or SPAVENTO, a sudden impression of horror upon the mind and body. It is extremely dreaded by the inhabitants of Sicily; and the wild ideas of the vulgar part of the inhabitants respecting it are almost incredible, and their dread of a sudden shock is no less surprising. There is scarce a symptom, disorder, or accident, they do not think may befall the human frame in consequence of the scanto. They are persuaded that a man who has been frightened only by a dog, a viper, scorpion, or any other creature, which he has an antipathy to, will soon be seized with the same pains he would really feel, had he been torn with their teeth, or wounded with their venomous sting; and that nothing can remove these nervous imaginary pangs but a strong dose of dilena, a species of cantharides found in Sicily.