Democratic Sentinel, Volume 18, Number 21, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 June 1894 — The Original Ossified Man. [ARTICLE]

The Original Ossified Man.

In the Museum of Natural History In Dublin is the skeleton of a man, a native of the South of Ireland, who was called the ossified man. His body became ossified during his lifetime. He lived in that condition for years. Previous to the change he had been a healthy young fellow of superior strength and agility. One night he slept out in a field after a debauch, and some time later he felt the first symptoms of the strange transformation. The doctors could do nothing to avert the progress of his malady. His joints stiffened. When he wanted to lie down or rise up he required assistance. He could not beud his body, and when placed upright he resembled a statue of stone. He could stand, but not move in the least. His teeth were joined and became an entire bone. The doctors, in order to administer nourishment, had to make a hole through them. He lo3t the use of his tongue, and his sight left him before he died.