The record-union., 1898-08-04
MEN AND WOMEN WITH HORNS
Well Authenticated Cases of HUI
man Beings Thus Adorned.

man Beings Thus Adorned.
This phenomenon is more frequently
met with than is generally believed.
Such is the force of prejudice that
nearly all of US would rather have
two noses or four feet than the emblem
which in bygone ages was considered
the supreme ornament of man. II is
in this view that horns are attributed
to gods and heroes. Alexander the
Great. when he proclaimed himself the
son of Jupiter, gave orders that on
the coins which should be struck there
after he should be represented bearing
horns. Michel Angelo, when he made
a statue Of Moses, depicted the Hebrew
legislator with horns, as a sign of man.
ly strength The kings of India were
wont to have horns attached to their
helmets as mark Of their supreme
rank. The great gods. like Jupiter,
Pan, and even Astarte, the goddess of
the Syrians, were represented with
horns, as an Indication of their mighty
power. In the course of time the horn
lost its significance, and ceased to be
regarded as a mark Of splendor, force
and dignity.
NJ Villeneuve has written a book in
which he describes seventy-one cases
of horned human beings. Fifty per
cent of these occurred in the cases of
men who had the horns, like animals,
on the forehead. The statistics show
that more women are horned than men,
and the horns of the women are usually
longer than those of men. In the Brit
iSh Museum is the largest specimen
Of a human horn. 1t is eight inches
in length, and Ornamented the head
of a noble Englishman In the sew
enteenth century a Mrs. Allen OF
Leicestershire, England, had pair OF
horns. So far from being ashamed
she was proud of them and wore them
as an ornament all her life. They at
tracted to her, it is told, numerous ad-
mirers. Another Englishwoman of the
same town, known as the beautlful
Mary Davis, had pair of horns, which
were regarded as an addition to her
charms. She had them cut off four
times, but they grew again. One
growth was presented to King Henry
". Of France.
NJ. Lamprey and other travellers have
told Of people who number among them
numerous specimens of horned men and
women. These people are found in
certain regions Of Western Africa. In
1857, NJ. Lamprey relates, he found IN
the African territory of Ganim sew
eral imposing types of horned men and
women. One of these was majestic
looking negro with two horns, which in
his case sprang one from each side OF
the nose. A Mexican named Rodrigues
is described as having horn on the
side of his head, about seven inches
long, with three branches like the horn
of stag.
Are horns hereditary? 1t would ap
pear from the observations of physi-
clans who have carefully studied these
excrescences that they are sometimes
hereditary, though not as a general
rule. M. Dublanc relates in the Jour
nal de Pharmacie'' for 1880 that the
Medical Society sent him for analysis
three human horns, of which one was
cut from the head of the grandfather
of the person who bore the other two.
Animals that are not usually horned
sometimes, like the human race, put
forth Unexpectedly a decoration of this
kind. There are ll-authenticated
cases of horns being found on dogs,
horses and hares; and there is even
one case related by trustworthy
physician of their being seen on a cat.
What is the nature of this horn forma-
ton? According to Malpighi, whose
opinion is entitled to great weight,
horns are the nervous prolongation Of
the skin. Bieschu, another judge not
to be despised, says they are due to a
morbid secretion. Without entering
into details on this subject it may be
said that it is agreed that in their es-
sence human horns are analogous, in
their, substance, to that Of the horns
of animals, to human nails, and the
claws Of beasts Whatever it may be,
these excrescences do not threaten
either the health or the life of those
who have them.-Revue des Revues,
Paris