The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1897-08-31

But Refuses to Tell What his Scneno -
1t 10 Believed He ID Seeking to Prove
That at One Time the Human Being
of Dieits-what He Has Discovered
Among the HexadactyIous Of America.
Chicago, Aug. 30.-Hexadactylous spe-
cimens Of the human family are pour
ing in on Professor Starr at the Chicago
University with much rapidity. They
are coming 80 fast, in fast, that the an
thropologist fears ne will have 10 employ
a curator TO keep track OF them II the
rush continues. Up to yesterday fifty
one cases had been reported.
Wisconsin seems to be prolific Of six
fingered folks. The first case brought
TO Professor Stars notice was from Mil
waukee, and was in the professors COM
pany seven hours after reading the ad-
vertisement in the Times-Herald. The
next mail brought notice of more in the
same state. The Hexadactylous field in
Wisconsin promises a rich yield.
Nearer home the total is footing up
rapidly, too. Hyde Park has resolved it,
self into a colony Of explorers for Profess
sor Stars benefit. Cases, dead and
alive, have been reported to the scientist
The majority have been those Of chill
dren, and most Of these have had the
extra digfts removed by surgical pro-
cess. From the rest Of the city letters
have come in by the dozens, some from
hexadactylouS cases themselves, others
from parents of children who were born
with an over supply Of fingers or toes
The majority, however, have been from
physicians interested in the cases from
the medical standpoint. They have gen.
orally added a postscript that the wrI<-
ers stand ready to aid the professor in
his enterprise for the sake OF science.
All the cases reported have complied
strictly with all the specifications. They
have the required number Of fingers or
with less than five should be excluded.
He had rather hoped that Of the former
he might receive several. He had put
the limit al eleven fingers or toes, as the
case might be, and he fully expects TO
hear from some such cases yet. and Pro-
fassor Starr does not see why America
tographs of freaks that have fingers and
toes all the way from one to six above
the normal number, and he is certain
that there have been cases where as
many as thirteen were allotted by nature
Perfectly developed hexadactylous hands
have been rare, Professor Starr affirms.
but once in a while the scientists have
stumbled on such cases. AS a rule the
extra finger or fingeds are simply Off
shoots from one of the regular members
and are for the most part fieshp protub-
erances:
IF 1 should let the scret be known"
he says, my investigations might be
useless. I admit that it is the most SIM
pie thing in the world, and 1 could tell
you the whole story in a single word,
but 1 do not know when l shall be ready
to publish the results Of my exepri-
msnts."
The friends Of Professor Starr believe
that the experimentation in heredity is
the object Of the scientists quest. Cou-
pied with this is atavsm, interest in
which has been reawakened by the dra-
ma Of Breaux, recently put on the
r
| the existence OF atavism, and has boldly
attacked the theories of Lombroso and
Nordau and others.
Atavism has deeply interested Profess
sor Starr of late, and he quite willingly
gives his ideas upon it in so far as it
relates TO the hexadactylic specimens
sought.
''Six-fingered and six-toed people have
played an important part in the discus
sion on atavism," says the professor.
THE whole question hinges on the sup
position that hexadactylous cases in the
human family are proof of a prehunan
condition Of like nature. In other words
were the remote ancestors OF the human
| family hexadactyIous? To satisfy our
selves we must go back TO the verte-
brates Of prehuman times. The only
| species in which we find this condition
to hold true is in that Of the fishes. That
| is, the fins are made UP Of number OF
| bony rays.
Now, Haeckel, the German savant.
! held that when human had six fingers
/ it was the recurrence OF a condition thai
had existed in pre-hmman times. On
IL
! human race may return TO lis former
! condition Of six-fingeredness, if that con-
| dition ever existed. The grounds on
which such theorists stand is hypo.heti-
| cal and I think a majority OF the Scient-
| lists have taken the opposite view. Hea-
| excl strengthened MS theory by pointing
on. thai hexadactylous condition would
! run through family for three genera
| tons Haeckel's opponents insisted that
! the recurrence was simply dicho'omy. or
+ doubling For instance. lizards have
! been found with TWO tails. YET there is
no reason 70 suppose that the species
| from which the lizard sprang were origi-
nally so endowed.
1T is not at ali likely that the human
| family Will ever be possessed OF six or
more fingers ana toes. We do not know
/ for a certainty that our ancestors ever
! had more than the usual allotment Of fin
( gers and toes. and unless mating LOOK
place with that idea in mind. l think we
/ need nave no fear in that direction l
J do not think that siN-fingered race
would be as successful as one with less.
| Most people I have come across have tn
/ ed % sc: rid ot their extra fingers. Some
are ashamed OF The extra digits. They
! seem % think that they have been sin
/ gled out by nature as freaks and are
anxious 10 hide their defornlity. some,
! no doubt, may think that hexadacty5srr
| Is ieyene-acy. and FOR that reason Try %
| sopear natural. Whatever l. *, Il s
an interesting study. The only thing 81
! the present case with which ! am dis
appointed is that The persons reported
| have stuck too close 20 the wording OF
| Ne advertisement. am anxious 10