dful of chopped wet tobacco to it, from which procedure, strange
to say, serious nicotin-poisoning ensued. The pupils were dilated,
there were dimness of vision, confusion of thought, and extreme
prostration. The pulse was scarcely apparent, the skin was white and
wet with clammy perspiration. Happily, strychnin was given in time to
effect recovery, and without early medical assistance she would
undoubtedly have succumbed. There are several similar cases on record.
Although not immediately related to the subject of idiosyncrasy, the
following case may be mentioned here: Ramadge speaks of a young
Frenchman, suffering from an obstinate case of gonorrhea, who was said
to have been completely cured by living in a newly painted house in
which he inhaled the odors or vapors of turpentine.
White speaks of a case of exanthematous eruption similar to that of
ivy-poison in mother and child, which was apparently caused by playing
with and burning the toy called "Pharaoh's serpent egg."
The idiosyncrasies noticed in some persons during coitus are quite
interesting. The Ephemerides mentions a person in whom coitus
habitually caused vomiting, and another in whom excessive sexual
indulgence provoked singultus. Sometimes exaggerated tremors or
convulsions, particularly at the moment of orgasm, are noticed. Females
especially are subject to this phenomenon, and it is seen sometimes in
birds.
Winn reports the case of a man who, when prompted to indulge in sexual
intercourse, was immediately prior to the act seized with a fit of
sneezing. Even the thought of sexual pleasure with a female was
sufficient to provoke this peculiar idiosyncrasy.
Sullivan mentions a bride of four weeks, who called at the doctor's
office, saying that in coitus her partner had no difficulty until the
point of culmination or orgasm, when he was seized with complete
numbness and lost all pleasurable sensation in the penis. The numbness
was followed by a sensation of pain, which was intensified on the
slightest motion, and which was at times so excruciating as to forbid
separation for upward of an hour, or until the penis had become
flaccid. The woman asked for advice for her unfortunate husband's
relief, and the case was reported as a means of obtaining suggestions
from the physicians over the country. In response, one theory was
advanced that this man had been in the habit of masturbating and had a
stricture of the membranous portion of the urethra, ass
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