. ."
As ancient and as obscure as are these records, Ballantyne has
carefully gone over each, and gives the following lucid
explanatory comments:--
"What 'ears like a lion' (No. 1) may have been it is difficult to
determine; but doubtless the direction and shape of the auricles
were so altered as to give them an animal appearance, and
possibly the deformity was that called 'orechio ad ansa' by
Lombroso. The absence of one or both ears (Nos. 2 and 3) has been
noted in recent times by Virchow (Archiv fur path. Anat. xxx., p.
221), Gradenigo (Taruffi's 'Storia della Teratologia,' vi., p.
552), and others. Generally some cartilaginous remnant is found,
but on this point the Chaldean record is silent. Variations in
the size of the ears (Nos. 4 and 5) are well known at the present
time, and have been discussed at length by Binder (Archiv fur
Psychiatrie und Nervenkrankheiten, xx., 1887) and others. The
exact malformation indicated in Nos. 6 and 7 is, of course, not
to be determined, although further researches in Assyriology may
clear up this point. The 'round ear' (No. 8) is one of Binder's
types, and that with a 'wound below' (No. 9) probably refers to a
case of fistula auris congenita (Toynbee, 'Diseases of the Ear,'
1860).
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