3i8 



KNOWLEDGE & SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



[January, 1906. 



quantity of venom injected is then too small to he 

 effective. 



The bite of the tarantula, Lycosa tarantula, the fierce- 

 lookingf spider which is very common near Taranto 

 (whence its name), was at one time much more 

 dreaded than that of the malmiijnatte, and is particu- 

 larly interesting- from having- been associated with that 

 curious mental state known as tarant'nm, and its re- 

 puted cure by music. 



This is described by Ferrantro Impcrato, in a 

 Natural Ilistorv published in Naples after his death, 

 in 1599, and the details he gives are amplified by sub- 

 sequent writers in the early part of the 17th century. 



In the Philosophical Transactions for 1671 (V'ol. VI., 

 p. 3002) we find an enquiry from Marten Lyster " as to 

 the truth that a person bitten by a Tarantula be not 

 ever when on his feet disposed to and actually dancing 

 after the nature of a Tarantula, which never moves but 

 by skippings. And if so, what axe we tO' think and 

 credit concerning' such and such musical tunes said to 

 be most agfreeable and lending to cure of persons bit 

 by a Tarantula? " 



Robert Boyle also made enquiries from friends in 

 Taranto. and was convinced of the truth of this music 

 cure, which he ascribed tO' sympathetic vibrations in 

 the patient (Essay of the Great Effects of Motion, 1690, 

 p. 74) : — " But the Eminentest Instance of the Efficacy 

 of peculiarly modified Sounds is afforded by what hap- 

 pens to those that are bit by a Tarantula. For though 

 the bitten person will calmly hear divers other Tunes, 

 vet when a peculiarly congruous one comes to be plaid, 

 it will set him a dancing with so' much vigour as the 

 Spectators cannot but wonder at, and the dancing- will 

 sometimes continue many hours if the Musick do so, 

 but not otherwise." 



Richard Mead, Physician to- the King, published in 

 1745 a Mechanical Accouni of Poisons, in which one of 

 the sections is devoted to the Tarantula. He describes 

 \ arious symptoms and asserts that " that the patient 

 being- asked what the ail is, makes no replv, or with a 

 querulous voice and melancholy look points to his 

 breast, as if the heart was most affected." He also 

 describes the dancing cure at length : — "While the 

 Tarantati are dancing they lose in a manner the use of 

 all senses, like to so manv drunkards, do manv ridic- 

 ulous and foolish tricks, talk and act ob.scenelv and 

 : udely, take great pleasure in playing with vine leaves, 

 with naked swords, red cloths, and the like ; and on 

 the other hand can't bear the sig-ht of anything black; 

 so that if any bystander happen to appear in that 

 colour, he must immediately withdraw, otherAvise thev 

 relapse into their symptoms with as much violence as 

 ever." 



M\ kinds of fables were believed. It was asserted 

 that the patient was only affected so long as the taran- 

 lul;i lived, that the spider itself danced to the same 

 tunc that cured the patient, and that each one had its 

 own specific tune. " This curious frenzy of dancing 

 was infectious, and even those who had not had the 

 mental excitement of the Tarantula's bite joined in as 

 madly as the patient. The disease was said to recur 

 every year at the same time and to be cured ag-ain bv 

 the same music." 



kt the time that Robert Boyle made his enquiries, 

 this epidemic of dancing was at its height, but even 

 then experiments had been made to prove that the bite 

 of the tarantula was not the cau.se of the mania. Dr. 

 Sanguinetti, of Naples (1693), made two' Tarantulas 

 bite him upon the finger and found that the bite had no 

 more effect than the sting- of an ant ; and his experi- 



ments were repeated by Dr. Serrao, in 1748, who con- 

 cluded that the bite never produced serious results, and 

 that music liad nothing to do with the tarantula. 



.\ letter from Dr. Domenico Cirillo, Professor of 

 Natural History at Naples, is published in the Trans- 

 actions of the Royal Society for 1770, in which he 

 stated that there was absolutely no> truth in the sur- 

 prising cure of the bite of the tarantula. He as.serted 

 that each year the disorder lost ground, and that he was 

 confident that in a little while it would lose its credit. 



There are numerous other accounts extant, showing 

 that the bite of the tarantula is not dangerous, either 

 to man or to cattle, and these are fully supported by 

 the fact that Dr. Robert found the extracts from taran- 

 tulas to be quite harmless. 



ITie only relic that now survives of the old dancing 

 mania is in the name of the dance of Southern Italy, 

 the tarantella, which, accordingf to^ an old authority, 

 was one of the dances of the tarantati. 



Similar dancing- epidemics have been known in other 

 parts of Europe, notably during the 14th century, in 

 the Rhine and Moselle districts, where men and women, 

 old and young, danced from town to town, dancingf in 

 the streets, in the squares, and in the churches — every- 

 where. 



.-^s regards the Italian epidemics, there were probably 

 cases in which the effects of the bite of a malmignatte 

 were attributed to the tarantula, but in most instances 

 fear was probably the main cause of the illness, and 

 produced a state of hysteria, which found its expression 

 in violent and uncontrolled dancing. 



Scientific Sewa^ge 

 Treactment. 



TKe Leek Sewage Farm. 



In Slater's book on " Sewage Treatment," published 

 in the year 1888, there is the following passage : — 



" Unfortunately there is no subject, outside the range 

 of party politics, on which so much envy, hatred, 

 malice, and all uncharitableness prevail as on the treat- 

 ment of sewagf'." 



The history of the many abortive attempts which 

 have been made to deal in a satisfactory manner with 

 sewage purification, together with the magnitude of 

 the interests involved and the curious vested interests 

 which have grown up, explain the generation of the 

 atmosphere of prejudice, through which all efforts at 

 improvement are looked down upon. 



It has not in the least degree surprised the writer 

 of this notice that, although the first sketch of the new 

 method of treatment dates back to the year 1899, the 

 first opportunity of practical application on the large 

 scale did not arise before the year 1903, when the 

 waterlogged condition of the Leek Sewage Farm and 

 the evils attendant on that condition provided the 

 opportunity. 



At the beginning of the year 1903 the sewage from 

 a population of 8,000 persons, together with refuse from 

 various manufactures, had been discharged upon the 

 Sewage Farm during several years, and at the lower 

 part of the farm a large tract of land was actually 

 under water, which covered a deep layer of black 

 sewage mud. Every day matters were becoming worse, 

 and the necessity had arisen to stop the flow of sewage. 



