Anomalies And Curiosities Of Medicine Part 26

In the middle of the seventeenth century a woman brought forth four dwarfs, and in the eighteenth century a dwarf named Hopkins had a sister as small as he was. Therese Souvray, the dwarf fiancee of Bebe, had a dwarf sister 41 inches high. Virey has examined a German dwarf of eight who was only 18 inches tall, i.e., about the length of a newly-born infant. The parents were of ordinary size, but had another child who was also a dwarf.

There are two species of dwarfs, the first coming into the world under normal conditions, but who in their infancy become afflicted with a sudden arrest of development provoked by some malady; the second are born very small, develop little, and are really dwarfs from their birth; as a rule they are well conformed, robust, and intelligent.

These two species can be distinguished by an important characteristic.

The rachitic dwarfs of the first cla.s.s are incapable of perpetuating their species, while those of the second category have proved more than once their virility. A certain number of dwarfs have married with women of normal height and have had several children, though this is not, it is true, an indisputable proof of their generative faculties; but we have instances in which dwarfs have married dwarfs and had a family sometimes quite numerous. Robert Skinner (25 inches) and Judith (26 inches), his wife, had 14 infants, well formed, robust, and of normal height.

Celebrated Dwarfs.--Instances of some of the most celebrated dwarfs will be cited with a short descriptive mention of points of interest in their lives:--

Vladislas Cubitas, who was King of Poland in 1305, was a dwarf, and was noted for his intelligence, courage, and as a good soldier. Geoffrey Hudson, the most celebrated English dwarf, was born at Oakham in England in 1619. At the age of eight, when not much over a foot high, he was presented to Henriette Marie, wife of Charles I, in a pie; he afterward became her favorite. Until he was thirty he was said to be not more than 18 inches high, when he suddenly increased to about 45 inches. In his youth he fought several duels, one with a turkey c.o.c.k, which is celebrated in the verse of Davenant. He became a popular and graceful courtier, and proved his bravery and allegiance to his sovereign by a.s.suming command of a royalist company and doing good service therein. Both in moral and physical capacities he showed his superiority. At one time he was sent to France to secure a midwife for the Queen, who was a Frenchwoman. He afterward challenged a gentleman by the name of Croft to fight a duel, and would accept only deadly weapons; he shot his adversary in the chest; the quarrel grew out of his resentment of ridicule of his diminutive size. He was accused of partic.i.p.ation in the Papist Plot and imprisoned by his political enemies in the Gate House at Westminster, where he died in 1682 at the advanced age of sixty-three. In Scott's "Peveril of the Peak" Hudson figures prominently. This author seemed fond of dwarfs.

About the same epoch Charles I had a page in his court named Richard Gibson, who was remarkable for his diminutive size and his ability as a miniature painter. This little artist espoused another of his cla.s.s, Anne Shepherd, a dwarf of Queen Henriette Marie, about his size (45 inches). Mistress Gibson bore nine children, five of whom arrived at adult age and were of ordinary proportions. She died at the age of eighty; her husband afterward became the drawing master of Princesses Mary and Anne, daughters of James II; he died July 23, 1690, aged seventy-five years.

In 1730 there was born of poor fisher parents at Jelst a child named Wybrand Lokes. He became a very skilful jeweler, and though he was of diminutive stature he married a woman of medium height, by whom he had several children. He was one of the smallest men ever exhibited, measuring but 25 1/2 inches in height. To support his family better, he abandoned his trade and with great success exhibited himself throughout Holland and England. After having ama.s.sed a great fortune he returned to his country, where he died in 1800, aged seventy. He was very intelligent, and proved his power of paternity, especially by one son, who at twenty-three was 5 feet 3 inches tall, and robust.

Another celebrated dwarf was Nicolas Ferry, otherwise known as Bebe. He was born at Plaine in the Vosges in 1741; he was but 22 cm. (8 1/2 inches) long, weighed 14 ounces at birth, and was carried on a plate to the church for baptism. At five Bebe was presented to King Stanislas of Poland. At fifteen he measured 29 inches. He was of good const.i.tution, but was almost an idiot; for example, he did not recognize his mother after fifteen days' separation. He was quite lax in his morals, and exhibited no evidences of good nature except his lively attachment for his royal master, who was himself a detestable character. He died at twenty-two in a very decrepit condition, and his skeleton is preserved in the Museum of Natural History in Paris. Shortly before his death Bebe became engaged to a female dwarf named Therese Souvray, who at one time was exhibited in Paris at the Theatre Conti, together with an older sister. Therese lived to be seventy-three, and both she and her sister measured only 30 inches in height. She died in 1819.

Aldrovandus gives a picture of a famous dwarf of the Duc de Crequi who was only 30 inches tall, though perfectly formed; he also speaks of some dwarfs who were not over 2 feet high.

There was a Polish gentleman named Joseph Borwilaski, born in 1739 who was famed all over Europe. He became quite a scholar, speaking French and German fairly well. In 1860, at the age of twenty-two, and 28 inches in height, he married a woman of ordinary stature, who bore him two infants well conformed. He was exhibited in many countries, and finally settled at Durham, England, where he died in 1837 at the almost incredible age of ninety-eight, and is buried by the side of the Falstaffian Stephen Kemble. Mary Jones of Shrops.h.i.+re, a dwarf 32 inches tall and much deformed, died in 1773 at the age of one hundred. These two instances are striking examples of great age in dwarfs and are therefore of much interest. Borwilaski's parents were tall in stature and three of his brothers were small; three of the other children measured 5 feet 6 inches. Diderot has written a history of this family.

Richeborg, a dwarf only 23 inches in height, died in Paris in 1858 aged ninety years. In childhood he had been a servant in the House of Orleans and afterward became their pensioner. During the Revolution he pa.s.sed in and out of Paris as an infant in a nurse's arms, thus carrying dispatches memorized which might have proved dangerous to carry in any other manner.

At St. Philip's, Birmingham, there is the following inscription on a tomb: "In memory of Mannetta Stocker, who quitted this life on the 4th day of May, 1819, at the age of thirty-nine years, the smallest woman in the kingdom, and one of the most accomplished." She was born in Krauma, in the north of Austria, under normal conditions. Her growth stopped at the age of four, when she was 33 inches tall. She was shown in many villages and cities over Europe and Great Britain; she was very gay, played well on the piano, and had divers other accomplishments.

In 1742 there was shown in London a dwarf by the name of Robert Skinner, .63 meters in height, and his wife, Judith, who was a little larger. Their exhibition was a great success and they ama.s.sed a small fortune; during twenty-three years they had 14 robust and well-formed children. Judith died in 1763, and Robert grieved so much after her that he himself expired two years later.

Figure 161 shows a female dwarf with her husband and child, all of whom were exhibited some years since in the Eastern United States. The likeness of the child to the mother is already noticeable.

Buffon speaks of dwarfs 24, 21, and 18 inches high, and mentions one individual, aged thirty-seven, only 16 inches tall, whom he considers the smallest person on record. Virey in 1818 speaks of an English child of eight or nine who was but 18 inches tall. It had the intelligence of a child of three or four; its dent.i.tion was delayed until it was two years old and it did not walk until four. The parents of this child were of ordinary stature.

At the "Cosmorama" in Regent Street in 1848 there was a Dutch boy of ten exhibited. He was said to be the son of an apothecary and at the time of his birth weighed nine pounds. He continued to grow for six months and at the expiration of that time weighed 12 pounds; since then, however, he had only increased four pounds. The arrest of development seemed to be connected with hydrocephalus; although the head was no larger than that of a child of two, the anterior fontanelle was widely open, indicating that there was pressure within. He was strong and muscular; grave and sedate in his manner; cheerful and affectionate; his manners were polite and engaging; he was expert in many kinds of handicraft; he possessed an ardent desire for knowledge and apt.i.tude for education.

Rawdon described a boy of five and a half, at the Liverpool Infirmary for Children, who weighed 10 1/2 pounds and whose height was 28 or 29 inches. He uttered no articulate sound, but evidently possessed the sense of hearing. His eyes were large and well formed, but he was apparently blind. He suckled, cut his teeth normally, but had tonic contractions of the spine and was an apparent idiot.

Hardie mentions a girl of sixteen and a half whose height was 40 inches and weight 35 1/2 pounds, including her clothes. During intrauterine life her mother had good health and both her parents had always been healthy. She seemed to stop growing at her fourth year. Her intellect was on a par with the rest of her body. Sometimes she would talk and again she would preserve rigid silence for a long time. She had a shuffling walk with a tendency to move on her toes. Her temporary teeth were shed in the usual manner and had been replaced by canines and right first molar and incisors on the right side. There was no indication of p.u.b.erty except a slight development of the hips. She was almost totally imbecile, but could tell her letters and spell short words. The circ.u.mference of the head was 19 inches, and Ross pointed out that the tendon-reflexes were well marked, as well as the ankle-clonus; he diagnosed the case as one of parencephalus. Figure 162 represents a most curious case of a dwarf named Carrie Akers, who, though only 34 inches tall, weighed 309 pounds.

In recent years several dwarfs have commanded the popular attention, but none so much as "General Tom Thumb," the celebrated dwarf of Barnum's Circus. Charles Stratton, surnamed "Tom Thumb," was born at Bridgeport, Conn., on January 11, 1832; he was above the normal weight of the new-born. He ceased growing at about five months, when his height was less than 21 inches. Barnum, hearing of this phenomenon in his city, engaged him, and he was shown all over the world under his a.s.sumed name. He was presented to Queen Victoria in 1844, and in the following year he was received by the Royal Family in France. His success was wonderful, and even the most conservative journals described and commented on him. He gave concerts, in which he sang in a nasal voice; but his "drawing feat" was embracing the women who visited him. It is said that in England alone he kissed a million females; he prided himself on his success in this function, although his features were anything but inviting. After he had received numerous presents and had ama.s.sed a large fortune he returned to America in 1864, bringing with him three other dwarfs, the "Sisters Warren" and "Commodore Nutt."

He married one of the Warrens, and by her had one child, Minnie, who died some months after birth of cerebral congestion. In 1883 Tom Thumb and his wife, Lavinia, were still living, but after that they dropped from public view and have since died.

In 1895 the wife of a dwarf named Morris gave birth to twins at Blaenavon, North Wales. Morris is only 35 inches in height and his wife is even smaller. They were married at Bartholmey Church and have since been traveling through England under the name of "General and Mrs.

Small," being the smallest married couple in the world. At the latest reports the mother and her twins were doing well.

The Rossow Brothers have been recently exhibited to the public. These brothers, Franz and Carl, are twenty and eighteen years respectively.

Franz is the eldest of 16 children and is said to weigh 24 pounds and measure 21 inches in height; Carl is said to weigh less than his brother but is 29 inches tall. They give a clever gymnastic exhibition and are apparently intelligent. They advertise that they were examined and still remain under the surveillance of the Faculty of Gottingen.

Next to the success of "Tom Thumb" probably no like attraction has been so celebrated as the "Lilliputians," whose antics and wit so many Americans have in late years enjoyed. They were a troupe of singers and comedians composed entirely of dwarfs; they exhibited much talent in all their performances, which were given for several years and quite recently in all the large cities of the United States. They showed themselves to be worthy rivals for honors in the cla.s.s of entertainments known as burlesques. As near as could be ascertained, partly from the fact that they all spoke German fluently and originally gave their performance entirely in German, they were collected from the German and Austrian Empires.

The "Princess Topaze" was born near Paris in 1879. According to a recent report she is perfectly formed and is intelligent and vivacious.

She is 23 1/2 inches tall and weighs 14 pounds. Her parents were of normal stature.

Not long since the papers recorded the death of Lucia Zarete, a Mexican girl, whose exact proportions were never definitely known; but there is no doubt that she was the smallest midget ever exhibited In this country. Her exhibitor made a fortune with her and her salary was among the highest paid to modern "freaks."

Miss H. Moritz, an American dwarf, at the age of twenty weighed 36 pounds and was only 22 inches tall.

Precocious development is characterized by a hasty growth of the subject, who at an early period of life attains the dimensions of an adult. In some of these instances the anomaly is a.s.sociated with precocious p.u.b.erty, and after acquiring the adult growth at an early age there is an apparent cessation of the development. In adult life the individual shows no distinguis.h.i.+ng characters.

The first to be considered will be those cases, sometimes called "man-boys," characterized by early p.u.b.erty and extraordinary development in infancy. Histories of remarkable children have been transmitted from the time of Vespasian. We read in the "Natural History" of Pliny that in Salamis, Euthimedes had a son who grew to 3 Roman cubits (4 1/2 feet) in three years; he was said to have little wit, a dull mind, and a slow and heavy gait; his voice was manly, and he died at three of general debility. Phlegon says that Craterus, the brother of King Antigonus, was an infant, a young man, a mature man, an old man, and married and begot children all in the s.p.a.ce of seven years. It is said that King Louis II of Hungary was born so long before his time that he had no skin; in his second year he was crowned, in his tenth year he succeeded, in his fourteenth year he had a complete beard, in his fifteenth he was married, in his eighteenth he had gray hair, and in his twentieth he died. Rhodiginus speaks of a boy who when he was ten years impregnated a female. In 1741 there was a boy born at Willingham, near Cambridge, who had the external marks of p.u.b.erty at twelve months, and at the time of his death at five years he had the appearance of an old man. He was called "prodigium Willinghamense." The Ephemerides and some of the older journals record instances of penile erection immediately after birth.

It was said that Philip Howarth, who was born at Quebec Mews, Portman Square, London, February 21, 1806, lost his infantile rotundity of form and feature after the completion of his first year and became pale and extremely ugly, appearing like a growing boy. His p.e.n.i.s and testes increased in size, his voice altered, and hair grew on the p.u.b.es. At the age of three he was 3 feet 4 1/2 inches tall and weighed 51 1/4 pounds. The length of his p.e.n.i.s when erect was 4 1/2 inches and the circ.u.mference 4 inches; his thigh-measure was 13 1/2 inches, his waist-measure 24 inches, and his biceps 7 inches. He was reported to be clever, very strong, and muscular. An old chronicle says that in Wisnang Parish, village of Tellurge, near Tygure, in Lords.h.i.+p Kiburge, there was born on the 26th of May, 1548, a boy called Henry Walker, who at five years was of the height of a boy of fourteen and possessed the genitals of a man. He carried burdens, did men's work, and in every way a.s.sisted his parents, who were of usual size.

There is a case cited by the older authors of a child born in the Jura region who at the age of four gave proof of his virility, at seven had a beard and the height of a man. The same journal also speaks of a boy of six, 1.62 meters tall, who was perfectly proportioned and had extraordinary strength. His beard and general appearance, together with the marks of p.u.b.erty, gave him the appearance of a man of thirty.

In 1806 Dupuytren presented to the Medical Society in Paris a child 3 1/2 feet high, weighing 57 pounds, who had attained p.u.b.erty.

There are on record six modern cases of early p.u.b.erty in boys, one of whom died at five with the signs of premature senility; at one year he had shown signs of enlargement of the s.e.xual organs. There was another who at three was 3 feet 6 3/4 inches high, weighed 50 pounds, and had seminal discharges. One of the cases was a child who at birth resembled an ordinary infant of five months. From four to fifteen months his p.e.n.i.s enlarged, until at the age of three it measured when erect 3 inches. At this age he was 3 feet 7 inches high and weighed 64 pounds.

The last case mentioned was an infant who experienced a change of voice at twelve months and showed hair on the p.u.b.es. At three years he was 3 feet 4 1/2 inches tall and weighed 51 1/4 pounds. Smith, in Brewster's Journal, 1829, records the case of a boy who at the age of four was well developed; at the age of six he was 4 feet 2 inches tall and weighed 74 pounds; his lower extremities were extremely short proportionally and his genitals were as well developed as those of an adult. He had a short, dark moustache but no hair on his chin, although his pubic hair was thick, black, and curly. Ruelle describes a child of three and a quarter years who was as strong and muscular as one at eight. He had full-sized male organs and long black hair on the p.u.b.es.

Under excitement he discharged s.e.m.e.n four or five times a day; he had a deep male voice, and dark, short hair on the cheek and upper lip.

Stone gives an account of a boy of four who looked like a child of ten and exhibited the s.e.xual organs of a man with a luxuriant growth of hair on the p.u.b.es. This child was said to have been of great beauty and a miniature model of an athlete. His height was 4 feet 1/4 inch and weight 70 pounds; the p.e.n.i.s when semiflaccid was 4 1/4 inches long; he was intelligent and lively, and his back was covered with the acne of p.u.b.erty. A peculiar fact as regards this case was the statement of the father that he himself had had s.e.xual indulgence at eight. Stone parallels this case by several others that he has collected from medical literature. Breschet in 1821 reported the case of a boy born October 20, 1817, who at three years and one month was 3 feet 6 3/4 inches tall; his p.e.n.i.s when flaccid measured 4 inches and when erect 5 1/4 inches, but the t.e.s.t.i.c.l.es were not developed in proportion. Lopez describes a mulatto boy of three years ten and a half months whose height was 4 feet 1/2 inch and weight 82 pounds; he measured about the chest 27 1/2 inches and about the waist 27 inches; his p.e.n.i.s at rest was 4 inches long and had a circ.u.mference of 3 1/2 inches, although the testes were not descended. He had evidences of a beard and his axillae were very hairy; it is said he could with ease lift a man weighing 140 pounds. His body was covered with acne simplex and had a strong spermatic odor, but it was not known whether he had any venereal appet.i.te.

Johnson mentions a boy of seven with severe gonorrhea complicated with buboes which he had contracted from a servant girl with whom he slept.

At the Hopital des Enfans Malades children at the breast have been observed to m.a.s.t.u.r.b.a.t.e. Fournier and others a.s.sert having seen infantile masturbators, and cite a case of a girl of four who was habitually addicted to masturbation from her infancy but was not detected until her fourth year; she died shortly afterward in a frightful state of marasmus. Vogel alludes to a girl of three in whom repeated attacks of epilepsy occurred after six months' onanism. Van Bambeke mentions three children from ten to twenty months old, two of them females, who m.a.s.t.u.r.b.a.t.ed.

Bidwell describes a boy of five years and two months who during the year previous had erections and seminal emissions. His voice had changed and he had a downy moustache on his upper lip and hair on the p.u.b.es; his height was 4 feet 3 1/2 inches and his weight was 82 1/2 pounds. His p.e.n.i.s and t.e.s.t.i.c.l.es were as well developed as those of a boy of seventeen or eighteen, but from his facial aspect one would take him to be thirteen. He avoided the company of women and would not let his sisters nurse him when he was sick.

Pryor speaks of a boy of three and a half who m.a.s.t.u.r.b.a.t.ed and who at five and a half had a p.e.n.i.s of adult size, hair on the p.u.b.es, and was known to have had seminal emissions. Woods describes a boy of six years and seven months who had the appearance of a youth of eighteen. He was 4 feet 9 inches tall and was quite muscular. He first exhibited signs of precocious growth at the beginning of his second year and when three years old he had hair on the p.u.b.es. There is an instance in which a boy of thirteen had intercourse with a young woman at least a dozen times and succeeded in impregnating her. The same journal mentions an instance in which a boy of fourteen succeeded in impregnating a girl of the same age. Chevers speaks of a young boy in India who was sentenced to one year's imprisonment for raping a girl of three.

Dougla.s.s describes a boy of four years and three months who was 3 feet 10 1/2 inches tall and weighed 54 pounds; his features were large and coa.r.s.e, and his p.e.n.i.s and testes were of the size of those of an adult.

He was unusually dull, mentally, quite obstinate, and self-willed. It is said that he m.a.s.t.u.r.b.a.t.ed on all opportunities and had vigorous erections, although no spermatozoa were found in the s.e.m.e.n issued. He showed no fondness for the opposite s.e.x. The history of this rapid growth says that he was not unlike other children until the third year, when after wading in a small stream several hours he was taken with a violent chill, after which his voice began to change and his s.e.xual organs to develop.

Blanc quotes the case described by Cozanet in 1875 of Louis Beran, who was born on September 29, 1869, at Saint-Gervais, of normal size. At the age of six months his dimensions and weight increased in an extraordinary fas.h.i.+on. At the age of six years he was 1.28 meters high (4 feet 2 1/3 inches) and weighed 80 pounds. His p.u.b.erty was completely manifested in every way; he eschewed the society of children and helped his parents in their labors. Campbell showed a lad of fourteen who had been under his observation for ten years. When fifteen months old this prodigy had hair on his p.u.b.es and his external genitals were abnormally larger end at the age of two years they were fully developed and had not materially changed in the following years. At times he manifested great s.e.xual excitement. Between four and seven years he had seminal discharges, but it was not determined whether the s.e.m.e.n contained spermatozoa. He had the muscular development of a man of twenty-five. He had shaved several years. The boy's education was defective from his failure to attend school.

The accompanying ill.u.s.tration represents a boy of five years and three months of age whose height at this time was 4 feet and his physical development far beyond that usual at this age, his external genitals resembling those of a man of twenty. His upper lip was covered by a mustache, and the hirsute growth elsewhere was similarly precocious.

The inscription on the tombstone of James Weir in the Parish of Carluke, Scotland, says that when only thirteen months old he measured 3 feet 4 inches in height and weighed 5 stone. He was p.r.o.nounced by the faculty of Edinburgh and Glasgow to be the most extraordinary child of his age. Linnaeus saw a boy at the Amsterdam Fair who at the age of three weighed 98 pounds. In Paris, about 1822, there was shown an infant Hercules of seven who was more remarkable for obesity than general development. He was 3 feet 4 inches high, 4 feet 5 inches in circ.u.mference, and weighed 220 pounds. He had prominent eyebrows, black eyes, and his complexion resembled that of a fat cook in the heat.

Borellus details a description of a giant child. There is quoted from Boston a the report of a boy of fifteen months weighing 92 pounds who died at Coney Island. He was said to have been of phenomenal size from infancy and was exhibited in several museums during his life.

Desbois of Paris mentions an extraordinary instance of rapid growth in a boy of eleven who grew 6 inches in fifteen days.

Large and Small New-born Infants.--There are many accounts of new-born infants who were characterized by their diminutive size. On page 66 we have mentioned Usher's instance of twins born at the one hundred and thirty-ninth day weighing each less than 11 ounces; Barker's case of a female child at the one hundred and fifty-eighth day weighing 1 pound; Newinton's case of twins at the fifth month, one weighing 1 pound and the other 1 pound 3 1/2 ounces; and on page 67 is an account of Eikam's five-months' child, weighing 8 ounces. Of full-term children Sir Everard Home, in his Croonian Oration in 1824, speaks of one borne by a woman who was traveling with the baggage of the Duke of Wellington's army. At her fourth month of pregnancy this woman was attacked and bitten by a monkey, but she went to term, and a living child was delivered which weighed but a pound and was between 7 and 8 inches long. It was brought to England and died at the age of nine, when 22 inches high. Baker mentions a child fifty days' old that weighed 1 pound 13 ounces and was 14 inches long. Mursick describes a living child who at birth weighed but 1 3/4 pounds. In June, 1896, a baby weighing 1 3/4 pounds was born at the Samaritan Hospital, Philadelphia.

Scott has recorded the birth of a child weighing 2 1/2 pounds, and another 3 1/4 pounds. In the Chicago Inter-Ocean there is a letter dated June 20, 1874, which says that Mrs. J. B. McCrum of Kalamazoo, Michigan, gave birth to a boy and girl that could be held in the palm of the hand of the nurse. Their aggregate weight was 3 pounds 4 ounces, one weighing 1 pound 8 ounces, the other 1 pound 12 ounces. They were less than 8 inches long and perfectly formed; they were not only alive but extremely vivacious.

There is an account of female twins born in 1858 before term. One weighed 22 1/2 ounces, and over its arm, forearm, and hand one could easily pa.s.s a wedding-ring. The other weighed 24 ounces. They both lived to adult life; the larger married and was the mother of two children, which she bore easily. The other did not marry, and although not a dwarf, was under-sized; she had her catamenia every third week.

Post describes a 2-pound child.

On the other hand, there have been infants characterized by their enormous size at birth. Among the older writers, Cranz describes an infant which at birth weighed 23 pounds; Fern mentions a fetus of 18 pounds; and Mittehauser speaks of a new-born child weighing 24 pounds.

Von Siebold in his "Lucina" has recorded a fetus which weighed 22 1/2 pounds. It is worthy of comment that so great is the rarity of these instances that in 3600 cases, in the Rotunda Hospital, Dublin, only one child reached 11 pounds.

There was a child born in Suss.e.x in 1869 which weighed 13 1/2 pounds and measured 26 1/2 inches. Warren delivered a woman in Derbys.h.i.+re of male twins, one weighing 17 pounds 8 ounces and the other 18 pounds.