Editing Joseph Merrick (section)

== Medical condition ==
[[File:Joseph Merrick skeleton.jpg|thumb|upright=0.85|Joseph Merrick's skeleton]]
Ever since Merrick's days as a novelty exhibit on Whitechapel Road, his condition has remained a source of curiosity for medical professionals.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.medicaldaily.com/deconstructing-elephant-man-mysteries-joseph-merricks-deformities-may-soon-be-unlocked-255067|title=Deconstructing The Elephant Man: Mysteries Of Joseph Merrick's Deformities May Soon Be Unlocked|date=29 August 2013|work=Medical Daily|access-date=22 November 2017|language=en|archive-date=21 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210321201442/https://www.medicaldaily.com/deconstructing-elephant-man-mysteries-joseph-merricks-deformities-may-soon-be-unlocked-255067|url-status=live}}</ref> His appearance at the meeting of the Pathological Society of London in 1884 drew interest from the doctors present, but gained neither the answers nor the wider attention that Treves had hoped for. The case received only a brief mention in the ''[[British Medical Journal]]'', while the ''[[Lancet (journal)|Lancet]]'' declined to mention it at all.<ref name=Howell27 />

Four months later, in 1885, Treves brought the case before the meeting for a second time. By then, Tom Norman's shop on Whitechapel Road had been closed and Merrick had moved on, so in Merrick's absence, Treves made do with the photographs he had taken during his examinations. One of the doctors present at the meeting was [[Henry Radcliffe Crocker]], a [[dermatologist]] who was an authority on skin diseases.<ref name= Howell28 /> After hearing Treves's description of Merrick, and viewing the photographs, Crocker proposed that Merrick's condition might be a combination of [[pachydermatocele]] and an unnamed bone deformity, all caused by changes in the nervous system.<ref name=Howell29 /> Crocker wrote about Merrick's case in his 1888 book ''Diseases of the Skin: their Description, Pathology, Diagnosis and Treatment''.<ref name= Howell127 />

In 1909, dermatologist [[Frederick Parkes Weber]] wrote an article in the ''[[British Journal of Dermatology]]'',<ref name= Howell133 /> incorrectly citing Merrick as an example of von Recklinghausen Disease ([[neurofibromatosis]]), which German pathologist [[Friedrich Daniel von Recklinghausen]] had described in 1882.<ref name=Howell132 /> This conjecture has since been proved wrong; in fact, symptoms that are always present in this [[genetic disorder]] include tumours of the nervous tissue and bones, small warty growths on the skin,<ref name=Howell134 /> and the presence of light brown pigmentation on the skin called [[Café au lait spot|''café au lait'' spots]], which are of particular importance in diagnosing von Recklinghausen Disease,<ref name=Korf /> but which were never observed on Merrick's body.<ref name=Howell137 /> For this reason, although the diagnosis was quite popular through most of the 20th century, other conjectural diagnoses were advanced, such as [[Maffucci syndrome]] and [[polyostotic fibrous dysplasia]] (Albright's disease).<ref name= Howell137 />

In a 1986 article in the ''British Medical Journal'', [[Michael Cohen (doctor)|Michael Cohen]] and J. A. R. Tibbles put forward the hypothesis that Merrick had had [[Proteus syndrome]], a very rare [[congenital disorder]] identified by Cohen in 1979, citing Merrick's lack of reported ''café au lait'' spots and the absence of any [[histological]] proof of his having had the previously conjectured syndrome.<ref name=Tibbles /> In fact, Proteus syndrome affects tissue other than nerves, and is a [[Sporadic disease|sporadic disorder]] rather than a genetically transmitted disease.<ref name=Pletcher /> Cohen and Tibbles said Merrick showed the following signs of Proteus syndrome: "[[macrocephaly]]; [[hyperostosis]] of the large skull; [[hypertrophy]] of long bones; and thickened skin and subcutaneous tissues, particularly of the hands and feet, including [[plantar]] [[hyperplasia]], [[lipoma]]s, and other unspecified subcutaneous masses".<ref name=Tibbles />

In a letter to ''[[The Biologist]]'' in June 2001, British teacher and [[Chartered Biologist]] Paul Spiring<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.societyofbiology.org/membership/individual-membership/fellowship-fsb/our-fellows |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131113000214/https://www.societyofbiology.org/membership/individual-membership/fellowship-fsb/our-fellows |archive-date=13 November 2013 |title=List of Current Fellows |website=Society of Biology |access-date=18 February 2015}}</ref> speculated that Merrick might have had a combination of Proteus syndrome and neurofibromatosis. This hypothesis was reported by [[Robert Matthews (scientist)|Robert Matthews]], a correspondent for ''[[The Sunday Telegraph]]''.<ref name=Matthews /> The possibility that Merrick may have had both conditions formed the basis for a 2003 documentary film entitled ''The Curse of The Elephant Man'', which was produced for the [[Discovery Health Channel]] by [[Natural History New Zealand]].<ref name= BBCunravelled /><ref name=telegraph />

During 2002, genealogical research for the film led to a [[BBC]] appeal to trace Merrick's [[Matrilineality|maternal family line]]. In response to the appeal, a Leicester resident named Pat Selby was discovered to be the granddaughter of Merrick's uncle, George Potterton. A research team took [[DNA]] samples from Selby in an unsuccessful attempt to diagnose Merrick's condition.<ref name=BBCSelby /> During 2003, the filmmakers commissioned further diagnostic tests using DNA from Merrick's hair and bone, but the results of these tests proved inconclusive; therefore, the precise cause of Merrick's medical condition remains uncertain.<ref name=BBCunravelled /><ref name=telegraph /><ref>{{cite news |last=Bomford |first=Andrew |title=Unlocking the secrets of the Elephant Man |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-23863974 |access-date=30 August 2013 |website=BBC News |date=29 August 2013 |archive-date=21 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210321201446/https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-23863974 |url-status=live }}</ref>