A FREAK OF NATURE
GIRL BORN WITH A TAIL
Theory of "Throw-back" to Ape Ancestors
A baby was born in London a fortnight ago with a tail two inches long
[there is surely something like this in one of Corliss` books] Such an amazing
freak is bringing many doctors to the Metropolitan Hospital, Kingsland
Road,London [is it still there?] N, and most of them convince(?) themselves
completely unable to account for the strange deformity.
One pathologist has expressed the opinion that the explanation is that the
child is a "throw back" across the countless centuries to our ape
ancestors.
Another theory held by doctors who have examined the phenomenon is that it
was produced by an association of ideas for the mother`s mind during pregnancy
.[This is remarkable if taken seriously.I thought such ideas had died out by the
end of the Victorian era! This came out as the cause of the Elephant Man`s
deformities in one film version]
The Secretary of the Metropolitan Hospital said to a reporter to-day:- "The
child ( a girl) was brought to us when a few days old.
A CURLY TAIL
"The parents told us that the tail was evident from birth. It is about two
inches long, tapering to a point and is curly. Its position is the same as that
of a monkey`s tail.It has sensitivity and is apparently formed by normal flesh.
Apart from this deformity the child is a perfectly healthy baby - and quite good
tempered [well of course, probably thinking of the millions she`d make as a
traveling freak!] "Doctors who have seen the child - and we have had numbers
visiting us - tell me that they do not know of any recorded instance of such a
deformity. It is something new to medical science." The parents,healthy
working-class people, who have one child apart from this strange little girl,
were aghast when they made this remarkable discovery. It will be a relief to
them to know that surgeons are of opinion that the tail will be removable
without affecting the child`s health in any way.(1)
1. Cheshire Echo 31-1-1934
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