RESUMO
INTRODUCTION: Tarantism is the disease caused by the bite of the tarantula, in which the music tarantella triggers an involuntary dance. It is known in Italy since the sixteenth century. AIM: To analyze the tarantism reported in Spain at the end of the eighteenth century, with special attention to its neurological aspects, and to propose its medical and psychopathological explanation. DEVELOPMENT: An epidemic of people affected by the tarantula bite occurred in Spain in 1782. Spanish doctors described appropriately the clinical effects, identical to those produced by the bite of the spider black widow (Latrodectus tredecimguttatus), which was at that time identified as a tarantula. The cases reported by Francisco Xavier Cid cured with the involuntary dance triggered by the tarantella, as was described in Italy since the sixteenth century. Our interpretation is that this curative effect of dance in Spain was induced by suggestion. In Spanish patients there were no behavioral disturbances, periodic recurrences or collective involvement as those reported by Italian authors, which suggest an hysterical phenomenon, probably a continuation of the dancing mania of the Middle Age. CONCLUSIONS: Tarantism reported in Spain in the eighteenth century includes two different phenomena: the systemic symptoms produced by the tarantula bite, which is actually latrodectism, and the curative effect of the tarantella, explained by suggestion. The psychiatric disturbances, with a hysterical nature, falsely associated to the tarantula bite, observed in Italy, were not present among the Spanish cases of tarantism in the eighteenth century.
TITLE: El tarantismo en España en el siglo XVIII: latrodectismo y sugestion.Introduccion. El tarantismo es la enfermedad producida por la picadura de la tarantula, en la que la musica de la tarantela desencadena un baile involuntario. Se conoce en Italia desde el siglo XVI. Objetivo. Analizar el tarantismo descrito en España a finales del siglo XVIII, atendiendo especialmente a sus aspectos neurologicos, y proponer su explicacion medica y psicopatologica. Desarrollo. En 1782 hubo una epidemia de afectados por picadura de tarantula en España. Medicos españoles describieron correctamente los efectos clinicos, identicos a los provocados por la picadura de la araña viuda negra (Latrodectus tredecimguttatus), identificada en la epoca como tarantula. Los casos descritos por Francisco Xavier Cid curaban con el baile involuntario provocado por la tarantela, como se describia en Italia desde el siglo XVI. Interpretamos el efecto curativo de este baile en España como un fenomeno de sugestion. En los pacientes españoles no se producian los trastornos del comportamiento, las recidivas periodicas ni la afectacion colectiva descritos por autores italianos, y que sugieren un fenomeno histerico, probablemente continuacion de la mania danzante de la Edad Media. Conclusiones. El tarantismo descrito en España en el siglo XVIII incluye dos fenomenos distintos: los sintomas sistemicos producidos de la mordedura de la tarantula, que es en realidad un latrodectismo, y el efecto curativo de la tarantela, lo cual se explica por un fenomeno de sugestion. Los trastornos psiquicos falsamente asociados a la picadura de la tarantula observados en Italia, de origen histerico, no estuvieron presentes en los casos españoles de tarantismo del siglo XVIII.
Assuntos
Picada de Aranha/história , Dançaterapia , História do Século XVIII , Humanos , EspanhaRESUMO
Jean Martin Charcot travelled to Spain in December 1887 in the company of Alfred Hardy for the medical examination of Martin Larios y Larios, a member of the Spanish parliament. Martín Larios had shown behavioral disturbances and had married secretly for the second time against the advice of his family, one of the richest and more dominating families in Spain during the 19th century. In their report Charcot and Hardy gave a diagnosis of mental insanity probably due to general paresis, as they had noted memory deficits and delusion of grandeur. With this and other medical reports, the family tried to obtain the legal incapacity of Martín Larios. Initially the judgements favoured the incapacity, but Martín Larios and his wife appealed with the support of the Spanish doctors José María Escuder, Jaime Vera and Luis Simarro. They demonstrated, in an exhaustive and clinically rigorous report, the normality of the mental status of Martín Larios, and refuted the diagnosis given by Charcot and Hardy. This report is one of the first examples of the clinical evaluation of a neurologic patient in Spain and shows the high clinical standards achieved by the precursors of the neurological school of Madrid. The great influence of Charcot's own school over Spanish neurology in its beginnings stands out in this report. Charcot and Hardy wrote a second report in reply to Escuder, Vera and Simarro. After a complex lawsuit, the opinion of the Spanish doctors finally prevailed against the legal incapacity of Martín Larios.
Assuntos
Jurisprudência , Transtornos Mentais/história , Doenças do Sistema Nervoso/história , História do Século XIX , Humanos , Masculino , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , EspanhaRESUMO
Jean Martin Charcot viajó a España en diciembre de 1887 en compañía del profesor Alfred Hardy para examinar al diputado Martín Larios y Larios. Martín Larios había presentado alteraciones de conducta y había contraído matrimonio secreto en segundas nupcias en contra de la opinión de su familia, una de las más ricas e influyentes de España en el siglo xix. Charcot y Hardy establecieron en su informe el diagnóstico de enajenación mental probablemente por parálisis general progresiva, al apreciar en el paciente alteración de la memoria y delirio de grandeza. Con éste y otros informes la familia intentó la incapacitación legal de Martín Larios. Los autos judiciales fueron inicialmente favorables a la incapacitación, pero Martín Larios y su esposa recurrieron apoyándose en la valoración realizada por los médicos españoles José María Escuder, Jaime Vera y Luis Simarro. Éstos, en un exhaustivo informe, siguiendo un riguroso método clínico, demostraron la normalidad del estado mental de Martín Larios y refutaron el diagnóstico de Charcot y Hardy. Este informe constituye uno de los primeros ejemplos de valoración clínica de un paciente neurológico en España y demuestra el alto nivel clínico de los precursores de la escuela madrileña de neurología. Destaca en él la gran influencia de la propia escuela de Charcot en los inicios de la neurología española. Charcot y Hardy redactaron un segundo informe como réplica al de Escuder, Vera y Simarro. Tras un complejo proceso judicial, prevaleció finalmente la opinión de los médicos españoles, contraria a la incapacidad mental de Martín Larios (AU)
Assuntos
Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Masculino , História do Século XIX , Humanos , Jurisprudência , Espanha , Doenças do Sistema Nervoso , Transtornos MentaisRESUMO
In this report we present and discuss an unpublished letter written by Santiago Ramon y Cajal in October 1904 in relation to his possible nomination for the Nobel Prize for Physiology and Medicine. This letter shows that Cajal was aware of his previous nominations for the Prize. He was convinced that these nominations had not been successful because neither anatomy nor histology were among the sciences included in the Nobel Statutes' definition of Physiology or Medicine. He gives a list of the merits he thought might be used for a new nomination, which included only works concluded during the previous five years.
