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Gelineau quotes the case of a brave young soldier who was believed to be afraid of nothing, but who was unable to sleep in a room of which the door was closed. Astrophobia or astropaphobia is a morbid fear of being struck by lightning.
Aichmophobia is a name given by the French to the fear of the sight of any sharp-pointed instrument, such as a pin, needle, fish-spine, or naked sword. An illustrious sufferer of this 'phobia was James I of England, who could never tolerate the appearance of a drawn sword. Gelineau reports an interesting case of a female who contracted this malady after the fatigue of lactation of two children.
Chazarin mentions a case in a woman of fifty, without any other apparent symptom of diathesis. Gelineau quotes a case of agoraphobia, secondary to rheumatism, in a woman of thirty-nine. There is a corresponding fear of high places often noticed, called acrophobia; so that many people dare not trust themselves on high buildings or other eminences.
Lyssophobia is a fear of hydrophobia which sometimes assumes all the symptoms of the major disease, and even produces death. Gelineau, Colin, Berillon, and others have studied cases.
Morbid fears or impulses, called by the Germans Zwangsvorstellungen, or Zwangshandlungen, and by the French, peurs maladies, have only been quite recently studied, and form most interesting cases of minor insanity. Gelineau has made extensive investigations in this subject, and free reference has been made to his work in the preparation of the following material.
Patients are not able to remain by themselves for even the shortest length of time. This morbid dread of being alone is sometimes so great that even the presence of an infant is an alleviation. Gelineau cites an instance in a man of forty-five which was complicated with agoraphobia. Bacillophobia is the result of abnormal pondering over bacteriology.
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