REMARKABLE CASES OF ANTIPATHY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 446, 19 October 1869, Page 3

REMARKABLE CASES OF ANTIPATHY.

*> — (From the Dublin University Magazine.} ■ Amongst the records of antipathy, we find one of a man who could not endure that au old woman should look upon him ; of another, that if he met the smallest dog he was seized with convulsions in the left hand ; of a young girl who Bwooned at the sound of a bell or of a loud roice speaking or singing ; of a nun who perspired violently if she saw a beetle ; of a nobleman of Mantua who became paralysed at the sight or contact of a hedgehog, and for two years imagined he was knawed iuternally by 6uch an animal ; and of a maid-servant in Flauder3 who had lived entirely on milk, without any other kind of food ; she was not able to endure even the smell of bread, and if the smallest particle of it was put into her basin, even at a distance, she detected it immediately. Ambrose Pare, the celebrated French surgeon, mentions a gentleman who never could see a carp without fainting ; also a lady on whom a boiled lobster had the same effect. Erasmus, though a native of Rotterdam, had such an aversion to all kinds of fish, that the smell of it gave him a fever. Joseph Scaliger never could drink milk. Carden was particularly disgusted afc the sight of eggs. There are some persons who cannot bear to look upon spiders ; others have been known to eat them as a luxury. John Rol, a gentleman of Alcantara, would swoon on hearing the word lana (wool) pronounced, although his cloak was made of that material. $1. Vaugheim, a great huntsman in Hanover, would run away to avoid fainting at the sight of a roast pig. M. de Lancre gives an account of a very brave officer who never dared to look at a mouse — it would so terrify him — unless he had his sword in his hand. The great Marshal Saxe looked under his bed every night to see that no animal of any kind was there. The philisopher Chrysippus had such an aversion to be saluted that he fell down if any one paid him that respect. The Duke de Epernon fainted at the sight of a leveret. Marshal d'Albret turned Bick at table if a sucking-pig was served up. Tycho Brahe felt his limbs Bink under him if he encountered a hare or fox. La Mothe le Vayer could not endure the sound of any musical instrument, yet he had exquisite pleasure from the noise of thunder. An Englishman in the last century was near expiring whenever the 53rd chapter of Isaiah was read to him. We could multiply similar case 3 of antipathy almost ad infinitum, but enough have been adduced.