i am over six feet high and as thin as a skeleton; every bone in my body, even the neck vertebrae, creak at odd intervals when i move. so that i am not only a skeleton but a badly articulated one to boot. if to this is coupled the fact of the creeping paralysis, you have the complete horror. even as i sit and write, millions of bacteria are gnawing away at my precious spinal chord, and if you put your ear to my back the sound of gnawing i dare say could be heard.