Excerpts from the Journal of Robert Breckinridge McAfee (April 21–August 12, 1804)
“The religious people now have the Jirks which operates like Hickups….”
Excerpt from a Letter from Thomas Cleland to Ashbel Green (August 23, 1812)
“One young woman had what I would call the whirling exercise…. It far exceeded anything of the kind I ever saw. I was told that she had had the jirks nearly 3 years…. Afterwards I remonstrated with some of them and cautioned them.”
Thomas Cleland’s Published Letter on “Bodily Affections” (ca. 1812–1824)
“The phenomenon of…suddenly falling or sinking down, under religious exercises, has not been uncommon in times of great excitement…. But the bodily agitation called the jerks is a very different affection….”
