established by the noise of this instrument. Ephemerides contains
an account of a young man who became nervous and had the sense of
suffocation when he heard the noise made by sweeping. Zimmerman speaks
of a young girl who had convulsions when she heard the rustling of
oiled silk. Boyle, the father of chemistry, could not conquer an
aversion he had to the sound of water running through pipes. A
gentleman of the Court of the Emperor Ferdinand suffered epistaxis when
he heard a cat mew. La Mothe Le Vayer could not endure the sounds of
musical instruments, although he experienced pleasurable sensations
when he heard a clap of thunder. It is said that a chaplain in England
always had a sensation of cold at the top of his head when he read the
53d chapter of Isaiah and certain verses of the Kings. There was an
unhappy wight who could not hear his own name pronounced without being
thrown into convulsions. Marguerite of Valois, sister of Francis I,
could never utter the words "mort" or "petite verole," such a horrible
aversion had she to death and small-pox. According to Campani, the
Chevalier Alcantara could never say "lana," or words pertaining to
woolen clothing. Hippocrates says that a certain Nicanor had the
greatest horror of the sound of the flute at night, although it
delighted him in the daytime. Rousseau reports a Gascon in whom
incontinence of urine was produced by the sound of a bagpipe. Frisch,
Managetta, and Rousse speak of a man in whom the same effect was
produced by the sound of a hurdy-gurdy. Even Shakespeare alludes to the
effects of the sound of bagpipes. Tissot mentions a case in which music
caused epileptic convulsions, and Forestus mentions a beggar who had
convulsions at the sound of a wooden trumpet similar to those used by
children in play. Rousseau mentions music as causing convulsive
laughter in a woman. Bayle mentions a woman who fainted at the sound of
a bell. Paullini cites an instance of vomiting caused by music, and
Marcellus Donatus mentions swooning from the same cause. Many people
are unable to bear the noise caused by the grating of a pencil on a
slate, the filing of a saw, the squeak of a wheel turning about an
axle, the rubbing of pieces of paper together, and certain similar
sounds. Some persons find the tones of music very disagreeable, and
some animals, particularly dogs, are unable to endure it. In Albinus
the younger the slightest perceptible tones were sufficient to produce
an in