The appetite is sometimes manifested for special and peculiar kinds of food, and to this condition the name parorexia has been applied. There exist three degrees of parorexia: 1. Malaria: an increased desire for spiced food-stuffs, as for instance mustard, salad, vinegar, green fruits, etc. 2. Pica: the appetite manifests itself for substances which are not in reality foods, thus for coal, ashes, chalk, earth, sand, insects. 3. Allotriophagia: there seems to be a craving for substances which are decidedly disgusting and harmful, as for instance fecal matter, needles, pins, etc.

1 Rosenthal: l. c.

While the first form (malacia) is met with in many disturbances of the stomach or in different neurotic conditions of the system (neurasthenia), the latter two conditions appear only in severe forms of hysteria, and more frequently in idiots and lunatics.