am distressed that the correspondence columns of the Spectator should
betray the existence of such an illiberal and unsympathetic attitude to- wards those who, for one reason or another, have become addicted to alliophagy.
The enlightened view, subscribed to by numerous members of the clergy and medical profession, is that for many alliophagy is not just a way of life acquired so that a minority of exhibitionists can flaunt them- selves in the face of the general public, but some- thing which, like colour blindness, is inherited at birth and is an integral part of their character.
Many alliophagists are indistinguishable from normal people—indeed, I have a friend accepted in the highest circles of society who successfully manages to conceal his weakness for eleven months of the year, but feels compelled for the remaining month to take up residence in Italy, where the general attitude towards this addiction is one of en- couragement and complete understanding.
Public punishment and humiliation are certainly not the cure, and ex-Corporal Brooke and D. Goodwin should remember that it has often been said that those who condemn alliophagy in the most strident terms through the columns of the public press are often frustrated, incipient or furtive prac- tioners themselves.—Yours faithfully,
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