The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1886-12-31
1ALAHD OF DwARfs AND oR1ppLEs.
Miserable Specimens OF Humanity
That are Seen in Lombardy.

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Miserable Specimens Of Humanity
That are Seen in Lombardy.
Ipromised in . former contribution
to say something about the extraordin-
ary number of physical monstrosities
one sees throughout the length and
breadth of tho province Of Lombardy,
writes . Milan correspondent Of The
San francisco Chronicle. Men here,
as rule, are rather low-staturcd. They
are, nevertheless, strong and wiry, al
though the amount Of food they in.
dividually put away" is very small
and of inferior quality. Sinewy and
brawny-limbed giants like Artcvelo and
Caboche, the peasant-born cavaliers of
the middle ages, seem as utterly ex-
tinct as the race of Irish wolf-dogs. 1t
is, for instance, a rare sight to see in
Milan an individual over six feet in
height, while dwarfs waddle up against
you at every street corner. Every
where your eye falls on cripples, hunch-
backs, and otherwise deformed unfor.
tunates of born sexes-the percentage
OF such folks being enormously large
from one end of Lombardy to the other
After having made very minute in
quiry into the causes of this anomaly. l
am in position to inform you that it
is the result of marriage in the forbid
den degrees of kinship. Lombardians
are very clannish in their customs.
First cousins wed first cousins, and un-
cles and nieces. unable to get their un-
ion officially sanctioned. frequently CO.
habit, the result being that the children
born of such parents, are, in some way
or other, miserable detormities-crip-
pies, dwarfs, and hunchbacks, or idiots
and lunatics. Gentlemen having
the welfare of their country At heart
have done and are doing their best to
combat the evil. but am sorry to say
that they have signally failed in their
efforts.
This mortal and material nuisance is
furthermore aggravated by the fact
that these deformities themselves inter-
marry. and in the majority of cases be-
get monsters like themselves. I know
that male and female cripples. who are
professional beggars. make some money
on the highroads Of Italy by exhibiting
~ their own wellproportioned children
to the tourists gaze; but most of these
nendicants are rank imposters Girls
OF stately stature and symmetrical build
never espouse dwarfs, although female
dwarfs or hunchbacka provided with .
fair amount Of hard cash, can find little
difficulty in securing good-sized pau
per for husband any day in the 365.
OF ths two sexes. therefore, the male
cripple, dwarf or hunchback ID the most
unfortunate. He may belong to . very
honorable family and have thousands
Of francs to his credit in bank, but
neither his gold nor responsibility will
induce any buxom maid or widow to
share her lot with his. Baffied in his
effort to get decent-looking wife, he
usually weds diminutive monstrosity
like himself. and becomes in due course
Of time the father Of an interesting
family. And SO the race degenerates.
And 80 the children of Hercules, by q
gradual weakening and wasting of
blood, become SO many grinning Lilli-
putians-sad and woe-begone spectacles
alike for gods and men. It is the
old story once more of the painting
spoken ofby Horace in his epistle to
Pisos. The head is tho head of Venus,
but the tail il that Of fish.