 

 ing; snapping the teeth, and barking with such an exactness of imita- 

 tion as to deceive any one whose eyes were not directed to the spot." * 

 Nor were the people who suffered so mortifying a transformation al- 

 ways of the vulgar classes ; persons of the highest rank in society, on 

 the contrary, men and women of cultivated minds and polite manners, 

 found themselves, by sympathy, reduced to this degrading situation. 



The " barks " were looked upon at first as a chastisement for re- 

 missness of duty, and the only way to escape them was to engage in 

 the holy dance. But, from being regarded as marks of guilt, these 

 wretched exercises came to be esteemed "tokens of Divine favor, and 

 badges of special honor." f With these manifestations the insanity 

 reached its height in about three years after it began to show itself. 



It was one of the popular beliefs of the times that certain instincts 

 or conditions of the system would avert these nervous attacks. Thus 

 it was held that a woman with a child in her arms, or conscious of 

 approaching maternity, was in no danger. But there was no truth in 

 the supposition. The maternal instinct, at least, had no' protective 

 efficacy. An instance is related where a woman mounted the stand, 

 with an infant in her arms, for the sake of a better prospect, and that 

 being suddenly seized she fell backward, dropping her child. Some 

 one fortunately saw the danger in time to seize and save the child be- 

 fore it fell to the ground. J 



A large proportion of the members of every congregation had 

 power to resist the convulsive tendency. In a great majority, no such 



* Davidson. f Ibid. % Ibid. 



