A PUZZLE TO THE DOCTORS.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume III, Issue 667, 20 June 1882, Page 3

A PUZZLE TO THE DOCTORS.

In the operating theatre of the Glasgow Royal Infirmary Charles H. Warren* an American acrobat, exhibited in presence of a large number of doctors and medical students various acts of voluntary dislocation by muscular action of nearly every joint in the body. Warren, who was introduced by Dr Dunlop, is a man of thirty-four years of age, about the average height, and of remarkable muscular development, there not being an ounce of superfluous flesh upon his body. But, apart from his fine physique, he is in every sense a natural phenomenon. It wasnoticed in his infancy that soon after he began to run about he would suddenly fall, and it was ascertained that he had been tripped up by the sudden displacement of the hip joint. But the fall would restore it to its place, and he would get up and move about as before. This tendency to accidental and involuntry dislocation lasted two or three years, after which it occurred by an act of volition and under the powerful contraction of the muscles. Warren, to the astonishment of the medical men, dislocated in turn his hip-joint, one shoulder-blade and then another, the raw, the knee-joints, the ankle-joints, and wrist joints, and indeed every joint of his body, each dislocation being accompanied by a snap, which to the unmedical ear was painful. But in every case the bone returned quietly to its position without any sound or sensation like that which accompanied its displacement Warren next drew in his abdomen ( so far as to expose the beating of one of the blood-vessels, and showed other contortions absolutely appalling to look upon. One of the medical gentlemen asked him if he could move his ears. This also Warren did. Next he laid down a carpet upon the floor, carefully wetting it under the corners to keep it in position, and taking two rings of 14m. diameter, he passed his body through them in the most wonderful yet easy manner. One passage may thus be described. He balanced a glass of water upon his chin and then bending his head and feet backward till they met he passed them through one of the rings, and gradually his whole body. Finally he twisted himself through the rings as if he had not a bone in his body, but was made of gutta-percha. At the close of the exhibition the hat was passed round and a liberal collection made for him. As he was a professional acrobat in America, it is probable he will perform in the circuses in this country. But meanwhile he is astonishing the members of the faculty in the large cities in this country. He exhibited his dislocations in the Western Infirmary, and has gone to Edinburgh for that purpose. '