The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-05-28
TIE FEAR INSPIRED BY CATS,
A STUDY or THE SUBJECT BY DIR.
S. WEIR MITCHELL.
Some People Really Able to Detect the
Presence of . Hidden Cat-Terror
L Cats Have for Certain Men and women
n A Trait Inherited From Remote
B Ancestors, Maybe.

"A TRAIT lnnerlNeu T'o' A>
D Ancestors, Maybe.
In the last number Of American Medlc'ne
Is an article by DIR. S. Weir Mitcheil on
.Airaphobia and the Power to Be Con-
scio,ls OF the Cat as Near When Unseen
and Unheard" At the start he explains
the problem thus:
"Three years ago I was consulted in re-
gard to the case OF hysterlcai young
woman, in whom the fear OF cats had be-
come an obsession. She declared that she
could always detect the presence OF an
unseen and unheard cat.
II saw her three times, and on each &C.
casion she said there was cat in the room
It was true Of her first visit, although she
could not have seen it. 1t was untrue OF
two later visits, but each time she exhibited
the same fear and the usual mild hysterical
manifestations.
"A second case was, / felt sure, an ex-
hibition OF real capacity to know when the
unseen and unheard cat was present. 1t
cams to my knowledge later"
This led him to collect evidence regard
ing the fear inspired by cats in some per-
sons and the ability Of some persons to
detect the presence near them OF unseen
and unheard cats. The evidence was
furnished by $50 persons in America, Eng
land and Germany. OF the results ! : says
my research brought to me indisputable
evidence concerning the large number OF
people in whom the presence of cat gives
rise to variety Of symptoms In such
persons the feeling caused by seeing cat
Is instantaneous. In the asthma victims
1t is slower and cumulative and may not be
felt at all for twenty minutes or more.
Certain persons on seeing a cat have
other symptoms, with or without oppres-
sion of breathing. There may be only
fear, terror, disgust. There may be added
chilly sensations, horripilation, weakness,
locked jaw, or, as in one case, liked open
Jaw, rightly of arms, pallor, nausea, rarely
vomiting. pronounced hysterical commissions
and even temporary blindness.
These pass away with removal OF the
cat, but in few examples leave the SUI
ferer nervously disturbed for day. Two
report themselves as apt to have dreams
Of cats, what one Of them calls catnares'
Five persons, three being women, are
alarmed in the presence Of the greater
cats, Gagged tigers or lions. soldier OF
distinction, much given when younger to
TIGER hunting, is undisturbed by these
great felines, but terrified by the tame
cat.
AT least a fourth Of my cases Of cat terror
In grave forms speak Of it as family pecu-
liarity. Five in family OF seven had it.
In another case a maternal grandfather,
two greataunts, an uncle and sister were
all thus troubled and in other families
where one had 1t, at least one other,
brother or sister, was more or less affected.
Simple cases in families were, however
the rule.
Sex appears to have no marked influence,
but the extreme symptoms are more fire.
qusnt In women.
Aversion to cats Is well known to have
disturbed many historical personages and
II alluded to in a we'll known passage Of
Shakespeare.
DR.. Mitchellwas convinced that in thirty
one Of the cases brought to his attention
persons were able to tell when a cat was
near though it was neither seen nor heard.
-Four of the thirty -one persons declared that
they detected the presence Of a cat by its
odor. The twenty seven others decla red that
they did not smell the cat.
Nevertheless Dr. Mitchell concludes that
In similar case the presence Of the cat
Is recognized through its odor. He says:
1T seems to me possible that either they
smell the cat too slightly to be able to de-
fine the odor or else receive an olfactory i'm
preston Of which they are not conscious as
being an odor but only in the form of such
symptoms as the visible cat would also
evoke.
when we seek an explanation of the ter
ror inspired by cats in few persons we are
forced to fall lack upon the inherited re-
mainders of animal instincts Of protective
nature. This view is however, weakened
by the fact that in most of the worst cases
OF cat fear there is no terror in the presence
Of the ion.'
Here are some Of the instances given by
DR.. Mitchell of the fear Of cats seen or
unseen:
In my own family an uncle was the sub
Jet. My father, the late Prof. John K.
Mitchell having placed small cat in a
closet with a saucer of cream, asked Mr..
H. to come into the room and look at some
old books in which he would be interested.
He sat down, but in few minutes grew
pale. shivered, and said: There is cat in
There is no cat in the room. Do You hear
one ,tside?' He said. No, but there is a
cat He became faint, and, complaining
Of nausea, went out and promptly reoov-
cred.
i quote the following from physician
Of distinction as case where the symp-
toms arise on seeing cat, and where, at
other times, they are evoked by the odor
Of an unseen cat:
my wife simply lives in horror OF cats
II Is more than fright and it makes no dif-
ference whether II be a tiny kitten or the
most tigerlike tomcat | have seen her
absolutely Frustrated by terror after an
unexpected meeting with a cat although
she IS not in the least Historically inclined
nor afraid of other animals
She has never as child been frighte ned
by q cat, but has always had this fear; She
can usually detect cats presence by its
smell, when 1t is unseen and when others
cannot smell 1t, but this she cannot always do.
Her father has the cat fear. and her ma
taInal grandmother can also smell out
eat; also q brother and two sisters the rest
Of large family being Indifferent to the
animal.
"A lady very we'll known to me sends me.
With othsr inst ances, this: She was in her
rsom preparing for bed, when suddenly she
felt her usual sensations Of cat being
near. A servant was called and a vain
search was mace.
AT last, still suffering, che herself made
. careful search, and found a strange cat
curled up under lounge and well hidden.
She has no knowledge OF cat from sense
Of smell.
sDr. j. @. W. writes me: Some years ago
was present at a meeting of scientific
society. The secret airy. while reading his