El experimento prohibido

“Before dawn on January 9, 1800, an extraordinary creature emerged from the forest of Saint-Sernin in southern France.” Thus begins the story of the Little Savage, a child abandoned by his parents and captured years later while searching for food in an orchard. He had a human form and walked upright, but behaved like an animal. The news spread like wildfire in post-revolutionary Paris, where his fate became a matter of state. Many saw in him the possible answer to some central questions of modern thought: Is man good by nature? Is it upbringing and environment that humanize him? How does our mastery of language affect the way we live in society?