A curious trick is given by Rousselet in his magnificent work entitled

"L'Inde des Rajahs," and quoted by Guyot-Daubes. It is called in India

the "dance of the eggs." The dancer, dressed in a rather short skirt,

places on her head a large wheel made of light wood, and at regular

intervals having hanging from it pieces of thread, at the ends of which

are running knots kept open by beads of glass. She then brings forth a

basket of eggs, and passes them around for inspection to assure her

spectators of their genuineness. The monotonous music commences and the

dancer sets the wheel on her head in rapid motion; then, taking an egg,

with a quick movement she puts it on one of the running knots and

increases the velocity of the revolution of the wheel by gyrations

until the centrifugal force makes each cord stand out in an almost

horizontal line with the circumference of the wheel. Then one after

another she places the eggs on the knots of the cord, until all are

flying about her head in an almost horizontal position. At this moment

the dance begins, and it is almost impossible to distinguish the

features of the dancer. She continues her dance, apparently indifferent

to the revolving eggs. At the velocity with which they revolve the

slightest false movement would cause them to knock against one another

and surely break. Finally, with the same lightning-like movements, she

removes them one by one, certainly the most delicate part of the trick,

until they are all safely laid away in the basket from which they came,

and then she suddenly brings the wheel to a stop; after this wonderful

performance, lasting possibly thirty minutes, she bows herself out.

A unique Japanese feat is to tear pieces of paper into the form of

butterflies and launch them into the air about a vase full of flowers;

then with a fan to keep them in motion, making them light on the

flowers, fly away, and return, after the manner of several living

butterflies, without allowing one to fall to the ground.

Marksmen.--It would be an incomplete paper on the acute development of

the senses that did not pay tribute to the men who exhibit marvelous

skill with firearms. In the old frontier days in the Territories, the

woodsmen far eclipsed Tell with his bow or Robin Hood's famed band by

their unerring aim with their rifles. It is only lately that there

disappeared in this country the last of many woodsmen, who, though

standing many paces away and without the aid of the improved sights of

modern guns, could by means of a rifle-ball, with marvelous precision,

drive a nail "home" that had been placed partly in a board. The experts

who shoot at glass balls rarely miss, and when we consider the number

used each year, the proportion of inaccurate shots is surprisingly

small. Ira Paine, Doctor Carver, and others have been seen in their

marvelous performances by many people of the present generation. The

records made by many of the competitors of the modern army-shooting

matches are none the less wonderful, exemplifying as they do the degree

of precision that the eye may attain and the control which may be

developed over the nerves and muscles. The authors know of a countryman

who successfully hunted squirrels and small game by means of pebbles

thrown with his hand.

Physiologic wonders are to be found in all our modern sports and games.

In billiards, base-ball, cricket, tennis, etc., there are experts who

are really physiologic curiosities. In the trades and arts we see

development of the special senses that is little less than marvelous.

It is said that there are workmen in Krupp's gun factory in Germany who

have such control over the enormous trip hammers that they can place a

watch under one and let the hammer fall, stopping it with unerring

precision just on the crystal. An expert tool juggler in one of the

great English needle factories, in a recent test of skill, performed

one of the most delicate mechanical feats imaginable. He took a common

sewing needle of medium size (length 1 5/8 inches) and drilled a hole

through its entire length from eye to point--the opening being just

large enough to admit the passage of a very fine hair. Another workman

in a watch-factory of the United States drilled a hole through a hair

of his beard and ran a fiber of silk through it.

Ventriloquists, or "two-voiced men," are interesting anomalies of the

present day; it is common to see a person who possesses the power of

speaking with a voice apparently from the epigastrium. Some acquire

this faculty, while with others it is due to a natural resonance,

formed, according to Dupont, in the space between the third and fourth

ribs and their cartilaginous union and the middle of the first portion

of the sternum. Examination of many of these cases proves that the

vibration is greatest here. It is certain that ventriloquists have

existed for many centuries. It is quite possible that some of the old

Pagan oracles were simply the deceptions of priests by means of

ventriloquism.

Dupont, Surgeon-in-chief of the French Army about a century since,

examined minutely an individual professing to be a ventriloquist. With

a stuffed fox on his lap near his epigastrium, he imitated a

conversation with the fox. By lying on his belly, and calling to some

one supposed to be below the surface of the ground, he would imitate an

answer seeming to come from the depths of the earth. With his belly on

the ground he not only made the illusion more complete, but in this way

he smothered "the epigastric voice."

He was always noticed to place the inanimate objects with which he held

conversations near his umbilicus.

Ventriloquists must not be confounded with persons who by means of

skilful mechanisms, creatures with movable fauces, etc., imitate

ventriloquism. The latter class are in no sense of the word true

ventriloquists, but simulate the anomaly by quickly changing the tones

of their voice in rapid succession, and thus seem to make their puppets

talk in many different voices. After having acquired the ability to

suddenly change the tone of their voice, they practice imitations of

the voices of the aged, of children, dialects, and feminine tones, and,

with a set of mechanical puppets, are ready to appear as

ventriloquists. By contraction of the pharyngeal and laryngeal muscles

they also imitate tones from a distance. Some give their performance

with little labial movement, but close inspection of the ordinary

performer of this class shows visible movements of his lips. The true

ventriloquist pretends only to speak from the belly and needs no

mechanical assistance.

The wonderful powers of mimicry displayed by expert ventriloquists are

marvelous; they not only imitate individuals and animals, but do not

hesitate to imitate a conglomeration of familiar sounds and noises in

such a manner as to deceive their listeners into believing that they

hear the discussions of an assemblage of people. The following

description of an imitation of a domestic riot by a Chinese

ventriloquist is given by the author of "The Chinaman at Home" and well

illustrates the extent of their abilities: "The ventriloquist was

seated behind a screen, where there were only a chair, a table, a fan,

and a ruler. With this ruler he rapped on the table to enforce silence,

and when everybody had ceased speaking there was suddenly heard the

barking of a dog. Then we heard the movements of a woman. She had been

waked by the dog and was shaking her husband. We were just expecting to

hear the man and wife talking together when a child began to cry. To

pacify it the mother gave it food; we could hear it drinking and crying

at the same time. The mother spoke to it soothingly and then rose to

change its clothes. Meanwhile another child had wakened and was

beginning to make a noise. The father scolded it, while the baby

continued crying. By-and-by the whole family went back to bed and fell

asleep. The patter of a mouse was heard. It climbed up some vase and

upset it. We heard the clatter of the vase as it fell. The woman

coughed in her sleep. Then cries of "Fire! fire!" were heard. The mouse

had upset the lamp; the bed curtains were on fire. The husband and wife

waked up, shouted, and screamed, the children cried, people came

running and shouting. Children cried, dogs barked, squibs and crackers

exploded. The fire brigade came racing up. Water was pumped up in

torrents and hissed in the flames. The representation was so true to

life that every one rose to his feet and was starting away when a

second blow of the ruler on the table commanded silence. We rushed

behind the screen, but there was nothing there except the

ventriloquist, his table, his chair, and his ruler."

Athletic Feats.--The ancients called athletes those who were noted for

their extraordinary agility, force, and endurance. The history of

athletics is not foreign to that of medicine, but, on the contrary, the

two are in many ways intimately blended. The instances of feats of

agility and endurance are in every sense of the word examples of

physiologic and functional anomalies, and have in all times excited the

interest and investigation of capable physicians.

The Greeks were famous for their love of athletic pastimes; and

classical study serves powerfully to strengthen the belief that no

institution exercised greater influence than the public contests of

Greece in molding national character and producing that admirable type

of personal and intellectual beauty that we see reflected in her art

and literature. These contests were held at four national festivals,

the Olympian, the Pythian, the Nemean, and the Isthmean games. On these

occasions every one stopped labor, truce was declared between the

States, and the whole country paid tribute to the contestants for the

highly-prized laurels of these games. Perhaps the enthusiasm shown in

athletics and interest in physical development among the Greeks has

never been equaled by any other people. Herodotus and all the Greek

writers to Plutarch have elaborated on the glories of the Greek

athlete, and tell us of the honors rendered to the victors by the

spectators and the vanquished, dwelling with complacency on the fact

that in accepting the laurel they cared for nothing but honor. The

Romans in "ludi publici," as they called their games, were from first

to last only spectators; but in Greece every eligible person was an

active participant. In the regimen of diet and training the physicians

from the time of Hippocrates, and even before, have been the

originators and professional advisers of the athlete. The change in the

manner of living of athletes, if we can judge from the writings of

Hippocrates, was anterior to his time; for in Book V of the "Epidemics"

we read of Bias, who, "suapte nature vorax, in choleram-morbum incidit

ex carnium esu, praecipueque suillarum crudarum, etc."

From the time of the well-known fable of the hero who, by practicing

daily from his birth, was able to lift a full-grown bull, thus

gradually accustoming himself to the increased weight, physiologists

and scientists have collaborated with the athlete in evolving the

present ideas and system of training. In his aphorisms Hippocrates

bears witness to the dangers of over-exercise and superabundant

training, and Galen is particularly averse to an art which so

preternaturally develops the constitution and nature of man; many

subsequent medical authorities believed that excessive development of

the human frame was necessarily followed by a compensatory shortening

of life.

The foot-race was the oldest of the Greek institutions, and in the

first of the Olympiads the "dromos," a course of about 200 yards, was

the only contest; but gradually the "dialos," in which the course was

double that of the dromos, was introduced, and, finally, tests of

endurance as well as speed were instituted in the long-distance races

and the contests of racing in heavy armor, which were so highly

commended by Plato as preparation for the arduous duties of a soldier.

Among the Greeks we read of Lasthenes the Theban, who vanquished a

horse in the course; of Polymnestor, who chased and caught a hare; and

Philonides, the courier of Alexander the Great, who in nine hours

traversed the distance between the Greek cities Sicyone and Elis, a

distance of over 150 miles. We read of the famous soldier of Marathon,

who ran to announce the victory to the Magistrates of Athens and fell

dead at their feet. In the Olympian games at Athens in 1896 this

distance (about 26 miles) was traversed in less than three hours.

It is said of Euchidas, who carried the fire necessary for the

sacrifices which were to replace those which the Persians had spoiled,

that he ran a thousand stadia (about 125 miles) and fell dead at the

end of his mission. The Roman historians have also recited the

extraordinary feats of the couriers of their times. Pliny speaks of an

athlete who ran 235 kilometers (almost 150 miles) without once

stopping. He also mentions a child who ran almost half this distance.

In the Middle Ages the Turks had couriers of almost supernatural

agility and endurance. It is said that the distance some of them would

traverse in twenty-four hours was 120 miles, and that it was common for

them to make the round trip from Constantinople to Adrianople, a

distance of 80 leagues, in two days. They were dressed very lightly,

and by constant usage the soles of their feet were transformed into a

leathery consistency. In the last century in the houses of the rich

there were couriers who preceded the carriages and were known as

"Basques," who could run for a very long time without apparent fatigue.

In France there is a common proverb, "Courir comme un Basque." Rabelais

says: "Grand-Gousier depeche le Basque son laquais pour querir

Gargantua en toute hate."

In the olden times the English nobility maintained running footmen who,

living under special regimen and training, were enabled to traverse

unusual distances without apparent fatigue. There is an anecdote of a

nobleman living in a castle not far from Edinburgh, who one evening

charged his courier to carry a letter to that city. The next morning

when he arose he found this valet sleeping in his antechamber. The

nobleman waxed wroth, but the courier gave him a response to the

letter. He had traveled 70 miles during the night. It is said that one

of the noblemen under Charles II in preparing for a great dinner

perceived that one of the indispensable pieces of his service was

missing. His courier was dispatched in great haste to another house in

his domain, 15 miles distant, and returned in two hours with the

necessary article, having traversed a distance of over 30 miles. It is

also said that a courier carrying a letter to a London physician

returned with the potion prescribed within twenty-four hours, having

traversed 148 miles. There is little doubt of the ability of these

couriers to tire out any horse. The couriers who accompany the

diligences in Spain often fatigue the animals who draw the vehicles.

At the present time in this country the Indians furnish examples of

marvelous feats of running. The Tauri-Mauri Indians, who live in the

heart of the Sierra Madre Mountains, are probably the most wonderful

long-distance runners in the world. Their name in the language of the

mountain Mexicans means foot-runners; and there is little doubt that

they perform athletic feats which equal the best in the days of the

Olympian games. They are possibly the remnants of the wonderful runners

among the Indian tribes in the beginning of this century. There is an

account of one of the Tauri-Mauri who was mail carrier between

Guarichic and San Jose de los Cruces, a distance of 50 miles of as

rough, mountainous road as ever tried a mountaineer's lungs and limbs.

Bareheaded and barelegged, with almost no clothing, this man made this

trip each day, and, carrying on his back a mail-pouch weighing 40

pounds, moved gracefully and easily over his path, from time to time

increasing his speed as though practicing, and then again more slowly

to smoke a cigarette. The Tauri-Mauri are long-limbed and slender,

giving the impression of being above the average height. There is

scarcely any flesh on their puny arms, but their legs are as muscular

as those of a greyhound. In short running they have the genuine

professional stride, something rarely seen in other Indian racers. In

traversing long distances they leap and bound like deer.

"Deerfoot," the famous Indian long-distance runner, died on the

Cattaraugus Reservation in January, 1896. His proper name was Louis

Bennett, the name "Deerfoot" having been given to him for his prowess

in running. He was born on the reservation in 1828. In 1861 he went to

England, where he defeated the English champion runners. In April,

1863, he ran 11 miles in London in fifty-six minutes fifty-two seconds,

and 12 miles in one hour two minutes and two and one-half seconds, both

of which have stood as world's records ever since.

In Japan, at the present day, the popular method of conveyance, both in

cities and in rural districts, is the two-wheeled vehicle, looking like

a baby-carriage, known to foreigners as the jinrickisha, and to the

natives as the kuruma. In the city of Tokio there is estimated to be

38,000 of these little carriages in use. They are drawn by coolies, of

whose endurance remarkable stories are told. These men wear light

cotton breeches and a blue cotton jacket bearing the license number,

and the indispensable umbrella hat. In the course of a journey in hot

weather the jinrickisha man will gradually remove most of his raiment

and stuff it into the carriage. In the rural sections he is covered

with only two strips of cloth, one wrapped about his head and the other

about his loins. It is said that when the roadway is good, these "human

horses" prefer to travel bare-footed; when working in the mud they wrap

a piece of straw about each big toe, to prevent slipping and to give

them a firmer grip. For any of these men a five-mile spurt on a good

road without a breathing spell is a small affair. A pair of them will

roll a jinrickisha along a country road at the rate of four miles an

hour, and they will do this eight hours a day. The general average of

the distance traversed in a day is 25 miles. Cockerill, who has

recently described these men, says that the majority of them die early.

The terrible physical strain brings on hypertrophy and valvular

diseases of the heart, and many of them suffer from hernia.

Occasionally one sees a veteran jinrickisha man, and it is interesting

to note how tenderly he is helped by his confreres. They give him

preference as regards wages, help push his vehicle up heavy grades, and

show him all manner of consideration.

Figure 180 represents two Japanese porters and their usual load, which

is much more difficult to transport than a jinrickisha carriage. In

other Eastern countries, palanquins and other means of conveyance are

still borne on the shoulders of couriers, and it is not so long since

our ancestors made their calls in Sedan-chairs borne by sturdy porters.

Some of the letter-carriers of India make a daily journey of 30 miles.

They carry in one hand a stick, at the extremity of which is a ring

containing several little plates of iron, which, agitated during the

course, produce a loud noise designed to keep off ferocious beasts and

serpents. In the other hand they carry a wet cloth, with which they

frequently refresh themselves by wiping the countenance. It is said

that a regular Hindustanee carrier, with a weight of 80 pounds on his

shoulder,--carried, of course, in two divisions, hung on his neck by a

yoke,--will, if properly paid, lope along over 100 miles in twenty-four

hours--a feat which would exhaust any but the best trained runners.

The "go-as-you-please" pedestrians, whose powers during the past years

have been exhibited in this country and in England, have given us

marvelous examples of endurance, over 600 miles having been

accomplished in a six-days' contest. Hazael, the professional

pedestrian, has run over 450 miles in ninety-nine hours, and Albert has

traveled over 500 miles in one hundred and ten hours. Rowell, Hughes,

and Fitzgerald have astonishingly high records for long-distance

running, comparing favorably with the older, and presumably mythical,

feats of this nature. In California, C. A. Harriman of Truckee in

April, 1883, walked twenty-six hours without once resting, traversing

122 miles.

For the purpose of comparison we give the best modern records for

running:--

100 Yards.--9 3/5 seconds, made by Edward Donavan, at Natick, Mass.,

September 2, 1895.

220 Yards.--21 3/5 seconds, made by Harry Jewett, at Montreal,

September 24, 1892.

Quarter-Mile.--47 3/4 seconds, made by W. Baker, at Boston, Mass., July

1, 1886.

Half-Mile.--1 minute 53 2/3 seconds, made by C. J. Kirkpatrick, at

Manhattan Field, New York, September 21, 1895.

1 Mile.--4 minutes 12 3/4 seconds, made by W. G. George, at London,

England, August 23, 1886.

5 Miles.--24 minutes 40 seconds, made by J. White, in England, May 11,

1863.

10 Miles.--51 minutes 6 3/5 seconds, made by William Cummings, at

London, England, September 18,1895.

25 Miles.--2 hours 33 minutes 44 seconds, made by G. A. Dunning, at

London, England, December 26, 1881.

50 Miles.--5 hours 55 minutes 4 1/2 seconds, made by George Cartwright,

at London, England, February 21, 1887.

75 Miles.--8 hours 48 minutes 30 seconds, made by George Littlewood, at

London, England, November 24, 1884.

100 Miles.--13 hours 26 minutes 30 seconds, made by Charles Rowell at

New York, February 27, 1882.

In instances of long-distance traversing, rapidity is only a secondary

consideration, the remarkable fact being in the endurance of fatigue

and the continuity of the exercise. William Gale walked 1500 miles in a

thousand consecutive hours, and then walked 60 miles every twenty-four

hours for six weeks on the Lillie Bridge cinder path. He was five feet

five inches tall, forty-nine years of age, and weighed 121 pounds, and

was but little developed muscularly. He was in good health during his

feat; his diet for the twenty-four hours was 16 pounds of meat, five or

six eggs, some cocoa, two quarts of milk, a quart of tea, and

occasionally a glass of bitter ale, but never wine nor spirits. Strange

to say, he suffered from constipation, and took daily a compound

rhubarb pill. He was examined at the end of his feat by Gant. His pulse

was 75, strong, regular, and his heart was normal. His temperature was

97.25 degrees F., and his hands and feet warm; respirations were deep

and averaged 15 a minute. He suffered from frontal headache and was

drowsy. During the six weeks he had lost only seven pounds, and his

appetite maintained its normal state.

Zeuner of Cincinnati refers to John Snyder of Dunkirk, whose

walking-feats were marvelous. He was not an impostor. During

forty-eight hours he was watched by the students of the Ohio Medical

College, who stated that he walked constantly; he assured them that it

did not rest him to sit down, but made him uncomfortable. The

celebrated Weston walked 5000 miles in one hundred days, but Snyder was

said to have traveled 25,000 miles in five hundred days and was

apparently no more tired than when he began.

Recently there was a person who pushed a wheelbarrow from San Francisco

to New York in one hundred and eighteen days. In 1809 the celebrated

Captain Barclay wagered that he could walk 1000 miles in one thousand

consecutive hours, and gained his bet with some hours to spare. In 1834

Ernest Mensen astonished all Europe by his pedestrian exploits. He was

a Norwegian sailor, who wagered that he could walk from Paris to Moscow

in fifteen days. On June 25, 1834, at ten o'clock A.M., he entered the

Kremlin, after having traversed 2500 kilometers (1550 miles) in

fourteen days and eighteen hours. His performances all over Europe were

so marvelous as to be almost incredible. In 1836, in the service of the

East India Company, he was dispatched from Calcutta to Constantinople,

across Central Asia. He traversed the distance in fifty-nine days,

accomplishing 9000 kilometers (5580 miles) in one-third less time than

the most rapid caravan. He died while attempting to discover the source

of the Nile, having reached the village of Syang.

A most marvelous feat of endurance is recorded in England in the first

part of this century. It is said that on a wager Sir Andrew Leith Hay

and Lord Kennedy walked two days and a night under pouring rain, over

the Grampian range of mountains, wading all one day in a bog. The

distance traversed was from a village called Banchory on the river Dee

to Inverness. This feat was accomplished without any previous

preparation, both men starting shortly after the time of the wager.

Riders.--The feats of endurance accomplished by the couriers who ride

great distances with many changes of horses are noteworthy. According

to a contemporary medical journal there is, in the Friend of India, an

account of the Thibetan couriers who ride for three weeks with

intervals of only half an hour to eat and change horses. It is the duty

of the officials at the Dak bungalows to see that the courier makes no

delay, and even if dying he is tied to his horse and sent to the next

station. The celebrated English huntsman, "Squire" Osbaldistone, on a

wager rode 200 miles in seven hours ten minutes and four seconds. He

used 28 horses; and as one hour twenty-two minutes and fifty-six

seconds were allowed for stoppages, the whole time, changes and all,

occupied in accomplishing this wonderful feat was eight hours and

forty-two minutes. The race was ridden at the Newmarket Houghton

Meeting over a four-mile course. It is said that a Captain Horne of the

Madras Horse Artillery rode 200 miles on Arab horses in less than ten

hours along the road between Madras and Bangalore. When we consider the

slower speed of the Arab horses and the roads and climate of India,

this performance equals the 200 miles in the shorter time about an

English race track and on thoroughbreds. It is said that this wonderful

horseman lost his life in riding a horse named "Jumping Jenny" 100

miles a day for eight days. The heat was excessive, and although the

horse was none the worse for the performance, the Captain died from the

exposure he encountered. There is a record of a Mr. Bacon of the Bombay

Civil Service, who rode one camel from Bombay to Allygur (perhaps 800

miles) in eight days.

As regards the physiology of the runners and walkers, it is quite

interesting to follow the effects of training on the respiration,

whereby in a measure is explained the ability of these persons to

maintain their respiratory function, although excessively exercising. A

curious discussion, persisted in since antiquity, is as to the supposed

influence of the spleen on the ability of couriers. For ages runners

have believed that the spleen was a hindrance to their vocation, and

that its reduction was followed by greater agility on the course. With

some, this opinion is perpetuated to the present day. In France there

is a proverb, "Courir comme un derate." To reduce the size of the

spleen, the Greek athletes used certain beverages, the composition of

which was not generally known; the Romans had a similar belief and

habit Pliny speaks of a plant called equisetum, a decoction of which

taken for three days after a fast of twenty-four hours would effect

absorption of the spleen. The modern pharmacopeia does not possess any

substance having a similar virtue, although quinin has been noticed to

diminish the size of the spleen when engorged in malarial fevers.

Strictly speaking, however, the facts are not analogous. Hippocrates

advises a moxa of mushrooms applied over the spleen for melting or

dissolving it. Godefroy Moebius is said to have seen in the village of

Halberstadt a courier whose spleen had been cauterized after incision;

and about the same epoch (seventeenth century) some men pretended to be

able to successfully extirpate the spleen for those who desired to be

couriers. This operation we know to be one of the most delicate in

modern surgery, and as we are progressing with our physiologic

knowledge of the spleen we see nothing to justify the old theory in

regard to its relations to agility and coursing.

Swimming.--The instances of endurance that we see in the aquatic sports

are equally as remarkable as those that we find among the runners and

walkers. In the ancient days the Greeks, living on their various

islands and being in a mild climate, were celebrated for their prowess

as swimmers. Socrates relates the feats of swimming among the

inhabitants of Delos. The journeys of Leander across the Hellespont are

well celebrated in verse and prose, but this feat has been easily

accomplished many times since, and is hardly to be classed as

extraordinary. Herodotus says that the Macedonians were skilful

swimmers; and all the savage tribes about the borders of waterways are

found possessed of remarkable dexterity and endurance in swimming.

In 1875 the celebrated Captain Webb swam from Dover to Calais. On

landing he felt extremely cold, but his body was as warm as when he

started. He was exhausted and very sleepy, falling in deep slumber on

his way to the hotel. On getting into bed his temperature was 98

degrees F. and his pulse normal. In five hours he was feverish, his

temperature rising to 101 degrees F. During the passage he was blinded

from the salt water in his eyes and the spray beating against his face.

He strongly denied the newspaper reports that he was delirious, and

after a good rest was apparently none the worse for the task. In 1876

he again traversed this passage with the happiest issue. In 1883 he was

engaged by speculators to swim the rapids at Niagara, and in attempting

this was overcome by the powerful currents, and his body was not

recovered for some days after. The passage from Dover to Calais has

been duplicated.

In 1877 Cavill, another Englishman, swam from Cape Griz-Nez to South

Forland in less than thirteen hours. In 1880 Webb swam and floated at

Scarborough for seventy-four consecutive hours--of course, having no

current to contend with and no point to reach. This was merely a feat

of staying in the water. In London in 1881, Beckwith, swimming ten

hours a day over a 32-lap course for six days, traversed 94 miles.

Since the time of Captain Webb, who was the pioneer of modern

long-distance swimming, many men have attempted and some have

duplicated his feats; but these foolhardy performances have in late

years been diminishing, and many of the older feats are forbidden by

law.

Jumpers and acrobatic tumblers have been popular from the earliest

time. By the aid of springing boards and weights in their hands, the

old jumpers covered great distances. Phayllus of Croton is accredited

with jumping the incredible distance of 55 feet, and we have the

authority of Eustache and Tzetzes that this jump is genuine. In the

writings of many Greek and Roman historians are chronicled jumps of

about 50 feet by the athletes; if they are true, the modern jumpers

have greatly degenerated. A jump of over 20 feet to-day is considered

very clever, the record being 29 feet seven inches with weights, and 23

feet eight inches without weights, although much greater distances have

been jumped with the aid of apparatus, but never an approximation to 50

feet. The most surprising of all these athletes are the tumblers, who

turn somersaults over several animals arranged in a row. Such feats are

not only the most amusing sights of a modern circus, but also the most

interesting as well. The agility of these men is marvelous, and the

force with which they throw themselves in the air apparently enables

them to defy gravity. In London, Paris, or New York one may see these

wonderful tumblers and marvel at the capabilities of human physical

development.

In September, 1895, M. F. Sweeney, an American amateur, at Manhattan

Field in New York jumped six feet 5 5/8 inches high in the running high

jump without weights. With weights, J. H. Fitzpatrick at Oak Island,

Mass., jumped six feet six inches high. The record for the running high

kick is nine feet eight inches, a marvelous performance, made by C. C.

Lee at New Haven, Conn., March 19, 1887.

Extraordinary physical development and strength has been a grand means

of natural selection in the human species. As Guyot-Daubes remarks, in

prehistoric times, when our ancestors had to battle against hunger,

savage beasts, and their neighbors, and when the struggle for existence

was so extremely hard, the strong man alone resisted and the weak

succumbed. This natural selection has been perpetuated almost to our

day; during the long succession of centuries, the chief or the master

was selected on account of his being the strongest, or the most valiant

in the combat. Originally, the cavaliers, the members of the nobility,

were those who were noted for their courage and strength, and to them

were given the lands of the vanquished. Even in times other than those

of war, disputes of succession were settled by jousts and tourneys.

This fact is seen in the present day among the lower animals, who in

their natural state live in tribes; the leader is usually the

strongest, the wisest, and the most courageous.

The strong men of all times have excited the admiration of their

fellows and have always been objects of popular interest. The Bible

celebrates the exploits of Samson of the tribe of Dan. During his

youth he, single handed, strangled a lion; with the jaw-bone of an ass

he is said to have killed 1000 Philistines and put the rest to flight.

At another time during the night he transported from the village of

Gaza enormous burdens and placed them on the top of a mountain.

Betrayed by Delilah, he was delivered into the hands of his enemies and

employed in the most servile labors. When old and blind he was attached

to the columns of an edifice to serve as an object of public ridicule;

with a violent effort he overturned the columns, destroying himself and

3000 Philistines.

In the Greek mythology we find a great number of heroes, celebrated for

their feats of strength and endurance. Many of them have received the

name of Hercules; but the most common of these is the hero who was

supposed to be the son of Jupiter and Alemena. He was endowed with

prodigious strength by his father, and was pursued with unrelenting

hatred by Juno. In his infancy he killed with his hands the serpents

which were sent to devour him. The legends about him are innumerable.

He was said to have been armed with a massive club, which only he was

able to carry. The most famous of his feats were the twelve labors,

with which all readers of mythology are familiar. Hercules,

personified, meant to the Greeks physical force as well as strength,

generosity, and bravery, and was equivalent to the Assyrian Hercules.

The Gauls had a Hercules-Pantopage, who, in addition to the ordinary

qualities attributed to Hercules, had an enormous appetite.

As late as the sixteenth century, and in a most amusing and picturesque

manner, Rabelais has given us the history of Gargantua, and even to

this day, in some regions, there are groups of stones which are

believed by ignorant people to have been thrown about by Gargantua in

his play. In their citations the older authors often speak of battles,

and in epic ballads of heroes with marvelous strength. In the army of

Charlemagne, after Camerarius, and quoted by Guyot-Daubes (who has made

an extensive collection of the literature on this subject and to whom

the authors are indebted for much information), there was found a giant

named Oenother, a native of a village in Suabia, who performed

marvelous feats of strength. In his history of Bavaria Aventin speaks

of this monster. To Roland, the nephew of Charlemagne, the legends

attributed prodigious strength; and, dying in the valley of

Roncesveaux, he broke his good sword "Durandal" by striking it against

a rock, making a breach, which is stilled called the "Breche de

Roland." Three years before his death, on his return from Palestine,

Christopher, Duke of Bavaria, was said to have lifted to his shoulders

a stone which weighed more than 340 pounds. Louis de Boufflers,

surnamed the "Robust," who lived in 1534, was noted for his strength

and agility. When he placed his feet together, one against the other,

he could find no one able to disturb them. He could easily bend and

break a horseshoe with his hands, and could seize an ox by the tail and

drag it against its will. More than once he was said to have carried a

horse on his shoulders. According to Guyot-Daubes there was, in the

last century, a Major Barsaba who could seize the limb of a horse and

fracture its bone. There was a tale of his lifting an iron anvil, in a

blacksmith's forge, and placing it under his coat.

To the Emperor Maximilian I was ascribed enormous strength; even in his

youth, when but a simple patriot, he vanquished, at the games given by

Severus, 16 of the most vigorous wrestlers, and accomplished this feat

without stopping for breath. It is said that this feat was the origin

of his fortune. Among other celebrated persons in history endowed with

uncommon strength were Edmund "Ironsides," King of England; the Caliph

Mostasem-Billah; Baudouin, "Bras-de-Fer," Count of Flanders; William

IV, called by the French "Fier-a-Bras," Duke of Aquitaine; Christopher,

son of Albert the Pious, Duke of Bavaria; Godefroy of Bouillon; the

Emperor Charles IV; Scanderbeg; Leonardo da Vinci; Marshal Saxe; and

the recently deceased Czar of Russia, Alexander III.

Turning now to the authentic modern Hercules, we have a man by the name

of Eckeberg, born in Anhalt, and who traveled under the name of

"Samson." He was exhibited in London, and performed remarkable feats of

strength. He was observed by the celebrated Desaguliers (a pupil of

Newton) in the commencement of the last century, who at that time was

interested in the physiologic experiments of strength and agility.

Desaguliers believed that the feats of this new Samson were more due to

agility than strength. One day, accompanied by two of his confreres,

although a man of ordinary strength, he duplicated some of Samson's

feats, and followed his performance by a communication to the Royal

Society. One of his tricks was to resist the strength of five or six

men or of two horses. Desaguliers claimed that this was entirely due to

the position taken. This person would lift a man by one foot, and bear

a heavy weight on his chest when resting with his head and two feet on

two chairs. By supporting himself with his arms he could lift a piece

of cannon attached to his feet.

A little later Desaguliers studied an individual in London named Thomas

Topham, who used no ruse in his feats and was not the skilful

equilibrist that the German Samson was, his performances being merely

the results of abnormal physical force. He was about thirty years old,

five feet ten inches in height and well proportioned, and his muscles

well developed, the strong ligaments showing under the skin. He ignored

entirely the art of appearing supernaturally strong, and some of his

feats were rendered difficult by disadvantageous positions. In the feat

of the German--resisting the force of several men or horses--Topham

exhibited no knowledge of the principles of physics, like that of his

predecessor, but, seated on the ground and putting his feet against two

stirrups, he was able to resist the traction of a single horse; when he

attempted the same feat against two horses he was severely strained and

wounded about the knees. According to Desaguliers, if Topham had taken

the advantageous positions of the German Samson, he could have resisted

not only two, but four horses. On another occasion, with the aid of a

bridle passed about his neck, he lifted three hogsheads full of water,

weighing 1386 pounds. If he had utilized the force of his limbs and his

loins, like the German, he would have been able to perform far more

difficult feats. With his teeth he could lift and maintain in a

horizontal position a table over six feet long, at the extremity of

which he would put some weight. Two of the feet of the table he rested

on his knees. He broke a cord five cm. in diameter, one part of which

was attached to a post and the other to a strap passed under his

shoulder. He was able to carry in his hands a rolling-pin weighing 800

pounds, about twice the weight a strong man is considered able to lift.

Tom Johnson was another strong man who lived in London in the last

century, but he was not an exhibitionist, like his predecessors. He was

a porter on the banks of the Thames, his duty being to carry sacks of

wheat and corn from the wharves to the warehouses. It was said that

when one of his comrades was ill, and could not provide support for his

wife and children, Johnson assumed double duty, carrying twice the

load. He could seize a sack of wheat, and with it execute the movements

of a club-swinger, and with as great facility. He became quite a

celebrated boxer, and, besides his strength, he soon demonstrated his

powers of endurance, never seeming fatigued after a lively bout. The

porters of Paris were accustomed to lift and carry on their shoulders

bags of flour weighing 159 kilograms (350 pounds) and to mount stairs

with them. Johnson, on hearing this, duplicated the feat with three

sacks, and on one occasion attempted to carry four, and resisted this

load some little time. These four sacks weighed 1400 pounds.

Some years since there was a female Hercules who would get on her hands

and knees under a carriage containing six people, and, forming an arch

with her body, she would lift it off the ground, an attendant turning

the wheels while in the air to prove that they were clear from the

ground.

Guyot-Daubes considers that one of the most remarkable of all the men

noted for their strength was a butcher living in the mountains of

Margeride, known as Lapiada (the extraordinary). This man, whose

strength was legendary in the neighboring country, one day seized a mad

bull that had escaped from his stall and held him by the horns until

his attendants could bind him. For amusement he would lie on his belly

and allow several men to get on his back; with this human load he would

rise to the erect position. One of Lapiada's great feats was to get

under a cart loaded with hay and, forming an arch with his body, raise

it from the ground, then little by little he would mount to his

haunches, still holding the cart and hay. Lapiada terminated his

Herculean existence in attempting a mighty effort. Having charged

himself alone with the task of placing a heavy tree-trunk in a cart, he

seized it, his muscles stiffened, but the blood gushed from his mouth

and nostrils, and he fell, overcome at last. The end of Lapiada

presents an analogue to that of the celebrated athlete, Polydamas, who

was equally the victim of too great confidence in his muscular force,

and who died crushed by the force that he hoped to maintain. Figures

181 and 183 portray the muscular development of an individual noted for

his feats of strength, and who exhibited not long since.

In recent years we have had Sebastian Miller, whose specialty was

wrestling and stone-breaking; Samson, a recent English exhibitionist,

Louis Cyr, and Sandow, who, in addition to his remarkable strength and

control over his muscles, is a very clever gymnast. Sandow gives an

excellent exposition of the so-called "checkerboard" arrangement of the

muscular fibers of the lower thoracic and abdominal regions, and in a

brilliant light demonstrates his extraordinary power over his muscles,

contracting muscles ordinarily involuntary in time with music, a feat

really more remarkable than his exhibition of strength. Figures 182

and 184 show the beautiful muscular development of this remarkable man.

Joseph Pospischilli, a convict recently imprisoned in the Austrian

fortress of Olen, surprised the whole Empire by his wonderful feats of

strength. One of his tricks was to add a fifth leg to a common table

(placing the useless addition in the exact center) and then balance it

with his teeth while two full-grown gipsies danced on it, the music

being furnished by a violinist seated in the middle of the

well-balanced platform. One day when the prison in which this Hercules

was confined was undergoing repairs, he picked up a large carpenter's

bench with his teeth and held it balanced aloft for nearly a minute.

Since being released from the Olen prison, Pospischilli and his cousin,

another local "strong man" named Martenstine, have formed a combination

and are now starring Southern Europe, performing all kinds of startling

feats of strength. Among other things they have had a 30-foot bridge

made of strong timbers, which is used in one of their great muscle

acts. This bridge has two living piers--Pospischilli acting as one and

Martenstine the other. Besides supporting this monstrous structure

(weight, 1866 pounds) upon their shoulders, these freaks of superhuman

strength allow a team of horses and a wagon loaded with a ton of

cobble-stones to be driven across it.

It is said that Selig Whitman, known as "Ajax," a New York policeman,

has lifted 2000 pounds with his hands and has maintained 450 pounds

with his teeth. This man is five feet 8 1/2 inches tall and weighs 162

pounds. His chest measurement is 40 inches, the biceps 17 inches, that

of his neck 16 1/2 inches, the forearm 11, the wrist 9 1/2, the thigh

23, and the calf 17.

One of the strongest of the "strong women" is Madame Elise, a

Frenchwoman, who performs with her husband. Her greatest feat is the

lifting of eight men weighing altogether about 1700 pounds. At her

performances she supports across her shoulders a 700-pound dumb-bell,

on each side of which a person is suspended.

Miss Darnett, the "singing strong lady," extends herself upon her hands

and feet, face uppermost, while a stout platform, with a semicircular

groove for her neck, is fixed upon her chest, abdomen, and thighs by

means of a waist-belt which passes through brass receivers on the under

side of the board. An ordinary upright piano is then placed on the

platform by four men; a performer mounts the platform and plays while

the "strong lady" sings a love song while supporting possibly half a

ton.

Strength of the Jaws.--There are some persons who exhibit extraordinary

power of the jaw. In the curious experiments of Regnard and Blanchard

at the Sorbonne, it was found that a crocodile weighing about 120

pounds exerted a force between its jaws at a point corresponding to the

insertion of the masseter muscles of 1540 pounds; a dog of 44 pounds

exerted a similar force of 363 pounds.

It is quite possible that in animals like the tiger and lion the force

would equal 1700 or 1800 pounds. The anthropoid apes can easily break a

cocoanut with their teeth, and Guyot-Daubes thinks that possibly a

gorilla has a jaw-force of 200 pounds. A human adult is said to exert a

force of from 45 to 65 pounds between his teeth, and some individuals

exceed this average as much as 100 pounds. In Buffon's experiments he

once found a Frenchman who could exert a force of 534 pounds with his

jaws.

In several American circuses there have been seen women who hold

themselves by a strap between their teeth while they are being hauled

up to a trapeze some distance from the ground. A young mulatto girl by

the name of "Miss Kerra" exhibited in the Winter Circus in Paris;

suspended from a trapeze, she supported a man at the end of a strap

held between her teeth, and even permitted herself to be turned round

and round.

She also held a cannon in her teeth while it was fired. This feat has

been done by several others. According to Guyot-Daubes, at Epernay in

1882, while a man named Bucholtz, called "the human cannon," was

performing this feat, the cannon, which was over a yard long and

weighed nearly 200 pounds, burst and wounded several of the spectators.

There was another Hercules in Paris, who with his teeth lifted and held

a heavy cask of water on which was seated a man and varying weights,

according to the size of his audience, at the same time keeping his

hands occupied with other weights. Figure 185 represents a well-known

modern exhibitionist lifting with his teeth a cask on which are seated

four men. The celebrated Mlle. Gauthier, an actress of the

Comedie-Francais, had marvelous power of her hands, bending coins,

rolling up silver plate, and performing divers other feats. Major

Barsaba had enormous powers of hand and fingers. He could roll a silver

plate into the shape of a goblet. Being challenged by a Gascon, he

seized the hand of his unsuspecting adversary in the ordinary manner of

salutation and crushed all the bones of the fingers, thus rendering

unnecessary any further trial of strength.

It is said that Marshal Saxe once visited a blacksmith ostensibly to

have his horse shod, and seeing no shoe ready he took a bar of iron,

and with his hands fashioned it into a horseshoe. There are Japanese

dentists who extract teeth with their wonderfully developed fingers.

There are stories of a man living in the village of Cantal who received

the sobriquet of "La Coupia" (The Brutal). He would exercise his

function as a butcher by strangling with his fingers the calves and

sheep, instead of killing them in the ordinary manner. It is said that

one day, by placing his hands on the shoulders of the strong man of a

local fair, he made him faint by the pressure exerted by his fingers.

Manual strangulation is a well-known crime and is quite popular in some

countries. The Thugs of India sometimes murdered their victims in this

way. Often such force is exerted by the murderer's fingers as to

completely fracture the cricoid cartilage.

In viewing the feats of strength of the exhibitionist we must bear in

consideration the numerous frauds perpetrated. A man of extraordinary

strength sometimes finds peculiar stone, so stratified that he is able

to break it with the force he can exert by a blow from the hand alone,

although a man of ordinary strength would try in vain. In most of these

instances, if one were to take a piece of the exhibitionist's stone, he

would find that a slight tap of the hammer would break it. Again, there

are many instances in which the stone has been found already separated

and fixed quite firmly together, placing it out of the power of an

ordinary man to break, but which the exhibitionist finds within his

ability. This has been the solution of the feats of many of the

individuals who invite persons to send them marked stones to use at

their performances. By skilfully arranging stout twine on the hands, it

is surprising how easily it is broken, and there are many devices and

tricks to deceive the public, all of which are more or less used by

"strong men."

The recent officially recorded feats of strength that stand unequaled

in the last decade are as follows:--

Weight-lifting.--Hands alone 1571 1/4 pounds, done by C. G. Jefferson,

an amateur, at Clinton, Mass December 10, 1890; with harness, 3239

pounds, by W B. Curtis, at New York December 20 1868; Louis Cyr, at

Berthierville, Can., October 1, 1888, pushed up 3536 pounds of pig-iron

with his back, arms, and legs.

Dumb-bells.--H. Pennock, in New York, 1870, put up a 10-pound dumb-bell

8431 times in four hours thirty-four minutes; by using both hands to

raise it to the shoulder, and then using one hand alone, R. A. Pennell,

in New York, January 31, 1874, managed to put up a bell weighing 201

pounds 5 ounces; and Eugene Sandow, at London, February 11, 1891,

surpassed this feat with a 250-pound bell.

Throwing 16-pound hammer.--J. S. Mitchell, at Travers Island, N. Y.,

October 8, 1892, made a record-throw of 145 feet 3/4 inch.

Putting 16-pound Shot.--George R. Gray, at Chicago, September 16, 1893,

made the record of 47 feet.

Throwing 50-pound Weight.--J. S. Mitchell, at New York, September 22,

1894, made the distance record of 35 feet 10 inches; and at Chicago,

September 16, 1893, made the height record of 15 feet 4 1/2 inches.

The class of people commonly known as contortionists by the laxity of

their muscles and ligaments are able to dislocate or preternaturally

bend their joints. In entertainments of an arena type and even in what

are now called "variety performances" are to be seen individuals of

this class. These persons can completely straddle two chairs, and do

what they call "the split;" they can place their foot about their neck

while maintaining the upright position; they can bend almost double at

the waist in such a manner that the back of the head will touch the

calves, while the legs are perpendicular with the ground; they can

bring the popliteal region over their shoulders and in this position

walk on their hands; they can put themselves in a narrow barrel; eat

with a fork attached to a heel while standing on their hands, and

perform divers other remarkable and almost incredible feats. Their

performances are genuine, and they are real physiologic curiosities.

Plate 6 represents two well-known contortionists in their favorite

feats.

Wentworth, the oldest living contortionist, is about seventy years of

age, but seems to have lost none of his earlier sinuosity. His chief

feat is to stow himself away in a box 23 X 29 X 16 inches. When inside,

six dozen wooden bottles of the same size and shape as those which

ordinarily contain English soda water are carefully stowed away, packed

in with him, and the lid slammed down. He bestows upon this act the

curious and suggestive name of "Packanatomicalization."

Another class of individuals are those who can either partially or

completely dislocate the major articulations of the body. Many persons

exhibit this capacity in their fingers. Persons vulgarly called "double

jointed" are quite common.

Charles Warren, an American contortionist, has been examined by several

medical men of prominence and descriptions of him have appeared from

time to time in prominent medical journals. When he was but a child he

was constantly tumbling down, due to the heads of the femurs slipping

from the acetabula, but reduction was always easy. When eight years old

he joined a company of acrobats and strolling performers, and was

called by the euphonious title of "the Yankee dish-rag." His muscular

system was well-developed, and, like Sandow, he could make muscles act

in concert or separately.

He could throw into energetic single action the biceps, the supinator

longus, the radial extensors, the platysma myoides, and many other

muscles. When he "strings," as he called it, the sartorius, that ribbon

muscle shows itself as a tight cord, extending from the front of the

iliac spine to the inner side of the knee. Another trick was to leave

flaccid that part of the serratus magnus which is attached to the

inferior angle of the scapula whilst he roused energetic contraction in

the rhomboids. He could displace his muscles so that the lower angles

of the scapulae projected and presented the appearance historically

attributed to luxation of the scapula.

Warren was well informed on surgical landmarks and had evidently been a

close student of Sir Astley Cooper's classical illustrations of

dislocations. He was able so to contract his abdominal muscles that the

aorta could be distinctly felt with the fingers. In this feat nearly

all the abdominal contents were crowded beneath the diaphragm. On the

other hand, he could produce a phantom abdominal tumor by driving the

coils of the intestine within a peculiar grasp of the rectus and

oblique muscles. The "growth" was rounded, dull on percussion, and

looked as if an exploratory incision or puncture would be advisable for

diagnosis.

By extraordinary muscular power and extreme laxity of his ligaments, he

simulated all the dislocations about the hip joint. Sometimes he

produced actual dislocation, but usually he said he could so distort

his muscles as to imitate in the closest degree the dislocations. He

could imitate the various forms of talipes, in such a way as to deceive

an expert. He dislocated nearly every joint in the body with great

facility. It was said that he could contract at will both pillars of

the fauces. He could contract his chest to 34 inches and expand it to

41 inches.

Warren weighed 150 pounds, was a total abstainer, and was the father of

two children, both of whom could readily dislocate their hips.

In France in 1886 there was shown a man who was called "l'homme

protee," or protean man. He had an exceptional power over his muscles.

Even those muscles ordinarily involuntary he could exercise at will. He

could produce such rigidity of stature that a blow by a hammer on his

body fell as though on a block of stone. By his power over his

abdominal muscles he could give himself different shapes, from the

portly alderman to the lean and haggard student, and he was even

accredited with assuming the shape of a "living skeleton." Quatrefages,

the celebrated French scientist, examined him, and said that he could

shut off the blood from the right side and then from the left side of

the body, which feat he ascribed to unilateral muscular action.

In 1893 there appeared in Washington, giving exhibitions at the

colleges there and at the Emergency Hospital, a man named Fitzgerald,

claiming to reside in Harrisburg, Pa., who made his living by

exhibiting at medical colleges over the country. He simulated all the

dislocations, claiming that they were complete, using manual force to

produce and reduce them. He exhibited a thorough knowledge of the

pathology of dislocations and of the anatomy of the articulations. He

produced the different forms of talipes, as well as all the major

hip-dislocations. When interrogated as to the cause of his enormous

saphenous veins, which stood out like huge twisted cords under the skin

and were associated with venous varicosity on the leg, he said he

presumed they were caused by his constantly compressing the saphenous

vein at the hip in giving his exhibitions, which in some large cities

were repeated several times a day.

Endurance of Pain.--The question of the endurance of pain is,

necessarily, one of comparison. There is little doubt that in the lower

classes the sensation of pain is felt in a much less degree than in

those of a highly intellectual and nervous temperament. If we

eliminate the element of fear, which always predominates in the lower

classes, the result of general hospital observation will show this

distinction. There are many circumstances which have a marked influence

on pain. Patriotism, enthusiasm, and general excitement, together with

pride and natural obstinacy, prove the power of the mind over the body.

The tortures endured by prisoners of war, religious martyrs and

victims, exemplify the power of a strong will excited by deep emotion

over the sensation of pain. The flagellants, persons who expiated their

sins by voluntarily flaying themselves to the point of exhaustion, are

modern examples of persons who in religious enthusiasm inflict pain on

themselves. In the ancient times in India the frenzied zealots

struggled for positions from which they could throw themselves under

the car of the Juggernaut, and their intense emotions turned the pains

of their wounds into a pleasure. According to the reports of her

Majesty's surgeons, there are at the present time in India native

Brahmins who hang themselves on sharp hooks placed in the flesh between

the scapulae, and remain in this position without the least visible

show of pain. In a similar manner they pierce the lips and cheeks with

long pins and bore the tongue with a hot iron. From a reliable source

the authors have an account of a man in Northern India who as a means

of self-inflicted penance held his arm aloft for the greater part of

each day, bending the fingers tightly on the palms. After a

considerable time the nails had grown or been forced through the palms

of the hands, making their exit on the dorsal surfaces. There are many

savage rites and ceremonies calling for the severe infliction of pain

on the participants which have been described from time to time by

travelers. The Aztecs willingly sacrificed even their lives in the

worship of their Sun-god.

By means of singing and dancing the Aissaoui, in the Algerian town of

Constantine, throw themselves into an ecstatic state in which their

bodies seem to be insensible even to severe wounds. Hellwald says they

run sharp-pointed irons into their heads, eyes, necks, and breasts

without apparent pain or injury to themselves. Some observers claim

they are rendered insensible to pain by self-induced hypnotism.

An account by Carpenter of the Algerian Aissaoui contained the

following lucid description of the performances of these people:--

"The center of the court was given up to the Aissaoui. These were 12

hollow-checked men, some old and some young, who sat cross-legged in an

irregular semicircle on the floor. Six of them had immense flat drums

or tambours, which they presently began to beat noisily. In front of

them a charcoal fire burned in a brazier, and into it one of them from

time to time threw bits of some sort of incense, which gradually filled

the place with a thin smoke and a mildly pungent odor.

"For a long time--it seemed a long time--this went on with nothing to

break the silence but the rhythmical beat of the drums. Gradually,

however, this had become quicker, and now grew wild and almost

deafening, and the men began a monotonous chant which soon was

increased to shouting. Suddenly one of the men threw himself with a

howl to the ground, when he was seized by another, who stripped him of

part of his garments and led him in front of the fire. Here, while the

pounding of the drums and the shouts of the men became more and more

frantic, he stood swaying his body backward and forward, almost

touching the ground in his fearful contortions, and wagging his head

until it seemed as if he must dislocate it from his shoulders. All at

once he drew from the fire a red-hot bar of iron, and with a yell of

horror, which sent a shiver down one's back, held it up before his

eyes. More violently than ever he swayed his body and wagged his head,

until he had worked himself up to a climax of excitement, when he

passed the glowing iron several times over the palm of each hand and

then licked it repeatedly with his tongue. He next took a burning coal

from the fire, and, placing it between his teeth, fanned it by his

breath into a white heat. He ended his part of the performance by

treading on red-hot coals scattered on the floor after which he resumed

his place with the rest. Then the next performer with a yell as before,

suddenly sprang to his feet and began again the same frantic

contortions, in the midst of which he snatched from the fire an iron

rod with a ball on one end, and after winding one of his eyelids around

it until the eyeball was completely exposed, he thrust its point in

behind the eye, which was forced far out on his cheek. It was held

there for a moment when it was withdrawn, the eye released, and then

rubbed vigorously a few times with the balled end of the rod.

"The drums all the time had been beaten lustily, and the men had kept

up their chant, which still went unceasingly on. Again a man sprang to

his feet and went through the same horrid motions. This time the

performer took from the fire a sharp nail and, with a piece of the

sandy limestone common to this region, proceeded with a series of

blood-curdling howls to hammer it down into the top of his head, where

it presently stuck upright, while he tottered dizzily around until it

was pulled out with apparent effort and with a hollow snap by one of

the other men.

"The performance had now fairly begun, and, with short intervals and

always in the same manner, the frenzied contortions first, another ate

up a glass lamp-chimney, which he first broke in pieces in his hands

and then crunched loudly with his teeth. He then produced from a tin

box a live scorpion, which ran across the floor with tail erect, and

was then allowed to attach itself to the back of his hand and his face,

and was finally taken into his mouth, where it hung suspended from the

inside of his cheek and was finally chewed and swallowed. A sword was

next produced, and after the usual preliminaries it was drawn by the

same man who had just given the scorpion such unusual opportunities

several times back and forth across his throat and neck, apparently

deeply imbedded in the flesh. Not content with this, he bared his body

at his waist, and while one man held the sword, edge upward, by the

hilt and another by the point, about which a turban had been wrapped,

he first stood upon it with his bare feet and then balanced himself

across it on his naked stomach, while still another of the performers

stood upon his back, whither he had sprung without any attempt to

mollify the violence of the action. With more yells and genuflections,

another now drew from the fire several iron skewers, some of which he

thrust into the inner side of his cheeks and others into his throat at

the larynx, where they were left for a while to hang.

"The last of the actors in this singular entertainment was a stout man

with a careworn face, who apparently regarded his share as a melancholy

duty which he was bound to perform, and the last part of it, I have no

doubt, was particularly painful. He first took a handful of hay, and,

having bared the whole upper part of his body, lighted the wisp at the

brazier and then passed the blazing mass across his chest and body and

over his arms and face. This was but a preliminary, and presently he

began to sway backward and forward until one grew dazed with watching

him. The drums grew noisier and noisier and the chant louder and

wilder. The man himself had become maudlin, his tongue hung from his

mouth, and now and then he ejaculated a sound like the inarticulate cry

of an animal. He could only totter to the fire, out of which he

snatched the balled instrument already described, which he thereupon

thrust with a vicious stab into the pit of his stomach, where it was

left to hang. A moment after he pulled it out again, and, picking up

the piece of stone used before, he drove it with a series of resounding

blows into a new place, where it hung, drawing the skin downward with

its weight, until a companion pulled it out and the man fell in a heap

on the floor."

To-day it is only through the intervention of the United States troops

that some of the barbarous ceremonies of the North American Indians are

suppressed. The episode of the "Ghost-dance" is fresh in every mind.

Instances of self-mutilation, although illustrating this subject, will

be discussed at length in Chapter XIV.

Malingerers often endure without flinching the most arduous tests.

Supraorbital pressure is generally of little avail, and pinching,

pricking, and even incision are useless with these hospital impostors.

It is reported that in the City Hospital of St. Louis a negro submitted

to the ammonia-test, inhaling this vapor for several hours without

showing any signs of sensibility, and made his escape the moment his

guard was absent. A contemporary journal says:--

"The obstinacy of resolute impostors seems, indeed, capable of

emulating the torture-proof perseverance of religious enthusiasts and

such martyrs of patriotism as Mueius Scaevola or Grand Master Ruediger

of the Teutonic Knights, who refused to reveal the hiding place of his

companion even when his captors belabored him with red-hot irons.

"One Basil Rohatzek, suspected of fraudulent enlistment

(bounty-jumping, as our volunteers called it), pretended to have been

thrown by his horse and to have been permanently disabled by a

paralysis of the lower extremities. He dragged himself along in a

pitiful manner, and his knees looked somewhat bruised, but he was known

to have boasted his ability to procure his discharge somehow or other.

One of his tent mates had also seen him fling himself violently and

repeatedly on his knees (to procure those questionable bruises), and on

the whole there seemed little doubt that the fellow was shamming. All

the surgeons who had examined him concurred in that view, and the case

was finally referred to his commanding officer, General Colloredo. The

impostor was carried to a field hospital in a little Bohemian border

town and watched for a couple of weeks, during which he had been twice

seen moving his feet in his sleep. Still, the witnesses were not

prepared to swear that those changes of position might not have been

effected by a movement of the whole body. The suspect stuck to his

assertion, and Colloredo, in a fit of irritation, finally summoned a

surgeon, who actually placed the feet of the professed paralytic in

"aqua fortis," but even this rigorous method availed the cruel surgeon

nothing, and he was compelled to advise dismissal from the service.

"The martyrdom of Rohatzek, however, was a mere trifle compared with

the ordeal by which the tribunal of Paris tried in vain to extort a

confession of the would-be regicide, Damiens. Robert Damiens, a native

of Arras, had been exiled as an habitual criminal, and returning in

disguise made an attempt upon the life of Louis XV, January 5, 1757.

His dagger pierced the mantle of the King, but merely grazed his neck.

Damiens, who had stumbled, was instantly seized and dragged to prison,

where a convocation of expert torturers exhausted their ingenuity in

the attempt to extort a confession implicating the Jesuits, a

conspiracy of Huguenots, etc. But Damiens refused to speak. He could

have pleaded his inability to name accomplices who did not exist, but

he stuck to his resolution of absolute silence. They singed off his

skin by shreds, they wrenched out his teeth and finger-joints, they

dragged him about at the end of a rope hitched to a team of stout

horses, they sprinkled him from head to foot with acids and seething

oil, but Damiens never uttered a sound till his dying groan announced

the conclusion of the tragedy."

The apparent indifference to the pain of a major operation is sometimes

marvelous, and there are many interesting instances on record. When at

the battle of Dresden in 1813 Moreau, seated beside the Emperor

Alexander, had both limbs shattered by a French cannon-ball, he did not

utter a groan, but asked for a cigar and smoked leisurely while a

surgeon amputated one of his members. In a short time his medical

attendants expressed the danger and questionability of saving his other

limb, and consulted him. In the calmest way the heroic General

instructed them to amputate it, again remaining unmoved throughout the

operation.

Crompton records a case in which during an amputation of the leg not a

sound escaped from the patient's lips, and in three weeks, when it was

found necessary to amputate the other leg, the patient endured the

operation without an anesthetic, making no show of pain, and only

remarking that he thought the saw did not cut well. Crompton quotes

another case, in which the patient held a candle with one hand while

the operator amputated his other arm at the shoulder-joint. Several

instances of self-performed major operations are mentioned in Chapter

XIV.

Supersensitiveness to Pain.--Quite opposite to the foregoing instances

are those cases in which such influences as expectation, naturally

inherited nervousness, and genuine supersensitiveness make the

slightest pain almost unendurable. In many of these instances the state

of the mind and occasionally the time of day have a marked influence.

Men noted for their sagacity and courage have been prostrated by fear

of pain. Sir Robert Peel, a man of acknowledged superior physical and

intellectual power, could not even bear the touch of Brodie's finger to

his fractured clavicle. The authors know of an instance of a pugilist

who had elicited admiration by his ability to stand punishment and his

indomitable courage in his combats, but who fainted from the puncture

of a small boil on his neck.

The relation of pain to shock has been noticed by many writers. Before

the days of anesthesia, such cases as the following, reported by Sir

Astley Cooper, seem to have been not unusual: A brewer's servant, a man

of middle age and robust frame, suffered much agony for several days

from a thecal abscess, occasioned by a splinter of wood beneath the

thumb. A few seconds after the matter was discharged by an incision,

the man raised himself by a convulsive effort from his bed and

instantly expired.

It is a well-known fact that powerful nerve-irritation, such as

produces shock, is painless, and this accounts for the fact that wounds

received during battle are not painful.

Leyden of Berlin showed to his class at the Charite Hospital a number

of hysteric women with a morbid desire for operation without an

anesthetic. Such persons do not seem to experience pain, and, on the

contrary, appear to have genuine pleasure in pain. In illustration,

Leyden showed a young lady who during a hysteric paroxysm had suffered

a serious fracture of the jaw, injuring the facial artery, and

necessitating quite an extensive operation. The facial and carotid

arteries had to be ligated and part of the inferior maxilla removed,

but the patient insisted upon having the operations performed without

an anesthetic, and afterward informed the operator that she had

experienced great pleasure throughout the whole procedure.

Pain as a Means of Sexual Enjoyment.--There is a form of sexual

perversion in which the pervert takes delight in being subjected to

degrading, humiliating, and cruel acts on the part of his or her

associate. It was named masochism from Sacher-Masoch, an Austrian

novelist, whose works describe this form of perversion. The victims

are said to experience peculiar pleasure at the sight of a rival who

has obtained the favor of their mistress, and will even receive blows

and lashes from the rival with a voluptuous mixture of pain and

pleasure. Masochism corresponds to the passivism of Stefanowski, and is

the opposite of sadism, in which the pleasure is derived from

inflicting pain on the object of affection. Krafft-Ebing cites several

instances of masochism.

Although the enjoyment and frenzy of flagellation are well known, its

pleasures are not derived from the pain but by the undoubted

stimulation offered to the sexual centers by the castigation. The

delight of the heroines of flagellation, Maria Magdalena of Pazzi and

Elizabeth of Genton, in being whipped on the naked loins, and thus

calling up sensual and lascivious fancies, clearly shows the

significance of flagellation as a sexual excitant. It is said that when

Elizabeth of Genton was being whipped she believed herself united with

her ideal and would cry out in the loudest tones of the joys of love.

There is undoubtedly a sympathetic communication between the ramifying

nerves of the skin of the loins and the lower portion of the spinal

cord which contains the sexual centers. Recently, in cases of

dysmenorrhea, amenorrhea dysmenorrhagia, and like sexual disorders,

massage or gentle flagellation of the parts contiguous with the

genitalia and pelvic viscera has been recommended. Taxil is the

authority for the statement that just before the sexual act rakes

sometimes have themselves flagellated or pricked until the blood flows

in order to stimulate their diminished sexual power. Rhodiginus,

Bartholinus, and other older physicians mention individuals in whom

severe castigation was a prerequisite of copulation. As a ritual custom

flagellation is preserved to the present day by some sects.

Before leaving the subject of flagellation it should be stated that

among the serious after-results of this practice as a disciplinary

means, fatal emphysema, severe hemorrhage, and shock have been noticed.

There are many cases of death from corporal punishment by flogging.

Ballingal records the death of a soldier from flogging; Davidson has

reported a similar case, and there is a death from the same cause cited

in the Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal for 1846.

Idiosyncrasy is a peculiarity of constitution whereby an individual is

affected by external agents in a different manner from others. Begin

defines idiosyncrasy as the predominance of an organ, of a viscus, or a

system of organs. This definition does not entirely grasp the subject.

An idiosyncrasy is something inherent in the organization of the

individual, of which we only see the manifestation when proper causes

are set in action. We do not attempt to explain the susceptibility of

certain persons to certain foods and certain exposures. We know that

such is the fact. According to Begin's idea, there is scarcely any

separation between idiosyncrasy and temperament, whereas from what

would appear to be sound reasoning, based on the physiology of the

subject, a very material difference exists.

Idiosyncrasies may be congenital, hereditary, or acquired, and, if

acquired, may be only temporary. Some, purely of mental origin, are

often readily cured. One individual may synchronously possess an

idiosyncrasy of the digestive, circulatory, and nervous systems.

Striking examples of transitory or temporary idiosyncrasies are seen in

pregnant women.

There are certain so-called antipathies that in reality are

idiosyncrasies, and which are due to peculiarities of the ideal and

emotional centers. The organ of sense in question and the center that

takes cognizance of the image brought to it are in no way disordered.

In some cases the antipathy or the idiosyncrasy develops to such an

extent as to be in itself a species of monomania. The fear-maladies, or

"phobias," as they are called, are examples of this class, and,

belonging properly under temporary mental derangements, the same as

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 nothing but vegetables, are intensely nauseated by

the odors of European tables, and for this reason they are incapable of

serving as dining-room servants.

Fabricius Hildanus mentions a person who fainted from the odor of

vinegar. The Ephemerides contains an instance of a soldier who fell

insensible from the odor of a peony. Wagner knew a man who was made ill

by the odor of bouillon of crabs. The odors of blood, meat, and fat are

repugnant to herbivorous animals. It is a well-known fact that horses

detest the odor of blood.

Schneider, the father of rhinology, mentions a woman in whom the odor

of orange-flowers produced syncope. Odier has known a woman who was

affected with aphonia whenever exposed to the odor of musk, but who

immediately recovered after taking a cold bath. Dejean has mentioned a

man who could not tolerate an atmosphere of cherries. Highmore knew a

man in whom the slightest smell of musk caused headache followed by

epistaxis. Lanzonius gives an account of a valiant soldier who could

neither bear the sight nor smell of an ordinary pink. There is an

instance on record in which the odor coming from a walnut tree excited

epilepsy. It is said that one of the secretaries of Francis I was

forced to stop his nostrils with bread if apples were on the table. He

would faint if one was held near his nose Schenck says that the noble

family of Fystates in Aquitaine had a similar peculiarity--an innate

hatred of apples. Bruyerinus knew a girl of sixteen who could not bear

the smell of bread, the slightest particle of which she would detect by

its odor. She lived almost entirely on milk. Bierling mentions an

antipathy to the smell of musk, and there is a case on record in which

it caused convulsions. Boerhaave bears witness that the odor of cheese

caused nasal hemorrhage. Whytt mentions an instance in which tobacco

became repugnant to a woman each time she conceived, but after delivery

this aversion changed to almost an appetite for tobacco fumes.

Panaroli mentions an instance of sickness caused by the smell of

sassafras, and there is also a record of a person who fell helpless at

the smell of cinnamon. Wagner had a patient who detested the odor of

citron. Ignorant of this repugnance, he prescribed a potion in which

there was water of balm-mint, of an odor resembling citron. As soon as

the patient took the first dose he became greatly agitated and much

nauseated, and this did not cease until Wagner repressed the balm-mint.

There is reported the case of a young woman, rather robust, otherwise

normal, who always experienced a desire to go to stool after being

subjected to any nasal irritation sufficient to excite sneezing.

It has already been remarked that individuals and animals have their

special odors, certain of which are very agreeable to some people and

extremely unpleasant to others. Many persons are not able to endure the

emanations from cats, rats, mice, etc., and the mere fact of one of

these animals being in their vicinity is enough to provoke distressing

symptoms. Mlle. Contat, the celebrated French actress, was not able to

endure the odor of a hare. Stanislaus, King of Poland and Duke of

Lorraine, found it impossible to tolerate the smell of a cat. The

Ephemerides mentions the odor of a little garden-frog as causing

epilepsy. Ab Heers mentions a similar anomaly, fainting caused by the

smell of eels. Habit had rendered Haller insensible to the odor of

putrefying cadavers, but according to Zimmerman the odor of the

perspiration of old people, not perceptible to others, was intolerable

to him at a distance of ten or twelve paces. He also had an extreme

aversion for cheese. According to Dejan, Gaubius knew a man who was

unable to remain in a room with women, having a great repugnance to the

female odor. Strange as it may seem, some individuals are incapable of

appreciating certain odors. Blumenbach mentions an Englishman whose

sense of smell was otherwise very acute, but he was unable to perceive

the perfume of the mignonette.

The impressions which come to us through the sense of hearing cause

sensations agreeable or disagreeable, but even in this sense we see

marked examples of idiosyncrasies and antipathies to various sounds and

tones. In some individuals the sensations in one ear differ from those

of the other. Everard Home has cited several examples, and Heidmann of

Vienna has treated two musicians, one of whom always perceived in the

affected ear, during damp weather, tones an octave lower than in the

other ear. The other musician perceived tones an octave higher in the

affected ear. Cheyne is quoted as mentioning a case in which, when the

subject heard the noise of a drum, blood jetted from the veins with

considerable force. Sauvages has seen a young man in whom intense

headache and febrile paroxysm were only relieved by the noise from a

beaten drum. Esparron has mentioned an infant in whom an ataxic fever

was 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 inexplicable anxiety. There was a certain woman of fifty who was

fond of the music of the clarionet and flute, but was not able to

listen to the sound of a bell or tambourine. Frank knew a man who ran

out of church at the beginning of the sounds of an organ, not being

able to tolerate them. Pope could not imagine music producing any

pleasure. The harmonica has been noticed to produce fainting in

females. Fischer says that music provokes sexual frenzy in elephants.

Gutfeldt speaks of a peculiar idiosyncrasy of sleep produced by hearing

music. Delisle mentions a young person who during a whole year passed

pieces of ascarides and tenia, during which time he could not endure

music.

Autenreith mentions the vibrations of a loud noise tickling the fauces

to such an extent as to provoke vomiting. There are some emotional

people who are particularly susceptible to certain expressions. The

widow of Jean Calas always fell in a faint when she heard the words of

the death-decree sounded on the street. There was a Hanoverian officer

in the Indian war against Typoo-Saib, a good and brave soldier, who

would feel sick if he heard the word "tiger" pronounced. It was said

that he had experienced the ravages of this beast.

The therapeutic value of music has long been known. For ages warriors

have been led to battle to the sounds of martial strains. David charmed

away Saul's evil spirit with his harp. Horace in his 32d Ode Book 1,

concludes his address to the lyre:--

"O laborum

Dulce lenimen mihicumque calve,

Rite vocanti;"

Or, as Kiessling of Berlin interprets:--

"O laborum,

Dulce lenimen medieumque, salve,

Rite vocanti."

--"O, of our troubles the sweet, the healing sedative, etc."

Homer, Plutarch, Theophrastus, and Galen say that music cures

rheumatism, the pests, and stings of reptiles, etc. Diemerbroeck,

Bonet, Baglivi, Kercher, and Desault mention the efficacy of melody in

phthisis, gout, hydrophobia, the bites of venomous reptiles, etc. There

is a case in the Lancet of a patient in convulsions who was cured in

the paroxysm by hearing the tones of music. Before the French Academy

of Sciences in 1708, and again in 1718, there was an instance of a

dancing-master stricken with violent fever and in a condition of

delirium, who recovered his senses and health on hearing melodious

music. There is little doubt of the therapeutic value of music, but

particularly do we find its value in instances of neuroses. The

inspiration offered by music is well-known, and it is doubtless a

stimulant to the intellectual work. Bacon, Milton, Warburton, and

Alfieri needed music to stimulate them in their labors, and it is said

that Bourdaloue always played an air on the violin before preparing to

write.

According to the American Medico-Surgical Bulletin, "Professor

Tarchanoff of Saint Petersburg has been investigating the influence of

music upon man and other animals. The subject is by no means a new one.

In recent times Dagiel and Fere have investigated the effect of music

upon the respirations, the pulse, and the muscular system in man.

Professor Tarchanoff made use of the ergograph of Mosso, and found that

if the fingers were completely fatigued, either by voluntary efforts or

by electric excitation, to the point of being incapable of making any

mark except a straight line on the registering cylinder, music had the

power of making the fatigue disappear, and the finger placed in the

ergograph again commenced to mark lines of different heights, according

to the amount of excitation. It was also found that music of a sad and

lugubrious character had the opposite effect, and could check or

entirely inhibit the contractions. Professor Tarchanoff does not

profess to give any positive explanation of these facts, but he

inclines to the view that 'the voluntary muscles, being furnished with

excitomotor and depressant fibers, act in relation to the music

similarly to the heart--that is to say, that joyful music resounds

along the excitomotor fibers, and sad music along the depressant or

inhibitory fibers.' Experiments on dogs showed that music was capable

of increasing the elimination of carbonic acid by 16.7 per cent, and of

increasing the consumption of oxygen by 20.1 per cent. It was also

found that music increased the functional activity of the skin.

Professor Tarchanoff claims as the result of these experiments that

music may fairly be regarded as a serious therapeutic agent, and that

it exercises a genuine and considerable influence over the functions of

the body. Facts of this kind are in no way surprising, and are chiefly

of interest as presenting some physiologic basis for phenomena that are

sufficiently obvious. The influence of the war-chant upon the warrior

is known even to savage tribes. We are accustomed to regard this

influence simply as an ordinary case of psychic stimuli producing

physiologic effects.

"Professor Tarchanoff evidently prefers to regard the phenomena as

being all upon the same plane, namely, that of physiology; and until we

know the difference between mind and body, and the principles of their

interaction, it is obviously impossible to controvert this view

successfully. From the immediately practical point of view we should

not ignore the possible value of music in some states of disease. In

melancholia and hysteria it is probably capable of being used with

benefit, and it is worth bearing in mind in dealing with insomnia.

Classical scholars will not forget that the singing of birds was tried

as a remedy to overcome the insomnia of Maecenas. Music is certainly a

good antidote to the pernicious habit of introspection and

self-analysis, which is often a curse both of the hysteric and of the

highly cultured. It would seem obviously preferable to have recourse to

music of a lively and cheerful character."

Idiosyncrasies of the visual organs are generally quite rare. It is

well-known that among some of the lower animals, e.g., the

turkey-cocks, buffaloes, and elephants, the color red is unendurable.

Buchner and Tissot mention a young boy who had a paroxysm if he viewed

anything red. Certain individuals become nauseated when they look for a

long time on irregular lines or curves, as, for examples, in

caricatures. Many of the older examples of idiosyncrasies of color are

nothing more than instances of color-blindness, which in those times

was unrecognized. Prochaska knew a woman who in her youth became

unconscious at the sight of beet-root, although in her later years she

managed to conquer this antipathy, but was never able to eat the

vegetable in question. One of the most remarkable forms of idiosyncrasy

on record is that of a student who was deprived of his senses by the

very sight of an old woman. On one occasion he was carried out from a

party in a dying state, caused, presumably, by the abhorred aspect of

the chaperons The Count of Caylus was always horror-stricken at the

sight of a Capuchin friar. He cured himself by a wooden image dressed

in the costume of this order placed in his room and constantly before

his view. It is common to see persons who faint at the sight of blood.

Analogous are the individuals who feel nausea in an hospital ward.

All Robert Boyle's philosophy could not make him endure the sight of a

spider, although he had no such aversion to toads, venomous snakes,

etc. Pare mentions a man who fainted 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 cat was

put on the table in a covered dish. The man began to sweat and shudder

without knowing why, and when the cat was shown he killed his host in a

paroxysm of terror. Another man could not even see the hated form even

in a picture without breaking into a cold sweat and feeling a sense of

oppression about the heart. Quercetanus and Smetius mention fainting at

the sight of cats. Marshal d'Abret was supposed to be in violent fear

of a pig.

As to idiosyncrasies of the sense of touch, it is well known that some

people cannot handle velvet or touch the velvety skin of a peach

without having disagreeable and chilly sensations come over them.

Prochaska knew a man who vomited the moment he touched a peach, and

many people, otherwise very fond of this fruit, are unable to touch it.

The Ephemerides speaks of a peculiar idiosyncrasy of skin in the axilla

of a certain person, which if tickled would provoke vomiting. It is

occasionally stated in the older writings that some persons have an

idiosyncrasy as regards the phases of the sun and moon. Baillou speaks

of a woman who fell unconscious at sunset and did not recover till it

reappeared on the horizon. The celebrated Chancellor Bacon, according

to Mead, was very delicate, and was accustomed to fall into a state of

great feebleness at every moon-set without any other imaginable cause.

He never recovered from his swooning until the moon reappeared.

Nothing is more common than the idiosyncrasy which certain people

display for certain foods. The trite proverb, "What is one man's meat

is another man's poison," is a genuine truth, and is exemplified by

hundreds of instances. Many people are unable to eat fish without

subsequent disagreeable symptoms. Prominent among the causes of

urticaria are oysters, crabs, and other shell fish, strawberries,

raspberries, and other fruits. The abundance of literature on this

subject makes an exhaustive collection of data impossible, and only a

few of the prominent and striking instances can be reported.

Amatus Lusitanus speaks of vomiting and diarrhea occurring each time a

certain Spaniard ate meat. Haller knew a person who was purged

violently by syrup of roses. The son of one of the friends of Wagner

would vomit immediately after the ingestion of any substance containing

honey. Bayle has mentioned a person so susceptible to honey that by a

plaster of this substance placed upon the skin this untoward effect was

produced. Whytt knew a woman who was made sick by the slightest bit of

nutmeg. Tissot observed vomiting in one of his friends after the

ingestion of the slightest amount of sugar. Ritte mentions a similar

instance. Roose has seen vomiting produced in a woman by the slightest

dose of distilled water of linden. There is also mentioned a person in

whom orange-flower water produced the same effect. Dejean cites a case

in which honey taken internally or applied externally acted like

poison. It is said that the celebrated Haen would always have

convulsions after eating half a dozen strawberries. Earle and Halifax

attended a child for kidney-irritation produced by strawberries, and

this was the invariable result of the ingestion of this fruit. The

authors personally know of a family the male members of which for

several generations could not eat strawberries without symptoms of

poisoning. The female members were exempt from the idiosyncrasy. A

little boy of this family was killed by eating a single berry. Whytt

mentions a woman of delicate constitution and great sensibility of the

digestive tract in whom foods difficult of digestion provoked spasms,

which were often followed by syncopes. Bayle describes a man who

vomited violently after taking coffee. Wagner mentions a person in whom

a most insignificant dose of manna had the same effect. Preslin speaks

of a woman who invariably had a hemorrhage after swallowing a small

quantity of vinegar. According to Zimmerman, some people are unable to

wash their faces on account of untoward symptoms. According to Ganbius,

the juice of a citron applied to the skin of one of his acquaintances

produced violent rigors.