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 and thoughts concerning these oaths in the
image;" and when he had succeeded in this, he was to burn the
image, so that not a particle of it should remain. In all this
there was no mention made of St. Vitus, or any of the other
mediatory saints, which is accounted for by the circumstance that
at this time an open rebellion against the Romish Church had
begun, and the worship of saints was by many rejected as
idolatrous. For the second kind of St. Vitus's dance, arising
from sensual irritation, with which women were far more frequently
affected than men, Paracelsus recommended harsh treatment and
strict fasting. He directed that the patients should be deprived