www.asylumeclectica.com/malady/archives/harlequin.htm
EMedicine The condition was first documented in South Carolina by Reverend Oliver Hart: "On Thursday, April ye 5, 1750, I went to see a most deplorable object of a child, born the night before of one Mary Evans in 'Chas'town. It was surprising to all who beheld it, and I scarcely know how to describe it. The skin was dry and hard and seemed to be cracked in many places, somewhat resembling the scales of a fish. It had no external nose, but two holes where the nose should have been. The eyes appeared to be lumps of coagulated blood, turned out, about the bigness of a plum, ghastly to behold. It had no external ears, but holes where the ears should be. The hands and feet appeared to be swollen, were cramped up and felt quite hard. It made a strange kind of noise, very low, which I cannot describe. Abnormal water loss through the skin and poor temperature regulation lead to risk for infection beginning in the skin as well.
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