of this kind, even though they should not be wholly justified by
the nature of the case. Great stress has likewise been laid on
theological and legal grounds, which were certainly of greater
weight in the fifteenth century than in the modern times.

On this matter, however, we cannot decide, since our only object
here is to point out the origin of a political means of protection
against a disease which has been the greatest impediment to
civilisation within the memory of man; a means that, like Jenner's
vaccine, after the small-pox had ravaged Europe for twelve hundred
years, has diminished the check which mortality puts on the
progress of civilisation, and thus given to the life and manners
of the nations of this part of the world a new direction, the
result of which we cannot foretell.




THE DANCING MANIA




CHAPTER I--THE DANCING MANIA IN GERMANY AND THE NETHERLANDS



SECT. 1--ST. JOHN'S DANCE