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.
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