Anomalies And Curiosities Of Medicine Part 36

In another case the child was kidnapped at three and recovered at nine.

He muttered, but could not articulate. As in the other case, he could not be enticed to wear clothes. From constantly being on all-fours the front of this child's knees and his elbows had become hardened. In the third case the father identified a son who had been carried away at the age of six, and was found four years afterward. The intellectual deterioration was not so marked. The boy understood signs, and his hearing was exceedingly acute; when directed by movements of the hands to a.s.sist the cultivators in turning out cattle, he readily comprehended what was asked of him; yet this lad, whose vulpine career was so short, could neither talk nor utter any decidedly articulate sound.

The author of the pamphlet expressed some surprise that there was no case on record in which a grown man had been found in such a.s.sociation.

This curious collection of cases of wolf-children is attributed to Colonel Sleeman, a well-known officer, who is known to have been greatly interested in the subject, and who for a long time resided in the forests of India. A copy, now a rarity, is in the South Kensington Museum.

An interesting case of a wolf-child was reported many years ago in Chambers' Journal. In the Etwah district, near the banks of the river Jumna, a boy was captured from the wolves. After a time this child was restored to his parents, who, however, "found him very difficult to manage, for he was most fractious and troublesome--in fact, just a caged wild beast. Often during the night for hours together he would give vent to most unearthly yells and moans, destroying the rest and irritating the tempers of his neighbors and generally making night hideous. On one occasion his people chained him by the waist to a tree on the outskirts of the village. Then a rather curious incident occurred. It was a bright moonlight night, and two wolf cubs (undoubtedly those in whose companionship he had been captured), attracted by his cries while on the prowl, came to him, and were distinctly seen to gambol around him with as much familiarity and affection as if they considered him quite one of themselves. They only left him on the approach of morning, when movement and stir again arose in the village. This boy did not survive long. He never spoke, nor did a single ray of human intelligence ever shed its refining light over his debased features."

Recently a writer in the Badmington Magazine, in speaking of the authenticity of wolf-children, says:--

"A jemidar told me that when he was a lad he remembered going, with others, to see a wolf-child which had been netted. Some time after this, while staying at an up-country place called Shaporeooundie, in East Bengal, it was my fortune to meet an Anglo-Indian gentleman who had been in the Indian civil service for upward of thirty years, and had traveled about during most of that time; from him I learned all I wanted to know of wolf-children, for he not only knew of several cases, but had actually seen and examined, near Agra, a child which had been recovered from the wolves. The story of Romulus and Remus, which all schoolboys and the vast majority of grown people regard as a myth, appears in a different light when one studies the question of wolf-children, and ascertains how it comes to pa.s.s that boys are found living on the very best terms with such treacherous and rapacious animals as wolves, sleeping with them in their dens, sharing the raw flesh of deer and kids which the she-wolf provides, and, in fact, leading in all essentials the actual life of a wolf.

"A young she-wolf has a litter of cubs, and after a time her instinct tells her that they will require fresh food. She steals out at night in quest of prey. Soon she espies a weak place in the fence (generally constructed of thatching gra.s.s and bamboos) which encloses the compound, or 'unguah,' of a poor villager. She enters, doubtless, in the hope of securing a kid; and while prowling about inside looks into a hut where a woman and infant are soundly sleeping. In a moment she has pounced on the child, and is out of reach before its cries can attract the villagers. Arriving safely at her den under the rocks, she drops the little one among her cubs. At this critical time the fate of the child hangs in the balance. Either it will be immediately torn to pieces and devoured, or in a most wonderful way remain in the cave unharmed. In the event of escape, the fact may be accounted for in several ways. Perhaps the cubs are already gorged when the child is thrown before them, or are being supplied with solid food before their carnivorous instinct is awakened, so they amuse themselves by simply licking the sleek, oily body (Hindoo mothers daily rub their boy babies with some native vegetable oil) of the infant, and thus it lies in the nest, by degrees getting the odor of the wolf cubs, after which the mother wolf will not molest it. In a little time the infant begins to feel the pangs of hunger, and hearing the cubs sucking, soon follows their example. Now the adoption is complete, all fear of harm to the child from wolves has gone, and the foster-mother will guard and protect it as though it were of her own flesh and blood.

"The mode of progression of these children is on all fours--not, as a rule, on the hands and feet, but on the knees and elbows. The reason the knees are used is to be accounted for by the fact that, owing to the great length of the human leg and thigh in proportion to the length of the arm, the knee would naturally be brought to the ground, and the instep and top of the toes would be used instead of the sole and heel of the almost inflexible foot. Why the elbow should be employed instead of the hand is less easy to understand, but probably it is better suited to give support to the head and fore-part of the body.

"Some of these poor waifs have been recovered after spending ten or more years in the fellowship of wolves, and, though wild and savage at first, have in time become tractable in some degree. They are rarely seen to stand upright, unless to look around, and they gnaw bones in the manner of a dog, holding one end between the forearms and hands, while snarling and snapping at everybody who approaches too near. The wolf-child has little except his outward form to show that it is a human being with a soul. It is a fearful and terrible thing, and hard to understand, that the mere fact of a child's complete isolation from its own kind should bring it to such a state of absolute degradation.

Of course, they speak no language, though some, in time, have learned to make known their wants by signs. When first taken they fear the approach of adults, and, if possible, will slink out of sight; but should a child of their own size, or smaller, come near, they will growl, and even snap and bite at it. On the other hand, the close proximity of "pariah" dogs or jackals is unresented, in some cases welcomed; for I have heard of them sharing their food with these animals, and even petting and fondling them. They have in time been brought to a cooked-meat diet, but would always prefer raw flesh. Some have been kept alive after being reclaimed for as long as two years, but for some reason or other they all sicken and die, generally long before that time. One would think, however, that, having undoubtedly robust const.i.tutions, they might be saved if treated in a scientific manner and properly managed."

Rudyard Kipling, possibly inspired by accounts of these wolf-children in India, has ingeniously constructed an interesting series of fabulous stories of a child who was brought up by the beasts of the jungles and taught their habits and their mode of communication. The ingenious way in which the author has woven the facts together and interspersed them with his intimate knowledge of animal-life commends his "Jungle-Book"

as a legitimate source of recreation to the scientific observer.

Among observers mentioned in the "Index Catalogue" who have studied this subject are Giglioli, Mitra, and Ornstein.

The artificial manufacture of "wild men" or "wild boys" in the Chinese Empire is shown by recent reports. Macgowan says the traders kidnap a boy and skin him alive bit by bit, transplanting on the denuded surfaces the hide of a bear or dog. This process is most tedious and is by no means complete when the hide is completely transplanted, as the subject must be rendered mute by destruction of the vocal cords, made to use all fours in walking, and submitted to such degradation as to completely blight all reason. It is said that the process is so severe that only one in five survive. A "wild boy" exhibited in Kiangse had the entire skin of a dog subst.i.tuted and walked on all fours. It was found that he had been kidnapped. His proprietor was decapitated on the spot. Macgowan says that parasitic monsters are manufactured in China by a similar process of transplantation. He adds that the deprivation of light for several years renders the child a great curiosity, if in conjunction its growth is dwarfed by means of food and drugs, and its vocal apparatus destroyed. A certain priest subjected a kidnapped boy to this treatment and exhibited him as a sacred deity. Macgowan mentions that the child looked like wax, as though continually fed on lardaceous substances. He squatted with his palms together and was a driveling idiot. The monk was discovered and escaped, but his temple was razed.

Equilibrists.--Many individuals have cultivated their senses so acutely that by the eye and particularly by touch they are able to perform almost incredible feats of maintaining equilibrium under the most difficult circ.u.mstances Professional rope-walkers have been known in all times. The Greeks had a particular pa.s.sion for equilibrists, and called them "neurobates," "oribates," and "staen.o.bates." Blondin would have been one of the latter. Antique medals showing equilibrists making the ascent of an inclined cord have been found. The Romans had walkers both of the slack-rope and tight-rope Many of the Fathers of the Church have p.r.o.nounced against the dangers of these exercises. Among others, St. John Chrysostom speaks of men who execute movements on inclined ropes at unheard-of heights. In the ruins of Herculaneum there is still visible a picture representing an equilibrist executing several different exercises, especially one in which he dances on a rope to the tune of a double flute, played by himself. The Romans particularly liked to witness ascensions on inclined ropes, and sometimes these were attached to the summits of high hills, and while mounting them the acrobats performed different pantomimes. It is said that under Charles VI a Genoese acrobat, on the occasion of the arrival of the Queen of France, carried in each hand an illuminated torch while descending a rope stretched from the summit of the towers of Notre Dame to a house on the Pont au Change. According to Guyot-Daubes, a similar performance was seen in London in 1547. In this instance the rope was attached to the highest pinnacle of St. Paul's Cathedral. Under Louis XII an acrobat named Georges Menustre, during a pa.s.sage of the King through Macon, executed several performances on a rope stretched from the grand tower of the Chateau and the clock of the Jacobins, at a height of 156 feet. A similar performance was given at Milan before the French Amba.s.sadors, and at Venice under the Doges and the Senate on each St.

Mark's Day, rope-walkers performed at high alt.i.tudes. In 1649 a man attempted to traverse the Seine on a rope placed between the Tour de Nesles and the Tour du Grand-Prevost. The performance, however, was interrupted by the fall of the mountebank into the Seine. At subsequent fairs in France other acrobats have appeared. At the commencement of this century there was a person named Madame Saqui who astonished the public with her nimbleness and extraordinary skill in rope walking. Her specialty was military maneuvers. On a cord 20 meters from the ground she executed all sorts of military pantomimes without a.s.sistance, shooting off pistols, rockets, and various colored fires. Napoleon awarded her the t.i.tle of the first acrobat of France. She gave a performance as late as 1861 at the Hippodrome of Paris.

In 1814 there was a woman called "La Malaga," who, in the presence of the allied sovereigns at Versailles, made an ascension on a rope 200 feet above the Swiss Lake.

In the present generation probably the most famous of all the equilibrists was Blondin. This person, whose real name was Emile Gravelet, acquired a universal reputation; about 1860 he traversed the Niagara Falls on a cable at an elevation of nearly 200 feet. Blondin introduced many novelties in his performances. Sometimes he would carry a man over on his shoulders; again he would eat a meal while on his wire; cook and eat an omelet, using a table and ordinary cooking utensils, all of which he kept balanced. In France Blondin was almost the patron saint of the rope-walkers; and at the present day the performers imitate his feats, but never with the same grace and perfection.

In 1882 an acrobat bearing the natural name of a.r.s.ens Blondin traversed one river after another in France on a wire stretched at high alt.i.tudes. With the aid of a balancing-rod he walked the rope blindfolded; with baskets on his feet; sometimes he wheeled persons over in a wheelbarrow. He was a man of about thirty, short, but wonderfully muscled and extremely supple.

It is said that a negro equilibrist named Malcom several times traversed the Meuse at Sedan on a wire at about a height of 100 feet.

Once while attempting this feat, with his hands and feet shackled with iron chains, allowing little movement, the support on one side fell, after the cable had parted, and landed on the spectators, killing a young girl and wounding many others. Malcom was precipitated into the river, but with wonderful presence of mind and remarkable strength he broke his bands and swam to the sh.o.r.e, none the worse for his high fall; he immediately helped in attention to his wounded spectators. A close inspection of all the exhibitionists of this cla.s.s will show that they are of superior physique and calm courage. They only acquire their ability after long gymnastic exercise, as well as actual practice on the rope. Most of these persons used means of balancing themselves, generally a long and heavy pole; but some used nothing but their outstretched arms. In 1895, at the Royal Aquarium in London, there was an individual who slowly mounted a long wire reaching to the top of this huge structure, and, after having made the ascent, without the aid of any means of balancing but his arms, slid the whole length of the wire, landing with enormous velocity into an outstretched net.

The equilibrists mentioned thus far have invariably used a tightly stretched rope or wire; but there are a number of persons who perform feats, of course not of such magnitude, on a slack wire, in which they have to defy not only the force of gravity, but the to-and-fro motion of the cable as well. It is particularly with the Oriental performers that we see this exhibition. Some use open parasols, which, with their Chinese or j.a.panese costumes, render the performance more picturesque; while others seem to do equally well without such adjuncts. There have been performers of this cla.s.s who play with sharp daggers while maintaining themselves on thin and swinging wires.

Another cla.s.s of equilibrists are those who maintain the upright position resting on their heads with their feet in the air. At the Hippodrome in Paris some years since there was a man who remained in this position seven minutes and ate a meal during the interval. There were two clowns at the Cirque Franconi who duplicated this feat, and the program called their dinner "Un dejouner en tete-a-tete." Some other persons perform wonderful feats of a similar nature on an oscillating trapeze, and many similar performances have been witnessed by the spectators of our large circuses.

The "human pyramids" are interesting, combining, as they do, wonderful power of maintaining equilibrium with agility and strength. The rapidity with which they are formed and are tumbled to pieces is marvelous they sometimes include as many as 16 persons men, women, and children.

The exhibitions given by the cla.s.s of persons commonly designated as "jugglers" exemplify the perfect control that by continual practice one may obtain over his various senses and muscles. The most wonderful feats of dexterity are thus reduced into mere automatic movements.

Either standing, sitting, mounted on a horse, or even on a wire, they are able to keep three four, five, and even six b.a.l.l.s in continual motion in the air. They use articles of the greatest difference in specific gravity in the same manner. A juggler called "Kara," appearing in London and Paris in the summer of 1895, juggled with an open umbrella, an eye-gla.s.s, and a traveling satchel, and received each after its course in the air with unerring precision. Another man called "Paul Cinquevalli," well known in this country, does not hesitate to juggle with lighted lamps or pointed knives. The tricks of the clowns with their traditional pointed felt hats are well known. Recently there appeared in Philadelphia a man who received six such hats on his head, one on top of the other, thrown by his partner from the rear of the first balcony of the theater. Others will place a number of rings on their fingers, and with a swift and dexterous movement toss them all in the air, catching them again all on one finger. Without resorting to the fabulous method of Columbus, they balance eggs on a table, and in extraordinary ways defy all the powers of gravity.

In India and China we see the most marvelous of the knife-jugglers.

With unerring skill they keep in motion many pointed knives, always receiving them at their fall by the handles. They throw their implements with such precision that one often sees men, who, placing their partner against a soft board, will stand at some distance and so pen him in with daggers that he cannot move until some are withdrawn, marking a silhouette of his form on the board,--yet never once does one as much as graze the skin. With these same people the foot-jugglers are most common. These persons, both made and female, will with their feet juggle substances and articles that it requires several a.s.sistants to raise.

A curious trick is given by Rousselet in his magnificent work ent.i.tled "L'Inde des Rajahs," and quoted by Guyot-Daubes. It is called in India the "dance of the eggs." The dancer, dressed in a rather short skirt, places on her head a large wheel made of light wood, and at regular intervals having hanging from it pieces of thread, at the ends of which are running knots kept open by beads of gla.s.s. She then brings forth a basket of eggs, and pa.s.ses them around for inspection to a.s.sure her spectators of their genuineness. The monotonous music commences and the dancer sets the wheel on her head in rapid motion; then, taking an egg, with a quick movement she puts it on one of the running knots and increases the velocity of the revolution of the wheel by gyrations until the centrifugal force makes each cord stand out in an almost horizontal line with the circ.u.mference of the wheel. Then one after another she places the eggs on the knots of the cord, until all are flying about her head in an almost horizontal position. At this moment the dance begins, and it is almost impossible to distinguish the features of the dancer. She continues her dance, apparently indifferent to the revolving eggs. At the velocity with which they revolve the slightest false movement would cause them to knock against one another and surely break. Finally, with the same lightning-like movements, she removes them one by one, certainly the most delicate part of the trick, until they are all safely laid away in the basket from which they came, and then she suddenly brings the wheel to a stop; after this wonderful performance, lasting possibly thirty minutes, she bows herself out.

A unique j.a.panese feat is to tear pieces of paper into the form of b.u.t.terflies and launch them into the air about a vase full of flowers; then with a fan to keep them in motion, making them light on the flowers, fly away, and return, after the manner of several living b.u.t.terflies, without allowing one to fall to the ground.

Marksmen.--It would be an incomplete paper on the acute development of the senses that did not pay tribute to the men who exhibit marvelous skill with firearms. In the old frontier days in the Territories, the woodsmen far eclipsed Tell with his bow or Robin Hood's famed band by their unerring aim with their rifles. It is only lately that there disappeared in this country the last of many woodsmen, who, though standing many paces away and without the aid of the improved sights of modern guns, could by means of a rifle-ball, with marvelous precision, drive a nail "home" that had been placed partly in a board. The experts who shoot at gla.s.s b.a.l.l.s rarely miss, and when we consider the number used each year, the proportion of inaccurate shots is surprisingly small. Ira Paine, Doctor Carver, and others have been seen in their marvelous performances by many people of the present generation. The records made by many of the compet.i.tors of the modern army-shooting matches are none the less wonderful, exemplifying as they do the degree of precision that the eye may attain and the control which may be developed over the nerves and muscles. The authors know of a countryman who successfully hunted squirrels and small game by means of pebbles thrown with his hand.

Physiologic wonders are to be found in all our modern sports and games.

In billiards, base-ball, cricket, tennis, etc., there are experts who are really physiologic curiosities. In the trades and arts we see development of the special senses that is little less than marvelous.

It is said that there are workmen in Krupp's gun factory in Germany who have such control over the enormous trip hammers that they can place a watch under one and let the hammer fall, stopping it with unerring precision just on the crystal. An expert tool juggler in one of the great English needle factories, in a recent test of skill, performed one of the most delicate mechanical feats imaginable. He took a common sewing needle of medium size (length 1 5/8 inches) and drilled a hole through its entire length from eye to point--the opening being just large enough to admit the pa.s.sage of a very fine hair. Another workman in a watch-factory of the United States drilled a hole through a hair of his beard and ran a fiber of silk through it.

Ventriloquists, or "two-voiced men," are interesting anomalies of the present day; it is common to see a person who possesses the power of speaking with a voice apparently from the epigastrium. Some acquire this faculty, while with others it is due to a natural resonance, formed, according to Dupont, in the s.p.a.ce between the third and fourth ribs and their cartilaginous union and the middle of the first portion of the sternum. Examination of many of these cases proves that the vibration is greatest here. It is certain that ventriloquists have existed for many centuries. It is quite possible that some of the old Pagan oracles were simply the deceptions of priests by means of ventriloquism.

Dupont, Surgeon-in-chief of the French Army about a century since, examined minutely an individual professing to be a ventriloquist. With a stuffed fox on his lap near his epigastrium, he imitated a conversation with the fox. By lying on his belly, and calling to some one supposed to be below the surface of the ground, he would imitate an answer seeming to come from the depths of the earth. With his belly on the ground he not only made the illusion more complete, but in this way he smothered "the epigastric voice."

He was always noticed to place the inanimate objects with which he held conversations near his umbilicus.

Ventriloquists must not be confounded with persons who by means of skilful mechanisms, creatures with movable fauces, etc., imitate ventriloquism. The latter cla.s.s are in no sense of the word true ventriloquists, but simulate the anomaly by quickly changing the tones of their voice in rapid succession, and thus seem to make their puppets talk in many different voices. After having acquired the ability to suddenly change the tone of their voice, they practice imitations of the voices of the aged, of children, dialects, and feminine tones, and, with a set of mechanical puppets, are ready to appear as ventriloquists. By contraction of the pharyngeal and laryngeal muscles they also imitate tones from a distance. Some give their performance with little l.a.b.i.al movement, but close inspection of the ordinary performer of this cla.s.s shows visible movements of his lips. The true ventriloquist pretends only to speak from the belly and needs no mechanical a.s.sistance.

The wonderful powers of mimicry displayed by expert ventriloquists are marvelous; they not only imitate individuals and animals, but do not hesitate to imitate a conglomeration of familiar sounds and noises in such a manner as to deceive their listeners into believing that they hear the discussions of an a.s.semblage of people. The following description of an imitation of a domestic riot by a Chinese ventriloquist is given by the author of "The Chinaman at Home" and well ill.u.s.trates the extent of their abilities: "The ventriloquist was seated behind a screen, where there were only a chair, a table, a fan, and a ruler. With this ruler he rapped on the table to enforce silence, and when everybody had ceased speaking there was suddenly heard the barking of a dog. Then we heard the movements of a woman. She had been waked by the dog and was shaking her husband. We were just expecting to hear the man and wife talking together when a child began to cry. To pacify it the mother gave it food; we could hear it drinking and crying at the same time. The mother spoke to it soothingly and then rose to change its clothes. Meanwhile another child had wakened and was beginning to make a noise. The father scolded it, while the baby continued crying. By-and-by the whole family went back to bed and fell asleep. The patter of a mouse was heard. It climbed up some vase and upset it. We heard the clatter of the vase as it fell. The woman coughed in her sleep. Then cries of "Fire! fire!" were heard. The mouse had upset the lamp; the bed curtains were on fire. The husband and wife waked up, shouted, and screamed, the children cried, people came running and shouting. Children cried, dogs barked, squibs and crackers exploded. The fire brigade came racing up. Water was pumped up in torrents and hissed in the flames. The representation was so true to life that every one rose to his feet and was starting away when a second blow of the ruler on the table commanded silence. We rushed behind the screen, but there was nothing there except the ventriloquist, his table, his chair, and his ruler."

Athletic Feats.--The ancients called athletes those who were noted for their extraordinary agility, force, and endurance. The history of athletics is not foreign to that of medicine, but, on the contrary, the two are in many ways intimately blended. The instances of feats of agility and endurance are in every sense of the word examples of physiologic and functional anomalies, and have in all times excited the interest and investigation of capable physicians.

The Greeks were famous for their love of athletic pastimes; and cla.s.sical study serves powerfully to strengthen the belief that no inst.i.tution exercised greater influence than the public contests of Greece in molding national character and producing that admirable type of personal and intellectual beauty that we see reflected in her art and literature. These contests were held at four national festivals, the Olympian, the Pythian, the Nemean, and the Isthmean games. On these occasions every one stopped labor, truce was declared between the States, and the whole country paid tribute to the contestants for the highly-prized laurels of these games. Perhaps the enthusiasm shown in athletics and interest in physical development among the Greeks has never been equaled by any other people. Herodotus and all the Greek writers to Plutarch have elaborated on the glories of the Greek athlete, and tell us of the honors rendered to the victors by the spectators and the vanquished, dwelling with complacency on the fact that in accepting the laurel they cared for nothing but honor. The Romans in "ludi publici," as they called their games, were from first to last only spectators; but in Greece every eligible person was an active partic.i.p.ant. In the regimen of diet and training the physicians from the time of Hippocrates, and even before, have been the originators and professional advisers of the athlete. The change in the manner of living of athletes, if we can judge from the writings of Hippocrates, was anterior to his time; for in Book V of the "Epidemics"

we read of Bias, who, "suapte nature vorax, in choleram-morb.u.m incidit ex carnium esu, praecipueque suillarum crudarum, etc."

From the time of the well-known fable of the hero who, by practicing daily from his birth, was able to lift a full-grown bull, thus gradually accustoming himself to the increased weight, physiologists and scientists have collaborated with the athlete in evolving the present ideas and system of training. In his aphorisms Hippocrates bears witness to the dangers of over-exercise and superabundant training, and Galen is particularly averse to an art which so preternaturally develops the const.i.tution and nature of man; many subsequent medical authorities believed that excessive development of the human frame was necessarily followed by a compensatory shortening of life.

The foot-race was the oldest of the Greek inst.i.tutions, and in the first of the Olympiads the "dromos," a course of about 200 yards, was the only contest; but gradually the "dialos," in which the course was double that of the dromos, was introduced, and, finally, tests of endurance as well as speed were inst.i.tuted in the long-distance races and the contests of racing in heavy armor, which were so highly commended by Plato as preparation for the arduous duties of a soldier.

Among the Greeks we read of Lasthenes the Theban, who vanquished a horse in the course; of Polymnestor, who chased and caught a hare; and Philonides, the courier of Alexander the Great, who in nine hours traversed the distance between the Greek cities Sicyone and Elis, a distance of over 150 miles. We read of the famous soldier of Marathon, who ran to announce the victory to the Magistrates of Athens and fell dead at their feet. In the Olympian games at Athens in 1896 this distance (about 26 miles) was traversed in less than three hours.

It is said of Euchidas, who carried the fire necessary for the sacrifices which were to replace those which the Persians had spoiled, that he ran a thousand stadia (about 125 miles) and fell dead at the end of his mission. The Roman historians have also recited the extraordinary feats of the couriers of their times. Pliny speaks of an athlete who ran 235 kilometers (almost 150 miles) without once stopping. He also mentions a child who ran almost half this distance.

In the Middle Ages the Turks had couriers of almost supernatural agility and endurance. It is said that the distance some of them would traverse in twenty-four hours was 120 miles, and that it was common for them to make the round trip from Constantinople to Adrianople, a distance of 80 leagues, in two days. They were dressed very lightly, and by constant usage the soles of their feet were transformed into a leathery consistency. In the last century in the houses of the rich there were couriers who preceded the carriages and were known as "Basques," who could run for a very long time without apparent fatigue.

In France there is a common proverb, "Courir comme un Basque." Rabelais says: "Grand-Gousier depeche le Basque son laquais pour querir Gargantua en toute hate."

In the olden times the English n.o.bility maintained running footmen who, living under special regimen and training, were enabled to traverse unusual distances without apparent fatigue. There is an anecdote of a n.o.bleman living in a castle not far from Edinburgh, who one evening charged his courier to carry a letter to that city. The next morning when he arose he found this valet sleeping in his antechamber. The n.o.bleman waxed wroth, but the courier gave him a response to the letter. He had traveled 70 miles during the night. It is said that one of the n.o.blemen under Charles II in preparing for a great dinner perceived that one of the indispensable pieces of his service was missing. His courier was dispatched in great haste to another house in his domain, 15 miles distant, and returned in two hours with the necessary article, having traversed a distance of over 30 miles. It is also said that a courier carrying a letter to a London physician returned with the potion prescribed within twenty-four hours, having traversed 148 miles. There is little doubt of the ability of these couriers to tire out any horse. The couriers who accompany the diligences in Spain often fatigue the animals who draw the vehicles.

At the present time in this country the Indians furnish examples of marvelous feats of running. The Tauri-Mauri Indians, who live in the heart of the Sierra Madre Mountains, are probably the most wonderful long-distance runners in the world. Their name in the language of the mountain Mexicans means foot-runners; and there is little doubt that they perform athletic feats which equal the best in the days of the Olympian games. They are possibly the remnants of the wonderful runners among the Indian tribes in the beginning of this century. There is an account of one of the Tauri-Mauri who was mail carrier between Guarichic and San Jose de los Cruces, a distance of 50 miles of as rough, mountainous road as ever tried a mountaineer's lungs and limbs.

Bareheaded and barelegged, with almost no clothing, this man made this trip each day, and, carrying on his back a mail-pouch weighing 40 pounds, moved gracefully and easily over his path, from time to time increasing his speed as though practicing, and then again more slowly to smoke a cigarette. The Tauri-Mauri are long-limbed and slender, giving the impression of being above the average height. There is scarcely any flesh on their puny arms, but their legs are as muscular as those of a greyhound. In short running they have the genuine professional stride, something rarely seen in other Indian racers. In traversing long distances they leap and bound like deer.

"Deerfoot," the famous Indian long-distance runner, died on the Cattaraugus Reservation in January, 1896. His proper name was Louis Bennett, the name "Deerfoot" having been given to him for his prowess in running. He was born on the reservation in 1828. In 1861 he went to England, where he defeated the English champion runners. In April, 1863, he ran 11 miles in London in fifty-six minutes fifty-two seconds, and 12 miles in one hour two minutes and two and one-half seconds, both of which have stood as world's records ever since.

In j.a.pan, at the present day, the popular method of conveyance, both in cities and in rural districts, is the two-wheeled vehicle, looking like a baby-carriage, known to foreigners as the jinrickisha, and to the natives as the kuruma. In the city of Tokio there is estimated to be 38,000 of these little carriages in use. They are drawn by coolies, of whose endurance remarkable stories are told. These men wear light cotton breeches and a blue cotton jacket bearing the license number, and the indispensable umbrella hat. In the course of a journey in hot weather the jinrickisha man will gradually remove most of his raiment and stuff it into the carriage. In the rural sections he is covered with only two strips of cloth, one wrapped about his head and the other about his loins. It is said that when the roadway is good, these "human horses" prefer to travel bare-footed; when working in the mud they wrap a piece of straw about each big toe, to prevent slipping and to give them a firmer grip. For any of these men a five-mile spurt on a good road without a breathing spell is a small affair. A pair of them will roll a jinrickisha along a country road at the rate of four miles an hour, and they will do this eight hours a day. The general average of the distance traversed in a day is 25 miles. c.o.c.kerill, who has recently described these men, says that the majority of them die early.

The terrible physical strain brings on hypertrophy and valvular diseases of the heart, and many of them suffer from hernia.

Occasionally one sees a veteran jinrickisha man, and it is interesting to note how tenderly he is helped by his confreres. They give him preference as regards wages, help push his vehicle up heavy grades, and show him all manner of consideration.

Figure 180 represents two j.a.panese porters and their usual load, which is much more difficult to transport than a jinrickisha carriage. In other Eastern countries, palanquins and other means of conveyance are still borne on the shoulders of couriers, and it is not so long since our ancestors made their calls in Sedan-chairs borne by st.u.r.dy porters.