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.

Brasavolus says that Julia, wife of Frederick, King of Naples, had such an aversion to meat that she could not carry it to her mouth without fainting. The anatomist Gavard was not able to eat apples without convulsions and vomiting. It is said that Erasmus was made ill by the ingestion of fish; but this same philosopher, who was cured of a malady by laughter, expressed his appreciation by an elegy on the folly. There is a record of a person who could not eat almonds without a scarlet rash immediately appearing upon the face. Marcellus Donatus knew a young man who could not eat an egg without his lips swelling and purple spots appearing on his face. Smetius mentions a person in whom the ingestion of fried eggs was often followed by syncope. Brunton has seen a case of violent vomiting and purging after the slightest bit of egg. On one occasion this person was induced to eat a small morsel of cake on the statement that it contained no egg, and, although fully believing the words of his host, he subsequently developed prominent symptoms, due to the trace of egg that was really in the cake. A letter from a distinguished litterateur to Sir Morell Mackenzie gives a striking example of the idiosyncrasy to eggs transmitted through four generations. Being from such a reliable source, it has been deemed advisable to quote the account in full: "My daughter tells me that you are interested in the ill-effects which the eating of eggs has upon her, upon me, and upon my father before us. I believe my grandfather, as well as my father, could not eat eggs with impunity. As to my father himself, he is nearly eighty years old; he has not touched an egg since he was a young man; he can, therefore, give no precise or reliable account of the symptoms the eating of eggs produce in him. But it was not the mere 'stomach-ache' that ensued, but much more immediate and alarming disturbances. As for me, the peculiarity was discovered when I was a spoon-fed child. On several occasions it was noticed (that is my mother's account) that I felt ill without apparent cause; afterward it was recollected that a small part of a yolk of an egg had been given to me. Eclaircissement came immediately after taking a single spoonful of egg. I fell into such an alarming state that the doctor was sent for. The effect seems to have been just the same that it produces upon my daughter now,—something that suggested brain-congestion and convulsions. From time to time, as a boy and a young man, I have eaten an egg by way of trying it again, but always with the same result—a feeling that I had been poisoned; and yet all the while I liked eggs. Then I never touched them for years. Later I tried again, and I find the ill-effects are gradually wearing off. With my daughter it is different; she, I think, becomes more susceptible as time goes on, and the effect upon her is more violent than in my case at any time. Sometimes an egg has been put with coffee unknown to her, and she has been seen immediately afterward with her face alarmingly changed—eyes swollen and wild, the face crimson, the look of apoplexy. This is her own account: 'An egg in any form causes within a few minutes great uneasiness and restlessness, the throat becomes contracted and painful, the face crimson, and the veins swollen. These symptoms have been so severe as to suggest that serious consequences might follow.' To this I may add that in her experience and my own, the newer the egg, the worse the consequences."

Hutchinson speaks of a Member of Parliament who had an idiosyncrasy as regards parsley. After the ingestion of this herb in food he always had alarming attacks of sickness and pain in the abdomen, attended by swelling of the tongue and lips and lividity of the face. This same man could not take the smallest quantity of honey, and certain kinds of fruit always poisoned him. There was a collection of instances of idiosyncrasy in the British Medical Journal, 1859, which will be briefly given in the following lines: One patient could not eat rice in any shape without extreme distress. From the description given of his symptoms, spasmodic asthma seemed to be the cause of his discomfort. On one occasion when at a dinner-party he felt the symptoms of rice-poisoning come on, and, although he had partaken of no dish ostensibly containing rice, was, as usual, obliged to retire from the table. Upon investigation it appeared that some white soup with which he had commenced his meal had been thickened with ground rice. As in the preceding case there was another gentleman who could not eat rice without a sense of suffocation. On one occasion he took lunch with a friend in chambers, partaking only of simple bread and cheese and bottled beer. On being seized with the usual symptoms of rice-poisoning he informed his friend of his peculiarity of constitution, and the symptoms were explained by the fact that a few grains of rice had been put into each bottle of beer for the purpose of exciting a secondary fermentation. The same author speaks of a gentleman under treatment for stricture who could not eat figs without experiencing the most unpleasant formication of the palate and fauces. The fine dust from split peas caused the same sensation, accompanied with running at the nose; it was found that the father of the patient suffered from hay-fever in certain seasons. He also says a certain young lady after eating eggs suffered from swelling of the tongue and throat, accompanied by "alarming illness," and there is recorded in the same paragraph a history of another young girl in whom the ingestion of honey, and especially honey-comb, produced swelling of the tongue, frothing of the mouth, and blueness of the fingers. The authors know of a gentleman in whom sneezing is provoked on the ingestion of chocolate in any form. There was another instance—in a member of the medical profession—who suffered from urticaria after eating veal. Veal has the reputation of being particularly indigestible, and the foregoing instance of the production of urticaria from its use is doubtless not an uncommon one.

Overton cites a striking case of constitutional peculiarity or idiosyncrasy in which wheat flour in any form, the staff of life, an article hourly prayed for by all Christian nations as the first and most indispensable of earthly blessings, proved to one unfortunate individual a prompt and dreadful poison. The patient's name was David Waller, and he was born in Pittsylvania County, Va., about the year 1780. He was the eighth child of his parents, and, together with all his brothers and sisters, was stout and healthy. At the time of observation Waller was about fifty years of age. He had dark hair, gray eyes, dark complexion, was of bilious and irascible temperament, well formed, muscular and strong, and in all respects healthy as any man, with the single exception of his peculiar idiosyncrasy. He had been the subject of but few diseases, although he was attacked by the epidemic of 1816. From the history of his parents and an inquiry into the health of his ancestry, nothing could be found which could establish the fact of heredity in his peculiar disposition. Despite every advantage of stature, constitution, and heredity, David Waller was through life, from his cradle to his grave, the victim of what is possibly a unique idiosyncrasy of constitution. In his own words he declared: "Of two equal quantities of tartar and wheat flour, not more than a dose of the former, he would rather swallow the tartar than the wheat flour." If he ate flour in any form or however combined, in the smallest quantity, in two minutes or less he would have painful itching over the whole body, accompanied by severe colic and tormina in the bowels, great sickness in the stomach, and continued vomiting, which he declared was ten times as distressing as the symptoms caused by the ingestion of tartar emetic. In about ten minutes after eating the flour the itching would be greatly intensified, especially about the head, face, and eyes, but tormenting all parts of the body, and not to be appeased. These symptoms continued for two days with intolerable violence, and only declined on the third day and ceased on the tenth. In the convalescence, the lungs were affected, he coughed, and in expectoration raised great quantities of phlegm, and really resembled a phthisical patient. At this time he was confined to his room with great weakness, similar to that of a person recovering from an asthmatic attack. The mere smell of wheat produced distressing symptoms in a minor degree, and for this reason he could not, without suffering, go into a mill or house where the smallest quantity of wheat flour was kept. His condition was the same from the earliest times, and he was laid out for dead when an infant at the breast, after being fed with "pap" thickened with wheat flour. Overton remarks that a case of constitutional peculiarity so little in harmony with the condition of other men could not be received upon vague or feeble evidence, and it is therefore stated that Waller was known to the society in which he lived as an honest and truthful man. One of his female neighbors, not believing in his infirmity, but considering it only a whim, put a small quantity of flour in the soup which she gave him to eat at her table, stating that it contained no flour, and as a consequence of the deception he was bed-ridden for ten days with his usual symptoms. It was also stated that Waller was never subjected to militia duty because it was found on full examination of his infirmity that he could not live upon the rations of a soldier, into which wheat flour enters as a necessary ingredient. In explanation of this strange departure from the condition of other men, Waller himself gave a reason which was deemed equivalent in value to any of the others offered. It was as follows: His father being a man in humble circumstances in life, at the time of his birth had no wheat with which to make flour, although his mother during gestation "longed" for wheat-bread. The father, being a kind husband and responsive to the duty imposed by the condition of his wife, procured from one of his opulent neighbors a bag of wheat and sent it to the mill to be ground. The mother was given much uneasiness by an unexpected delay at the mill, and by the time the flour arrived her strong appetite for wheat-bread had in a great degree subsided. Notwithstanding this, she caused some flour to be immediately baked into bread and ate it, but not so freely as she had expected The bread thus taken caused intense vomiting and made her violently and painfully ill, after which for a considerable time she loathed bread. These facts have been ascribed as the cause of the lamentable infirmity under which the man labored, as no other peculiarity or impression in her gestation was noticed. In addition it may be stated that for the purpose of avoiding the smell of flour Waller was in the habit of carrying camphor in his pocket and using snuff, for if he did not smell the flour, however much might be near him, it was as harmless to him as to other men.

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

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

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

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

"Again, as we all know, mice are esteemed in China and in some parts of India. But the ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Jews abhorred mice and would not touch mouse-meat. Rats and field-mice were sacred in Old Egypt, and were not to be eaten on this account. So, too, in some parts of Greece, the mouse was the sacred animal of Apollo, and mice were fed in his temples. The chosen people were forbidden to eat 'the weasel, and the mouse, and the tortoise after his kind.' These came under the designation of unclean animals, which were to be avoided.

"But people have abstained from eating kinds of flesh which could not be called unclean. For example, the people of Thebes, as Herodotus tells us, abstained from sheep. Then, the ancients used to abstain from certain vegetables. In his 'Roman Questions' Plutarch asks: 'Why do the Latins abstain strictly from the flesh of the woodpecker?' In order to answer Plutarch's question correctly it is necessary to have some idea of the peculiar custom and belief called 'totemism.' There is a stage of society in which people claim descent from and kinship with beasts, birds, vegetables, and other objects. This object, which is a 'totem,' or family mark, they religiously abstain from eating. The members of the tribe are divided into clans or stocks, each of which takes the name of some animal, plant, or object, as the bear, the buffalo, the woodpecker, the asparagus, and so forth. No member of the bear family would dare to eat bear-meat, but he has no objection to eating buffalo steak. Even the marriage law is based on this belief, and no man whose family name is Wolf may marry a woman whose family name is also Wolf.

"In a general way it may be said that almost all our food prohibitions spring from the extraordinary custom generally called totemism. Mr. Swan, who was missionary for many years in the Congo Free State, thus describes the custom: 'If I were to ask the Yeke people why they do not eat zebra flesh, they would reply, 'Chijila,' i.e., 'It is a thing to which we have an antipathy;' or better, 'It is one of the things which our fathers taught us not to eat.' So it seems the word 'Bashilang' means 'the people who have an antipathy to the leopard;' the 'Bashilamba,' 'those who have an antipathy to the dog,' and the 'Bashilanzefu,' 'those who have an antipathy to the elephant.' In other words, the members of these stocks refuse to eat their totems, the zebra, the leopard, or the elephant, from which they take their names.

"The survival of antipathy to certain foods was found among people as highly civilized as the Egyptians, the Greeks, and the Romans. Quite a list of animals whose flesh was forbidden might be drawn up. For example, in Old Egypt the sheep could not be eaten in Thebes, nor the goat in Mendes, nor the cat in Bubastis, nor the crocodile at Ombos, nor the rat, which was sacred to Ra, the sun-god. However, the people of one place had no scruples about eating the forbidden food of another place. And this often led to religious disputes.

"Among the vegetables avoided as food by the Egyptians may be mentioned the onion, the garlic, and the leek. Lucian says that the inhabitants of Pelusium adored the onion. According to Pliny the Egyptians relished the leek and the onion. Juvenal exclaims: 'Surely a very religious nation, and a blessed place, where every garden is overrun with gods!' The survivals of totemism among the ancient Greeks are very interesting. Families named after animals and plants were not uncommon. One Athenian gens, the Ioxidae, had for its ancestral plant the asparagus. One Roman gens, the Piceni, took a woodpecker for its totem, and every member of this family refused, of course, to eat the flesh of the woodpecker. In the same way as the nations of the Congo Free State, the Latins had an antipathy to certain kinds of food. However, an animal or plant forbidden in one place was eaten without any compunction in another place. 'These local rites in Roman times,' says Mr. Lang, 'caused civil brawls, for the customs of one town naturally seemed blasphemous to neighbors with a different sacred animal. Thus when the people of dog-town were feeding on the fish called oxyrrhyncus, the citizens of the town which revered the oxyrrhyncus began to eat dogs. Hence arose a riot.' The antipathy of the Jews to pork has given rise to quite different explanations. The custom is probably a relic of totemistic belief. That the unclean animals—animals not to be eaten—such as the pig, the mouse, and the weasel, were originally totems of the children of Israel, Professor Robertson Smith believes is shown by various passages in the Old Testament.

"When animals and plants ceased to be held sacred they were endowed with sundry magical or mystic properties. The apple has been supposed to possess peculiar virtues, especially in the way of health. 'The relation of the apple to health,' says Mr. Conway, 'is traceable to Arabia. Sometimes it is regarded as a bane. In Hessia it is said an apple must not be eaten on New Year's Day, as it will produce an abscess. But generally it is curative. In Pomerania it is eaten on Easter morning against fevers; in Westphalia (mixed with saffron) against jaundice; while in Silesia an apple is scraped from top to stalk to cure diarrhea, and upward to cure costiveness.' According to an old English fancy, if any one who is suffering from a wound in the head should eat strawberries it will lead to fatal results. In the South of England the folk say that the devil puts his cloven foot upon the blackberries on Michaelmas Day, and hence none should be gathered or eaten after that day. On the other hand, in Scotland the peasants say that the devil throws his cloak over the blackberries and makes them unwholesome after that day, while in Ireland he is said to stamp on the berries. Even that humble plant, the cabbage, has been invested with some mystery. It was said that the fairies were fond of its leaves, and rode to their midnight dances on cabbage-stalks. The German women used to say that 'Babies come out of the cabbage-heads.' The Irish peasant ties a cabbage-leaf around the neck for sore throat. According to Gerarde, the Spartans ate watercress with their bread, firmly believing that it increased their wit and wisdom. The old proverb is, 'Eat cress to learn more wit.'

"There is another phase to food-superstitions, and that is the theory that the qualities of the eaten pass into the eater. Mr. Tylor refers to the habit of the Dyak young men in abstaining from deer-meat lest it should make them timid, while the warriors of some South American tribes eat the meat of tigers, stags, and boars for courage and speed. He mentions the story of an English gentleman at Shanghai who at the time of the Taeping attack met his Chinese servant carrying home the heart of a rebel, which he intended to eat to make him brave. There is a certain amount of truth in the theory that the quality of food does affect the mind and body. Buckle in his 'History of Civilization' took this view, and tried to prove that the character of a people depends on their diet."

Idiosyncrasies to Drugs.—In the absorption and the assimilation of drugs idiosyncrasies are often noted; in fact, they are so common that we can almost say that no one drug acts in the same degree or manner on different individuals. In some instances the untoward action assumes such a serious aspect as to render extreme caution necessary in the administration of the most inert substances. A medicine ordinarily so bland as cod-liver oil may give rise to disagreeable eruptions. Christison speaks of a boy ten years old who was said to have been killed by the ingestion of two ounces of Epsom salts without inducing purgation; yet this common purge is universally used without the slightest fear or caution. On the other hand, the extreme tolerance exhibited by certain individuals to certain drugs offers a new phase of this subject. There are well-authenticated cases on record in which death has been caused in children by the ingestion of a small fraction of a grain of opium. While exhibiting especial tolerance from peculiar disposition and long habit, Thomas De Quincey, the celebrated English litterateur, makes a statement in his "Confessions" that with impunity he took as much as 320 grains of opium a day, and was accustomed at one period of his life to call every day for "a glass of laudanum negus, warm, and without sugar," to use his own expression, after the manner a toper would call for a "hot-Scotch."

The individuality noted in the assimilation and the ingestion of drugs is functional as well as anatomic. Numerous cases have been seen by all physicians. The severe toxic symptoms from a whiff of cocain-spray, the acute distress from the tenth of a grain of morphin, the gastric crises and profuse urticarial eruptions following a single dose of quinin,—all are proofs of it. The "personal equation" is one of the most important factors in therapeutics, reminding us of the old rule, "Treat the patient, not the disease."

The idiosyncrasy may be either temporary or permanent, and there are many conditions that influence it. The time and place of administration; the degree of pathologic lesion in the subject; the difference in the physiologic capability of individual organs of similar nature in the same body; the degree of human vitality influencing absorption and resistance; the peculiar epochs of life; the element of habituation, and the grade and strength of the drug, influencing its virtue,—all have an important bearing on untoward action and tolerance of poisons.

It is not in the province of this work to discuss at length the explanations offered for these individual idiosyncrasies. Many authors have done so, and Lewin has devoted a whole volume to this subject, of which, fortunately, an English translation has been made by Mulheron, and to these the interested reader is referred for further information. In the following lines examples of idiosyncrasy to the most common remedial substances will be cited, taking the drugs up alphabetically.

Acids.—Ordinarily speaking, the effect of boric acid in medicinal doses on the human system is nil, an exceptionally large quantity causing diuresis. Binswanger, according to Lewin, took eight gm. in two doses within an hour, which was followed by nausea, vomiting, and a feeling of pressure and fulness of the stomach which continued several hours. Molodenkow mentions two fatal cases from the external employment of boric acid as an antiseptic. In one case the pleural cavity was washed out with a five per cent solution of boric acid and was followed by distressing symptoms, vomiting, weak pulse, erythema, and death on the third day. In the second case, in a youth of sixteen, death occurred after washing out a deep abscess of the nates with the same solution. The autopsy revealed no change or signs indicative of the cause of death. Hogner mentions two instances of death from the employment of 2 1/2 per cent solution of boric acid in washing out a dilated stomach The symptoms were quite similar to those mentioned by Molodenkow.

In recent years the medical profession has become well aware that in its application to wounds it is possible for carbolic acid or phenol to exercise exceedingly deleterious and even fatal consequences. In the earlier days of antisepsis, when operators and patients were exposed for some time to an atmosphere saturated with carbolic spray, toxic symptoms were occasionally noticed. Von Langenbeck spoke of severe carbolic-acid intoxication in a boy in whom carbolic paste had been used in the treatment of abscesses. The same author reports two instances of death following the employment of dry carbolized dressings after slight operations. Kohler mentions the death of a man suffering from scabies who had applied externally a solution containing about a half ounce of phenol. Rose spoke of gangrene of the finger after the application of carbolized cotton to a wound thereon. In some cases phenol acts with a rapidity equal to any poison. Taylor speaks of a man who fell unconscious ten seconds after an ounce of phenol had been ingested, and in three minutes was dead. There is recorded an account of a man of sixty-four who was killed by a solution containing slightly over a dram of phenol. A half ounce has frequently caused death; smaller quantities have been followed by distressing symptoms, such as intoxication (which Olshausen has noticed to follow irrigation of the uterus), delirium, singultus, nausea, rigors, cephalalgia, tinnitus aurium, and anasarca. Hind mentions recovery after the ingestion of nearly six ounces of crude phenol of 14 per cent strength. There was a case at the Liverpool Northern Hospital in which recovery took place after the ingestion with suicidal intent of four ounces of crude carbolic acid. Quoted by Lewin, Busch accurately describes a case which may be mentioned as characteristic of the symptoms of carbolism. A boy, suffering from abscess under the trochanter, was operated on for its relief. During the few minutes occupied by the operation he was kept under a two per cent carbolic spray, and the wound was afterward dressed with carbolic gauze. The day following the operation he was seized with vomiting, which was attributed to the chloroform used as an anesthetic. On the following morning the bandages were removed under the carbolic spray; during the day there was nausea, in the evening there was collapse, and carbolic acid was detected in the urine. The pulse became small and frequent and the temperature sank to 35.5 degrees C. The frequent vomiting made it impossible to administer remedies by the stomach, and, in spite of hypodermic injections and external application of analeptics, the boy died fifty hours after operation.