hallucinations or delusions, will be spoken of in another chapter.

Possibly the most satisfactory divisions under which to group the
material on this subject collected from literature are into examples of
idiosyncrasies in which, although the effect is a mystery, the sense is
perceptible and the cause distinctly defined and known, and those in
which sensibility is latent. The former class includes all the peculiar
antipathies which are brought about through the special senses, while
the latter groups all those strange instances in which, without the
slightest antipathy on the part of the subject, a certain food or drug,
after ingestion, produces an untoward effect.

The first examples of idiosyncrasies to be noticed will be those
manifested through the sense of smell. On the authority of Spigelius,
whose name still survives in the nomenclature of the anatomy of the
liver, Mackeuzie quotes an extraordinary case in a Roman Cardinal,
Oliver Caraffa, who could not endure the smell of a rose. This is
confirmed from personal observation by another writer, Pierius, who
adds that the Cardinal was obliged every year to shut himself up during
the rose season, and guards were stationed at the gates of his palace
to stop any visitors who might be wearing the dreadful flower. It is,
of course, possible that in this case the rose may not have caused the
disturbance, and as it is distinctly stated that it was the smell to
which the Cardinal objected, we may fairly conclude that what annoyed
him was simply a manifestation of rose-fever excited by the pollen.
There is also an instance of a noble Venetian who was always confined
to his palace during the rose season. However, in this connection Sir
Kenelm Digby relates that so obnoxious was a rose to Lady Heneage, that
she blistered her cheek while accidentally lying on one while she
slept. Ledelius records the description of a woman who fainted before a
red rose, although she was accustomed to wear white ones in her hair.
Cremer describes a Bishop who died of the smell of a rose from what
might be called "aromatic pain."

The organ of smell is in intimate relation with the brain and the
organs of taste and sight; and its action may thus disturb that of the
esophagus, the stomach, the diaphragm, the intestines, the organs of
generation, etc. Odorous substances have occasioned syncope, stupor,
nausea, vomiting, and sometimes death. It is said that the Hindoos, and
some classes who eat