ll, after which for a considerable time she loathed bread. These facts
have been ascribed as the cause of the lamentable infirmity under which
the man labored, as no other peculiarity or impression in her gestation
was noticed. In addition it may be stated that for the purpose of
avoiding the smell of flour Waller was in the habit of carrying camphor
in his pocket and using snuff, for if he did not smell the flour,
however much might be near him, it was as harmless to him as to other
men.

The authors know of a case in which the eating of any raw fruit would
produce in a lady symptoms of asthma; cooked fruit had no such effect.

Food-Superstitions.--The superstitious abhorrence and antipathy to
various articles of food that have been prevalent from time to time in
the history of the human race are of considerable interest and well
deserve some mention here. A writer in a prominent journal has studied
this subject with the following result:--

"From the days of Adam and Eve to the present time there has been not
only forbidden fruit, but forbidden meats and vegetables. For one
reason or another people have resolutely refused to eat any and all
kinds of flesh, fish, fowl, fruits, and plants. Thus, the apple, the
pear, the strawberry, the quince, the bean, the onion, the leek, the
asparagus, the woodpecker, the pigeon, the goose, the deer, the bear,
the turtle, and the eel--these, to name only a few eatables, have been
avoided as if unwholesome or positively injurious to health and
digestion.

"As we all know, the Jews have long had an hereditary antipathy to
pork. On the other hand, swine's flesh was highly esteemed by the
ancient Greeks and Romans. This fact is revealed by the many references
to pig as a dainty bit of food. At the great festival held annually in
honor of Demeter, roast pig was the piece de resistance in the bill of
fare, because the pig was the sacred animal of Demeter. Aristophanes in
'The Frogs' makes one of the characters hint that some of the others
'smell of roast pig.' These people undoubtedly had been at the festival
(known as the Thesmophoria) and had eaten freely of roast pig, Those
who took part in another Greek mystery or festival (known as the
Eleusinia) abstained from certain food, and above all from beans.

"Again, as we all know, mice are esteemed in China and in some parts of
India. But the ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Jews abhorred mice and
would not touch mouse-meat. Rats and fie