Anomalies and Curiosities of MedicineGould, George M. (George Milbrey)
Science
Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine
Gould, George M. (George Milbrey)
Abnormalities, Human; Medicine -- Anecdotes
Cases of living cyclopia, or individuals with one eye in the center of
the forehead after the manner of the mythical Cyclops, are quite rare.
Vallentini in 1884 reports a case of a male cyclopic infant which lived
for seventy-three hours. There were median fissures of the upper lip,
preauricular appendages, oral deformity, and absence of the olfactory
proboscis The fetus was therefore a cyclops arrhynchus, or
cyclocephalus. Blok describes a new-born infant which lived for six or
seven hours, having but one eye and an extremely small mouth.
The "Four-eyed Man of Cricklade" was a celebrated English monstrosity
of whom little reliable information is obtainable. He was visited by W.
Drury, who is accredited with reporting the following--
"'So wondrous a thing, such a lusus naturae, such a scorn and spite of
nature I have never seen. It was a dreadful and shocking sight.' This
unfortunate had four eyes placed in pairs, 'one eye above the other and
all four of a dull brown, encircled with red, the pupils enormously
large.' The vision in each organ appeared to be perfect. 'He could shut
any particular eye, the other three remaining open, or, indeed, as many
as he chose, each several eye seeming to be controlled by his will and
acting independently of the remainder. He could also revolve each eye
separately in its orbit, looking backward with one and forward with
another, upward with one and downward with another simultaneously.' He
was of a savage, malignant disposition, delighting in ugly tricks,
teasing children, torturing helpless animals, uttering profane and
blasphemous words, and acting altogether like the monster, mental and
physical, that he was. 'He could play the fiddle, though in a silly
sort, having his notes on the left side, while closing the right pair
of eyes. He also sang, but in a rough, screeching voice not to be
listened to without disgust.'"
There is a recent report of a child born in Paris with its eyes in the
top of its head. The infant seemed to be doing well and crowds of
people have flocked to see it. Recent reports speak of a child born in
Portland, Oregon, which had a median rudimentary eye between two normal
eyes. Fournier describes an infant born with perfectly formed eyes, but
with adherent eyelids and closed ocular aperture. Forlenze has seen the
pupils adherent to the conjunctiva, and by dissection has given sight
to the subject.
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