New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1860-03-12
PHYSICAL ANTIPATHIEs.

Every person reekOns among his acquaintance
individuals who are peculiarly " touchyf upon Ger.
tain points, In an ordinary way, it is plain.sailng
enough with them; but just venture upon certain
TOPICS and they are ..nowhereh in moment. Pres
sure upon some hidden mental spring makes all
sort of secret drawers of the mind shoot out sud
denly, to the amazement of the unconscious opera
tor, and he will go away with firm conviction
that there is some screw loose in that particular
quarter at least. Familiar as VIC are with mental
peculiarities of this kind there is parallel range
of physical ones, which are generally very little
known. The physician who sounds the depths of
our bodies, and knows how oddly the mueus MEM
brane of one individual behaves, and what eccen-
tricities are shown by the epdermis of another is
aware that this too too solid flesh have fads
| and fancies, tastes and dslikes, and show them,
too, in manner as decided and demonstratiye as
though the mental instead of the grosser organs
were implicated.
These physical idiosyncraces sometimes put on
such extraordinary features that fear in relat-
ing some of them, the reader will think we are
| romaneing. For instance, he will readily assent to
the old saying, that " what is one mans meat is
another mans poson;n nevertheless he will
doubt our good faith when we tell him of man
being poisoned by mutton chop. DIR. Prout, in his
valuable work on the Stomach however, relates
Just such q case. This individual, with a contuma-
cious stomach, could not touch mutton in any form.
1t was at first supposed that this dislike arose from
caprice the meat was therefore disguised, and
given to him in some unknown form, but with the
invarable result of producing violent vomiting and
diarfhna; aud from the severity of the effects,
which were those of virulent poison, there be
little doubt that il the of mutton had been per-
sisted in, his life would soon have been destroyed,
Strange and irrational as this behavior may appear
to be- vet it is only rather exaggerated example
of stomachic capriciousness. Some persons cannot
| touch veal others are Frustrated by few grains
Of rice
We happen to know an individual that is imme-
diately seized with all the symptoms OF cholera
| fnt-A1 ain of
rice. Such is his susceptibility to the presence of
this article of food that the most ninitesmal por-
tons are instantly detected. Thus, for instance,
having been seized with illness Immediately alter
drinking beer, it was discovered that grain or two
had been introduced into the bottle for the pur-
pose of giving it a head. Eggs are equally obnox-
ious to some individuals. Mr.. Erasmus Wilson re-
lates the case Of patient who was seized with a
violent bowel complaint suddenly, without any APP
parent cause Knowing, however, his precllVlty
to violent gastric irritation from touching eggs, he
at once declared that he must have partaken of
the obnoxious food. 1t could not be traced, how
ever, until the cook acknowledged that she had
glazed pastry, of which he had partaken, with
the white of On egg.
SheIltish is well known to disarrange the digest
i've organs of some people. We happen to be &C.
quainted with lady who unfortunately partook of
lobster-salad for supper at ball, with the incon-
venient result of almost Immediately breaking out
into rash over the face, neck and arms. For this
reason mussels, shrims and cookies cannot be
touched by many individuals. In order to under
stand the immediate and extraordinary effect thus
produced upon the skin in consequence OF partak-
ing of food irritating to the stomach, we must in
form our reader that the lining OF the whole digest
i've apparatus is only continuation OF the epider-
mis- Let us imagine double nightcap, one end
of which is thrust into the other, and we have at
once the true idea of the relation the epidermis,
outside skin, has to the mucus membrane, or inside
skin which lines the stomach and intestines. With
this explanation. it is easy to understand how is
that an irritating poison, coming in contact witt
the stomach, Immediately tells its tale on the fail
shoulders Of the ballroom belle.
Results equally distressing, if not so nnsightly
are produced in some individuals without the in
PRODUCTION to the stomach of articles of food o
| medicine. Floating particles in the air are some
| tines sufficient to produce all the symptoms
spasmodc asthma. We once knew dispense
who could not Stop in the room with an unsto,
pered bottle of ipecacuanha. Even if it WEI
opened thirty or forty feet away out of his sigh
he was instantly aware of the fact, in consequence
of the violent seizure to which lie was LIABLE W
have heard Of an old lady who at times was sui
| jeet 10 sickness and vomiting in the most sudde
| and unaccountable manner. At last her physician
suapeetipg some atmospheric influence, made inqu