268 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society. 



XIX. Observations on Cyclopea in the Human Subject aiid in 

 the Lower Animals. By J. Symington, Esq., M.D., 

 F.RS.K, and G. Sims Woodhead, Esq., M.D., E.E.S.E. 



(Read 21st Aprill886.) 



Cyclopea, although comparatively rare in the human sub- 

 ject, is by no means of uncommon occurrence amongst 

 mammals, but seems to be rare in birds. The degree of 

 malformation varies very considerably, even in the same 

 species, but it preserves a comparative uniformity in all 

 mammals, as can readily be explained by the similarity 

 in the general mode of development of the face, brain, and 

 cranium. 



The most recent and elaborate contribution to the subject 

 of Cyclopean monsters is by Professor Hannover of Copen- 

 hagen,^ who holds that we must look for the cause of this 

 condition in an incomplete development of the anterior part 

 of the primordial cartilage of the base of the skull, and we 

 must not consider it as merely an arrest of development. 

 He further points out that in man cyclopea is frequently 

 associated with hydrocephalus, more rarely with anence- 

 phalus, and often with deformities of various kinds, such as 

 irregularly developed genital organs, etc. He has collected 

 records of 103 cases occurring in the human subject, 30 in 

 oxen, 51 in sheep, 9 in goats, 1 in a stag, 130 in pigs, 10 in 

 horses, 22 in dogs, 12 in cats, and 3 in monkeys. It is 

 scarcely necessary to point out that a very large number of 

 the cases occurring amongst the smaller mammals are never 

 recorded ; indeed Mr Brotherston of Kelso ^ informs us that 



1 Memoires de TAcadeniie Royale de Copenhague, 6me Serie des Sciences, 

 Vol. i., No. 9. 



2 "Cyclopea in Lambs. Mr Murray, Kirksknowe, sent for presentation, 

 April lOth, 1878, a lamb's head, a regular Cyclops, having only one eye in 

 the centre of the forehead. It was only one of about thirty similarly de- 

 formed, the whole of them being the offspring of one ram. As is usual in 

 most cases of the kind there is a coalescence of the two eyes ; the lamb died 

 shortly after birth" (Zoological Notes by A. Brotherston, Transactions of 

 the Berwickshire Naturalists' Club, vol. viii., 1876-78). 



