MINOR TERATA. 4 page perspiration. This is probably the same case quoted in the foregoing
paragraph in regard to the anomalies of hair. Otto, quoted by Sedgwick,
speaks of two brothers who were both totally edentulous. It might be
interesting in this connection to note that Oudet found in a fetus at
term all the dental follicles in a process of suppuration, leaving no
doubt that, if the fetus had been born viable, it would have been
edentulous. Giraldes mentions the absence of teeth in an infant of
sixteen months. Bronzet describes a child of twelve, with only half
its teeth, in whom the alveolar borders receded as in age. Baumes
remarks that he had seen a man who never had any teeth.
The anomalies of excessive dentition are of several varieties, those of
simple supernumerary teeth, double or triple rows, and those in
anomalous positions. Ibbetson saw a child with five incisors in the
inferior maxillary bone, and Fanton-Touvet describes a young lady who
possessed five large incisors of the first dentition in the superior
maxilla. Rayer notes a case of dentition of four canines, which first
made their appearance after pain for eight days in the jaws and
associated with convulsions. In an Ethiopian Soemmering has seen one
molar too many on each side and in each jaw. Ploucquet and Tesmer have
seen five incisors and Fanchard six. Many persons have the
supernumerary teeth parallel with their neighbors, anteriorly or
posteriorly. Costa reports a case in which there were five canine teeth
in the upper jaw, two placed laterally on either side, and one on the
right side behind the other two. The patient was twenty-six years of
age, well formed and in good health.
In some cases there is fusion of the teeth. Pliny, Bartholinus, and
Melanthon pretend to have seen the union of all the teeth, making a
continuous mass. In the "Musee de l'ecole dentaire de Paris" there are
several milk-teeth, both of the superior and inferior maxilla, which
are fused together. Bloch cites a case in which there were two rows of
teeth in the superior maxilla. Hellwig has observed three rows of
teeth, and the Ephemerides contain an account of a similar anomaly.
Extraoral Dentition.--Probably the most curious anomaly of teeth is
that in which they are found in other than normal positions. Albinus
speaks of teeth in the nose and orbit; Borellus, in the palate;
Fabricius Hildanus, under the tongue; Schenck, from the palate; and
there are many similar modern records. Heister in 1743 wrote a
dissertation on extraoral teeth. The following is a recent quotation:--
"In the Norsk Magazin fur Laegevidenskaben, January, 1895, it is
reported that Dr. Dave, at a meeting of the Medical Society in
Christiania, showed a tooth removed from the nose of a woman aged
fifty-three. The patient had consulted him for ear-trouble, and the
tooth was found accidentally during the routine examination. It was
easily removed, having been situated in a small depression at the
junction of the floor and external wall of the nasal cavity, 22 mm.
from the external nares. This patient had all her teeth; they were
placed somewhat far from each other. The tooth resembled a milk canine;
the end of the imperfect root was covered with a fold of mucous
membrane, with stratified epithelium. The speaker suggested that part
of the mucous membrane of the mouth with its tooth-germ had become
impacted between the superior and premaxillary bones and thus cut off
from the cavity of the mouth. Another speaker criticised this fetal
dislocation and believed it to be due to an inversion--a development in
the wrong direction--by which the tooth had grown upward into the nose.
The same speaker also pointed out that the stratified epithelium of the
mucous membrane did not prove a connection with the cavity of the
mouth, as it is known that cylindric epithelium-cells after irritative
processes are replaced by flat ones."
Delpech saw a young man in 1829 who had an opening in the palatine
vault occasioned by the extraction of a tooth. This opening
communicated with the nasal fossa by a fracture of the palatine and
maxillary bones; the employment of an obturator was necessary. It is
not rare to see teeth, generally canine, make their eruption from the
vault of the palate; and these teeth are not generally supernumerary,
but examples of vice and deviation of position. Fanton-Touvet, however,
gives an example of a supernumerary tooth implanted in the palatine
arch. Branch a describes a little negro boy who had two large teeth in
the nose; his dentition was otherwise normal, but a portion of the nose
was destroyed by ulceration. Roy describes a Hindoo lad of fourteen who
had a tooth in the nose, supposed to have been a tumor. It was of the
canine type, and was covered with enamel to the junction with the root,
which was deeply imbedded in the side and upper part of the antrum. The
boy had a perfect set of permanent teeth and no deformity, swelling, or
cystic formation of the jaw. This was clearly a case of
extrafollicular development and eruption of the tooth in an anomalous
position, the peculiarity being that while in other similar cases the
crown of the tooth shows itself at the floor of the nasal cavity from
below upward, in this instance the dental follicle was transposed, the
eruption being from above downward. Hall cites an instance in which the
right upper canine of a girl erupted in the nose. The subject showed
marked evidence of hereditary syphilis. Carver describes a child who
had a tooth growing from the lower right eyelid. The number of
deciduous teeth was perfect; although this tooth was canine it had a
somewhat bulbulous fang.
Of anomalies of the head the first to be considered will be the
anencephalous monsters who, strange to say, have been known to survive
birth. Clericus cites an example of life for five days in a child
without a cerebrum. Heysham records the birth of a child without a
cerebrum and remarks that it was kept alive for six days. There was a
child born alive in Italy in 1831 without a brain or a cerebellum--in
fact, no cranial cavity--and yet it lived eleven hours. A somewhat
similar case is recorded in the last century. In the Philosophical
Transactions there is mentioned a child virtually born without a head
who lived four days; and Le Duc records a case of a child born without
brain, cerebellum, or medulla oblongata, and who lived half an hour.
Brunet describes an anencephalous boy born at term who survived his
birth. Saviard delivered an anencephalous child at term which died in
thirty-six hours. Lawrence mentions a child with brain and cranium
deficient that lived five days. Putnam speaks of a female
nosencephalous monster that lived twenty-nine hours. Angell and Elsner
in March, 1895, reported a case of anencephaly, or rather
pseudencephaly, associated with double divergent strabismus and limbs
in a state of constant spastic contraction. The infant lived eight
days. Geoffroy-Saint-Hilaire cites an example of anencephaly which
lived a quarter of an hour. Fauvel mentioned one that lived two hours,
and Sue describes a similar instance in which life persisted for seven
hours and distinct motions were noticed. Malacarne saw life in one for
twelve hours, and Mery has given a description of a child born without
brain that lived almost a full day and took nourishment. In the
Hotel-Dieu in Paris in 1812 Serres saw a monster of this type which
lived three days, and was fed on milk and sugared water, as no nurse
could be found who was willing to suckle it.
Fraser mentions a brother and sister, aged twenty and thirty,
respectively, who from birth had exhibited signs of defective
development of the cerebellum. They lacked power of coordination and
walked with a drunken, staggering gait; they could not touch the nose
with the finger when their eyes were shut, etc. The parents of these
unfortunate persons were perfectly healthy, as were the rest of their
family. Cruveilhier cites a case of a girl of eleven who had absolutely
no cerebellum, with the same symptoms which are characteristic in such
cases. There is also recorded the history of a man who was deficient in
the corpus callosum; at the age of sixty-two, though of feeble
intelligence, he presented no signs of nervous disorder. Claude Bernard
made an autopsy on a woman who had no trace of olfactory lobes, and
after a minute inquiry into her life he found that her sense of smell
had been good despite her deficiency.
Buhring relates the history of a case somewhat analogous to viability
of anencephalous monsters. It was a bicephalous child that lived
thirty-two hours after he had ligated one of its heads.
{footnote} The argument that the brain is not the sole organ of the
mind is in a measure substantiated by a wonderful case of a decapitated
rooster, reported from Michigan. A stroke of the knife bad severed the
larynx and removed the whole mass of the cerebrum, leaving the inner
aspect and base of the skull exposed. The cerebrum was partly removed;
the external auditory meatus was preserved. Immediately after the
decapitation the rooster was left to its supposed death struggles, but
it ran headless to the barn, where it was secured and subsequently fed
by pushing corn down its esophagus, and allowing water to trickle into
this tube from the spout of an oil-can. The phenomena exhibited by the
rooster were quite interesting. It made all the motions of pecking,
strutted about, flapped its wings, attempted to crow, but, of course,
without making any sound. It exhibited no signs of incoordination, but
did not seem to hear. A ludicrous exhibition was the absurd, sidelong
pas seul made toward the hens.
Ward mentions an instance of congenital absence of the corpora
callosum. Paget and Henry mention cases in which the corpora callosum,
the fornix, and septum lucidum were imperfectly formed. Maunoir
reports congenital malformation of the brain, consisting of almost
complete absence of the occipital lobe. The patient died at the
twenty-eighth month. Combettes reports the case of a girl who died at
the age of eleven who had complete absence of the cerebellum in
addition to other minor structural defects; this was probably the case
mentioned by Cruveilhier.
Diminution in volume of the head is called microcephaly. Probably the
most remarkable case on record is that mentioned by Lombroso. The
individual was called "l'homme-oiseau," or the human bird, and his
cranial capacity was only 390 c.c. Lombroso speaks of another
individual called "l'homme-lapin," or man-rabbit, whose cranium was
only slightly larger than that of the other, measuring 490 mm. in
circumference. Castelli alludes to endemic microcephaly among some of
the peoples of Asia. We also find it in the Caribbean Islands, and from
the skulls and portraits of the ancient Aztecs we are led to believe
that they were also microcephalic.
Two creatures of celebrity were Maximo and Bartola, who for twenty-five
years have been shown in America and in Europe under the name of the
"Aztecs" or the "Aztec children". They were male and female and very
short, with heads resembling closely the bas-reliefs on the ancient
Aztec temples of Mexico. Their facial angle was about 45 degrees, and
they had jutting lips and little or no chin. They wore their hair in an
enormous bunch to magnify the deformity. These curiosities were born in
Central America and were possibly half Indian and Negro. They were
little better than idiots in point of intelligence.
Figure 92 represents a microcephalic youth known as the "Mexican wild
boy," who was shown with the Wallace circus.
Virchow exhibited a girl of fourteen whose face was no larger than that
of a new-born child, and whose head was scarcely as large as a man's
fist. Magitot reported a case of a microcephalic woman of thirty who
weighed 70 pounds.
Hippocrates and Strabonius both speak of head-binding as a custom
inducing artificial microcephaly, and some tribes of North American
Indians still retain this custom.
As a rule, microcephaly is attended with associate idiocy and arrested
development of the rest of the body. Ossification of the fontanelles in
a mature infant would necessarily prevent full development of the
brain. Osiander and others have noticed this anomaly. There are cases
on record in which the fontanelles have remained open until adulthood.
Augmentation of the volume of the head is called macrocephaly, and
there are a number of curious examples related. Benvenuti describes an
individual, otherwise well formed, whose head began to enlarge at
seven. At twenty-seven it measured over 37 inches in circumference and
the man's face was 15 inches in height; no other portion of his body
increased abnormally; his voice was normal and he was very intelligent.
He died of apoplexy at the age of thirty.
Fournier speaks of a cranium in the cabinet of the Natural History
Museum of Marseilles of a man by the name of Borghini, who died in
1616. At the time he was described he was fifty years old, four feet in
height; his head measured three feet in circumference and one foot in
height. There was a proverb in Marseilles, "Apas mai de sen que
Borghini," meaning in the local dialect, "Thou hast no more wit than
Borghini." This man, whose fame became known all over France, was not
able, as he grew older, to maintain the weight of his head, but carried
a cushion on each shoulder to prop it up. Fournier also quotes the
history of a man who died in the same city in 1807 at the age of
sixty-seven. His head was enormous, and he never lay on a bed for
thirty years, passing his nights in a chair, generally reading or
writing. He only ate once in twenty-four or thirty hours, never warmed
himself, and never used warm water. His knowledge was said to have been
great and encyclopedic, and he pretended never to have heard the
proverb of Borghini. There is related the account of a Moor, who was
seen in Tunis early in this century, thirty-one years of age, of middle
height, with a head so prodigious in dimensions that crowds flocked
after him in the streets. His nose was quite long, and his mouth so
large that he could eat a melon as others would an apple. He was an
imbecile. William Thomas Andrews was a dwarf seventeen years old,
whose head measured in circumference 35 inches; from one external
auditory meatus to another, 27 1/4 inches; from the chin over the
cranial summit to the suboccipital protuberance, 37 1/2 inches; the
distance from the chin to the pubes was 20 inches; and from the pubes
to the soles of the feet, 16; he was a monorchid. James Cardinal, who
died in Guy's Hospital in 1825, and who was so celebrated for the size
of his head, only measured 32 1/2 inches in head-circumference.
The largest healthy brains on record, that is, of men of prominence,
are those of Cuvier, weighing 64 1/3 ounces; of Daniel Webster,
weighing 63 3/4 ounces (the circumference of whose head was 23 3/4
inches); of Abercrombie, weighing 63 ounces, and of Spurzheim, weighing
55 1/16 ounces. Byron and Cromwell had abnormally heavy brains, showing
marked evidence of disease.
A curious instance in this connection is that quoted by Pigne, who
gives an account of a double brain found in an infant. Keen reports
finding a fornix which, instead of being solid from side to side,
consisted of two lateral halves with a triangular space between them.
When the augmentation of the volume of the cranium is caused by an
abundant quantity of serous fluid the anomaly is known as hydrocephaly.
In this condition there is usually no change in the size of the
brain-structure itself, but often the cranial bones are rent far
asunder. Minot speaks of a hydrocephalic infant whose head measured 27
1/2 inches in circumference; Bright describes one whose head measured
32 inches; and Klein, one 43 inches. Figure 93 represents a child of
six whose head circumference was 36 inches. Figure 94 shows a
hydrocephalic adult who was exhibited through this country.
There is a record of a curious monster born of healthy half-caste
African parents. The deformity was caused by a deficiency of osseous
material of the bones of the head. There was considerable arrest of
development of the parietal, temporal, and superior maxillary bones, in
consequence of which a very small amount of the cerebral substance
could be protected by the membranous expansion of the cranial centers.
The inferior maxilla and the frontal bone were both perfect; the ears
were well developed and the tongue strong and active; the nostrils were
imperforate and there was no roof to the mouth nor floor to the nares.
The eyes were curiously free from eyelashes, eyelids, or brows. The
cornea threatened to slough. There was double harelip on the left side;
the second and third fingers of both hands were webbed for their whole
length; the right foot wanted the distal phalanx of the great toe and
the left foot was clubbed and drawn inward. The child swallowed when
fed from a spoon, appeared to hear, but exhibited no sense of light. It
died shortly after the accompanying sketch was made.
Occasionally a deficiency in the osseous material of the cranium or an
abnormal dilatation of the fontanelles gives rise to a hernia of the
meninges, which, if accompanied by cerebrospinal fluid in any quantity,
causes a large and peculiarly shaped tumor called meningocele. If there
is a protrusion of brain-substance itself, a condition known as hernia
cerebri results.
Complete absence of the inferior maxilla is much rarer in man than in
animals. Nicolas and Prenant have described a curious case of this
anomaly in a sheep. Gurlt has named subjects presenting the total or
partial absence of the inferior maxilla, agnathes or hemiagnathes.
Simple atrophy of the inferior maxilla has been seen in man as well as
in the lower animals, but is much less frequent than atrophy of the
superior maxilla. Langenbeck reports the case of a young man who had
the inferior maxilla so atrophied that in infancy it was impossible for
him to take milk from the breast. He had also almost complete
immobility of the jaws. Boullard reports a deformity of the visage,
resulting in a deficiency of the condyles of the lower jaw. Maurice
made an observation on a vice of conformation of the lower jaw which
rendered lactation impossible, probably causing the death of the infant
on this account. Tomes gives a description of a lower jaw the
development of the left ramus of which had been arrested. Canton
mentions arrest of development of the left perpendicular ramus of the
lower jaw combined with malformation of the external ear.
Exaggerated prominence of the maxillaries is called prognathism; that
of the superior maxilla is seen in the North American Indians. Inferior
prognathism is observed in man as well as in animals. The bull-dog, for
example, displays this, but in this instance the deformity is really
superior brachygnathism, the superior maxilla being arrested in
development.
Congenital absence of the nose is a very rare anomaly. Maisonneuve has
seen an example in an individual in which, in place of the nasal
appendix, there was a plane surface perforated by two small openings a
little less than one mm. in diameter and three mm. apart.
Exaggeration in volume of the nose is quite frequent. Ballonius speaks
of a nose six times larger than ordinary. Viewing the Roman
celebrities, we find that Numa, to whom was given the surname
Pompilius, had a nose which measured six inches. Plutarch, Lyourgus,
and Solon had a similar enlargement, as had all the kings of Italy
except Tarquin the Superb.
Early in the last century a man, Thomas Wedders (or Wadhouse), with a
nose 7 1/2 inches long, was exhibited throughout Yorkshire. This man
expired as he had lived, in a condition of mind best described as the
most abject idiocy. The accompanying illustration is taken from a
reproduction of an old print and is supposed to be a true likeness of
this unfortunate individual.
There are curious pathologic formations about the nose which increase
its volume so enormously as to interfere with respiration and even with
alimentation; but these will be spoken of in another chapter.
There have been some celebrities whose noses were undersized. The Duc
de Guise, the Dauphin d'Auvergne, and William of Orange, celebrated in
the romances of chivalry, had extremely short noses.
There are a few recorded cases of congenital division of the nose.
Bartholinus, Borellus, and the Ephemerides speak of duplex noses.
Thomas of Tours has observed congenital fissure of the nose. Rikere
reports the case of an infant of three weeks who possessed a
supernumerary nose on the right nasal bone near the inner canthus of
the eye. It was pear-shaped, with its base down, and was the size of
the natural nose of an infant of that age, and air passed through it.
Hubbell, Ronaldson, and Luscha speak of congenital occlusion of the
posterior nares. Smith and Jarvis record cases of congenital occlusion
of the anterior nares.
Anomalies in size of the mouth are not uncommon. Fournier quotes the
history of a man who had a mouth so large that when he opened it all
his back teeth could be seen. There is a history of a boy of seventeen
who had a preternaturally-sized mouth, the transverse diameter being 6
1/2 inches. The mother claimed that the boy was born with his foot in
his mouth and to this fact attributed his deformity. The negro races
are noted for their large mouths and thick lips. A negro called "Black
Diamond," recently exhibited in Philadelphia, could put both his fists
in his mouth.
Morgan reports two cases of congenital macrostoma accompanied by
malformation of the auricles and by auricular appendages. Van Duyse
mentions congenital macrostoma with preauricular tumors and a dermoid
of the eye. Macrostoma is sometimes produced by lateral fissures. In
other cases this malformation is unilateral and the fissure ascends, in
which instance the fissure may be accompanied by a fistula of the duct
of Stensen. Sometimes there is associated with these anomalies curious
terminations of the salivary ducts, either through the cheek by means
of a fistula or on the anterior part of the neck.
Microstoma.--There are a few cases on record in which the mouth has
been so small or ill-defined as not to admit of alimentation. Molliere
knew an individual of forty whose mouth was the exact size of a
ten-centime piece.
Buchnerus records a case of congenital atresia of the mouth. Cayley,
Smith, Sourrouille, and Stankiewiez of Warsaw discuss atresia of the
mouth. Cancrum oris, scarlet fever, burns, scurvy, etc., are occasional
causes that have been mentioned, the atresia in these instances taking
place at any time of life.
Anomalies of the Lips.--The aboriginal tribes are particularly noted
for their large and thick lips, some of which people consider enormous
lips signs of adornment. Elephantiasis or other pathologic hypertrophy
of the labial tissues can produce revolting deformity, such as is seen
in Figure 100, representing an individual who was exhibited several
years ago in Philadelphia. We have in English the expression, "pulling
a long lip." Its origin is said to date back to a semimythical hero of
King Arthur's time, who, "when sad at heart and melancholic," would let
one of his lips drop below his waist, while he turned the other up like
a cap on his head.
Blot records a case of monstrous congenital hypertrophy of the superior
lip in an infant of eight months. Buck successfully treated by surgical
operations a case of congenital hypertrophy of the under lip, and
Detmold mentions a similar result in a young lady with hypertrophy of
the lip and lower part of the nose. Murray reports an undescribed
malformation of the lower lip occurring in one family.
Hare-lip may be unilateral or double, and may or may not include the
palatine arch. In the worst cases it extends in fissures on both sides
to the orbit. In other cases the minimum degree of this deformity is
seen.
Congenital absence of the tongue does not necessarily make speech,
taste, or deglutition impossible. Jussieu cites the case of a girl who
was born without a tongue but who spoke very distinctly. Berdot
describes a case in which the tongue was deficient, without apparent
disturbance of any of the functions. Riolan mentions speech after loss
of the tongue from small-pox.
Boddington gives an account of Margaret Cutting, who spoke readily and
intelligibly, although she had lost her tongue. Saulquin has an
observation of a girl without a tongue who spoke, sang, and swallowed
normally. Aurran, Bartholinus, Louis, Parsons, Tulpius, and others
mention speech without the presence of a tongue.
Philib reports a case in which mutism, almost simulating that of one
congenitally deaf, was due to congenital adhesions of the tongue to the
floor of the buccal cavity. Speech was established after removal of the
abnormal adhesion. Routier speaks of ankylosis of the tongue of
seventeen years' duration.
Jurist records such abnormal mobility of the tongue that the patient
was able to project the tongue into the nasopharynx. Wherry and
Winslow record similar instances.
There have been individuals with bifid tongues, after the normal type
of serpents and saurians, and others who possessed a supernumerary
tongue. Rev. Henry Wharton, Chaplain to Archbishop Sancroft, in his
journal, written in the seventeenth century, says that he was born with
two tongues and passed through life so, one, however, gradually
atrophying. In the polyclinic of Schnitzer in Vienna in 1892 Hajek
observed in a lad of twelve an accessory tongue 2.4 cm. in length and
eight mm. in breadth, forming a tumor at the base of the normal tongue.
It was removed by scissors, and on histologic examination proved to be
a true tongue with the typical tissues and constituents. Borellus,
Ephemerides, Eschenbach, Mortimer, Penada, and Schenck speak of double
tongues, and Avicenna and Schenck have seen fissured tongues. Dolaeus
records an instance of double tongue in a paper entitled "De puella
bilingui," and Beaudry and Brothers speak of cleft tongue. Braine
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