Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1878-12-12
An AntOmatical Wonder.
[FrOm the Chicago Journal

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! A novel exhibition in anatomy was given
yesterday afternoon to the students of Rush
Medical College. At o'clock the large am
phitheatre lecture room was filled with dedged
and unfledged doctors, and in the arena stood
Mr.. Charles Warren, man of about thirty
years of age, of athletic appearance, and
apparently jointed the same as ordinary NOR
tails. But he soon showed that he differed
from most men in his makeup, for there
was hardly joint in his whole body that he
could not throw out of place, or at least give
that appearance He went through with his
distortions, much to the amazement as we'll
as the amusement of ALL He commenced
by giving circulatory movement to the
scapule, moving either one or both at the
same time and without any apparent motion
of the shoulders. He then threw the humer-
us into he axille, disjointed his elbow, wrist
and phalanges. This was done merely by
the contraction of the muscles of the arm,
and not by the pulling of one member by an
other. In none of his feats were there any
such wrench of one joint from another.
Without touching any part of his body with
his hands, the joints would move out of pO-
sition. He forced the femur from the thigh
bone. This he could do while standing on
one or both feet, or While reclining. The
dislocation caused an apparent shortening of
the limb. Another striking feat was the
turning of his feet so that he could touch the
bottoms of them while his legs were perfectly
straight Perhaps the most remarkable of all
his powers was the wonderful expansibility
of his chest Medical works, upon the
strength of examinations of thousands of
men in the army and navy, generally give
five inches as the maximum of expansion.
The exhibitor could expand his from nine to
twelve inches. Those who did not take
much interest in his other performances were
wonder-struck at this. This feat was per-
formed by the remarkable degree of the COM
pressibility of the chest and his power to
force his heart and lungs into the abdominal
cavity, and then of the power to force his
viscera into his chest. The abdomen was
hardly less curious when the viscera was
forced upwards by the diaphragm than was
the inflated chest, for at such time there
seemed to be an entire absence of organs in
that part of the body, and to be no distance
at all from the front walls of the abdomen to
the spinal column.
This subject proved fine study in the an
atomy of the muscles, because he could con-
tract them so as to show the position of each
one from origin to insertion. He had this
power over the muscles in pairs or separately,
and could make them as distinct as if dis
sected.
Mr.. Warren concluded with an exhibition
of his ability to comfort his whole body, draw
ing himself through rings and performing
other things, much to the amusement of the
students and of the professors if they had
Sl Ws5ss 4t at Liberty sgt, give way s
himself, and can dislocate her joints with
such ease that they sound like rattles. Mr..
Warren is supporting himself at present by
giving exhibitions like the one of yesterday
to medical students.