752 



A HISTORY OF 



observed to move very briskly when it ap- 

 proaches its prey. It is covered all over the 

 body with a soft down, and propagates, as 

 other spiders, by laying eggs. In the summer 

 months, particularly in the dog-days, the ta- 

 rantula creeping among the corn, bites the 

 mowers and passengers : but in winter, it 

 lurks in holes, and is seldom seen. 



Thus far is true; but now the fable begins: 

 for though the bite is attended witli no dan- 

 gerous symptoms, and will easily cure of it- 

 self, wonderful stories are reported concern- 

 ing its virulence. The part which is bitten, 

 as we are told, is soon after discoloured with 

 a livid black, or yellowish circle, attended 

 with an inflammation. At first the pain is 

 scarcely felt; but a few hours after, come on 

 a violent sickness, difficulty of breathing, 

 fainting, and sometimes trembling. The per- 

 son bit after this does nothing but laugh, 

 dance, skip about, putting himself into the 

 most extravagant postures, and sometimes 

 also is seized with a most frightful melancho- 

 ly. At the return of the season in which he 

 was bit, his madness begins again ; and the 

 patient always talks of the same things. 

 Sometimes he fancies himself a shepherd : 

 sometimes a king; appearing entirely out of 

 his senses. These troublesome symptoms 

 sometimes return for several years succes- 

 sively, and at last terminate in death. But 

 so dreadful a disorder has, it seems, not been 

 left without a remedy ; which is no other 

 than a well played fiddle. For this purpose 



the medical musician plays a particular tune, 

 tumous for the cure, which he begins slow, 

 and 'increases in quickness as he sees the pa- 

 tient affected. The patient no sooner hears 

 the music, but he begins to dance; and con- 

 tinues so doing till he is all over in a sweat, 

 which forces out the venom that appeared so 

 dangerous. This dancing sometimes con- 

 tinues for three or four hours, before the pa- 

 tient is weary, and before the sweating is co- 

 pious enough to cure the disorder. Such 

 are the symptoms related of the tarantula 

 poison; symptoms which some of the best and 

 gravest physicians have credited, and at- 

 Tempted to account for. But the truth is, that 

 the whole is an imposition of the peasants 

 upon travellers who happen to pass through 

 that part of the country, and who procure a 

 trifle for suffering themselves to be bitten by 

 the tarantula. Whenever they find a travel- 

 ler willing to try the experiment, they readily 

 offer themselves, and are sure to counterfeit 

 the whole train of symptoms which music is 

 supposed to remove. A friend of mine, who 

 had passed through that part of the country, 

 had a trusty servant bitten, without ever ad- 

 ministering the musical cure : the only symp- 

 toms were a slight inflammation, which was 

 readily removed, and no other consequence 

 ever attended the bite. It is thus that false- 

 hoods prevail for a century or two; and 

 mankind at last begin to wonder how it 

 was possible to keep up the delusion so 

 long. 



CHAPTER CLXX. 



OF THE FLEA. 



THE history of those animals with which 

 we are the best acquainted, are the first ob- 

 jects of our chiefest curiosity. There are 

 few but are well informed of the agility and 

 blood-thirsty disposition of the flea; of the 

 caution with which it comes to the attack ; 

 and the readiness with which it avoids the 

 pursuit. This insect, which is not only the 



enemy of mankind, but of the dog, cat, am 

 several other animals, is found in every part 

 of the world, but bites with greater severity 

 in some countries than in others. Its num- 

 bers in Italy and France are much greater 

 than in England ; and yet its bite is much 

 more troublesome here, than I have found it 

 in any other place. It would seem that its 



