PHYSIOLOGIC AND FUNCTIONAL ANOMALIES. 9 page

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."

He was always noticed to place the inanimate objects with which he held

conversations near his umbilicus.

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."

Athletic Feats.--The ancients called athletes those who were noted for

their extraordinary agility, force, and endurance. The history of

athletics is not foreign to that of medicine, but, on the contrary, the

two are in many ways intimately blended. The instances of feats of

agility and endurance are in every sense of the word examples of

physiologic and functional anomalies, and have in all times excited the

interest and investigation of capable physicians.

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, praecipueque 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 dromos, was introduced, and, finally, tests of

endurance as well as speed were instituted in the long-distance races

and the contests of racing in heavy armor, which were so highly

commended by Plato as preparation for the arduous duties of a soldier.

Among the Greeks we read of Lasthenes the Theban, who vanquished a

horse in the course; of Polymnestor, who chased and caught a hare; and

Philonides, the courier of Alexander the Great, who in nine hours

traversed the distance between the Greek cities Sicyone and Elis, a

distance of over 150 miles. We read of the famous soldier of Marathon,

who ran to announce the victory to the Magistrates of Athens and fell

dead at their feet. In the Olympian games at Athens in 1896 this

distance (about 26 miles) was traversed in less than three hours.

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 depeche le Basque son laquais pour querir

Gargantua en toute hate."

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 that a courier carrying a letter to a London physician

returned with the potion prescribed within twenty-four hours, having

traversed 148 miles. There is little doubt of the ability of these

couriers to tire out any horse. The couriers who accompany the

diligences in Spain often fatigue the animals who draw the vehicles.

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 the mud they wrap

a piece of straw about each big toe, to prevent slipping and to give

them a firmer grip. For any of these men a five-mile spurt on a good

road without a breathing spell is a small affair. A pair of them will

roll a jinrickisha along a country road at the rate of four miles an

hour, and they will do this eight hours a day. The general average of

the distance traversed in a day is 25 miles. Cockerill, who has

recently described these men, says that the majority of them die early.

The terrible physical strain brings on hypertrophy and valvular

diseases of the heart, and many of them suffer from hernia.

Occasionally one sees a veteran jinrickisha man, and it is interesting

to note how tenderly he is helped by his confreres. They give him

preference as regards wages, help push his vehicle up heavy grades, and

show him all manner of consideration.

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, 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 Truckee in

April, 1883, walked twenty-six hours without once resting, traversing

122 miles.

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 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 degrees 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 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 25,000 miles in five hundred days and was

apparently no more tired than when he began.

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 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 his life in riding a horse named "Jumping Jenny" 100

miles a day for eight days. The heat was excessive, and although the

horse was none the worse for the performance, the Captain died from the

exposure he encountered. There is a record of a Mr. Bacon of the Bombay

Civil Service, who rode one camel from Bombay to Allygur (perhaps 800

miles) in eight days.

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 derate." 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 Moebius 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. On

landing he felt extremely cold, but his body was as warm as when he

started. He was exhausted and very sleepy, falling in deep slumber on

his way to the hotel. On getting into bed his temperature was 98

degrees F. and his pulse normal. In five hours he was feverish, his

temperature rising to 101 degrees F. During the passage he was blinded

from the salt water in his eyes and the spray beating against his face.

He strongly denied the newspaper reports that he was delirious, and

after a good rest was apparently none the worse for the task. In 1876

he again traversed this passage with the happiest issue. In 1883 he was

engaged by speculators to swim the rapids at Niagara, and in attempting

this was overcome by the powerful currents, and his body was not

recovered for some days after. The passage from Dover to Calais has

been duplicated.

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

Date: 2014-12-29; view: 666