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. ,
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