Their performances are genuine, and they are
real physiologic curiosities. Plate 6 represents two well-known
contortionists in their favorite feats.
Wentworth, the oldest living contortionist, is about seventy
years of age, but seems to have lost none of his earlier
sinuosity. His chief feat is to stow himself away in a box 23 X
29 X 16 inches. When inside, six dozen wooden bottles of the same
size and shape as those which ordinarily contain English soda
water are carefully stowed away, packed in with him, and the lid
slammed down. He bestows upon this act the curious and suggestive
name of "Packanatomicalization."
Another class of individuals are those who can either partially
or completely dislocate the major articulations of the body. Many
persons exhibit this capacity in their fingers. Persons vulgarly
called "double jointed" are quite common.
Charles Warren, an American contortionist, has been examined by
several medical men of prominence and descriptions of him have
appeared from time to time in prominent medical journals. When he
was but a child he was constantly tumbling down, due to the heads
of the femurs slipping from the acetabula, but reduction was
always easy. When eight years old he joined a company of acrobats
and strolling performers, and was called by the euphonious title
of "the Yankee dish-rag.
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