The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1921-11-02
Health Talks
 By JOHN B. HUBER, A.M.;M ;M.D.
\ house that is clean and cheerful makes a happy home.
! THE HARMLESS NECESSARY CAT:

-.aiIurophobia" (the fear of cats) the
 late Dr. Weir Mitchell wrote:
 In my own family an uncle was
 the object. My falher, the late Pro-
 lessor John K. Mitchell, having placed
 a. small cat in closet with a saucer of crea m, asked MT. H. to come into the room and look at some old books
 in which he would be interested. He
 sat down, but in a few minutes grew
 pale. shivered and said, There is a
 eat in the room" My uncle said.
 Look about you There is no cat in the room. Do you hear one out side?" He said, ..No, but there Is d cat'' He became faint and com-
 plained of nausea, went out and promptly recovered.
 Dr. Mitchell did not explain as to
 this case of his relative, the ultimate cause of the ailurophobia. Perhaps this lay in cat-aS Ihn ma, paroxysms or difficult breathing, gray face, and blue lips, all brought about by the inhala'- tions however inhnltes1mal. or caE emanagtions, just as hay fever results from breathing in various dustS ana pollens.
 Nor was the poet altogether accu- rate (of course nobody is expected to be accurate when he writes poetry when he sung of the harmless nec- | essary cat.'' I am 1oathe to state (for don't want to hurt anybody's fe-
 linesl that the cat is by no means al. does consume birds in great numbers,
 which is a pitiful thing. Also many cats-not only stray, ownerless. man | even domestic tabbies-are oftentimes l infected and may thus become seri- | ous ,nenaces to human life and health. There have been well au-
 threnticated cases of such infection cases of grippe, diphtheria, pneumo- ! ria. The common cold, tub&culosis, humps, cholera, dysintery, summer complaints, foot and mouth disease, csl1TP@ic21 infections tGt9nllS | bies.
 Besides being germ carriers in the ways mentioned, cats are also hosts to germs that nestle costly in their furs; or they harbor fieas, lice and other insects which convey disease germs to man: or cats themselves sui 1 fer tuberculosis, diphtheria and the | like and may spread those diseases l by coughing, Sn eezing or splitting (as
 they may do in anger)-a real dan-
 ger here to children that love to hud- | due cats up to their faces.
 | Personally I am not averse to cats.
 I recall with regret little creature of l that species which for some time | graced my home I used to contem- plate wonderingly how she was wont to perform, with the utmost non 1 chalence. the feat of licking the tip 1 of her off paw, and I recall with pleasure the Sociable way she had of joining me in depredations upon the l famn1y 1arder on my return home in the early morning after a parteu- 1 larry 1aC1Su11lS ana trying case but
 her behavior in the neighborhood
 was, it must be admitted, most repu- l taticnless. We lost her, know nos i how. But I have my suspicious of q : certain society, formed for the most part of elderly maiden ladies, for the protection of cats against rude small boys and against such doctors as would vivisect cats under the vulgar pretense of benefiing humankind.
 All inquiries addressed to Dr. Hu- bcr in care of the Heath Talks de- | partment will be answered in these | columns in their turn. This requires considerable time, however, owing to the great number received. So if a i personal or quicker reply is desired, a Istamped and seIf-addressed envelope must be enclosed with the question: The Editor.