Anomalies and Curiosities of MedicineGould, George M. (George Milbrey)
Science
Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine
Gould, George M. (George Milbrey)
Abnormalities, Human; Medicine -- Anecdotes
In 1883 there was shown in England and France, afterward in America, a
girl of seven named "Krao," a native of Indo-China. The whole body of
this child was covered with black hair. Her face was of the prognathic
type, and this, with her extraordinary prehensile powers of feet and
lips, gave her the title of "Darwin's missing link." In 1875 there was
exhibited in Paris, under the name of "l'homme-chien" Adrien Jeftichew,
a Russian peasant of fifty-five, whose face, head, back, and limbs were
covered with a brown hairy coat looking like wool and several
centimeters long. The other parts of the body were also covered with
hair, but less abundantly. This individual had a son of three,
Theodore, who was hairy like himself.
A family living in Burmah (Shive-Maon, whose history is told by
Crawford and Yule), consisting of a father, a daughter, and a
granddaughter, were nearly covered with hair. Figure 84 represents a
somewhat similar family who were exhibited in this country.
Teresa Gambardella, a young girl of twelve, mentioned by Lombroso, was
covered all over the body, with the exception of the hands and feet, by
thick, bushy hair. This hypertrichosis was exemplified in this country
only a few months since by a person who went the rounds of the dime
museums under the euphonious name of "Jo-Jo, the dog-face boy." His
face was truly that of a skye-terrier.
Sometimes the hairy anomalies are but instances of naevus pilosus. The
Indian ourang-outang woman examined at the office of the Lancet was an
example of this kind. Hebra, Hildebrandt, Jablokoff, and Klein describe
similar cases. Many of the older "wild men" were individuals bearing
extensive hairy moles.
Rayer remarks that he has seen a young man of sixteen who exhibited
himself to the public under the name of a new species of wild man whose
breast and back were covered with light brown hair of considerable
length.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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