Year: 1868

respect to those things which we can
take and those things which we should
avoid. Experience Is guide to most
men IN such matters. There are
some people, however, who are so pc
cuIlariy constituted that matters the
most harmless to the mass of mankind
act upon them in the most distress
ing manner. For instance, some per-
sons cannot eat lobster salad with
out It's having a very curious effect
upon their complexion. We know
lady who once indulged at supper
time in a salad of this kind, and upon
her return to the ballroom her face
and neck imm ediately became covered
with spots, obliging her to retire
Cookies and shrinnps have like effect
upon persons thus peculiarly consti
tuted. a medical friend tells us that
eating veal gives a lady Of his &C
quaintance nettle-rash, and that or
ange-peel has produced great nervous
excitement. Figs, again, give rise,
in some people, to what is termed
. formication," or sensation like the
tickling movement of ants, upon the
palate. The most extraordinary ex-
ample of the adverse influence of a
common article of food upon the HUI
man stomach Is related by a surgeon
of one of our public hospitals He
says that patient Of his cannot touch
rice without the most extreme discom-
fort. On one occasion, when at a
dinner party, he felt the symptoms of
rice poisoning come on, and was as usu-
al obliged to retire from the table,
though he had not partaken Of any
dish ostensibly containing rice. 1t
appeared on investigation, that some
white soup, with which he had com
menced his dinner, had been thickened
with boiled rice In another case.
similar symptoms having come on af-
ter a gentlman had partaken Of bot
tied beer, this apparently extraordi-
nary fact was explained by the pres
ence IN the bottle of few grains of
rice, which had been placed there to
excite a secondary fermentation
But what IS this to the perverse stom-
ach of a gentleman, IN a case cited by
DR.. Prout, who was poisoned by eat
ing a mutton chop? The most di-
gestibIe of all flesh to the ordinary
mortal was to him positively as pois-
onous as though he had eaten toad
stools. 1t 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 dis
guised was served to him as other
flesh meat but always with the same
result, violent vomiting and diarrhea.
Indeed the effect on him was so great
that, had he been kept upon a NUT
ton diet, DR.. Prout believed he would
have died.


Some persons cannot touch honey
without the very alarming symptoms
appearing of the swelling of the tongue,
frothing of the mouth, and blueness
of the fingers. Mustard applied to
some eccentric skins will produce vi
olent tw1tching of the muscles of the
face, arms and legs.


Many persons we know cannot re-
main in room where there is cheese :;
and we are told of an eccentric con
stitution that could not sit at ta-
bic 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 russet apple is intolerable to
a gentleman we have heard of; and
the mere passage of the hand along
the bristles of brush produces the
most exquisite nervous distress in a
lady of our acquaintance


The emanations arising from veg
etable sources have a very marked
effect upon some people Indeed,
there is a disease known as the hay
asthma. which at the hay harvest, pc
riodically affects many persons who
reside anywhere near hay-felds when
they are being moved. The reason
is we'll 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
affection, produce spasmodic action of
the throat, which is not only very
distressing, but dangerous. The late
Duke of Richmond was very liable to
the nay asthma, and during the hay
making season he always retired to
Brighton, the downs near which place
protected him from the danger Of hay
making. The direction Of the wind
Is OF importance IN this affection, in
ASH Uch as when it blows from the quar-
ter where haymaking operations are
going on ths sufferer feels the distress
ING inhiction 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 a stopper from
a bottle containing this drug will pro
duce in some persons an instanta-
neous effect, although far removed
from the object itself. Persons thus
affected by this emanation have been
known to be seized with spasms IN con-
sequence, although removed BY a
couple Of floors from the cause.


The ordinary spasmcdic asthma
arises from causes Just as local. 1t
often happens that patients SO aaict-