Scientists Left In Awe By Man Who Qualifies As Both A Giant And A Dwarf
Think of genetics like a roadmap: Scientists can look at anyone's genomes and pretty much figure out where they're headed and how they're going to develop. That's what made a man named Adam Rainer so peculiar; his map didn't make sense. Born in Austria in 1899, Rainer was much shorter than the average baby, and doctors diagnosed him with dwarfism. However, when he got older, he went through a growth spurt unlike anything doctors ever saw before. Something was wrong — and experts had no idea if (or when!) he was going to stop growing.
Startling Contrast
Standing on the left? The tallest man in the world at the end of the 19th-century, Adam Ranier. It's almost impossible to believe that, just a few years prior, Adam was barely taller than the man on the right — the world's shortest man.
Adam Rainer
How, the experts wondered, did Adam Rainer seem to stop growing and then just...start all over again. To better understand such an odd case, the experts dug into Adam's entire life. It was like nothing they'd ever seen.
Normal Parents
Adam was born in the town of Graz, which was in Austria. His parents were fairly average in height, without any cases of gigantism or dwarfism in the family.
Accepting The Truth
So, Adam's parents were shocked to learn their son was going to grow to be well below the average height of a normal child. But, like any parent, they accepted the truth with pride.
Facing The Problem
Because of his mutation, Adam was studied by doctors throughout much of his childhood, ensuring no further abnormalities occurred. Adam lived a relatively normal life, until around the the First World War.
Eager To Enlist
Adam was eager to enlist and fight for his country, but because of his height, he was deemed an ineffectual soldier and denied access. Dejected, he returned home. That's when his feet started to grow.
Shoe Sizes
Without growing an inch taller, Adam's shoe size started increasing. His feet grew and grew, until he was wearing size 20 shoes. Great, Adam thought. Now he was short and his feet were huge.
The Shaq Comparison
To put his feet into perspective, Shaquille O'Neal, the enormous seven-foot basketball player, wears a size 23, but Adam was barely five feet tall at the time! Once Adam hit 21 years of age, however, everything changed drastically.
The Theory About Adam
A growth spurt unlike doctors had ever seen struck Adam like a freight train, and after only one decade, he shot up to just over seven feet! Nothing made sense doctors. They wracked their brains for theories — how was this possible?
Acromegaly
Doctors assumed there was an issue with Adam's pituitary gland creating excessive amounts of growth hormones and causing acromegaly, a hormonal disorder. Okay, Adam wondered. But what did that mean for him? Would he stop growing?
Side Effects
Doctors informed him that this disorder came with other dire side effects. While Adam may not have felt them right away, at some point, they'd set in. They were right. Soon, Adam was suffering.
Spinal Problems
About halfway through the rapid growth spurt Adam's spine began severely bending, causing extreme pain and, interestingly enough, a drastic lack of appetite. Not long after, other senses began to fail also.
Making A Conclusion
The vision in his right eye soon began to wane, and he eventually lost all sight. It was only a matter of time before his hearing went, as well. All these issues forced doctors to conclude they needed to operate.
Invasive Operation
On December 2, 1930, a professor named O. Hirsch performed an invasive operation to remove a tumor growing on Adam's pituitary gland. If all went well, they could put a stop to his rampant growth, and he could settle into a relatively normal life.
A Setback
Unfortunately, the surgery didn't have the intended effect. Adam stopped growing for a little while, but in a few weeks' time, he was shooting upwards again. Would anything ever change, he wondered?
Unfortunate Suffering
After the operation, Adam was essentially bedridden. His back ached; walked was impossible. His health grew worse and worse until he sadly passed away in 1950 from ongoing problems. After he passed, newspapers approach his life heartlessly. Writers and journalists debated how tall he was in his prime. Did he hold a record? Did he touch eight feet? He became a figure in the eyes of the media — his humanity disregarded.
Going Down In History
Sadly, this wasn't uncommon for people whose bodies skew so far from the norm. The bizarre case of Phineas Gage is one of history's most infamous examples. However, unlike Adam, Gage was born perfectly ordinary—until one accident turned him into an entirely different person. After the change, not even his family or friends could recognize the strange figure that had once been their closest kin.
Railroad Worker
A well-built man admired for his strong work ethic, by his mid-20s Phineas Gage was was already working as the blasting foreman of his railroad crew. As such, Gage was in charge of clearing rock beds for the laying of track, a job he'd virtually mastered over the years. But on September 13, 1848, not even this lifetime of experience could prevent tragedy from striking.
A Spark
While setting a blast to make way for the Rutland & Burlington Railroad south of Cavendish, Vermont, Gage became distracted by a group of fellow rail workers behind him. As he turned his head to speak, his iron tamping rod grazed the stone and sparked.
Sudden Explosion
The spark ignited the blast powder, launching the tamping rod like a rocket. Gage tried to duck the oncoming projectile, but it was too late: the rod entered Gage's skull, pierced his brain, and exited his frontal lobe.
Not Looking Good
At the sight of Gage's convulsing body, the other workers were certain he wouldn't survive his injury. Incredibly, Gage was up walking and talking within minutes, and he could even sit upright as he was rushed to a local physician.
Still Speaking
Doctor Edward H. Williams was the first to see Gage, who the doctor claimed continued to speak regularly even as loose pieces of his brain were removed from the wound. Williams was somewhat optimistic about Gage's recovery, though just a few days later, things took a turn for the worse.
Into a Coma
On September 23, Gage developed an infection, which forced him into a semi-comatose state for the next ten days. He was subsequently placed into the care of J.M. Harlow, a prominent New England physician whom Williams felt was better suited to tend to Gage's injury.
Awake Again
Gage regained consciousness on October 3 and took his first steps just four days later. But while his intellectual functions seemed to return to normal by the 11th, Harlow noticed something was... different about his patient.
Change in Personality
While the man Gage had been before the accident was described as "hard-working, responsible, and a great favorite with the men in his charge," Harlow now perceived him as "fitful, irreverent, [and] indulging at times in the grossest profanity." It was almost as if Gage had become an entirely different person.
Anger Issues
After returning to his parents' home in New Hampshire to continue his recovery, rumors of Gage's unusual shift in personality only continued to spread. Evidently, Gage had completely lost his sense of inhibition, saying and doing whatever he pleased and growing irate whenever his wants weren't met.
National Celebrity
This apparently made it difficult for Gage to find employment during his recovery, so he set out on his own to create a "traveling museum" of sorts. With his trusty tamping rod in hand, Gage toured the northeast for the better part of three years, promoting himself as an attraction.
Stagecoach Driver
Eventually, Gage was offered a long-distance stagecoach job in Chile, which he worked for seven years until his health began to fail. He was taken in by his mother and sister in Santa Clara, California, where, for a brief time, he made a living as a farmer.
Health Decline
Gage was soon plagued by frequent epileptic seizures, which only further deteriorated his health and left him unable to hold down a job. After a particularly severe episode, Gage passed away on May 21, 1860, at the age of 36.
Finding an Explanation
But while Gage's story of survival is a remarkable one, it was the change in his cognitive function that made his case so noteworthy. Given the dramatic nature of his post-injury personality change, 19th-century scientists deduced that the frontal lobe must have something to do with social behavior.
Neuroscientists Step In
In 1994, scientists sought to further reinforce this claim by examining a digital recreation of the rod's path through Gage's skull. According to conclusions drawn by neuroscientist Hanna Damasio, Gage actually suffered injury to both his left and right frontal lobes.
Another Theory
However, these conclusions were disproven in 2004, as it was discovered that Damasio and her team had used a model of a cadaver to replicate the injury. Using a 3D reconstruction of Gage's actual exhumed skull, scientists determined that only the left frontal lobe had been damaged.
Historical Artifacts
Today, Gage's skull and his infamous tamping rod are on display at Harvard's Warren Anatomical Museum in Boston, Massachusetts. Yet as Gage's story has become a regular point of study among neuroscientists, it turns out that his dramatic personality shift may not have been so dramatic after all.
Back to Normal?
Apparently, the nature of Gage's change in behavior was wildly exaggerated to generate more interest in his case. Later reports showed his personality returned to normal shortly after returning to New Hampshire, which is why he could take on the grueling requirements of the stagecoach job for so many years.
Brain Breakthrough
So while Gage may not have become a totally different person after the accident, his injury did set the basis for our modern understanding of the functions of the brain. Thanks to Gage, we're that much closer to understanding what really goes on inside our heads. Still, there are medical oddities from the past that doctors are struggling to explain.
Meet Mary Toft
Back in the 1700s, Mary Toft was the pet project of many doctors — not for a freak injury, but rather for highly unusual pregnancies. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Mary Toft lived in abject poverty. Born in one of the poorest areas of London, Mary was only 17 when she married textile worker Joshua Toft. Her status wasn’t exactly elevated by the marriage.
.v1-375w.jpg)
Living In Poverty
Instead, Mary found herself working harder than ever to keep her family, which now included two young children, afloat. She walked two hours each day to work as a laborer, only to return to a hungry family and even more responsibilities at home.
"Lower Class" Tragedy
Now, none of this can excuse what happened to Mary later on, but it’s important to remember when telling her story. After all, it all began with what was back then considered to be a lower-class, poor person tragedy: Mary had a miscarriage.
-375w.jpg)
Medical Mystery
Her backbreaking days likely caused the miscarriage, which occurred frequently among poor women. Mary’s doctor brushed it off. In the early 1700s — 300 years before modern day medical knowledge — the female reproductive system was a mystery.
-375w.jpg)
She Sweat, Screamed, and Shuddered
And mere months later, another mystery developed: Mary randomly started having contractions. Fear of another miscarriage alarmed her family enough to send for the doctor. Mary sweat, screamed, and shuddered with pain as the unexpected labor progressed...
-375w.jpg)
Seemingly-Impossible Birth
When obstetrician John Howard arrived at the Toft house, what he saw would frighten anyone. Mary, in the middle of a seemingly impossible birth. According to Howard, Mary birthed “three legs of a cat of a tabby color, and one leg of a rabbit.”
-375w.jpg)
Nine Bundles Of Joy...
Unfortunately, his description wasn’t done yet. “The guts were as a cat’s and in them were three pieces of the back-bone of an eel.” By the time Mary’s shrieks ended, she had apparently given birth to nine baby rabbits...all dead.
-375w.jpg)
Out Of His Element
Needless to say, Howard was shocked by what he’d witnessed. A small-town doctor, Howard immediately sent word of Mary’s situation to England’s most revered doctors in hopes of attracting national attention. To his delight, that’s exactly what happened.
-375w.jpg)
Peaking The King's Interest
The King found out about Mary and sent Nathaniel St. Andre, a surgeon-anatomist, to investigate the claims. With that, one of the pickled fetuses Howard had collected made its way from Mary Toft’s humble home all the way to the King.
-375w.jpg)
Convenient Timing
From then on, Mary was shepherded around London by St. Andre. She was poked, prodded, and examined by various doctors; all the while, Mary continued to give birth to rabbits...especially on days when she was to be seen by a large room filled with doctors.
-375w.jpg)
Not-So-Natural Phenomenon
It wasn’t long before the doctors, who thoroughly examined Mary and the “fetuses,” noticed some peculiar details about the bunnies: For one, there was no way they were formed in Mary’s body. One of the rabbits had grass in its stomach, proof it had once frolicked free.
-375w.jpg)
Suspicious Details
The rabbits also differed in age; some were newborns while others were at least three months old. Still, St. Andre refused to see these suspicious factors for what they were. He reasoned that the contractions of the labor killed the rabbits, and not foul play.
-375w.jpg)
Believe It Or Not
The other doctors, however, weren’t so easily fooled. They demanded an explanation from Mary, and she hurriedly gave them one: She had once been startled by a rabbit, which led to her pregnancies. Shockingly, this explanation made sense to some 1700s-era doctors.
-375w.jpg)
The Elephant Man
Back then, a theory called “maternal impression” was quite common in the medical field. It was a way of explaining birth defects and congenital disorders. For instance, Joseph Merrick, known as the “Elephant Man,” told a similarly bizarre story to Mary’s.
-375w.jpg)
Gullible Doctor
Though we now know that Merrick was born with a congenital disorder, it was believed that Merrick’s mother was startled by an elephant while pregnant with him, resulting in his elephant-like facial deformity at birth. St. Andre believed this theory wholeheartedly.
-375w.jpg)
Convenient Timing Yet Again
The other doctors? Not so much. Still, Mary was continuously examined by as many as ten doctors at once, who were disappointed (if not unsurprised) to find that Mary, who suddenly stopped giving birth to rabbits, was actually quite ill.
-375w.jpg)
The Jig Is Up
It was around this time that Mary was found out: A porter was caught sneaking into Mary’s room with a rabbit. He was quick to blame it all on Margaret, Mary’s sister-in-law, who, he claimed, asked him to find the smallest rabbit he could catch.
-375w.jpg)
Mary's Confession
Still, Mary refused to admit that it was all a sham...until one of the doctors threatened to perform reproductive surgery if she didn’t tell the truth. That did the trick: To the surprise of no one but St. Andre, Mary confessed to the ruse.
The Gory Details
So, how did she do it? Again, we’ll spare you the truly gory details. The ruse was achieved the way you’d expect. Once in her body, the rabbits didn’t have far to travel during the fake “birth.” So much was a lie...
-375w.jpg)
Rabbits "Concealed" For Weeks
But what wasn’t faked was her screaming. Mary really was in excruciating pain, and it’s easy to see why. “It’s astonishing she didn’t die of a bacterial infection,” historian Karen Harvey said. The rabbits were often “concealed” for days, even weeks at a time...
Who's To Blame?
Toft repeatedly blamed other people, from her husband to her mother-in-law and even to the wife of a local organ-grinder. “I think she was just playing the lead role in a performance orchestrated by other people,” Harvey said. The papers at the time believed otherwise.
-375w.jpg)
Media Sensation of 1726
According to historian Niki Russell, Mary and her bizarre plight was the media sensation of the year. “It certainly helped to tarnish the reputation of doctors as a profession.” Unfortunately for her, Mary wasn’t just an outcast as a result of the trick.
A "Notorious and Vile Cheat"
She was charged as a “Notorious and Vile Cheat” and imprisoned for 4 months. While in Bridewell prison, she was basically a sideshow for intrigued passersby: Her cell faced the public, making her vulnerable to nearly constant torment.
What Is "Normal"?
She was eventually released without being charged, but found that she never could quite return to her normal life. After all, what does "normal" mean in Mary's shoes?
-375w.jpg)
No comments: