TARANTULA. 



cured by muiie ; but all who have been upon the fpot atteft 

 it. Valett. de Phaleng. Apulo. 



To fuch extraordinary fafts, it is no wonder a few fables 

 fhould be added ; as, for inftance, that the patient is no 

 longer infefted than while the infeft lives ; and that the ta- 

 rantula itfelf dances, all the while, to the fame air with the 

 perfon bitten. 



Dr. Doniinico Cirillo, profefibr of natural hiflmy at the 

 univerfity of Naples, pofitively eoiitraditts the telUmonies 

 above recited. Having had an opportunity of examining 

 the efFefts of this animal, in the province of Taranto, where 

 it -is found in great abundance, he affirms that the furpriiing 

 cure of the bite of the tarantula by mulie, has not the halt 

 truth in it ; and that it is only an invention of the people, 

 who want to get a little money, by dancing when they fay 

 the tarantifm begins. He makes no doubt but the heat of 

 the climate contributes very much to warm their imagina- 

 tion, and to tlu-ow them into a delirium, which may be in 

 fome meafure cured by niufic : but feveral experiments have 

 been tried with the tarantula ; and neither men nor animals, 

 after the bite, have had any other complaint, except a very 

 trifling inflammation on the part, like that produced by the 

 bite of a fcorpion, which goes off by itfelf without any 

 danger at all. In Sicily, where the fummer is ftill warmer 

 than in any part of the kingdom of Naples, the taran- 

 tula is never dangerous, and niufic is never employed for 

 the cure of the pretended tarantifm. It is without doubt 

 very extraordinary, fays this writer, that a man of fenfe, 

 and a phyfician of great leai-ning, as Baglivi was, fliould 

 have been fatisfied with the account of this diforder ; and 

 that, inftead of examining the fafts by experiments, he 

 {hould rather have tried to explain it : but even philofophers 

 like vei-y much to meet with wonderful and extraordinary 

 things, and though they are againft all reafon, flill they want 

 them to be true, and endeavour to find out the caufe of 

 them. Every year this furprifing diforder lofes ground ; 

 and he is perfuaded, that in a very little while it will en- 

 tirely lofe its credit. The Neapolitan phyfieians all look 

 upon the tarantula in the fame light, particularly after the 

 ingenious book publifhed on this fubjeft by the leai-ned Dr. 

 Serao ; who, by various experiments, has proved, that the 

 bite of the tarantula never produced any bad effefts, and 

 that mufic never had any thing to do with it. Phil. Tranf. 

 vol. Ix. art. 22. 



The bite of the tarantula, and the method of its cure, 

 were, however, for many years fubjefts of elaborate dif- 

 cuffion ; and different theories were propofed for explain- 

 ing them, fome account of which it may not be improper to 

 preferve. 



Theory of the Tarantula' s Bite, by M. Geoffroy. The poi- 

 fonous juice injecled by the tarantula, M. Geofi"roy conceives, 

 may give the nerves a degree of teniion greater than is na- 

 tural to them, or than is proportionate to their funftions : 

 and hence may arife a privation of knowledge and motion. 

 But, at the fame time, this tenfion, equal to that of fome 

 ftrings of an inilrument, puts the nerves in unifon to certain 

 tones, and obliges them to (hake, after being agitated by the 

 undulations and vibrations of the air proper to thofe tones. 

 And hence this wonderful cure by mufic : the nerves, thus 

 reftored to their motion, call back the fpirits thither, which 

 before had abandoned them. 



It may be added, with fome probability, and on the fame 

 principles, that the patient's averfion for fome colours arifes 

 hence, that the tenfion of his nerves, even out of the parox- 

 yfm, being ftill different to what it is in the natural ftate, the 

 vibrations thofe colours occafion in the fibres of the brain, 



are contrary to their difpofition, and occafion a kind of dif- 

 fonance, the effedt of which is pain. 



Theory nf the EffeBs of the Tarantula's Bite, by Dr. Mead. 

 The m dignity oftlie poifon of the tarantula feems to eonfifl 

 in its great force and energy, whereby it immediately raifes 

 an extraordinary fermentation in the whole arterial fluid, by 

 whicli its texture and crafis are confiderably altered': the 

 confequence of this alteration, when the ebullition is over, 

 muff neceffarily be a change in the cohefion of its parts, by 

 wliieh the globules, whicli did before with equal force prefs 

 each other, have now a very differing and irregular nifus, 

 or adfion ; fo that fome of them do fo firnily cohere together, 

 as to compofe moleeulx, or fmall clufters : upon this ac- 

 count, as there is now a greater number of globules con- 

 tained in the fame fpace than before, and the impulfe of many 

 of thefe, when united together, differing according to the 

 conditions of their cohefion, as to magnitude, figure, &c. 

 the impetus with which this fluid is dinven towards the 

 parts, will not only be feen at fome ftrokes greater than or- 

 dinary, but the preffure upon the blood-veffels mull be very 

 unequal and irregular ; and this will be particularly felt in 

 thofe which are moft eafily diftended, as thofe of the brain, 

 &c. 



Upon this, the nervous fluid muft neceffarily be put into 

 various undulatory motions, fome of which will be like 

 thofe, which different objefts, afting upon the organs or 

 paffions of the mind, do naturally excite in it ; upon which 

 fuch aftions muft follow in the body, as are ufually the con- 

 fequences of the feveral fpecies of fadnefs, joy, dcfpair, or 

 the like determinations of thought. 



This, in fome degree, is a coagulation of the blood, which 

 will, the more certainly, when attended with uncommon 

 heat, as is the cafe in thofe countries where thefe creatures 

 abound, produce fuch like effefts as thefe : becaufe the 

 fpirits feparated from the blood tluis inflamed, and com- 

 pounded of hard, fixed, and dry particles, muft unavoidably 

 fliare in this alteration ; that is, whereas their fluid confifts 

 of two parts, one more aftive and volatile, the other more 

 vifcid and glutinous, which is a kind of vehicle to the 

 former ; their aftive part will bear too great a proportion to 

 the vifcid ; and confequently they muft have more than 

 ordinary volatility and force ; and will, therefore, upon the 

 leaft occafion imaginable, be irregularly determined to every 

 part. 



Whereupon will follow tremblings, anger, or fear, upon 

 a light caufe ; extreme pleafure at what is trivial, as parti- 

 cular colours, or the like ; and, on the other hand, fadnefs 

 at what is not agreeable to the fight ; nay laughter, obfcene 

 talk and attions, and fuch other fymptoms as attend perfons 

 bit ; becaufe, in this conftitution of nervous fluid, the moll 

 flight occafion will make as real a reflux and undulation of it 

 to the brain, and prefent as lively fpecies there, as tlie 

 ftrongeft caufe and impreffion can produce in its natural ftate 

 and condition : nay, in fuch a confufion the fpirits cannot 

 but fometimes, without any manifeft caufe at all, be hurried 

 towards thofe organs, to which, at other times, they have 

 been moft frequently determined ; and every one knows 

 which thefe are in hot countries. 



The effeft of mufic on perfons touched with this poifon 

 confirms the dofti-ine above delivered. For mufcular mo- 

 tion,- we know, is no other than a contradion of the fibres, 

 from the arterial fluid's making an cffervefcence with the 

 nervous juice, which, by the light vibration and tremor of 

 the nerve, is derived into the mufcle. 



Thus there is a twofold effeft and operation of the mufic, 



that is, upon the body and the mind ; a brilli harmony ex- 



9 cites 



