d contemplate Euthymia from a distance, as
he did on the day of the boat-race, without any nervous disturbance. A
certain proximity was necessary for the influence to be felt, as in the
case of magnetism and electricity. An atmosphere of danger surrounded
every woman he approached during the period when her sex exercises its
most powerful attractions. How far did that atmosphere extend, and
through what channel did it act?

The key to the phenomena of this case, he believed, was to be found in a
fact as humble as that which gave birth to the science of galvanism and
its practical applications. The circumstances connected with the very
common antipathy to cats were as remarkable in many points of view as the
similar circumstances in the case of Maurice Kirkwood. The subjects of
that antipathy could not tell what it was which disturbed their nervous
system. All they knew was that a sense of uneasiness, restlessness,
oppression, came over them in the presence of one of these animals. He
remembered the fact already mentioned, that persons sensitive to this
impression can tell by their feelings if a cat is concealed in the
apartment in which they may happen to be. It may be through some
emanation. It may be through the medium of some electrical disturbance.
What if the nerve-thrills passing through the whole system of the animal
propagate themselves to a certain distance without any more regard to
intervening solids than is shown by magnetism? A sieve lets sand pass
through it; a filter arrests sand, but lets fluids pass, glass holds
fluids, but lets light through; wood shuts out light, but magnetic
attraction goes through it as sand went through the sieve. No good
reasons can be given why the presence of a cat should not betray itself
to certain organizations, at a distance, through the walls of a box in
which the animal is shut up. We need not disbelieve the stories which
allege such an occurrence as a fact and a not very infrequent one.

If the presence of a cat can produce its effects under these
circumstances, why should not that of a human being under similar
conditions, acting on certain constitutions, exercise its specific
influence? The doctor recalled a story told him by one of his friends, a
story which the friend himself heard from the lips of the distinguished
actor, the late Mr. Fechter. The actor maintained that Rachel had no
genius as an actress. It was all Samson's training and study, according
to him, whic