Account of a remarkable production, resembling a tail, which was attached to the extremity of the vertebral column of a man / by Arthur Jacob.

  • Jacob, Arthur, 1790-1874.
Date:
[1827]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Account of a remarkable production, resembling a tail, which was attached to the extremity of the vertebral column of a man / by Arthur Jacob. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    merely a pouch of skin reflected inwardly and embracing a cylindrical resisting body nearly six inches long, and thicker than the thumb. This cylindrical body was doubled upon itself, as if so disposed in order to fit in the pouch ; it also was covered with true skin. This extraordinary pro- duction adhered firmly by one extremity to the spine, and upon attempting to detach it the con- nexion was found to be osseous ; the bone however was so spongy that it yielded to the knife. The superfluous skin having been removed, the lips of the wound were brought together, and it healed satisfactorily, leaving the patient free from distress on this account. When the pouch was first divided, and the con- tained member fully displayed, its appearance was so characteristic, that no doubt was entertained of its being a real tail ; which has since caused no small degree of merriment. When the part came into my possession, I made a longitudinal section of it from end to end, and found that it was fur- nished throughout with a bony core or centre consisting of separate pieces, distinctly jointed to each other with perfect synovial capsules ; as re- presented in the annexed plate, (No. 15.) However unwilling I may be to disappoint the hopes of those who have been in expectation of an “ homo ferus caudatus Hibernus” to place beside the “ juvenis ferus ovinus Hibernus” of the class mammalia order Primates, and genus, Homo of the