The following are a few of the more striking manifestations of that unaccountable feeling of antipathy to certain objects, to which so many persons are subject, and with instances of which—in a modified form perhaps—most people are acquainted with:—
Erasmus, though a native of Rotterdam, had such an aversion to fish, that the smell of it threw him into a fever.
Ambrose Paré mentions a gentleman, who never could see an eel without fainting.
There is an account of another gentleman, who would fall into convulsions at the sight of a carp.
A lady, a native of France, always fainted on seeing boiled lobsters. Other persons from the same country experienced the same inconvenience from the smell of roses, though they were particularly partial to the odour of jonquils or tuberoses.
Joseph Scaliger and Peter Abono never could drink milk.
Cardan was particularly disgusted at the sight of eggs.
Uladislaus, king of Poland, could not bear to see apples.
If an apple was shown to Chesne, secretary to Francis I., he bled at the nose.
A gentleman, in the court of the emperor Ferdinand, would bleed at the nose on hearing the mewing of a cat, however great the distance might be from him.