ereby involuntary fits of intoxicating joy and a propensity to
dance are occasioned. To this notion he was, no doubt, led from having
observed a milder form of St. Vitus's dance, not uncommon in his time,
which was accompanied by involuntary laughter; and which bore a
resemblance to the hysterical laughter of the moderns, except that it was
characterised by more pleasurable sensations and by an extravagant
propensity to dance. There was no howling, screaming, and jumping, as in
the severer form; neither was the disposition to dance by any means
insuperable. Patients thus affected, although they had not a complete
control over their understandings, yet were sufficiently self-possessed
during the attack to obey the directions which they received. There were
even some among them who did not dance at all, but only felt an
involuntary impulse to allay the internal sense of disquietude, which is
the usual forerunner of an attack of this kind, by laughter and quick
walking carried to the extent of producing fatigue. This disorder, so
different from the original type, evidently approximates to the modern
chorea; or, rather, is in perfect accordance with it, even to the less
essential symptom of laughter. A mitigation in the form of the Dancing
Mania had thus clearly taken place at the commencement of the sixteenth
century.

On the communication of the St. Vitus's dance by sympathy, Paracelsus, in
his peculiar language, expresses himself with great spirit, and shows a
profound knowledge of the nature of sensual impressions, which find their
way to the heart--the seat of joys and emotions--which overpower the
opposition of reason; and whilst "all other qualities and natures" are
subdued, incessantly impel the patient, in consequence of his original
compliance, and his all-conquering imagination, to imitate what he has
seen. On his treatment of the disease we cannot bestow any great praise,
but must be content with the remark that it was in conformity with the
notions of the age in which he lived. For the first kind, which often
originated in passionate excitement, he had a mental remedy, the efficacy
of which is not to be despised, if we estimate its value in connection
with the prevalent opinions of those times. The patient was to make an
image of himself in wax or resin, and by an effort of thought to
concentrate all his blasphemies and sins in it. "Without the
intervention of any other persons, to set his whole mind a