The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1889-01-07
WILLIAMS AILMENTS.


Oermany's Young Emperor Has More Than
His Share of Humanity's Ills.
London Cable Letter in New York sun.
In Paris, two days ago, / talked about
Emperor William with a friend whose fame
as medical man is worldwide, and OBJ
tanned most interesting and definite infor-
nation as to the young rulers physical con-
dltlon. Young William was urlucky in
the first place." said my friend, .Ii having
princess for a mother, and equally so in
having been born prince. Those two cir
cumstances account for his unhappy de-
formity. The usual accepted accounts of
Its nature and origin are imaginative rub
bish. Crown Prince Frederick was, as is
generally known, travelling in anOut-of-the-
way place at very indiscreet period. The
birth of the present German Emperor was
unexpected and helped into the world by
some obscure little doctor with awe of roy
atty Tar in excess of his knowledge OF
surgery. If he had been allowed to think
that his patient was simply an ordinary
woman of strong physique, all would prob
ably have been WE'LL but the fact was care
fully impressed upon him that he had in his
hands the life of the future Queen, and the
birth perhaps to the heir to the Prusslan
throne. This so demOraliZed the little doc
muscles to the forces of nature, and so sew
cred all the muscles of the infants left
arm. When L was called to Windsor by
Queen Victoria to attend the little boy, L
saw at once that his case was hopeless
namely, complete atrophy of the arm. 1t is
wasted completely away. Fortunately such
wonderful skill has been shown by German
surgeons as to save him from the mortifica.-
tion of having it plainly seen that one of
his arms is simply the withered arm of a
child, and is padded out In life-llke fash
ion; and not only that but within the pad
ding is most wonderfully clever machine
series of strings and cords acting like mus
cles of the arm. These artificial muscles
are connected with the good muscles of the
shoulder most adroitly, SO that, while IN a
natural condition he would be incapable OF
moving his withered arm, this mechanism
enables him to impart to it movements that
are almost Hfe-like.
''The disease in the EmperOr's head is one
which may have the most serious cOnse-
quences for all Europe. 1t may drive the
Emperor to the most extravagant acts, or
suddenly, by killing him, end endless
speculation as to what his career may be.
can tell you positively that it already
makes him insane at intervals; such is the
direct effect of his malady upon the brain.
All the skill of doctors about him is cOncen-
trated to fight with the disease which is
growing in his head. Once, already, 1t has
gone beyond control of the doctors, and
the Emperor suffered a most dreadful at
tack, all knowledge of which was carefully
kept from the public. When the disease
reaches a certain point there will be an ex-
plosiOn and the Emperor will either die or
become hopelessly insane. just what ma
ture the disease may be described, that of
tumOr Orabnormal growth within the brain.
the skill of his physicians may fight off
final stages of the disease for a longer period
than at present seems probable; but there
is very little hope that they will be able to
cure it. The young Emperor is a decidedly
unlucky man. The old Emperor William
suffered, which is not generally known,
from petit NAL, a form of epilepsy, and his
grandson, who has inherited the trouble, is
also afflicted with fits of an epileptic char
acter.D