WCP5266

[1] [p. 798]

In consequence of my letter in 'Nature' several alleged cases of the kind above referred to have been sent me, one of which, being illustrated by a photograph and attested by a perfectly competent observer, will, I think, interest all biologists. The account was sent me by Dr. Richard Budd, M.D., F.R.C.P., Physician to the North Devon Infirmary. The following is a copy of his statement:—

'In the year 1801 a gamekeeper named Croucher was admitted to the North Devon Infirmary in consequence of a gunshot wound of the right forearm. The arm was amputated just below the elbow. Croucher left the infirmary before the wound was quite healed, in the belief that his wife would be able to dress it. In this he was mistaken; but a young woman, the wife of a neighbouring farmer, volunteered her services, and continued to dress the wound till it was healed. Some six or seven months after this young woman was confined, and her child was born minus the right forearm, and the stump was a facsimile of Croucher's. The gamekeeper's arm became somewhat wasted by the pressure induced by an artificial arm, and therefore the resemblance of the two arms (in the photograph taken some years later) is not so exact as it was at first. The photographs were taken by me.

'(Signed) Richard Budd, M.D., F.R.C.P., Physician to the North Devon Infirmary.

'Barnstaple: September 4, 1893.'