at anything he came across,
whether~ “branches | and
leaves, stones, soil; or ‘flesh.
He ate berries, roots and raw

chestnuts but disliked sweet

things such as. spices, spirits
andwine. _

He murmured while he
ate, was subject to sudden
fits of anger, slept according
to the sun, and tried con-
stantly to escape. Victor was
incapable of speech. and
uttered only a single for-
mless sound. He died in
1828 at the age of forty, he
had only reached the level of
anormal four-year-old child;

A more recent wild child
chase concerns a boy raided

at : wl wd
his, nose. ‘continually to ‘sniff |

from ‘a distance but it wasn’ t.
until the ninth day, after the
herd leader’ had licked the

man’s”: “face, ‘that’ he also

came forward to sniff and
lick in the manner of the
animals. Armen replied’ in
like fashion and a bond was

- established.

Like Victor of Aveyron,
the gazelle boy used his nose

constantly, not only to sniff

at everything around him
(from flowers to animal
droppings), but also as a

‘communication tool.

Armen noted the boy’s
curious habit of twitching iis
ears and scalp at the slightest
suspicious noise. He lived,
slept, ate and moved with
the herd. and in fact had the

GEORGE MORFITT

Chartered Accountant

~~ FOR ALDERMAN
IN WEST VANCOUVER

Business Leader

'Govemnor,
_ University of B.C:

Executive of the Year for
Canadian Amateur Sport

Active with family in all |
aspects of community life

To all ‘intents. and pur-
poses, the child was a gazelle

but" the’ observant. Armen. |

was aware that he ‘possessed
something that no “gazelle
“had — the human trait of
intelligence. He saw it in the
boy's ‘eyes which could
express joy, confidence,
curiousity, pleasure; sad-
ness, fright, desire, anxiety
and utter bliss.

Armen tried to teach the
boy to speak a few words but
he was never able to produce
any sound that did not come
from the back of the throat.
The closest he came was
with the word ‘kal’ (meaning
rock or stone) which he
pronounced as ‘Khah'’. He

Binctens or. mich 3s were.
: unknown to the boy but | he. .

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