The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1900-06-28
Had Shruak 10 Halt Their Normal Size and
Mere Perfectly Rigid.
First indication Of improvement Was Noted In
Lille Beads Of Psnplraion : Doctors
Look for Complsls Cure.

New York, June :s.-Aaron Palmer.
who for nearly four years has been
known as the "ossih.d man. In Bellevue
hospital. Is improving. and the indica-
tions are that In few months he will
be In better health than for the past
dozen years.
Until IA month ago Mr. Palmer's legs
from the hips down were like marble
or china In his own words, they looked
like a china cup. He could not move
them. They had shrunken TO about half
their normal size and were as rigid as
stone His arms from the shoulders
down and his hands were In the same
Today his legs from the hips down to
tho knees are normal lie can move MS
legs at the hip Joints
From the knees down they are still
rigid lie eoni1oi from Syer hs 1ne Knee Knee
down Is soft and normal In color. IL Is
strangely cold to the touch however.
aNs s them arms freely aes nGw az the shscud elbow
and wrist, but his thumbs and I'm
gers are stu partly rigid on both hands
rhsy are more flexible than they were.
and he can move them trine.
BIG BAKE OVEN.
big bake oven" which was placed In
the hospital about a month ago. In which
patients suffering from certain diseases
are baked at the tremendous temperature
. Palmer was one OF the first patients
placed in the bake oven. and now he Is
baked regularly on alternate days.
For Years the doctors at Bellevue had
tried in every way TO produce perspira-
tion in the affected parts OF the body OF
the strangely afflicted man, but without
success. He was rolled UP I'm numerous
blankets and placed near red-hot stove.
lie was given all kinds OF Turkish. Rus,
and rubbed with oils and liniments. but
all 10 no avail.
have desired sss sse
spiration appeared through the pores OF
ims impro%sment s,omn.n has % been % STEADY. % ' INC
Mr., Palmer had jus, come out of the
bake oven yesterday afternoon when
on the balcony connecred with his ward.
Until his strange illness rendered him
powerless. he was z wholesale and retail
eircumstances He is IS years old and
has "A wife and children living at One
Hundred and seventy fourth street and
iously to the time when he can resume
ca Iay am wSsn %ash s s. ioay ss sfd cure sSt
For two years 1 never left my cot and
was absolutely poweriess. Now ! can SIT
DRINKS MUCH WATER
THAT oven is a great thing. They
hour at a time, and l perspire very
freely When l am in there IL makes
me very thirsty. because of the free per-
water while. I'm being baked, but the
great heat forces 1t out of me In short
ii am heavier now than was when
was lying I'm my cot all the time. The
doctors say weigh one hundred pounds
now and perhaps do Before, they be.
more than ninety pounds. When I was
In good health my weight was 15
Mr. Palmer has sat in the sun on the
balcony so much during the past three
weeks that his hands are tanned q deep
brown. He takes great pleasure in moving
stantly tries to push his turned-in fin-
gers. back Into place. His wrists are
as thin as little boys, and the calves
child's.
BEGAN Is YEARS AGO.
As he cannot bend his knee joints II
Is necessary to rest his legs on a stool
the same height as his chair. His toes
IN, my IT. trouble ata began about ,ifteen years
wsn wnr.. sSS hut !, steadily =
four years ago that I became powerless.
guess my disease was a good deal of
mystery, as the doctors never told me
exactly what the trouble was. IL went
home after coming here the first time,
but had 10 come back and be operated
upon for appendicitis. That was about
three years ago. IL was certainly hard
luck for a man I'm my condition to have
appendicitis too"
The doctors at Bellevue describe Mr..
PaImer's malady as arthritis deformans
His ossihed condition was caused by n
deposit % calcium salts In tho Tissues
around the bones. They arc hopeful
that the baking treatment will effect a
complete cure.