He accordingly paid a visit to the church, which was
con- verted into a veritable pandemonium by the " possessed ones " groaning, contorting themselves, and clambering up the altar screen. The mania, according to the schoolmaster, who dis- believes in a supernatural origin, was communicated to the neighbourhood by a woman from Tenedos, and has spread by suggestion and imitation. The priest, on the other hand, believes that the possessed are " illuminated " from on high, though he admitted their faculties were quickened by prayer and fasting. From the curious resemblance between the symptoms displayed by the " possessed of St. George " and those produced by the tarantula, the writer clearly inclines to the view that the origin of the two is the same, and urges on medical observers to make a scientific investigation of the epidemic should it recur next year.
Previous page
