The record-union., 1894-09-03
SWELLBD HEADS
They Afford Serious Problems in Ned
ical Treatment


ical Treatment.
Swelled heads are not popularity re-
garded as sufficiently rare TO call for
more than passing comment, yet when
Or. d. w. Van Horn. physician of " ILL
Transport, came To this city yesterday with
patient suffering from such an afIilction,
the greatest interest was excited in the
case, says the Philadelphia Times.
The enlargement of the head with
which DR.. Van Horns patient is afflicted
is persistent one, and it appears that ali
attempts to reduce it or even to check
Its progress have been futile. The man,S
head has now increased nearly eight
inches i'll circumference and is still grow
ing. He is 80 years old. When he was
u he wore only a 69 hat. Dr..Van Horn
brought him here for examination by
medical experts at Jefferson Medical Col
lege, where. it is said, similar case fig
ured at Que OF the clinics short time
ago. The examination showed that the
patient was suffering from acromegalv,
the term used for Il recently -di scovered
disease that takes the form of an enlarge
ment of the bones. The interest OF
physicians in the case is due To its mn
common and novel character.
DR.. Van Horn, who was at the Jeffer-
son yesterday, said: People might be
inclined to laugh at the idea of enlarged
heads afording a serious problem in
medical treatment, but it is a fact that
they are Just now among the most puz-
zllng conditions confronting our leading
physicians. Here are some Of the svmp-
toms: The head begins to swell and con
tinues to swell, owing to hypertrophy or
enlargement of the bones. The face AT
the same time lengthenS. The mental
condition becomes feebler. The memory
is poor and it is difficult matter to
think. The patient / have brought to
Dlnsl fl,.l.. 1, IL.
tries to exercise his brain he has feel
ing as though something within his skull
was scrapIng away the brain from the
inside OF the head. 1t is, in fact, an adj
vanced case of acromegaly. happen to
know that several of such cases are being
treated by well-known Philadelphia
specialists, who have practically dis
covered the disease and during the past
winter have iectured at The medical col
lege and written upon the subject"
membe of the College of Physicians
said that he had, like other members of
that body, interested himself in the new
disease, and that several such cases had
IN fact been reported at the last meeting
of that body. He said that there were at
present IN Philadelphia no less than five
or six well-defined eases of acromegaly.
III which the head was growing to enor-
nous proportions and was already of
such dimensions as to excite notice and
comment in public. THE victims of
this strange disease are easily distin-
guishable on account OF their huge heads
and elongated faces The disease ia
likely to affect all bones of the body.
causing them to enlarge, and the inter-
esting theory is now advanced that the
giants of whom so much is said and the
freaks exhibited at dime museums with
enormous heads or hands or feet are sim
ply victims OF the newly discovered aero
megaly. Saddest of all, of course, is the
chronic enlargement of the head, for the
growth cannot, so far as we know. be
checked. But these cases, happily, are
rare"