Trouvailles insolites/intéressantes (lechat interdit) (Page 3 sur 3)

Paul-Félix Armand-Delille (3 July 1874 in Fourchambault, Nièvre – 4 September 1963) was a physician, bacteriologist, professor, and member of the French Academy of Medicine who accidentally brought about the collapse of rabbit populations throughout much of Europe and beyond in the 1950s by infecting them with the myxomatosis virus.

It was during his retirement that the events for which he became best known took place. Having read of the effectiveness of the myxomatosis virus in dealing with rabbit plagues in Australia, in 1952 Armand-Delille decided to introduce the virus onto his 3 km² private estate of Chateau Maillebois in Eure-et-Loir. He believed that the enclosed nature of the estate would prevent its spread. Inoculating two rabbits with virus acquired from a laboratory in Lausanne, Armand-Delille succeeded in rapidly eradicating the population on his estate, with 98% of the rabbits being dead within 6 weeks. However, within 4 months it became clear that the virus had escaped from his estate, the corpse of an infected rabbit having been found 50 km away.[1][2]

Within a year of the initial release, an estimated 45% of the wild rabbits of France had died of the disease, along with 35% of domestic rabbits, and the disease had spread to the rest of western Europe, destroying rabbit populations in the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Spain, Britain, and beyond. The effect on the rabbit population of France was dramatic. In the hunting season covering the year of the release of the virus, 1952–53, the total number of rabbits killed in 25 hunts exceeded 55 million. The figure for 1956-57 was just 1.3 million, a 98% reduction.

Armand-Delille found himself both condemned by rabbit hunters and showered with praise by farmers and foresters. He was prosecuted, and in January 1955 he was convicted and fined 5,000 francs.

Tarrare (c. 1772 – 1798), sometimes spelled Tarare, was a French showman and soldier, noted for his unusual eating habits. Able to eat vast amounts of meat, he was constantly hungry; his parents could not provide for him, and he was turned out of the family home as a teenager. He travelled France in the company of a band of thieves and prostitutes, before becoming the warm-up act to a travelling charlatan; he would swallow corks, stones, live animals and a whole basketful of apples. He then took this act to Paris where he worked as a street performer.

Despite his unusual diet, Tarrare was slim and of average height.[9] At the age of 17, he weighed only 100 pounds (45 kg; 7 st 2 lb).[1][5] He was described as having unusually soft fair hair and an abnormally wide mouth, in which his teeth were heavily stained[9] and on which the lips were almost invisible.[10][11] When he had not eaten, his skin would hang so loosely that he could wrap the fold of skin from his abdomen around his waist.[9][10] When full, his abdomen would distend "like a huge balloon".[6] The skin of his cheeks was wrinkled and hung loosely, and when stretched out, he could hold twelve eggs or apples in his mouth.[11][12] His body was hot to the touch and he sweated heavily, constantly suffering from foul body odour;[9][11] he was described as stinking "to such a degree that he could not be endured within the distance of twenty paces".[11] This smell would get noticeably worse after he had eaten,[10][11] his eyes and cheeks would become bloodshot,[9] a visible vapour would rise from his body,[11] and he would become lethargic, during which time he would belch noisily and his jaws would make swallowing motions.[11] He suffered from chronic diarrhoea, which was said to be "fetid beyond all conception".[11] Despite his large intake of food, he did not appear either to vomit excessively or to gain weight.[13]

Alison Botha, a South African woman who survived 46 stabs to her throat and abdomen by using one hand to hold up her partially severed head and the other to carry her disemboweled intestines in a t-shirt until she reached help.

Belphegor's Prime. It's a prime number that is also a palindrome. It's named after the Prince of Hell for ingenious inventions because it contains two sets of 13 zeroes with 666 in the center. The palindromic prime number is 1000000000000066600000000000001.