Hebra, Hildebrandt,
Jablokoff, and Klein describe similar cases. Many of the older
"wild men" were individuals bearing extensive hairy moles.
Rayer remarks that he has seen a young man of sixteen who
exhibited himself to the public under the name of a new species
of wild man whose breast and back were covered with light brown
hair of considerable length.
The surface upon which it grew was of a brownish hue, different
from the color of the surrounding integument. Almost the whole of
the right arm was covered in the same manner. On the lower
extremity several tufts of hair were observed implanted upon
brown spots from seven to eight lines in diameter symmetrically
disposed upon both legs. The hair was brown, of the same color as
that of the head. Bichat informs us that he saw at Paris an
unfortunate man who from his birth was afflicted with a hairy
covering of his face like that of a wild boar, and he adds that
the stories which were current among the vulgar of individuals
with a boar's head, wolf's head, etc., undoubtedly referred to
cases in which the face was covered to a greater or less degree
with hair. Villerme saw a child of six at Poitiers in 1808 whose
body, except the feet and hands, was covered with a great number
of prominent brown spots of different dimensions, beset with hair
shorter and not so strong as that of a boar, but bearing a
certain resemblance to the bristles of that animal.
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