EPIDEMIC DELUSIONS. 23 



scarcely avoid giving way to it ; and even when the subject of stam- 

 mering was talked about, when the idea was conveyed to their minds, 

 they would begin to hesitate and stutter, unless they put a very strong 

 control upon themselves. It is just in this way, then, only in the most 

 exaggerated form, that these persons were afflicted with what was 

 called the dancing mania. They would allow themselves to be pos- 

 sessed with the idea that they must dance; and this dancing went on, 

 bands going from town to town, and taking in any who would join them. 

 Instances are recorded in which they would go on for twenty-four or 

 thirty-six hours, continually dancing and jumping and exerting them- 

 selves in the most violent manner, taking no food all this time, until at 

 last they dropped on the ground almost lifeless ; and in fact several per- 

 sons, it is said, did die from pure exhaustion, and this just because they 

 were possessed with the idea that they must dance. They were drawn 

 in, as it were, by the contagion of example ; and, when once they had 

 given way to it, they did not seem to know when to stop. This was 

 kept up by music and by the encouragement and excitement of the 

 crowd around ; and it spread among classes of persons who (it might 

 be supposed) would have had more power of self-restraint, and would 

 not have joined such unseemly exhibitions. The extraordinary capa- 

 city, as it were, for enduring physical pain, was one of the most curi- 

 ous parts of this condition. They would frequently ask to be struck 

 violently ; would sometimes lie down, and beg persons to come and 

 thump and beat them with great force. They seemed to enjoy this. 

 In another case that I might mention this was shown still more. 

 The case was of a similar type, but was connected more distinctly 

 with the religious idea, and it occurred much more recently. The 

 case was that known in medical history as the Convulsionnaires of 

 St.-Mudard. There was a cemetery in Paris in which a great saint 

 had been interred, and some young women visiting his tomb had been 

 thrown into a convulsive attack which propagated itself extensively ; 

 and these convulsionnaires spreading the contagion, as it were, into 

 different classes of French society, one being seized after another till 

 the number became very great in all grades. Here, again, one of the 

 most curious things was the delight they seemed to take in what 

 would induce in other persons the most violent physical suffering. 

 There was an organized band of attendants, who went about with 

 clubs, and violently beat them. This was called the grand secours, 

 which was administered to those who were subject to these convulsive 

 attacks. You would suppose that these violent blows with the clubs 

 would do great mischief to the bodies of these people ; but they only 

 seemed to allay their suffering. 



This, then, is another instance of the mode in which this tendency 

 to strange actions under the dominance of a particular idea will spread 

 through a community. Here you have the direct operation of the per- 

 verted mind upon the body. But there are a great many cases in 



