. The stories told about them are,
however, very curious; and if some of them may be questioned, there is
no doubt that many of the strangest are true, and consequently take away
from the improbability of others which we are disposed to doubt.

But in the first place, what do we mean by an antipathy? It is an
aversion to some object, which may vary in degree from mere dislike to
mortal horror. What the cause of this aversion is we cannot say. It
acts sometimes through the senses, sometimes through the imagination,
sometimes through an unknown channel. The relations which exist between
the human being and all that surrounds him vary in consequence of some
adjustment peculiar to each individual. The brute fact is expressed in
the phrase "One man's meat is another man's poison."

In studying the history of antipathies the doctor began with those
referable to the sense of taste, which are among the most common. In
any collection of a hundred persons there will be found those who cannot
make use of certain articles of food generally acceptable. This may be
from the disgust they occasion or the effects they have been found to
produce. Every one knows individuals who cannot venture on honey, or
cheese, or veal, with impunity. Carlyle, for example, complains of
having veal set before him,--a meat he could not endure. There is a
whole family connection in New England, and that a very famous one, to
many of whose members, in different generations, all the products of the
dairy are the subjects of a congenital antipathy. Montaigne says there
are persons who dread the smell of apples more than they would dread
being exposed to a fire of musketry. The readers of the charming story
"A Week in a French Country-House" will remember poor Monsieur Jacque's
piteous cry in the night: "Ursula, art thou asleep? Oh, Ursula, thou
sleepest, but I cannot close my eyes. Dearest Ursula, there is such
a dreadful smell! Oh, Ursula, it is such a smell! I do so wish thou
couldst smell it! Good-night, my angel!----Dearest! I have found them!
They are apples!" The smell of roses, of peonies, of lilies, has been
known to cause faintness. The sight of various objects has had singular
effects on some persons. A boar's head was a favorite dish at the table
of great people in Marshal d'Albret's time; yet he used to faint at the
sight of one. It is not uncommon to meet with persons who faint at the
sight of blood. One of the most inveterately pugnacious of Dr