Joseph Merrick: Medical Mystery

    

              

               Throughout History there have been many people made famous because of their physical abnormalities. In our world today there are several documentaries following the day in the life of someone who has large tumors on their face, or missing half of their body since birth. During the age before television, people would see these medical mysteries in side shows, medical exhibits and museums.  These people with unfortunate afflictions would be given nicknames like the Lobster boy, the Mule faced woman and Tom Thumb. None was made more famous than Joseph Merrick, or as many would call him, The Elephant Man.

                Joseph Merrick was born on August 5^th, 1862 in Leicester, Leicestershire. He was a perfectly healthy baby at birth. It was not until around the age of three that his parents noticed something strange was happening to him. His skin was becoming thick in certain parts of his body. His was developing hard lumps on his right arm and shoulder. His Skull seemed to be getting thicker and more pronounced, especially around his forehead. No one could explain why this was happening.

                As Joseph continued to grow, so did the thick and lumpy growths on his body. The weight of these growths cause problems with balance. When Joseph was around the age of six, he fell down and injured his hip. The injury fell into infection which left permanent damage. Joseph would be lame for the rest of his life.

                When Joseph was ten years old his mother developed pneumonia and died. Left with raising the boy on his own, Joseph’s father decided to remarry to share the burden. Joseph’s new stepmother was not as kind and attentive as his own mother had been, so Joseph was left feeling unloved. When he was thirteen, Joseph quit school and tried to run away from home only to be brought back by his father several times.

                By the time Joseph was thirteen he was having trouble talking due to the masses of skin and bone surrounding his head and face. He was a shock to be seen in public and was ridiculed and shunned by most. This did not stop Joseph’s father from demanding that he get a job to support himself. From the time Joseph was thirteen until he was seventeen, he work a few odd jobs, including door to door salesman, which proved to be a failure due to his condition. When Joseph was Seventeen he finally left home and went to work at the Leicester Union Workhouse.

                In 1884 Joseph met Sam Torr, a showman who was interested in touring with Joseph, exhibiting him as a freak of nature. Joseph agreed to the offer after being unemployed for a while and in desperate need of money. They began touring around London before settling down at a penny shop on Whitechapel Road in London. On his information pamphlet for the show, they nicknamed him the Elephant man because his skin looked very similar to Elephant skin. His family had also explained in the past that when his mother was pregnant he had been knocked down by an Elephant at a circus. At the time maternal impression was a very popular belief.

          

                Across the street from the penny store was the London Hospital. Dr. Frederick Treves was a surgeon there and became fascinated with Joseph Merrick. He made arrangements with Sam Torr to have Joseph come to the hospital where he could be examined and photographed.  Dr. Treves examined Joseph on three different occasions. He assumed because of Joseph’s lack of communication that he was mentally impaired as well as physically deformed.   He wrote a brief paper on the subject and sent Joseph back to the exhibit.

 

 

                Joseph continued to tour Europe until he was abandoned in Brussels a few years later. He made his way back to London. With no money and nowhere to go, Joseph was left to wander the streets of London where crowds would surround him nonstop. Eventually he was found by police. Since Joseph could not communicate well enough to be understood, the police searched him and found a card with Dr. Treves’ information on it. They took him to London hospital where he was admitted with pneumonia.

                Dr. Treves’ convinced the hospital to allow Joseph to stay as a permanent resident of the hospital. He reached out to people in high society to assist in donations for Joseph’s care. Joseph was placed in a two room suite in the basement with a small courtyard. Dr. Treves continued to care for him while Joseph remained in the hospital. He discovered that Joseph, although unable to speak well, was rather intelligent.  It was only his physical deformity that prevented Joseph from communicating intelligibly.

                Over time, Joseph made friends with some of his benefactors, meeting several of the high society who would visit him regularly. They would bring him books and other gifts, hoping to give him a taste of normalcy. Joseph was particularly fond of the women who would come and visit. He would return their kindness with homemade gifts.

                On April 11^th, 1890, Joseph Merrick was discovered dead while in his bed. It was determined that his death was caused from Accidental Asphyxia caused from lying down flat while sleeping. It was Dr. Treves’ opinion that Joseph had attempted to sleep lying down like everyone else did and due to the weight of his head, he had broken his neck. Before then, Joseph had always slept sitting up.

                His case is still a mystery to this day. There have been several studies in his case however there has never been anyone with the same condition as Joseph. Some researchers believe that Joseph Merrick suffered from two rare conditions, one being Neurofibromatosis type 1 And Proteus syndrome.  DNA tests from samples of Joseph Merrick’s hair and bone tissue have come up inconclusive, leaving him with no official diagnosis.