of Mr. Dennis, tobacconist, in Aldersgate street, who has known her many years, and upon frequent inspections had found the case, before recited, true. Some few instances of the like nature have occurred, particularly one related by Tulpius, of a man he himself examined, who having had his tongue cut out by the Turks, after three years could speak distinctly. 1743, Jan. SIR, To the Author of the Ipswich Journal. Harwich, March 9, 1742. I HAVE seen in your paper of the 15th of January, the surprising account of Margaret Cutting, of Wickham Market in Suffolk, who, though she entirely lost her tongue, when she was but four years of age, by a cancer, yet retained her speech; which has likewise been set forth in a letter to the Royal Society, who have given so much credit to it as to publish it among their Philosophical Transactions. This extraordinary account excited my curiosity to see Margaret Cutting, and upon examining her mouth, I found part of a tongue, about an inch and half in length, and in breadth about half an inch. It is seemingly confined by a small part of the frænum; the fore part of the tongue is very thin, but gradually thickens towards the oesophagus; it lies in an oblique manner, covering part of the salival glands on the left side; those on the right, for want of the common pressure of the tongue, appear large and bulbous. Upon opening the mouth wide, the tongue may be plainly observed to move backward, and as she shuts her mouth, to come forward; and upon introducing my finger into her mouth near the oesophagus, I could move it either way easily. Her speech is very intelligible, but her voice low, and she speaks a little through the nose, which is owing to the want of the uvula to help the articulation. I have had frequent opportunities of inspecting the mouths of several persons, who were taken prisoners by the Algerines and Turks, who had their tongues cut out by those barbarous people. One of them, aged 33 years, whom I saw some months since, wrote a good hand, and by that means answered my questions. He informed me that he could not pronounce a syllable, nor make any articulate sound; though he had often observed, that those who suffered that treatment when they were very young, were some years after able to speak, and that their tongues might be observed to grow in proportion to the other parts of the body; but that, if they were adults, or full-grown persons at the time of the operation, they were never able to utter a syllable. The truth of his observation was confirmed to me by the two following cases. Patrick Strainer and his son-in-law came to Harwich, in their way to Holland, the third of this month. I made it my business to see and examine them; the father told me, he had his tongue cut out by the Algerines, when he was seven years of age, and that some time after he was able to pronounce many syllables, and can now speak most words tolerably well, and said, his tongue was grown at least half an inch. The son-in-law, who is about thirty years of age, was taken by the Turks, who cut out his tongue; he cannot pronounce a syllable, nor is his tongue grown at all since the operation, which was more than five years ago. I need not enlarge upon the reason of the difference of these cases, which will be easily understood by the skilful anatomist, and such who are acquainted with the nature of accretion and nutrition. 1743, March. Yours, &c, T. O. VII. Surprising Instances of the Effects of Music in acute Fevers, and for the cure of the bite of the Tarantula. SIR, As the effects of music in the cure of several disorders are worthy the curiosity of the public, and may on some occa→ sions be of great use to mankind; it will not be unentertaining to your readers to see some well attested instances of this kind upon which the learned may comment at their leisure, and give us some explanation of the Phenomena, that must unavoidably surprise those who are less acquainted with the laws of nature. The first of these instances is attested by M. Dodart*, whose skill is too well known to be imposed upon, and whose testimony is otherwise unquestionable. It is as follows. A famous master of music, an eminent composer, was taken it of a fever which daily increased, till the seventh day, when he fell into a high delirium almost without any inter Hist. de l'Academic Royale des Sciences. An. 1707, p. 8. mission, attended with cries, tears, trembling, and continual watchings. On the third day of this delirium, by one of those instincts, which teach animals when sick the herbs proper for their cure, he desired to hear a little concert in his room. His physician with some difficulty consented to indulge him in his request. The Cantatas of M. Bernier were sung to him. On hearing the first notes, his aspect grew calm, his eyes lost their wildness, his convulsions quite left him, he shed tears of pleasure, and shewed, that music had never been so charming to him as then. He had no feverish symptoms during the whole time of the performance; but as soon as it ceased, he felt a relapse. It was therefore thought proper to continue the use of a remedy, the success of which had been so visibly happy, though unexpected, and by the use of which his fever and delirium still abated during the operation; so that music became so necessary to the patient, that at night he made a kinswoman who attended him, sing and dance, though her concern made her yield with pain to oblige him. One night when only his nurse sat up with him, he obliged her to sing an old ballad, which gave him some ease. To conclude, in ten days by the continuance of music he grew entirely well, without any other remedies but two bleedings in the foot, the last of which was followed by a strong purge. The second instance of the extraordinary effect of music in the cure of this disease, is a fact related by M. Fontenelle*, who had it from M. de Mandajor, Mayor of Alais in Languedoc, a gentleman of sense and merit. A dancing-master of that town, during the carnival of 1708, had so over-heated himself with the agreeable duties of his profession, that he fell sick the beginning of Lent of a violent fever, which the fourth or fifth day turned to a lethargy and held him a long time. When this symptom disappeared he grew sullenly mad, making constant efforts to leap out of bed, threatening with his head and countenance those who held him or stood about him, and obstinately refusing to speak or take any remedies offered him. M. de Mandajor, who saw him in this condition, took a fancy, that perhaps music might compose his disordered imagination, and proposed it to his physician, who did not dislike the thing, though he objected to the ridicule that might attend such a remedy, especially if the patient should chance to die in the operation. A friend of the dancing-master, who was less scrupulous, and played Hist. de l'Academie Royale des Sciences. An. 1703, p. 27 a good fiddle, took up that of his sick friend, which lay in the room, and began to play the tunes he knew he loved best. The company immediately took him to be the greater madman of the two, and began to chide him. But the sick man suddenly sate up, like one agreeably surprised, and by his motion endeavoured to keep time with the airs, but as he was still held by his arms he could only shew his satisfaction by his head. However those who held him finding him no way furious, by degrees gave him more liberty, till in a quarter of an hour he fell fast asleep, and had a crisis, which put him past all danger. Let us now see a third example of the force of music, which surpasses the two former in the surprising manner of its effects. Few persons are strangers to the Tarantula*, and the terrible symptoms that attend its bite; but the extraordinary remedy used to alleviate and dispel them is not perhaps so well known. This remedy is music, applied in the manner we shall describe. Soon after the bite of the Tarantula, which causes a sensation like the stinging of a bee or ant, the patient finds in the part a very sharp pain, which in some hours is followed with a tumour. In a short time he grows melancholy, with a difficulty of breathing, faint pulse, and wild look, and if not speedily assisted he loses all sense and motion, and dies. Such are the symptoms of this poison. The best and surest means of cure yet discovered are as follow. When the patient is arrived at the last symptoms of being insensible or motionless, a musician tries different tunes, till be hits on one whose modulation and notes suit the person affected, so that he begins to stir, to move his fingers in cadence, next his feet, and at last recovers his limbs, so as to rise and dance to the air, still continuing the exercise with greater violence. There are some patients will dance thus for six hours without intermission. When exhausted with this fatigue the patient is put to bed, and after reposing awhile, he is awaked with the same tune to renew his dancing, continuing this method for some days (often five, six, The Tarantula ia a large spider, hairy and about the size of an acorn, its colour various, with 8 eyes and 8 feet; from its mouth arise 2 horns or trunks, a little crooked, the tips exceedingly sharp, through which it conveys its poison; it is found near Tarento, whence it takes its name, and is to be met with in other parts of Italy, especially the Isle of Corsica. Those of Apulia are the most venomous, and in general those of the plains are most dangerous, because the air of Calabria is hotter in the plaius than in the mountains. See Hist. de l'Academ. Royale des Sciences. An. 1702, p. 20. or seven) till the patient finds he has no more inclination to dance, which is a sign of his cure. For while the effect of the poison lasts, he would, if left to himself, dance without intermission till he killed himself. As soon as he finds himself wearied he recovers by degrees his senses and judgment, and like one awakened from a deep sleep remembers nothing of what had passed in his delirium. Sometimes the patient is cured on his coming out of the first fit. But if otherwise, he still is subject to a deep melancholy and forgetfulness. He shuns company, loves solitude, and if not carefully watched, is apt to drown himself. An aversion to the colours of black and blue, and a fondness for white, red, and green, are some of the odd symptoms of this distemper. If the patient dies not in the interval, the fit returns about the same time twelvemonth the bite happened, and music and dancing must again be called in. Some have had these regular relapses for 20 or 30 years together. Each patient has his particular specific tune; but in general, those found effectual are brisk and lively. These particulars are well attested, and were confirmed to the Royal Academy not only by M. Geoffroy, who had informed himself on the spot; but by the letters of a father jesuit of Toulon, to P. Gouye, in which he relates the cure of an Italian soldier bit by a Tarantula, whom he had seen dance for several days successively. These facts may explain the case of Saul who found his indisposition relieved by the music of David; a case which has nothing in it more wonderful or extraordinary than those related. I even think, that the effects of music on the disordered brain of a man bit with the Tarantula, has something more inexplicable, more incomprehensibly strange in it. Some philosophers have attempted to account for these phenomena; but the secret causes of them are too concealed for us to discover. O Nature! Nature! how mysterious and inscrutable are thy ways! How feeble and bounded our knowledge! As music has, in the above-mentioned instances, been found to be a very successful remedy in the several disorders in which it was applied; so it is not perhaps improbable, that it might be found efficacious in other disorders, such as the bite of a mad dog; especially if a time could be hit upon to make the patient dance and sweat. Since the evacuation in this manner of the inflammatory fluid is, according to Dr. Mead, the cause of cure in the bite of the Tarantula, the vibrations made on the nerves by tunes rightly modelled, operating as really on the nerves, as the Imperium Voluntatis can do. And M. Geoffroy says, the poisonous juice |