DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.70303#0357
A MAN BORN WITHOUT ARMS OR LEGS, 329
fingers, his greatest difficulty would have been to feed,
himself without assistance, if nature had not furnished
him with the extraordinary power of protruding, and
at the same time lowering his under jaw, as was discover-
ed in dissecting his body after his death.
Though Catozze could walk and stand upright on his
feet, yet he would have experienced great difficulty hi
reaching objects situated above, or at a certain distance
from his hands. He had therefore contrived to lengthen
them, as it were, by a very simple instrument which was
to him of the utmost utility. This was a hollow piece of
elder, about three feet in length, through 'which passed
a cylindrical iron rod, fixed so as to slide up and down,
and terminating in a very sharp hook. If he wished to
lay hold of an object at some distance from his hand;
for instance, to button his clothes, to take up or set down
his metal goblet; to pull the clothes upon him in bed,
he took his tube (which he always kept near him) in one
hand and pushed it between his fingers, till he brought
the hooked end towards the hand that was at liberty ;
then seizins: the object that he wanted with the hook, he
drew it towards him, turning it any way he pleased,
without letting go the stick, but drawing back the hooked
piece of iron, as into a sheath. The habit of using this
instrument had rendered him so dexterous, that, by
means of it he has frequently been seen Lo take up a
piece of money from a table, or from the ground.
It will scarcely be credited, that a man of this descrip-
tion should have met with several "women whose affections
he had the art to gain; at least, he frequently boasted to
that effect.
In his youth, Catozze travelled on horseback; for this
purpose, he had procured a particular kind of saddle,
and usually appeared in public, holding the reins, beat-
ing a drum, performing his exercise with a musket, writ-
Vol. IL t t ing,
fingers, his greatest difficulty would have been to feed,
himself without assistance, if nature had not furnished
him with the extraordinary power of protruding, and
at the same time lowering his under jaw, as was discover-
ed in dissecting his body after his death.
Though Catozze could walk and stand upright on his
feet, yet he would have experienced great difficulty hi
reaching objects situated above, or at a certain distance
from his hands. He had therefore contrived to lengthen
them, as it were, by a very simple instrument which was
to him of the utmost utility. This was a hollow piece of
elder, about three feet in length, through 'which passed
a cylindrical iron rod, fixed so as to slide up and down,
and terminating in a very sharp hook. If he wished to
lay hold of an object at some distance from his hand;
for instance, to button his clothes, to take up or set down
his metal goblet; to pull the clothes upon him in bed,
he took his tube (which he always kept near him) in one
hand and pushed it between his fingers, till he brought
the hooked end towards the hand that was at liberty ;
then seizins: the object that he wanted with the hook, he
drew it towards him, turning it any way he pleased,
without letting go the stick, but drawing back the hooked
piece of iron, as into a sheath. The habit of using this
instrument had rendered him so dexterous, that, by
means of it he has frequently been seen Lo take up a
piece of money from a table, or from the ground.
It will scarcely be credited, that a man of this descrip-
tion should have met with several "women whose affections
he had the art to gain; at least, he frequently boasted to
that effect.
In his youth, Catozze travelled on horseback; for this
purpose, he had procured a particular kind of saddle,
and usually appeared in public, holding the reins, beat-
ing a drum, performing his exercise with a musket, writ-
Vol. IL t t ing,