The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1890-11-11
A PECULIAR DISEASE.
a MAN WHO IS ALWAYS TEN SEC
ONDS AHEAD CT HIMSELF.

His Nerves Are Awry, and He Always
Acts One-sixth of a Minute After He
Ought-He Is Neighbor OF Jay Gould
and Is Very Wealthy.
/ was walking down Forty-seventh street
the other day, atteDtively regarding Jay
Gould's new parlor curtains, when the
door of a house very near his opened, and
a fine looking, middle aged gentleman
stepped out, walked deliberately out TO the
edge of the brown stone steps and fell
! headlong into the street
| An instant later a colored man rushed
out of the house, ran down the steps and
! lifted the fallen one, saying as he did so:
"You should not venture out alone, sir.
| You know you have fallen so many times. ="
| Now this was more remarkable than the
| fact that Jay Gould had new window cur
| tains, so ! at once transferred my atten-
/ ton Was he an invalidy Surely not,
| with such color and such physique
Ah, had it. He was q victim of the dis
ease called locomotor ataxia, so named, a
flippant medical student once said, "be.
cause when it attacks you, you can't loco
mote" But when the gentleman began
to ascend the steps he walked with a step
that was perfectly firm and steady, though
very deliberate.
was wrong again, for people afflicted
with the above mentioned disease have a
wobbly, uncertain gait that is painful. By
this time the object Of my attention had
entered the house, the door was closed, and
as there was nothing particularly cOmmu-
nicative about the closed front of a stone
house was not likely to have my curiosi-
ty satisfied.
a REMARKABLE AFFLICTION
But fortune favors even the ubiquitous
news gatherer sometimes AS stood wait
ing-I knew not for what-a carriage drove
up, a Doctors carriage, and from it stepped
the eminent physician DR.. Davis, a man
skilled above his fellows in the treatment
of nervous diseases.
The next day, during the doctors first
office hour, called upon him.
The learned man was very non-commit-
tai until | explained to him that had at
one time been a student of medicine, and
was therefore entitled to know whatever
he could tell me that would be of benefit
Thus reassured DR.. Davis proceeded to
explain the nature of his patients strange
malady.
1T is a case of great interest,"" said he,
Ito every man i'll the profession who knows
anything of it, There is not another case
on record that is the least like it. The dis
ease of this gentleman, whom | viii call
Mr.. Andrews, is an affection of the nervous
system resulting from injuries received
years ago in a railway accident. 1t is of a
nature that has no parallel in medical his
tory
Those nerves which telegraph to the
brain the sensations of touch, taste, smell.
hearing and sight are so deranged that the
transmission of sense is not, as in healthy
person, instantaneous AS nearly as we
can calculate five seconds elapse beforeMr
Andrews is conscious of any sensation, and
five seconds more before he can make any
response.
THE medical man is baffled in this case
for the reason that this affiiction manifests
itself only in those movements of the body
that require conscious direction from the
brain. Actions which are termed involun-
tary, such as winking or gaping. are per-
formed the same as by well person, and
that makes it a question whether it is the
nerves or certain portions of the brain
that are affected.
mr. ENJO1o EACELLENT HEALTH.
Mr. Andrews is in perfect physical con
dition. He eats heartily, sleeps well, and |
has an unimpaired digestion. Nor is he /
fully alive TO the terrible possibilities of |
his position.
Think ofgoing through life ten seconds |
ahead of yourself! There is scarcely any |
the things which might hap |
PEN"
Mr.. Andrews is a rich man fortunately, /
and therefore can keep an attendant con-
stantly with him, so that as yet he has ex-
perienced no serious injury. lie never
knows when he is approaching an obstacle
or danger. As in the case of his falling
down the steps when his belated sight de-
ceives him just so it is when "A cab or a
car approaches him. He neither hears nor
sees them until five seconds after any one
else would, and it is another five seconds
before he can guide his movements by
means of thought and get away.
When he is walking the action becomes
but he is constantly ahead of
where he seems to be, and in order to find
out exactly where he is he has to stop and
catch up with himself
When he converses with those about him
it is a very peculiar fact that when a dues-
ton is put to him it is ten seconds before
be responds. Now this might be very en-
Suppose, on the other hand, a man were
TO take from him his watch; before he
would have the power of preventing him
DR. before he could give any alarm the thief
might be far and away, indeed he might be
away before the man could know that he
lad been robbed. A friend salutes him on
5he street, but he does not see the saluta-
ion until it is too late to respond, aud of
course the friend thinks he has been
snubbed.
When Mr.. Andrews first recovered from
his accident he used to attend the theatre
His taste was for comic. opera Andlmelo-
irama. But be does not go any more. The
peculiar manifestations of his malady
,aused much embarrassment to his friends
Who accompanied him. Appreciation of
okes and ludicrous situations came to him
ust ten second after everybody else His
>earty laugh would not be- noticed in a
general chorus. But his explosive ha has
when the audience was quiet were start
i,rv l. d