OCR Text |
Show ! HA& TWO HEARTS. A rhyi!c!an's Report on the Most Rctaar'b-able Rctaar'b-able Case of William Iing. William King, the negro who has two hearts and is able to control the pulsations of either at will, and who occasionally escites tho medical associations associa-tions of the Atlantic coast by making an exhibition of himself, has been examined ex-amined by Dr. C. A. Jackson of Pittsburg, Pitts-burg, who reports aa follows: "The man has two distinct hoarts, connected only by tho larger blood vessels ves-sels and a very clastic pericardium. He has the peculiar power of moving either of these two hoarts independently and can hold one up under the ribs while the other is let down into the groin, where it can be felt pulsating even morf plainly than when in its natural posi-tion. posi-tion. Ho can stop one or both from beat-ing beat-ing for a period of one minute and probably longer, but he has been told that to extend the timo beyond that limit would probably endanger his life. The stoppage of either heart silences tho pulse beats on the corresponding Eide, but does not affect the other. If both are stopped at once, no pulse beat can ho detected in any part of tho body, "Tho left heart is tho larger of the two, being about thosizo of a cocoanut, which is very largo for a man of King's size. Tho right one is no larger than a good sized gooso egg. "When ono heart is down in the flank and tho other in normal position, they are separated by a distance of about 14 inches. As they lie ordinarily in tho chest they are only about two or three Inohes apart. - "The most remarkable thing about King's case is the fact that each heart appears to be complete in all its details and furnished with sufficient blood for uso on its own side of tho body. "In some species of lower animals there are two distinct hoarts, but In them tbo right side sends blood to the lungs, while tho left does the work for tho general circulation of tho wbolp bodv. " |