The Jennings daily record. [volume] (Jennings, La.) 1900-1903, 1902-05-12
MEN WITH TAILS.


MEN WITH TAILS.
Ne Proof of Relationship Between
Man and Monkey.
Occasional stories Of tailed men appear
the average rage reader as obviously mythicai
II we may believe;a writer in The British
many many perfectly authentic instances Of
men with tails, although such append
nses are, "a, Of course ,p abnormal normal, He thinks
been the results of developmensal errors.
and that they furnish no evidence OF
relationship between mai and the aEs..
They occur just at the terminal point of
the vertebral column: and at such points
ner of her holdings" She may add an
extra toe or finger to the foot or hand,
hardly regarded as abnormal. The writer
goes on to say:
abnormaIi i It is not difie1lt to go ,,'' a
little farther and understand how
casional human tail may about.
But such a departure is. nevertheless,
very uncommon, and excites much COM
ment when it occurs.
Quite the latest tail. the writer goes on
to say was described in The British
and fat. with vessels and nerves and a
few muscle tihers. but there no trace
of anything like the <ertebral column. 1t
was mobile, and when it removed at
the age of six months was of the length
OF In seY Il An Gaas dome vi. No 81
there is very detailed account of an
d'Enjoy, travelling in the Indo-Chinese re-
gion in 1880, captured member of the
He is said to have climber tree after
the fashion of "A monkey. to have con-
ner5ea WITH nd NJ noy ana his in cons MS
savage pride Nature. in Commenting
upon this description, observed that it
must be treated with respect. but hoped
that it would not be Ing befre these tailed
men were carefully described by trained
scientific observer. 1t is now more than
ten years since this SO-Called tailed race
was described, and apparentiy no cor
caudal appendage amongst these men has
been forthcoming.
Bartels, who collected accounts of all
kznown cases of tails in man shows that
references to them extend as far back as
men in Turkestan. who were held in con
tempt and condemned to constant inter
the tan was IN thT case c1 On
possessor from sitting properly on horse
back.
containing subcutaneous fat. others are
tumors. schatfer. who has recently and
iieves that most If not ali. true tails
arise from amniotiG adhesions. These
prolongation of the coccygeaI vertebrate
There is no description of a human
say. whether We are dealins with pre-
historic or with modern men, with more
am irtAt occasional added rib. or messtarsa, or
metacarpal bone; but, in spite of all the
talk and comment about the human tail,
the coccygeaI vertebrae appear to vary
only by deduction and not by addition.
There may be five vertebrae. more usually
four or three.
The spinal skeletons Of such creatures
as have existed previously to prehistoric
mammal record AMI which have gone on
through the ages. ana are still to be
found, retain their special skeletal char
acterS or species. Use, diSuSe and al
tered surroundings will not OF themselves
account for the persistence OF those char
acterS OF the human or general Nertebrat
skeleton mas been examined. An
CaSionaf true tail reVerSiOn would be
reasonable expectation if the human fam
thropoid or ape ancestry: but the con-
verse observation is the correct one. for
tail is no tail without Vertebraf
n0tochOrdal support.
1t appears almost as if all so-called
human tails that have been scientifically
examined might be placed in the same
category of anomalies aDnormafitieS
wherein should put the odd tags of
skin and areolar tissue that may develop
from any other part of the body. Every
surgeon in the course OF his life must
have such DEVELOPMENT error; some
OF them almost partake OF tn. nature of
mispla ICED or added organs. and may be
breasts. nipples, etc DR. Harrison'S
allied infant had hairs upon the surface
of its caudal appendaSe, and Supernum-
erary fingers often have nails. but neither
fact helps to work out descent.
For the present. in this twentieth cen
fury, ii seems wiser to regard the oltfeZ
ical and to regard the trained observa-
tions and examinations OF the more
cent anomalies as pointing to nothing
more tail-like than is indicated by sim
liar anomalies which occur with greater
frequency in various other parts of the
body. They may be simple developmental
errors with special halo OF romance
about them on account of their position.
-Literary Digest.