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.
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