“A strange and unknown Nervous Affection, or Disease, made its appearance, in a variety of forms, in different parts of the Counties of Knox and Blount…. [It] was termed; ‘the Jerks.'”
“In Greenbriar, the first subjects of these strange exercises were two firm and steady professors of religion, men of firm nervous systems…. These strange appearances have crossed the Allegany [Mountains] and seem to be progressing pretty fast eastward….”
“We called and saw them have the jirks and asked them qustions and went on….”
“I took the Jerks, & was the first person that had it in these parts. Sometimes I have had it in meditating on serious things when alone, sometimes by seeing the situation of the wicked, sometimes by reading, or hearing some striking expressions, sometimes in going about my common employment, & sometimes while in bed….”
“[The Jerks consist] in a sudden inclination, or reclining, of the shoulders, and is so quick, that the head appears to move too slow for the shoulders…. This is common to both sexes, but with this difference, that men seldom have more than one jerk…; whereas, a woman will frequently continue a repetition of that motion…for ten or fifteen minutes, reclining backwards as far as her feet, or some other obstacle will permit her, and bending so far forwards, as almost to touch the floor with her head….”
