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14 THE ARGUS. FRIDAY, MARCH 29, 1907. TWO QUEER DISEASES The Fear of Space and the Fear of Shut-in Places. BOTH EQUALLY INVETERATE. (They Are Refractory to Remedies, They Are Recalcitrant to Treatment, nd They Endure For Year and Often For a Whole Lifetime. Agoraphobia, or fear of open spares, Is not nearly as common a malady as its antithesis, claustrophobia liVar of shut-in places). Both are curious ami .somewhat anomalous states of mind, in (Which an aversion, known ami admit ted by the subjects of it to be irration al and absurd, nevertheless dominates conduct, prompts the execution of irra tional acts and renders certain rational and desirable acts impossible. If I had to speculate on the origin of these curious and spurious instincts, for such they may be termed. I should assign them to the revival of instincts which existed in full force and had great biological value in our remote uncestry, but which la most of us Lave long been obsolete. When our ancestors were arboreal iu habit, this habit was their salvation from extinc tion, l'ceble ill Itotly, destitute of weap ons ami of defensive armor, devoid of means of concealment, their safety from carnivorous foes lay in the abil ity with which they could climb out of reach and iu the accuracy with which they could leap from boimh to bouuh and from tree to tree. Whenever they descended to the ground they were in 'dauber. It Is on the ground that the greater carnivora pursue their prey, and, adapted as our ancestors were to j arboreal life, their progress mi okmi ground was less rapid than anions the tree tops and most probably les rapid than that of their principal foes. Among the tree tops they were secure. There no enemy could vie with them In activity or hope to overtake them, but on the ground they were at a dis advantage. On the .fiat they had no chance against the spring of the pan ther or the speed and wind of the Wolf, but once let them attain the se curity of the forest and they could grin at their enemies lcl v. The farther they ventured from their secure retreat the greater the peril they were in: the nearer their refuge the more complete their sense of security. Since instincts, using the form in the sense of mental cravings, become adapted to modes of life, which in tnrn they dictate, we may be sure th.if in the nrlreal stage of their existence aversion existed to any extended excursion from their places of security and refuge. Near to trees they were iu safety; far from trees they were in continual danger and therefore in continual uneasiness. In such a situation they had an abid ing and well founded dread, ami sense of Impending danger. This is the state of mind which, as it seems to. me. is-reproduced in similar circumstances in agoraphobia. The craving of the subject f this' malady is to be near, not trees necessarily, it is true, but near -To some tall, vertical structure. Away from such a struc ture he has just the finding of dread, of impending danger, of imminent dis aster, of .something dreadful about to happen that a man would have who was waiting through a jungle infested by tigers or that, a child has when alone in the dark. I have seen a wo man affected with agoraphobia get from one side of a court to the oth er by not only going around by the wall and touching it all the way, but squeezing herself up against it and clutching at the bare surface. Suffer ers from this malady cannot cross an open space. They cannot venture more than a step or two from some vertical surface. They feel no uneasiness in a colonnade, 'open all around them thought it be. Their reason tells lliem that their dread is groundless, but re son is powerless against instinct, and an imperious instinct shouts danger In their ears. The opposite malady claustrophobia seems to me to reproduce a state of affairs of much later occurrence iu our racial history. When arboreal habits at length liegan to be abandoned and our anthropoid ancestors began to shel ter themselves in hollow trees, in eaves and holes iu the ground, there must often have been a conflict between the immeasurably old, primitive habit of roosting under the open sky and the modern innovation of taking shelter from the weather. The sense of con finement must have been very Irksome. We may be sure that there was no sud den revolution in the mode of life. Hie new habit was adopted very gradual ly. Only in some very violent storm would the first indwellers creep into a hole for shelter, and they would soon find their circumscribed quarters Intol erable and brave the elements as soon as the weather began to moderate. Perhaps the new instinct was first implanted iu the young by the parents bestowing their tender offspring in holes during their own absence or when cold and rain became severe. It Is not easy to teach an old dog new tricks, but a young wild rabbit or squirrel taken at a very early agr from the nest never acquires the un tamable wildness that is so conspicu ous a feature J the character of the old. In any etrv Uje habit of taking shelter In mor fr:ss closed spaces was a habit of slow and gradual ac quirement, and we may be sure that it was not acquired without many a re lapse and many a backsliding. We can almost hear the jeers and scoffs of the stout old Tory anthropoids at the ef feminacy of their degenerate juniors, who should seek a shelter 'that their f oref atte.rs.puld have scorned. Tbe habit has not yet been fully acquired by all our race, for we see even at this late day many persons of human status to whom the shelter of a roof is abhor rent and who prefer in the worst of weather to lie out under a hedge side rather than submit to the restraint of roof and walls. It is to the Imperfect acquisition of this later instinct to seek shelter in confined spaces, or, rather, it is to the reassert ion over it of the more remote and earlier instinct of craving for the open sky and irksomeuess of confine ment, that the malady of claustropho bia seems to me to lie due. In the sub ject of this malady is revived in its original strength that craving for open sky and open air, for liossibility of movement in every direction, which were ingrained in our ancestors by their free urlioreal lives and which were overcome with such difficulty when first they descended to inhabit terra finna. Like the sufferer from agoraphobia, he who suffers from claustrophobia experiences the revival of an ancestral instinct that has been obsolete for untold generations, but that lias been lost more recently than that revived in agoraphobia. Since it existed down to a later date, since it has been more recently lost, it is more easily revived, and this is the reason. I think, that claustrophobia is so much less rare than agoraphobia. Whatever their origin, the two mala dies tire equally inveterate. They are refractory to remedies. They are re calcitrant to treatment. They endure for years and often for a lifetime. London Lancet. SOME USES OF TEA. Many Ways In Which the Leaves Are Employed In China. In China tea leaves from the cup are used in sweeping floors, as they are sometimes used in the United Stares, but this does not end their utilitarian purposes. Iu regions where fuel is scarce the refuse leaves are pressed into bricks, dried and used in the same manner as blocks of peat. This fuel is particularly prized for pork curing. and the tea cured or tea smoked meat is to the Chinese what lieechnut and t-ugar curei4 bacon and ham are to the American. The ashes from the fuel ire used as a fertilizer. Hut even be fore its use as fuel the refuse tea serves another purpose. The leaves are vig orously stewed or allowed to steep in cold water in order to recover the tan nic acid which they contain, alout 1". per cent. This is used iu tanning leather and in dyeing textiles. It gives a fine, per nianent nut brown color, requires uo mordant and is unaffected by sunlight. bleaching or washing. Sometimes the refuse tea leaves are used as fodder for farm stock, at least providing bulk if not much nutrition. Again, they may be dried, mixed with the low grade, factitiously scented teas of com merce and are then known as "lie tea. The decoction resulting from such tea cannot le far suierior to one made from hay. P.rick tea even serves as money. It is still in circulation as a medium of exchange in the far inland Chinese towns and central Asiatic marts and bazaars. Between the Mongolian town of I'rgas and the Silierian town of Kiakta (?i there is usually as much as oWUiOo taels (SSo.OOOt of this money in circulation. At the latter place it ceases to be used as currency and en ters into the regular brick tea trade of Siberia and Kussin. As brick tea it b largely used in the Uussian army, by survey engineers, tourists and hunters Chicago News. 1 Lee's Favorite War Horse. Jcncral I.ee's favorite war horse Traveler, was almost as well known to the soldiers of the Army of Northern Virginia as the majestic form of the great commander himself. Captain Itolert K. Lee. Jr., youngest sou of the general, in his "Recollections and Letters of General Robert E. Lee'' has much to say of Traveler. To an artist who wanted to paint the horse General Lee wrote: "If I were an artist like you I would draw a true picture of Traveler, repre senting his tine proMrtions. muscular figure, deep chest and short back strong haunches, flat legs, small head broad forehead, delicate ears, quick eye. small feet and black mane and tail. Such a picture would Inspire poet, whose genius could then depict his worth and descrile his endurance of toil, hunger, thirst, heat, cold and the dangers and sufferings through which he passed. He could dilate upon his sagacity and affection and his In variable resrwmse to .every wish of his rider. He might even Imagine his thoughts through the long night march es and days of battle through which he has passed. But I am no artist; I can onlj :iay he is a Confederate gray." The Bahamans. A most curious utensil of a Bahaman dwelling is a big cement oven, like a cone, at the back of the house. In this the f;riily bread is baked. Bahamans are physiologically starved, and their thin, attenuated forms show it. An unvarying diet of fish and fruit is not nourishing enough, and the fact speaks for itself in these islanders. The white Bahamans are homely and sallow un less burned so that the complexion Is a thing of the past. They rarely, some never, wear shoes; hence feet in these latitudes are feet and not merely the ends of legs. I used to gaze iu admira tion at the feet that daily and nightly visited our schooner. The owners of the appendages could walk where a shod foot could not bear to tread. The skin becomes tougher than leather. Black Bahamans are the finest speci mens of the negro race to be seen out side of Africa strapping fellows, with magnificent arms and chests but they are - dreadful beggars and dreadful liars. Montreal Star, tk n. , O ft a 1 n t t ft ft ft S3 ft a o ft o S3 r ft o n ft- W 1 o H-l o ft S3 K f I "3 3 H C ft O S3 S3 t I r o ft qZ. 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