PETRIFIED MAN.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXIII, Issue 10638, 14 April 1906, Page 1 (Supplement)

PETRIFIED MAN.

iFIF'TY YEARS SUFFERING FROM

A .STRANGE DISEASE,

PARIS, March 1. There has just died at the hospital of Ueberlingen, on the borders of Lake Constance, in Switzerland, says the Petit Temps, a stone mdn. His name was Brend. He was afflicted with the very rare,, disease known as "myositis ossificans."

The extraordinary feature of this disease is that ossification gradually sets in in all the muscles and tissues of the body, tho disease invariably* ending in death. _

Brend was 66 years of age. Ho was the son of a well-to-do farmer of BadenBaden; He was first afflicted with the disease at the. age of 17. His feet first became hard and almost as heavy as stone.' . Gradually the dread disease rose and ultimately reached his chest, . hardening the lungs. Up to a few years ago Brend was able to read and write, but he had to give up this occupation when his arms and legs became afflicted and he was no longer able to move them. The tissues of his throat were petrified, but he was still able to speak, though his voice assumed a curious metallic sound.

Although obliged to remain riveted to a sofa-chair, he always displayed the best of humor and was fond of making jokes, He was known throughout the district as . the petrified man. The petrification ended by reaching the brain, and Brend has just died after nearly 50 years of suffering.