The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1885-06-15
NArURE.s CURIOUS rRrAKs
Some Physical Monstrosities Not Founa
in the Museums,


Park. The Prince Trepotkine, who is
justly regarded as one Of the most brill
liant minds in the Russian emni,e !.
the physical prodigy and monstro.
sity OF an Intelligent man with his head
at the termination of his right arm \
hand and arm growing out of his necS
and falling down over his breast, Rorn
In 1885, the prince has received n
thorough education, and is known
tnro ugnout me RUSSIAN empire as a
statesman and poet of high order.
The monstroslty that is so eaTefnnv.
guarded i'll the mansion on West Fifty-
seventh street is perfectly formed
man about 80 years old, whose head
and face Is O block, as IL wore. that is
the sides and the top of the head al we'll
IS the face are perfectly fat or slab.
sided. The ears do not project, but are
tnterllneatal, and the same with the
features the nose being yery slight
pIotruoerance, but natural in les tunc-
tons ihere is good growth OF hair
on toe papus; tne eyebrows are perfect,
but excepting @ slight mustache no
beard has ever grown on the face he.
yond coatingot down. Thus deiormed,
no effort was ever made to educate the
unfortunate man, for the reason that
heis 80 wilful that it has ALWAYS been
deemed best to let MIN have his own
way. He possesses, however, mueh
natural intelligence, and has
remarkably retentive memory, ana
to certain extent he has edu.
Gated himself. Never forgetting any
thing that ne hears,he remembers dates,
names ana occurrences, and can carry
on a conversation by repeating what ne
has heard on the subject, evfncjng an
Intelligent appreciation or what be- is
saying. Chirography eXcites in him
the lyeliest interest and wonder, and
one OF his idiosyncraoies is to treasure
all pieces of writing that he comes
across. He is also much delighted Inv
plcturesi and illustrated papers form
his chief amusement. The ample means
Of the family enable them to provide
him with an attendant and every com.
Tort, ana besides he has an inheritance
from grandfather, form
erly very prominent NOR
chant in New England, which, with
the compounded interest and accrued
income which has been allowed to ae-
cumulate in his trust in event of family
misfortune now amounts to snug little
fortune. He is generally amiahle and
passive, although self-willed, and is ap.
parently perfectly contented with hia
lot. At times, however, he becomes
cross and vicious, when he can only be
governed by his attendant, now an AGED
Irish woman, who has had his care ever
since his birth. He occupies suit of
rooms at the top OF the house, and being
rather weak, but not otherwise nm
healthy, sci ION cares to leave his
apartments. He is allowed, whenever
Inclined to do so, to roam about the
house accompanied by his nurse,
The only vicious trait manifested ~
the unfortunate man is when in a bad
humor he always makes an effort to
start hTe, and the sight of flames
drives INN almost to q frenzy Of de-
light, mixed with savage glee. Once he
ran ahead OF his nurse and managed to
secre'e himself in the cellar. Not inn
mediately found, he was allowed TO re-
main unmoiested, the nurse believing
he would reveal himself when he found
that no search was being made for him.
Net az bearing, however, the nurse re-
pa4rea to the cellar aud found him
throwing wood into the furnace, eyi-
denLly with the Intention Of starting
biz blaze. As soon as he saw the nurse
he skunk back into a corner, evidently
determined to defend himself in his re-
treat to watch the fire he had started,
IL is remembered that shortly before
his birth the mother Was L0rIibiy fright
ened by a fire in the ueigbborhood,
which threatened to oxtend TO the
building OF which she was an inmate
His idiOsyncrasy in regard to fire is
physiologically accounted for or at
tributed TO TINS fact He will sit and
watch the fire in the CRATE or the gas
burning by the hour in oontemplative
interest and cOntentment. The CRATE
In his room is protected by strong iron
network under lock and key, and the
gas burners arc similarly inclosed, 80
as TO prevent nm from reaching the
flame. IL is feared that he might be in
clined TO tamper with the burner in
one Of his vicious moods. An indul-
gence is TO allow him to ignite a guam
tity OF paper the burning of which af-
fords him much pleasure. Peceiving
his father smoking n cigar, he once
surreptitiously obtained one, but the
taste OF tho tobacco sickened him and
he has meyer since attempted % become
smoker. IL pleRses him, however, To
watch his father smoke, and no will
frequently request his father to
"smoke." A sister was born SUISSE
quent To his birth but she died in in
fancy. She was perfectly formed,
beautiful, health child,
ETho appearance OF the head and face
OF this unfortunate man suggests that a
circular and smooth compress had been
placed on his features as he was grow
Ing, and tho result is that the growth of
all the features and the curves Of the
face and head have been suppressed
and made uniformly smooth all around,
he was born with this slab sided de-
fOrmity, however, aud growth has not
developed any oj the features or the
shape ei the head. There Is q number
OF deformivas Of the head, ears and face
strongly resembling those OF q pig, and
to this class the physicians ascribe This
singular freak OF nature, Usually per-
sons possessing defOrmities of this class
are viciously inclined, but this man has
no bad habits. He is clearly and care
NJ OF his personal appearance, and sell
dom gives any trouble To his nurse, 10
whom he is apparently much attached,
II Is fortunate Tor him that the accident
Of birth placed him Ia such good
circumstances. In more humble
sphere Of lie he would probably have
been placed IN amuseum. Most Of the
deformities exhibited in such places,
however-among them the man crab
and the four armed boy-are simply
cases of distorted growth, which the
SURG cons knife could easily remedy. Il
may not be out OF place TO state, in pass.
Ing, that an article on this subject some
months ago in these columns, describ-
Ing a deformity ina dime museum Of q
youth whose fingers on both hands had
al grown together, attracted the atten-
ton oil this unfortunate boy, end, learn
Ing that such n case of arrested growth
could DO easily remedied, he applied to
q humane physician aud had an opera
zion performed which resulted in his
recovering, or rather obtaining, full use
OF his fingers. The freak of nature de-
acribed In this article, however, IL be-
yond remedy by the surgeons scalpel,
or an operation would have been per
formed long ago. ! New York Times.