at the sight of an eel, and
another who had convulsions at the sight of a carp. There is a record
of a young lady in France who fainted on seeing a boiled lobster.
Millingen cites the case of a man who fell into convulsions whenever he
saw a spider. A waxen one was made, which equally terrified him. When
he recovered, his error was pointed out to him, and the wax figure was
placed in his hand without causing dread, and henceforth the living
insect no longer disturbed him. Amatus Lusitanus relates the case of a
monk who fainted when he beheld a rose, and never quitted his cell when
that flower was in bloom. Scaliger, the great scholar, who had been a
soldier a considerable portion of his life, confesses that he could not
look on a water-cress without shuddering, and remarks: "I, who despise
not only iron, but even thunderbolts, who in two sieges (in one of
which I commanded) was the only one who did not complain of the food as
unfit and horrible to eat, am seized with such a shuddering horror at
the sight of a water-cress that I am forced to go away." One of his
children was in the same plight as regards the inoffensive vegetable,
cabbage. Scaliger also speaks of one of his kinsmen who fainted at the
sight of a lily. Vaughheim, a great huntsman of Hanover, would faint at
the sight of a roasted pig. Some individuals have been disgusted at the
sight of eggs. There is an account of a sensible man who was terrified
at the sight of a hedgehog, and for two years was tormented by a
sensation as though one was gnawing at his bowels. According to Boyle,
Lord Barrymore, a veteran warrior and a person of strong mind, swooned
at the sight of tansy. The Duke d'Epernon swooned on beholding a
leveret, although a hare did not produce the same effect. Schenck tells
of a man who swooned at the sight of pork. The Ephemerides contains an
account of a person who lost his voice at the sight of a crab, and also
cites cases of antipathy to partridges, a white hen, to a serpent, and
to a toad. Lehman speaks of an antipathy to horses; and in his
observations Lyser has noticed aversion to the color purple. It is a
strange fact that the three greatest generals of recent years,
Wellington, Napoleon, and Roberts, could never tolerate the sight of a
cat, and Henry III of France could not bear this animal in his room. We
learn of a Dane of herculean frame who had a horror of cats. He was
asked to a supper at which, by way of a practical joke, a live c