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CURIOSITIES ofMEDICINE Being an encyclopedic collection of rare and extraordinary cases, and of the most striking instances of abnormality in all branches of medicine and surgery, derive

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Title: Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine

Author: George M Gould

Walter Lytle Pyle

Posting Date: August 3, 2008 [EBook

#747]

Release Date: December, 1996

CURIOSITIES of

MEDICINE

Being an encyclopedic collection of rare and extraordinary cases, and of the most striking instances of abnormality in all branches of medicine and surgery, derived from an exhaustive research of medical literature from its origin to the present day, abstracted, classified, annotated, and indexed.

by

GEORGE M.

GOULD, A.M., M.D.

and WALTER L PYLE,

A.M., M.D.

PREFATORY AND INTRODUCTORY.

Since the time when man's mind firstbusied itself with subjects beyond hisown self-preservation and thesatisfaction of his bodily appetites, theanomalous and curious have been ofexceptional and persistent fascination tohim; and especially is this true of theconstruction and functions of the humanbody Possibly, indeed, it was theanomalous that was largely instrumental

in arousing in the savage the attention,thought, and investigation that werefinally to develop into the body oforganized truth which we now callScience As by the aid of collectedexperience and careful inference we to-day endeavor to pass our vision into thedim twilight whence has emerged our

civilization, we find abundant hint andeven evidence of this truth To thehighest type of philosophic minds it isthe usual and the ordinary that demandinvestigation and explanation But even

to such, no less than to the most minded, the strange and exceptional is ofabsorbing interest, and it is often throughthe extraordinary that the philosophergets the most searching glimpses into theheart of the mystery of the ordinary.Truly it has been said, facts are strangerthan fiction In monstrosities anddermoid cysts, for example, we seem tocatch forbidden sight of the secret work-room of Nature, and drag out into thelight the evidences of her clumsiness,and proofs of her lapses of skill,—

naive-evidences and proofs, moreover, that tell

us much of the methods and means used

by the vital artisan of Life,—the loom,and even the silent weaver at work uponthe mysterious garment of corporeality

"La premiere chose qui s'offre a l'Homme quand il se regarde, c'est soncorps," says Pascal, and looking at thematter more closely we find that it wasthe strange and mysterious things of hisbody that occupied man's earliest aswell as much of his later attention In thebeginning, the organs and functions ofgeneration, the mysteries of sex, not theroutine of digestion or of locomotion,stimulated his curiosity, and in them herecognized, as it were, an unseen hand

reaching down into the world of matterand the workings of bodily organization,and reining them to impersonal serviceand far-off ends All ethnologists andstudents of primitive religion well knowthe role that has been played in primitivesociety by the genetic instincts Amongthe older naturalists, such as Pliny andAristotle, and even in the olderhistorians, whose scope included natural

as well as civil and political history, theatypic and bizarre, and especially theaberrations of form or function of thegenerative organs, caught the eye mostquickly Judging from the records ofearly writers, when Medicine began tostruggle toward self-consciousness, itwas again the same order of facts that

was singled out by the attention Thevery names applied by the earlyanatomists to many structures so widelyseparated from the organs of generation

as were those of the brain, givetestimony of the state of mind that led toand dominated the practice of dissection

In the literature of the past centuries thepredominance of the interest in thecurious is exemplified in the almostludicrously monotonous iteration oftitles, in which the conspicuous wordsare curiosa, rara, monstruosa,memorabilia, prodigiosa, selecta,exotica, miraculi, lusibus naturae,occultis naturae, etc., etc Even whenmedical science became more strict, it

was largely the curious and rare thatwere thought worthy of chronicling, andnot the establishment or illustration ofthe common, or of general principles.With all his sovereign sound sense,Ambrose Pare has loaded his book withreferences to impossibly strange, andeven mythologic cases.

In our day the taste seems to beinsatiable, and hardly any medicaljournal is without its rare or "unique"case, or one noteworthy chiefly byreason of its anomalous features Acurious case is invariably reported, andthe insertion of such a report is generallyproductive of correspondence anddiscussion with the object of finding a

parallel for it.

In view of all this it seems itself acurious fact that there has never been anysystematic gathering of medicalcuriosities It would have been mostnatural that numerous encyclopediasshould spring into existence in response

to such a persistently dominant interest.The forelying volume appears to be thefirst thorough attempt to classify andepitomize the literature of this nature Ithas been our purpose to brieflysummarize and to arrange in order therecords of the most curious, bizarre, andabnormal cases that are found in medicalliterature of all ages and all languages—

a thaumatographia medica It will be

readily seen that such a collection musthave a function far beyond thesatisfaction of mere curiosity, even ifthat be stigmatized with the word "idle."

If, as we believe, reference may here befound to all such cases in the literature

of Medicine (including Anatomy,Physiology, Surgery, Obstetrics, etc.) asshow the most extreme and exceptionaldepartures from the ordinary, it followsthat the future clinician and investigatormust have use for a handbook thatdecides whether his own strange casehas already been paralleled or excelled

He will thus be aided in determining thetruth of his statements and the accuracy

of his diagnoses Moreover, to knowextremes gives directly some knowledge

of means, and by implication andinference it frequently does more.Remarkable injuries illustrate to whatextent tissues and organs may bedamaged without resultant death, andthus the surgeon is encouraged toproceed to his operation with greaterconfidence and more definite knowledge

as to the issue If a mad cow may blindlyplay the part of a successful obstetricianwith her horns, certainly a skilledsurgeon may hazard entering the wombwith his knife If large portions of anorgan,—the lung, a kidney, parts of theliver, or the brain itself,—may be lost byaccident, and the patient still live, thephysician is taught the lesson of nildesperandum, and that if possible to

arrest disease of these organs beforetheir total destruction, the prognosis andtreatment thereby acquire new and morehopeful phases.

Directly or indirectly many similarexamples have also clear medicolegalbearings or suggestions; in fact, it must

be acknowledged that much of theimportance of medical jurisprudencelies in a thorough comprehension of theanomalous and rare cases in Medicine.Expert medical testimony has its chiefvalue in showing the possibilities of theoccurrence of alleged extreme cases,and extraordinary deviations from thenatural Every expert witness should beable to maintain his argument by a full

citation of parallels to any remarkabletheory or hypothesis advanced by hisclients; and it is only by an exhaustiveknowledge of extremes and anomaliesthat an authority on medicaljurisprudence can hope to substantiatehis testimony beyond question In everypoisoning case he is closely questioned

as to the largest dose of the drug inquestion that has been taken withimpunity, and the smallest dose that haskilled, and he is expected to have thecases of reported idiosyncrasies andtolerance at his immediate command Awidow with a child of ten months'gestation may be saved the loss ofreputation by mention of the authenticcases in which pregnancy has exceeded

nine months' duration; the proof of theviability of a seven months' child mayalter the disposition of an estate; theproof of death by a blow on theepigastrium without external marks ofviolence may convict a murderer; and so

it is with many other cases of amedicolegal nature

It is noteworthy that in old-timemedical literature—sadly and unjustlyneglected in our rage for the new—should so often be found parallels of ourmost wonderful and peculiar moderncases We wish, also, to enter a mildprotest against the modern egotism thatwould set aside with a sneer as myth andfancy the testimonies and reports of

philosophers and physicians, onlybecause they lived hundreds of yearsago We are keenly appreciative of thepower exercised by the myth-makingfaculty in the past, but as applied toearly physicians, we suggest that thesuspicion may easily be too active.When Pare, for example, pictures amonster, we may distrust his art, hisartist, or his engraver, and make all dueallowance for his primitive knowledge

of teratology, coupled with theexaggerations and inventions of thewonder-lover; but when he describes inhis own writing what he or his confrereshave seen on the battle-field or in thedissecting room, we think, withinmoderate limits, we owe him credence

For the rest, we doubt not that themodern reporter is, to be mild, quite asmuch of a myth-maker as his elderbrother, especially if we find moderninstances that are essentially like theolder cases reported in reputablejournals or books, and by menpresumably honest In our collection wehave endeavored, so far as possible, tocite similar cases from the older andfrom the more recent literature.

This connection suggests the question

of credibility in general It need hardly

be said that the lay-journalist andnewspaper reporter have usually beenignored by us, simply becauseexperience and investigation have many

times proved that a scientific fact, bypresentation in most lay-journals,becomes in some mysterious manner,ipso facto, a scientific caricature (orworse!), and if it is so with facts, whatmust be the effect upon reports basedupon no fact whatsoever? It is manifestlyimpossible for us to guarantee thecredibility of chronicles given If wehave been reasonably certain ofunreliability, we may not even havementioned the marvelous statement.Obviously, we could do no more withapparently credible cases, reported byreputable medical men, than to citeauthor and source and leave the matterthere, where our responsibility must end.

But where our proper responsibilityseemed likely never to end was incarrying out the enormous laborrequisite for a reasonable certainty that

we had omitted no searching that mightlead to undiscovered facts, ancient ormodern Choice in selection is always,

of course, an affair de gustibus, andespecially when, like the present, there

is considerable embarrassment of riches,coupled with the purpose ofcompressing our results in one handyvolume In brief, it may be said thatseveral years of exhaustive researchhave been spent by us in the greatmedical libraries of the United Statesand Europe in collecting the materialherewith presented If, despite of this,

omissions and errors are to be found, weshall be grateful to have them pointedout It must be remembered that limits ofspace have forbidden satisfactorydiscussion of the cases, and the primeobject of the whole work has been tocarefully collect and group theanomalies and curiosities, and allow thereader to form his own conclusions andmake his own deductions.

As the entire labor in the preparation

of the forelying volume, from theinception of the idea to the completion ofthe index, has been exclusively thepersonal work of the authors, it is withfull confidence of the authenticity of thereports quoted that the material is

Complete references are given to thosefacts that are comparatively unknown orunique, or that are worthy of particularinterest or further investigation Toprevent unnecessary loading of the bookwith foot-notes, in those instances inwhich there are a number of cases of thesame nature, and a description has notbeen thought necessary, mere citationbeing sufficient, references are butbriefly given or omitted altogether Forthe same reason a bibliographic indexhas been added at the end of the text.This contains the most important sources

of information used, and each journal orbook therein has its own number, which

is used in its stead all through the book(thus, 476 signifies The Lancet, London;

597, the New York Medical Journal;etc.) These bibliographic numbers begin

at 100

Notwithstanding that every effort hasbeen made to conveniently andsatisfactorily group the thousands ofcases contained in the book (a labor of

no small proportions in itself), acomplete general index is a practicalnecessity for the full success of what isessentially a reference-volume, andconsequently one has been added, inwhich may be found not only the subjectsunder consideration and numerous cross-references, but also the names of the

authors of the most important reports Atable of contents follows this preface.

We assume the responsibility forinnovations in orthography, certainabbreviations, and the occasionalsubstitution of figures for largenumerals, fractions, and decimals, madenecessary by limited space, and in somecases to more lucidly show tables andstatistics From the variety of thereports, uniformity of nomenclature andnumeration is almost impossible

As we contemplate constantlyincreasing our data, we shall be glad toreceive information of any unpublishedanomalous or curious cases, either of thepast or in the future

For many courtesies most generouslyextended in aiding our research-work

we wish, among others, to acknowledgeour especial gratitude and indebtedness

to the officers and assistants of theSurgeon-General's Library atWashington, D.C., the Library of theRoyal College of Surgeons of London,the Library of the British Museum, theLibrary of the British MedicalAssociation, the Bibliotheque de Faculte

de Medecine de Paris, the BibliothequeNationale, and the Library of the College

of Physicians of Philadelphia

PHILADELPHIA,

GEORGE M.GOULD

October, 1896 WALTER L.

PYLE

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

ANOMALIES

143

113-IV PROLIFICITY

144-160

V MAJOR TERATA

161-212

VI MINOR TERATA

527-XI SURGICAL

ANOMALIES OF

588-605

759-XVI ANOMALOUS

SKIN-DISEASES

851

823-XVII ANOMALOUS

NERVOUS AND

MENTAL DISEASES

890

852-XVIII HISTORIC

EPIDEMICS

914

891-ANOMALIES

AND CURIOSITIES

the natural means of exit of the femininebodily impurities, the ancients alwaysthought a menstruating woman was to beshunned; her very presence wasdeleterious to the whole animaleconomy, as, for instance, among theolder writers we find that Pliny remarks:

"On the approach of a woman in thisstate, must will become sour, seedswhich are touched by her becomesterile, grass withers away, gardenplants are parched up, and the fruit willfall from the tree beneath which shesits." He also says that the menstruatingwomen in Cappadocia wereperambulated about the fields topreserve the vegetation from worms andcaterpillars According to Flemming,

menstrual blood was believed to be sopowerful that the mere touch of amenstruating woman would render vinesand all kinds of fruit-trees sterile.Among the indigenous Australians,menstrual superstition was so intensethat one of the native blacks, whodiscovered his wife lying on his blanketduring her menstrual period, killed her,and died of terror himself in a fortnight.Hence, Australian women during thisseason are forbidden to touch anythingthat men use Aristotle said that the verylook of a menstruating woman wouldtake the polish out of a mirror, and thenext person looking in it would bebewitched Frommann mentions a manwho said he saw a tree in Goa which

withered because a catamenial napkinwas hung on it Bourke remarks that thedread felt by the American Indians inthis respect corresponds with theparticulars recited by Pliny Squaws atthe time of menstrual purgation areobliged to seclude themselves, and inmost instances to occupy isolatedlodges, and in all tribes are forbidden toprepare food for anyone savethemselves It was believed that, were amenstruating woman to step astride arifle, a bow, or a lance, the weaponwould have no utility Medicine men are

in the habit of making a "protective"clause whenever they concoct a

"medicine," which is to the effect that the

"medicine" will be effective provided

that no woman in this condition isallowed to approach the tent of theofficial in charge.

Empiricism had doubtless taught theancient husbands the dangers of sexualintercourse during this period, and theafter-results of many such connectionswere looked upon as manifestations ofthe contagiousness of the evil excretionsissuing at this period Hence at one timemenstruation was held in much awe andabhorrence

On the other hand, in some of theeastern countries menstruation wasregarded as sacred, and the firstmenstrual discharge was considered sovaluable that premenstrual marriages

were inaugurated in order that the firstovum might not be wasted, but fertilized,because it was supposed to be the purestand best for the purpose Such customsare extant at the present day in someparts of India, despite the efforts of theBritish Government to suppress them,and descriptions of child-marriages andtheir evil results have often been given

constantly see the results of copulationduring this period The uncontrollabledesire of the husband and the mercenaryaims of the prostitute furnish examples

of modern disregard

The anomalies of menstruation mustnaturally have attracted much attention,and we find medical literature of alltimes replete with examples Whilesome are simply examples of vicarious

or compensatory menstruation, and were

so explained even by the older writers,there are many that are physiologiccuriosities of considerable interest.Lheritier furnishes the oft-quoted history

of the case of a young girl who sufferedfrom suppression of menses, which,

instead of flowing through the naturalchannels, issued periodically fromvesicles on the leg for a period of sixmonths, when the seat of the dischargechanged to an eruption on the left arm,and continued in this location for oneyear; then the discharge shifted to a sore

on the thumb, and at the end of anothersix months again changed, the nextlocation being on the upper eyelid; here

it continued for a period of two years.Brierre de Boismont and Meisnerdescribe a case apparently identicalwith the foregoing, though not quotingthe source

Haller, in a collection of physiologiccuriosities covering a period of a

century and a half, cites 18 instances ofmenstruation from the skin Parrot hasalso mentioned several cases of thisnature Chambers speaks of bloodysweat occurring periodically in awoman of twenty-seven; the intervals,however, were occasionally but a week

or a fortnight, and the exudation was notconfined to any one locality VanSwieten quotes the history of a case ofsuppression of the menstrual function inwhich there were convulsivecontractions of the body, followed byparalysis of the right arm Later on, thepatient received a blow on the left eyecausing amaurosis; swelling of thisorgan followed, and one month laterblood issued from it, and subsequently