Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-12-23
He Seemed Able to Take Himself to
Pieces With Ease.
His HEART hid IN HIS STOMACH
Shifting His Anatomy About at
Will.
HIS KNEE CAP WAS LOST

rs this a medical college?' asked a good
looking young man Of stout build, a some
what florid face and musical voice one night
last week at the door Of one Of the Wash
ington schools Of medicine.
A student told the young fellow he Lad
made no mistake in the character of the
place.
Il want to see the perfesser," continued
the visitor
He was shown in to the doctor who was
to lecture that night and at once proceeded
to tell his errand in a low voice. The stu
dents took their seats. the professor raped
for order, and the stranger began to dis
robe. The audience. expecting a clinic. was
dumb with curiosity. The customary qups
and cranks and wanton wiles OF the hour
were forgotten. In a moment the subject
stood before them, wearing nothing but a
smile. Evidently he was in good health and
it did not appear that any part of his aaat-
omy needed amputation. The interest of
the students became GREATNESS. What could
this stout vigorous young man be doing in
such a place
Suddenly he gave a peculiar tossing con-
vulsion Of the muscles of the forearm and
his wrist was thrown out of joint Another
CONFUSION Of the muscles Of the upper arm
followed and his elbow was dislocated. Still
a third twist of his muscular shoulder and
he had thrown the ball and socket joint Of
the shoulder out Of joint and stood there
with the entire articulation of the arm dis
arranged. Such sight not even medical
students had ever seen before.
But the prodigy had hardly begun on his
repertoire. He told the boys to look sharp,
and In a twinkling had shifted the triceps
and biceps, or the large muscles of the
upper arm, into each others places. The
big biceps muscle. the one every athlete
likes to show by doubling up his arm, was
on the under side of the arm, and the small
er muscle, the triceps, was above in the pre-
else position of the biceps.
Without putting anything back In its
place. this very disorderly and disorganizng
young man then stuck out his foot and one
after another dsjointed his toes. After that
he unhinged his knee and lifted the femur.
or thigh BONE out of its very nicely fitted
socket in the pelvis. 1t verify seemed as IL
the visitor was coming all to pieces like a
sawdust doll.
All this, however was merely a prelude
to what followed. The boys by this time
had crowded down in front. and amid many
"Oh'sw and "Ahs!' had felt the freak s
muscles and bones over pretty thoroughly,
to be sure he was flesh ard blood and that
what they saw was not the superinduced
unreality of hypnotic experiment by their
professor.
His Knee Cap Lost.
While they stood discussing the perform
ances of their strange visitor they suddenly
observed that he was scratching his Shout
der with the toes OF one foot.
II wish. perfesser. we would jist find my
knee cap?"
This very useful little bone, which the
doctors call the patella, is fixed in the large
tendon which passes over the knee joint
ana acts as a fulcrum for the muscles Of
p,ir X
be neither graceful nor comfortable, al
though quite possible in a stiff-legged fash
ion.
The "perfessor" bent down and gave the
mans knee a very careful examination.
1T isn't here!" he declared. You haven't
any patella in that leg"
Eyes, i have" said the freak; look
again."
'Oh, here 1t is" said the professor. as he
pinched the joint harder than before.
THAT amt no knee cap, SIR" said the
subject, very positively. IF 1t Is III eat IT.
Inc professor gave it up and one after
another the boys began to hunt for the
missing bone. At last, one more persistent
than the rest found 1t imbedded in the re-
cess behind the knee, where several tendcns
from the muscles of the thigh are punched
together like the telegraph cables in an I'M
derground conduit. The freak had thrown
the whole sartorial muscle, the largest in
the human body, together with the tendon
and patella, Off the knee joint AMI down
Lot believe this until they have the good
luck to see 1t done. as these Washington
medical students did.
The man now began to put his disjecta
membra back in place The joints of the
toes and arm he threw back easily with the
muscles attached to them. But to replace
his thigh and knee cap he used his hands.
Yet he restored them easily without special
effort or any evidence of pain.
Nov, feel my pulse" demanded the SUBJ
ject.
A student took out his watch and counted
the mans pulse. holding his fingers. as Gus
tomary, on the wrist. 1t beat about 80, an
acceleration due to the exertion he had
made in collecting himself together.
Nov, what is it?' asked the man sud
denly.
The student felt again and looked annoy
ed. He pressed the tips of his fingers deep
into the wrist and put on the solemn, intro
verted expression that every doctor wears
when taking" the pulse.
well, l be -" exclaimed the young
medic. He seemed to be baffied entirely
in finding the mans pulse.
The professor tried 1t, and several of the
students, all with like failure.
"Well, perhaps" said tie freak. with an
apparent desire to help them out If he could.
perhaps you can hear my heart beat, and
count that"
Down benz the profass,r's head 1T he
mans thorax and ne pressed his ear ciose
to the white warm ilesn of the subject.
Il can't hear 1t at all.' &c sai1 1T last, as
he raised his face flushed red with eNertion.
Looking for His Heart.
Volunteers tried it over and over but the
man seemingly had no heart, not a sound
Of 1t could be heard. In fact it was not
there.
Then began a protracted game of hide
and-seek between two-score much mysti-
fled young medical students and the stran-
gers cardiac organ They thumped his
ribs felt him all over. and one jealous in
dividual went and looked in the freaks vest
pockets. But nowhere did they find it. 1t
was not in front or behind and yet the
man stood there alive, well and smiling at
their chagrin.
At length they gave 1t up, as boys and
girls will a conundrum, and he told them.
He had not put 1t in his pockets, nor hid It in
his mouth. 1t was down close to the dia-
phragm ir the cardiac region over the
stomach. Apparently he had partial, If not
full control over the muscles of the heart
Whether he could stop it's beating or not
he did not say and he was not very anx-
ious to try that experiment
Restoring his organ of affection to its
proper place. somewhere in, and among
his lungs. the strange Master of Himself
whirled around and quick fash threw
both his scapular or shoulder blades out of
Joint with the clavicles. shoulder bones
and the humeruS of each arm.
''Hev We a calm kyard?' he asked
swell looking young med accommo-
dated him.
Just hand 1t to me back, sir"