POST-MORTEM OBSERVATIONS OF A CASE OF LYCANTHROPY

By AIMÉ DAIZOMES, M.D., Paris.

As the condition is woefully overlooked by the medical community, and opportunities to examine the bodies of those who have died during the full moon transformation are infrequent, I have gathered here some selected notes which I hope will be interesting to the profession.

About eight o’clock on the evening of July 14th, one Monsieur D——, a priest, was found in the nave of the church he presided over in a state of convulsion. He was evidently suffering from some distress due to the violent nature of his transformation, but appeared unable to vocalize coherently. After only a few seconds passing in this way he collapsed entirely and died. I made as extensive an examination of the body as the remaining members of the clergy would permit me. The body was inspected two hours after death, and the following were the most striking of the morbid appearances:—

Immediately following death the body released some amount of steam, and gave off a feverish heat which quickly dissipated. The limbs had lengthened considerably. All over the skin had erupted in uneven patches of gray fur, and had paled considerably wherever visible. The skin of the palms and soles had thickened, and the lips were blue and exanguine. The ears had elongated and thinned, the skull taking on the distinctive canine appearance associated with this disease, though not to such an extreme degree as one would expect of a person afflicted with this condition. The nose had not yet taken on the typical darkened, spongey texture, and the orbital sockets had not yet taken proper position in line with the nasal bone.

The skin blanketing the joints of the shoulders and hips were deeply darkened with ecchymosis. The muscles throughout the body had greatly atrophied and were unusually stiff to the touch, though still sodden with blood. In many places they had been stretched sufficiently by the lengthening of the bones to tear free the tendons. Surrounding those joints of the hip and shoulder the muscles were torn and displaced.

On opening the body cavity, the viscera and intestines were collapsed. The lungs appeared malnourished and flaccid, as did the liver and kidneys, though they were all greatly enlarged in size. The bile of the liver gave healthy reaction to nitric acid. The spleen appeared anaemic. The heart was enlarged even more so than the other organs, and all chambers were contracted and devoid of blood. On laying open the stomach, which was abnormally vascular, it was found to contain only a few ounces of fluid and no trace of food. The gastric juices gave some indication towards the presence of alcohol, but otherwise tested as one would expect to blue litmus paper and flame. The mucous membranes of this organ and the intestines, which had become similarly heavy with vasculature, were velvety and slightly opaque. The bladder was contracted and corrugated. It should be noted the position of the organs remained as normal, despite their magnification.

The girdles of shoulder and hip had deepened and widened, allowing much greater range of motion of the limbs. The teeth numbered 40, and had lengthened. Of further note were the metacarpals of both hand and foot, which had elongated, and the wrist and ankle, which had altered somewhat in orientation to more closely resemble canid morphology. Skeletal observations beyond this were not possible, as I was not afforded the time nor freedom necessary to examine the body as thoroughly as it deserved.

I believe Monsieur D—— had only recently acquired the condition, as the transformation process appeared to have arrested before the moment of his death. It appears to me in addition that his death was not caused by the transition itself, but the rapid onset of starvation, which robbed many of his organs of their vital functions.

If the observations made in the preceding paragraphs are confirmed by other physicians upon examining similar cases, they may be of assistance in rendering the pathology of this distinctive disease more intelligible. I must not conclude without expressing my sense of dismay at the lack of earnest effort put into understanding magical ailments. Our duty as medical practitioners dictates we attempt the utmost when attempting to provide care, and yet it seems our profession falters in the face of this unknown. I believe it essential we examine such pathologies with the same care, so we may one day have the knowledge necessary to provide treatment.

July, 1878