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ECSTASY (Gr. iarra(TLc, from i LarliU...

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Originally appearing in Volume V08, Page 910 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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ECSTASY (Gr. iarra(TLc, from i LarliU, put out of its See also:place, alter)  , a See also:term applied to a morbid See also:mental See also:condition, in which the mind is entirely absorbed in the contemplation of one dominant See also:idea or See also:object, and loses for the See also:time its normal self-See also:control . With this there is commonly associated the prevalence of some strong emotion, which manifests itself in various ways, and with varying degrees of intensity . This See also:state resembles in many points that of See also:catalepsy (q.v.), but differs from it sufficiently to constitute it a See also:separate See also:affection . The patient in See also:ecstasy may See also:lie in a fixed position like the cataleptic, apparently quite unconscious, yet, on awaking, there is a distinct recollection of visions perceived during this See also:period . More frequently there is violent emotional excitement which may find expression in impassioned utterances, and in extravagant bodily movements and gesticulations . Ecstasy usually presents itself as a See also:kind of temporary religious See also:insanity, and has frequently appeared as an epidemic . It is well illustrated in the celebrated examples of the dancing epidemics of See also:Germany and See also:Italy in the See also:middle ages, and the Convulsionnaires of St Medard at the See also:grave of the See also:Abbe See also:Paris in the See also:early See also:part of the 18th See also:century, and in more See also:recent times has been witnessed during periods of religious revivalism .

End of Article: ECSTASY (Gr. iarra(TLc, from i LarliU, put out of its place, alter)
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