Theodore
Lent,
Julia’s
new
showman, prepared advertised her
as “the Baboon Lady,” and again
described
her
parents’
close
contact with wild animals. But it
also assured audiences that in Julia
“the
nature
of
woman
predominates over the ourangoutang’s,” and described her as
sociable, clever, and kind.
While Julia’s promotional package
included certificates from scientists
attesting to her hybrid nature, from
the start there were those who
knew she was entirely human.
Anatomist
Samuel
Kneeland
Jr,former curator of comparative
anatomy for the Boston Natural Historical Society, examined Julia
and declared her all human, and “a perfect woman, performing all
the functions of her sex.” In 1857, the zoologist Francis Buckland
visited her London hotel room and described her “hideous” facial
features but “exceedingly good” figure, adding that she “had a
sweet voice, great taste in music and dancing, and could speak
three languages.”
He added: “I believe that her true history was that she was simply
a deformed Mexican Indian woman.” The most famous English
scientist of the day, Charles Darwin, did not go to see her in
London, but learned of her existence and of a cast taken of her
teeth, which was supposed to show an irregular double set in both
upper and lower jaws. In his Variation of Animals and Plants Under
Domestication, Darwin compared Julia to hairless dogs, theorizing
that skin disease in the animal world could be connected to excess
teeth.
Julia, however, didn’t have extra teeth, just thickened gums that
made misleading impressions on the casts. Had anyone bothered
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