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his head and shoulders. A gas
burner was the only heat and only
light in the shop. Treves later
wrote that Merrick seemed the
"embodiment of loneliness."
"Stand up!" commanded Mer–
rick's exhibitor, as if speaking to
a dog.
The Elephant Man dropped his
blanket and slowly rose.
His head was about twice nor–
mal size- about the same size
around as his waist. Bony, fleshy
masses of skin grew out from the
forehead and upper jaw. The
upper lips had been turned almost
inside out. The Elephant Man's
face was like a block of gnarled
wood. The skin was spoñgy and
fungeous looking, resembling
brownish cauliflower.
Treves was struck. "At no time
had
1
met with such a degraded or
perverted version of a human being
as this tone figure displayed."
Treves had another thought: surely
this poor creature must have no
more consciousness of bis own
plight than an animal!
Wretched and Lonely
Merrick was not born deformed ;
he was suffering from a disease
that we now know to be multiple
neurofibromatosis. The disease
causes benign tumors to form at
nerve endings.
It
also distorts the
bone structure.
It
is a very rare
disease.
lt
is still incurable,
though today men "control" it
through drugs and constant sur–
gery, unavailable to Merrick.
The disease first mad e its
appearance al age 5.
It
progres–
sively gol worse throughout the
Elephant Man's life, as tumors
conlinued to appear and distorl
his face and body.
His mother died when he was
1O
years old. Evidently she was
kind to her son, for Merrick car–
ried around with him a small por–
trail of her lhroughout bis life.
Later, Merrick would often vol–
unleer that sbe was beautiful.
Treves' Compasslon
"God ' s law- the true law of
life- is, simply, love! Love means
giving, not getting," wrote the
February 1981
editor-in-chief of lhis magazine as
far back as 37 years ago. The law,
of course. is limeless. Had not
Treves acted in conformity to
God's great law, we never would
have known . about lhe human
being-in which dwelt the spi rit
of man-trapped inside the Ele–
phant Man's body.
Sometime after their first
meeting, the Elephant Man had
to be rescued from a mob at
Liverpool Street Station. Evi–
dently, after Treves had exarn–
ined Merr ick, the Elephant Man
was taken on a "tour" of Europe
where he was robbed of his life
savings and abandoned by his
"manager." Somehow Joseph
Merrick made it back to England
in what must have been a night–
mare of a trip. On his arrival at
Liverpool Street Station, in Loo–
don, an ugly crowd gathered lo
launt and gawk. The movie plays
up this incident in the Elephant
Man's life: it is here Merrick,
panic stricken and trapped in the
corner of the underground men's
room, críes out:
"1
am not an ani–
mal- 1 am a human being!"
The police carne to the Ele–
phant Man's rescue. They found
Treves' card on him and brought
him to London Hospital.
For the first time in his life, or
at Ieast since his mother died,
Joseph Merrick was about to be
treated with kindness and com–
passion. London Hospital was
overcrowded. But Treves realized
that the Elephanl Man had
nowhere else to go. For weeks his
fate was in doubl, and Merrick
himself assumed he would soon
have to be moving on.
But a friend of Treves, a barris–
ter named Carr Gomm, also took
pity on the Elephant Man. Gomm
wrote a letter to the London
Times
explaining Merrick's
plight.
Enough money carne in. Mer–
rick, shunted everywhere he had
gone, now could have the refuge of
bis own room in the basement of the
hospital-for the rest of his life.
Treves saw a human being inside
the Elephant Man's grotesque
body-and was determined to
bring ou t that humanity.
He decided that the best thing
for the Elephant Man was to
meet people of high quality.
Treves asked Leila Maturin, a
pretty widow, to meet Merrick.
It
was a simple task. All she had to
do was enter Merrick's room,
smile and shake his good hand .
T his she did successfully.
In Treves' own words: "As he let
go her hand he bent bis head on bis
knees and sobbed until
1
thought he
would never cease. The interview
was over. He told me afterwards
that this was the first woman who
had ever smi led at him...."
The first woman who had ever
smiled at him!
The event changed Merrick's
life. Afterwards, Treves brought
many prominent members of
London society into Merrick's
room, including Madge Kendal ,
one of the most popular actresses
of her day, and the Prince of
Wales. Afterwards, Merrick,
once turned out by his family as a
burden, would occasionally re–
ceive bags of game from the
future king after royal hunts.
None of this would have come
about-Merrick would have re–
mained imprisoned in bis twisted,
distorted body-if Treves had not
acted according to God's princi–
pie of
G IVE.
The Meaaure of a Man
Merrick's visitors all seemed to
remark about bis gentle, humble,
romantic spiri t. Often Merrick's
attitude was described as child–
like-conslantly appreciative of
little kindnesses showed him.
"Judge nol," the apostle John
quotes Jesus as saying, "accord–
ing to the appearance" ( J ohn
7:24). Merrick all bis life had
been judged by bis appearance.
Those who now looked beyond
the degraded, outward appear–
ance had nothing but praise.
What is the most important
aspect of a human being? lt is his
character!
Jf Merrick's life
stands for anything, it is that
character, and not appearance, is
what counts.
... "the Lord seeth not as man
35