Tarantism
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2008-06-29T14:04:29Z
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'''Tarantism''' is an alleged, possibly deadly [[envenomation]], popularly believed to result from the bite of a kind of [[wolf spider]] called a "tarantula" (''[[Lycosa tarentula]]''). (These spiders are different from the broad class of spiders called "[[Tarantula]]s".) The condition was common in southern [[Italy]] during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. There were strong suggestions that there is no organic cause for the heightened [[excitability]] and [[restlessness]] that gripped the victims. The stated belief of the time was that victims needed to engage in frenzied [[dancing]] to prevent [[death]] from tarantism. Supposedly a particular kind of dance, called the [[Tarantella]], evolved from this [[therapy]].
Many people have suggested that the whole business was a deceit to evade [[religious]] proscriptions against dancing. The cultural history of tarantism and the tarantella dance is discussed in [[John Compton]]'s introduction to the world of [[spiders]] called ''The Life of the Spider'', pages 56-57<ref>{{cite book
| last = Compton
| first = John
| authorlink = John Compton
| title = The life of the Spider
| origyear = 1954
| publisher = Mentor Books
| location =
| quote =
}}</ref>. He suggests that ancient [[Bacchanalian]] [[rite]]s that had been suppressed by the [[government]] went underground under the guise of emergency therapy for bite victims.
Although the popular belief that tarantism results from a spider bite persists, it remains scientifically unsubstantiated. Donaldson, Cavanagh, and Rankin (1997)<ref>{{cite journal
| last = Donaldson
| first = LJ
| authorlink =
| coauthors = J Rankin
| title = The Dancing Plague a public health conundrum
| journal = Public Health
| volume = 111
| issue = 4
| pages = 201–204
| format = PDF [fee required]
| publisher =
| location =
| date = July 1997
| url = http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B73H6-484TJNY-2&_user=10&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=cb3c891d8bf52aa95b1a398340e113be
| doi =
| id =
| accessdate = 2008-04-26}}</ref> conclude that the actual cause or causes of tarantism remain unknown.
Many historical and cultural references are associated with this disease and the ensuing "cure" - the [[Tarantella]]. It is, for example, a key image in [[Henrik Ibsen]]'s ''[[A Doll's House]]''.
==See also==
*[[Dancing mania]]
*[[Ergot]]
[[Category:Toxicology]]
[[fr:Tarentisme]]
[[it:Tarantismo]]
[[pl:Tarantyzm]]
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{culture-stub}}