The Manitowoc tribune. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1866-1878, 1868-03-12
EcceHtricitieS of the Flesh.

The experience of medical men leads
them to know that we are by no means all
constituted alike with respect to those
things which we can take and those things
which we should avoid. Experience is a
guide to most men in such matters. There
are some people, however, who are so pc
culiarly constituted that matters the most
harmless to the mass of mankind act upon
them in the most distressing manner. For
in stance, some persons cannot eat lobster
salad without its having very curious
effect upon their complexion. We know a
lady who once INDUCED at supper time in
salad of this kind, and upon her return
to the ballroom her face and neck immedi-
ately became covered with spots, obliging
her to retire. Cookies and shrimps have q
like effect upon persons thus peculiarly
constituted. A medical friend tells us that
eating veal gives q lady of his acquaintance
nettle-rash, and that orange-peel has pro-
duced great nervous excitement Figs,
again, give rise, in some people, to what is
termed formicatior," or sensation like
the tickling movements of ants
upon the palate. The most ex-
traordinary example of the adverse in
huence of common article Of food upon
the human stomach isrelated by surgeon
of one Of our public hospitals. He says
that a patient OF his cannot touch rice with
out the most extreme discomfort On one
occasion, when at a dinner party, he felt
the symptoms of rice poisoning come on,
and was, as usual, obliged to retire from
the table, though he had not partaken Of
any dish ostensibly containing rice. It ap-
peared, on investigation, that some white
soup, with which he had commenced lis
dinner, had been thickened with ground
rice In another case, similar symptoms
having come on after a gentleman had
partaken of bottled beer, this apparently
extraordinary fact was explained by the
presence in the bottle Of few grains of
rice, which had been placed there to excite
q secondary fermentation. But what is
this to the perverse stomach of a gentle
man, in case cited by DR.. Prout, who
was poisoned bv eating mutton chop?
The most digestible Of all flesh to the ordi-
nary mortal was to him positively as
poisonous as though he had eaten toad
stools. It was at first imagined by his
physician that his dislike to this kind of
food arose from mere fancy, and, in order
to test him, mutton, disguised, was served
to him as other flesh meat, but always
with the same result, violent vomiting and
diarrhea. Indeed, the effect upon him
was so great that, had he been kept upon
a mutton diet, DR.. Prout believed he
would have died.
Some persons cannot touch honey with
out the very alarming symptoms appear
ing of the swelling of the tongue, frothing
Mustard applied to some eccentric skins
will produce violent twitching Of the mus
cles of the face, arms, and legs.
Many persons we know cannot remain
in room where there is cheese and we
are told of an eccentric constitution that
could not sit at table where there was
cooked hare. Eggs, again, rebel in most
violent manner against some stomachs.
The sense Of touch, too, is very eccentric
in some individuals, and the handling of
a russell apple is intoleTable to gentle
man we have heard of; and the mere pass
ing of the hand along the bristles of
brush produces the most exquisite ner-
vous distress in lady of our acquaint-
ance.
The emanations arising from vegetable
sources have a very marked effect upon
some people. Indeed, there is disease
known as the hay asthma, which, at the
hay harvest, periodically affects many per-
sons who reside anywhere near hay-felds
when they are being moved. The reason
is well known. Floating particles of the
seed are always set free at such time, and,
striking against the mucous membranes
of the nose, mouth, and throat Of
the individuals liable to this affec-
ton, produce spasmodic action of the
throat, which is not only very distress
ing, but dangerous. The late Duke of
Richmond was very liable to the hay
asthma, and during the hay making season
he always retired to Brighton, the downs
near which place protected him from the
danger of haymaking. The direction of
the wind is of Importance in this affection,
inasmuch as when it blows from the
quarter where haymak 1g operations are
going on the sufferer feels the distressing
inflicticn with increased virulence; when,
however, the wind blows in the contrary
direction, he is exempt from its influence.
Ipecacuanha, again, is most obnoxious to
many individuals, producing vomiting and
diarrhea. The mere removal of stopper
from bottle containing this drug will
produce in some persons an instantaneous
effect, although far removed from the OBJ