“The duration of this epidemic was much shorter than that of most of those in Europe. In a little more than a twelve-month, it had almost entirely disappeared…. It was to the scenes enacted at this time, we believe, that the epithet ‘Jerks’ was first applied.”
“I have frequently thought that a history of the singular exercises, called the “Jirks,” and other strange operations which affected the subjects of the great Kentucky Revival, would be interesting to my readers….”
“About 1822–3…, I attended a camp-meeting at McCain’s…. [T]here I first saw [Joseph Brown] under religious excitement…. Some years before, those peculiar, involuntary and spasmodic exercises known as ‘jerks,’ had been very common…and [they] continued to effect Col. Brown likely through life….”
“The “jerks” were introduced during a protracted meeting in the township of Chelsea, in that county, in the fall of 1860….”
“Will wonders never cease?”
“Man’s got the Lord. You can get him too!”
