482 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 



arm, and otherwise injured herself so severely that she was for several weeks-- 

 confined to her bed. During this period, and for some time afterward, she was 

 almost constantly subject to hallucinations, in which the Indian woman played a 

 prominent part. Even after her recovery the mere thought of the woman vi^ould 

 sometimes bring on a paroxysm of trembling, and it was not till after her confine- 

 ment that the antipathy disappeared. 



Millingen* remarks that certain antipathies, which in reality are idiosyncra- 

 sies, appear to depend upon peculiarities of the senses. Rather, however, they 

 are due to peculiarities of the ideational and emotional centres. The organ of 

 sense, in any one case, shows no evidence of disorder; neither does the percep- 

 tive ganglion, which simply takes cognizance of the image brought to it. It is 

 higher up that the idiosyncrasy has its seat. In this way we are to explain the 

 following cases collected by Millingen : « 



" Amatus Lusitanus relates the case of a monk who fainted when he beheld 

 a rose, and never quited his cell when that flower v/as blooming. Scaliger men- 

 tions one of his relatives who experienced a similar horror when seeing a lily. 

 Zimmermann tells us of a lady who could not endure the feeling of silk and satin, 

 and shuddered when touching the velvety skin of a peach. Boyle records the 

 case of a man who felt a natural abhorrence to honey ; without his knowledge 

 some honey was introduced in a plaster applied to his foot, and the accidents 

 that resulted compelled his attendants to withdraw it. A young man was known 

 to faint whenever he heard the servant sweeping. Hippocrates mentions one 

 Nicanor, who swooned whenever he heard a flute; even Shakespeare has alluded 

 to the effects of the bagpipes.. Julia, daughter of Frederick, King of Naples, 

 could not taste meat without serious accidents. Boyle fainted when he heard the 

 splashing of water ; Scaliger turned pale at the sight of water-cresses; Erasmus 

 experienced febrile symptoms when smeUing fish ; the Duke d'Epernon swooned 

 on beholding a leveret, although a hare did not produce the same effect; Tycho 

 Brahe fainted at the sight of a fox; Henry III, of France, at that of a cat; and 

 Marshal d' Albret at a pig. The horror that whole families entertain of cheese is 

 generally known." 



He also cites the case of a clergyman who fainted whenever a certain verse 

 -in Jeremiah was read, and of another who experienced an alarming vertigo and 

 dizziness whenever a great height or dizzy precipice was described. In such instances 

 the power of association of ideas is probably the most influential agent in bring- 

 ing about the climax. There is an obvious relation between the warnings given 

 by the prophet in one case, and the well-known sensation produced by looking 

 down from a great height in the other, and the effects which followed. 



Our dislikes to certain individuals are often of the nature of idiosyncrasies, 

 which we cannot explain. Martial says : 



4 " Curiosities of Medical Experience," London, 1837, vol. ii, p. 246. 



