The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-02-24
Medical Notes.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Even among people of the greatest in
te1fgence and apparently sound mind
there are many who are victims of emo
tional obsessions which control their ac-
lions and thoughts beyond the power OF
reason or resistance. When these men
tai alterations become known to per-
sons friends they call him, in common
language, cracked" and are apt to
consider him as upon the border line of
insanity, perhaps truly, for they will re-
main all their lives subject to influence
over which they have no control and the
symptoms which they manifest are, as
Ball has truly said the preface Of a
story which will never. be ended"
These cases of mental instability often
form fruitful texts for writer's of fiction,
the Russians and Scandinavians being
especially fond of portraying such SUBJ
jects. But these writer's skim over their
subject in a superficial manner, while
there are fewsscientif1c writers who have
studied the subject thoroughly.
The victims of true morbid fear are
the prey of morbid dread, full of an
gufsh, sudden and irresistible, which
possesses them in spite of all reason.
Hereditary nervousness, effeminate edu-
cation, social excuses and all forms of
among the chief causes of morbid fear
but to ennmenate all the varieties would
be an endless task. Classification even is
difficult, but among the first should be
placed phobophobia, a fear of fear,
and pantophobia, fear of everything
Even the smallest object may cause
morbid fear. There is aichmophobia, for
example, fear Of pointed articles, such
as needles, pins, fish bones, daggers. ETC.
uncommon nY T11I1Io Of L.
the case Of one who abstains from eat
ing fish for fear of getting a fish bone
IN his throat, There is agoraphobia a
lear OF open spaces or crowds Pascal
was notable example of such a ner-
vous Whim which assumes many strange
lorInS such person for example can
not cross a public place, Clares not stand
at window, enter a theater, a church
or even railroad station. Then there is
variety OF this dread known as thaIas
sophobia, fear of the ocean with which
I4eraclius, Nicolas and Peter the Great
were afflicted
Claustrophobia is, on the contrary, a
rear OF closed spaces: a person thus af-
,t1cted, when placed in a small or closed
chamber, is attacked with trembling. YER
tlge and terrible agony. The fear of
darkness is also common in MANY cases.
but more especially in children and NAV
cause commissions. On the other hand.
astfophob1a, fear of looking upward
at the sky, is more rare. Bruick records
case IN which, strange to say, a priest
was affllcted with this fear and was ad-
Vlsed by his physician never to venture
out of doors without an umbrella. which
ne opened when he was seized with this
fear. Another form of phobia is the
fear of storm of which CaIligula was a
victim. Under, this same head might
be placed a common fear of the weather.
especially of cold, which leads people to
take extraordinary precautions in the
way Of clothing, and in many cases leads
to perpetual exile and expatriation in
warmer Chimes
Mysophobia in mild form, is a very
good thing to be possessed of; 1t is
horror of dirt. Persons thus afflicted in
morbid degree are continually Wiping
plates, glasses and all their table ware;
busting chairs, sweeping carpets. brush
ing their clothes and washing their heads
with exceeding and painful attention to
details.
Hematophobia is a morbid fear which
is exceedingly common, usually heredi-
tary and one that no physician should
suffer from; it is a fear of blood Ne
crophobia, or fear of the dead, and than
atophobia, or fear of death. are equally
frequent in nervous persons and COM
mon even in those who are not subject
to any other manifestation of nerves.
Anthropophobia is a fear of man, the
victim having a dread of looking a man
in the face and having an especial dread
Of social gatherings; gynophobia Is an
analogous fear Of women, but neither of
these should be confused with misanth-
ropy or misogyny, man and woman
hating there being in the one case a NOR
bid fear uncomfortable by the will while
in the other hate has artifcially and
voluntarily induced hardening of the
mind. On the other hand, there is a
monophobia, fear of living alone, a
constant desire to mirig1e with a crowd,