Why 



There are Defective 

 and Monsters 



It is not our purpose in this article to com- 

 ment upon the ethical right of a physician to 

 permit a defective infant to die. What can 

 science do to prevent Bollinger babies from 

 being defectives? Why arc defectives born 

 from apparently normal and healthy parents? 

 The subject has been studied by man\ scien- 

 tists and their results are here summarized. — 

 Editor. 



A cretin, aged 

 forty-two 



A defective who is 

 almost an idiot 



BOTH in Sinbad, the sailor, of Ara- 

 bian Nights' fame, and Homer's 

 Odyssey, there are narrated, strange 

 tales of a monster with one eye in 

 the middle of its head, who was so 

 gigantic and so voracious that he ate 

 t\yo men for breakfast and two for 

 supper, besides emptying three bowls of 

 wine. This creature was called Cyclops 

 or Polyphemus. Another strange for- 

 mation described in tradition as a 

 "Winged Horse" was Pegasus, the steed 

 of the ]\Iuses, which was faster than or- 

 dinary horses, because of its wings. Uni- 

 corns or horses with spear-like horns 

 are also mentioned in ancient histories 

 as are other human, animal, and plant 

 pedigreed prodigies. 



Side-shows, dime museums, fairs and 

 the circus have special departments de- 

 voted to exhibitions of Jo-Jo, the Dog- 

 Faced Boy ; the Bearded Lady, Siamese 

 Twins ; two-headed calves ; four-legged 

 hens, and various 

 animal and human 

 monstrosities. _ The 

 manner in which 

 the odd, contorted 

 creatures are form- 

 ed, whether they 

 are inherited, like 

 club foot, color 

 blindness, and 

 webbed fingers, or 

 are suddenly 

 caused before birtli 



A twin egg monster before development 

 83 



as the little Chicago baby's deformities 

 were traced to the prospective mother's 

 typhoid fever, has been a much debated 

 medical point. 



Dr. E. I. VVerber, of Princeton and 

 iale Universities, has undertaken ex- 

 perimentally to ring the changes on all 

 theories, doubts and opinions by finding 

 exact facts upon which to base the 

 whole problem. It is now possible to 

 attempt an explanation of the strange 

 malformation of the little Bollinger 

 baby born in the Chicago German- 

 American Hospital on Friday, Novem- 

 ber 12, 1915, which created such wide- 

 spread interest, because Dr. H. V. 

 Haiselden, the German surgeon, refused 

 to operate to save its life. The principal 

 physical deformities in that much-dis- 

 cussed case were the closure of the in- 

 testinal tract, paralysis of the nerves of 

 the right side of the face, the absence 

 of the right ear, blindness of one eye, 

 and malformation 

 of the shoulders. 

 The brain was only 

 slightly subnormal, 

 but the cranial 

 nerves were absent 

 or undeveloped. 



"If he grew up 

 he would be a 

 hopeless cripple 

 and would suffer 

 from fits," said the 

 doctor. 



