DISUSE AND ITS EFFECTS. 55 



the number may amount to five, and no abnormal pro- 

 jection be observable. Thus far a well-developed tail 

 in an adult human subject containing bony elements 

 continuing the vertebral series has yet to be detected. 

 In the new-born child, soft tails about an inch in length 

 have been observed : these contained cartilaginous tissue 

 and resembled the flexible tail of pigs. 



FIG. 28. An ^Egipan sporting with a Faun. Bacchus and 

 Silenus. 



Many instances of tailed children when critically 

 examined turn out to be tumours or tufts of hair in the 

 loin. A general notion of a false tail may be gathered 

 from the African child represented in fig. 26. In this 

 case a large rounded tumour hangs pendulous from the 

 child's buttocks, and a little imagination would soon 



