No one can study the now familiar history of clairvoyance profitably who has not learned something of the vagaries of hysteria.No one can read understandingly the life of Cowper and that of Carlyle without having some idea of the influence of hypochondriasis and of dyspepsia upon the disposition and intellect of the subjects of these maladies.I need not apologize,therefore,for giving publicity to that part of this narrative which deals with one of the most singular maladies to be found in the records of bodily and mental infirmities.
The following is the account of the case as translated by Miss Vincent.For obvious reasons the whole name was not given in the original paper,and for similar reasons the date of the event and the birthplace of the patient are not precisely indicated here.
[Giornale degli Ospitali,Luglio 21,18-.1REMARKABLE CASE OF TARANTISM.
"The great interest attaching to the very singular and exceptional instance of this rare affection induces us to give a full account of the extraordinary example of its occurrence in a patient who was the subject of a recent medical consultation in this city.
"Signorino M ...Ch ...is the only son of a gentleman travelling in Italy at this time.He is eleven years of age,of sanguine-nervous temperament,light hair,blue eyes,intelligent countenance,well grown,but rather slight in form,to all appearance in good health,but subject to certain peculiar and anomalous nervous symptoms,of which his father gives this history.
"Nine years ago,the father informs us,he was travelling in Italy with his wife,this child,and a nurse.They were passing a few days in a country village near the city of Bari,capital of the province of the same name in the division (compartamento)of Apulia.The child was in perfect health and had never been affected by any serious illness.On the 10th of July he was playing out in the field near the house where the family was staying when he was heard to scream suddenly and violently.The nurse rushing to him found him in great pain,saying that something had bitten him in one of his feet.
A laborer,one Tommaso,ran up at the moment and perceived in the grass,near where the boy was standing,an enormous spider,which he at once recognized as a tarantula.He managed to catch the creature in a large leaf,from which he was afterwards transferred to a wide-mouthed bottle,where he lived without any food for a month or more.
The creature was covered with short hairs,and had a pair of nipper-like jaws,with which he could inflict an ugly wound.His body measured about an inch in length,and from the extremity of one of the longest limbs to the other was between two and three inches.
Such was the account given by the physician to whom the peasant carried the great spider.
"The boy who had been bitten continued screaming violently while his stocking was being removed and the foot examined.The place of the bite was easily found and the two marks of the claw-like jaws already showed the effects of the poison,a small livid circle extending around them,with some puffy swelling.The distinguished Dr.Amadei was immediately sent for,and applied cups over the wounds in the hope of drawing forth the poison.In vain all his skill and efforts!
Soon,ataxic (irregular)nervous symptoms declared themselves,and it became plain that the system had been infected by the poison.
The symptoms were very much like those of malignant fever,such as distress about the region of the heart,difficulty of breathing,collapse of all the vital powers,threatening immediate death.From these first symptoms the child rallied,but his entire organism had been profoundly affected by the venom circulating through it.His constitution has never thrown off the malady resulting from this toxic (poisonous)agent.The phenomena which have been observed in this young patient correspond so nearly with those enumerated in the elaborate essay of the celebrated Baglivi that one might think they had been transcribed from his pages.
"He is very fond of solitude,--of wandering about in churchyards and other lonely places.He was once found hiding in an empty tomb,which had been left open.His aversion to certain colors is remarkable.Generally speaking,he prefers bright tints to darker ones,but his likes and dislikes are capricious,and with regard to some colors his antipathy amounts to positive horror.Some shades have such an effect upon him that he cannot remain in the room with them,and if he meets any one whose dress has any of that particular color he will turn away or retreat so as to avoid passing that person.Among these,purple and dark green are the least endurable.
He cannot explain the sensations which these obnoxious colors produce except by saying that it is like the deadly feeling from a blow on the epigastrium (pit of the stomach).
"About the same season of the year at which the tarantular poisoning took place he is liable to certain nervous seizures,not exactly like fainting or epilepsy,but reminding the physician of those affections.All the other symptoms are aggravated at this time.
"In other respects than those mentioned the boy is in good health.
He is fond of riding,and has a pony on which he takes a great deal of exercise,which seems to do him more good than any other remedy.
"The influence of music,to which so much has been attributed by popular belief and even by the distinguished Professor to whom we shall again refer,has not as yet furnished any satisfactory results.
If the graver symptoms recur while the patient is under our observation,we propose to make use of an agency discredited by modern skepticism,but deserving of a fair trial as an exceptional remedy for an exceptional disease.
