Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine | Page 6

our data, we shall be glad to
receive information of any unpublished anomalous or curious cases,
either of the past or in the future.
For many courtesies most generously extended in aiding our
research-work we wish, among others, to acknowledge our especial
gratitude and indebtedness to the officers and assistants of the
Surgeon-General's Library at Washington, D.C., the Library of the
Royal College of Surgeons of London, the Library of the British
Museum, the Library of the British Medical Association, the
Bibliotheque de Faculte de Medecine de Paris, the Bibliotheque
Nationale, and the Library of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia.
GEORGE M. GOULD. PHILADELPHIA, October, 1896. WALTER L.
PYLE.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.




CHAPTER PAGES

I. GENETIC ANOMALIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17-49
II. PRENATAL ANOMALIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50-112
III. OBSTETRIC ANOMALIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113-143
IV. PROLIFICITY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144-160
V. MAJOR TERATA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161-212
VI. MINOR TERATA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213-323
VII. ANOMALIES OF STATURE, SIZE, AND DEVELOPMENT . . .
324-364
VIII. LONGEVITY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 365-382
IX. PHYSIOLOGIC AND FUNCTIONAL ANOMALIES . . . . . . .
383-526
X. SURGICAL ANOMALIES OF THE HEAD AND NECK . . . . . .
527-587
XI. SURGICAL ANOMALIES OF THE EXTREMITIES . . . . . . .
588-605
XII. SURGICAL ANOMALIES OF THE THORAX AND
ABDOMEN . . . 606-666
XIII. SURGICAL ANOMALIES OF THE GENITOURINARY
SYSTEM . .667-696
XIV. MISCELLANEOUS SURGICAL ANOMALIES . . . . . . . . .
697-758
XV. ANOMALOUS TYPES AND INSTANCES OF
DISEASE . . . . . .759-822
XVI. ANOMALOUS SKIN-DISEASES . . . . . . . . . . . . . .823-851
XVII. ANOMALOUS NERVOUS AND MENTAL DISEASES . . . . . .
852-890
XVIII. HISTORIC EPIDEMICS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 891-914

ANOMALIES AND CURIOSITIES OF MEDICINE.




CHAPTER I.
GENETIC ANOMALIES.

Menstruation has always been of interest, not only to the student of
medicine, but to the lay-observer as well. In olden times there were
many opinions concerning its causation, all of which, until the era of
physiologic investigation, were of superstitious derivation. Believing
menstruation to be the natural means of exit of the feminine bodily
impurities, the ancients always thought a menstruating woman was to
be shunned; her very presence was deleterious to the whole animal
economy, as, for instance, among the older writers we find that Pliny
remarks: "On the approach of a woman in this state, must will become
sour, seeds which are touched by her become sterile, grass withers
away, garden plants are parched up, and the fruit will fall from the tree
beneath which she sits." He also says that the menstruating women in
Cappadocia were perambulated about the fields to preserve the
vegetation from worms and caterpillars. According to Flemming,
menstrual blood was believed to be so powerful that the mere touch of
a menstruating woman would render vines and all kinds of fruit-trees
sterile. Among the indigenous Australians, menstrual superstition was
so intense that one of the native blacks, who discovered his wife lying
on his blanket during her menstrual period, killed her, and died of terror
himself in a fortnight. Hence, Australian women during this season are
forbidden to touch anything that men use. Aristotle said that the very
look of a menstruating woman would take the polish out of a mirror,
and the next person looking in it would be bewitched. Frommann
mentions a man who said he saw a tree in Goa which withered because
a catamenial napkin was hung on it. Bourke remarks that the dread felt
by the American Indians in this respect corresponds with the particulars
recited by Pliny. Squaws at the time of menstrual purgation are obliged
to seclude themselves, and in most instances to occupy isolated lodges,
and in all tribes are forbidden to prepare food for anyone save
themselves. It was believed that, were a menstruating woman to step
astride a rifle, a bow, or a lance, the weapon would have no utility.
Medicine men are in the