The morning times., 1896-10-10

| One of the most peculiar freaks OF abb
| normal growth on record came TO Hsht
| a few days ago in the death OF wine
| McAllister, u sixteen year-Old boy, at MS
faLner's home in Takoma Park. Inc lad's
last illness lasted four weeks and In that
| time his limbs appeared to stretch until
| he was fully five or six inches longer than
when he took to his bed.
His suffering for month was intense and
| to add to the hardship he was conscious
| most of the time to pain, though his pc
| culiar malady made him oblivlous oi many
of the things that passed about him.
| Death came to his relief last Saturday and
| the folio wing Monday he was buried in
Rock Greek Cemetery. No post mortem
examination was made OF the remains. IL
| was against the wishes or the boys pa rents,
| though it was desired by many OF the
medical fraternity who were conyersant
| with the case.
MENINGITIS CEREBRAL.
The technical name of the lads disease
| was meningitis cerebral, disease that
proves fatal IN ninety cases out OF a hun-
| dred the medical books say. The odd turn
taken by the disease in his case Is not
! characteristic OF the complaint, and such
growth as lie was subject to is Of the
rarest occurrence.
Willie had always been frail youth.
When a mere childhe wasaccidentallys y struck
on the head by brick but this had notn-
ing tn do " it'll his last ailmeDt, 1t Is said
From some disease encountered at an early
age he became subject to discharges from
the ear and nose. This resulted in
permanent weakness of the middle ear and
he became a chronic sufferer. Undoubtedly
his queer malady resulted from this dis
ease. The ailusent extended to the brain
and infia NINA ton began
DIT. j. S. Allen, the family physician, was
called in. The case was diagnosed as
meningitis of the brain from the first and
it Was soon evident that there was little
hope OF saving the lads life. Even If
it was saved imbecility was likely to
follow.
\ delirum started early and lasted
throughout the sickness. This alternated
with apparently rational periods when
the sufferer was peculiarly afflicted with
the loss OF part Of his mental faculties.
He lost the names OF the commoneSt Oh
jects.
His speech in itself was perfect but he
could not recall names If lie wanted an
apple he would refer to 1T as zone of
those" at the same time pointing IN a
plate OF fruit. For some things he Would
coin new words and for his books and
tions with signs when it came to asking
for any OF the objects
His home appeared strange and the only
person he was able to recognize by name
was his mother. to whom the la d was alway
closely attached. When speaking 10 his
friends. while apparently realizing who
they We're. he would give them new and
queer sounding names
During the last three days of his illness
m of
at times difficult To arouse him and gradu-
ally he laxed into a paralysis OF the limbs
and a partial paralysis of the tongue.
Even during this time, however, his suf
fering seemed to be as terrible as n the
previous days.
1t was during this last week that those
who had watched the case began to realize
that the boys length was increasing A
natural Increase OF a small fraction of an
inch was to be expected in one who had
laid in bed for so long a time. But it was
evident that his growth was abnormal
An excuse for this was first found i'll the
fact that the patient had grown very
thin. His fever had been high and cratic
AT times IL would mount up to 1865 and
again suddenly drop to normal without
any external and visible cause. ard without
any regularity in time. Such a wasting
fever in months time had played havoc
with the boys slender form and left him
a shadow OF what he was when he ronred
with his bro; hers a nd sisters.
The stretching was soon too apparent
to be attributed alone to n falling away
in flesh. DR.. Allen called in other physi-
clans aud consultation was held The
medical books contain no record of such
freak, though, and they were as much
at sea as ever. Meanwhile the boy con-
tinued to grow.
TOES GREW TO FINGERS.
No part of his body seemed to increase
iafitudinally. The head maintained its
normal size, with the exception that there
seemed to be slight gain in the height OF
the forehead. There was no swelling of
the head
But the trunk, the arms and the legs
grew. The hands. aud even the fingers.
heightened. The skin seemed to stretch
under the strain, and the toes grew until
they looked not a little like short fingers
One conclusion could be drawn from the
fact, and that was that the Joints and
cartila ginous portions Of the ANATOMY
stretched apart. The stretching was ab-
normal, and If the youth had recovered i.
is doubtful whether he would have eyer
been able to make use of the yarious mem.
bersoft the body.
Inc physicians are unable to cxplain
the phenomeuon. in any other way no.
cause an autopsy was not held They
assert that II is preposterous to conclude
that the bones themselves Heightened. and
there was not sufficient flesh on the body
to bring about the effect.
BETWEEN FOUR AND SEVEN INCHES.
Exactly how much the boy grew will
doubtless never be known His exact
height was not known before his last ILL
ness. Some OF the neighbors who were
conversant with the facts estimate that
the growth was six or seven inches. This
Is. however, believed to be liberal esti.
mate and more conservative one would
place 10 at four or five inches.
The physician in the case. while ar.
knowledging that there was an unusual
growth. was unable to make an Official
statement. The parents of the lad think
that the growth was hardly abnormal
They naturally attribute the chance To
imagination, and while declaring that there
was no actual growth, the father insisted
That 'he did look a good deal loneprp
AS an evidence OF her assertion. the
mother said that her son had been buried
IN the same knee pants he wore before
he took sick. This was the lads renuast
however, and it is believed that it u,as
more matter of sentiment than anvthn1
else, and the friends who attenllc,, ,he
funeral stated that the clothes that ,,ttad
MN perfectly while alive were afterwar,Is
trifle short oius