796 Dynamic Theory. 



to mewing like a cat; soon the rest took it up and it became an epidemic. 

 In another nunnery one began to bite, and the rest took up that trick. 

 In one of these instances the epidemic spread into other nunneries 

 through Germany, suggested merely by the account of it which was 

 carried from one to another. It was cured by threats of punishment. 

 Boerhaave cured epidemic fits in an orphan asylum in Holland by heat- 

 ing a poker and threatening to burn the first girl who had a fit. At one 

 time in Scotland, they got fits in the churches, particularly in Shetland. 

 The minister in one case stopped them by threatening to duck in the 

 horse pond anyone who yielded to them. The convulsionnaires of St. 

 Medard in the last century were cured by being beaten with sticks. 

 Witchcraft, which had been a chronic delusion for several thousand 

 years, broke out in the latter part of the 17th century into an epidemic, 

 the violence of which, by causing a re-examination of the idea in the 

 light rationalism, finally destroyed its domination. 



In the early part of this century, in Tennesse and Southern Ken- 

 tucky, there occurred a series of remarkable epidemics, in connection 

 with revivals of religious excitement. At the meetings at which there 

 were sometimes several thousand people, there occurred various manifes- 

 tations, which were called the Jerking, the Rolling, the Falling, the 

 Dancing, and the Barking exercises, also Visions and Trances. Al- 

 most any movement made by one seemed to act as suggestions to others, 

 and thus large numbers would engage in the most absurd pranks. One 

 lusty hunter started on a run to "chase the devil." He was immedi- 

 ately followed by numbers of others. Then the devil was imagined to 

 climb a tree, and some climbed after him. This they called ' ' treeing 

 the devil." In the Jerking exercises, a multitude were often caused to 

 jerk their heads and other parts of the body with great violence, the 

 long hair of the women snapping back and forth like whip-lashes. At 

 one time it was estimated that 3,000 people had the Falling exercise, 

 and were on the ground at one time. 



The "force of suggestion" acts as a strong motive in shaping the 

 ideas and actions of others. We see this in the tendency to imitate 

 people who stutter, a tendency which it often requires strong counter 

 motives to resist. 



The following story from Abercrombie shows how a false perception 

 may be " catching." No doubt it was the imagination of one communi- 

 cated to the rest who were in a state of like superstitious preparation. 

 " A whole ship's company was thrown into the utmost consternation by 

 the apparition of a cook who had died a few days before. He was dis- 

 tinctly seen walking ahead of the ship with a peculiar gait by which he 

 was distinguished when alive through having one of his legs shorter that 

 the other. On steering the ship towards the object it was found to be a 



