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.
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