The London _Mail_ reports this sad case:
An honored guest at most of the London hospitals is a tall, slim
man, with a thin face, who has to move about with extreme care,
because if he happened to fall down he might break in several
places.
He is literally a fragile man, who has to walk with something of
the stiffness of “La Poupée.” A violent fall would be disastrous
to him. He is suffering from a rare and painless disease which,
in the words of one of the doctors who has seen him, turns him
into “a porcelain man.” Alban Rushbrook, aged thirty-five, has
for seven years been suffering from _myositis ossificans_;
his muscles are turning into bone. He can walk, but he can not
sit in a chair, and it is difficult for him to turn his head far
to the right or left. The muscles of his chest, back and thighs
are all turning to bone. He lies flat in bed. When he desires to
rise he is shifted to the edge of the bed, and his rigid body is
tipped up till his feet touch the floor. A stick is placed in
his hand, and he can then make his way in a straight line ahead.
(2277)