Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine [376]
which walked on its elbows and knees. The pathology of this deformity is obscure, but there might have been malposition in utero. Wilson presented a similar case before the Clinical Society of London, in 1888. The "Camel-boy," exhibited some years ago throughout the United States, had reversion of the joints, which resembled those of quadrupeds. He walked on all fours, the mode of progression resembling that of a camel.
Figure 216 represents Orloff, "the transparent man," an exhibitionist, showing curious deformity of the long bones and atrophy of the extremities. He derived his name from the remarkable transparency of his deformed members to electric light, due to porosity of the bones and deficiency of the overlying tissues.
Figure 217, taken from Hutchinson's "Archives of Surgery," represents an extreme case of deformity of the knee-joints in a boy of seven, the result of severe osteoarthritis. The knees and elbows were completely ankylosed.
Infantile spinal paralysis is often the cause of distressing deformities, forbidding locomotion in the ordinary manner. In a paper on the surgical and mechanical treatment of such deformities Willard mentions a boy of fourteen, the victim of infantile paralysis, who at the age of eleven had never walked, but dragged his legs along. His legs were greatly twisted, and there was flexion at right angles at the hips and knees. There was equinovarus in the left foot and equinovalgus in the right. By an operation of subcutaneous section at the hips, knees, and feet, with application of plaster-of-Paris and extension, this hopeless cripple walked with crutches in two months, and with an apparatus consisting of elastic straps over the quadriceps femoris, peroneals, and weakened muscles, the valgus-foot being supported beneath the sole. In six months he was walking long distances; in one year he moved speedily on crutches. Willard also mentions another case of a girl of eleven who was totally unable to support the body in the erect position, but could move on all fours, as shown in figure 219. There was equinovarus in the right foot and valgus in the left. The left hip was greatly distorted, not only in the direction of flexion, but there was also twisting of the femoral neck, simulating dislocation. This patient was also operated on in the same manner as the preceding one.
Relative to anomalous increase or hypertrophy of the bones of the extremities, Fischer shows that an increase in the length of bone may follow slight injuries. He mentions a boy of twelve, who was run over by a wagon and suffered a contusion of the bones of the right leg. In the course of a year this leg became 4 1/2 cm. longer than the other, and the bones were also much thicker than in the other. Fischer also reports several cases of abnormal growth of bone following necrosis. A case of shortening 3 3/4 cm., after a fracture, was reduced to one cm. by compensatory growth. Elongation of the bone is also mentioned as the result of the inflammation of the joint. Warren also quotes Taylor's case of a lady who fell, injuring, but not fracturing, the thigh. Gradual enlargement, with an outward curving of the bone, afterward took place.
CHAPTER XII.
SURGICAL ANOMALIES OF THE THORAX AND ABDOMEN.
Injuries of the lung or bronchus are always serious, but contrary to the general idea, recovery after extensive wound of the lung is quite a common occurrence. Even the older writers report many instances of remarkable recoveries from lung-injuries, despite the primitive and dirty methods of treatment. A review of the literature previous to this century shows the names of Arcaeus, Brunner, Collomb, Fabricius Hildanus, Vogel, Rhodius, Petit, Guerin, Koler, Peters, Flebbe, and Stalpart, as authorities for instances of this nature. In one of the journals there is a description of a man who was wounded by a broad-sword thrust in the mediastinum. After death it was found that none of the viscera were wounded, and death was attributed to the fact that the in-rush of air counterbalancing the pressure within the lungs
Figure 216 represents Orloff, "the transparent man," an exhibitionist, showing curious deformity of the long bones and atrophy of the extremities. He derived his name from the remarkable transparency of his deformed members to electric light, due to porosity of the bones and deficiency of the overlying tissues.
Figure 217, taken from Hutchinson's "Archives of Surgery," represents an extreme case of deformity of the knee-joints in a boy of seven, the result of severe osteoarthritis. The knees and elbows were completely ankylosed.
Infantile spinal paralysis is often the cause of distressing deformities, forbidding locomotion in the ordinary manner. In a paper on the surgical and mechanical treatment of such deformities Willard mentions a boy of fourteen, the victim of infantile paralysis, who at the age of eleven had never walked, but dragged his legs along. His legs were greatly twisted, and there was flexion at right angles at the hips and knees. There was equinovarus in the left foot and equinovalgus in the right. By an operation of subcutaneous section at the hips, knees, and feet, with application of plaster-of-Paris and extension, this hopeless cripple walked with crutches in two months, and with an apparatus consisting of elastic straps over the quadriceps femoris, peroneals, and weakened muscles, the valgus-foot being supported beneath the sole. In six months he was walking long distances; in one year he moved speedily on crutches. Willard also mentions another case of a girl of eleven who was totally unable to support the body in the erect position, but could move on all fours, as shown in figure 219. There was equinovarus in the right foot and valgus in the left. The left hip was greatly distorted, not only in the direction of flexion, but there was also twisting of the femoral neck, simulating dislocation. This patient was also operated on in the same manner as the preceding one.
Relative to anomalous increase or hypertrophy of the bones of the extremities, Fischer shows that an increase in the length of bone may follow slight injuries. He mentions a boy of twelve, who was run over by a wagon and suffered a contusion of the bones of the right leg. In the course of a year this leg became 4 1/2 cm. longer than the other, and the bones were also much thicker than in the other. Fischer also reports several cases of abnormal growth of bone following necrosis. A case of shortening 3 3/4 cm., after a fracture, was reduced to one cm. by compensatory growth. Elongation of the bone is also mentioned as the result of the inflammation of the joint. Warren also quotes Taylor's case of a lady who fell, injuring, but not fracturing, the thigh. Gradual enlargement, with an outward curving of the bone, afterward took place.
CHAPTER XII.
SURGICAL ANOMALIES OF THE THORAX AND ABDOMEN.
Injuries of the lung or bronchus are always serious, but contrary to the general idea, recovery after extensive wound of the lung is quite a common occurrence. Even the older writers report many instances of remarkable recoveries from lung-injuries, despite the primitive and dirty methods of treatment. A review of the literature previous to this century shows the names of Arcaeus, Brunner, Collomb, Fabricius Hildanus, Vogel, Rhodius, Petit, Guerin, Koler, Peters, Flebbe, and Stalpart, as authorities for instances of this nature. In one of the journals there is a description of a man who was wounded by a broad-sword thrust in the mediastinum. After death it was found that none of the viscera were wounded, and death was attributed to the fact that the in-rush of air counterbalancing the pressure within the lungs