Scientific Intelligence. — Anthropologij . 415 



ralyze the nerve, that any alleviation is to be obtained from the 

 torture one suffers, and which arises in the manner we have de- 

 scribed. Even the application of the actual cautery to the cari- 

 ous hollow, has no lasting effects, and the extraction of the tooth 

 remains as the only resource. — Dublin MedicalJournal, vol. xii. 

 p. 136. 



4. Egyptian Dancing Madness., and Fire-Eating. — Profes- 

 sor Hecker has written a valuable and elaborate history of the 

 dancing madness that seized multitudes of religious fanatics in 

 the middle ages, and of which the name is still preserved in 

 our nosology, under the title of St Vitits's Dance. The effects 

 of the various positions and motions of the limbs and body on 

 the mind have not yet been studied by physiologists with all the 

 attention the subject deserves and requires. That attitudes and 

 postures exert a very important influence on the mind, may be 

 proved by the effects of the manipulations used by the prac- 

 tisers of animal magnetism, and by the testimony of actors who 

 acknowledged that it is difficult to assume the posture indicating 

 any passion, without feeling more or less of that particular emo- 

 tion. We cannot throw ourselves into the attitude of the strik- 

 ing combatant, without feeling somewhat of the ardour which 

 would give strength to his blow ; neither can we imitate the 

 shrinking posture of the terrified, or the headlong flight of the 

 pursued, without partaking more or less of their fears. To a 

 certain extent this circumstance, combined with the contagious 

 nature of fear, may explain the difficulty of rallying troops if 

 once they have turned their backs to the enemy ; and even the 

 bravest and best disciplined soldiers, in retreating leisurely be- 

 fore an advancing foe, find it a task to proceed in good order. 

 The attitudes of the female dancers at Gades, described by 

 Martial and Juvenal, and those of the Egyptian public singing 

 girls called Ghawazee, exert an influence over the passions not 

 only for the spectators but of themselves. Some dances con- 

 sist of motions calculated to excite an amorous, some a martial 

 spirit. The latter are the chief favourites of barbarous, the for- 

 mer of more polished nations ; and without fear of giving offence, 

 we may be permitted to rank the waltz among the physiologically 

 erotic species of dancing, although we do not quite agree with 

 Byron in unconditionally reprobating its introduction amongst 



