PHYSICAL AND LITERARY. 107 



This learned prelate aflured me, from 

 what he had feen of it, that it was a ri- 

 diculous vulgar notion, full of impoRure 

 and prejudice, and entirely void fif foun- 

 dation. He concurred, indeed, in opi- 

 nion, with moft men of judgement in 

 tliofe parts, that thefe difeafes proceeded 

 from other caufes. This feemed the 

 more probable, and even dear to me, 

 having had numberlefs opportunities of 

 treating fuch difeafes in hot countries 

 as are afcribed to this bite, and I always 

 found that they were caufed by the heats 

 of the mid-day fun. Though Malta is ra- 

 ther a wholelome climate, yet the fum- 

 mer-heats caufe very fatal fevers there, 

 as well as other difeafes ; among the reft, 

 a tetanus, or tenfe ftiffnefs of the whole 

 ' body, to fuch a violent degree, that it 

 generally proves mortal in twenty-four 

 hours, if the perfon affeded is not re- 

 lieved by a plentiful fweat. This, though 

 rarely, happens alfo inOtranto,and other 

 places, and is looked upon as an unde- 

 niable proof of the bite of the tarantula j 

 but, in Malta, they afcribe it to the being 



expo fed 



