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The midwife, overwhelmed by years of silence, finally decided to seek help. His correspondence described not four but eight children, and between 1895 and 1896 four more births took place, while Garrett was unaware of the family’s existence. He returned to the valley at the beginning of April, this time prepared, equipped with measuring instruments, photographic equipment borrowed from a friend, and determined to document everything with scientific precision.
What he discovered exceeded even his wildest expectations. Four other children were diagnosed with impossible conditions. A two-year-old boy had organs arranged in a mirror image of normal human anatomy: a malformation called situs inversus, which Garrett had only heard of in European medical journals.
Another child had vertebral deformities so severe that his head could not be supported by a cervical support. Garrett spent a week examining it, recording his observations in three notebooks. He measured the head circumference, documented skeletal abnormalities, and assessed reflexes and cognitive function. The parents cooperated fully, perhaps hoping that medical care could relieve their children.
Benjamin, in particular, seemed desperate to find answers, constantly asking if the town’s doctors could provide him with help or explanations. The doctor’s enthusiasm for documenting such an unprecedented case was accompanied by a growing ethical malaise. They were not guinea pigs, but suffering human beings, prisoners of bodies that betrayed them every day.
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. Still, the scientific value seemed undeniable. He wrote a detailed report and sent copies to three eminent researchers: Dr. William Oler of Johns Hopkins, Dr. Charles Davenport of Harvard, and Dr. Horatio Wood of Philadelphia. All were recognized for their work on heredity and developmental disorders. The answers they received a few months later were a deep disappointment.
Osler’s response was polite but dismissive, suggesting that Garrett had probably exaggerated the seriousness of his condition or had been misled by his parents as to the nature of their relationship. Davenport’s response was accusatory, insinuating that the country doctor lacked the training to accurately diagnose such complex ailments.
Only Wood showed any sincere interest, although his letter raised troubling questions about the possibility that the relatives were closer than they claimed, suggesting consanguinity as the only logical explanation for such a tragic outcome. Garrett responded to the correspondents, defending his observations and providing additional documents.
He sent photographs, although the rudimentary equipment allowed only crude images. He attached measurements, chronological tables, and copies of Martha’s birth certificates. He insisted that neither parent had common ancestors, that their origins came from entirely different regions, and that only their individual circumstances could explain the hereditary catastrophe that had befallen their children.
The skepticism of the scientific community affected him, but Garrett did not give up his research. He began to sift through all the medical texts he could find through international correspondence, looking for similar cases in the historical archives. He found only scattered references to specific pathologies, never a single family where each child had multiple and serious abnormalities.