The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1884-06-11
A REMARKABLE AFFECTION
THE STRANGE FANCIEs THAT DIS
TINGUIsH NEURoPHoBIA.
Persons with "A Dislike for Certain
Streets, Places or Objccts-Others
who Dread Letters or COlOrs.

Persons with "A Dislike for Certain
Streets, Places or ObjcCts-Others |
who Dread Letters or COlOrs.
In the afternoon of one of the sunniest |
days last week two men got on Madi-
son avenue car going down town at the |
corner of Fifty-fourth street. One was a |
thin, pallid, rather emaciated gentleman,
possibly forty years of age, with rather
peculiar transparency of the temples,
restless eyes, and singular nervousness
of manner; the other large, well nour-
ished, massive and rather corpulent, with
the placid, self satisfied countenance of
the man who has succeeded in the world
and feels on good terms with it. The
pair might readily have been mistaken
for madman and his keeper, only the
feebler of the two was evidently not past
the verge of sanity, while the placid COM
panion was q trihe less vigilant than the
custodian of a maniac ought to be, and
moreover was recognized by at least one
passenger as a famous physician.
The thin gentleman shifted his posi-
ton uneasily, gazed out of the car win
| dow moment, then studied the faces of
his three or four fellow passengers with
the rapid intensity of a physiognomist,
and glanced furtively at the open door,
in which the figure of the conductor was
framed like full-length photograph.
"Fares, gents" grumbled that func-
tionary, stalking into the ear. The thin
gentleman paid for two, and again
! glanced in the direction of the open
door. His hand shook as he replaced his
pocketbook, and a shiver passed over
him. His portly companion turned and
spoke to him in a low tone. The words
were inaudible, and the intonations were
soft, soothing, and evidently expostula-
tory. Suddenly the pale passenger sprang
to his feet, pulled the bell violently, and
rushed out of the car, which was now
midway between Forty eighth and Forty
ninth streets. The portly physician rose
from his seat in leisurely, comfortable
sort of way, and alighted at the corner
of Forty eighth street, where the car
came to full stop. The thin gentleman,
excited, nervous, out of breath, and
trembling all over like leaf in the wind
Joined the doctor and began to speak
apologetically: "No use, you see. l
can't stand it. You really must excuse
me, doctor"
'Pooh! pooh" laughed the portly
physician. "You'n conquer the thing
by and bye. Try again, my dear boy"
'rll step across and take the elevated
downtown, with your permission, doc
tor" said the thin gentleman, making no
direct reply to his friends eXhortation.
He lifted his neat Derby hat, with hand
that was almost pellucid in its delicacy
and whiteness, and was gone.
''That man, - said the doctor, ''is one
of hundred cases that have come under
my notice in the last few years-a strange
case of nervous impression. He is not in
the least timid; will ride downtown in
a Third avenue car, a Broadway stage, OF
an elevated train, with perfect composure,
but he has morbid, unconquerable ner-
vous terror of the Fourth avenue, and
would suffer any inconvenience or incul
any expense rather than ride in Fourth
avenue car. can't trace this impression
to any tangible cause, nor can he. HC
has never met with an accident on the
Fourth avenue, so far as he remembers
1t is simply one of those inexplicable
unreasoning spontaneous impressions o.
| the nervous system that no science car
explain. The man is not crank, nor il
the least given to eccentricities of opinion
or manners. On the contrary, his name
is familiar as that of shrewd banker
As to courage, he is as brave as a lion, a
have occasion to know, and would fgh
odds of ten to one, if his blood was up
Only, the moment he finds himself on
Fourth avenue car he is seized with
| paroxysm of nervous terror which he can
not control; and that is the end of it"
t The doctor mused moment. ''Wall
1 across with me to my Office" he said
, ''and I'll talk with you by the way
SNch cases are by no means uncommon
5 though no paper has ever been writer
y on the subject, and there is no name 70
l the malady in the medical books. Tn
= late DIR. George NJ. Beard-as able ant
: acute as he was eccentric-invented tn
e term neurophobia to describe the condi
e ton existing in such cases, and tn
I singular thing about this neurophobia i
D that it seldom occurs with women, give
g as they are supposed to be, to nervou
= impressions and hysterical fancies."
In one of the doctors office journal
there were notes of this case: A patient
a man Of tolerably robust and vel
nourished physique, forty-siX years old
q lawyer by profession-cannot bear t
q cross Broadway at the Astor house. Ii
. will walk down to Fulton street or up
a Park place, but cross under the shado'
of the Astor house never. There is n
# assignabe cause for the terror; it simpl
- exists and that is all. 1t came upon hil
suddenly one afternoon two years age
;, after a hard days work in court. II
. started for the Astor house to get a Gu
- of coffee and his regular half dozen ra
- oysters. To his wonder, as he was abor
to step from the curbstone at the cornC
., of the postofiice he was seized with
" fit of trembling and terror and sinC