PHYSIOLOGIC AND FUNCTIONAL ANOMALIES. 12 page

subjected to any nasal irritation sufficient to excite sneezing.

It has already been remarked that individuals and animals have their

special odors, certain of which are very agreeable to some people and

extremely unpleasant to others. Many persons are not able to endure the

emanations from cats, rats, mice, etc., and the mere fact of one of

these animals being in their vicinity is enough to provoke distressing

symptoms. Mlle. Contat, the celebrated French actress, was not able to

endure the odor of a hare. Stanislaus, King of Poland and Duke of

Lorraine, found it impossible to tolerate the smell of a cat. The

Ephemerides mentions the odor of a little garden-frog as causing

epilepsy. Ab Heers mentions a similar anomaly, fainting caused by the

smell of eels. Habit had rendered Haller insensible to the odor of

putrefying cadavers, but according to Zimmerman the odor of the

perspiration of old people, not perceptible to others, was intolerable

to him at a distance of ten or twelve paces. He also had an extreme

aversion for cheese. According to Dejan, Gaubius knew a man who was

unable to remain in a room with women, having a great repugnance to the

female odor. Strange as it may seem, some individuals are incapable of

appreciating certain odors. Blumenbach mentions an Englishman whose

sense of smell was otherwise very acute, but he was unable to perceive

the perfume of the mignonette.

The impressions which come to us through the sense of hearing cause

sensations agreeable or disagreeable, but even in this sense we see

marked examples of idiosyncrasies and antipathies to various sounds and

tones. In some individuals the sensations in one ear differ from those

of the other. Everard Home has cited several examples, and Heidmann of

Vienna has treated two musicians, one of whom always perceived in the

affected ear, during damp weather, tones an octave lower than in the

other ear. The other musician perceived tones an octave higher in the

affected ear. Cheyne is quoted as mentioning a case in which, when the

subject heard the noise of a drum, blood jetted from the veins with

considerable force. Sauvages has seen a young man in whom intense

headache and febrile paroxysm were only relieved by the noise from a

beaten drum. Esparron has mentioned an infant in whom an ataxic fever

was established by the noise of this instrument. Ephemerides contains

an account of a young man who became nervous and had the sense of

suffocation when he heard the noise made by sweeping. Zimmerman speaks

of a young girl who had convulsions when she heard the rustling of

oiled silk. Boyle, the father of chemistry, could not conquer an

aversion he had to the sound of water running through pipes. A

gentleman of the Court of the Emperor Ferdinand suffered epistaxis when

he heard a cat mew. La Mothe Le Vayer could not endure the sounds of

musical instruments, although he experienced pleasurable sensations

when he heard a clap of thunder. It is said that a chaplain in England

always had a sensation of cold at the top of his head when he read the

53d chapter of Isaiah and certain verses of the Kings. There was an

unhappy wight who could not hear his own name pronounced without being

thrown into convulsions. Marguerite of Valois, sister of Francis I,

could never utter the words "mort" or "petite verole," such a horrible

aversion had she to death and small-pox. According to Campani, the

Chevalier Alcantara could never say "lana," or words pertaining to

woolen clothing. Hippocrates says that a certain Nicanor had the

greatest horror of the sound of the flute at night, although it

delighted him in the daytime. Rousseau reports a Gascon in whom

incontinence of urine was produced by the sound of a bagpipe. Frisch,

Managetta, and Rousse speak of a man in whom the same effect was

produced by the sound of a hurdy-gurdy. Even Shakespeare alludes to the

effects of the sound of bagpipes. Tissot mentions a case in which music

caused epileptic convulsions, and Forestus mentions a beggar who had

convulsions at the sound of a wooden trumpet similar to those used by

children in play. Rousseau mentions music as causing convulsive

laughter in a woman. Bayle mentions a woman who fainted at the sound of

a bell. Paullini cites an instance of vomiting caused by music, and

Marcellus Donatus mentions swooning from the same cause. Many people

are unable to bear the noise caused by the grating of a pencil on a

slate, the filing of a saw, the squeak of a wheel turning about an

axle, the rubbing of pieces of paper together, and certain similar

sounds. Some persons find the tones of music very disagreeable, and

some animals, particularly dogs, are unable to endure it. In Albinus

the younger the slightest perceptible tones were sufficient to produce

an inexplicable anxiety. There was a certain woman of fifty who was

fond of the music of the clarionet and flute, but was not able to

listen to the sound of a bell or tambourine. Frank knew a man who ran

out of church at the beginning of the sounds of an organ, not being

able to tolerate them. Pope could not imagine music producing any

pleasure. The harmonica has been noticed to produce fainting in

females. Fischer says that music provokes sexual frenzy in elephants.

Gutfeldt speaks of a peculiar idiosyncrasy of sleep produced by hearing

music. Delisle mentions a young person who during a whole year passed

pieces of ascarides and tenia, during which time he could not endure

music.

Autenreith mentions the vibrations of a loud noise tickling the fauces

to such an extent as to provoke vomiting. There are some emotional

people who are particularly susceptible to certain expressions. The

widow of Jean Calas always fell in a faint when she heard the words of

the death-decree sounded on the street. There was a Hanoverian officer

in the Indian war against Typoo-Saib, a good and brave soldier, who

would feel sick if he heard the word "tiger" pronounced. It was said

that he had experienced the ravages of this beast.

The therapeutic value of music has long been known. For ages warriors

have been led to battle to the sounds of martial strains. David charmed

away Saul's evil spirit with his harp. Horace in his 32d Ode Book 1,

concludes his address to the lyre:--

"O laborum

Dulce lenimen mihicumque calve,

Rite vocanti;"

Or, as Kiessling of Berlin interprets:--

"O laborum,

Dulce lenimen medieumque, salve,

Rite vocanti."

--"O, of our troubles the sweet, the healing sedative, etc."

Homer, Plutarch, Theophrastus, and Galen say that music cures

rheumatism, the pests, and stings of reptiles, etc. Diemerbroeck,

Bonet, Baglivi, Kercher, and Desault mention the efficacy of melody in

phthisis, gout, hydrophobia, the bites of venomous reptiles, etc. There

is a case in the Lancet of a patient in convulsions who was cured in

the paroxysm by hearing the tones of music. Before the French Academy

of Sciences in 1708, and again in 1718, there was an instance of a

dancing-master stricken with violent fever and in a condition of

delirium, who recovered his senses and health on hearing melodious

music. There is little doubt of the therapeutic value of music, but

particularly do we find its value in instances of neuroses. The

inspiration offered by music is well-known, and it is doubtless a

stimulant to the intellectual work. Bacon, Milton, Warburton, and

Alfieri needed music to stimulate them in their labors, and it is said

that Bourdaloue always played an air on the violin before preparing to

write.

According to the American Medico-Surgical Bulletin, "Professor

Tarchanoff of Saint Petersburg has been investigating the influence of

music upon man and other animals. The subject is by no means a new one.

In recent times Dagiel and Fere have investigated the effect of music

upon the respirations, the pulse, and the muscular system in man.

Professor Tarchanoff made use of the ergograph of Mosso, and found that

if the fingers were completely fatigued, either by voluntary efforts or

by electric excitation, to the point of being incapable of making any

mark except a straight line on the registering cylinder, music had the

power of making the fatigue disappear, and the finger placed in the

ergograph again commenced to mark lines of different heights, according

to the amount of excitation. It was also found that music of a sad and

lugubrious character had the opposite effect, and could check or

entirely inhibit the contractions. Professor Tarchanoff does not

profess to give any positive explanation of these facts, but he

inclines to the view that 'the voluntary muscles, being furnished with

excitomotor and depressant fibers, act in relation to the music

similarly to the heart--that is to say, that joyful music resounds

along the excitomotor fibers, and sad music along the depressant or

inhibitory fibers.' Experiments on dogs showed that music was capable

of increasing the elimination of carbonic acid by 16.7 per cent, and of

increasing the consumption of oxygen by 20.1 per cent. It was also

found that music increased the functional activity of the skin.

Professor Tarchanoff claims as the result of these experiments that

music may fairly be regarded as a serious therapeutic agent, and that

it exercises a genuine and considerable influence over the functions of

the body. Facts of this kind are in no way surprising, and are chiefly

of interest as presenting some physiologic basis for phenomena that are

sufficiently obvious. The influence of the war-chant upon the warrior

is known even to savage tribes. We are accustomed to regard this

influence simply as an ordinary case of psychic stimuli producing

physiologic effects.

"Professor Tarchanoff evidently prefers to regard the phenomena as

being all upon the same plane, namely, that of physiology; and until we

know the difference between mind and body, and the principles of their

interaction, it is obviously impossible to controvert this view

successfully. From the immediately practical point of view we should

not ignore the possible value of music in some states of disease. In

melancholia and hysteria it is probably capable of being used with

benefit, and it is worth bearing in mind in dealing with insomnia.

Classical scholars will not forget that the singing of birds was tried

as a remedy to overcome the insomnia of Maecenas. Music is certainly a

good antidote to the pernicious habit of introspection and

self-analysis, which is often a curse both of the hysteric and of the

highly cultured. It would seem obviously preferable to have recourse to

music of a lively and cheerful character."

Idiosyncrasies of the visual organs are generally quite rare. It is

well-known that among some of the lower animals, e.g., the

turkey-cocks, buffaloes, and elephants, the color red is unendurable.

Buchner and Tissot mention a young boy who had a paroxysm if he viewed

anything red. Certain individuals become nauseated when they look for a

long time on irregular lines or curves, as, for examples, in

caricatures. Many of the older examples of idiosyncrasies of color are

nothing more than instances of color-blindness, which in those times

was unrecognized. Prochaska knew a woman who in her youth became

unconscious at the sight of beet-root, although in her later years she

managed to conquer this antipathy, but was never able to eat the

vegetable in question. One of the most remarkable forms of idiosyncrasy

on record is that of a student who was deprived of his senses by the

very sight of an old woman. On one occasion he was carried out from a

party in a dying state, caused, presumably, by the abhorred aspect of

the chaperons The Count of Caylus was always horror-stricken at the

sight of a Capuchin friar. He cured himself by a wooden image dressed

in the costume of this order placed in his room and constantly before

his view. It is common to see persons who faint at the sight of blood.

Analogous are the individuals who feel nausea in an hospital ward.

All Robert Boyle's philosophy could not make him endure the sight of a

spider, although he had no such aversion to toads, venomous snakes,

etc. Pare mentions a man who fainted at the sight of an eel, and

another who had convulsions at the sight of a carp. There is a record

of a young lady in France who fainted on seeing a boiled lobster.

Millingen cites the case of a man who fell into convulsions whenever he

saw a spider. A waxen one was made, which equally terrified him. When

he recovered, his error was pointed out to him, and the wax figure was

placed in his hand without causing dread, and henceforth the living

insect no longer disturbed him. Amatus Lusitanus relates the case of a

monk who fainted when he beheld a rose, and never quitted his cell when

that flower was in bloom. Scaliger, the great scholar, who had been a

soldier a considerable portion of his life, confesses that he could not

look on a water-cress without shuddering, and remarks: "I, who despise

not only iron, but even thunderbolts, who in two sieges (in one of

which I commanded) was the only one who did not complain of the food as

unfit and horrible to eat, am seized with such a shuddering horror at

the sight of a water-cress that I am forced to go away." One of his

children was in the same plight as regards the inoffensive vegetable,

cabbage. Scaliger also speaks of one of his kinsmen who fainted at the

sight of a lily. Vaughheim, a great huntsman of Hanover, would faint at

the sight of a roasted pig. Some individuals have been disgusted at the

sight of eggs. There is an account of a sensible man who was terrified

at the sight of a hedgehog, and for two years was tormented by a

sensation as though one was gnawing at his bowels. According to Boyle,

Lord Barrymore, a veteran warrior and a person of strong mind, swooned

at the sight of tansy. The Duke d'Epernon swooned on beholding a

leveret, although a hare did not produce the same effect. Schenck tells

of a man who swooned at the sight of pork. The Ephemerides contains an

account of a person who lost his voice at the sight of a crab, and also

cites cases of antipathy to partridges, a white hen, to a serpent, and

to a toad. Lehman speaks of an antipathy to horses; and in his

observations Lyser has noticed aversion to the color purple. It is a

strange fact that the three greatest generals of recent years,

Wellington, Napoleon, and Roberts, could never tolerate the sight of a

cat, and Henry III of France could not bear this animal in his room. We

learn of a Dane of herculean frame who had a horror of cats. He was

asked to a supper at which, by way of a practical joke, a live cat was

put on the table in a covered dish. The man began to sweat and shudder

without knowing why, and when the cat was shown he killed his host in a

paroxysm of terror. Another man could not even see the hated form even

in a picture without breaking into a cold sweat and feeling a sense of

oppression about the heart. Quercetanus and Smetius mention fainting at

the sight of cats. Marshal d'Abret was supposed to be in violent fear

of a pig.

As to idiosyncrasies of the sense of touch, it is well known that some

people cannot handle velvet or touch the velvety skin of a peach

without having disagreeable and chilly sensations come over them.

Prochaska knew a man who vomited the moment he touched a peach, and

many people, otherwise very fond of this fruit, are unable to touch it.

The Ephemerides speaks of a peculiar idiosyncrasy of skin in the axilla

of a certain person, which if tickled would provoke vomiting. It is

occasionally stated in the older writings that some persons have an

idiosyncrasy as regards the phases of the sun and moon. Baillou speaks

of a woman who fell unconscious at sunset and did not recover till it

reappeared on the horizon. The celebrated Chancellor Bacon, according

to Mead, was very delicate, and was accustomed to fall into a state of

great feebleness at every moon-set without any other imaginable cause.

He never recovered from his swooning until the moon reappeared.

Nothing is more common than the idiosyncrasy which certain people

display for certain foods. The trite proverb, "What is one man's meat

is another man's poison," is a genuine truth, and is exemplified by

hundreds of instances. Many people are unable to eat fish without

subsequent disagreeable symptoms. Prominent among the causes of

urticaria are oysters, crabs, and other shell fish, strawberries,

raspberries, and other fruits. The abundance of literature on this

subject makes an exhaustive collection of data impossible, and only a

few of the prominent and striking instances can be reported.

Amatus Lusitanus speaks of vomiting and diarrhea occurring each time a

certain Spaniard ate meat. Haller knew a person who was purged

violently by syrup of roses. The son of one of the friends of Wagner

would vomit immediately after the ingestion of any substance containing

honey. Bayle has mentioned a person so susceptible to honey that by a

plaster of this substance placed upon the skin this untoward effect was

produced. Whytt knew a woman who was made sick by the slightest bit of

nutmeg. Tissot observed vomiting in one of his friends after the

ingestion of the slightest amount of sugar. Ritte mentions a similar

instance. Roose has seen vomiting produced in a woman by the slightest

dose of distilled water of linden. There is also mentioned a person in

whom orange-flower water produced the same effect. Dejean cites a case

in which honey taken internally or applied externally acted like

poison. It is said that the celebrated Haen would always have

convulsions after eating half a dozen strawberries. Earle and Halifax

attended a child for kidney-irritation produced by strawberries, and

this was the invariable result of the ingestion of this fruit. The

authors personally know of a family the male members of which for

several generations could not eat strawberries without symptoms of

poisoning. The female members were exempt from the idiosyncrasy. A

little boy of this family was killed by eating a single berry. Whytt

mentions a woman of delicate constitution and great sensibility of the

digestive tract in whom foods difficult of digestion provoked spasms,

which were often followed by syncopes. Bayle describes a man who

vomited violently after taking coffee. Wagner mentions a person in whom

a most insignificant dose of manna had the same effect. Preslin speaks

of a woman who invariably had a hemorrhage after swallowing a small

quantity of vinegar. According to Zimmerman, some people are unable to

wash their faces on account of untoward symptoms. According to Ganbius,

the juice of a citron applied to the skin of one of his acquaintances

produced violent rigors.

Brasavolus says that Julia, wife of Frederick, King of Naples, had such

an aversion to meat that she could not carry it to her mouth without

fainting. The anatomist Gavard was not able to eat apples without

convulsions and vomiting. It is said that Erasmus was made ill by the

ingestion of fish; but this same philosopher, who was cured of a malady

by laughter, expressed his appreciation by an elegy on the folly. There

is a record of a person who could not eat almonds without a scarlet

rash immediately appearing upon the face. Marcellus Donatus knew a

young man who could not eat an egg without his lips swelling and purple

spots appearing on his face. Smetius mentions a person in whom the

ingestion of fried eggs was often followed by syncope. Brunton has seen

a case of violent vomiting and purging after the slightest bit of egg.

On one occasion this person was induced to eat a small morsel of cake

on the statement that it contained no egg, and, although fully

believing the words of his host, he subsequently developed prominent

symptoms, due to the trace of egg that was really in the cake. A letter

from a distinguished litterateur to Sir Morell Mackenzie gives a

striking example of the idiosyncrasy to eggs transmitted through four

generations. Being from such a reliable source, it has been deemed

advisable to quote the account in full: "My daughter tells me that you

are interested in the ill-effects which the eating of eggs has upon

her, upon me, and upon my father before us. I believe my grandfather,

as well as my father, could not eat eggs with impunity. As to my father

himself, he is nearly eighty years old; he has not touched an egg since

he was a young man; he can, therefore, give no precise or reliable

account of the symptoms the eating of eggs produce in him. But it was

not the mere 'stomach-ache' that ensued, but much more immediate and

alarming disturbances. As for me, the peculiarity was discovered when I

was a spoon-fed child. On several occasions it was noticed (that is my

mother's account) that I felt ill without apparent cause; afterward it

was recollected that a small part of a yolk of an egg had been given to

me. Eclaircissement came immediately after taking a single spoonful of

egg. I fell into such an alarming state that the doctor was sent for.

The effect seems to have been just the same that it produces upon my

daughter now,--something that suggested brain-congestion and

convulsions. From time to time, as a boy and a young man, I have eaten

an egg by way of trying it again, but always with the same result--a

feeling that I had been poisoned; and yet all the while I liked eggs.

Then I never touched them for years. Later I tried again, and I find

the ill-effects are gradually wearing off. With my daughter it is

different; she, I think, becomes more susceptible as time goes on, and

the effect upon her is more violent than in my case at any time.

Sometimes an egg has been put with coffee unknown to her, and she has

been seen immediately afterward with her face alarmingly changed--eyes

swollen and wild, the face crimson, the look of apoplexy. This is her

own account: 'An egg in any form causes within a few minutes great

uneasiness and restlessness, the throat becomes contracted and painful,

the face crimson, and the veins swollen. These symptoms have been so

severe as to suggest that serious consequences might follow.' To this I

may add that in her experience and my own, the newer the egg, the worse

the consequences."

Hutchinson speaks of a Member of Parliament who had an idiosyncrasy as

regards parsley. After the ingestion of this herb in food he always had

alarming attacks of sickness and pain in the abdomen, attended by

swelling of the tongue and lips and lividity of the face. This same man

could not take the smallest quantity of honey, and certain kinds of

fruit always poisoned him. There was a collection of instances of

idiosyncrasy in the British Medical Journal, 1859, which will be

briefly given in the following lines: One patient could not eat rice in

any shape without extreme distress. From the description given of his

symptoms, spasmodic asthma seemed to be the cause of his discomfort. On

one occasion when at a dinner-party he felt the symptoms of

rice-poisoning come on, and, although he had partaken of no dish

ostensibly containing rice, was, as usual, obliged to retire from the

table. Upon investigation it appeared that some white soup with which

he had commenced his meal had been thickened with ground rice. As in

the preceding case there was another gentleman who could not eat rice

without a sense of suffocation. On one occasion he took lunch with a

friend in chambers, partaking only of simple bread and cheese and

bottled beer. On being seized with the usual symptoms of rice-poisoning

he informed his friend of his peculiarity of constitution, and the

symptoms were explained by the fact that a few grains of rice had been

put into each bottle of beer for the purpose of exciting a secondary

fermentation. The same author speaks of a gentleman under treatment for

stricture who could not eat figs without experiencing the most

unpleasant formication of the palate and fauces. The fine dust from

split peas caused the same sensation, accompanied with running at the

nose; it was found that the father of the patient suffered from

hay-fever in certain seasons. He also says a certain young lady after

eating eggs suffered from swelling of the tongue and throat,

accompanied by "alarming illness," and there is recorded in the same

paragraph a history of another young girl in whom the ingestion of

honey, and especially honey-comb, produced swelling of the tongue,

frothing of the mouth, and blueness of the fingers. The authors know of

a gentleman in whom sneezing is provoked on the ingestion of chocolate

in any form. There was another instance--in a member of the medical

profession--who suffered from urticaria after eating veal. Veal has the

reputation of being particularly indigestible, and the foregoing

instance of the production of urticaria from its use is doubtless not

an uncommon one.

Overton cites a striking case of constitutional peculiarity or

idiosyncrasy in which wheat flour in any form, the staff of life, an

article hourly prayed for by all Christian nations as the first and

most indispensable of earthly blessings, proved to one unfortunate

individual a prompt and dreadful poison. The patient's name was David

Waller, and he was born in Pittsylvania County, Va., about the year

1780. He was the eighth child of his parents, and, together with all

his brothers and sisters, was stout and healthy. At the time of

observation Waller was about fifty years of age. He had dark hair, gray

eyes, dark complexion, was of bilious and irascible temperament, well

formed, muscular and strong, and in all respects healthy as any man,

with the single exception of his peculiar idiosyncrasy. He had been the

subject of but few diseases, although he was attacked by the epidemic

of 1816. From the history of his parents and an inquiry into the health

of his ancestry, nothing could be found which could establish the fact

of heredity in his peculiar disposition. Despite every advantage of

stature, constitution, and heredity, David Waller was through life,

from his cradle to his grave, the victim of what is possibly a unique

idiosyncrasy of constitution. In his own words he declared: "Of two

equal quantities of tartar and wheat flour, not more than a dose of the

former, he would rather swallow the tartar than the wheat flour." If he

ate flour in any form or however combined, in the smallest quantity, in

two minutes or less he would have painful itching over the whole body,

accompanied by severe colic and tormina in the bowels, great sickness

Date: 2014-12-29; view: 583