 | CHAPTER IX.
PHYSIOLOGIC AND FUNCTIONAL ANOMALIES. Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine |  |
9. CHAPTER IX.
PHYSIOLOGIC AND FUNCTIONAL ANOMALIES.
In considering the anomalies of the secretions, it must be remembered that the ingestion of certain kinds of food and the administration of peculiar drugs in medicine have a marked influence in coloring secretions. Probably the most interesting of all these anomalies is the class in which, by a compensatory process, metastasis of the secretions is noticed.
Colored Saliva.—Among the older writers the Ephemerides contains an account of blue saliva; Huxham [9.1] speaks of green saliva; Marcellus Donatus [9.2] of yellow, and Peterman [9.3] relates the history of a case of yellow saliva. Dickinson [9.4] describes a woman of sixty whose saliva was blue; besides this nothing was definitely the matter with her. It seemed however, that the color was due to some chemic-pencil poisoning rather than to a pathologic process. A piece of this aniline pencil was caught in the false teeth. Paget cites an instance of blue saliva due to staining the tongue in the same manner. Most cases of anomalous coloring of this kind can be subsequently traced to artificial substances unconsciously introduced. Crocker mentions a woman who on washing her hands constantly found that the water was stained blue, but this was subsequently traced to the accidental introduction of an orchid leaf. In another instance there was a woman whose linen was at every change stained brown; this, however, was found to be due to a hair-wash that she was in the habit of using.
Among the older writers who have mentioned abnormal modes of exit of the urine is Baux, [9.5] who mentions urine from the nipples; Paullini [9.6] and the Ephemerides describe instances of urination from the eyes. Blancard, the Ephemerides, Sorbalt, and Vallisneri [9.7] speak of urination by the mouth. Arnold relates the history of a case of dysuria in which urine was discharged from the nose, breasts, ears, and umbilicus; [9.8] the woman was twenty-seven years old, and the dysuria was caused by a prolapsed uterus. There was an instance of anomalous discharge of urine from the body reported in Philadelphia many years ago which led to animated discussion. [9.9] A case of dysuria in which the patient discharged urine from the stomach was reported early in
Senter [9.12] reports in a young woman a singular case of ischuria which continued for more than three years; during this time if her urine was not drawn off with the catheter she frequently voided it by vomiting; for the last twenty months she passed much gravel by the catheter; when the use of the instrument was omitted or unsuccessfully applied the vomitus contained gravel. Carlisle [9.13] mentions a case in which there was vomiting of a fluid containing urea and having the sensible properties of urine. Curious to relate, a cure was effected after ligature of the superior thyroid arteries and sloughing of the thyroid gland. Vomiting of urine is also mentioned by Coley, Domine, Liron, Malagò, Zéviani, and Yeats. Marsden [9.14] reports a case in which, following secondary papular syphilis and profuse spontaneous ptyalism, there was vicarious secretion of the urinary constituents from the skin.
Instances of the anomalous exit of urine caused by congenital malformation or fistulous connections are mentioned in another chapter. Black urine is generally caused by the ingestion of pigmented food or drugs, such as carbolic acid and the anilines. Amatus Lusitanus, Bartholinus, and the Ephemerides speak of black urine after eating grapes or damson plums. The Ephemerides speaks of black urine being a precursor of death, but Piso, Rhodius, and Schenck say it is anomalous and seldom a sign of death. White urine, commonly known as chyluria, is frequently seen, and sometimes results from purulent cystitis. Though containing sediment, the urine looks as if full of milk. A case of this kind was seen in 1895 at the Jefferson Medical College Hospital, Philadelphia, in which the chyluria was due to a communication between the bladder and the thoracic duct.
Ackerman has spoken of metastasis of the tears, and Dixon [9.15] gives an instance in which crying was not attended by the visible shedding of tears. Salomon [9.16] reports a case of congenital deficiency of tears. Blood-stained tears were frequently mentioned by the older writers. Recently Cross [9.17] has written an article on this subject, and its analogy is seen in the next chapter under hemorrhages from the eyes through the lacrimal duct.
The Semen.—The older writers spoke of metastasis of the seminal flow, the issue being by the skin (perspiration) and other routes. This was especially
The Ephemerides, Schurig, [9.18] and Hoffman report instances of what they call fetid semen (possibly a complication of urethral disease). Paaw speaks of black semen in a negro, and the Ephemerides and Schurig mention instances of dark semen. Blancard [9.19] records an instance of preternatural exit of semen by the bowel. Heers *[409] mentions a similar case caused by urethral fistula. Ingham [9.20] mentions the escape of semen through the testicle by means of a fistula. Demarquay [9.21] is the authority on bloody semen.
Andouard [9.22] mentions an instance of blue bile in a woman, blue flakes being found in her vomit. There was no trace of copper to be found in this case. Andouard says that the older physicians frequently spoke of this occurrence.
Rhodius [9.23] speaks of the sweat being sweet after eating honey; the Ephemerides and Paullini also mention it. Chromidrosis, or colored sweat, is an interesting anomaly exemplified in numerous reports. Black sweat has been mentioned by Bartholinus, [9.24] who remarked that the secretion resembled ink; in other cases Galeazzi [9.25] and Zacutus Lusitanus [9.26] said the perspiration resembled sooty water. Phosphorescent sweat has been recorded. [9.27] Paullini [9.28] and the Ephemerides mention perspiration which was of a leek-green color, and Borellus [9.29] has observed deep green perspiration. Marcard mentions green perspiration of the feet, possibly due to stains from colored footgear. The Ephemerides and Paullini [9.30] speak of violet perspiration, and Bartholinus [9.31] has described perspiration which in taste resembled wine.
Sir Benjamin Brodie [9.32] has communicated the history of a case of a young girl of fifteen on whose face was a black secretion. On attempting to remove it by washing, much pain was caused. The quantity removed by soap and water at one time was sufficient to make four basins of water as black as if with India ink. It seemed to be physiologically analogous to melanosis. The cessation of the secretion on the forehead was followed by the ejection of a similar substance from the bowel, stomach, and kidney. The secretion was more abundant during the night, and at one time in its course an erysipelas-eruption made its appearance. A complete cure ultimately followed.
Purdon [9.33] describes an Irish married woman of forty, the subject of rheumatic fever, who occasionally had a blue serous discharge or perspiration that literally flowed from her legs and body, and accompanied by a miliary eruption. It was on the posterior portions, and twelve hours previous was usually
The first English case of chromidrosis, or colored sweat, was published by Yonge of Plymouth in 1709. In this affection the colored sweating appears symmetrically in various parts of the body, the parts commonly affected being the cheeks, forehead, side of the nose, whole face, chest, abdomen, backs of the hands, finger-tips, and the flexors, flexures at the axillæ, groins, and popliteal spaces. Although the color is generally black, nearly every color has been recorded. Colcott Fox [9.34] reported a genuine case, and Crocker speaks of a case at Shadwell in a woman of forty-seven of naturally dark complexion. The bowels were habitually sluggish, going three or four days at least without action, and latterly the woman had suffered from articular pains. The discolored sweat came out gradually, beginning at the sides of the face, then spreading to the cheeks and forehead. When seen, the upper half of the forehead, the temporal regions, and the skin between the ear and malar eminence were of a blackish-brown color, with slight hyperemia of the adjacent parts; the woman said the color had been almost black, but she had cleaned her face some. There was evidently much fat in the secretion; there was also seborrhea of the scalp. Washing with soap and water had very little effect upon it; but it was removed with ether, the skin still looking darker and redder than normal. After a week's treatment with saline purgatives the discoloration was much less, but the patient still had articular pains, for which alkalies were prescribed; she did not again attend. Crocker also quotes the case of a girl of twenty, originally under Mackay of Brighton. Her affection had lasted a year and was limited to the left cheek and eyebrow. Six months before the patch appeared she had a superficial burn which did not leave a distinct scar, but the surface was slightly granular. The deposit was distinctly fatty, evidently seborrheic and of a sepia-tint. The girl suffered from obstinate constipation, the bowels acting only once a week. The left side flushed more than the right In connection with this case may be mentioned one by White of Harvard, a case of unilateral yellow chromidrosis in a man. [9.35] Demons gives the history of a case of yellow sweat in a patient with three intestinal calculi.
Wilson says that cases of green, yellow, and blue perspiration have been seen, and Hebra, Rayer, and Fuchs mention instances. Conradi records a case of blue perspiration on one-half the scrotum. Chojnowski [9.36] records a case in which the perspiration resembled milk.
Hyperidrosis occurs as a symptom in many nervous diseases, organic and functional, and its presence is often difficult of explanation. The following
Dupont [9.37] has published an account of a curious case of chronic general hyperidrosis or profuse sweating which lasted upward of six years. The woman thus affected became pregnant during this time and was happily delivered of an infant, which she nursed herself. According to Dupont, this hyperidrosis was independent of any other affection, and after having been combated fruitlessly by various remedies, yielded at last to fluid extract of aconitin.
Myrtle [9.38] relates the case of a man of seventy-seven, who, after some flying pains and fever, began to sweat profusely and continued to do so until he died from exhaustion at the end of three months from the onset of the sweating. Richardson [9.39] records another case of the same kind. Crocker quotes the case of a tailor of sixty-five in whom hyperidrosis had existed for thirty-five years. It was usually confined to the hands and feet, but when worst affected the whole body. It was absent as long as he preserved the horizontal posture, but came on directly when he rose; it was always increased in the summer months. At the height of the attack the man lost appetite and spirit, had a pricking sensation, and sometimes minute red papules appeared all over the hand. He had tried almost every variety of treatment, but sulphur did the most good, as it had kept the disease under for twelve months. Latterly, even that failed.
Bachman [9.40] reports the history of a case of hyperidrosis cured by hypnotism.
Unilateral and localized sweating accompanies some forms of nervous disturbance. Mickle [9.41] has discussed unilateral sweating in the general paralysis of the insane. Ramskill [9.42] reports a case of sweating on one side of the face in a patient who was subject to epileptic convulsions. Takács [9.43] describes a
Instances of bloody sweat and "stigmata'' have been known through the ages and are most interesting anomalies. In the olden times there were people who represented that in their own persons they realized at certain periods the agonies of Gethsemane, as portrayed in medieval art, e. g., by pictures of Christ wearing the crown of thorns in Pilate's judgment hall. Some of these instances were, perhaps, of the nature of compensatory hemorrhage, substituting the menses or periodic hemorrhoids, hemoptysis, epistaxis, etc., or possibly purpura. Extreme religious frenzy or deep emotions might have been the indirect cause of a number of these bleeding zealots. There are instances on record in which fear and other similar emotions have caused a sweating of blood, the expression "sweating blood'' being not uncommon.
Among the older writers, Ballonius, [9.48] Marcolini, and Riedlin mention bloody sweat. The Ephemerides speaks of it in front of the hypochondrium. Paullini observed a sailor of thirty, who, falling speechless and faint during a storm on the deck of his ship, sweated a red perspiration from his entire body and which stained his clothes. He also mentions bloody sweat following coitus. Aristotle speaks of bloody sweat, and Pellison describes a scar which periodically opened and sweated blood. There were many cases like this, the scars being usually in the location of Christ's wounds.
De Thou mentions an Italian officer who in 1552, during the war between Henry II. of France and Emperor Charles V., was threatened with public execution; he became so agitated that he sweated blood from every portion of the body. A young Florentine about to be put to death by an order of Pope Sixtus V. was so overcome with grief that he shed bloody tears and sweated blood. The Ephemerides contains many instances of bloody tears and sweat occasioned by extreme fear, more especially fear of death. Mezeray [9.49] mentions that the detestable Charles IX. of France, being under constant agitation and emotion, sank under a disorder which was accompanied by an exudation
There is a case also related of a woman of forty-five who had lost her only son. One day she fancied she beheld him beseeching her to release his soul from purgatory by prayers and fasting every Friday. The following Friday, which was in the month of August, and for five succeeding Fridays she had a profuse bloody perspiration, the disorder disappearing on Friday, March 8th, of the following year. Pooley [9.50] says that Maldonato, in his "Commentaries of Four Gospels,'' mentions a healthy and robust man who on hearing of his sentence of death sweated blood, and Zacchias noted a similar phenomenon in a young man condemned to the flames. Allusion may also be made to St. Luke, who said of Christ that in agony He prayed more earnestly, "and His sweat was, as it were, great drops of blood falling down to the ground.'' [9.51]
Pooley quotes the case of a young woman of indolent habit who in a religious fanatical trance sweated blood. The stigmatists were often imposters who artificially opened their scars, and set the example for the really peculiar cases of bloody sweat, which among ignorant people was considered evidence of sympathy with the agony of the Cross.
Probably the best studied case on record is that of Louise Lateau of Bois d'Haine, which, according to Gray, occurred in 1869 in a village of Belgium when the girl was at the age of twenty-three; her previous life had offered nothing remarkable. The account is as follows: "One Friday Louise Lateau noticed that blood was flowing from one side of her chest, and this recurred every Friday. On each Thursday morning an oval surface about one inch in length on the back of each hand became pink in color and smooth, whilst a similar oval surface on the palm of each hand became of the same hue, and on the upper surface of each foot a pinkish-white square appeared. Examined under a magnifying glass, the epidermis appeared at first without solution of continuity and delicate. About noon on Thursday a vesicle formed on the pink surfaces containing clear serum. In the night between Thursday and Friday, usually between midnight and one o'clock, the flow of blood began, the vesicle first rupturing. The amount of blood lost during the so called stigmata varied, and some observers estimated it at about one and three-quarter pints. The blood itself was of a reddish color, inclining to violet, about the hue therefore, of capillary blood, coagulating in the usual way, and the white and red corpuscles being normal in character and relative proportion. The flow ceased on Saturdays. During the flow of the blood the patient was in a rapt, ecstatic condition. The facial expression was one of absorption and far-off
Fournier [9.52] mentions a statesman of forty-five who, following great Cabinet labors during several years and after some worriment, found that the day after indulging in sexual indiscretions he would be in a febrile condition, with pains in the thighs, groins, legs, and penis. The veins of these parts became engorged, and subsequently blood oozed from them, the flow lasting several days. The penis was the part most affected. He was under observation for twenty months and presented the same phenomena periodically, except that during the last few months they were diminished in every respect. Fournier also mentions a curious case of diapedesis in a woman injured by a cow. The animal struck her in the epigastric region, she fell unconscious, and soon after vomited great quantities of blood, and continued with convulsive efforts of expulsion to eject blood periodically from every eight to fifteen days, losing possibly a pound at each paroxysm. There was no alteration of her menses. A physician gave her astringents, which partly suppressed the vomiting, but the hemorrhage changed to the skin, and every day she sweated blood from the chest, back of the thighs, feet, and the extremities of the fingers. When the blood ceased to flow from her skin she lost her appetite, became oppressed, and was confined to her bed for some days. Itching always preceded the appearance of a new flow. There was no dermal change that could be noticed.
Fullerton [9.53] mentions a girl of thirteen who had occasional oozing of blood from her brow, face, and the skin under the eyes. Sometimes a pound of clots was found about her face and pillow. The blood first appeared in a single clot, and, strange to say, lumps of fleshy substance and minute pieces of bone were discharged all day. This latter discharge became more infrequent, the bone being replaced by cartilaginous substance. There was no pain, discoloration, swelling, or soreness, and after this strange anomaly disappeared menstruation regularly commenced. Van Swieten [9.54] mentions a young lady who from her twelfth year at her menstrual periods had hemorrhages from pustules in the skin, the pustules disappearing in the interval.
There is a record [9.57] of a patient who once or twice a day was attacked with swelling of the scrotum, which at length acquired a deep red color and a stony hardness, at which time the blood would spring from a hundred points and flow in the finest streams until the scrotum was again empty.
Hill [9.58] describes a boy of four who during the sweating stage of malaria sweated blood from the head and neck. Two months later the skin-hemorrhages ceased and the boy died, vomiting blood and with bloody stools.
Postmortem sweating is described in the Ephemerides and reported by Hasenest [9.59] and Schneider. Bartholinus [9.60] speaks of bloody sweat in a cadaver
In considering the anomalies of lactation we shall first discuss those of color and then the extraordinary places of secretion. Black milk is spoken of by the Ephemerides and Paullini. Red milk has been observed by Cramer and Viger. [9.61] Green milk has been observed by Lanzonius, Riverius, *[687] and Paullini. *[620] The Ephemerides also contains an account of green milk. Yellow milk has been mentioned in the Ephemerides and its cause ascribed to eating rhubarb.
It is a well-known fact that some cathartics administered to nursing mothers are taken from the breast by their infants, who, notwithstanding its indirect mode of administration, exhibit the effects of the original drug. The same is the case with some poisons, and instances of lead-poisoning and arsenic-poisoning have been seen in children who have obtained the toxic substance in the mother's milk. There is one singular case on record in which a child has been poisoned from the milk of its mother after she had been bitten by a serpent. [9.62]
Paullini and the Ephemerides give instances of milk appearing in the perspiration, and there are numerous varieties of milk-metastasisrecorded Dolæus and Nuck [9.63] mention the appearance of milk in the saliva. Autenreith mentions metastasis of milk through an abdominal abscess to the thigh,
There is the history of a woman who suffered from metastasis of milk to the stomach, and who, with convulsive action of the chest and abdomen, vomited it daily. [9.67] A peculiar instance of milk in a tumor is that of a Mrs. Reed, who, when pregnant with twins, developed an abdominal tumor from which 25 pounds of milk was drawn off. [9.68]
There is a French report [9.69] of secretion of milk in the scrotum of a man of twenty-one. The scrotum was tumefied, and to the touch gave the sensation of a human breast, and the parts were pigmented similar to an engorged breast. Analysis showed the secretion to have been true human milk.
Cases of lactation in the new-born are not infrequent. Bartholinus, Baricelli, Muraltus, Deusingius, Rhodius, Schenck, and Schurig mention instances of it. Cardanus describes an infant of one month whose breasts were swollen and gave milk copiously. Battersby [9.70] cites a description of a male child three weeks old whose breasts were full of a fluid, analysis proving it to have been human milk; Darby, in the same journal, mentions a child of eight days whose breasts were so engorged that the nurse had to milk it. Faye [9.71] gives an interesting paper in which he has collected many instances of milk in the breasts of the new-born. Jonston [9.72] details a description of lactation in an infant. Variot [9.73] mentions milk-secretion in the new-born and says that it generally takes place from the eighth to the fifteenth day and not in the first week. He also adds that probably mammary abscesses in the new-born could be avoided if the milk were squeezed out of the breasts in the first days. Variot says that out of 32 children of both sexes, aged from six to nine months, all but six showed the presence of milk in the breasts. Gibb [9.74] mentions copious milk-secretion in an infant, and Sworder [9.75] and Menard [9.76] have seen young babes with abundant milk-secretion.
Precocious Lactation.—Bochut [9.77] says that he saw a child whose breasts were large and completely developed, offering a striking contrast to the slight development of the thorax. They were as large as a stout man's fist, pear-shaped,
Baudelocque mentions a girl of eight who suckled her brother with her extraordinarily developed breasts. In 1783 this child milked her breasts in the presence of the Royal Academy at Paris. Belloc spoke of a similar case. There is another of a young negress who was able to nourish an infant; [9.78] and among the older writers we read accounts of young virgins who induced lactation by applying infants to their breasts. Bartholinus, Benedictus, Hippocrates, Lentilius, Salmuth, and Schenck mention lactation in virgins.
De la Coide describes a case in which lactation was present, though menstruation had always been deficient. Dix, at the Derby Infirmary, [9.79] has observed two females in whom there was continued lactation, although they had never been pregnant. The first was a chaste female of twenty-five, who for two years had abundant and spontaneous discharge of milk that wetted the linen; and the other was in a prostitute of twenty, who had never been pregnant, but who had, nevertheless, for several months an abundant secretion of healthy milk. Zoologists know that a nonpregnant bitch may secrete milk in abundance. Delafond and de Sinnéty have cited instances.
Lactation in the aged has been frequently noticed. Amatus Lusitanus *[119] and Schenck have observed lactation in old women; in recent years Dunglison has collected some instances. Semple [9.80] relates the history of an elderly woman who took charge of an infant the mother of which had died of puerperal infection. As a means of soothing the child she allowed it to take the nipple, and, strange to say, in thirty-six hours milk appeared in her breasts, and soon she had a flow as copious as she had ever had in her early married life. The child thrived on this production of a sympathetic and spontaneous lactation. Sir Hans Sloane mentions a lady of sixty-eight who though not having borne a child for twenty years, nursed her grandchildren one after another.
Montegre *[367] describes a woman in the Department of Charente who bore two male children in 1810. Not having enough milk for both, and being too poor to secure the assistance of a midwife, in her desperation she sought an old woman named Laverge, a widow of sixty-five, whose husband had been dead twenty-nine years. This old woman gave the breast to one of the children, and in a few days an abundant flow of milk was present. For twenty-two months she nursed the infant, and it thrived as well as its brother, who was nursed by their common mother—in fact, it was even the stronger of the two.
Dargan [9.81] tells of a case of remarkable rejuvenated lactation in a woman of
Blanchard [9.82] mentions milk in the breasts of a woman of sixty, and Krane [9.83] cites a similar instance. In the Philosophical Transactions [9.84] there is an instance of a woman of sixty-eight having abundant lactation.
Warren, Boring, Buzzi, Stack, Durston, Egan, Scalzi, Fitzpatrick, and Gillespie mention rejuvenation and renewed lactation in aged women. Ford [9.85] has collected several cases in which lactation was artificially induced by women who, though for some time not having been pregnant themselves, nursed for others.
Prolonged lactation and galactorrhea may extend through several pregnancies. Green [9.86] reports the case of a woman of forty-seven, the mother of four children, who after each weaning had so much milk constantly in her breasts that it had to be drawn until the next birth. At the time of report the milk was still secreting in abundance. A similar and oft-quoted case was that of Gomez Pamo, [9.87] who described a woman in whom lactation seemed indefinitely prolonged; she married at sixteen, two years after the establishment of menstruation. She became pregnant shortly after marriage, and after delivery had continued lactation for a year without any sign of returning menstruation. Again becoming pregnant, she weaned her first child and nursed the other without delay or complication. This occurrence took place fourteen times. She nursed all 14 of her children up to the time that she found herself pregnant again, and during the pregnancies after the first the flow of milk never entirely ceased; always after the birth of an infant she was able to nurse it. The milk was of good quality and always abundant, and during the period between her first pregnancy to seven years after the birth of her last child the menses had never reappeared. She weaned her last child five years before the time of report, and since then the milk had still persisted in spite of all treatment. It was sometimes so abundant as to necessitate drawing it from the breast to relieve painful tension.
Kennedy [9.88] describes a woman of eighty-one who persistently menstruated through lactation, and for forty-seven years had uninterruptedly nursed many children, some of which were not her own. Three years of this time she was a widow. At the last reports she had a moderate but regular secretion of milk in her eighty-first year.
In regard to profuse lacteal flow, Remy is quoted [9.89] as having seen a young woman in Japan from whom was taken 12 1/2 pints of milk each day, which is possibly one of the most extreme instance of continued galactorrhea on record.
Galen refers to gynecomastia or gynecomazia; Aristotle says he has
To Bédor, a marine surgeon, [9.91] we owe the first scientific exposition of this subject, and a little later Villeneuve published his article in the French dictionary. *[302] Since then many observations have been made on this subject, and quite recently Laurent *[479] has published a most exhaustive treatise upon it.
Robert [9.92] describes an old man who suckled a child, and Meyer discusses the case of a castrated man who was said to suckle children. It is said that a Bishop of Cork, who gave one-half crown to an old Frenchman of seventy, was rewarded by an exhibition of his breasts, which were larger than the Bishop had ever seen in a woman. Pétrequin speaks of a male breast 18 inches long which he amputated, and Laurent gives the photograph of a man whose breasts measured 30 cm. in circumference at the base, and hung like those of a nursing woman (Fig. 178).
In some instances whole families with supernumerary breasts are seen. Handyside gives two instances of quadruple breasts in brothers. Blanchard [9.93] speaks of a father who had a supernumerary nipple on each breast and his seven sons had the same deformities; it was not noticed in the daughters. The youngest son transmitted this anomaly to his four sons. Pétrequin [9.94] describes a man with three mammæ, two on the left side, the third being beneath the others. He had three sons with accessory mammæ on the right side and two daughters with the same anomaly on the left side. Savitzky [9.95] reports a case of gynecomazia in a peasant of twenty-one whose father, elder brother, and a cousin were similarly endowed. The patient's breasts were 33 cm. in circumference
Wiltshire [9.96] said that he knew a gynecomast in the person of a distinguished naturalist who since the age of puberty observed activity in his breasts, accompanied with secretion of milky fluid which lasted for a period of six weeks and occurred every spring. This authority also mentions that the French call husbands who have well-developed mammæ "la couvade;'' the Germans call male supernumerary breasts "bauchwärze,'' or ventral nipples. Hutchinson [9.97] describes several cases of gynecomazia, in which the external genital organs decreased in proportion to the size of the breast and the manners became effeminate. Cameron, quoted by Snedden, speaks of a fellow-student who had a supernumerary nipple, and also says he saw a case in a little boy who had an extra pair of nipples much wider than the ordinary ones. Ansiaux, surgeon of Liège, saw a conscript of thirteen whose left mamma was well developed like that of a woman, and whose nipple was surrounded by a large areola. He said that this breast had always been larger than the other, but since puberty had grown greatly; the genital organs were well formed. Morgan [9.98] examined a seaman of twenty-one, admitted to the Royal Naval Hospital at Hong Kong, whose right mamma, in size and conformation, had the appearance of the well developed breast of a full-grown woman. It
was lobulated and had a large, brown-colored areola; the nipple, however, was of the same size as that on the left breast (Fig. 179). The man stated that he first observed the breast to enlarge at sixteen and a half years; since that time it had steadily increased, but there was no milk at any time from the nipple; the external genital organs were well and fully developed. He complained of no pain or uneasiness except when in drilling aloft his breast came in contact with the ropes.
Gruger of St. Petersburg [9.99] divides gynecomazia into three classes:—
(1) That in which the male generative organs are normal;
(2) In which they are deformed;
(3) In which the anomaly is spurious, the breast being a mass of fat or a new growth.
Instances of Men Suckling Infants.—These instances of gynecomazia are particularly interesting when the individuals display ability to suckle infants. Hunter refers to a man of fifty who shared equally with his wife the suckling of their children. There is an instance of a sailor who, having lost his wife, took his son to his own breast to quiet him, and after three or four days was able to nourish him. [9.100] Humboldt describes a South American peasant of thirty-two who, when his wife fell sick immediately after delivery, sustained the child with his own milk, which came soon after the application to the breast; for five months the child took no other nourishment. In Franklin's "Voyages to the Polar Seas'' he quotes the instance of an old Chippewa who, on losing his wife in childbirth, had put his infant to his breast and earnestly prayed that milk might flow; he was fortunate enough to eventually produce enough milk to rear the child. The left breast, with which he nursed, afterward retained its unusual size. According to Mehliss some missionaries in Brazil in the sixteenth century asserted that there was a whole Indian nation whose women had small and withered breasts, and whose children owed their nourishment entirely to the males. Hall exhibited to his class in Baltimore a negro of fifty-five who had suckled all his mistress' family. Dunglison reports this case in 1837, and says that the mammæ projected seven inches from the chest, and that the external genital organs were well developed. Paullini and Schenck cite cases of men suckling infants, and Blumenbach has described a male-goat which, on account of the engorgement of the mammæ, it was necessary to milk every other day of the year.
Ford [9.101] mentions the case of a captain who in order to soothe a child's cries put it to his breast, and who subsequently developed a full supply of milk. He also quotes an instance of a man suckling his own children, and mentions a negro boy of fourteen who secreted milk in one breast. Hornor and Pulido y Fernandez [9.102] also mention similar instances of gynecomazia.
Human Odors.—Curious as it may seem, each individual as well as each species is in life enveloped with an odor peculiarly its own, due to its exhaled breath, its excretions, and principally to its insensible perspiration. The faculty of recognizing an odor in different individuals, although more developed in savage tribes, is by no means unknown in civilized society. Fournier quotes the instance of a young man who, like a dog, could smell the enemy by scent, and who by smell alone recognized his own wife from other persons. [9.103]
Individual Odors.—Many individuals are said to have exhaled particularly strong odors, and history is full of such instances. We are told by Plutarch that Alexander the Great exhaled an odor similar to that of violet flowers, and his undergarments always smelled of this natural perfume. It is said that Cujas offered a particular analogy to this. On the contrary, there are certain persons spoken of who exhaled a sulphurous odor. Martial *[509] said that Thais was an example of the class of people whose odor was insupportable. Schmidt has inserted in the Ephemerides an account of a journeyman saddler, twenty-three years of age, of rather robust constitution, whose hands exhaled a smell of sulphur so powerful and penetrating as to rapidly fill any room in which he happened to be. Rayer was once consulted by a valet-de chambre who could never keep a place in consequence of the odor he left behind him in the rooms in which he worked.
Hammond [9.105] is quoted with saying that when the blessed Venturni of Bergamons officiated at the altar people struggled to come near him in order to enjoy the odor he exhaled. It was said that St. Francis de Paul, after he had subjected himself to frequent disciplinary inflictions, including a fast of thirty-eight to forty days, exhaled a most sensible and delicious odor. Hammond attributes the peculiar odors of the saints of earlier days to neglect of washing and, in a measure, to affections of the nervous system. It may be added that these odors were augmented by aromatics, incense, etc., artificially applied. In more modern times Malherbe and Haller were said to diffuse from their bodies the agreeable odor of musk. These "human flowers,'' to use Goethe's expression, are more highly perfumed in Southern latitudes.
Modifying Causes.—According to Brieude, sex, age, climate, habits, ailments, the passions, the emotions, and the occupations modify the difference in the humors exhaled, resulting in necessarily different odors. Nursing infants have a peculiar sourish smell, caused by the butyric acid of the milk, while bottle-fed children smell like strong butter. After being weaned the odors of the
Certain tribes and races of people have characteristic odors. Negroes have a rank ammoniacal odor, unmitigated by cleanliness; according to Pruner-Bey it is due to a volatile oil set free by the sebaceous follicles. The Esquimaux and Greenlanders have the odors of their greasy and oily foods, and it is said that the Cossacks, who live much with their horses, and who are principally vegetarians, will leave the atmosphere charged with odors several hours after their passage in numbers through a neighborhood. The lower race of Chinamen are distinguished by a peculiar musty odor, which may be noticed in the laundry shops of this country. Some people, such as the low grade of Indians, have odors, not distinctive, and solely due to the filth of their persons. Food and drink, as have been mentioned, markedly influence the odor of an individual, and those perpetually addicted to a special diet or drink have a particular odor.
Odor after Coitus.—Preismann in 1877 makes the statement that for six hours after coitus there is a peculiar odor noticeable in the breath, owing to a peculiar secretion of the buccal glands. He says that this odor is most perceptible in men of about thirty-five, and can be discerned at a distance of from four to six feet. He also adds that this fact would be of great medico-legal value in the early arrest of those charged with rape. In this connection the analogy of the breath immediately after coitus to the odor of chloroform has been mentioned. [9.106] The same article states that after coitus naturally foul breath becomes sweet.
The emotions are said to have a decided influence on the odor of an individual. Gambrini, quoted by Monin, [9.107] mentions a young man, unfortunate in love and violently jealous, whose whole body exhaled a sickening, pernicious, and fetid odor. Orteschi met a young lady who, without any possibility of fraud, exhaled the strong odor of vanilla from the commissures of her fingers.
Rayer speaks of a woman under his care at the Hôpital de la Charité affected with chronic peritonitis, who some time before her death exhaled a very decided odor of musk. The smell had been noticed several days, but was thought to be due to a bag of musk put purposely into the bed to overpower other bad smells. The woman, however, gave full assurance that she had no
Complexion.—Paré *[618] states that persons of red hair and freckled complexion have a noxious exhalation; the odor of prussic acid is said to come from dark individuals, while blondes exhale a secretion resembling musk. Fat persons frequently have an oleaginous smell.
The disorders of the nervous system are said to be associated with peculiar odors. Févre says the odor of the sweat of lunatics resembles that of yellow deer or mice, and Knight remarks that the absence of this symptom would enable him to tell whether insanity was feigned or not. Burrows declares that in the absence of further evidence he would not hesitate to pronounce a person insane if he could perceive certain associate odors. Sir William Gull and others are credited with asserting that they could detect syphilis by smell. Weir Mitchell has observed that in lesions of nerves the corresponding cutaneous area exhaled the odor of stagnant water. Hammond refers to three cases under his notice in which specific odors were the results of affections of the nervous system. One of these cases was a young woman of hysterical tendencies who exhaled the odor of violets, which pervaded her apartments. This odor was given off the left half of the chest only and could be obtained concentrated by collecting the perspiration on a handkerchief, heating it with four ounces of spirit, and distilling the remaining mixture. The administration of the salicylate of soda modified in degree this violaceous odor. Hammond also speaks of a young lady subject to chorea whose insensible perspiration had an odor of pineapples; a hypochondriac gentleman under his care smelled of violets. In this connection he mentions a young woman who, when suffering from intense sick headache, exhaled an odor resembling that of Limburger cheese.
Barbier met a case of disordered innervation in a captain of infantry, the upper half of whose body was subject to such offensive perspiration that despite all treatment he had to finally resign his commission.
In lethargy and catalepsy the perspiration very often has a cadaverous odor, which has probably occasionally led to a mistaken diagnosis of death. Schaper and de Meara *[517] speak of persons having a cadaveric odor during their entire life.
Various ingesta readily give evidence of themselves by their influence upon the breath. It has been remarked that the breath of individuals who have recently performed a prolonged necropsy smells for some hours of the odor of the cadaver. Such things as copaiba, cubebs, sandalwood, alcohol, coffee, etc., have their recognizable fragrance. There is an instance of a
Henry of Navarre was a victim of bromidrosis; proximity to him was insufferable to his courtiers and mistresses, who said that his odor was like that of carrion. Tallemant says that when his wife, Marie de Médicis, approached the bridal night with him she perfumed her apartments and her person with the essences of the flowers of her country in order that she might be spared the disgusting odor of her spouse. Some persons are afflicted with an excessive perspiration of the feet which often takes a disgusting odor. The inguinoscrotal and inguinovulvar perspirations have an aromatic odor like that of the genitals of either sex.
During menstruation, hyperidrosis of the axillæ diffuses an aromatic odor similar to that of acids or chloroform, and in suppression of menses, according to the Ephemerides, the odor is as of hops.
Odors of Disease.—The various diseases have their own peculiar odors. The "hospital odor,'' so well known, is essentially variable in character and chiefly due to an aggregation of cutaneous exhalations. The wards containing women and children are perfumed with butyric acid, while those containing men are influenced by the presence of alkalies like ammonia.
Gout, icterus, and even cholera (Drasch and Porker) have their own odors. Older observers, confirmed by Döppner, say that all the plague-patients at Vetlianka diffused an odor of honey. In diabetes there is a marked odor of apples. The sweat in dysentery unmistakably bears the odor of the dejecta. Béhier calls the odor of typhoid that of the blood, and Berard says that it attracts flies even before death. Typhus has a mouse-like odor, and the following diseases have at different times been described as having peculiar odors,—measles, the smell of freshly plucked feathers; scarlatina, of bread hot from the oven; eczema and impetigo, the smell of mold; and rupia, a decidedly offensive odor.
The hair has peculiar odors, differing in individuals. The hair of the Chinese is known to have the odor of musk, which cannot be washed away by the strongest of chemicals. Often the distinctive odor of a female is really due to the odor of great masses of hair. It is said that wig-makers simply by the sense of smell can tell whether hair has been cut from the living head or from combings, as hair loses its odor when it falls out. In the paroxysms of hysteroepilepsy the hair sometimes has a specific odor of ozone. Tænia favosa gives to the scalp an odor resembling that of cat's urine.
Sexual Influence of Odors.—In this connection it may be mentioned that there is a peculiar form of sexual perversion, called by Binet "fetichism,'' in which the subject displays a perverted taste for the odors of handkerchiefs, shoes, underclothing, and other articles of raiment worn by the opposite sex. Binet maintains that these articles play the part of the "fetich'' in early theology. It is said that the favors given by the ladies to the knights
Krafft-Ebing [9.109] quotes several interesting cases in which the connection between the olfactory and sexual functions is strikingly verified.
"The case of Henry III. shows that contact with a person's perspiration may be the exciting cause of passionate love. At the betrothal feast of the King of Navarre and Margaret of Valois he accidentally dried his face with a garment of Maria of Cleves which was moist with her perspiration. Although she was the bride of the Prince of Condé, Henry immediately conceived such a passion for her that he could not resist it, and, as history shows, made her very unhappy. An analogous instance is related of Henry IV., whose passion for the beautiful Gabrielle is said to have originated at the instant when, at a ball, he wiped his brow with her handkerchief.''
Krafft-Ebing also says that "one learns from reading the work of Ploss (`Das Weib') that attempts to attract a person of the opposite sex by means of the perspiration may be discerned in many forms in popular psychology. In reference to this a custom is remarkable which holds among the natives of the Philippine Islands when they become engaged. When it becomes necessary for the engaged pair to separate they exchange articles of wearing apparel, by means of which each becomes assured of faithfulness. These objects are carefully preserved, covered with kisses, and smelled.''
The love of perfumes by libertines and prostitutes, as well as sensual women of the higher classes, is quite marked. Heschl reported a case of a man of forty-five in whom absence of the olfactory sense was associated with imperfect development of the genitals; it is also well known that olfactory hallucinations are frequently associated with psychoses of an erotic type.
Garnier [9.110] has recently collected a number of observations of fetichism, in which he mentions individuals who have taken sexual satisfaction from the odors of shoes, night-dresses, bonnets, drawers, menstrual napkins, and other objects of the female toilet. He also mentions creatures who have gloated over the odors of the blood and excretions from the bodies of women, and gives instances of fetichism of persons who have been arrested in the streets of Paris for clipping the long hair from young girls. There are also on record instances of homosexual fetichism, a type of disgusting inversion of the sexual instinct, which, however, it is not in the province of this work to discuss.
Among animals the influence of the olfactory perceptions on the sexual sense is unmistakable. According to Krafft Ebing, Althaus shows that animals
Bulimia is excessive morbid hunger, also called canine appetite. While sometimes present in healthy people, it is most often seen in idiots and the insane, and is a symptom of diabetes mellitus. Mortimer [9.111] mentions a boy of twelve who, while laboring under this affliction, in six days devoured food to the extent of 384 pounds and two ounces. He constantly vomited, but his craving for food was so insatiable that if not satisfied he would devour the flesh off his own bones. Martyn, [9.112] Professor of Botany at Cambridge in the early part of the last century, tells of a boy ten years old whose appetite was enormous. He consumed in one week 373 pounds of food and drink. His urine and stools were voided in normal quantities, the excess being vomited. A pig was fed on what he vomited, and was sold in the market. The boy continued in this condition for a year, and at last reports was fast failing. Burroughs [9.113] mentions a laborer at Stanton, near Bury, who ate an ordinary leg of veal at a meal, and fed at this extravagant rate for many days together. He would eat thistles and other similar herbs greedily. At times he would void worms as large as the shank of a clay-pipe, and then for a short period the bulimia would disappear.
Johnston [9.114] mentions a case of bulimia in a man who devoured large quantities of raw flesh. There is an instance on record [9.115] of a case of canine appetite in which nearly 400 pounds of solid and fluid elements were taken into the body in six days and again ejected. A recovery was effected by giving very concentrated food, frequently repeated in small quantities. Mason [9.116] mentions a woman in St. Bartholomew's Hospital in London in the early part of this century who was wretched unless she was always eating. Each day she consumed three quartern-loaves, three pounds of beef-steak, in addition to large quantities of vegetables, meal, etc., and water. Smith [9.117] describes a boy of fourteen who ate continuously fifteen hours out of the twenty-four, and who had eight bowel movements each day. One year previous his weight
Polydipsia is an abnormal thirst; it may be seen in persons otherwise normal, or it may be associated with diseases—such as diabetes mellitus or diabetes insipidus. Mackenzie [9.118] quotes a case from Trousseau, in which an individual afflicted with diabetes insipidus passed 32 liters of urine daily and drank enormous quantities of water. This patient subjected himself to severe regimen for eight months,—although one day, in his agonies, he seized the chamber-pot and drank its contents at once. Mackenzie also mentions an infant of three who had polydipsia from birth and drank daily nearly two pailfuls of water. At the age of twenty-two she married a cobbler, unaware of her propensity, who found that his earnings did not suffice to keep her in water alone, and he was compelled to melt ice and snow for her. She drank four pailfuls a day, the price being 12 sous; water in the community was scarce and had to be bought. This woman bore 11 children. At the age of forty she appeared before a scientific commission and drank in their presence 14 quarts of water in ten hours and passed ten quarts of almost colorless urine. Dickinson mentions that he has had patients in his own practice who drank their own urine. Mackenzie also quotes Trousseau's history of a man who drank a liter of strong French brandy in two hours, and habitually drank the same quantity daily. He stated that he was free from the effects of alcohol; on several occasions on a wager he took 20 liters of wine, gaining his wager without visibly affecting his nervous system.
There is an instance of a man of fifty-eight [9.119] who could not live through the night without a pail of water, although his health was otherwise good. Atkinson in 1856 reported a young man who in childhood was a dirt-eater, though at that time complaining of nothing but excessive thirst. He was active, industrious, enjoyed good health, and was not addicted to alcoholics. His daily ration of water was from eight to twelve gallons. He always placed a tub of water by his bed at night, but this sometimes proved insufficient. He had frequently driven hogs from mudholes to slake his thirst with the water. He married in 1829 and moved into Western Tennessee, and in 1854 he was still drinking the accustomed amount; and at this time he had grown-up children. Ware [9.120] mentions a young man of twenty who drank six gallons of water daily. He was tormented with thirst, and if he abstained he became weak, sick, and dizzy. Throughout a long life he continued his habit, sometimes drinking a gallon at one draught; he never used spirits. There are three cases of polydipsia reported from London in 1792. [9.121]
Field [9.122] describes a boy with bilious remittent fever who would drink until
The amount of water drunk by glass-blowers in a day is almost incredible. McElroy [9.124] has made observations in the glass-factories in his neighborhood, and estimates that in the nine working hours of each day a glass-blower drinks from 50 to 60 pints of water. In addition to this many are addicted to the use of beer and spirits after working hours and at lunch-time. The excreta and urine never seem to be perceptibly increased. When not working these men do not drink more than three or four pints of water. Occasionally a man becomes what is termed "blown-up with water;'' that is, the perspiration ceases, the man becomes utterly helpless, has to be carried out, and is disabled until the sweating process is restored by vigorously applied friction. There is little deleterious change noticed in these men; in fact, they are rarely invalids.
Hydroadipsia is a lack of thirst or absence of the normal desire for water. In some of these cases there is a central lesion which accounts for the symptoms. McElroy, among other cases, speaks of one in a patient who was continually dull and listless, eating little, and complaining of much pain after the least food. This, too, will be mentioned under abstinence.
Perverted appetites are of great variety and present many interesting as well as disgusting examples of anomalies. In some cases the tastes of people differ so that an article considered by one race as disgusting would be held as a delicacy by another class. The ancients used asafetida as a seasoning, and what we have called "stercus diaboli,'' the Asiatics have named the "food of the gods.'' The inhabitants of Greenland drink the oil of the whale with as much avidity as we would a delicate wine, and they eat blubber the mere smell of which nauseates an European. In some nations of the lower grade, insects, worms, serpents, etc., are considered edible. The inhabitants of the interior of Africa are said to relish the flesh of serpents and eat grubs and worms. The very earliest accounts of the Indians of Florida and Texas show that "for food, they dug roots, and that they ate spiders, ants' eggs, worms, lizards, salamanders, snakes, earth, wood, the dung of deer, and many other things.'' [9.125] Gomara, in his "Historia de les Indias,'' says this loathsome diet was particular to one tribe, the Yagusces of Florida. It is said that a Russian peasant prefers a rotten egg to a fresh one; and there are persons who prefer game partly spoiled.
The disgusting habit of eating human excrement is mentioned by Schurig, [9.127] who gives numerous examples in epileptics, maniacs, chlorotic young women, pregnant women, children who have soiled their beds and, dreading detection, have swallowed their ejecta, and finally among men and women with abnormal appetites. The Indians of North America consider a broth made from the dung of the hare and caribou a dainty dish, and according to Abbe Domenech, as a means of imparting a flavor, the bands near Lake Superior mix their rice with the excrement of rabbits. De Bry mentions that the negroes of Guinea ate filthy, stinking elephant-meat and buffalo-flesh infested with thousands of maggots, and says that they ravenously devoured dogs' guts raw. Spencer, in his "Descriptive Sociology,'' describes a "Snake savage'' of Australia who devoured the contents of entrails of an animal. Some authors have said that within the last century the Hottentots devoured the flesh and the entrails of wild beasts, uncleansed of their filth and excrement, and whether sound or rotten. In a personal letter to Captain Bourke, the Reverend J. Owen Dorsey reports that while among the Ponkas he saw a woman and child devour the entrails of a beef with their contents. Bourke also cites instances in which human ordure was eaten by East Indian fanatics. Numerous authorities are quoted by Bourke to prove the alleged use of ordure in food by the ancient Israelites. Pages of such reference are to be found in the works on Scatology, and for further reference the reader is referred to books on this subject, of which prominent in English literature is that of Bourke. [9.128]
Probably the most revolting of all the perverted tastes is that for human flesh. This is called anthropophagy or cannibalism, and is a time-honored custom among some of the tribes of Africa. This custom is often practised more in the spirit of vengeance than of real desire for food. Prisoners of war were killed and eaten, sometimes cooked, and among some tribes raw. In their religious frenzy the Aztecs ate the remains of the human beings who were sacrificed to their idols. At other times cannibalism has been a necessity. In a famine in Egypt, as pictured by the Arab Abdullatif, the putrefying debris of animals, as well as their excrement, was used as food, and finally the human dead were used; then infants were killed and devoured, so great was the distress. In many sieges, shipwrecks, etc., cannibalism has been
St. Jerome states that he saw Scotchmen in the Roman armies in Gaul whose regular diet was human flesh, and who had "double teeth all around.''
Cannibalism, according to a prominent New York journal, has been recently made a special study by the Bureau of Ethnology at Washington, D. C. Data on the subject have been gathered from all parts of the world, which are particularly interesting in view of discoveries pointing to the conclusion that this horrible practice is far more widespread than was imagined. Stanley claims that 30,000,000 cannibals dwell in the basin of the Congo to-day—people who relish human flesh above all other meat. Perah, the most peculiar form of cannibalism, is found in certain mountainous districts of northeast Burmah, where there are tribes that follow a life in all important respects like that of wild beasts. These people eat the congealed blood of their enemies. The blood is poured into bamboo reeds, and in the course of time, being corked up, it hardens. The filled reeds are hung under the roofs of the huts, and when a person desires to treat his friends very hospitably the reeds are broken and the contents devoured.
"The black natives of Australia are all professed cannibals. Dr. Carl Lumholtz, a Norwegian scientist, spent many months in studying them in the wilds of the interior. He was alone among these savages, who are extremely treacherous. Wearing no clothing whatever, and living in nearly every respect as monkeys do, they know no such thing as gratitude, and have no feeling that can be properly termed human. Only fear of the traveler's weapons prevented them from slaying him, and more than once he had a narrow escape. One of the first of them whom he employed looked more like a brute than a man. `When he talked,' says the doctor, `he rubbed his belly with complacency, as if the sight of me made his mouth water.' This individual was regarded with much respect by his fellows because of his success in procuring human flesh to eat. These aborigines say that the white man's flesh is salt and occasions nausea. A Chinaman they consider as good for eating as a black man, his food being chiefly vegetable.
"The most horrible development of cannibalism among the Australian blacks is the eating of defunct relatives. When a person dies there follows an elaborate ceremony, which terminates with the lowering of the corpse into the
"The New Zealanders, up to very recent times, were probably the most anthropophagous race that ever existed. As many as 1000 prisoners have been slaughtered by them at one time after a successful battle, the bodies being baked in ovens underground. If the individual consumed had been a redoubtable enemy they dried his head as a trophy and made flutes of his thigh bones.
"Among the Monbuttos of Africa human fat is commonly employed for a variety of purposes. The explorer Schweinfurth speaks of writing out in the evenings his memoranda respecting these people by the light of a little oil-lamp contrived by himself, which was supplied with some questionable-looking grease furnished by the natives. The smell of this grease, he says, could not fail to arouse one's worst suspicions against the negroes. According to his account the Monbuttos are the most confirmed cannibals in Africa. Surrounded as they are by a number of peoples who are blacker than themselves, and who, being inferior to them in culture, are held in contempt, they carry on expeditions of war and plunder which result in the acquisition of a booty especially coveted by them—namely, human flesh. The bodies of all foes who fall in battle are distributed on the field among the victors, and are prepared by drying for transportation. The savages drive their prisoners before them, and these are reserved for killing at a later time. During Schweinfurth's residence at the Court of Munza it was generally understood that nearly every day a little child was sacrificed to supply a meal for the ogre potentate. For centuries past the slave trade in the Congo Basin has been conducted largely for the purpose of furnishing human flesh to consumers. Slaves are sold and bought in great numbers for market, and are fattened for slaughter.
"The Mundurucus of the Upper Amazon, who are exceedingly ferocious, have been accused of cannibalism. It is they who preserve human heads in such a remarkable way. When one of their warriors has killed an enemy he cuts off the head with his bamboo knife, removes the brain, soaks the head in a vegetable oil, takes out bones of the skull, and dries the remaining parts by putting hot pebbles inside of it. At the same time care is taken to preserve all the features and the hair intact. By repeating the process with the hot pebbles many times the head finally becomes shrunken to that of a small doll,
Ancient Customs.—According to Herodotus the ancient Lydians and Medes, and according to Plato the islanders in the Atlantic, cemented friendship by drinking human blood. Tacitus speaks of Asian princes swearing allegiance with their own blood, which they drank. Juvenal says that the Scythians drank the blood of their enemies to quench their thirst.
Occasionally a religious ceremony has given sanction to cannibalism. It is said that in the Island of Chios there was a rite by way of sacrifice to Dionysius in which a man was torn limb from limb, and Faber tells us that the Cretans had an annual festival in which they tore a living bull with their teeth. Spencer quotes that among the Bacchic orgies of many of the tribes of North America, at the inauguration of one of the Clallum chiefs on the northwest coast of British America, the chief seized a small dog and began to devour it alive, and also bit the shoulders of bystanders. In speaking of these ceremonies, Boas, quoted by Bourke, says that members of the tribes practicing Hamatsa ceremonies show remarkable scars produced by biting, and at certain festivals ritualistic cannibalism is practiced, it being the duty of the Hamatsa to bite portions of flesh out of the arms, legs, or breast of a man.
Another cause of cannibalism, and the one which deserves discussion here, is genuine perversion or depravity of the appetite for human flesh among civilized persons,—the desire sometimes being so strong as to lead to actual murder. Several examples of this anomaly are on record. Gruner of Jena speaks of a man by the name of Goldschmidt, in the environs of Weimar, who developed a depraved appetite for human flesh. He was married at twenty-seven, and for twenty-eight years exercised his calling as a cow-herd. Nothing extraordinary was noticed in him, except his rudeness of manner and his choleric and gross disposition. In 1771, at the age of fifty-five, he met a young traveler in the woods, and accused him of frightening his cows; a discussion arose, and subsequently a quarrel, in which Goldschmidt killed his antagonist by a blow with a stick which he used. To avoid detection he dragged the body to the bushes, cut it up, and took it home in sections. He then washed, boiled, and ate each piece. Subsequently, he developed a further taste for human flesh, and was finally detected in eating a child which he had enticed into his house and killed. He acknowledged his appetite before his trial.
Hector Boetius says that a Scotch brigand and his wife and children were condemned to death on proof that they killed and ate their prisoners. The extreme youth of one of the girls excused her from capital punishment; but at twelve years she was found guilty of the same crime as her father and suffered capital punishment. This child had been brought up in good surroundings, yet her inherited appetite developed. Gall tells of an individual who, instigated
At Bicêtre [9.129] there was an individual who had a horribly depraved appetite for decaying human flesh. He would haunt the graveyards and eat the putrefying remains of the recently buried, preferring the intestines. Having regaled himself in a midnight prowl, he would fill his pockets for future use. When interrogated on the subject of his depravity he said it had existed since childhood. He acknowledged the greatest desire to devour children he would meet playing; but he did not possess the courage to kill them.
Prochaska quotes the case of a woman of Milan who attracted children to her home in order that she might slay, salt, and eat them. About 1600, there is the record of a boy named Jean Granier, who had repeatedly killed and devoured several young children before he was discovered. Rodericus à Castro *[267] tells of a pregnant woman who so strongly desired to eat the shoulder of a baker that she killed him, salted his body, and devoured it at intervals.
There is a record of a woman who in July, 1817, was discovered in cooking an amputated leg of her little child. Gorget in 1827 reported the celebrated case of Leger the vine dresser, who at the age of twenty-four wandered about a forest for eight days during an attack of depression. Coming across a girl of twelve, he violated her, and then mutilated her genitals, and tore out her heart, eating of it, and drinking the blood. He finally confessed his crime with calm indifference. After Leger's execution Esquirol found morbid adhesions between the brain and the cerebral membranes. Mascha relates a similar instance in a man of fifty-five who violated and killed a young girl, eating of her genitals and mammæ. At the trial he begged for execution, saying that the inner impulse that led him to his crime constantly persecuted him.
A modern example of lust-murder and anthropophagy is that of Menesclou, who was examined by Brouardel, Motet, and others, and declared to be mentally sound; he was convicted. This miscreant was arrested with the forearm of a missing child in his pocket, and in his stove were found the head and entrails in a half-burnt condition. Parts of the body were found in the water-closet, but the genitals were missing; he was executed, although he made no confession, saying the deed was an accident. Morbid changes were found in his brain. Krafft-Ebing cites the case of Alton, a clerk in England, who lured a child into a thicket, and after a time returned to his office, where he made an entry in his note-book: "Killed to-day a young girl; it was fine and hot.'' The child was missed, searched for, and found cut into pieces. Many parts, and among them the genitals, could not be found. Alton did not show the slightest trace of emotion, and gave no explanation of the motive or circumstances of his horrible deed; he was executed.
D'Amador [9.130] tells of persons who went into slaughter-houses and waste-places to dispute with wolves for the most revolting carrion. It is also mentioned
Further Examples of Depraved Appetites.—Bijoux [9.132] speaks of a porter or garçon at the Jardin des Plantes in Paris who was a prodigious glutton. He had eaten the body of a lion that had died of disease at the menagerie. He ate with avidity the most disgusting things to satiate his depraved appetite. He showed further signs of a perverted mind by classifying the animals of the menagerie according to the form of their excrement, of which he had a collection. He died of indigestion following a meal of eight pounds of hot bread.
Percy [9.133] saw the famous Tarrare, who died at Versailles, at about twenty-six years of age. At seventeen he weighed 100 pounds. He ate a quarter of beef in twenty-four hours. He was fond of the most revolting things. He particularly relished the flesh of serpents and would quickly devour the largest. In the presence of Lorenze he seized a live cat with his teeth, eventrated it, sucked its blood, and ate it, leaving the bare skeleton only. In about thirty minutes he rejected the hairs in the manner of birds of prey and carnivorous animals. He also ate dogs in the same manner. On one occasion it was said that he swallowed a living eel without chewing it; but he had first bitten off its head. He ate almost instantly a dinner that had been prepared for 15 vigorous workmen and drank the accompanying water and took their aggregate allowance of salt at the same time. After this meal his abdomen was so swollen that it resembled a balloon. He was seen by Courville, a surgeon-major in a military hospital, where he had swallowed a wooden box wrapped in plain white paper. This he passed the next day with the paper intact. The General-in-chief had seen him devour thirty pounds of raw liver and lungs. Nothing seemed to diminish his appetite. He waited around butcher-shops to eat what was discarded for the dogs. He drank the bleedings of the hospital and ate the dead from the dead-houses. He was suspected of eating a child of fourteen months, but no proof could be produced of this. He was of middle height and was always heated and sweating. He died of a purulent diarrhea, all his intestines and peritoneum being in a suppurating condition.
Fulton [9.134] mentions a girl of six who exhibited a marked taste for feeding on slugs, beetles, cockroaches, spiders, and repulsive insects. This child had been carefully brought up and was one of 13 children, none of whom displayed any similar depravity of appetite. The child was of good disposition and slightly below the normal mental standard for her age. At the age of fourteen her appetite became normal.
In the older writings many curious instances of abnormal appetite are
The habit of dirt eating or clay-eating, called pica, is well authenticated in many countries. The Ephemerides contains mention of it; Hunter speaks of the blacks who eat potters' clay; Bartholinus *[190] describes dirt-eating as does also à Castro. [9.137] Properly speaking, dirt-eating should be called geophagism; it is common in the Antilles and South America, among the low classes, and is seen in the negroes and poorest classes of some portions of the Southern United States. It has also been reported from Java, China, Japan, and is said to have been seen in Spain and Portugal. Peat-eating or bog-eating is still seen in some parts of Ireland.
There were a number of people in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries who had formed the habit of eating small pebbles after each meal. They formed the habit from seeing birds swallowing gravel after eating. A number of such cases are on record. [9.138]
There is on record the account of a man living in Würtemberg who with much voracity had eaten a suckling pig, and sometimes devoured an entire sheep. He swallowed dirt, clay, pebbles, and glass, and was addicted to intoxication by brandy. He lived sixty years in this manner and then he became abstemious; he died at seventy-nine. His omentum was very lean, but the liver covered all his abdominal viscera. His stomach was very large and thick, but the intestines were very narrow.
Ely [9.139] had a patient who was addicted to chalk-eating; this he said invariably relieved his gastric irritation. In the twenty-five years of the habit he had used over 1/2 ton of chalk; but notwithstanding this he always enjoyed good health. The Ephemerides contains a similar instance, and Verzascha mentions a lime-eater. Adams [9.140] mentions a child of three who had an instinctive desire to eat mortar. This baby was rickety and had carious teeth. It would pick its preferred diet out of the wall, and if prevented would cry loudly. When deprived of the mortar it would vomit its food until this substance was given to it again. At the time of report part of the routine duties of the sisters of this boy was to supply him with mortar containing a little sand. Lime-water was substituted, but he insisted so vigorously on the solid form of food that it had to be replaced in his diet. He suffered from small-pox; on waking up in the night with a fever, he always cried for
Arsenic Eaters.—It has been frequently stated that the peasants of Styria are in the habit of taking from two to five grains of arsenious acid daily for the purpose of improving the health, avoiding infection, and raising the whole tone of the body. It is a well-substantiated fact that the quantities taken habitually are quite sufficient to produce immediate death ordinarily. But the same might be easily said of those addicted to opium and chloral, a subject that will be considered later. Perverted appetites during pregnancy have been discussed on pages 80 and 81.
Glass-eaters, penknife-swallowers, and sword-swallowers, being exhibitionists and jugglers, and not individuals with perverted appetites, will be considered in Chapter XII.
Fasting.—The length of time which a person can live with complete abstinence from food is quite variable. Hippocrates admits the possibility of fasting more than six days without a fatal issue; but Pliny and others allow a much longer time, and both the ancient and modern literature of medicine are replete with examples of abstinence to almost incredible lengths of time. Formerly, and particularly in the Middle Ages when religious frenzy was at its highest pitch, prolonged abstinence was prompted by a desire to do penance and to gain the approbation of Heaven.
In many religions fasting has become a part of worship or religions ceremony, and from the earliest times certain sects have carried this custom to extremes. It is well known that some of the priests and anchorites of the East now subsist on the minimum amount of food, and from the earliest times before the advent of Christianity we find instances of prolonged fasting associated with religious worship. The Assyrians, the Hebrews, the Egyptians, and other Eastern nations, and also the Greeks and Romans, as well as feasting days, had their times of fasting, and some of these were quite prolonged.
At the present day religious fervor accounts for but few of our remarkable instances of abstinence, most of them being due to some form of nervous disorder, varying from hysteria and melancholia to absolute insanity. The ability seen in the Middle Ages to live on the Holy Sacrament and to resist starvation may possibly have its analogy in some of the fasting girls of the present day. In the older times these persons were said to have been nourished by angels or devils; but according to Hammond many cases both of diabolical abstinence from food and of holy fasting exhibited manifest signs of hysteric symptoms. Hammond, in his exhaustive treatise on the subject of "Fasting Girls,'' also remarks that some of the chronicles detail the exact symptoms of hysteria and without hesitation ascribe them to a devilish agency. For instance, he speaks of a young girl in the valley of Calepino who had all her limbs twisted and contracted and had a sensation in her esophagus as if a
Abstinence, or rather anorexia, is naturally associated with numerous diseases, particularly of the febrile type; but in all of these the patient is maintained by the use of nutrient enemata or by other means, and the abstinence is never complete.
A peculiar type of anorexia is that striking and remarkable digestive disturbance of hysteria which Sir William Gull has called anorexia nervosa. In this malady there is such annihilation of the appetite that in some cases it seems impossible ever to eat again. Out of it grows an antagonism to food which results at last, and in its worst forms, in spasm on the approach of food, and this in its turn gives rise to some of those remarkable cases of survival for long periods without food. As this goes on there may be an extreme degree of muscular restlessness, so that the patients wander about until exhausted. According to Osler, who reports a fatal case in a girl who, at her death, only weighed 49 pounds, nothing more pitiable is to be seen in medical practice than an advanced case of this malady. The emaciation and exhaustion are extreme, and the patient is as miserable as one with carcinoma of the esophagus, food either not being taken at all or only upon urgent compulsion.
Gull [9.141] mentions a girl of fourteen, of healthy, plump appearance, who in the beginning of February, 1887, without apparent cause evinced a great repugnance to food and soon afterward declined to take anything but a half cup of tea or coffee. Gull saw her in April, when she was much emaciated; she persisted in walking through the streets, where she was the object of remark of passers-by. At this time her height was five feet four inches, her weight 63 pounds, her temperature 97° F., her pulse 46, and her respiration from 12 to 14. She had a persistent wish to be moving all the time, despite her emaciation and the exhaustion of the nutritive functions.
There is another class of abstainers from food exemplified in the exhibitionists who either for notoriety or for wages demonstrate their ability to forego eating, and sometimes drinking, for long periods. Some have been clever frauds, who by means of artifices have carried on skilful deceptions; others have been really interesting physiologic anomalies.
Older Instances.—Democritus in 323 B. C. is said to have lived forty days by simply smelling honey and hot bread. Hippocrates remarks that most of those who endeavored to abstain five days died within that period, and even if they were prevailed upon to eat and drink before the termination of their fast they still perished. There is a possibility that some of these cases of Hippocrates were instances of pyloric carcinoma or of stenosis of the pylorus. In the older writings there are instances reported in which the period of abstinence has varied from a short time to endurance beyond the
Desbarreaux-Bernard [9.152] says that Guillaume Granié died in the prison of Toulouse in 1831, after a voluntary suicidal abstinence of sixty-three days.
Haller [9.153] cites a number of examples of long abstinence, but most extraordinary was that of a girl of Confolens, described by Citois of Poitiers, who published a history of the case in the beginning of the seventeenth century. This girl is said to have passed three entire years, from eleven to fourteen, without taking any kind of aliment. In the "Harleian Miscellanies'' is a copy of a paper humbly offered to the Royal Society by John Reynolds, containing a discourse upon prodigious abstinence, occasioned by the twelve months' fasting of a woman named Martha Taylor, a damsel of Derbyshire. Plot *[637] gives a great variety of curious anecdotes of prolonged abstinence. Ames [9.154] refers to "the true and admirable history of the maiden of Confolens,'' mentioned by Haller. In the Annual Register, vol. i., is an account of three persons who were buried five weeks in the snow; and in the same journal, in 1762, is the history of a girl who is said to have subsisted nearly four years on water. In 1684 four miners were buried in a coal-pit in Horstel, a half mile from Liège, Belgium, and lived twenty-four days without food, eventually making good recoveries. An analysis of the water used during their confinement showed an almost total absence of organic matter and only a slight residue of calcium salts. [9.155]
Joanna Crippen lay sis days in the snow without nutriment, being overcome by the cold while on the way to her house; she recovered despite her exposure. [9.156] Somis, physician to the King of Sardinia, gives an account of three women of Piedmont, Italy, who were saved from the ruins of a stable
While returning from Cambridge, February 2, 1799, Elizabeth Woodcock dismounted from her horse, which ran away, leaving her in a violent snowstorm. She was soon overwhelmed by an enormous drift six feet high. The sensation of hunger ceased after the first day and that of thirst predominated, which she quenched by sucking snow. She was discovered on the 10th of February, and although suffering from extensive gangrene of the toes, she recovered. Hamilton [9.157] says that at a barracks near Oppido, celebrated for its earthquakes, there were rescued two girls, one sixteen and the other eleven; the former had remained under the ruins without food for eleven days. This poor creature had counted the days by a light coming through a small opening. The other girl remained six days under the ruin in a confined and distressing posture, her hands pressing her cheek until they had almost made a hole in it. Two persons were buried under earthquake ruins at Messina for twenty-three and twenty-two days each.
Thomas Creaser [9.158] gives the history of Joseph Lockier of Bath, who, while going through a woods between 6 and 7 P. M., on the 18th of August, was struck insensible by a violent thunderbolt. His senses gradually returned and he felt excessively cold. His clothes were wet, and his feet so swollen that the power of the lower extremities was totally gone and that of the arms was much impaired. For a long time he was unable to articulate or to summon assistance. Early in September he heard some persons in the wood and, having managed to summon them in a feeble voice, told them his story. They declared him to be an impostor and left him. On the evening of the same day his late master came to his assistance and removed him to Swan Inn. He affirmed that during his exposure in the woods he had nothing to eat; though distressing at first, hunger soon subsided and yielded to thirst, which he appeased by chewing grass having beads of water thereon. He slept during the warmth of the day, but the cold kept him
In relating his travels in the Levant, Hasselquist mentions 1000 Abyssinians who became destitute of provisions while en route to Cairo, and who lived two months on gum arabic alone, arriving at their destination without any unusual sickness or mortality. Dr. Franklin lived on bread and water for a fortnight, at the rate of ten pounds per week, and maintained himself stout and healthy. Sir John Pringle knew a lady of ninety who lived on pure fat meat. Glower of Chelmsford had a patient who lived ten years on a pint of tea daily, only now or then chewing a half dozen raisins or almonds, but not swallowing them. Once in long intervals she took a little bread.
Brassavolus describes a younger daughter of Frederick King of Naples who lived entirely without meat, and could not endure even the taste of it, as often as she put any in her mouth she fell fainting. The monks of Monte Santo (Mount Athos) never touched animal food, but lived on vegetables, olives, end cheese. In 1806 one of them at the age of one hundred and twenty was healthy.
Sometimes in the older writings we find records of incredible abstinence. Jonston [9.159] speaks of a man in 1460 who, after an unfortunate matrimonial experience, lived alone for fifteen years, taking neither food nor drink. Petrus Aponensis cites the instance of a girl fasting for eight years. According to Jonston, Hermolus lived forty years on air alone. This same author has also collected cases of abstinence lasting eleven, twenty-two, and thirty years and cites Aristotle as an authority in substantiating his instances of fasting girls.
Wadd, the celebrated authority on corpulence, quotes Pennant in mentioning a woman in Rosshire who lived one and three-quarters years without meat or drink. Granger had under observation a woman by the name of Ann Moore, fifty-eight years of age, who fasted for two years. Fabricius Hildanus *[334] relates of Apollonia Schreiera that she lived three years without meat or drink. He also tells of Eva Flegen, who began to fast in 1596, and from that time on for sixteen years, lived without meat or drink. According to the Rev. Thos. Steill, Janet Young fasted sixteen years and partially prolonged her abstinence for fifty years. The Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, [9.160] which contains a mention of the foregoing case, also describes the case of Janet Macleod, who fasted for four years, showing no signs of emaciation. Benjamin
There is an account [9.162] of a French adventurer, the Chevalier de Saint-Lubin, who had a loathing for food and abstained from every kind of meat and drink for fifty-eight days. Saint-Sauver, at that time Lieutenant of the Bastille, put a close watch on this man and certified to the verity of the fast. The European Magazine in 1783 contained an account of the Calabria earthquake, at which time a girl of eighteen was buried under ruins for six days. The edge of a barrel fell on her ankle and partly separated it, the dust and mortar effectually stopping the hemorrhage. The foot dropped off and the wound healed without medical assistance, the girl making a complete recovery. There is an account taken from a document in the Vatican of a man living in 1306, in the reign of Pope Clement V., who fasted for two years. [9.163] McNaughton [9.164] mentions Rubin Kelsey, a medical student afflicted with melancholia, who voluntarily fasted for fifty-three days, drinking copiously and greedily of water. For the first six weeks he walked about, and was strong to the day of his death.
Hammond has proved many of the reports of "fasting girls'' to have been untrustworthy. The case of Miss Faucher of Brooklyn, who was supposed to have taken no food for fourteen years, was fraudulent. He says that Ann Moore was fed by her daughter in several ways; when washing her mother's face she used towels wet with gravy, milk, or strong arrow-root meal. She also conveyed food to her mother by means of kisses. One of the "fasting girls,'' Margaret Weiss, although only ten years old, had such powers of deception that after being watched by the priest of the parish, Dr. Bucoldianus, she was considered free from juggling, and, to everybody's astonishment, she grew, walked, and talked like other children of her age, still maintaining that she used neither food nor drink. In several other cases reported all attempts to discover imposture failed. As we approach more modern times the detection is more frequent. Sarah Jacobs, the Welsh fasting girl who attained such celebrity among the laity, was taken to Guy's Hospital on December 9, 1869, and after being watched by eight experienced nurses for eight days she died of starvation. A postmortem examination of Anna Garbero of Racconis, in Piedmont, [9.165] who died on May 19, 1828, after having endured a supposed fast of two years, eight months, and eleven days,
Modern Cases.—Turning now to modern literature, we have cases of marvelous abstinence well substantiated by authoritative evidence. Dickson [9.166] describes a man of sixty-two, suffering from monomania, who refused food for four months, but made a successful recovery. Richardson [9.167] mentions a case, happening in 1848, of a man of thirty-three who voluntarily fasted for fifty-five days. His reason for fasting, which it was impossible to combat, was that he had no gastric juice and that it was utterly useless for him to take any nutrition, as he had no means of digesting it. He lived on water until the day of his death. Richardson gives an interesting account of the changes noticed at the necropsy. There is an account of a religious mendicant of the Jain caste [9.168] who as a means of penance fasted for ninety-one days. The previous year he had fasted eighty-six days. He had spent his life in strict asceticism, and during his fasting he was always engrossed in prayer.
Collins [9.169] describes a maiden lady of eighty, always a moderate eater, who was attacked by bronchitis, during which she took food as usual. Two days after her recovery, without any known cause, she refused all food and continued to do so for thirty-three days, when she died. She was delirious throughout this fast and slept daily seven or eight hours. As a rule, she drank about a wineglassful of water each day and her urine was scanty and almost of the consistency of her feces. There is a remarkable case of a girl of seventeen [9.170] who, suffering with typhoid fever associated with engorgement of the abdomen and suppression of the functions of assimilation, fasted for four months without visible diminution in weight. Pierce [9.171] reports the history of a woman of twenty-six who fasted for three months and made an excellent recovery.
Grant [9.172] describes the "Market Harborough fasting-girl,'' a maiden of nineteen, who abstained from food from April, 1874, until December, 1877, although continually using morphia. Throughout her fast she had periodic convulsions, and voided no urine or feces for twelve months before her death. There was a middle-aged woman in England in 1860 who for two years lived on opium, gin, and water. Her chief symptoms were almost daily sickness and epileptic fits three times a week. She was absolutely constipated, and at her death her abdomen was so distended as to present the appearance of ascites. After death, the distention of the abdomen was found to be due to a coating of fat, four inches thick, in the parietes. There was no obstruction to the intestinal canal and no fecal or other accumulation within it.
King, [9.174] a surgeon, U. S. A., gives an account of the deprivation of a squad of cavalry numbering 40. While scouting for Indians on the plains they went for eighty-six hours without water; when relieved their mouths and throats were so dry that even brown sugar would not dissolve on their tongues. Many were delirious, and all had drawn fresh blood from their horses. Despite repeated vomiting, some drank their own urine. They were nearly all suffering from overpowering dyspnea, two were dead, and two were missing. The suffering was increased by the acrid atmosphere of the dry plains; the slightest exercise in this climate provoked a thirst. MacLoughlin, [9.175] the surgeon in charge of the S. S. City of Chester, speaks of a young stowaway found by the stevedores in an insensible condition after a voyage of eleven days. The man was brought on deck and revived sufficiently to be sent to St. Vincent's Hospital, N. Y., about one and one-half hours after discovery, in an extremely emaciated, cold, and nearly pulseless condition. He gave his name as John Donnelly, aged twenty, of Dumbarton, Scotland. On the whole voyage he had nothing to eat or drink. He had found some salt, of which he ate two handfuls, and he had in his pocket a small flask, empty. Into this flask he voided his urine, and afterward drank it. Until the second day he was intensely hungry, but after that time was consumed by a burning thirst; he shouted four or five hours every day, hoping that he might be heard. After this he became insensible and remembered nothing until he awakened in the hospital where, under careful treatment, he finally recovered.
Fodere mentions some workmen who were buried alive fourteen days in a cold, damp cavern under a ruin, and yet all lived. There is a modern instance of a person being buried thirty-two days beneath snow, without food. [9.176] The Lancet [9.177] notes that a pig fell off Dover Cliff and was picked up alive one hundred and sixty days after, having been partially imbedded in debris. It was so surrounded by the chalk of the cliff that little motion was possible, and warmth was secured by the enclosing material. This animal had therefore lived on its own fat during the entire period.
Among the modern exhibitionists may be mentioned Merlatti, the fasting Italian, and Succi, both of whom fasted in Paris; Alexander Jacques, who fasted fifty days; and the American, Dr. Tanner, who achieved great notoriety by a fast of forty days, during which time he exhibited progressive emaciation. Merlatti, who fasted in Paris in 1886, lost 22 pounds in a
Although all these modern fasters have been accused of being jugglers and deceivers, throughout their fasts they showed constant decrease in weight, and inspection by visitors was welcomed at all times. They invariably invited medical attention, and some were under the closest surveillance; although we may not implicitly believe that the fasts were in every respect bona fide, yet we must acknowledge that these men displayed great endurance in their apparent indifference for food, the deprivation of which in a normal individual for one day only causes intense suffering.
Anomalies of Temperature.—In reviewing the reports of the highest recorded temperatures of the human body, it must be remembered that no matter how good the evidence or how authentic the reference there is always chance for malingering. It is possible to send the index of an ordinary thermometer up to the top in ten or fifteen seconds by rubbing it between the slightly moistened thumb and the finger, exerting considerable pressure at the time. There are several other means of artificially producing enormous temperatures with little risk of detection, and as the sensitiveness of the thermometer becomes greater the easier is the deception.
Mackenzie [9.179] reports the temperature-range of a woman of forty-two who suffered with erysipelatous inflammation of a stump of the leg. Throughout a somewhat protracted illness, lasting from February 20 to April 22, 1879, the temperature many times registered between 108° and 111° F. About a year later she was again troubled with the stump, and this time the temperature
MacNab [9.180] records a case of rheumatic fever in which the temperature was 111.4° F. as indicated by two thermometers, one in the axilla and the other in the groin. This high degree of temperature was maintained after death. Before the Clinical Society of London, Teale [9.181] reported a case in which, at different times, there were recorded temperatures from 110° to 120° F. in the mouth, rectum, and axilla. According to a comment in the Lancet, there was no way that the patient could have artificially produced this temperature, and during convalescence the thermometer used registered normal as well as subnormal temperatures. Cæsar [9.182] speaks of a girl of fifteen with enteric fever, whose temperature, on two occasions 110° F., reached the limit of the mercury in the thermometer.
There have been instances mentioned in which, in order to escape duties, prisoners have artificially produced high temperatures, and the same has occasionally been observed among conscripts in the army or navy. There is an account [9.183] of a habit of prisoners of introducing tobacco into the rectum, thereby reducing the pulse to an alarming degree and insuring their exemption from labor. In the Adelaide Hospital in Dublin [9.184] there was a case in which the temperature in the vagina and groin registered from 120° to 130°, and one day it reached 130.8° F.; the patient recovered. Ormerod [9.185] mentions a nervous and hysteric woman of thirty-two, a sufferer with acute rheumatism, whose temperature rose to 115.8° F. She insisted on leaving the hospital when her temperature was still 104°.
Wunderlich mentions a case of tetanus in which the temperature rose to 46.40° C. (115.5° F.), and before death it was as high as 44.75° C. Obernier [9.186] mentions 108° F. in typhoid fever. Kartulus [9.187] speaks of a child of five, with typhoid fever, who at different times had temperatures of 107°, 108°, and 108.2° F.; it finally recovered. He also quotes a case of pyemia in a boy of seven, whose temperature rose to 107.6° F. He also speaks of Wunderlich's case of remittent fever, in which the temperature reached 107.8° F. Wilson Fox, in mentioning a case of rheumatic fever, says the temperature reached 110° F.
Philipson [9.188] gives an account of a female servant of twenty-three who suffered from a neurosis which influenced the vasomotor nervous system, and caused hysteria associated with abnormal temperatures. On the evening of July 9th her temperature was 112° F.; on the 16th, it was 111°; on the 18th, 112°; on the 24th, 117° (axilla); on the 28th, in the left axilla it
In cases of insolation it is not at all unusual to see a patient whose temperature cannot be registered by an ordinary thermometer. Any one who has been resident at a hospital in which heat-cases are received in the summer will substantiate this. At the Emergency Hospital in Washington, during recent years, several cases have been brought in which the temperatures were above the ordinary registering point of the hospital thermometers, and one of the most extraordinary cases recovered.
At a meeting of the Association of American Physicians in 1895, Jacobi of New York reported a case of hyperthermy reaching 148° F. This instance occurred in a profoundly hysteric fireman, who suffered a rather severe injury as the result of a fall between the revolving rods of some machinery, and was rendered unconscious for four days. Thereafter he complained of various pains, bloody expectoration, and had convulsions at varying intervals, with loss of consciousness, rapid respiration, unaccelerated pulse, and excessively high temperature, the last on one occasion reaching the height of 148° F. The temperature was taken carefully in the presence of a number of persons, and all possible precautions were observed to prevent deception. The thermometer was variously placed in the mouth, anus, axilla, popliteal space, groin, urethra, and different instruments were from time to time employed. The behavior of the patient was much influenced by attention and by suggestion. For a period of five days the temperature averaged continuously between 120° and 125° F.
In the discussion of the foregoing case, Welch of Baltimore referred to a case that had been reported in which it was said that the temperature reached as high as 171° F. These extraordinary elevations of temperature, he said, appear physically impossible when they are long continued, as they are fatal to the life of the animal cell.
Jacobi closed the discussion by insisting that his observations had been made with the greatest care and precautions and under many different circumstances. He had at first viewed the case with skepticism, but he could not doubt the results of his observation. He added, that although we cannot explain anomalies of this kind, this constitutes no reason why we should deny their occurrence.
Duffy [9.191] records one of the lowest temperatures on record in a negress of thirty-five who, after an abortion, showed only 84° F. in the mouth and axillæ. She died the next day.
The amount of external heat that a human being can endure is sometimes remarkable, and the range of temperature compatible with life is none the less extraordinary. The Esquimaux and the inhabitants of the extreme north at times endure a temperature of—60° F., while some of the people living in equatorial regions are apparently healthy at a temperature as high as 130° F., and work in the sun, where the temperature is far higher. In the engine-rooms of some steamers plying in tropical waters temperatures as high as 150° F. have been registered, yet the engineers and the stokers become habituated to this heat and labor in it without apparent suffering. In Turkish baths, by progressively exposing themselves to graduated temperatures, persons have been able to endure a heat considerably above the boiling point, though having to protect their persons from the furniture and floors and walls of the rooms. The hot air in these rooms is intensely dry, provoking profuse perspiration. Sir Joseph Banks remained some time in a room the temperature of which was 211° F., and his own temperature never mounted above normal.
There have been exhibitionists who claimed particular ability to endure intense heats without any visible disadvantage. These men are generally styled "human salamanders,'' and must not be confounded with the "fire-eaters,'' who, as a rule, are simply jugglers. Martinez, [9.192] the so-called "French Salamander,'' was born in Havana. As a baker he had exposed himself from boyhood to very high temperatures, and he subsequently gave public exhibitions of his extraordinary ability to endure heat. He remained in an oven erected in the middle of the Gardens of Tivoli for fourteen minutes when the temperature in the oven was 338° F. His pulse on entering was 76 and on coming out 130. He often duplicated this feat before vast assemblages, though hardly ever attaining the same degree of temperature, the thermometer generally varying from 250° F. upward. Chamouni was the celebrated "Russian Salamander,'' assuming the title of "The Incombustible.'' [9.193] His great feat was to enter an oven with a raw leg of mutton, not retiring
In this connection Tillet speaks of some servant girls to a baker who for fifteen minutes supported a temperature of 270° F.; for ten minutes, 279° F.; and for several minutes, 364° F., thus surpassing Martinez. In the Glasgow Medical Journal, 1859, there is an account of a baker's daughter who remained twelve minutes in an oven at 274° F. Chantrey, the sculptor, and his workman are said to have entered with impunity a furnace of over 320° F.
In some of the savage ceremonies of fire worship the degree of heat endured by the participants is really remarkable, and even if the rites are performed by skilful juggling, nevertheless, the ability to endure intense heat is worthy of comment. A recent report says:—
"The most remarkable ceremonial of fire worship that survives in this country is practiced by the Navajos. They believe in purification by fire, and to this end they literally wash themselves in it. The feats they perform with it far exceed the most wonderful acts of fire-eating and fire-handling accomplished by civilized jugglers. In preparation for the festival a gigantic heap of dry wood is gathered from the desert. At the appointed moment the great pile of inflammable brush is lighted and in a few moments the whole of it is ablaze. Storms of sparks fly 100 feet or more into the air, and ashes fall about like a shower of snow. The ceremony always takes place at night and the effect of it is both weird and impressive.
"Just when the fire is raging at its hottest a whistle is heard from the outer darkness and a dozen warriors, lithe and lean, dressed simply in narrow white breech-cloths and moccasins and daubed with white earth so as to look like so many living statues, come bounding through the entrance to the corral that incloses the flaming heap. Yelping like wolves, they move slowly toward the fire, bearing aloft slender wands tipped with balls of eagle-down. Rushing around the fire, always to the left, they begin thrusting their wands toward the fire, trying to burn off the down from the tips. Owing to the intensity of the heat this is difficult to accomplish. One warrior dashes wildly toward the fire and retreats; another lies as close to the ground as a frightened lizard, endeavoring to wriggle himself up to the fire; others seek to catch on their wands the sparks that fly in the air. At last one by one they all succeed in burning the downy balls from the wands. The test of endurance is very severe, the heat of the fire being so great.
"The remarkable feats, however, are performed in connection with another dance that follows. This is heralded by a tremendous blowing of horns. The noise grows louder and louder until suddenly ten or more men run into the corral, each of them carrying two thick bundles of shredded cedar bark.
"No satisfactory explanation seems to be obtainable as to the means by which the dancers in this extraordinary performance are able to escape injury. Apparently they do not suffer from any burns. Doubtless some protection is afforded by the earth that is applied to their bodies.''
Spontaneous combustion of the human body, although doubted by the medical men of this day, has for many years been the subject of much discussion; only a few years ago, among the writers on this subject, there were as many credulous as there were skeptics. There is, however, no reliable evidence to support the belief in the spontaneous combustion of the body. A few apochryphal cases only have been recorded. The opinion that the tissues of drunkards might be so saturated with alcohol as to render the body combustible is disproved by the simple experiment of placing flesh in spirits for a long time and then trying to burn it. Liebig and others found that flesh soaked in alcohol would burn only until the alcohol was consumed. That various substances ignite spontaneously is explained by chemic phenomena, the conditions of which do not exist in the human frame. Watkins [9.194] in speaking of the inflammability of the human body remarks that on one occasion he tried to consume the body of a pirate given to him by a U. S. Marshal. He built a rousing fire and piled wood on all night, and had not got the body consumed by the forenoon of the following day. Quite a feasible reason for supposed spontaneous human combustion is to be found in several cases quoted by Taylor, *[757] in which persons falling asleep, possibly near a fire, have been accidentally ignited, and becoming first stupefied by the smoke, and then suffocated, have been burned to charcoal without awaking. Drunkenness or great exhaustion may also explain certain cases. In substantiation of the possibility of Taylor's instances several prominent physiologists have remarked that persons have endured severe burns during sleep and have never wakened. There is an account of a man who lay down on the top of a lime kiln, which was fired during his sleep, and one leg was burned entirely off without awaking the man, a fact explained by the very slow and gradual increase of temperature.
Overton, [9.195] in a paper on this subject, remarks that in the "Memoirs of the Royal Society of Paris,'' 1751, there is related an account of a butcher who, opening a diseased beef, was burned by a flame which issued from the maw of the animal; there was first an explosion which rose to a height of five feet and continued to blaze several minutes with a highly offensive odor. Morton saw a flame emanate from beneath the skin of a hog at the instant of making an incision through it. Ruysch, the famous Dutch physician, remarks that he introduced a hollow bougie into a woman's stomach he had just opened, and he observed a vapor issuing from the mouth of the tube, and this lit on contact with the atmosphere. This is probably an exaggeration of the properties of the hydrogen sulphid found in the stomach. There is an account [9.196] of a man of forty-three, a gross feeder, who was particularly fond of fats and a victim of psoriasis palmaria, who on going to bed one night, after extinguishing the light in the room, was surprised to find himself enveloped in a phosphorescent halo; this continued for several days and recurred after further indiscretions in diet. It is well known that there are insects and other creatures of the lower animal kingdom which possess the peculiar quality of phosphorescence.
There are numerous cases of spontaneous combustion of the human body reported by the older writers. Bartholinus mentions an instance after the person had drunk too much wine. Fouquet [9.197] mentions a person ignited by lightning. Schrader [9.198] speaks of a person from whose mouth and fauces after a debauch issued fire. Schurig [9.199] tells of flames issuing from the vulva, and Moscati [9.200] records the same occurrence in parturition, Sinibaldust *[737] Borellus, *[841] and Bierling *[211] have also written on this subject, and the Ephemerides contains a number of instances.
In 1763 Bianchini, Prebendary of Verona, published an account of the death of Countess Cornelia Bandi of Cesena, who in her sixty-second year was consumed by a fire kindled in her own body. In explanation Bianchini
There is an instance reported of a professor of mathematics [9.202] of thirty-five years of age and temperate, who, feeling a pain in his left leg, discovered a pale flame about the size of a ten-cent piece issuing therefrom. As recent as March, 1850, in a Court of Assizes in Darmstadt during the trial of John Stauff, accused of the murder of the Countess Goerlitz, the counsel for the defense advanced the theory of spontaneous human combustion, and such eminent doctors as von Siebold, Graff, von Liebig, and other prominent members of the Hessian medical fraternity were called to comment on its possibility; principally on their testimony a conviction and life-imprisonment was secured. In 1870 [9.203] there was a woman of thirty-seven, addicted to alcoholic liquors, who was found in her room with her viscera and part of her limbs consumed by fire, but the hair and clothes intact. According to Walford, *[813] in the Scientific American for 1870, there was a case reported by Flowers of Louisiana of a man a hard drinker, who was sitting by a fire surrounded by his Christmas guests, when suddenly flames of a bluish tint burst from his mouth and nostrils and he was soon a corpse. Flowers states that the body remained extremely warm for a much longer period than usual.
Statistics.—From an examination of 28 cases of spontaneous combustion, Jacobs [9.204] makes the following summary:—
(1) It has always occurred in the human living body.
(2) The subjects were generally old persons.
(3) It was noticed more frequently in women than in men.
(4) All the persons were alone at the time of occurrence.
(5) They all led an idle life.
(6) They were all corpulent or intemperate.
(7) Most frequently at the time of occurrence there was a light and some ignitible substance in the room.
(8) The combustion was rapid and was finished in from one to seven hours.
(10) The trunk was usually the part most frequently destroyed; some part of the head and extremities remained.
(11) With but two exceptions, the combustion occurred in winter and in the northern regions.
Magnetic, Phosphorescent, and Electric Anomalies.—There have been certain persons who have appeared before the public under such names as the "human magnet,'' the "electric lady,'' etc. There is no doubt that some persons are supercharged with magnetism and electricity. For instance, it is quite possible for many persons by drawing a rubber comb through the hair to produce a crackling noise, and even produce sparks in the dark. Some exhibitionists have been genuine curiosities of this sort, while others by skilfully arranged electric apparatus are enabled to perform their feats. A curious case was reported in this country many years ago, [9.205] which apparently emanates from an authoritative source. On the 25th of January, 1837, a certain lady became suddenly and unconsciously charged with electricity. Her newly acquired power was first exhibited when passing her hand over the face of her brother; to the astonishment of both, vivid electric sparks passed from the ends of each finger. This power continued with augmented force from the 25th of January to the last of February, but finally became extinct about the middle of May of the same year.
Schneider [9.206] mentions a strong, healthy, dark-haired Capuchin monk, the removal of whose head-dress always induced a number of shining, crackling sparks from his hair or scalp. Bartholinus observed a similar peculiarity in Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua. In another case luminous sparks were given out whenever the patient passed urine. Marsh relates two cases of phthisis in which the heads of the patients were surrounded by phosphorescent lights. Kaster mentions an instance in which light was seen in the perspiration and on the body linen after violent exertion. After exertion Jurine, [9.207] Guyton, and Driessen observed luminous urine passed by healthy persons, and Nasse mentions the same phenomenon in a phthisical patient. Percy and Stokes have observed phosphorescence in a carcinomatous ulcer.
There is a description of a Zulu boy exhibited in Edinburgh in 1882 [9.208] whose body was so charged with electricity that he could impart a shock to any of his patrons. He was about six and a-half years of age, bright, happy, and spoke English thoroughly well. From infancy he had been distinguished for this faculty, variable with the state of the atmosphere. As a rule, the act of shaking hands was generally attended by a quivering sensation like that produced by an electric current, and contact with his tongue gave a still sharper shock.
Only recently there was exhibited through this country a woman named Annie May Abbott, who styled herself the "Georgia Electric Lady.'' This person gave exhibitions of wonderful magnetic power, and invited the inspection and discussion of medical men. Besides her chief accomplishment she possessed wonderful strength and was a skilled equilibrist. By placing her hands on the sides of a chair upon which a heavy man was seated, she would raise it without apparent effort. She defied the strongest person in the audience to take from her hand a stick which she had once grasped. Recent reports say that Miss Abbott is amusing herself now with the strong men of China and Japan. The Japanese wrestlers, whose physical strength is celebrated the world over, were unable to raise Miss Abbott from the floor, while with the tips of her fingers she neutralized their most strenuous efforts to lift even light objects, such as a cane, from a table. The possibilities, in this advanced era of electric mechanism, make fraud and deception so easy that it is extremely difficult to pronounce on the genuineness of any of the modern exhibitions of human electricity.
The Effects of Cold.—Gmelin, the famous scientist and investigator of this subject, says that man has lived where the temperature falls as low as—157° F. Habit is a marked factor in this endurance. In Russia men and women work with their breasts and arms uncovered in a temperature many degrees below zero and without attention to the fact. In the most rigorous winter the inhabitants of the Alps work with bare breasts and the children sport about in the snow. Wrapping himself in his pelisse the Russian sleeps in the snow. This influence of habit is seen in the inability of intruders in northern lands to endure the cold, which has no effect on the indigenous people. On their way to besiege a Norwegian stronghold in 1719, 7000 Swedes perished in the snows and cold of their neighboring country. On the retreat from Prague in 1742, the French army, under the rigorous sky of Bohemia, lost 4000 men in ten days. It is needless to speak of the thousands lost in Napoleon's campaign in Russia in 1812.
Pinel has remarked that the insane are less liable to the effects of cold than their normal fellows, and mentions the escape of a naked maniac, who, without any visible after-effect, in January, even, when the temperature was—4° F., ran into the snow and gleefully rubbed his body with ice. In the French
Psychologic Effects of Cold.—Lambert says that the mind acts more quickly in cold weather, and that there has been a notion advanced that the emotion of hatred is much stronger in cold weather, a theory exemplified by the assassination of Paul of Russia, the execution of Charles of England, and that of Louis of France. Emotions, such as love, bravery, patriotism, etc., together with diverse forms of excitement, seem to augment the ability of the human body to endure cold.
Cold seems to have little effect on the generative function. In both Sweden, Norway, and other Northern countries the families are as large, if not larger, than in other countries. Cold undoubtedly imparts vigor, and, according to DeThou, Henry III. lost his effeminacy and love of pleasure in winter and reacquired a spirit of progress and reformation. Zimmerman has remarked that in a rigorous winter the lubberly Hollander is like the gayest Frenchman. Cold increases appetite, and Plutarch says Brutus experienced intense bulimia while in the mountains, barely escaping perishing. With full rations the Greek soldiers under Xenophon suffered intense hunger as they traversed the snow-clad mountains of Armenia.
Beaupré remarks that those who have the misfortune to be buried under the snow perish less quickly than those who are exposed to the open air, his observations having been made during the retreat of the French army from Moscow. In Russia it is curious to see fish frozen stiff, which, after transportation for great distances, return to life when plunged into cold water.
Sudden death from cold baths and cold drinks has been known for many centuries. Mauriceau [9.210] mentions death from cold baptism on the head, and Graseccus, *[385] Scaliger, Rush, *[696] Schenck, *[718] and Velschius *[798] mention deaths from cold drinks. Aventii, Fabricius Hildanus, *[334] the Ephemerides, and Curry relate instances of a fatal issue following the ingestion of cold water by an individual in a superheated condition. Cridland [9.211] describes a case of sudden insensibility following the drinking of a cold fluid. It is said that Alexander the Great narrowly escaped death from a constrictive spasm, due to the fact that while in a copious sweat he plunged into the river Cydnus. Tissot gives an instance of a man dying at a fountain after a long draught on a hot day. Hippocrates mentions a similar fact, and there are many modern instances.
The ordinary effects of cold on the skin locally and the system generally will not be mentioned here, except to add the remark of Captain Wood that in Greenland, among his party, could be seen ulcerations, blisters, and other painful lesions of the skin. In Siberia the Russian soldiers cover their noses and ears with greased paper to protect them against the cold. The Laplanders
Effects of Working in Compressed Air.—According to a writer in Cassier's Magazine, [9.212] the highest working pressures recorded have been close to 50 pounds per square inch, but with extreme care in the selection of men, and corresponding care on the part of the men, it is very probable that this limit may be considerably exceeded. Under average conditions the top limit may be placed at about 45 pounds, the time of working, according to conditions, varying from four to six hours per shift. In the cases in which higher pressures might be used, the shifts for the men should be restricted to two of two hours each, separated by a considerable interval. As an example of heavy pressure work under favorable conditions as to ventilation, without very bad effects on the men, Messrs. Sooysmith & Company had an experience with a work on which men were engaged in six-hour shifts, separated into two parts by half-hour intervals for lunch. This work was excavation in open, seamy rock, carried on for several weeks under about 45 pounds pressure. The character of the material through which the caisson is being sunk or upon which it may be resting at any time bears quite largely upon the ability of the men to stand the pressure necessary to hold back the water at that point. If the material be so porous as to permit a considerable leakage of air through it, there will naturally result a continuous change of air in the working chamber, and a corresponding relief of the men from the deleterious effects which are nearly always produced by over-used air.
From Strasburg in 1861 Bucuoy reports that during the building of a bridge at Kehl laborers had to work in compressed air, and it was found that the respirations lost their regularity; there were sometimes intense pains in the ears, which after a while ceased. It required a great effort to speak at 2 1/2 atmospheres, and it was impossible to whistle. Perspiration was very profuse. Those who had to work a long time lost their appetites, became emaciated, and congestion of the lung and brain was observed. The movements of the limbs were easier than in normal air, though afterward muscular and rheumatic pains were often observed.
The peculiar and extraordinary development of the remaining special senses when one of the number is lost has always been a matter of great interest. Deaf people have always been remarkable for their acuteness of vision, touch, and smell. Blind persons, again, almost invariably have the sense of hearing, touch, and what might be called the senses of location and temperature exquisitely developed. This substitution of the senses is but; an example of the great law of compensation which we find throughout nature.
It is not only in those who are congenitally deficient in any of the senses that the remarkable examples of compensation are seen, but sometimes late in life these are developed. The celebrated sculptor, Daniel de Volterre, became blind after he had obtained fame, and notwithstanding the deprivation of his chief sense he could, by touch alone, make a statue in clay after a model. Le Cat also mentions a woman, perfectly deaf, who without any instruction had learned to comprehend anything said to her by the movements of the lips alone. It was not necessary to articulate any sound, but only to give the labial movements. When tried in a foreign language she was at a loss to understand a single word.
Since the establishment of the modern high standard of blind asylums and deaf-and-dumb institutions, where so many ingenious methods have been developed and are practiced in the education of their inmates, feats which were formerly considered marvelous are within the reach of all those under tuition To-day, those born deaf-mutes are taught to speak and to understand by the movements of the lips alone, and the blind read, become expert workmen, musicians, and even draughtsmen. D. D. Wood of Philadelphia, although one of the finest organists in the country, has been totally blind for years. It is said that he acquires new compositions with almost as great facility as one not afflicted with his infirmity. "Blind Tom,'' a semi-idiot and blind negro achieved world-wide notoriety by his skill upon the piano.
In some extraordinary cases in which both sight and hearing, and sometimes even taste and smell, are wanting, the individuals in a most wonderful way have developed the sense of touch to such a degree that it almost replaces the absent senses. The extent of this compensation is most beautifully illustrated in the cases of Laura Bridgman and Helen Keller. No better examples could be found of the compensatory ability of differentiated organs to replace absent or disabled ones.
In the present day there is a girl as remarkable as Laura Bridgman, and who bids fair to attain even greater fame by her superior development. This girl, Helen Keller, is both deaf and blind; she has been seen in all the principal cities of the United States, has been examined by thousands of persons, and is famous for her victories over infirmities. On account of her wonderful power of comprehension special efforts have been made to educate Helen Keller, and for this reason her mind is far more finely developed than in most girls of her age. It is true that she has the advantage over Laura Bridgman in having the senses of taste and smell, both of which she has developed to a most marvelous degree of acuteness. It is said that by odor alone she is always conscious of the presence of another person, no matter how noiseless his entrance into the room in which she may be. She cannot be persuaded to take food which she dislikes, and is never deceived in the taste. It is, however, by the means of what might be called "touch-sight'' that the most miraculous of her feats are performed. By placing her hands on the face of a visitor she is able to detect shades of emotion which the normal human eye fails to distinguish, or, in the words of one of her lay observers, "her sense of touch is developed to such an exquisite extent as to form a better eye for her than are yours or mine for us; and what is more, she forms judgments of character by this sight.'' According
At a meeting of the American Association to Promote the Teaching of Speech to the Deaf, in Philadelphia, July, 1896, this child appeared, and in a well-chosen and distinct speech told the interesting story of her own progress. Miss Sarah Fuller, principal of the Horace Mann School for the Deaf, Boston, is credited with the history of Helen Keller, as follows:—
"Helen Keller's home is in Tuscumbia, Ala. At the age of nineteen months she became deaf, dumb, and blind after convulsions lasting three days. Up to the age of seven years she had received no instruction. Her parents engaged Miss Sullivan of the Perkins Institute for the Blind, South Boston, to go to Alabama as her teacher. She was familiar with methods of teaching the blind, but knew nothing about instructing deaf children. Miss Sullivan called upon Miss Fuller for some instruction on the subject. Miss Fuller was at that time experimenting with two little deaf girls to make them speak as hearing children do, and called Miss Sullivan's attention to it. Miss Sullivan left for her charge, and from time to time made reports to Dr. Anagnos the principal of the Perkins School, which mentioned the remarkable mind which she found this little Alabama child possessed. The following year Miss Sullivan brought the child, then eight years old, to Boston, and Mrs. Keller came with her. They visited Miss Fuller's school. Miss Sullivan had taught the child the manual alphabet, and she had obtained much information by means of it. Miss Fuller noticed how quickly she appreciated the ideas given to her in that way.
"It is interesting to note that before any attempt had been made to teach the child to speak or there had been any thought of it, her own quickness of thought had suggested it to her as she talked by hand alphabet to Miss Fuller. Her mother, however, did not approve Miss Fuller's suggestion that an attempt should be made to teach her speech. She remained at the Perkins School, under Miss Sullivan's charge, another year, when the matter was brought up again, this time by little Helen herself, who said she must speak. Miss Sullivan brought her to Miss Fuller's school one day and she received her first lesson, of about two hours' length.
"The child's hand was first passed over Miss Fuller's face, mouth, and neck, then into her mouth, touching the tongue, teeth, lips, and hard palate,
Eleven such lessons were given, at intervals of three or four days, until she had acquired all the elements of speech, Miss Sullivan in the meantime practicing with the child on the lessons received. The first word spoken was arm, which was at once associated with her arm; this gave her great delight. She soon learned to pronounce words by herself, combining the elements she had learned, and used them to communicate her simple wants. The first connected language she used was a description she gave Miss Fuller of a visit she had made to Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, in all over 200 words. They were, all but two or three, pronounced correctly. She now, six years afterward, converses quite fluently with people who know nothing of the manual alphabet by placing a couple of fingers on the speaker's lips, her countenance showing great intentness and brightening as she catches the meaning. Anybody can understand her answers.''
In a beautiful eulogy of Helen Keller in a recent number of Harper's Magazine, Charles Dudley Warner expresses the opinion that she is the purest-minded girl of her age in the world.
Edith Thomas, a little inmate of the Perkins Institute for the Blind, at South Boston, is not only deaf and dumb but also blind. She was a fellow-pupil with Helen Keller, and in a measure duplicated the rapid progress of her former playmate. In commenting on progress in learning to talk the Boston Herald says: "And as the teacher said the word `Kitty' once or twice she placed the finger-tips of one hand upon the teacher's lips and with the other hand clasped tightly the teacher's throat; then, guided by the muscular action of the throat and the position of the teeth, tongue, and lips, as interpreted by that marvelous and delicate touch of hers, she said the word `Kitty' over and over again distinctly in a very pretty way. She can be called dumb no longer, and before the summer vacation comes she will have mastered quite a number of words, and such is her intelligence and patience, in spite of the loss of three senses, she may yet speak quite readily.
"Her history is very interesting. She was born in Maplewood, and up to the time of contracting diphtheria and scarlet fever, which occurred when
According to recent reports, in the vicinity of Rothesay, on the Clyde, there resides a lady totally deaf and dumb, who, in point of intelligence, scholarship, and skill in various ways, far excels many who have all their faculties. Having been educated partly in Paris, she is a good French scholar, and her general composition is really wonderful. She has a shorthand system of her own, and when writing letters, etc., she uses a peculiar machine, somewhat of the nature of a typewriter.
Among the deaf persons who have acquired fame in literature and the arts have been Dibil Alkoffay, an Arabian poet of the eighth century; the tactician, Folard; the German poet, Engelshall; Le Sage; La Condamine, who composed an epigram on his own infirmity; and Beethoven, the famous musician. Fernandez, a Spanish painter of the sixteenth century, was a deaf-mute.
All the world pities the blind, but despite their infirmities many have achieved the highest glory in every profession. Since Homer there have been numerous blind poets. Milton lost none of his poetic power after he had become blind. The Argovienne, Louise Egloff, and Daniel Leopold, who died in 1753, were blind from infancy. Blacklock, Avisse, Koslov, and La Mott-Houdart are among other blind poets. Asconius Pedianus, a grammarian of the first century; Didyme, the celebrated doctor of Alexandria; the Florentine, Bandolini, so well versed in Latin poetry; the celebrated Italian grammarian, Pontanus; the German, Griesinger, who spoke seven languages; the philologist, Grassi, who died in 1831, and many others have become blind at an age more or less advanced in their working lives.
Probably the most remarkable of the blind scientists was the Englishman, Saunderson, who in 1683, in his first year, was deprived of sight after an attack of small-pox. In spite of his complete blindness he assiduously studied the sciences, and graduated with honor at the University of Cambridge in mathematics and optics. His sense of touch was remarkable. He had a collection of old Roman medals, all of which, without mistake, he could distinguish by their impressions. He also seemed to have the ability to judge distance,
In the seventeenth century the sculptor, Jean Gonnelli, born in Tuscany, became blind at twenty years; but in spite of his infirmity he afterward executed what were regarded as his masterpieces. It is said that he modeled a portrait of Pope Urban VIII., using as a guide his hand, passed from time to time over the features. Lomazzo, the Italian painter of the eighteenth century, is said to have continued his work after becoming blind.
Several men distinguished for their bravery and ability in the art of war have been blind. Jean de Troczow, most commonly known by the name of Ziska, in 1420 lost his one remaining eye, and was afterward known as the "old blind dog,'' but, nevertheless, led his troops to many victories. Froissart beautifully describes the glorious death of the blind King of Bohemia at the battle of Crécy in 1346. Louis III., King of Provence; Boleslas III., Duke of Bohemia; Magnus IV., King of Norway, and Bela II., King of Hungary, were blind. Nathaniel Price, a librarian of Norwich in the last century, lost his sight in a voyage to America, which, however, did not interfere in any degree with his duties, for his books were in as good condition and their location as directly under his knowledge, during his blindness as they were in his earlier days. At the present day in New York there is a blind billiard expert who occasionally gives exhibitions of his prowess.
Feats of Memory.—From time to time there have been individuals, principally children, who gave wonderful exhibitions of memory, some for dates, others for names, and some for rapid mental calculation. Before the Anthropological Society in 1880 Broca exhibited a lad of eleven, a Piedmontese, named Jacques Inaudi. This boy, with a trick monkey, had been found earning his livelihood by begging and by solving mentally in a few minutes the most difficult problems in arithmetic. A gentleman residing in Marseilles had seen him while soliciting alms perform most astonishing feats of memory, and brought him to Paris. In the presence of the Society Broca gave him verbally a task in multiplication, composed of some trillions to be multiplied by billions. In the presence of all the members he accomplished his task in less than ten minutes, and without the aid of pencil and paper, solving the whole problem mentally. Although not looking intelligent, and not being able to read or write, he perhaps could surpass any one in the world in his particular feat. It was stated that he proceeded from left to right in his calculations, instead of from right to left in the usual manner. In his personal appearance the only thing indicative of his wonderful abilities was his high forehead.
"Oscar was born blind and, as frequently occurs in such cases, the touch-sense compensatingly developed extraordinarily. It was observed that after touching a person once or twice with his stubby baby fingers, he could thereafter unfailingly recognize and call by name the one whose hand he again felt. The optic sense is the only one defective, for tests reveal that his hearing, taste, and smell are acute, and the tactile development surpasses in refinement. But his memory is the most remarkable peculiarity, for when his sister conned her lessons at home, baby Oscar, less than two years old, would recite all he heard her read. Unlike some idiot savants, in which category he is not to be included, who repeat parrot-like what they have once heard, baby Oscar seems to digest what he hears, and requires at least more than one repetition of what he is trying to remember, after which he possesses the information imparted and is able to yield it at once when questioned. It is not necessary for him to commence at the beginning, as the possessors of some notable memories were compelled to do, but he skips about to any required part of his repertoire.
"He sings a number of songs and counts in different languages, but it is not supposable that he understands every word he utters. If, however, his understanding develops as it promises to do, he will become a decided polyglot. He has mastered an appalling array of statistics, such as the areas in square miles of hundreds of countries, the population of the world's principal cities, the birthdays of all the Presidents, the names of all the cities of the United States of over 10,000 inhabitants, and a lot of mathematical data. He is greatly attracted by music, and this leads to the expectation that when more mature he may rival Blind Tom.
"In disposition he is very amiable, but rather grave beyond his years. He shows great affection for his father, and is as playful and as happy as the ordinary child. He sleeps soundly, has a good childish appetite, and appears to be in perfect health. His motions are quick but not nervous, and are as well coordinated as in a child of ten. In fact, he impresses one as having the intelligence of a much older child than three years (now five years), but his height, dentition, and general appearance indicate the truthfulness of the age assigned. An evidence of his symmetrical mental development appears in his extreme inquisitiveness. He wants to understand the meaning of what he is taught, and some kind of an explanation must be given him for what he learns. Were his memory alone abnormally great and other faculties defective, this would hardly be the case; but if so, it cannot at present be determined.
"Sudden exaltation of the memory is often the consequence of grave brain disease, and in children this symptom is most frequent. Pritchard, Rush, and other writers upon mental disorders record interesting instances of remarkable memory-increase before death, mainly in adults, and during fever and insanity. In simple mania the memory is often very acute. Romberg tells of a young girl who lost her sight after an attack of small-pox, but acquired an extraordinary memory. He calls attention to the fact that the scrofulous and rachitic diatheses in childhood are sometimes accompanied by this disorder. Winslow notes that in the incipient state of the brain disease of early life connected with fevers, disturbed conditions of the cerebral circulation and vessels, and in affections of advanced life, there is often witnessed a remarkable exaltation of the memory, which may herald death by apoplexy.
"Not only has the institution of intelligence in idiots dated from falls upon the head, but extra mentality has been conferred by such an event Pritchard tells of three idiot brothers, one of whom, after a severe head injury, brightened up and became a barrister, while his brothers remained idiotic. `Father Mabillon,' says Winslow, `is said to have been an idiot until twenty-six years of age, when he fractured his skull against a stone staircase. He was trepanned. After recovering, his intellect fully developed itself in a mind endowed with a lively imagination, an amazing memory, and a zeal for study rarely equaled.' Such instances can be accounted for by the brain having previously been poorly nourished by a defective blood supply, which defect was remedied by the increased circulation afforded by the head-injury.
"There is but one sense-defect in the child Oscar, his eyesight-absence, and that is atoned for by his hearing and touch-acuteness, as it generally is in the blind. Spitzka and others demonstrate that in such cases other parts of the brain enlarge to compensate for the atrophic portion which is connected with the functionless nerves. This, considered with his apparently perfect, mental and physical health, leaves no reason to suppose that Oscar's extravagant memory depends upon disease any more than we can suspect all giants of being sickly, though the anomaly is doubtless due to pathologic conditions. Of course, there is no predicting what may develop later in his life, but in any event science will be benefited.
"It is a popular idea that great vigor of memory is often associated with low-grade intelligence, and cases such as Blind Tom and other `idiot savants,' who could repeat the contents of a newspaper after a single reading, justify the supposition. Fearon, on `Mental Vigor,' tells of a man who could remember the day that every person had been buried in the parish for thirty-five years, and could repeat with unvarying accuracy the name and age of the deceased and the mourners at the funeral. But he was a complete fool. Out of the line of burials he had not one idea, could not give an intelligible reply to a single question, nor be trusted even to feed himself. While memory-development is thus apparent in some otherwise defective intellects, it has probably as often or oftener been observed to occur in connection with full or great intelligence. Edmund Burke, Clarendon, John Locke, Archbishop Tillotson, and Dr. Johnson were all distinguished for having great strength of memory. Sir W. Hamilton observed that Grotius, Pascal, Leibnitz, and Euler were not less celebrated for their intelligence than for their memory. Ben Jonson could repeat all that he had written and whole books he had read. Themistocles could call by name the 20,000 citizens of Athens. Cyrus is said to have known the name of every soldier in his army. Hortensius, a great Roman orator, and Seneca had also great memories. Niebuhr, the Danish historian, was remarkable for his acuteness of memory. Sir James Mackintosh, Dugald Stewart, and Dr. Gregory had similar reputations.
"Nor does great mental endowment entail physical enfeeblement; for, with temperance, literary men have reached extreme old age, as in the cases of Klopstock, Goethe, Chaucer, and the average age attained by all the signers of the American Declaration of Independence was sixty-four years, many of them being highly gifted men intellectually. Thus, in the case of the phenomenal Oscar it cannot be predicted that he will not develop, as he now
"The child is strumous, however, and may die young. His exhibitors, who are coining him into money, should seek the best medical care for him and avoid surcharging his memory with rubbish. Proper cultivation of his special senses, especially the tactile, by competent teachers, will give Oscar the best chance of developing intellectually and acquiring an education in the proper sense of the word.''
By long custom many men of letters have developed wonderful feats of memory; and among illiterate persons, by means of points of association, the power of memory has been little short of marvelous. At a large hotel in Saratoga there was at one time a negro whose duty was to take charge of the hats and coats of the guests as they entered the dining-room and return to each his hat after the meal. It was said that, without checks or the assistance of the owners, he invariably returned the right articles to the right persons on request, and no matter how large the crowd, his limit of memory never seemed to be reached. Many persons have seen expert players at draughts and chess who, blindfolded, could carry on numerous games with many competitors and win most of the matches. To realize what a wonderful feat of memory this performance is, one need only see the absolute exhaustion of one of these men after a match. In whist, some experts have been able to detail the succession of the play of the cards so many hands back that their competitors had long since forgotten it.
There is reported to be in Johnson County, Missouri, a mathematical wonder by the name of Rube Fields. At the present day he is between forty and fifty years of age, and his external appearance indicates poverty as well as indifference. His temperament is most sluggish; he rarely speaks unless spoken to, and his replies are erratic.
The boyhood of this strange character was that of an overgrown country lout with boorish manners and silly mind. He did not and would not go to school, and he asserts now that if he had done so he "would have become as big a fool as other people.'' A shiftless fellow, left to his own devices, he performed some wonderful feats, and among the many stories connected with this period of his life is one which describes how he actually ate up a good-sized patch of sugar cane, simply because he found it good to his taste.
Yet from this clouded, illiterate mind a wonderful mathematical gift shines. Just when he began to assert his powers is not known; but his feats have been remembered for twenty years by his neighbors. A report says:—
"Give Rube Fields the distance by rail between any two points, and the dimensions of a car-wheel, and almost as soon as the statement has left your lips he will tell you the number of revolutions the wheel will make in
"A gentleman relates an instance of Fields' knowledge of figures. After having called several columns of figures for addition, he went back to the first column, saying that it was wrong, and repeating it, purposely miscalling the next to the last figure. At once Fields threw up his hand, exclaiming: `You didn't call it that way before.'
"Fields' answers come quick and sharp, seemingly by intuition. Calculations which would require hours to perform are made in less time than it takes to state the question. The size of the computations seems to offer no bar to their rapid solution, and answers in which long lines of figures are reeled off come with perfect ease. In watching the effort put forth in reaching an answer, there would seem to be some process going on in the mind, and an incoherent mumbling is often indulged in, but it is highly probable that Fields does not himself know how he derives his answers. Certain it is that he is unable to explain the process, nor has any one ever been able to draw from him anything concerning it. Almost the only thing he knows about the power is that he possesses it, and, while he is not altogether averse to receiving money for his work, he has steadily refused to allow himself to be exhibited.'' In reviewing the peculiar endowment of Fields, the Chicago Record says:—
"How this feat is performed is as much a mystery as the process by which he solves a problem in arithmetic. He answers no questions. Rapid mathematicians, men of study, who by intense application and short methods have become expert, have sought to probe these two mysteries, but without results. Indeed, the man's intelligence is of so low an order as to prevent him from aiding those who seek to know. With age, too, he grows more surly. Of what vast value this `gift' might be to the world of science, if coupled with average intelligence, is readily imagined. That it will ever be understood is unlikely. As it is, the power staggers belief and makes modern psychology, with its study of brain-cells, stand aghast. As to poor Fields himself, he excites only sympathy. Homeless, unkempt, and uncouth, traveling aimlessly on a journey which he does not understand, he hugs to his heart a marvelous power, which he declares to be a gift from God. To his weak mind it lifts him above his fellow-men, and yet it is as useless to the world as a diamond in a dead man's hand.''
Wolf-Children.—It is interesting to know to what degree a human being will resemble a beast when deprived of the association with man. We seem to get some insight to this question in the investigation of so called cases of "wolf-children.''
The Zoologist for March, 1888, reproduced a remarkable pamphlet printed at Plymouth in 1852, which had been epitomized in the Lancet. [9.217] This interesting paper gives an account of wolves nurturing small children in their dens. Six cases are given of boys who have been rescued from the maternal care of wolves. In one instance the lad was traced from the moment of his being carried off by a lurking wolf while his parents were working in the field, to the time when, after having been recovered by his mother six years later, he escaped from her into the jungle. In all these cases certain marked features reappear. In the first, the boy was very inoffensive, except when teased, and then he growled surlily. He would eat anything thrown to him, but preferred meat, which he devoured with canine
In another case the child was kidnapped at three and recovered at nine. He muttered, but could not articulate. As in the other case, he could not be enticed to wear clothes. From constantly being on all-fours the front of this child's knees and his elbows had become hardened. In the third case the father identified a son who had been carried away at the age of six, and was found four years afterward. The intellectual deterioration was not so marked. The boy understood signs, and his hearing was exceedingly acute; when directed by movements of the hands to assist the cultivators in turning out cattle, he readily comprehended what was asked of him; yet this lad, whose vulpine career was so short, could neither talk nor utter any decidedly articulate sound.
The author of the pamphlet expressed some surprise that there was no case on record in which a grown man had been found in such association. This curious collection of cases of wolf-children is attributed to Colonel Sleeman, a well-known officer, who is known to have been greatly interested in the subject, and who for a long time resided in the forests of India. A copy, now a rarity, is in the South Kensington Museum.
An interesting case of a wolf-child was reported many years ago in Chambers' Journal. In the Etwah district, near the banks of the river Jumna, a boy was captured from the wolves. After a time this child was restored to his parents, who, however, "found him very difficult to manage, for he was most fractious and troublesome—in fact, just a caged wild beast. Often during the night for hours together he would give vent to most unearthly yells and moans, destroying the rest and irritating the tempers of his neighbors and generally making night hideous. On one occasion his people chained him by the waist to a tree on the outskirts of the village. Then a rather curious incident occurred. It was a bright moonlight night, and two wolf cubs (undoubtedly those in whose companionship he had been captured), attracted by his cries while on the prowl, came to him, and were distinctly seen to gambol around him with as much familiarity and affection as if they considered him quite one of themselves. They only left him on the approach of morning, when movement and stir again arose in the village. This boy did not survive long. He never spoke, nor did a single ray of human intelligence ever shed its refining light over his debased features.''
Recently a writer in the Badmington Magazine, in speaking of the authenticity of wolf-children, says:—
"A jemidar told me that when he was a lad he remembered going, with others, to see a wolf-child which had been netted. Some time after this, while
"A young she-wolf has a litter of cubs, and after a time her instinct tells her that they will require fresh food. She steals out at night in quest of prey. Soon she espies a weak place in the fence (generally constructed of thatching grass and bamboos) which encloses the compound, or `unguah,' of a poor villager. She enters, doubtless, in the hope of securing a kid; and while prowling about inside looks into a hut where a woman and infant are soundly sleeping. In a moment she has pounced on the child, and is out of reach before its cries can attract the villagers. Arriving safely at her den under the rocks, she drops the little one among her cubs. At this critical time the fate of the child hangs in the balance. Either it will be immediately torn to pieces and devoured, or in a most wonderful way remain in the cave unharmed. In the event of escape, the fact may be accounted for in several ways. Perhaps the cubs are already gorged when the child is thrown before them, or are being supplied with solid food before their carnivorous instinct is awakened, so they amuse themselves by simply licking the sleek, oily body (Hindoo mothers daily rub their boy babies with some native vegetable oil) of the infant, and thus it lies in the nest, by degrees getting the odor of the wolf cubs, after which the mother wolf will not molest it. In a little time the infant begins to feel the pangs of hunger, and hearing the cubs sucking, soon follows their example. Now the adoption is complete, all fear of harm to the child from wolves has gone, and the foster-mother will guard and protect it as though it were of her own flesh and blood.
"The mode of progression of these children is on all fours—not, as a rule, on the hands and feet, but on the knees and elbows. The reason the knees are used is to be accounted for by the fact that, owing to the great length of the human leg and thigh in proportion to the length of the arm, the knee would naturally be brought to the ground, and the instep and top of the toes would be used instead of the sole and heel of the almost inflexible foot. Why the elbow should be employed instead of the hand is less easy to understand, but probably it is better suited to give support to the head and fore-part of the body.
Rudyard Kipling, possibly inspired by accounts of these wolf-children in India, has ingeniously constructed an interesting series of fabulous stories of a child who was brought up by the beasts of the jungles and taught their habits and their mode of communication. The ingenious way in which the author has woven the facts together and interspersed them with his intimate knowledge of animal-life commends his "Jungle-Book'' as a legitimate source of recreation to the scientific observer.
Among observers mentioned in the "Index Catalogue'' who have studied this subject are Giglioli, [9.218] Mitra, [9.219] and Ornstein. [9.220]
The artificial manufacture of "wild men'' or "wild boys'' in the Chinese Empire is shown by recent reports. Macgowan [9.221] says the traders kidnap a boy and skin him alive bit by bit, transplanting on the denuded surfaces the hide of a bear or dog. This process is most tedious and is by no means complete when the hide is completely transplanted, as the subject must be rendered mute by destruction of the vocal cords, made to use all fours in walking, and submitted to such degradation as to completely blight all reason. It is said that the process is so severe that only one in five survive. A "wild boy'' exhibited in Kiangse had the entire skin of a dog substituted and walked on all fours. It was found that he had been kidnapped. His proprietor was decapitated
Equilibrists.—Many individuals have cultivated their senses so acutely that by the eye and particularly by touch they are able to perform almost incredible feats of maintaining equilibrium under the most difficult circumstances Professional rope-walkers have been known in all times. The Greeks had a particular passion for equilibrists, and called them "neurobates,'' "oribates,'' and "stænobates.'' Blondin would have been one of the latter. Antique medals showing equilibrists making the ascent of an inclined cord have been found. The Romans had walkers both of the slack-rope and tight-rope Many of the Fathers of the Church have pronounced against the dangers of these exercises. Among others, St. John Chrysostom speaks of men who execute movements on inclined ropes at unheard-of heights. In the ruins of Herculaneum there is still visible a picture representing an equilibrist executing several different exercises, especially one in which he dances on a rope to the tune of a double flute, played by himself. The Romans particularly liked to witness ascensions on inclined ropes, and sometimes these were attached to the summits of high hills, and while mounting them the acrobats performed different pantomimes. It is said that under Charles VI. a Genoese acrobat, on the occasion of the arrival of the Queen of France, carried in each hand an illuminated torch while descending a rope stretched from the summit of the towers of Notre Dame to a house on the Pont au Change. According to Guyot-Daubes, a similar performance was seen in London in 1547. In this instance the rope was attached to the highest pinnacle of St. Paul's Cathedral. Under Louis XII. an acrobat named Georges Menustre, during a passage of the King through Mâcon, executed several performances on a rope stretched from the grand tower of the Chateau and the clock of the Jacobins, at a height of 156 feet. A similar performance was given at Milan before the French Ambassadors, and at Venice under the Doges and the Senate on each St. Mark's Day, rope-walkers performed at high altitudes. In 1649 a man attempted to traverse the Seine on a rope placed between the Tour de Nesles and the Tour du Grand-Prévost. The performance, however, was interrupted by the fall of the mountebank into the Seine. At subsequent fairs in France other acrobats have appeared. At the commencement of this century there was a person named Madame Saqui who astonished the public with her nimbleness and extraordinary skill in rope walking. Her specialty
In 1814 there was a woman called "La Malaga,'' who, in the presence of the allied sovereigns at Versailles, made an ascension on a rope 200 feet above the Swiss Lake.
In the present generation probably the most famous of all the equilibrists was Blondin. This person, whose real name was Emile Gravelet, acquired a universal reputation; about 1860 he traversed the Niagara Falls on a cable at an elevation of nearly 200 feet. Blondin introduced many novelties in his performances. Sometimes he would carry a man over on his shoulders; again he would eat a meal while on his wire; cook and eat an omelet, using a table and ordinary cooking utensils, all of which he kept balanced. In France Blondin was almost the patron saint of the rope-walkers; and at the present day the performers imitate his feats, but never with the same grace and perfection.
In 1882 an acrobat bearing the natural name of Arsens Blondin traversed one river after another in France on a wire stretched at high altitudes. With the aid of a balancing-rod he walked the rope blindfolded; with baskets on his feet; sometimes he wheeled persons over in a wheelbarrow. He was a man of about thirty, short, but wonderfully muscled and extremely supple.
It is said *[394] that a negro equilibrist named Malcom several times traversed the Meuse at Sedan on a wire at about a height of 100 feet. Once while attempting this feat, with his hands and feet shackled with iron chains, allowing little movement, the support on one side fell, after the cable had parted, and landed on the spectators, killing a young girl and wounding many others. Malcom was precipitated into the river, but with wonderful presence of mind and remarkable strength he broke his bands and swam to the shore, none the worse for his high fall; he immediately helped in attention to his wounded spectators. A close inspection of all the exhibitionists of this class will show that they are of superior physique and calm courage. They only acquire their ability after long gymnastic exercise, as well as actual practice on the rope. Most of these persons used means of balancing themselves, generally a long and heavy pole; but some used nothing but their outstretched arms. In 1895, at the Royal Aquarium in London, there was an individual who slowly mounted a long wire reaching to the top of this huge structure, and, after having made the ascent, without the aid of any means of balancing but his arms, slid the whole length of the wire, landing with enormous velocity into an outstretched net.
Another class of equilibrists are those who maintain the upright position resting on their heads with their feet in the air. At the Hippodrome in Paris some years since there was a man who remained in this position seven minutes and ate a meal during the interval. There were two clowns at the Cirque Franconi who duplicated this feat, and the program called their dinner "Un déjouner en têteà-tête.'' Some other persons perform wonderful feats of a similar nature on an oscillating trapeze, and many similar performances have been witnessed by the spectators of our large circuses.
The "human pyramids'' are interesting, combining, as they do, wonderful power of maintaining equilibrium with agility and strength. The rapidity with which they are formed and are tumbled to pieces is marvelous they sometimes include as many as 16 persons men, women, and children.
The exhibitions given by the class of persons commonly designated as "jugglers'' exemplify the perfect control that by continual practice one may obtain over his various senses and muscles. The most wonderful feats of dexterity are thus reduced into mere automatic movements. Either standing, sitting, mounted on a horse, or even on a wire, they are able to keep three four, five, and even six balls in continual motion in the air. They use articles of the greatest difference in specific gravity in the same manner. A juggler called "Kara,'' appearing in London and Paris in the summer of 1895, juggled with an open umbrella, an eye-glass, and a traveling satchel, and received each after its course in the air with unerring precision. Another man called "Paul Cinquevalli,'' well known in this country, does not hesitate to juggle with lighted lamps or pointed knives. The tricks of the clowns with their traditional pointed felt hats are well known. Recently there appeared in Philadelphia a man who received six such hats on his head, one on top of the other, thrown by his partner from the rear of the first balcony of the theater. Others will place a number of rings on their fingers, and with a swift and dexterous movement toss them all in the air, catching them again all on one finger. Without resorting to the fabulous method of Columbus, they balance eggs on a table, and in extraordinary ways defy all the powers of gravity.
In India and China we see the most marvelous of the knife-jugglers.
A curious trick is given by Rousselet in his magnificent work entitled "L'Inde des Rajahs,'' and quoted by Guyot-Daubés. It is called in India the "dance of the eggs.'' The dancer, dressed in a rather short skirt, places on her head a large wheel made of light wood, and at regular intervals having hanging from it pieces of thread, at the ends of which are running knots kept open by beads of glass. She then brings forth a basket of eggs, and passes them around for inspection to assure her spectators of their genuineness. The monotonous music commences and the dancer sets the wheel on her head in rapid motion; then, taking an egg, with a quick movement she puts it on one of the running knots and increases the velocity of the revolution of the wheel by gyrations until the centrifugal force makes each cord stand out in an almost horizontal line with the circumference of the wheel. Then one after another she places the eggs on the knots of the cord, until all are flying about her head in an almost horizontal position. At this moment the dance begins, and it is almost impossible to distinguish the features of the dancer. She continues her dance, apparently indifferent to the revolving eggs. At the velocity with which they revolve the slightest false movement would cause them to knock against one another and surely break. Finally, with the same lightning-like movements, she removes them one by one, certainly the most delicate part of the trick, until they are all safely laid away in the basket from which they came, and then she suddenly brings the wheel to a stop; after this wonderful performance, lasting possibly thirty minutes, she bows herself out.
A unique Japanese feat is to tear pieces of paper into the form of butterflies and launch them into the air about a vase full of flowers; then with a fan to keep them in motion, making them light on the flowers, fly away, and return, after the manner of several living butterflies, without allowing one to fall to the ground.
Marksmen.—It would be an incomplete paper on the acute development of the senses that did not pay tribute to the men who exhibit marvelous skill with firearms. In the old frontier days in the Territories, the woodsmen far eclipsed Tell with his bow or Robin Hood's famed band by their unerring aim with their rifles. It is only lately that there disappeared in this country the last of many woodsmen, who, though standing many paces away and
Physiologic wonders are to be found in all our modern sports and games. In billiards, base-ball, cricket, tennis, etc., there are experts who are really physiologic curiosities. In the trades and arts we see development of the special senses that is little less than marvelous. It is said that there are workmen in Krupp's gun factory in Germany who have such control over the enormous trip hammers that they can place a watch under one and let the hammer fall, stopping it with unerring precision just on the crystal. An expert tool juggler in one of the great English needle factories, in a recent test of skill, performed one of the most delicate mechanical feats imaginable. He took a common sewing needle of medium size (length 1 5/8 inches) and drilled a hole through its entire length from eye to point—the opening being just large enough to admit the passage of a very fine hair. Another workman in a watch-factory of the United States drilled a hole through a hair of his beard and ran a fiber of silk through it.
Ventriloquists, or "two-voiced men,'' are interesting anomalies of the present day; it is common to see a person who possesses the power of speaking with a voice apparently from the epigastrium. Some acquire this faculty, while with others it is due to a natural resonance, formed, according to Dupont, in the space between the third and fourth ribs and their cartilaginous union and the middle of the first portion of the sternum. Examination of many of these cases proves that the vibration is greatest here. It is certain that ventriloquists have existed for many centuries. It is quite possible that some of the old Pagan oracles were simply the deceptions of priests by means of ventriloquism.
Dupont, Surgeon-in-chief of the French Army about a century since, examined minutely an individual professing to be a ventriloquist. With a stuffed fox on his lap near his epigastrium, he imitated a conversation with the fox. By lying on his belly, and calling to some one supposed to be below the surface of the ground, he would imitate an answer seeming to come from the depths of the earth. With his belly on the ground he not only made the illusion more complete, but in this way he smothered "the epigastric voice.''
Ventriloquists must not be confounded with persons who by means of skilful mechanisms, creatures with movable fauces, etc., imitate ventriloquism. The latter class are in no sense of the word true ventriloquists, but simulate the anomaly by quickly changing the tones of their voice in rapid succession, and thus seem to make their puppets talk in many different voices. After having acquired the ability to suddenly change the tone of their voice, they practice imitations of the voices of the aged, of children, dialects, and feminine tones, and, with a set of mechanical puppets, are ready to appear as ventriloquists. By contraction of the pharyngeal and laryngeal muscles they also imitate tones from a distance. Some give their performance with little labial movement, but close inspection of the ordinary performer of this class shows visible movements of his lips. The true ventriloquist pretends only to speak from the belly and needs no mechanical assistance.
The wonderful powers of mimicry displayed by expert ventriloquists are marvelous; they not only imitate individuals and animals, but do not hesitate to imitate a conglomeration of familiar sounds and noises in such a manner as to deceive their listeners into believing that they hear the discussions of an assemblage of people. The following description of an imitation of a domestic riot by a Chinese ventriloquist is given by the author of "The Chinaman at Home'' and well illustrates the extent of their abilities: "The ventriloquist was seated behind a screen, where there were only a chair, a table, a fan, and a ruler. With this ruler he rapped on the table to enforce silence, and when everybody had ceased speaking there was suddenly heard the barking of a dog. Then we heard the movements of a woman. She had been waked by the dog and was shaking her husband. We were just expecting to hear the man and wife talking together when a child began to cry. To pacify it the mother gave it food; we could hear it drinking and crying at the same time. The mother spoke to it soothingly and then rose to change its clothes. Meanwhile another child had wakened and was beginning to make a noise. The father scolded it, while the baby continued crying. By-and-by the whole family went back to bed and fell asleep. The patter of a mouse was heard. It climbed up some vase and upset it. We heard the clatter of the vase as it fell. The woman coughed in her sleep. Then cries of "Fire! fire!'' were heard. The mouse had upset the lamp; the bed curtains were on fire. The husband and wife waked up, shouted, and screamed, the children cried, people came running and shouting. Children cried, dogs barked, squibs and crackers exploded. The fire brigade came racing up. Water was pumped up in torrents and hissed in the flames. The representation was so true to life that every one rose to his feet and was starting away when a second blow of the ruler on the table commanded silence. We rushed behind the screen, but there was nothing there except the ventriloquist, his table, his chair, and his ruler.''
The Greeks were famous for their love of athletic pastimes; and classical study serves powerfully to strengthen the belief that no institution exercised greater influence than the public contests of Greece in molding national character and producing that admirable type of personal and intellectual beauty that we see reflected in her art and literature. These contests were held at four national festivals, the Olympian, the Pythian, the Nemean, and the Isthmean games. On these occasions every one stopped labor, truce was declared between the States, and the whole country paid tribute to the contestants for the highly-prized laurels of these games. Perhaps the enthusiasm shown in athletics and interest in physical development among the Greeks has never been equaled by any other people. Herodotus and all the Greek writers to Plutarch have elaborated on the glories of the Greek athlete, and tell us of the honors rendered to the victors by the spectators and the vanquished, dwelling with complacency on the fact that in accepting the laurel they cared for nothing but honor. The Romans in "ludi publici,'' as they called their games, were from first to last only spectators; but in Greece every eligible person was an active participant. In the regimen of diet and training the physicians from the time of Hippocrates, and even before, have been the originators and professional advisers of the athlete. The change in the manner of living of athletes, if we can judge from the writings of Hippocrates, was anterior to his time; for in Book V. of the "Epidemics'' we read of Bias, who, "suapte nature vorax, in choleram-morbum incidit ex carnium esu, præcipueque suillarum crudarum, etc.''
From the time of the well-known fable of the hero who, by practicing daily from his birth, was able to lift a full-grown bull, thus gradually accustoming himself to the increased weight, physiologists and scientists have collaborated with the athlete in evolving the present ideas and system of training. In his aphorisms Hippocrates bears witness to the dangers of over-exercise and superabundant training, and Galen is particularly averse to an art which so preternaturally develops the constitution and nature of man; many subsequent medical authorities believed that excessive development of the human frame was necessarily followed by a compensatory shortening of life.
The foot-race was the oldest of the Greek institutions, and in the first of the Olympiads the "dromos,'' a course of about 200 yards, was the only contest; but gradually the "dialos,'' in which the course was double that of the
It is said of Euchidas, who carried the fire necessary for the sacrifices which were to replace those which the Persians had spoiled, that he ran a thousand stadia (about 125 miles) and fell dead at the end of his mission. The Roman historians have also recited the extraordinary feats of the couriers of their times. Pliny speaks of an athlete who ran 235 kilometers (almost 150 miles) without once stopping. He also mentions a child who ran almost half this distance.
In the Middle Ages the Turks had couriers of almost supernatural agility and endurance. It is said that the distance some of them would traverse in twenty-four hours was 120 miles, and that it was common for them to make the round trip from Constantinople to Adrianople, a distance of 80 leagues, in two days. They were dressed very lightly, and by constant usage the soles of their feet were transformed into a leathery consistency. In the last century in the houses of the rich there were couriers who preceded the carriages and were known as "Basques,'' who could run for a very long time without apparent fatigue. In France there is a common proverb, "Courir comme un Basque.'' Rabelais says: "Grand-Gousier dépêche le Basque son laquais pour quérir Gargantua en toute hâte.''
In the olden times the English nobility maintained running footmen who, living under special regimen and training, were enabled to traverse unusual distances without apparent fatigue. There is an anecdote of a nobleman living in a castle not far from Edinburgh, who one evening charged his courier to carry a letter to that city. The next morning when he arose he found this valet sleeping in his antechamber. The nobleman waxed wroth, but the courier gave him a response to the letter. He had traveled 70 miles during the night. It is said that one of the noblemen under Charles II. in preparing for a great dinner perceived that one of the indispensable pieces of his service was missing. His courier was dispatched in great haste to another house in his domain, 15 miles distant, and returned in two hours with the necessary article, having traversed a distance of over 30 miles. It is also said *[394] that a courier carrying a letter to a London physician returned with the potion prescribed within twenty-four hours, having traversed 148
At the present time in this country the Indians furnish examples of marvelous feats of running. The Tauri-Mauri Indians, who live in the heart of the Sierra Madre Mountains, are probably the most wonderful long-distance runners in the world. Their name in the language of the mountain Mexicans means foot-runners; and there is little doubt that they perform athletic feats which equal the best in the days of the Olympian games. They are possibly the remnants of the wonderful runners among the Indian tribes in the beginning of this century. There is an account of one of the Tauri-Mauri who was mail carrier between Guarichic and San Jose de los Cruces, a distance of 50 miles of as rough, mountainous road as ever tried a mountaineer's lungs and limbs. Bareheaded and barelegged, with almost no clothing, this man made this trip each day, and, carrying on his back a mail-pouch weighing 40 pounds, moved gracefully and easily over his path, from time to time increasing his speed as though practicing, and then again more slowly to smoke a cigarette. The Tauri-Mauri are long-limbed and slender, giving the impression of being above the average height. There is scarcely any flesh on their puny arms, but their legs are as muscular as those of a greyhound. In short running they have the genuine professional stride, something rarely seen in other Indian racers. In traversing long distances they leap and bound like deer.
"Deerfoot,'' the famous Indian long-distance runner, died on the Cattaraugus Reservation in January, 1896. His proper name was Louis Bennett, the name "Deerfoot'' having been given to him for his prowess in running. He was born on the reservation in 1828. In 1861 he went to England, where he defeated the English champion runners. In April, 1863, he ran 11 miles in London in fifty-six minutes fifty-two seconds, and 12 miles in one hour two minutes and two and one-half seconds, both of which have stood as world's records ever since.
In Japan, at the present day, the popular method of conveyance, both in cities and in rural districts, is the two-wheeled vehicle, looking like a baby-carriage, known to foreigners as the jinrickisha, and to the natives as the kuruma. In the city of Tokio there is estimated to be 38,000 of these little carriages in use. They are drawn by coolies, of whose endurance remarkable stories are told. These men wear light cotton breeches and a blue cotton jacket bearing the license number, and the indispensable umbrella hat. In the course of a journey in hot weather the jinrickisha man will gradually remove most of his raiment and stuff it into the carriage. In the rural sections he is covered with only two strips of cloth, one wrapped about his head and the other about his loins. It is said that when the roadway is good, these "human horses'' prefer to travel bare-footed; when working in
Figure 180 represents two Japanese porters and their usual load, which is much more difficult to transport than a jinrickisha carriage. In other Eastern countries, palanquins and other means of conveyance are still borne on the shoulders of couriers, and it is not so long since our ancestors made their calls in Sedan-chairs borne by sturdy porters.
Some of the letter-carriers of India make a daily journey of 30 miles. They carry in one hand a stick, at the extremity of which is a ring containing several little plates of iron, which,
Fig. 180—Japanese porters.
[Description: Drawing of Japanese porters]
agitated during the course, produce a loud noise designed to keep off ferocious beasts and serpents. In the other hand they carry a wet cloth, with which they frequently refresh themselves by wiping the countenance. It is said that a regular Hindustanee carrier, with a weight of 80 pounds on his shoulder,—carried, of course, in two divisions, hung on his neck by a yoke,—will, if properly paid, lope along over 100 miles in twenty-four hours—a feat which would exhaust any but the best trained runners.
The "go-as-you-please'' pedestrians, whose powers during the past years have been exhibited in this country and in England, have given us marvelous examples of endurance, over 600 miles having been accomplished in a six-days' contest. Hazael, the professional pedestrian, has run over 450 miles in ninety-nine hours, and Albert has traveled over 500 miles in one hundred and ten hours. Rowell, Hughes, and Fitzgerald have astonishingly high records for long-distance running, comparing favorably with the older, and presumably mythical, feats of this nature. In California, C. A. Harriman of
For the purpose of comparison we give the best modern records for running:—
100 Yards.—9 3/5 seconds, made by Edward Donavan, at Natick, Mass., September 2, 1895.
220 Yards.—21 3/5 seconds, made by Harry Jewett, at Montreal, September 24, 1892.
Quarter-Mile.—47 3/4 seconds, made by W. Baker, at Boston, Mass., July 1, 1886.
Half-Mile.—1 minute 53 2/3 seconds, made by C. J. Kirkpatrick, at Manhattan Field, New York, September 21, 1895.
1 Mile.—4 minutes 12 3/4 seconds, made by W. G. George, at London, England, August 23, 1886.
5 Miles.—24 minutes 40 seconds, made by J. White, in England, May 11, 1863.
10 Miles.—51 minutes 6 3/5 seconds, made by William Cummings, at London, England. September 18,1895.
25 Miles.—2 hours 33 minutes 44 seconds, made by G. A. Dunning, at London, England December 26, 1881.
50 Miles.—5 hours 55 minutes 4 1/2 seconds, made by George Cartwright, at London, England, February 21, 1887.
75 Miles.—8 hours 48 minutes 30 seconds, made by George Littlewood, at London, England, November 24, 1884.
100 Miles.—13 hours 26 minutes 30 seconds, made by Charles Rowell at New York, February 27, 1882.
In instances of long-distance traversing, rapidity is only a secondary consideration, the remarkable fact being in the endurance of fatigue and the continuity of the exercise. William Gale [9.222] walked 1500 miles in a thousand consecutive hours, and then walked 60 miles every twenty-four hours for six weeks on the Lillie Bridge cinder path. He was five feet five inches tall, forty-nine years of age, and weighed 121 pounds, and was but little developed muscularly. He was in good health during his feat; his diet for the twenty-four hours was 16 pounds of meat, five or six eggs, some cocoa, two quarts of milk, a quart of tea, and occasionally a glass of bitter ale, but never wine nor spirits. Strange to say, he suffered from constipation, and took daily a compound rhubarb pill. He was examined at the end of his feat by Gant. His pulse was 75, strong, regular, and his heart was normal. His temperature was 97.25° F., and his hands and feet warm; respirations were deep and averaged 15 a minute. He suffered from frontal headache and was drowsy. During the six weeks he had lost only seven pounds, and his appetite maintained its normal state.
Zeuner of Cincinnati [9.223] refers to John Snyder of Dunkirk, whose walking-feats were marvelous. He was not an impostor. During forty-eight hours he was watched by the students of the Ohio Medical College, who stated that he walked constantly; he assured them that it did not rest him to sit down, but made him uncomfortable. The celebrated Weston walked 5000 miles in one hundred days, but Snyder was said to have traveled
Recently there was a person who pushed a wheelbarrow from San Francisco to New York in one hundred and eighteen days. In 1809 the celebrated Captain Barclay wagered that he could walk 1000 miles in one thousand consecutive hours, and gained his bet with some hours to spare. In 1834 Ernest Mensen astonished all Europe by his pedestrian exploits. He was a Norwegian sailor, who wagered that he could walk from Paris to Moscow in fifteen days. On June 25, 1834, at ten o'clock A. M., he entered the Kremlin, after having traversed 2500 kilometers (1550 miles) in fourteen days and eighteen hours. His performances all over Europe were so marvelous as to be almost incredible. In 1836, in the service of the East India Company, he was dispatched from Calcutta to Constantinople, across Central Asia. He traversed the distance in fifty-nine days, accomplishing 9000 kilometers (5580 miles) in one-third less time than the most rapid caravan. He died while attempting to discover the source of the Nile, having reached the village of Syang.
A most marvelous feat of endurance is recorded in England in the first part of this century. It is said that on a wager Sir Andrew Leith Hay and Lord Kennedy walked two days and a night under pouring rain, over the Grampian range of mountains, wading all one day in a bog. The distance traversed was from a village called Banchory on the river Dee to Inverness. This feat was accomplished without any previous preparation, both men starting shortly after the time of the wager.
Riders.—The feats of endurance accomplished by the couriers who ride great distances with many changes of horses are noteworthy. According to a contemporary medical journal [9.224] there is, in the Friend of India, an account of the Thibetan couriers who ride for three weeks with intervals of only half an hour to eat and change horses. It is the duty of the officials at the Dak bungalows to see that the courier makes no delay, and even if dying he is tied to his horse and sent to the next station. The celebrated English huntsman, "Squire'' Osbaldistone, on a wager rode 200 miles in seven hours ten minutes and four seconds. He used 28 horses; and as one hour twenty-two minutes and fifty-six seconds were allowed for stoppages, the whole time, changes and all, occupied in accomplishing this wonderful feat was eight hours and forty-two minutes. The race was ridden at the Newmarket Houghton Meeting over a four-mile course. It is said that a Captain Horne of the Madras Horse Artillery rode 200 miles on Arab horses in less than ten hours along the road between Madras and Bangalore. When we consider the slower speed of the Arab horses and the roads and climate of India, this performance equals the 200 miles in the shorter time about an English race track and on thoroughbreds. It is said that this wonderful horseman lost
As regards the physiology of the runners and walkers, it is quite interesting to follow the effects of training on the respiration, whereby in a measure is explained the ability of these persons to maintain their respiratory function, although excessively exercising. A curious discussion, persisted in since antiquity, is as to the supposed influence of the spleen on the ability of couriers. For ages runners have believed that the spleen was a hindrance to their vocation, and that its reduction was followed by greater agility on the course. With some, this opinion is perpetuated to the present day. In France there is a proverb, "Courir comme un dérate.'' To reduce the size of the spleen, the Greek athletes used certain beverages, the composition of which was not generally known; the Romans had a similar belief and habit Pliny speaks of a plant called equisetum, a decoction of which taken for three days after a fast of twenty-four hours would effect absorption of the spleen. The modern pharmacopeia does not possess any substance having a similar virtue, although quinin has been noticed to diminish the size of the spleen when engorged in malarial fevers. Strictly speaking, however, the facts are not analogous. Hippocrates advises a moxa of mushrooms applied over the spleen for melting or dissolving it. Godefroy Mœbius is said to have seen in the village of Halberstadt a courier whose spleen had been cauterized after incision; and about the same epoch (seventeenth century) some men pretended to be able to successfully extirpate the spleen for those who desired to be couriers. This operation we know to be one of the most delicate in modern surgery, and as we are progressing with our physiologic knowledge of the spleen we see nothing to justify the old theory in regard to its relations to agility and coursing.
Swimming.—The instances of endurance that we see in the aquatic sports are equally as remarkable as those that we find among the runners and walkers. In the ancient days the Greeks, living on their various islands and being in a mild climate, were celebrated for their prowess as swimmers. Socrates relates the feats of swimming among the inhabitants of Delos. The journeys of Leander across the Hellespont are well celebrated in verse and prose, but this feat has been easily accomplished many times since, and is hardly to be classed as extraordinary. Herodotus says that the Macedonians were skilful swimmers; and all the savage tribes about the borders of waterways are found possessed of remarkable dexterity and endurance in swimming.
In 1875 the celebrated Captain Webb swam from Dover to Calais. [9.225] On
In 1877 Cavill, another Englishman, swam from Cape Griz-Nez to South Forland in less than thirteen hours. In 1880 Webb swam and floated at Scarborough for seventy-four consecutive hours—of course, having no current to contend with and no point to reach. This was merely a feat of staying in the water. In London in 1881, Beckwith, swimming ten hours a day over a 32-lap course for six days, traversed 94 miles. Since the time of Captain Webb, who was the pioneer of modern long-distance swimming, many men have attempted and some have duplicated his feats; but these foolhardy performances have in late years been diminishing, and many of the older feats are forbidden by law.
Jumpers and acrobatic tumblers have been popular from the earliest time. By the aid of springing boards and weights in their hands, the old jumpers covered great distances. Phayllus of Croton is accredited with jumping the incredible distance of 55 feet, and we have the authority of Eustache and Tzetzes [9.226] that this jump is genuine. In the writings of many Greek and Roman historians are chronicled jumps of about 50 feet by the athletes; if they are true, the modern jumpers have greatly degenerated. A jump of over 20 feet to-day is considered very clever, the record being 29 feet seven inches with weights, and 23 feet eight inches without weights, although much greater distances have been jumped with the aid of apparatus, but never an approximation to 50 feet. The most surprising of all these athletes are the tumblers, who turn somersaults over several animals arranged in a row. Such feats are not only the most amusing sights of a modern circus, but also the most interesting as well. The agility of these men is marvelous, and the force with which they throw themselves in the air apparently enables them to defy gravity. In London, Paris, or New York one may see these wonderful tumblers and marvel at the capabilities of human physical development.
In September, 1895, M. F. Sweeney, an American amateur, at Manhattan Field in New York jumped six feet 5 5/8 inches high in the running high jump without weights. With weights, J. H. Fitzpatrick at Oak Island, Mass.,
Extraordinary physical development and strength has been a grand means of natural selection in the human species. As Guyot-Daubès remarks, in prehistoric times, when our ancestors had to battle against hunger, savage beasts, and their neighbors, and when the struggle for existence was so extremely hard, the strong man alone resisted and the weak succumbed. This natural selection has been perpetuated almost to our day; during the long succession of centuries, the chief or the master was selected on account of his being the strongest, or the most valiant in the combat. Originally, the cavaliers, the members of the nobility, were those who were noted for their courage and strength, and to them were given the lands of the vanquished. Even in times other than those of war, disputes of succession were settled by jousts and tourneys. This fact is seen in the present day among the lower animals, who in their natural state live in tribes; the leader is usually the strongest, the wisest, and the most courageous.
The strong men of all times have excited the admiration of their fellows and have always been objects of popular interest. The Bible celebrates the exploits of Samson of the tribe of Dan. During his youth he, single handed, strangled a lion; with the jaw-bone of an ass he is said to have killed 1000 Philistines and put the rest to flight. At another time during the night he transported from the village of Gaza enormous burdens and placed them on the top of a mountain. Betrayed by Delilah, he was delivered into the hands of his enemies and employed in the most servile labors. When old and blind he was attached to the columns of an edifice to serve as an object of public ridicule; with a violent effort he overturned the columns, destroying himself and 3000 Philistines.
In the Greek mythology we find a great number of heroes, celebrated for their feats of strength and endurance. Many of them have received the name of Hercules; but the most common of these is the hero who was supposed to be the son of Jupiter and Alemena. He was endowed with prodigious strength by his father, and was pursued with unrelenting hatred by Juno. In his infancy he killed with his hands the serpents which were sent to devour him. The legends about him are innumerable. He was said to have been armed with a massive club, which only he was able to carry. The most famous of his feats were the twelve labors, with which all readers of mythology are familiar. Hercules, personified, meant to the Greeks physical force as well as strength, generosity, and bravery, and was equivalent to the Assyrian Hercules. The Gauls had a Hercules-Pantopage, who, in addition to the ordinary qualities attributed to Hercules, had an enormous appetite.
As late as the sixteenth century, and in a most amusing and picturesque
To the Emperor Maximilian I. was ascribed enormous strength; even in his youth, when but a simple patriot, he vanquished, at the games given by Severus, 16 of the most vigorous wrestlers, and accomplished this feat without stopping for breath. It is said that this feat was the origin of his fortune. Among other celebrated persons in history endowed with uncommon strength were Edmund "Ironsides,'' King of England; the Caliph Mostasem-Billah; Baudouin, "Bras-de-Fer,'' Count of Flanders; William IV., called by the French "Fier-a-Bras,'' Duke of Aquitaine; Christopher, son of Albert the Pious, Duke of Bavaria; Godefroy of Bouillon; the Emperor Charles IV.; Scanderbeg; Leonardo da Vinci; Marshal Saxe; and the recently deceased Czar of Russia, Alexander III.
Turning now to the authentic modern Hercules, we have a man by the name of Eckeberg, born in Anhalt, and who traveled under the name of "Samson.'' He was exhibited in London, and performed remarkable feats of strength. He was observed by the celebrated Désaguliers (a pupil of Newton) in the commencement of the last century, who at that time was interested in the physiologic experiments of strength and agility. Désaguliers believed that the feats of this new Samson were more due to agility than strength. One day, accompanied by two of his confrères, although a man of
A little later Désaguliers studied an individual in London named Thomas Topham, who used no ruse in his feats and was not the skilful equilibrist that the German Samson was, his performances being merely the results of abnormal physical force. He was about thirty years old, five feet ten inches in height and well proportioned, and his muscles well developed, the strong ligaments showing under the skin. He ignored entirely the art of appearing supernaturally strong, and some of his feats were rendered difficult by disadvantageous positions. In the feat of the German—resisting the force of several men or horses—Topham exhibited no knowledge of the principles of physics, like that of his predecessor, but, seated on the ground and putting his feet against two stirrups, he was able to resist the traction of a single horse; when he attempted the same feat against two horses he was severely strained and wounded about the knees. According to Désaguliers, if Topham had taken the advantageous positions of the German Samson, he could have resisted not only two, but four horses. On another occasion, with the aid of a bridle passed about his neck, he lifted three hogsheads full of water, weighing 1386 pounds. If he had utilized the force of his limbs and his loins, like the German, he would have been able to perform far more difficult feats. With his teeth he could lift and maintain in a horizontal position a table over six feet long, at the extremity of which he would put some weight. Two of the feet of the table he rested on his knees. He broke a cord five cm. in diameter, one part of which was attached to a post and the other to a strap passed under his shoulder. He was able to carry in his hands a rolling-pin weighing 800 pounds, about twice the weight a strong man is considered able to lift.
Tom Johnson was another strong man who lived in London in the last century, but he was not an exhibitionist, like his predecessors. He was a porter on the banks of the Thames, his duty being to carry sacks of wheat and corn from the wharves to the warehouses. It was said that when one of his comrades was ill, and could not provide support for his wife and children, Johnson assumed double duty, carrying twice the load. He could seize a sack of wheat, and with it execute the movements of a club-swinger, and with as great facility. He became quite a celebrated boxer, and, besides his strength, he soon demonstrated his powers of endurance, never seeming fatigued after a lively bout. The porters of Paris were accustomed to lift and carry on their shoulders bags of flour weighing 159 kilograms (350
Some years since there was a female Hercules who would get on her hands and knees under a carriage containing six people, and, forming an arch with her body, she would lift it off the ground, an attendant turning the wheels while in the air to prove that they were clear from the ground.
Fig. 182.—Sandow (after a photograph by Falk).
[Description: Photograph of Sandow, front view]
Guyot-Daubès considers that one of the most remarkable of all the men noted for their strength was a butcher living in the mountains of Margeride, known as Lapiada (the extraordinary). This man, whose strength was legendary in the neighboring country, one day seized a mad bull that had escaped from his stall and held him by the horns until his attendants could bind him. For amusement he would lie on his belly and allow several men to get on his back; with this human load he would rise to the erect position.
In recent years we have had Sebastian Miller, whose specialty was wrestling and stone-breaking; Samson, a recent English exhibitionist, Louis Cyr, and Sandow, who, in addition to his remarkable strength and control over his muscles, is a very clever gymnast. Sandow gives an excellent exposition of the so-called "checkerboard "arrangement of the muscular fibers of the lower thoracic and abdominal regions, and in
a brilliant light demonstrates his extraordinary power over his muscles, contracting muscles ordinarily involuntary in time with music, a feat really more remarkable than his exhibition of strength. Figures 182 and 184 show the beautiful muscular development of this remarkable man.
Joseph Pospischilli, a convict recently imprisoned in the Austrian fortress of Olen, surprised the whole Empire by his wonderful feats of strength. One of his tricks was to add a fifth leg to a common table (placing the useless addition in the exact center) and then balance it with his teeth while two full-grown gipsies danced on it, the music being furnished by a violinist seated in the middle of the well-balanced platform. One day when the prison in which this Hercules was confined was undergoing repairs, he picked up a
It is said that Selig Whitman, known as "Ajax,'' a New York policeman, has lifted 2000 pounds with his hands and has maintained 450 pounds with his teeth. This man is five feet 8 1/2 inches tall and weighs 162 pounds. His chest measurement is 40 inches, the biceps 17 inches, that of his neck 16 1/2 inches, the forearm 11, the wrist 9 1/2 , the thigh 23, and the calf 17.
One of the strongest of the "strong women'' is Madame Elise, a Frenchwoman, who performs with her husband. Her greatest feat is the lifting of eight men weighing altogether
Fig. 184.—Sandow (after a photograph by Sarony).
[Description: Photograph of Sandow, rear view]
about 1700 pounds. At her performances she supports across her shoulders a 700-pound dumb-bell, on each side of which a person is suspended.
Miss Darnett, the "singing strong lady,'' extends herself upon her hands and feet, face uppermost, while a stout platform, with a semicircular groove for her neck, is fixed upon her chest, abdomen, and thighs by means of a waist-belt which passes through brass receivers on the under side of the board. An ordinary upright piano is then placed on the platform by four men; a performer mounts the platform and plays while the "strong lady'' sings a love song while supporting possibly half a ton.
Strength of the Jaws.—There are some persons who exhibit extraordinary power of the jaw. In the curious experiments of Regnard and
It is quite possible that in animals like the tiger and lion the force would equal 1700 or 1800 pounds. The anthropoid apes can easily break a cocoanut with their teeth, and Guyot-Daubès thinks that possibly a gorilla has a jaw-force of 200 pounds. A human adult is said to exert a force of from 45 to 65 pounds between his teeth, and some individuals exceed this average as much as 100 pounds. In Buffon's experiments he once found a Frenchman who could exert a force of 534 pounds with his jaws.
In several American circuses there have been seen women who hold themselves by a strap between their teeth while they are being hauled up to a trapeze some distance from the ground. A young mulatto girl by the name of "Miss Kerra'' exhibited in the Winter Circus in Paris; suspended from a trapeze, she supported a man at the end of a strap held between her teeth, and even permitted herself to be turned round and round.
She also held a cannon in her teeth while it was fired. This feat has been done by several others. According to Guyot-Daubès, at èpernay in 1882, while a man named Bucholtz, called "the human cannon,'' was performing this feat, the cannon, which was over a yard long and weighed nearly 200 pounds, burst and wounded several of the spectators.
There was another Hercules in Paris, who with his teeth lifted and held a heavy cask of water on which was seated a man and varying weights, according to the size of his audience, at the same time keeping his hands occupied with other weights. Figure 185 represents a well-known modern exhibitionist lifting with his teeth a cask on which are seated four men.
It is said that Marshal Saxe once visited a blacksmith ostensibly to have his horse shod, and seeing no shoe ready he took a bar of iron, and with his hands fashioned it into a horseshoe. There are Japanese dentists who extract teeth with their wonderfully developed fingers. There are stories of a man living in the village of Cantal who received the sobriquet of "La Coupia'' (The Brutal). He would exercise his function as a butcher by strangling with his fingers the calves and sheep, instead of killing them in the ordinary manner. It is said that one day, by placing his hands on the shoulders of the strong man of a local fair, he made him faint by the pressure exerted by his fingers.
Manual strangulation is a well-known crime and is quite popular in some countries. The Thugs of India sometimes murdered their victims in this way. Often such force is exerted by the murderer's fingers as to completely fracture the cricoid cartilage.
In viewing the feats of strength of the exhibitionist we must bear in consideration the numerous frauds perpetrated. A man of extraordinary strength sometimes finds peculiar stone, so stratified that he is able to break it with the force he can exert by a blow from the hand alone, although a man of ordinary strength would try in vain. In most of these instances, if one were to take a piece of the exhibitionist's stone, he would find that a slight tap of the hammer would break it. Again, there are many instances in which the stone has been found already separated and fixed quite firmly together, placing it out of the power of an ordinary man to break, but which the exhibitionist finds within his ability. This has been the solution of the feats of many of the individuals who invite persons to send them marked stones to use at their performances. By skilfully arranging stout twine on the hands, it is surprising how easily it is broken, and there are many devices and tricks to deceive the public, all of which are more or less used by "strong men.''
The recent officially recorded feats of strength that stand unequaled in the last decade are as follows:—
Weight-lifting.—Hands alone 1571 1/4 pounds, done by C G. Jefferson, an amateur, at Clinton, Mass December 10, 1890; with harness, 3239 pounds, by W B. Curtis, at New York December 20 1868; Louis Cyr, at Berthierville, Can., October 1, 1888, pushed up 3536 pounds of pig-iron with his back, arms, and legs.
Dumb-bells.—H. Pennock, in New York, 1870, put up a 10-pound dumb-bell 8431 times in four hours thirty-four minutes; by using both hands to raise it to the
PLATE 6.
[Description: Photograph of contortionist doing split]
Feats of contortion.
PLATE 6.
[Description: Photograph of contortionist doing split]
Feats of contortion.
PLATE 6.
[Description: Photograph of contortionist doing split]
Feats of contortion.
Throwing 16-pound hammer.—J. S. Mitchell, at Travers Island, N. Y., October 8, 1892, made a record-throw of 145 feet 3/4 inch.
Putting 16-pound Shot.—George R. Gray, at Chicago, September 16, 1893, made the record of 47 feet.
Throwing 50-pound Weight.—J. S. Mitchell, at New York, September 22, 1894, made the distance record of 35 feet 10 inches; and at Chicago, September 16, 1893, made the height record of 15 feet 4 1/2 inches.
The class of people commonly known as contortionists by the laxity of their muscles and ligaments are able to dislocate or preternaturally bend their joints. In entertainments of an arena type and even in what are now called "variety performances'' are to be seen individuals of this class. These persons can completely straddle two chairs, and do what they call "the split;'' they can place their foot about their neck while maintaining the upright position; they can bend almost double at the waist in such a manner that the back of the head will touch the calves, while the legs are perpendicular with the ground; they can bring the popliteal region over their shoulders and in this position walk on their hands; they can put themselves in a narrow barrel; eat with a fork attached to a heel while standing on their hands, and perform divers other remarkable and almost incredible feats. Their performances are genuine, and they are real physiologic curiosities. Plate 6 represents two well-known contortionists in their favorite feats.
Wentworth, the oldest living contortionist, is about seventy years of age, but seems to have lost none of his earlier sinuosity. His chief feat is to stow himself away in a box 23 X 29 X 16 inches. When inside, six dozen wooden bottles of the same size and shape as those which ordinarily contain English soda water are carefully stowed away, packed in with him, and the lid slammed down. He bestows upon this act the curious and suggestive name of "Packanatomicalization.''
Another class of individuals are those who can either partially or completely dislocate the major articulations of the body. Many persons exhibit this capacity in their fingers. Persons vulgarly called "double jointed'' are quite common.
Charles Warren, an American contortionist, has been examined by several medical men of prominence and descriptions of him have appeared from time to time in prominent medical journals. [9.227] When he was but a child he was constantly tumbling down, due to the heads of the femurs slipping from the acetabula, but reduction was always easy. When eight years old he joined a company of acrobats and strolling performers, and was called by the euphonious title of "the Yankee dish-rag.'' His muscular system was well-developed, and, like Sandow, he could make muscles act in concert or separately.
Warren was well informed on surgical landmarks and had evidently been a close student of Sir Astley Cooper's classical illustrations of dislocations.
He was able so to contract his abdominal muscles that the aorta could be distinctly felt with the fingers. In this feat nearly all the abdominal contents were crowded beneath the diaphragm (Fig. 187). On the other hand, he could produce a phantom abdominal tumor by driving the coils of the intestine within a peculiar grasp of the rectus and oblique muscles. The "growth'' (Fig. 188) was rounded, dull on percussion, and looked as if an exploratory incision or puncture would be advisable for diagnosis.
By extraordinary muscular power and extreme laxity of his ligaments, he simulated all the dislocations about the hip joint (Fig. 186). Sometimes he produced actual dislocation, hut usually he said he could so distort his muscles as to imitate in the closest degree the dislocations. He could imitate
Warren weighed 150 pounds, was a total abstainer, and was the father of two children, both of whom could readily dislocate their hips.
In France in 1886 there was shown a man who was called "l'homme protée,'' or protean man. He had an exceptional power over his muscles. Even those muscles ordinarily involuntary he could exercise at will. He could produce such rigidity of stature that a blow by a hammer on his body fell as though on a block of stone. By his power over his abdominal muscles he could give himself different shapes, from the portly alderman to the lean and haggard student, and he was even accredited with assuming the shape of a "living skeleton.'' Quatrefages, the celebrated French scientist, examined him, and said that he could shut off the blood from the right side and then from the left side of the body, which feat he ascribed to unilateral muscular action.
In 1893 there appeared in Washington, giving exhibitions at the colleges there and at the Emergency Hospital, a man named Fitzgerald, claiming to reside in Harrisburg, Pa., who made his living by exhibiting at medical colleges over the country. He simulated all the dislocations, claiming that they were complete, using manual force to produce and reduce them. He exhibited a thorough knowledge of the pathology of dislocations and of the anatomy of the articulations. He produced the different forms of talipes, as well as all the major hip-dislocations. When interrogated as to the cause of his enormous saphenous veins, which stood out like huge twisted cords under the skin and were associated with venous varicosity on the leg, he said he presumed they were caused by his constantly compressing the saphenous vein at the hip in giving his exhibitions, which in some large cities were repeated several times a day.
Endurance of Pain.—The question of the endurance of pain is, necessarily, one of comparison. There is little doubt that in the lower classes the sensation of pain is felt in a much less degree than in those of a highly intellectual and nervous temperament. If we eliminate the element of fear, which always predominates in the lower classes, the result of general hospital observation will show this distinction. There are many circumstances which have a marked influence on pain. Patriotism, enthusiasm, and general excitement, together with pride and natural obstinacy, prove the power of the mind over the body. The tortures endured by prisoners of war, religious martyrs and victims, exemplify the power of a strong will excited by deep emotion over the sensation of pain. The flagellants, persons who expiated their sins by voluntarily flaying themselves to the point of exhaustion, are modern examples of persons who in religious enthusiasm inflict pain on themselves. In
By means of singing and dancing the Aïssaoui, in the Algerian town of Constantine, throw themselves into an ecstatic state in which their bodies seem to be insensible even to severe wounds. Hellwald says they run sharp-pointed irons into their heads, eyes, necks, and breasts without apparent pain or injury to themselves. Some observers claim they are rendered insensible to pain by self-induced hypnotism.
An account by Carpenter of the Algerian Aïssaoui contained the following lucid description of the performances of these people:—
"The center of the court was given up to the Aïssaoui. These were 12 hollow-checked men, some old and some young, who sat cross-legged in an irregular semicircle on the floor. Six of them had immense flat drums or tambours, which they presently began to beat noisily. In front of them a charcoal fire burned in a brazier, and into it one of them from time to time threw bits of some sort of incense, which gradually filled the place with a thin smoke and a mildly pungent odor.
"For a long time—it seemed a long time—this went on with nothing to break the silence but the rhythmical beat of the drums. Gradually, however, this had become quicker, and now grew wild and almost deafening, and the men began a monotonous chant which soon was increased to shouting. Suddenly one of the men threw himself with a howl to the ground, when he was seized by another, who stripped him of part of his garments and led him in front of the fire. Here, while the pounding of the drums and the shouts of the men became more and more frantic, he stood swaying his body backward and forward, almost touching the ground in his fearful contortions, and wagging his head until it seemed as if he must dislocate it from his shoulders. All at once he drew from the fire a red-hot bar of iron, and with a yell of horror, which sent a shiver down one's back, held it up before his eyes.
"The drums all the time had been beaten lustily, and the men had kept up their chant, which still went unceasingly on. Again a man sprang to his feet and went through the same horrid motions. This time the performer took from the fire a sharp nail and, with a piece of the sandy limestone common to this region, proceeded with a series of blood-curdling howls to hammer it down into the top of his head, where it presently stuck upright, while he tottered dizzily around until it was pulled out with apparent effort and with a hollow snap by one of the other men.
"The performance had now fairly begun, and, with short intervals and always in the same manner, the frenzied contortions first, another ate up a glass lamp-chimney, which he first broke in pieces in his hands and then crunched loudly with his teeth. He then produced from a tin box a live scorpion, which ran across the floor with tail erect, and was then allowed to attach itself to the back of his hand and his face, and was finally taken into his mouth, where it hung suspended from the inside of his cheek and was finally chewed and swallowed. A sword was next produced, and after the usual preliminaries it was drawn by the same man who had just given the scorpion such unusual opportunities several times back and forth across his throat and neck, apparently deeply imbedded in the flesh. Not content with this, he bared his body at his waist, and while one man held the sword, edge upward, by the hilt and another by the point, about which a turban had been wrapped, he first stood upon it with his bare feet and then balanced himself across it on his naked stomach, while still another of the performers stood upon his back, whither he had sprung without any attempt to mollify the violence of the action. With more yells and genuflections, another now drew from the fire several iron skewers, some of which he thrust into the inner side of his cheeks and others into his throat at the larynx, where they were left for a while to hang.
"The last of the actors in this singular entertainment was a stout man
To-day it is only through the intervention of the United States troops that some of the barbarous ceremonies of the North American Indians are suppressed. The episode of the "Ghost-dance'' is fresh in every mind. Instances of self-mutilation, although illustrating this subject, will be discussed at length in Chapter XIV.
Malingerers often endure without flinching the most arduous tests. Supraorbital pressure is generally of little avail, and pinching, pricking, and even incision are useless with these hospital impostors. It is reported that in the City Hospital of St. Louis a negro submitted to the ammonia-test, inhaling this vapor for several hours without showing any signs of sensibility, and made his escape the moment his guard was absent. A contemporary journal says:—
"The obstinacy of resolute impostors seems, indeed, capable of emulating the torture-proof perseverance of religious enthusiasts and such martyrs of patriotism as Mueius Scævola or Grand Master Ruediger of the Teutonic Knights, who refused to reveal the hiding place of his companion even when his captors belabored him with red-hot irons.
"One Basil Rohatzek, suspected of fraudulent enlistment (bounty-jumping, as our volunteers called it), pretended to have been thrown by his horse and to have been permanently disabled by a paralysis of the lower extremities. He dragged himself along in a pitiful manner, and his knees looked somewhat bruised, but he was known to have boasted his ability to procure his discharge somehow or other. One of his tent mates had also seen him fling himself violently and repeatedly on his knees (to procure those questionable bruises), and on the whole there seemed little doubt that the fellow was shamming. All the surgeons who had examined him concurred in that view,
"The martyrdom of Rohatzek, however, was a mere trifle compared with the ordeal by which the tribunal of Paris tried in vain to extort a confession of the would-be regicide, Damiens. Robert Damiens, a native of Arras, had been exiled as an habitual criminal, and returning in disguise made an attempt upon the life of Louis XV., January 5, 1757. His dagger pierced the mantle of the King, but merely grazed his neck. Damiens, who had stumbled, was instantly seized and dragged to prison, where a convocation of expert torturers exhausted their ingenuity in the attempt to extort a confession implicating the Jesuits, a conspiracy of Huguenots, etc. But Damiens refused to speak. He could have pleaded his inability to name accomplices who did not exist, but he stuck to his resolution of absolute silence. They singed off his skin by shreds, they wrenched out his teeth and finger-joints, they dragged him about at the end of a rope hitched to a team of stout horses, they sprinkled him from head to foot with acids and seething oil, but Damiens never uttered a sound till his dying groan announced the conclusion of the tragedy.''
The apparent indifference to the pain of a major operation is sometimes marvelous, and there are many interesting instances on record. When at the battle of Dresden in 1813 Moreau, seated beside the Emperor Alexander, had both limbs shattered by a French cannon-ball, he did not utter a groan, but asked for a cigar and smoked leisurely while a surgeon amputated one of his members. In a short time his medical attendants expressed the danger and questionability of saving his other limb, and consulted him. In the calmest way the heroic General instructed them to amputate it, again remaining unmoved throughout the operation.
Crompton [9.228] records a case in which during an amputation of the leg not a sound escaped from the patient's lips, and in three weeks, when it was found necessary to amputate the other leg, the patient endured the operation without an anesthetic, making no show of pain, and only remarking that he thought the saw did not cut well. Crompton quotes another case, in which the patient held a candle with one hand while the operator amputated his other arm at the shoulder-joint. Several instances of self-performed major operations are mentioned in Chapter XIV.
The relation of pain to shock has been noticed by many writers. *[846] Before the days of anesthesia, such cases as the following, reported by Sir Astley Cooper, seem to have been not unusual: A brewer's servant, a man of middle age and robust frame, suffered much agony for several days from a thecal abscess, occasioned by a splinter of wood beneath the thumb. A few seconds after the matter was discharged by an incision, the man raised himself by a convulsive effort from his bed and instantly expired.
It is a well-known fact that powerful nerve-irritation, such as produces shock, is painless, and this accounts for the fact that wounds received during battle are not painful.
Leyden of Berlin showed to his class at the Charité Hospital a number of hysteric women with a morbid desire for operation without an anesthetic. Such persons do not seem to experience pain, and, on the contrary, appear to have genuine pleasure in pain. In illustration, Leyden showed a young lady who during a hysteric paroxysm had suffered a serious fracture of the jaw, injuring the facial artery, and necessitating quite an extensive operation. The facial and carotid arteries had to be ligated and part of the inferior maxilla removed, but the patient insisted upon having the operations performed without an anesthetic, and afterward informed the operator that she had experienced great pleasure throughout the whole procedure.
Pain as a Means of Sexual Enjoyment.—There is a form of sexual perversion in which the pervert takes delight in being subjected to degrading, humiliating, and cruel acts on the part of his or her associate. It was named masochism from Sacher-Masoch, an Austrian novelist, whose works describe this form of perversion. The victims are said to experience peculiar pleasure at the sight of a rival who has obtained the favor of their mistress, and will even receive blows and lashes from the rival with a voluptuous mixture of pain and pleasure. Masochism corresponds to the passivism of Stefanowski, and is the opposite of sadism, in which the pleasure is derived from inflicting pain on the object of affection. Krafft-Ebing cites several instances of masochism.
Although the enjoyment and frenzy of flagellation are well known, its
There is undoubtedly a sympathetic communication between the ramifying nerves of the skin of the loins and the lower portion of the spinal cord which contains the sexual centers. Recently, in cases of dysmenorrhea, amenorrhea dysmenorrhagia, and like sexual disorders, massage or gentle flagellation of the parts contiguous with the genitalia and pelvic viscera has been recommended. Taxil is the authority for the statement that just before the sexual act rakes sometimes have themselves flagellated or pricked until the blood flows in order to stimulate their diminished sexual power. Rhodiginus, Bartholinus, and other older physicians mention individuals in whom severe castigation was a prerequisite of copulation. As a ritual custom flagellation is preserved to the present day by some sects.
Before leaving the subject of flagellation it should be stated that among the serious after-results of this practice as a disciplinary means, fatal emphysema, severe hemorrhage, and shock have been noticed. There are many cases of death from corporal punishment by flogging. Ballingal [9.229] records the death of a soldier from flogging; Davidson [9.230] has reported a similar case, and there is a death from the same cause cited in the Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal for 1846.
Idiosyncrasy is a peculiarity of constitution whereby an individual is affected by external agents in a different manner from others. Begin [9.231] defines idiosyncrasy as the predominance of an organ, of a viscus, or a system of organs. This definition does not entirely grasp the subject. An idiosyncrasy is something inherent in the organization of the individual, of which we only see the manifestation when proper causes are set in action. We do not attempt to explain the susceptibility of certain persons to certain foods and certain exposures. We know that such is the fact. According to Begin's idea, there is scarcely any separation between idiosyncrasy and temperament, whereas from what would appear to be sound reasoning, based on the physiology of the subject, a very material difference exists.
Idiosyncrasies may be congenital, hereditary, or acquired, and, if acquired, may be only temporary. Some, purely of mental origin, are often readily cured. One individual may synchronously possess an idiosyncrasy of the digestive, circulatory, and nervous systems. Striking examples of transitory or temporary idiosyncrasies are seen in pregnant women.
Possibly the most satisfactory divisions under which to group the material on this subject collected from literature are into examples of idiosyncrasies in which, although the effect is a mystery, the sense is perceptible and the cause distinctly defined and known, and those in which sensibility is latent. The former class includes all the peculiar antipathies which are brought about through the special senses, while the latter groups all those strange instances in which, without the slightest antipathy on the part of the subject, a certain food or drug, after ingestion, produces an untoward effect.
The first examples of idiosyncrasies to be noticed will be those manifested through the sense of smell. On the authority of Spigelius, whose name still survives in the nomenclature of the anatomy of the liver, Mackeuzie quotes an extraordinary case in a Roman Cardinal, Oliver Caraffa, who could not endure the smell of a rose. This is confirmed from personal observation by another writer, Pierius, [9.232] who adds that the Cardinal was obliged every year to shut himself up during the rose season, and guards were stationed at the gates of his palace to stop any visitors who might be wearing the dreadful flower. It is, of course, possible that in this case the rose may not have caused the disturbance, and as it is distinctly stated that it was the smell to which the Cardinal objected, we may fairly conclude that what annoyed him was simply a manifestation of rose-fever excited by the pollen. There is also an instance of a noble Venetian who was always confined to his palace during the rose season. However, in this connection Sir Kenelm Digby relates that so obnoxious was a rose to Lady Heneage, that she blistered her cheek while accidentally lying on one while she slept. Ledelius [9.233] records the description of a woman who fainted before a red rose, although she was accustomed to wear white ones in her hair. Cremer describes a Bishop who died of the smell of a rose from what might be called "aromatic pain.''
The organ of smell is in intimate relation with the brain and the organs of taste and sight; and its action may thus disturb that of the esophagus, the stomach, the diaphragm, the intestines, the organs of generation, etc. Odorous substances have occasioned syncope, stupor, nausea, vomiting, and sometimes death. It is said that the Hindoos, and some classes who eat nothing but vegetables, are intensely nauseated by the odors of European tables, and for this reason they are incapable of serving as dining-room servants.
Schneider, [9.234] the father of rhinology, mentions a woman in whom the odor of orange-flowers produced syncope. Odier has known a woman who was affected with aphonia whenever exposed to the odor of musk, but who immediately recovered after taking a cold bath. Dejean has mentioned a man who could not tolerate an atmosphere of cherries. Highmore knew a man in whom the slightest smell of musk caused headache followed by epistaxis. Lanzonius *[570] gives an account of a valiant soldier who could neither bear the sight nor smell of an ordinary pink. There is an instance on record in which the odor coming from a walnut tree excited epilepsy. It is said that one of the secretaries of Francis I. was forced to stop his nostrils with bread if apples were on the table. He would faint if one was held near his nose Schenck *[718] says that the noble family of Fystates in Aquitaine had a similar peculiarity—an innate hatred of apples. Bruyerinus knew a girl of sixteen who could not bear the smell of bread, the slightest particle of which she would detect by its odor. She lived almost entirely on milk. Bierling *[210] mentions an antipathy to the smell of musk, and there is a case on record in which it caused convulsions. Boerhaave bears witness that the odor of cheese caused nasal hemorrhage. Whytt mentions an instance in which tobacco became repugnant to a woman each time she conceived, but after delivery this aversion changed to almost an appetite for tobacco fumes. Panaroli *[617] mentions an instance of sickness caused by the smell of sassafras, and there is also a record of a person who fell helpless at the smell of cinnamon. Wagner had a patient who detested the odor of citron. Ignorant of this repugnance, he prescribed a potion in which there was water of balm-mint, of an odor resembling citron. As soon as the patient took the first dose he became greatly agitated and much nauseated, and this did not cease until Wagner repressed the balm-mint. There is reported [9.235] the case of a young woman, rather robust, otherwise normal, who always experienced a desire to go to stool after being subjected to any nasal irritation sufficient to excite sneezing.
It has already been remarked that individuals and animals have their special odors, certain of which are very agreeable to some people and extremely unpleasant to others. Many persons are not able to endure the emanations from cats, rats, mice, etc., and the mere fact of one of these animals being in their vicinity is enough to provoke distressing symptoms. Mlle. Contat, the celebrated French actress, was not able to endure the odor
The impressions which come to us through the sense of hearingcause sensations agreeable or disagreeable, but even in this sense we see marked examples of idiosyncrasies and antipathies to various sounds and tones. In some individuals the sensations in one ear differ from those of the other. Everard Home *[629] has cited several examples, and Heidmann of Vienna has treated two musicians, one of whom always perceived in the affected ear, during damp weather, tones an octave lower than in the other ear. The other musician perceived tones an octave higher in the affected ear. Cheyne [9.236] is quoted as mentioning a case in which, when the subject heard the noise of a drum, blood jetted from the veins with considerable force. Sauvages [9.237] has seen a young man in whom intense headache and febrile paroxysm were only relieved by the noise from a beaten drum. Esparron has mentioned an infant in whom an ataxic fever was established by the noise of this instrument. Ephemerides contains an account of a young man who became nervous and had the sense of suffocation when he heard the noise made by sweeping. Zimmerman speaks of a young girl who had convulsions when she heard the rustling of oiled silk. Boyle, the father of chemistry, could not conquer an aversion he had to the sound of water running through pipes. A gentleman of the Court of the Emperor Ferdinand suffered epistaxis when he heard a cat mew. La Mothe Le Vayer could not endure the sounds of musical instruments, although he experienced pleasurable sensations when he heard a clap of thunder. It is said that a chaplain in England *[629] always had a sensation of cold at the top of his head when he read the 53d chapter of Isaiah and certain verses of the Kings. There was an unhappy wight who could not hear his own name pronounced without being thrown into convulsions. [9.238] Marguerite of Valois, sister of Francis I., could never utter the words "mort'' or "petite verole,'' such a horrible aversion had she to death and small-pox. According to Campani, the Chevalier Alcantara could never say "lana,'' or words pertaining to woolen clothing. Hippocrates
Autenreith [9.244] mentions the vibrations of a loud noise tickling the fauces to such an extent as to provoke vomiting. There are some emotional people who are particularly susceptible to certain expressions. The widow of Jean Calas always fell in a faint when she heard the words of the death-decree sounded on the street. There was a Hanoverian officer in the Indian war against Typoo-Saib, a good and brave soldier, who would feel sick if he heard the word "tiger'' pronounced. It was said that he had experienced the ravages of this beast.
The therapeutic value of music has long been known. For ages warriors have been led to battle to the sounds of martial strains. David charmed away Saul's evil spirit with his harp. Horace in his 32d Ode Book 1, concludes his address to the lyre:—
Dulce lenimen mihicumque calve,
Rite vocanti;''
Or, as Kiessling of Berlin interprets:—
Dulce lenimen medieumque, salve,
Rite vocanti.''
—"O, of our troubles the sweet, the healing sedative, etc.'' Homer, Plutarch, Theophrastus, and Galen say that music cures rheumatism, the pests, and stings of reptiles, etc. Diemerbroeck, *[304] Bonet, Baglivi, Kercher, and Desault mention the efficacy of melody in phthisis, gout, hydrophobia, the bites of venomous reptiles, etc. There is a case in the Lancet [9.245] of a patient in convulsions who was cured in the paroxysm by hearing the tones of music. Before the French Academy of Sciences in 1708, and again in 1718, there was an instance of a dancing-master stricken with violent fever and in a condition of delirium, who recovered his senses and health on hearing melodious music. There is little doubt of the therapeutic value of music, but particularly do we find its value in instances of neuroses. The inspiration offered by music is well-known, and it is doubtless a stimulant to the intellectual work. Bacon, Milton, Warburton, and Alfieri needed music to stimulate them in their labors, and it is said that Bourdaloue always played an air on the violin before preparing to write.
According to the American Medico-Surgical Bulletin, "Professor Tarchanoff of Saint Petersburg has been investigating the influence of music upon man and other animals. The subject is by no means a new one. In recent times Dagiel and Féré have investigated the effect of music upon the respirations, the pulse, and the muscular system in man. Professor Tarchanoff made use of the ergograph of Mosso, and found that if the fingers were completely fatigued, either by voluntary efforts or by electric excitation, to the point of being incapable of making any mark except a straight line on the registering cylinder, music had the power of making the fatigue disappear, and the finger placed in the ergograph again commenced to mark lines of different heights, according to the amount of excitation. It was also found that music of a sad and lugubrious character had the opposite effect, and could check or entirely inhibit the contractions. Professor Tarchanoff does not profess to give any positive explanation of these facts, but he inclines to the view that `the voluntary muscles, being furnished with excitomotor and depressant fibers, act in relation to the music similarly to the heart—that is to say, that joyful music resounds along the excitomotor fibers, and sad music along the depressant or inhibitory fibers.' Experiments on dogs showed that music was capable of increasing the elimination of carbonic acid by 16.7 per cent., and of increasing the consumption of oxygen by 20.1 per cent. It was also found that music increased the functional activity of the skin. Professor Tarchanoff claims as the result of these experiments that music may fairly be regarded as a serious therapeutic agent, and that it exercises
"Professor Tarchanoff evidently prefers to regard the phenomena as being all upon the same plane, namely, that of physiology; and until we know the difference between mind and body, and the principles of their interaction, it is obviously impossible to controvert this view successfully. From the immediately practical point of view we should not ignore the possible value of music in some states of disease. In melancholia and hysteria it is probably capable of being used with benefit, and it is worth bearing in mind in dealing with insomnia. Classical scholars will not forget that the singing of birds was tried as a remedy to overcome the insomnia of Mæcenas. Music is certainly a good antidote to the pernicious habit of introspection and self-analysis, which is often a curse both of the hysteric and of the highly cultured. It would seem obviously preferable to have recourse to music of a lively and cheerful character.''
Idiosyncrasies of the visual organs are generally quite rare. It is well-known that among some of the lower animals, e. g., the turkey-cocks, buffaloes, and elephants, the color red is unendurable. Buchner [9.246] and Tissot [9.247] mention a young boy who had a paroxysm if he viewed anything red. Certain individuals become nauseated when they look for a long time on irregular lines or curves, as, for examples, in caricatures. Many of the older examples of idiosyncrasies of color are nothing more than instances of color-blindness, which in those times was unrecognized. Prochaska [9.248] knew a woman who in her youth became unconscious at the sight of beet-root, although in her later years she managed to conquer this antipathy, but was never able to eat the vegetable in question. One of the most remarkable forms of idiosyncrasy on record is that of a student who was deprived of his senses by the very sight of an old woman. On one occasion he was carried out from a party in a dying state, caused, presumably, by the abhorred aspect of the chaperons The Count of Caylus [9.249] was always horror-stricken at the sight of a Capuchin friar. He cured himself by a wooden image dressed in the costume of this order placed in his room and constantly before his view. It is common to see persons who faint at the sight of blood. Analogous are the individuals who feel nausea in an hospital ward.
All Robert Boyle's philosophy could not make him endure the sight of a spider, although he had no such aversion to toads, venomous snakes, etc. Paré mentions a man who fainted at the sight of an eel, and another who had convulsions at the sight of a carp. There is a record of a young lady
As to idiosyncrasies of the sense of touch, it is well known that some people cannot handle velvet or touch the velvety skin of a peach without
Nothing is more common than the idiosyncrasy which certain people display for certain foods. The trite proverb, "What is one man's meat is another man's poison,'' is a genuine truth, and is exemplified by hundreds of instances. Many people are unable to eat fish without subsequent disagreeable symptoms. Prominent among the causes of urticaria are oysters, crabs, and other shell fish, strawberries, raspberries, and other fruits. The abundance of literature on this subject makes an exhaustive collection of data impossible, and only a few of the prominent and striking instances can be reported.
Amatus Lusitanus *[119] speaks of vomiting and diarrhea occurring each time a certain Spaniard ate meat. Haller knew a person who was purged violently by syrup of roses. The son of one of the friends of Wagner would vomit immediately after the ingestion of any substance containing honey. Bayle [9.254] has mentioned a person so susceptible to honey that by a plaster of this substance placed upon the skin this untoward effect was produced. Whytt knew a woman who was made sick by the slightest bit of nutmeg. Tissot [9.255] observed vomiting in one of his friends after the ingestion of the slightest amount of sugar. Ritte *[452] mentions a similar instance. Roose [9.256] has seen vomiting produced in a woman by the slightest dose of distilled water of linden. There is also mentioned a person in whom orange-flower water produced the same effect. Dejean cites a case in which honey taken internally or applied externally acted like poison. It is said that the celebrated Haen [9.257] would always have convulsions after eating half a dozen strawberries. Earle and Halifax attended a child for kidney-irritation produced by strawberries, and this was the invariable result of the ingestion of this fruit. The authors personally know of a family the male members of which for several generations could not eat strawberries without symptoms of poisoning. The female members were exempt from the idiosyncrasy. A little boy of this family was killed by eating a single berry. Whytt mentions a woman of delicate constitution and great sensibility of the digestive tract in whom foods difficult
Brasavolus says that Julia, wife of Frederick, King of Naples, had such an aversion to meat that she could not carry it to her mouth without fainting. The anatomist Gavard was not able to eat apples without convulsions and vomiting. It is said that Erasmus was made ill by the ingestion of fish; but this same philosopher, who was cured of a malady by laughter, expressed his appreciation by an elegy on the folly. There is a record of a person who could not eat almonds without a scarlet rash immediately appearing upon the face. Marcellus Donatus knew a young man who could not eat an egg without his lips swelling and purple spots appearing on his face. Smetius [9.258] mentions a person in whom the ingestion of fried eggs was often followed by syncope. Brunton [9.259] has seen a case of violent vomiting and purging after the slightest bit of egg. On one occasion this person was induced to eat a small morsel of cake on the statement that it contained no egg, and, although fully believing the words of his host, he subsequently developed prominent symptoms, due to the trace of egg that was really in the cake. A letter from a distinguished littérateur to Sir Morell Mackenzie gives a striking example of the idiosyncrasy to eggs transmitted through four generations. Being from such a reliable source, it has been deemed advisable to quote the account in full: "My daughter tells me that you are interested in the ill-effects which the eating of eggs has upon her, upon me, and upon my father before us. I believe my grandfather, as well as my father, could not eat eggs with impunity. As to my father himself, he is nearly eighty years old; he has not touched an egg since he was a young man; he can, therefore, give no precise or reliable account of the symptoms the eating of eggs produce in him. But it was not the mere `stomach-ache' that ensued, but much more immediate and alarming disturbances. As for me, the peculiarity was discovered when I was a spoon-fed child. On several occasions it was noticed (that is my mother's account) that I felt ill without apparent cause; afterward it was recollected that a small part of a yolk of an egg had been given to me. Eclaircissement came immediately after taking a single spoonful of egg. I fell into such an alarming state that the doctor was sent for. The effect seems to have been just the same that it produces upon my daughter now,—something that suggested brain-congestion and convulsions. From time to time, as a boy and a young man, I have eaten an egg by way of trying
Hutchinson [9.260] speaks of a Member of Parliament who had an idiosyncrasy as regards parsley. After the ingestion of this herb in food he always had alarming attacks of sickness and pain in the abdomen, attended by swelling of the tongue and lips and lividity of the face. This same man could not take the smallest quantity of honey, and certain kinds of fruit always poisoned him. There was a collection of instances of idiosyncrasy in the British Medical Journal, 1859, which will be briefly given in the following lines: One patient could not eat rice in any shape without extreme distress. From the description given of his symptoms, spasmodic asthma seemed to be the cause of his discomfort. On one occasion when at a dinner-party he felt the symptoms of rice-poisoning come on, and, although he had partaken of no dish ostensibly containing rice, was, as usual, obliged to retire from the table. Upon investigation it appeared that some white soup with which he had commenced his meal had been thickened with ground rice. As in the preceding case there was another gentleman who could not eat rice without a sense of suffocation. On one occasion he took lunch with a friend in chambers, partaking only of simple bread and cheese and bottled beer. On being seized with the usual symptoms of rice-poisoning he informed his friend of his peculiarity of constitution, and the symptoms were explained by the fact that a few grains of rice had been put into each bottle of beer for the purpose of exciting a secondary fermentation. The same author speaks of a gentleman under treatment for stricture who could not eat figs without experiencing the most unpleasant formication of the palate and fauces. The fine dust from split peas caused the same sensation, accompanied with running at the nose; it was found that the father of the patient suffered from hay-fever in certain seasons. He also says a certain young lady after eating eggs suffered from swelling of the tongue and throat, accompanied by "alarming illness,'' and there is recorded in the same paragraph a history of another young girl in
Overton [9.261] cites a striking case of constitutional peculiarity or idiosyncrasy in which wheat flour in any form, the staff of life, an article hourly prayed for by all Christian nations as the first and most indispensable of earthly blessings, proved to one unfortunate individual a prompt and dreadful poison. The patient's name was David Waller, and he was born in Pittsylvania County, Va., about the year 1780. He was the eighth child of his parents, and, together with all his brothers and sisters, was stout and healthy. At the time of observation Waller was about fifty years of age. He had dark hair, gray eyes, dark complexion, was of bilious and irascible temperament, well formed, muscular and strong, and in all respects healthy as any man, with the single exception of his peculiar idiosyncrasy. He had been the subject of but few diseases, although he was attacked by the epidemic of 1816. From the history of his parents and an inquiry into the health of his ancestry, nothing could be found which could establish the fact of heredity in his peculiar disposition. Despite every advantage of stature, constitution, and heredity, David Waller was through life, from his cradle to his grave, the victim of what is possibly a unique idiosyncrasy of constitution. In his own words he declared: "Of two equal quantities of tartar and wheat flour, not more than a dose of the former, he would rather swallow the tartar than the wheat flour.'' If he ate flour in any form or however combined, in the smallest quantity, in two minutes or less he would have painful itching over the whole body, accompanied by severe colic and tormina in the bowels, great sickness in the stomach, and continued vomiting, which he declared was ten times as distressing as the symptoms caused by the ingestion of tartar emetic. In about ten minutes after eating the flour the itching would be greatly intensified, especially about the head, face, and eyes, but tormenting all parts of the body, and not to be appeased. These symptoms continued for two days with intolerable violence, and only declined on the third day and ceased on the tenth. In the convalescence, the lungs were affected, he coughed, and in expectoration raised great quantities of phlegm, and really resembled a phthisical patient. At this time he was confined to his room with great weakness, similar to that of a person recovering from an asthmatic attack. The mere smell of wheat produced distressing symptoms in a minor degree, and for this reason he could not, without suffering,
The authors know of a case in which the eating of any raw fruit would produce in a lady symptoms of asthma; cooked fruit had no such effect.
Food-Superstitions.—The superstitious abhorrence and antipathy to various articles of food that have been prevalent from time to time in the history of the human race are of considerable interest and well deserve some mention here. A writer in a prominent journal has studied this subject with the following result:—
"From the days of Adam and Eve to the present time there has been not only forbidden fruit, but forbidden meats and vegetables. For one reason or
"As we all know, the Jews have long had an hereditary antipathy to pork. On the other hand, swine's flesh was highly esteemed by the ancient Greeks and Romans. This fact is revealed by the many references to pig as a dainty bit of food. At the great festival held annually in honor of Demeter, roast pig was the pièce de résistance in the bill of fare, because the pig was the sacred animal of Demeter. Aristophanes in `The Frogs' makes one of the characters hint that some of the others `smell of roast pig.' These people undoubtedly had been at the festival (known as the Thesmophoria) and had eaten freely of roast pig, Those who took part in another Greek mystery or festival (known as the Eleusinia) abstained from certain food, and above all from beans.
"Again, as we all know, mice are esteemed in China and in some parts of India. But the ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Jews abhorred mice and would not touch mouse-meat. Rats and field-mice were sacred in Old Egypt, and were not to be eaten on this account. So, too, in some parts of Greece, the mouse was the sacred animal of Apollo, and mice were fed in his temples. The chosen people were forbidden to eat `the weasel, and the mouse, and the tortoise after his kind.' These came under the designation of unclean animals, which were to be avoided.
"But people have abstained from eating kinds of flesh which could not be called unclean. For example, the people of Thebes, as Herodotus tells us, abstained from sheep. Then, the ancients used to abstain from certain vegetables. In his `Roman Questions' Plutarch asks: `Why do the Latins abstain strictly from the flesh of the woodpecker?' In order to answer Plutarch's question correctly it is necessary to have some idea of the peculiar custom and belief called `totemism.' There is a stage of society in which people claim descent from and kinship with beasts, birds, vegetables, and other objects. This object, which is a `totem,' or family mark, they religiously abstain from eating. The members of the tribe are divided into clans or stocks, each of which takes the name of some animal, plant, or object, as the bear, the buffalo, the woodpecker, the asparagus, and so forth. No member of the bear family would dare to eat bear-meat, but he has no objection to eating buffalo steak. Even the marriage law is based on this belief, and no man whose family name is Wolf may marry a woman whose family name is also Wolf.
"In a general way it may be said that almost all our food prohibitions spring from the extraordinary custom generally called totemism. Mr. Swan, who was missionary for many years in the Congo Free State, thus describes
"The survival of antipathy to certain foods was found among people as highly civilized as the Egyptians, the Greeks, and the Romans. Quite a list of animals whose flesh was forbidden might be drawn up. For example, in Old Egypt the sheep could not be eaten in Thebes, nor the goat in Mendes, nor the cat in Bubastis, nor the crocodile at Ombos, nor the rat, which was sacred to Ra, the sun-god. However, the people of one place had no scruples about eating the forbidden food of another place. And this often led to religious disputes.
"Among the vegetables avoided as food by the Egyptians may be mentioned the onion, the garlic, and the leek. Lucian says that the inhabitants of Pelusium adored the onion. According to Pliny the Egyptians relished the leek and the onion. Juvenal exclaims: `Surely a very religious nation, and a blessed place, where every garden is overrun with gods!' The survivals of totemism among the ancient Greeks are very interesting. Families named after animals and plants were not uncommon. One Athenian gens, the Ioxidæ, had for its ancestral plant the asparagus. One Roman gens, the Piceni, took a woodpecker for its totem, and every member of this family refused, of course, to eat the flesh of the woodpecker. In the same way as the nations of the Congo Free State, the Latins had an antipathy to certain kinds of food. However, an animal or plant forbidden in one place was eaten without any compunction in another place. `These local rites in Roman times,' says Mr. Lang, `caused civil brawls, for the customs of one town naturally seemed blasphemous to neighbors with a different sacred animal. Thus when the people of dog-town were feeding on the fish called oxyrrhyncus, the citizens of the town which revered the oxyrrhyncus began to eat dogs. Hence arose a riot.' The antipathy of the Jews to pork has given rise to quite different explanations. The custom is probably a relic of totemistic belief. That the unclean animals—animals not to be eaten—such as the pig, the mouse, and the weasel, were originally totems of the children of Israel, Professor Robertson Smith believes is shown by various passages in the Old Testament.
"When animals and plants ceased to be held sacred they were endowed with sundry magical or mystic properties. The apple has been supposed to possess peculiar virtues, especially in the way of health. `The relation of
"There is another phase to food-superstitions, and that is the theory that the qualities of the eaten pass into the eater. Mr. Tylor refers to the habit of the Dyak young men in abstaining from deer-meat lest it should make them timid, while the warriors of some South American tribes eat the meat of tigers, stags, and boars for courage and speed. He mentions the story of an English gentleman at Shanghai who at the time of the Taeping attack met his Chinese servant carrying home the heart of a rebel, which he intended to eat to make him brave. There is a certain amount of truth in the theory that the quality of food does affect the mind and body. Buckle in his `History of Civilization' took this view, and tried to prove that the character of a people depends on their diet.''
Idiosyncrasies to Drugs.—In the absorption and the assimilation of drugs idiosyncrasies are often noted; in fact, they are so common that we can almost say that no one drug acts in the same degree or manner on different individuals. In some instances the untoward action assumes such a serious aspect as to render extreme caution necessary in the administration of the most inert substances. A medicine ordinarily so bland as cod-liver oil may give rise to disagreeable eruptions. Christison speaks of a boy ten years old who was said to have been killed by the ingestion of two ounces of Epsom salts without inducing purgation; yet this common purge is universally used without the slightest fear or caution. On the other hand, the extreme tolerance exhibited by certain individuals to certain drugs offers a new phase of this subject. There are well-authenticated cases on record in which death
The individuality noted in the assimilation and the ingestion of drugs is functional as well as anatomic. Numerous cases have been seen by all physicians. The severe toxic symptoms from a whiff of cocain-spray, the acute distress from the tenth of a grain of morphin, the gastric crises and profuse urticarial eruptions following a single dose of quinin,—all are proofs of it. The "personal equation'' is one of the most important factors in therapeutics, reminding us of the old rule, "Treat the patient, not the disease.''
The idiosyncrasy may be either temporary or permanent, and there are many conditions that influence it. The time and place of administration; the degree of pathologic lesion in the subject; the difference in the physiologic capability of individual organs of similar nature in the same body; the degree of human vitality influencing absorption and resistance; the peculiar epochs of life; the element of habituation, and the grade and strength of the drug, influencing its virtue,—all have an important bearing on untoward action and tolerance of poisons.
It is not in the province of this work to discuss at length the explanations offered for these individual idiosyncrasies. Many authors have done so, and Lewin [9.262] has devoted a whole volume to this subject, of which, fortunately, an English translation has been made by Mulheron, [9.263] and to these the interested reader is referred for further information. In the following lines examples of idiosyncrasy to the most common remedial substances will be cited, taking the drugs up alphabetically.
Acids.—Ordinarily speaking, the effect of boric acid in medicinal doses on the human system is nil, an exceptionally large quantity causing diuresis. Binswanger, according to Lewin, took eight gm. in two doses within an hour, which was followed by nausea, vomiting, and a feeling of pressure and fulness of the stomach which continued several hours. Molodenkow [9.264] mentions two fatal cases from the external employment of boric acid as an antiseptic. In one case the pleural cavity was washed out with a five per cent. solution of boric acid and was followed by distressing symptoms, vomiting, weak pulse, erythema, and death on the third day. In the second case, in a youth of sixteen, death occurred after washing out a deep abscess of the nates with the same solution. The autopsy revealed no change or signs indicative of the cause of death. Hogner [9.265] mentions two instances of death from the employment
In recent years the medical profession has become well aware that in its application to wounds it is possible for carbolic acid or phenolto exercise exceedingly deleterious and even fatal consequences. In the earlier days of antisepsis, when operators and patients were exposed for some time to an atmosphere saturated with carbolic spray, toxic symptoms were occasionally noticed. Von Langenbeck [9.266] spoke of severe carbolic-acid intoxication in a boy in whom carbolic paste had been used in the treatment of abscesses. The same author reports two instances of death following the employment of dry carbolized dressings after slight operations. Kohler [9.267] mentions the death of a man suffering from scabies who had applied externally a solution containing about a half ounce of phenol. Rose spoke of gangrene of the finger after the application of carbolized cotton to a wound thereon. In some cases phenol acts with a rapidity equal to any poison. Taylor speaks of a man who fell unconscious ten seconds after an ounce of phenol had been ingested, and in three minutes was dead. There is recorded an account of a man of sixty-four who was killed by a solution containing slightly over a dram of phenol. A half ounce has frequently caused death; smaller quantities have been followed by distressing symptoms, such as intoxication (which Olshausen has noticed to follow irrigation of the uterus), delirium, singultus, nausea, rigors, cephalalgia, tinnitus aurium, and anasarca. Hind [9.268] mentions recovery after the ingestion of nearly six ounces of crude phenol of 14 per cent. strength. There was a case at the Liverpool Northern Hospital [9.269] in which recovery took place after the ingestion with suicidal intent of four ounces of crude carbolic acid. Quoted by Lewin, Busch accurately describes a case which may be mentioned as characteristic of the symptoms of carbolism. A boy, suffering from abscess under the trochanter, was operated on for its relief. During the few minutes occupied by the operation he was kept under a two per cent. carbolic spray, and the wound was afterward dressed with carbolic gauze. The day following the operation he was seized with vomiting, which was attributed to the chloroform used as an anesthetic. On the following morning the bandages were removed under the carbolic spray; during the day there was nausea, in the evening there was collapse, and carbolic acid was detected in the urine. The pulse became small and frequent and the temperature sank to 35.5° C. The frequent vomiting made it impossible to administer remedies by the stomach, and, in spite of hypodermic injections and external application of analeptics, the boy died fifty hours after operation.
Recovery has followed the ingestion of an ounce of officinal hydrochloric acid. [9.270] Black [9.271] mentions a man of thirty-nine who recovered after swallowing
Burman [9.273] mentions recovery after the ingestion of a dram of dilute hydrocyanic acid of Scheele's strength (2.4 am. of the acid). In this instance insensibility did not ensue until two minutes after taking the poison, the retarded digestion being the means of saving life.
Quoting Taafe, in 1862 Taylor speaks of the case of a man who swallowed the greater part of a solution containing an ounce of potassium cyanid. In a few minutes the man was found insensible in the street, breathing stertorously, and in ten minutes after the ingestion of the drug the stomach-pump was applied. In two hours vomiting began, and thereafter recovery was rapid.
Mitscherlich speaks of erosion of the gums and tongue with hemorrhage at the slightest provocation, following the long administration of dilute nitric acid. This was possibly due to the local action.
According to Taylor, the smallest quantity of oxalic acidcausing death is one dram. Ellis [9.274] describes a woman of fifty who swallowed an ounce of oxalic acid in beer. In thirty minutes she complained of a burning pain in the stomach and was rolling about in agony. Chalk and water was immediately given to her and she recovered. Woodman [9.275] reports recovery after taking 1/2 ounce of oxalic acid.
Salicylic acid in medicinal doses frequently causes untoward symptoms, such as dizziness, transient delirium, diminution of vision, headache, and profuse perspiration; petechial eruptions and intense gastric symptoms have also been noticed.
Sulphuric acid causes death from its corrosive action, and when taken in excessive quantities it produces great gastric disturbance; however, there are persons addicted to taking oil of vitriol without any apparent untoward effect. There is mentioned a boot-maker [9.276] who constantly took 1/2 ounce of the strong acid in a tumbler of water, saying that it relieved his dyspepsia and kept his bowels open.
Antimony.—It is recorded that 3/4 grain of tartar emetic has caused death in a child and two grains in an adult. Falot [9.277] reports three cases in which after small doses of tartar emetic there occurred vomiting, delirium, spasms, and such depression of vitality that only the energetic use of stimulants saved life. Beau [9.278] mentions death following the administration of two doses of 1 1/2 gr. of tartar emetic. Preparations of antimony in an ointment applied locally have caused necrosis, particularly of the cranium, and Hebra *[407] has long since denounced the use of tartar emetic ointment in affections of the scalp. Carpenter [9.279] mentions recovery after ingestion of two
Arsenic.—The sources of arsenical poisoning are so curious as to deserve mention. Confectionery, wall-paper, dyes, and the like are examples. In other cases we note money-counting, [9.283] the colored candles of a Christmas tree, [9.284] paper collars, [9.285] ball-wreaths of artificial flowers, [9.286] ball-dresses made of green tarlatan, [9.287] playing cards, [9.288] hat-lining, [9.289] and fly-papers. [9.290]
Bazin has reported a case in which erythematous pustules appeared after the exhibition during fifteen days of the 5/6 gr. of arsenic. Macnal [9.291] speaks of an eruption similar to that of measles in a patient to whom he had given but three drops of Fowler's solution for the short period of three days. Pareira says that in a gouty patient for whom he prescribed 1/6 gr. of potassium arseniate daily, on the third day there appeared a bright red eruption of the face, neck, upper part of the trunk and flexor surfaces of the joints, and an edematous condition of the eyelids. The symptoms were preceded by restlessness, headache, and heat of the skin, and subsided gradually after the second or third day, desquamation continuing for nearly two months. After they had subsided entirely, the exhibition of arsenic again aroused them, and this time they were accompanied by salivation. Charcot and other French authors have noticed the frequent occurrence of suspension of the sexual instinct during the administration of Fowler's solution. Jackson [9.292] speaks of recovery after the ingestion of two ounces of arsenic by the early employment of an emetic. Walsh [9.293] reports a case in which 600 gr. of arsenic were taken without injury. The remarkable tolerance of arsenic eaters is well known. Taylor asserts that the smallest lethal dose of arsenic has been two gr., but Tardieu mentions an instance in which ten cgm. (1 1/2 gr.) has caused death. Mackenzie [9.294] speaks of a man who swallowed a large quantity of arsenic in lumps, and received no treatment for sixteen hours, but recovered. It is added that from two masses passed by the anus 105 gr. of arsenic were obtained.
In speaking of the tolerance of belladonna, in 1859 Fuller mentioned a
Rosenthal [9.299] reports a rare case of poisoning in a child eighteen months old who had swallowed about a teaspoonful of benzin. Fifteen minutes later the child became unconscious. The stomach-contents, which were promptly removed, contained flakes of bloody mucus. At the end of an hour the radial pulse was scarcely perceptible, respiration was somewhat increased in frequency and accompanied with a rasping sound. The breath smelt of benzin. The child lay in quiet narcosis, occasionally throwing itself about as if in pain. The pulse gradually improved, profuse perspiration occurred, and normal sleep intervened. Six hours after the poisoning the child was still stupefied. The urine was free from albumin and sugar, and the next morning the little one had perfectly recovered.
There is an instance mentioned [9.300] of a robust youth of twenty who by a mistake took a half ounce of cantharides. He was almost immediately
Digitalis has been frequently observed to produce dizziness, fainting, disturbances of vision, vomiting, diarrhea, weakness of the pulse, and depression of temperature. These phenomena, however, are generally noticed after continued administration in repeated doses, the result being doubtless due to cumulative action caused by abnormally slow elimination by the kidneys. Traube [9.301] observed the presence of skin-affection after the use of digitalis in a case of pericarditis. Tardieu has seen a fluid-dram of the tincture of digitalis cause alarming symptoms in a young woman who was pregnant. He also quotes cases of death on the tenth day from ingestion of 20 grains of the extract, and on the fifth day from 21 grams of the infusion. Köhuhorn [9.302] mentions a death from what might be called chronic digitalis poisoning.
There is a deleterious practice of some of the Irish peasantry connected with their belief in fairies, which consists of giving a cachetic or rachitic child large doses of a preparation of fox-glove (Irish—luss-more, or great herb), to drive out or kill the fairy in the child. It was supposed to kill an unhallowed child and cure a hallowed one. In the Hebrides, likewise, there were many cases of similar poisoning.
Epidemics of ergotism have been recorded from time to time since the days of Galen, and were due to poverty, wretchedness, and famine, resulting in the feeding upon ergotized bread. According to Wood, *[829] gangrenous ergotism, or "Ignis Sacer'' of the Middle Ages, killed 40,000 persons in Southwestern France in 922 A. D., and in 1128-29, in Paris alone, 14,000 persons perished from this malady. It is described as commencing with itchings and formications in the feet, severe pain in the back, contractions in the muscles, nausea, giddiness, apathy, with abortion in pregnant women, in suckling women drying of milk, and in maidens with amenorrhea. After some time, deep, heavy aching in the limbs, intense feeling of coldness, with real coldness of the surfaces, profound apathy, and a sense of utter weariness develop; then a dark spot appears on the nose or one of the extremities, all sensibility is lost in the affected part, the skin assumes a livid red hue, and adynamic symptoms in severe cases deepen as the gangrene spreads, until finally death ensues. Very generally the appetite and digestion are preserved to the last, and not rarely there is a most ferocious hunger. Wood also mentions a species of ergotism characterized by epileptic paroxysms, which he calls "spasmodic ergotism.'' Prentiss [9.303] mentions a brunette of forty-two, under the influence of ergot, who exhibited a peculiar depression of
In addition to the instance of the fatal ingestion of a dose of Epsom salts already quoted, Lang [9.304] mentions a woman of thirty-five who took four ounces of this purge. She experienced burning pain in the stomach and bowels, together with a sense of asphyxiation. There was no purging or vomiting, but she became paralyzed and entered a state of coma, dying fifteen minutes after ingestion.
Iodin Preparations.—The eruptions following the administration of small doses of potassium iodid are frequently noticed (Fig. 189), and at the same time large quantities of albumin have been seen in the urine. Potassium iodid, although generally spoken of as a poisonous drug, by gradually increasing the dose can be given in such enormous quantities as to be almost beyond the bounds of credence, several drams being given at a dose. On the other hand, eight grains have produced alarming symptoms. [9.305] In the
extensive use of iodoform as a dressing instances of untoward effects, and even fatal ones, have been noticed, the majority of them being due to careless and injudicious application. In a French journal [9.306] there is mentioned the history of a man of twenty-five, suspected of urethral ulceration, who submitted to the local application of one gram of iodoform. Deep narcosis and anesthesia were induced, and two hours after awakening his breath smelled strongly of iodoform. There are two similar instances recorded in England. [9.307]
Pope [9.308] mentions two fatal cases of lead-poisoning from diachylon plaster, self-administered for the purpose of producing abortion. Lead water-pipes, the use of cosmetics and hair-dyes, coloring matter in confectionery and in pastry, habitual biting of silk threads, imperfectly burnt pottery, and cooking bread with painted wood [9.309] have been mentioned as causes of chronic lead-poisoning.
Oils.—Mauvezin [9.316] tells of the ingestion of three drams of croton oil by a child of six, followed by vomiting and rapid recovery. There was no diarrhea in this case. Wood quotes Cowan in mentioning the case of a child of four, who in two days recovered from a teaspoonful of croton oil taken on a full stomach. Adams saw recovery in an adult after ingestion of the same amount. There is recorded [9.317] an instance of a woman who took about an ounce, and, emesis being produced three-quarters of an hour afterward by mustard, she finally recovered. There is a record in which so small a dose as three minims is supposed to have killed a child of thirteen months.'' [9.318] According to Wood, Giacomini mentions a case in which 24 grains of the drug proved fatal in as many hours.
Castor oil is usually considered a harmless drug, but the castor bean, from which it is derived, contains a poisonous acrid principle, three such beans having sufficed to produce death in a man. Doubtless some of the instances
The untoward effects of opium and its derivatives are quite numerous Gaubius treated an old woman in whom, after three days, a single grain of opium produced a general desquamation of the epidermis; this peculiarity was not accidental, as it was verified on several other occasions. Hargens *[452] speaks of a woman in whom the slightest bit of opium in any form produced considerable salivation. Gastric disturbances are quite common, severe vomiting being produced by minimum doses; not infrequently, intense mental confusion, vertigo, and headache, lasting hours and even days, sometimes referable to the frontal region and sometimes to the occipital, are seen in certain nervous individuals after a dose of from 1/4 to 5/6 gr. of opium. These symptoms were familiar to the ancient physicians, and, according to Lewin, Tralles reports an observation with reference to this in a man, and says regarding it in rather unclassical Latin: " . . . per multos dies ponderosissimum caput circumgestasse.'' Convulsions are said to be observed after medicinal doses of opium. Albers [9.319] states that twitching in the tendons tremors of the hands, and even paralysis, have been noticed after the ingestion of opium in even ordinary doses. The "pruritus opii,'' so familiar to physicians, is spoken of in the older writings. Dioscorides, Paulus Aegineta, and nearly all the writers of the last century describe this symptom as an annoying and unbearable affection. In some instances the ingestion of opium provokes an eruption in the form of small, isolated red spots, which, in their general character, resemble roseola. Rieken [9.320] remarks that when these spots spread over all the body they present a scarlatiniform appearance, and he adds that even the mucous membranes of the mouth and throat may be attacked with erethematous inflammation. Behrend [9.321] observed an opium exanthem, which was attended by intolerable itching, after the exhibition of a quarter of a grain. It was seen on the chest, on the inner surfaces of the arms, on the flexor surfaces of the forearms and wrists, on the thighs, and posterior and inner surfaces of the legs, terminating at the ankles in a stripe-like discoloration about the breadth of three fingers. It consisted of closely disposed papules of the size of a pin-head, and several days after the disappearance of the eruption a fine, bran-like desquamation of the epidermis ensued. Brand [9.322] has also seen an eruption on the trunk and flexor surfaces, accompanied with fever, from the ingestion of opium. Billroth [9.323] mentions the case of a lady in whom appeared a feeling of anxiety, nausea, and vomiting after ingestion of a small fraction of a grain of opium; she would rather endure her intense pain than suffer the untoward action of the drug. According to Lewin, Brochin [9.324] reported a case in which the idiosyncrasy to morphin was so great that 1/25 of a grain of the drug administered
In chronic opium eating the amount of this drug which can be ingested with safety assumes astounding proportions. In his "Confessions'' De Quincey remarks: "Strange as it may sound, I had a little before this time descended suddenly and without considerable effort from 320 grains of opium (8000 drops of laudanum) per day to 40 grains, or 1/8 part. Instantaneously, and as if by magic, the cloud of profoundest melancholy which rested on my brain, like some black vapors that I have seen roll away from the summits of the mountains, drew off in one day,—passed off with its murky banners as simultaneously as a ship that has been stranded and is floated off by a spring-tide—
Now, then, I was again happy; I took only a thousand drops of Laudanum per day, and what was that? A latter spring had come to close up the season of youth; my brain performed its functions as healthily as ever before; I read Kant again, and again I understood him, or fancied that I did.'' There have been many authors who, in condemning De Quincey for unjustly throwing about the opium habit a halo of literary beauty which has tempted many to destruction, absolutely deny the truth of his statements. No one has any stable reason on which to found denial of De Quincey's statements as to the magnitude of the doses he was able to take; and his frankness and truthfulness is equal to that of any of his detractors. William Rosse Cobbe, in a volume entitled "Dr. Judas, or Portrayal of the Opium Habit,'' gives with great frankness of confession and considerable purity of diction a record of his own experiences with the drug. One entire chapter of Mr. Cobb's book and several portions of other chapters are devoted to showing that De Quincey was wrong in some of his statements, but notwithstanding his criticism of De Quincey, Mr. Cobbe seems to have experienced the same adventures in his dreams, showing, after all, that De Quincey knew the effects of opium even if he seemed to idealize it. According to Mr. Cobbe, there are in the United States upward of two millions of victims of enslaving drugs entirely exclusive of alcohol. Cobbe mentions several instances in which De Quincey's dose of 320 grains of opium daily has been surpassed. One man, a resident of Southern Illinois, consumed 1072 grains a day; another in the same State contented himself with 1685 grains daily; and still another is given whose daily consumption amounted to 2345 grains per day. In all cases of laudanum-takers it is probable that analysis of the commercial laudanum taken would show the amount of opium to be greatly below that of the official proportion, and little faith can be put in the records of large amounts of opium taken when the deduction has been made from the laudanum used. Dealers soon begin to know opium victims, and find them ready dupes for adulteration. According to Lewin, Samter mentions a case of morphin-habit which was continued for three years, during which, in a period of about three, hundred and twenty-three days, upward of 2 1/2 ounces of morphin was taken daily. According to the same authority, Eder reports still larger doses. In the case observed by him the patient took laudanum for six years in increasing doses up to one ounce per day; for eighteen months, pure opium, commencing with 15 grains and increasing to 2 1/4 drams daily; and for eighteen months morphin, in commencing quantities of six grains, which were later increased to 40 grains a day. When deprived of their accustomed dose of morphin the sufferings which these patients experience are terrific, and they pursue all sorts of deceptions to enable them to get their enslaving drug. Patients have been known to conceal tubes in their mouths, and even swallow them, and the authors know of a fatal instance in which a tube of hypodermic tablets of the drug was found concealed in the rectum.
Sonnenschein refers to a case of an infant of five weeks who died from the effects of one phosphorous match head containing only 1/100 grain of phosphorus. There are certain people who by reason of a special susceptibility cannot tolerate phosphorus, and the exhibition of it causes in them nausea, oppression, and a feeling of pain in the epigastric region, tormina and tenesmus, accompanied with diarrhea, and in rare cases jaundice, sometimes lasting several months. In such persons 1/30 grain is capable of causing the foregoing symptoms. In 1882 a man was admitted to Guy's Hospital, London, after he had taken half of a sixpenny pot of phosphorous paste in whiskey, and was subsequently discharged completely recovered.
A peculiar feature of phosphorus-poisoning is necrosis of the jaw. This affection was first noticed in 1838, soon after the introduction of the manufacture of phosphorous matches. In late years, owing to the introduction of precautions in their manufacture, the disease has become much less common. The tipping of the match sticks is accomplished by dipping their ends in a warm solution of a composition of phosphorus, chlorate of potassium, with particles of ground flint to assist friction, some coloring agent, and Irish glue. From the contents of the dipping-pans fumes constantly arise into the faces of the workmen and dippers, and in cutting the sticks and packing the matches the hands are constantly in contact with phosphorus. The region chiefly affected in this poisoning is the jaw-bone, but the inflammation may spread to the adjoining bones and involve the vomer, the zygoma, the body of the spheroid bone, and the basilar process of the occipital bone. It is supposed that conditions in which the periosteum is exposed are favorable to the progress of the disease, and, according to Hirt, workmen with diseased teeth are affected three times as readily as those with healthy teeth, and are therefore carefully excluded from some of the factories in America.
Prentiss of Washington, D. C., in 1881 [9.331] reported a remarkable case of pilocarpin idiosyncrasy in a blonde of twenty-five. He was consulted by the patient for constipation. Later on symptoms of cystitis developed, and an ultimate diagnosis of pyelitis of the right kidney was made. Uremic symptoms were avoided by the constant use of pilocarpin. Between December 16, 1880, and February 22, 1881, the patient had 22 sweats from pilocarpin. The action usually lasted from two to six hours, and quite a large dose was at length necessary. The idiosyncrasy noted was found in the hair, which at first was quite light, afterward chestnut-brown, and May 1, 1881, almost pure black. The growth of the hair became more vigorous and thicker than formerly, and as its color darkened it became coarser in proportion. In March, 1889, Prentiss saw his patient, and at that time her hair was
Quinin being such a universally used drug, numerous instances of idiosyncrasy and intolerance have been recorded. Chevalier [9.333] mentions that through contact of the drug workmen in the manufacture of quinin are liable to an affection of the skin which manifests itself in a vesicular, papular, or pustular eruption on different parts of the body. Vépan [9.334] mentions a lady who took 1 1/2 grains and afterward 2 1/2 grains of quinin for neuralgia, and two days afterward her body was covered with purpuric spots, which disappeared in the course of nine days but reappeared after the administration of the drug was resumed. Lewin says that in this case the severity of the eruption was in accordance with the size of the dose, and during its existence there was bleeding at the gums; he adds that Gouchet also noticed an eruption of this kind in a lady who after taking quinin expectorated blood. The petechiæ were profusely spread over the entire body, and they disappeared after the suspension of the drug. Daubœuf, Garraway, [9.335] Hemming, [9.336] Skinner, [9.337] and Cöbner [9.338] mention roseola and scarlatiniform erythema after minute doses of quinin. In nearly all these cases the accompanying symptoms were different. Heusinger [9.339] speaks of a lady who, after taking 1/2 grain of quinin, experienced headache, nausea, intense burning, and edema, together with nodular erythema on the eyelids, cheeks, and portion of the forehead. At another time 1 1/2 grains of the drug gave rise to herpetic vesicles on the cheeks, followed by branny desquamation on elimination of the drug. In other patients intense itching is experienced after the ingestion of quinin. Peters [9.340] cites an instance of a woman of sixty-five who, after taking one grain of quinin, invariably exhibited after an hour a temperature of from 104° to 105° F., accelerated pulse, rigors, slight delirium, thirst, and all the appearances of
Skinner [9.343] noticed the occurrence of a scarlatiniform eruption in a woman after the dose of 1/165 grain of strychnin, which, however, disappeared with the discontinuance of the drug. There was a man in London in 1865 [9.344] who died in twenty minute's after the ingestion of 1/2 grain of strychnin. Wood speaks of a case in which the administration of 1/100 grain killed a child three and one-half months old. Gray [9.345] speaks of a man who took 22 grains and was not seen for about an hour. He had vomited some of it immediately after taking the dose, and was successfully treated with chloral hydrate. A curious case is mentioned in which three mustard plasters, one on the throat, one on the back of the neck, and another on the left shoulder of a woman, produced symptoms similar to strychnin poisoning. They remained in position for about thirty minutes, and about thirty hours afterward a painful stinging sensation commenced in the back of the neck, followed by violent
Tobacco.—O'Neill [9.346] gives the history of a farmer's wife, aged forty, who wounded her leg against a sewing-machine, and by lay advice applied a handful of chopped wet tobacco to it, from which procedure, strange to say, serious nicotin-poisoning ensued. The pupils were dilated, there were dimness of vision, confusion of thought, and extreme prostration. The pulse was scarcely apparent, the skin was white and wet with clammy perspiration. Happily, strychnin was given in time to effect recovery, and without early medical assistance she would undoubtedly have succumbed. There are several similar cases on record.
Although not immediately related to the subject of idiosyncrasy, the following case may be mentioned here: Ramadge [9.347] speaks of a young Frenchman, suffering from an obstinate case of gonorrhea, who was said to have been completely cured by living in a newly painted house in which he inhaled the odors or vapors of turpentine.
White [9.348] speaks of a case of exanthematous eruption similar to that of ivy-poison in mother and child, which was apparently caused by playing with and burning the toy called "Pharaoh's serpent egg.''
The idiosyncrasies noticed in some persons during coitus are quite interesting. The Ephemerides mentions a person in whom coitus habitually caused vomiting, and another in whom excessive sexual indulgence provoked singultus. Sometimes exaggerated tremors or convulsions, particularly at the moment of orgasm, are noticed. Females especially are subject to this phenomenon, and it is seen sometimes in birds.
Winn [9.349] reports the case of a man who, when prompted to indulge in sexual intercourse, was immediately prior to the act seized with a fit of sneezing. Even the thought of sexual pleasure with a female was sufficient to provoke this peculiar idiosyncrasy.
Sullivan [9.350] mentions a bride of four weeks, who called at the doctor's office, saying that in coitus her partner had no difficulty until the point of culmination or orgasm, when he was seized with complete numbness and lost all pleasurable sensation in the penis. The numbness was followed by a sensation of pain, which was intensified on the slightest motion, and which was at times so excruciating as to forbid separation for upward of an hour, or until the penis had become flaccid. The woman asked for advice for her unfortunate husband's relief, and the case was reported as a means of obtaining suggestions from the physicians over the country. In response, one
Hendrichsen [9.351] quotes a case in which a spasmodic contraction of the levator ani occurred during coitus, and the penis could not be withdrawn while this condition lasted; and in support of this circumstance Hendrichsen mentions that Marion Sims, Beigel, and Budin describe spasmodic contractions of the levator and, constricting the vagina; he also cites an instance under his personal observation in which this spasm was excited by both vaginal and rectal examination, although on the following day no such condition could be produced. In this connection, among the older writers, Borellus *[841] gives the history of a man who before coitus rubbed his virile member with musk, and, similar to the connection of a dog and bitch, was held fast in his wife's vagina; it was only after the injection of great quantities of water to soften the parts that separation was obtained. Diemerbroeck *[304] confirms this singular property of musk by an analogous observation, in which the ludicrous method of throwing cold water on the persons was practised. Schurig also relates the history of a similar instance.
Among the peculiar effects of coitus is its deteriorating effect on the healing process of wounds. Boerhaave, Paré, and Fabricius Hildanus all speak of this untoward effect of venery, and in modern times Poncet has made observations at a hospital in Lyons which prove that during the process of healing wounds are unduly and harmfully influenced by coitus, and cites confirmatory instances. Poncet also remarks that he found on nine occasions, by placing a thermometer in the rectum, that the temperature was about 1° F. lower just before than after coitus, and that during the act the temperature gradually rose above normal.
There are many associate conditions which, under the exciting influence of coitus, provoke harmful effects and even a fatal issue. Deguise [9.352] mentions a man who had coitus 18 times in ten hours with most disastrous effects. Cabrolius *[245] speaks of a man who took a potion of aphrodisiac properties, in which, among other things, he put an enormous dose of cantharides. The anticipation of the effect of his dose, that is, the mental influence, in addition to the actual therapeutic effect, greatly distressed and excited him. Almost beyond belief, it is said that he approached his wife eighty-seven times during the night, spilling much sperm on the sleeping-bed. Cabrolius was called to see this man in the morning, and found him in a most exhausted condition, but still having the supposed consecutive ejaculations. Exhaustion progressed rapidly, and death soon terminated this erotic crisis. Lawson is accredited with saying that among the Marquesan tribe he knew of a woman who during a single night had intercourse with 103 men.
Attila, King of the Huns, and one of the most celebrated leaders of the German hosts which overran the Roman Empire in its decline, and whose enormous army and name inspired such terror that he was called the "Scourge of God,'' was supposed to have died in coitus. Apoplexy, organic heart disorders, aneurysms, and other like disorders are in such cases generally the direct cause of death, coitus causing the death indirectly by the excitement and exertion accompanying the act.
Bartholinus, Benedictus, Borellus, Pliny, Morgagni, Plater, à Castro, Forestus, Marcellus Donatus, Schurig, Sinibaldus, Schenck, the Ephemerides, and many others mention death during coitus; the older writers in some cases attributed the fatal issue to excessive sexual indulgence, not considering the possibility of the associate direct cause, which most likely would have been found in case of a necropsy.
Suspended Animation.—Various opinions have been expressed as to the length of time compatible with life during which a person can stay under water. Recoveries from drowning furnish interesting examples of the suspension of animation for a protracted period, but are hardly ever reliable, as the subject at short intervals almost invariably rises to the surface of the water, allowing occasional respiration. Taylor *[757] mentions a child of two who recovered after ten minutes' submersion; in another case a man recovered after fourteen minutes' submersion. There is a case reported in this country [9.353] of a woman who was said to have been submerged twenty minutes. Guérard [9.354] quotes a case happening in 1774, in which there was submersion for an hour with subsequent recovery; but there hardly seems sufficient evidence of this.
Green [9.355] mentions submersion for fifteen minutes; Douglass, [9.356] for fourteen minutes; Laub, [9.357] for fifteen minutes; Povall [9.358] gives a description of three persons who recovered after a submersion of twenty-five minutes. There is a case in French literature, [9.359] apparently well authenticated, in which submersion for six minutes was followed by subsequent recovery.
There have been individuals who gave exhibitions of prolonged submersion in large glass aquariums, placed in full view of the audience. Taylor remarks that the person known some years ago in London as "Lurline'' could stay under water for three minutes. There have been several exhibitionists of this sort. Some of the more enterprising seat themselves on an artificial coral, and surrounded by fishes of divers hues complacently eat a meal while thus submerged. It is said that quite recently in Detroit there
For the most satisfactory examples of prolonged submersion we must look to the divers, particularly the natives who trade in coral, and the pearl fishers. Diving is an ancient custom, and even legendary exploits of this nature are recorded. Homer compares the fall of Hector's chariot to the action of a diver; and specially trained men were employed at the Siege of Syracuse, their mission being to laboriously scuttle the enemy's vessels. Many of the old historians mention diving, and Herodotus speaks of a diver by the name of Scyllias who was engaged by Xerxes to recover some articles of value which had been sunk on some Persian vessels in a tempest. Egyptian divers are mentioned by Plutarch, who says that Anthony was deceived by Cleopatra in a fishing contest by securing expert divers to place the fish upon the hooks. There was a historical or rather legendary character by the name of Didion, who was noted for his exploits in the river Meuse. He had the ability to stay under water a considerable length of time, and even to catch fish while submerged.
There was a famous diver in Sicily at the end of the fifteenth century whose feats are recorded in the writings of Alexander ab Alexandro, Pontanus, and Father Kircher, the Jesuit savant. This man's name was Nicolas, born of poor parents at Catania. From his infancy he showed an extraordinary power of diving and swimming, and from his compatriots soon acquired various names indicative of his capacity. He became very well known throughout Sicily, and for his patron had Frederick, King of Naples. In the present day, the sponge-fishers and pearl-fishers in the West Indies, the
It might be well to mention here the divers who work by means of apparatus. The ancients had knowledge of contrivances whereby they could stay under water some time. Aristotle speaks of an instrument by which divers could rest under water in communication with the air, and compares it with the trunk of an elephant wading a stream deeper than his height. In the presence of Charles V. diving bells were used by the Greeks in 1540. In 1660 some of the cannon of the sunken ships of the Spanish Armada were raised by divers in diving bells. Since then various improvements in submarine armor have been made, gradually evolving into the present perfected diving apparatus of to-day, by which men work in the holds of vessels sunk in from 120 to 200 feet of water. The enormous pressure of the water at these great depths makes it necessary to have suits strong enough to resist it. Lambert, a celebrated English diver, recovered £90,000 in specie from the steamer Alphonso XII., a Spanish mail boat belonging to the Lopez line, which sank off Point Gando, Grand Canary, in 26 1/2 fathoms of water. For nearly six months the salvage party, despatched by the underwriters in May,
Deep-sea divers only acquire proficiency after long training. It is said that as a rule divers are indisposed to taking apprentices, as they are afraid of their vocation being crowded and their present ample remuneration diminished. At present there are several schools. At Chatham, England, there is a school of submarine mining, in which men are trained to lay torpedoes and complete harbor defense. Most of these divers can work six hours at a time in from 35 to 50 feet of water. Divers for the Royal Navy are trained at Sheerness. When sufficiently trained to work at the depth of 150 feet seamen-divers are fully qualified, and are drafted to the various ships. They are connected with an air-pump in charge of trustworthy men; they signal for their tools and material, as well as air, by means of a special line for this purpose. At some distance below the water the extraordinary weight of the suits cannot be felt, and the divers work as well in armor as in ordinary laboring clothes. One famous diver says that the only unpleasant experience he ever had in his career as a diver, not excepting the occasion of his first dive, was a drumming in the ears, as a consequence of which, after remaining under water at a certain work for nine hours, he completely lost the use of one ear for three months, during which time he suffered agony with the earache. These men exhibit absolute indifference to the dangers attached to their calling, and some have been known to sleep many fathoms beneath the surface. Both by means of their signal lines and by writing on a slate they keep their associates informed of the progress of their work.
Suspension of the Pulse.—In some cases the pulse is not apparent for many days before actual death, and there have been instances in which, although the pulse ceased for an extended period, the patient made an ultimate recovery. In reviewing the older literature we find that Ballonius *[185] mentions an instance in which the pulse was not apparent for fourteen days before complete asphyxia. Ramazzini *[660] describes a case of cessation of the pulse four days before death. Schenck *[718] details the history of a case in which the pulse ceased for three days and asphyxia was almost total, but the patient eventually recovered. There is a noteworthy observation [9.360] in which there was cessation of the pulse for nine days without a fatal issue.
Some persons seem to have a preternatural control over their circulatory system, apparently enabling them to produce suspension of cardiac movement at will. Cheyne speaks of a Colonel Townshend who appeared to possess the power of dying, as it were, at will,—that is, so suspending the heart's action that no pulsation could be detected. After lying in this state of lifelessness for a short period, life would become slowly established without any consciousness or volition on the man's part. The longest period in
Saint Augustin knew of a priest named Rutilut who had the power of voluntarily simulating death. Both the pulsation and respiration was apparently abolished when he was in his lifeless condition. Burning and pricking left visible effects on the skin after his recovery, but had no apparent effect on his lethargy. Chaillé [9.361] reports an instance of voluntary suspension of the pulse.
Relative to hibernation, it is well-known that mice, snakes, and some reptiles, as well as bees, sometimes seem to entirely suspend animation for an extended period, and especially in the cold weather. In Russia fish are transported frozen stiff, but return to life after being plunged into cold water. A curious tale is told by Harley, from Sir John Lubbock, of a snail brought from Egypt and thought to be dead. It was placed on a card and put in position on a shelf in the British Museum in March, 1845. In March, 1850 after having been gummed to a label for five years, it was noticed to have an apparent growth on its mouth and was taken out and placed in water, when it soon showed signs of life and ate cabbage leaves offered to it. It has been said, we think with credible evidence, that cereal seeds found in the tombs with mummies have grown when planted, and Harley quotes an instance of a gentleman who took some berries, possibly the remnants of Pharaoh's daughter's last meal, coming as they did from her mummified stomach after lying dormant in an Egyptian tomb many centuries, and planted them in his garden, where they soon grew, and he shortly had a bush as flourishing as any of those emanating from fresh seeds.
Human hibernation is an extremely rare anomaly. Only the fakirs of India seem to have developed this power, and even the gifted ones there are seldom seen. Many theories have been advanced to explain this ability of the fakirs, and many persons have discredited all the stories relative to their powers; on the other hand, all who have witnessed their exhibitions are convinced of their genuineness. Furthermore, these persons are extremely scarce and are indifferent to money; none has been enticed out of his own country to give exhibitions. When one dies in a community, his place is never filled—proving that he had no accomplices who knew any fraudulent secret practices, otherwise the accomplice would soon step out to take his place. These men have undoubtedly some extraordinary mode of sending themselves into a long trance, during which the functions of life are almost entirely suspended. We can readily believe in their ability to fast during their periods of burial, as we have already related authentic instances of fasting for a great length of time, during which the individual exercised his normal functions.
Harley [9.362] says that the fakirs begin their performances by taking a large dose of the powerfully stupefying "bang,'' thus becoming narcotized. In this state they are lowered into a cool, quiet tomb, which still further favors the prolongation of the artificially induced vital lethargy; in this condition they rest for from six to eight weeks. When resurrected they are only by degrees restored to life, and present a wan, haggard, debilitated, and wasted appearance. Braid [9.363] is credited, on the authority of Sir Claude Wade, with stating that a fakir was buried in an unconscious state at Lahore in 1837, and when dug up, six weeks later, he presented all the appearances of a dead person. The legs and arms were shrunken and stiff, and the head reclined on the shoulder in a manner frequently seen in a corpse. There was no pulsation of the heart or arteries of the arm or temple—in fact, no really visible signs of life. By degrees this person was restored to life. Every precaution had been taken in this case to prevent the possibility of fraud, and during the period of interment the grave was guarded night and day by soldiers of the regiment stationed at Lahore.
Honigberger, [9.364] a German physician in the employ of Runjeet Singh, has an account of a fakir of Punjaub who allowed himself to be buried in a well-secured vault for such a long time that grain sown in the soil above the vault sprouted into leaf before he was exhumed. Honigberger affirms that the time of burial was over 40 days, and that on being submitted to certain processes the man recovered and lived many years after. Sir Henry Lawrence verified the foregoing statements. The chest in which the fakir was buried was sealed with the Runjeet stamp on it, and when the man was brought up he was cold and apparently lifeless. Honigberger also states that this man, whose name was Haridas, was four months in a grave in the mountains; to prove the absolute suspension of animation, the chin was shaved before burial, and at exhumation this part was as smooth as on the day of interment. This latter statement naturally calls forth comment when we consider the instances that are on record of the growth of beard and hair after death.
There is another account of a person of the same class who had the power of suspending animation, [9.365] and who would not allow his coffin to touch the earth for fear of worms and insects, from which he is said to have suffered at a previous burial.
It has been stated that the fakirs are either eunuchs or hermaphrodites,
Instances of recovery after asphyxia from hanging are to be found, particularly among the older references of a time when hanging was more common than it is to-day. Bartholinus, *[189] Blegny, *[215] Camerarius, *[247] Morgagni, *[575] Pechlin, *[621] Schenck, *[718] Stoll, *[751] and Wepfer [9.366] all mention recovery after hanging. Forestus *[348] describes a case in which a man was rescued by provoking vomiting with vinegar, pepper, and mustard seed. There is a case on record [9.367] in which a person was saved after hanging nineteen minutes. There was a case of a man brought into the Hôpital Saint-Louis [9.368] asphyxiated by strangulation, having been hung for some time. His rectal temperature was only 93.3° F., but six hours after it rose to 101.6° F., and he subsequently recovered. Taylor [9.369] cites the instance of a stout woman of forty-four who recovered from hanging. When the woman was found by her husband she was hanging from the top of a door, having been driven to suicide on account of his abuse and intemperance. When first seen by Taylor she was comatose, her mouth was surrounded by white froth, and the swollen tongue protruded from it. Her face was bloated, her lips of a darkened hue, and her neck of a brown parchment-color. About the level of the larynx, the epidermis was distinctly abraded, indicating where the rope had been. The conjunctiva was insensible and there was no contractile response of the pupil to the light of a candle. The reflexes of the soles of the feet were tested, but were quite in abeyance. There was no respiratory movement and only slight cardiac pulsation. After vigorous measures the woman ultimately recovered. Recovery is quite rare when the asphyxiation has gone so far, the patients generally succumbing shortly after being cut down or on the following day. Chevers *[266] mentions a most curious case, in which cerebral congestion from the asphyxiation of strangling was accidentally relieved by an additional cut across the throat. The patient was a man who was set upon by a band of Thugs in India. who, pursuant to their usual custom, strangled him and his fellow-traveler. Not being satisfied that he was quite dead, one of the band returned and made several gashes across his throat. This latter action effectually relieved the congestion caused by the strangulation and undoubtedly saved his life, while his unmutilated companion was found dead. After the wounds in his throat had healed this victim of the Thugs gave such a good description of the murderous band that their apprehension and execution soon followed.
Premature Burial.—In some instances simulation of death has been so exact that it has led to premature interment. There are many such cases on record, and it is a popular superstition of the laity that all the gruesome tales
We must admit, however, that the mistake has been made, particularly in instances of catalepsy or trance, and during epidemics of malignant fevers or plagues, in which there is an absolute necessity of hasty burial for the prevention of contagion. In a few instances on the battle-field sudden syncope, or apparent death, has possibly led to premature interment; but in the present day this is surely a very rare occurrence. There is also a danger of mistake from cases of asphyxiation, drowning, and similar sudden suspensions of the vital functions.
It is said that in the eighty-fourth Olympiad, Empedocles restored to life a woman who was about to be buried, and that this circumstance induced the Greeks, for the future protection of the supposed dead, to establish laws which enacted that no person should be interred until the sixth or seventh day. But even this extension of time did not give satisfaction, and we read that when Hephestion, at whose funeral obsequies Alexander the Great was present, was to be buried his funeral was delayed until the tenth day. There is also a legend that when Acilius Aviola fell a victim to disease he was burned alive, and although he cried out, it was too late to save him, as the fire had become so widespread before life returned.
While returning to his country house Asclepiades, a physician denominated the "God of Physic,'' and said to have been a descendant of æsculapius, saw during the time of Pompey the Great a crowd of mourners about to start a fire on a funeral pile. It is said that by his superior knowledge he perceived indications of life in the corpse and ordered the pile destroyed, subsequently restoring the supposed deceased to life. These examples and several others of a similar nature induced the Romans to delay their funeral rites, and laws were enacted to prevent haste in burning, as well as in interment. It was not until the eighth day that the final rites were performed, the days immediately subsequent to death having their own special ceremonies. The
According to the Memoirs of Amelot de la Houssaye, Cardinal Espinola, Prime Minister to Philip II., put his hand to the embalmer's knife with which he was about to be opened; It is said that Vesalius, sometimes called the "Father of Anatomy,'' having been sent for to perform an autopsy on a woman subject to hysteric convulsions, and who was supposed to be dead, on making the first incision perceived by her motion and cries that she was still alive. This circumstance, becoming known, rendered him so odious that he had to leave the community in which he practiced, and it is believed that he never entirely recovered from the shock it gave him. The Abbé Prévost, so well known by his works and the singularities of his life, was seized by apoplexy in the Forest of Chantilly on October 23, 1763. His body was carried to the nearest village, and the officers of justice proceeded to open it, when a cry he sent forth frightened all the assistants and convinced the surgeon in charge that the Abbé was not dead; but it was too late to save him, as he had already received a mortal wound.
Massien speaks of a woman living in Cologne in 1571 who was interred living, but was not awakened from her lethargy until a grave-digger opened her grave to steal a valuable ring which she wore. This instance has been cited in nearly every language. There is another more recent instance, coming from Poitiers, of the wife of a goldsmith named Mernache who was buried with all her jewels. During the night a beggar attempted to steal her jewelry, and made such exertion in extracting one ring that the woman recovered and was saved. After this resurrection she is said to have had several children. This case is also often quoted. Zacchias *[830] mentions an instance which, from all appearances, is authentic. It was that of a young man, pest-stricken and thought to be dead, who was placed with the other dead for burial. He exhibited signs of life, and was taken back to the pest-hospital. Two days later he entered a lethargic condition simulating death, and was again on his way to the sepulcher, when he once more recovered.
It is said that when the body of William, Earl of Pembroke, [9.370] who died April 10, 1630, was opened to be embalmed, the hand raised when the first incision was made. There is a story of an occurrence which happened on a return voyage from India. [9.371] The wife of one of the passengers, an officer in the army, to all appearances died. They were about to resort to sea-burial, when, through the interposition of the husband, who was anxious to take her home, the ship-carpenters started to construct a coffin suitable for a long voyage, a process which took several days, during which time she lay in her berth, swathed in robes and ready for interment. When the coffin was at last ready the husband went to take his last farewell, and removed the wedding-ring,
It is said that when a daughter of Henry Laurens, the first President of the American Congress, died of small-pox, she was laid out as dead, and the windows of the room were opened for ventilation. While left alone in this manner she recovered. This circumstance so impressed her illustrious father that he left explicit directions that in case of his death he should be burned. [9.372] The same journal also contains the case of a maid-servant who recovered thrice on her way to the grave, and who, when really dead, was kept a preposterous length of time before burial.
The literature on this subject is very exhaustive, volumes having been written on the uncertainty of the signs of death, with hundreds of examples cited illustrative of the danger of premature interment. The foregoing instances have been given as indicative of the general style of narration; for further information the reader is referred to the plethora of material on this subject.
Postmortem Anomalies.—Among the older writers startling movements of a corpse have given rise to much discussion, and possibly often led to suspicion of premature burial. Bartholinus *[190] describes motion in a cadaver. Barlow [9.373] says that movements were noticed after death in the victims of Asiatic cholera. The bodies were cold and expressions were death-like, but there were movements simulating natural life. The most common was flexion of the right leg, which would also be drawn up toward the body and resting on the left leg. In some cases the hand was moved, and in one or two instances a substance was grasped as if by reflex action. Some observers have stated that reflex movements of the face were quite noticeable. These movements continued sometimes for upward of an hour, occurring mostly in muscular subjects who died very suddenly, and in whom the muscular irritability or nervous stimulus or both had not become exhausted at the moment of dissolution. Richardson *[173] doubts the existence of postmortem movements of respiration.
Snow is accredited [9.374] with having seen a girl in Soho who, dying of scarlet fever, turned dark at the moment of death, but in a few hours presented such a life-line appearance and color as to almost denote the return of life. The center of the cheeks became colored in a natural fashion, and the rest of the body resumed the natural flesh color. The parents refused to believe that death had ensued. Richardson remarks that he had seen two similar cases, and states that he believes the change is due to oxidation of the blood surcharged with carbon dioxid. The moist tissues suffuse carbonized blood, and there occurs an osmotic interchange between the carbon dioxid and the oxygen of the air resulting in an oxygenation of the blood, and modification of the color from dark venous to arterial red.
Cadaveric perspiration has been observed and described by several authors, and Paullini *[620] has stated that he has seen tears flow from the eyes of a corpse.
The retardation of putrefaction of the body after death sometimes presents interesting changes. Petrifaction or mummification of the body are quite well known, and not being in the province of this work, will be referred to collateral books on this subject; but sometimes an unaccountable preservation takes place. In a tomb recently opened at Canterbury Cathedral, [9.375] for the purpose of discovering what Archbishop's body it contained, the corpse was of an extremely offensive and sickening odor, unmistakably that of putrefaction. The body was that of Hubert Walter, who died in 1204 A. D., and the decomposition had been retarded, and was actually still in progress, several hundred years after burial.
Retardation of the putrefactive process has been noticed in bodies some years under water. König of Hermannstadt mentions a man who, forty years previous to the time of report, had fallen under the waters of Echoschacht, and who was found in a complete state of preservation.
Postmortem Growth of Hair and Nails.—The hair and beard may grow after death, and even change color. Bartholinus recalls a case of a man who had short, black hair and beard at the time of interment, but who, some time after death, was found to possess long and yellowish hair. Aristotle discusses postmortem growth of the hair, and Garmanus cites an instance in which the beard and hair were cut several times from the cadaver. We occasionally see evidences of this in the dissecting-rooms. Caldwell [9.376] mentions a body buried four years, the hair from which protruded at the points where the joints of the coffin had given away. The hair of the head measured 18 inches, that of the beard eight inches, and that on the breast from four to six inches. Rosse of Washington mentions an instance in which after burial the hair turned from dark brown to red, and also cites a case in a Washington cemetery of a girl, twelve or thirteen years old, who when exhumed was found to have a new growth of hair all over her body. The Ephemerides contains an account of hair suddenly turning gray after death.
Nails sometimes grow several inches after death, and there is on record the account of an idiot who had an idiosyncrasy for long nails, and after death the nails were found to have grown to such an extent that they curled up under the palms and soles.
The untoward effects of the emotions on the vital functions are
Galen mentions death from joy, and in comment upon it he says that the emotion of joy is much more dangerous than that of anger. In discussing this subject, Haller says that the blood is probably sent with such violence to the brain as to cause apoplexy. There is one case on record in which after a death from sudden joy the pericardium was found full of blood. [9.377] The Ephemerides, Marcellus Donatus, *[306] Martini, and Struthius all mention death from joy.
Death from violent laughter has been recorded, but in this instance it is very probable that death was not due to the emotion itself, but to the extreme convulsion and exertion used in the laughter. The Ephemerides mentions a death from laughter, and also describes the death of a pregnant woman from violent mirth. Roy, [9.378] Swinger, [9.379] and Camerarius *[247] have recorded instances of death from laughter. Strange as it may seem, Saint-Foix [9.380] says that the Moravian brothers, a sect of Anabaptists having great horror of bloodshed, executed their condemned brethren by tickling them to death.
Powerfully depressing emotions, which are called by Kant "asthenic,'' such as great and sudden sorrow, grief, or fright, have a pronounced effect on the vital functions, at times even causing death. Throughout literature and history we have examples of this anomaly. In Shakespeare's "Pericles,'' Thaisa, the daughter to Simonides and wife of Pericles, frightened when pregnant by a threatened shipwreck, dies in premature childbirth.
In Scott's "Guy Mannering,'' Mrs. Bertram, on suddenly learning of the death of her little boy, is thrown into premature labor, followed by death. Various theories are advanced in explanation of this anomaly. A very plausible one is, that the cardiac palsy is caused by energetic and persistent excitement of the inhibitory cardiac nerves. Strand [9.381] is accredited with saying that agony of the mind produces rupture of the heart. It is quite common to hear the expression, "Died of a broken heart;'' and, strange to say, in some cases postmortem examination has proved the actual truth of the saying. Bartholinus, Fabricius Hildanus, Pliny, Rhodius, Schenck, Marcellus Donatus, Riedlin, and Garengeot speak of death from fright and fear, and the
The fear of child-birth has been frequently cited as a cause of death McClintock quotes a case from Travers of a young lady, happily married; who entertained a fear of death in child-birth; although she had been safely delivered, she suddenly and without apparent cause died in six hours. Every region of the body was examined with minutest care by an eminent physician, but no signs indicative of the cause of death were found. Mordret cites a similar instance of death from fear of labor. Morgagni *[576] mentions a woman who died from the disappointment of bearing a girl baby when she was extremely desirous of a boy.
The following case, quoted from Lauder Brunton, [9.383] shows the extent of shock which may be produced by fear: Many years ago a janitor of a college had rendered himself obnoxious to the students, and they determined to punish him. Accordingly they prepared a block and an axe, which they conveyed to a lonely place, and having appropriately dressed themselves, some of them prepared to act as judges, and sent others of their company to bring him before them. He first affected to treat the whole affair as a joke, but was solemnly assured by the students that they meant it in real earnest. He was told to prepare for immediate death. The trembling janitor looked all around in the vain hope of seeing some indication that nothing was really meant, but stern looks met him everywhere. He was blindfolded, and made to kneel before the block. The executioner's axe was raised, but, instead of the sharp edge, a wet towel was brought sharply down on the back of the neck. The bandage was now removed from the culprit's eyes, but to the horror and astonishment of the students they found that he was dead. Such a case may be due to heart-failure from fear or excitement.
It is not uncommon that death ensues from the shock alone following blows that cause no visible injury, but administered to vital parts. This is particularly true of blows about the external genital region, or epigastrium, where the solar plexus is an active factor in inhibition. Ivanhoff of Bulgaria in 1886 speaks of a man of forty-five who was dealt a blow on the testicle in a violent street fight, and staggering, he fell insensible. Despite vigorous medical efforts he never regained consciousness and died in forty-five minutes. Postmortem examination revealed everything normal, and death must have been caused by syncope following violent pain. Watkins [9.384] cites an instance occurring in South Africa. A native shearing sheep for a farmer provoked his master's ire by calling him by some nickname. While the man was in a squatting posture the farmer struck him in the epigastrium. He followed this up by a kick in the side and a blow on the head, neither of
As illustrative of the sensitiveness of the epigastric region, Vincent relates the following case: "A man received a blow by a stick upon the epigastrium. He had an anxious expression and suffered from oppression. Irregular heart-action and shivering were symptoms that gradually disappeared during the day. In the evening his appetite returned and he felt well; during the night he died without a struggle, and at the autopsy there was absolutely nothing abnormal to be found.'' Blows upon the neck often produce sudden collapse. Prize-fighters are well aware of the effects of a blow on the jugular vein. Maschka, quoted by Warren, *[846] reports the case of a boy of twelve, who was struck on the anterior portion of the larynx by a stone. He fell lifeless to the ground, and at autopsy no local lesion was found nor any lesion elsewhere. The sudden death may be attributed in this case partly to shock and partly to cerebral anemia.
Soldiers have been seen to drop lifeless on the battle-field without apparent injury or organic derangement; in the olden times this death was attributed to fear and fright, and later was supposed to be caused by what is called "the wind of a cannon-ball.'' Tolifree [9.385] has written an article on this cause of sudden death and others have discussed it. By some it is maintained that the momentum acquired by a cannon-ball generates enough force in the neighboring air to prostrate a person in the immediate vicinity of its path of flight.
| CHAPTER IX.
PHYSIOLOGIC AND FUNCTIONAL ANOMALIES. Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine | |