A FREAK OF NATURE, 



45i 



" She was of very dark complexion," says he, " short of stature and 

 well proportioned ; her hands and feet were small, her nails yellow ; 

 she had a beautiful breast. Her tresses were very long, deep black, 

 and coarse as horse-hair, and she had a strong beard. Her forehead 

 was overgrown with hair, down to the bushy eyebrows, which over- 

 shadowed her soft, humid eyes within their border of black lashes. 



Fig. 3. 



Julia Pastrana. 



Her face was made specially hideous by the excessive development of 

 the half-open lips ; she spoke with difficulty, and sang mezzo-soprano 

 in Spanish. The parts having the heaviest covering of hair were the 

 shoulders and the hips, the breast and the spinal column. On the 

 limbs the hairiness was greatest on the inner side." 



Mr. Darwin recognizes the existence of a constant relation between 

 the hair and the teeth, and cites the deficiency of teeth in hairless 

 dogs. He says that in those exceptional cases in which the hair has 

 been renewed in old age, this has " usually been accompanied by a re- 

 newal of the teeth." According to him, the great reduction in the 

 size of the tusks in domestic boars probably stands in close relation 

 with their diminished bristles. Then, after referring to the Burmese 

 family and Julia Pastrana, Mr. Darwin says : " These cases forcibly 

 call to mind the fact that the two orders of mammals— namely, the 

 Edentata and Cetacea — which are the most abnormal in their dermal 

 covering, are likewise the most abnormal by deficiency or redundancy 

 of teeth." 



