He could throw into energetic single action the biceps, the supinator longus, the radial extensors, the platysma myoides, and many other muscles. When he "strings," as he called it, the sartorius, that ribbon muscle shows itself as a tight cord, extending from the front of the iliac spine to the inner side of the knee. Another trick was to leave flaccid that part of the serratus magnus which is attached to the inferior angle of the scapula whilst he roused energetic contraction in the rhomboids.
He could displace his muscles so that the lower angles of the scapulae projected and presented the appearance historically attributed to luxation of the scapula.
Warren was well informed on surgical landmarks and had evidently been a close student of Sir Astley Cooper's classical illustrations of dislocations. He was able so to contract his abdominal muscles that the aorta could be distinctly felt with the fingers. In this feat nearly all the abdominal contents were crowded beneath the diaphragm. On the other hand, he could produce a phantom abdominal tumor by driving the coils of the intestine within a peculiar grasp of the rectus and oblique muscles. The "growth" was rounded, dull on percussion, and looked as if an exploratory incision or puncture would be advisable for diagnosis.
By extraordinary muscular power and extreme laxity of his ligaments, he simulated all the dislocations about the hip joint.
Sometimes he produced actual dislocation, hut usually he said he could so distort his muscles as to imitate in the closest degree the dislocations. He could imitate the various forms of talipes, in such a way as to deceive an expert. He dislocated nearly every joint in the body with great facility. It was said that he could contract at will both pillars of the fauces. He could contract his chest to 34 inches and expand it to 41 inches.
Warren weighed 150 pounds, was a total abstainer, and was the father of two children, both of whom could readily dislocate their hips.
In France in 1886 there was shown a man who was called "l'homme protee," or protean man. He had an exceptional power over his muscles. Even those muscles ordinarily involuntary he could exercise at will. He could produce such rigidity of stature that a blow by a hammer on his body fell as though on a block of stone. By his power over his abdominal muscles he could give himself different shapes, from the portly alderman to the lean and haggard student, and he was even accredited with assuming the shape of a "living skeleton." Quatrefages, the celebrated French scientist, examined him, and said that he could shut off the blood from the right side and then from the left side of the body, which feat he ascribed to unilateral muscular action.
In 1893 there appeared in Washington, giving exhibitions at the colleges there and at the Emergency Hospital, a man named Fitzgerald, claiming to reside in Harrisburg, Pa., who made his living by exhibiting at medical colleges over the country. He simulated all the dislocations, claiming that they were complete, using manual force to produce and reduce them. He exhibited a thorough knowledge of the pathology of dislocations and of the anatomy of the articulations. He produced the different forms of talipes, as well as all the major hip-dislocations. When interrogated as to the cause of his enormous saphenous veins, which stood out like huge twisted cords under the skin and were associated with venous varicosity on the leg, he said he presumed they were caused by his constantly compressing the saphenous vein at the hip in giving his exhibitions, which in some large cities were repeated several times a day.
Endurance of Pain.--The question of the endurance of pain is, necessarily, one of comparison. There is little doubt that in the lower classes the sensation of pain is felt in a much less degree than in those of a highly intellectual and nervous temperament.
If we eliminate the element of fear, which always predominates in the lower classes, the result of general hospital observation will show this distinction. There are many circumstances which have a marked influence on pain. Patriotism, enthusiasm, and general excitement, together with pride and natural obstinacy, prove the power of the mind over the body. The tortures endured by prisoners of war, religious martyrs and victims, exemplify the power of a strong will excited by deep emotion over the sensation of pain. The flagellants, persons who expiated their sins by voluntarily flaying themselves to the point of exhaustion, are modern examples of persons who in religious enthusiasm inflict pain on themselves. In the ancient times in India the frenzied zealots struggled for positions from which they could throw themselves under the car of the Juggernaut, and their intense emotions turned the pains of their wounds into a pleasure.
According to the reports of her Majesty's surgeons, there are at the present time in India native Brahmins who hang themselves on sharp hooks placed in the flesh between the scapulae, and remain in this position without the least visible show of pain. In a similar manner they pierce the lips and cheeks with long pins and bore the tongue with a hot iron. From a reliable source the authors have an account of a man in Northern India who as a means of self-inflicted penance held his arm aloft for the greater part of each day, bending the fingers tightly on the palms. After a considerable time the nails had grown or been forced through the palms of the hands, ****** their exit on the dorsal surfaces.
There are many savage rites and ceremonies calling for the severe infliction of pain on the participants which have been described from time to time by travelers. The Aztecs willingly sacrificed even their lives in the worship of their Sun-god.
By means of singing and dancing the Aissaoui, in the Algerian town of Constantine, throw themselves into an ecstatic state in which their bodies seem to be insensible even to severe wounds.