8S9 



MONSTER. 



MONSTER. 



890 



the mucous membrane of its posterior side is retroverted, forming a 

 soft, red, projecting tumour above the symphysis pubis. On the 

 surface of this tumour, towards the lower part, two apertures may be 

 observed, from which the urine is constantly trickling : these are the 

 orifices of the ureters. Extroversion of the bladder does not seriously 

 impede the performance of any of the vital functions, and therefore 

 is not incompatible with prolonged life ; but the more complicated 

 forms of eventration are necessarily fatal. 



In both the preceding families of monsters the head is slightly if at 

 all deformed ; but many instances have been met with in which the 

 head and face are the parts most extensively altered, though it has 

 been observed, that whenever serious malformation of the cerebral 

 organs takes place, some other parts of the body participate in the 

 anomaly. The brain has often been found imperfectly developed, and 

 situated wholly or partly without the cranial cavity, the walls of which 

 were incomplete. In these monsters, which have been named Exen- 

 ccphali, the brain may protrude through an opening in the posterior 

 or occipital region of the skull, or in the anterior or frontal region. 

 This heruial displacement of the brain is often complicated with even- 

 tration or spinal fissure. The brain in some cases has been found 

 entirely deficient, and the vault of the cranium absent, a bright red- 

 coloured tumour, composed entirely of vessels, lying on the base of 

 the skull, and partly occupying the place of the brain : in a few mon- 

 sters of this kind the vertebral canal has been seen widely open, and 

 the spinal marrow also deficient, the vascular tumour sometimes 

 existing and sometimes not. 



The face in some monsters is the principal seat of anomaly, and no 

 form of monstrosity has attracted more attention than that denomi- 

 nated Cyclopia, in which, from atrophy of the nasal organs, the eyes 

 approach and unite in the median line. In some of these beings, 

 which have also been called Cyclocepliali by Geoffrey St. Hilaire, the 

 two eyes are placed very close together, but still remain distinct, the 

 bony parts of the nose being entirely atrophied, but the soft and 

 tegumentary parts remaining in the form of a proboscis, or trunk, 

 situated above the orbits, which, though closely in contact, are not 

 blended together. In others only one orbital cavity has been found, 

 containing a double eye, the component parts of which are sotnetimes 

 o blended together, that only a few traces of duplicity remain ; thus 

 the cornea, pupil, and crystalline lens have been found quite single in 

 these cases. (St. Hilaire, 'Histoire,' Ac., t. ii, p. 387.) None of 

 these single-eyed monsters have ever been known to live for more 

 than an hour or two after birth, and their speedy death must be 

 accounted for by the imperfect state of the brain, which constantly 

 accompanies this anomaly. Malformation of the head is sometimes 

 carried to such an extent, that the natural structure becomes com- 

 pletely lost, and a mere shapeless mass remains ; and lastly, in those 

 monsters to whom the denomination of Acephalous is correctly and 

 should be exclusively applied, the head is entirely deficient, no 

 external vestiges of it remaining. In these very imperfect beings 

 other ports of the body always participate in the malformation; the 

 symmetry of the form is lost, one or both of the superior extremities 

 are generally deficient, and many of the thoracic and abdominal 

 viscera wanting : the heart and lungs have been found absent in most 

 cases ; and some writers have remarked that the heart id never found 

 in acephalous foetuses, but the testimony of many observers has 

 proved that this is incorrect. (St. Hilaire, 'Histoire,' torn, ii., p. 507.) 

 M. Serres has related a curious case (' Bull, de la Soc. Mud. d'Emula- 

 tiou,' Sept., 1821), in which an acephalous foetus was furnished with a 

 simple tubular heart resembling the dorsal vessel of insects, into 

 which the principal vascular trunks opened. This case is peculiarly 

 interesting, since we know by the researches of embryology that the 

 heart first appears in the embryo in the shape of a long tubular pouch, 

 which ordinarily transient state had doubtless become permanent in 

 the above monster by arre.-t of the process of development. 



Some of the irregular shapeless masses generally called moles, con- 

 sisting of different organic parts, as teeth, bones, hair, skin, &c., 

 which are occasionally found in the uterus or ovaries, must be con- 

 sidered ai the imperfect products of conception, and therefore arranged 

 among single monsters. But we must distinguish these cases from 

 others which often very closely resemble them, in which tumours of 

 a similar kind have been found in the ovaries of virgius, and even of 

 girls before puberty, the occurrence of which must be explained in 

 quite a different manner, either by the action of some morbid process 

 i in the system, or by the theory of monstrosity by inclusion, which 

 supposes that the elements of one beiug have been originally inclosed 

 in the body of another, where they have remained in au imperfectly 

 developed state. 



The last clas* of simple monsters includes the various forms of 

 hermapbrodiam. An hermaphrodite was defined by the ancients as 

 an individual capable of fulfilling by turns the reproductive functions 

 of both sexes, or at least one who simultaneously possessed both the 

 male and female organs fully developed ; such a being however is not 

 only unknown among the authentic details of anomalies, but is 

 physically impossible in man and the higher orders of animals without 

 extensive alteration in the connections of the bones aud other parts 

 of the pelvis. The signification of the term hermaphrodism is now 

 ni'i.-li extended, and it is used to designate an individual who possesses 

 any mixture of the characters of the two sexes. Au immense variety 



of these malformations of the generative organs has been observed ; 

 but in most cases the malformed being belongs essentially to one or 

 the other sex, and is only related to the opposite sex by some few 

 characters. The two families of male and female hermaphrodites 

 have been thus formed, which include a great proportion of the cases 

 which have been met with. In both of these forms of anomaly, by 

 a careful investigation during life, or dissection after death, it will be 

 found that all these beings are essentially male or female. 



In a few cases of what have been denominated neuter and mixed 

 hermaphrodism, the organs belongiug to the opposite sexes seem to 

 have been so blended together in the same individual, that the being 

 could not be referred to one sex rather than the other, but these 

 instances are very rare. A most curious instance of this description 

 is given by Schrele, a German anatomist. (' Med-Chir. prakt. Archiv. 

 von Baden,' &c., t. i., 1804.) 



The mode of origin of hermaphrodism is very obscure, though the 

 first-mentioned forms of this auomaly may most probably be referred 

 to some arrest or excess in the process of development, since in the 

 early stages of embryonic life a very close resemblance exists between 

 the generative organs in both sexes. 



We now come to those curious and interesting anomalies in which 

 the component parts of two or more distinct beings are united in 

 one individual, forming a Compound Monster. The two subjects 

 composiug a double being may possess au equal degree of perfection, 

 or be very dissimilar in size aud structure, one appearing as a mere 

 parasitical appendage of the other : thus two individuals nearly 

 perfect and distinct may cohere together by one region only of the 

 body, or an apparently single trunk may be furnished with two heads 

 or four arms ; the multiplication of one or more of the extremities 

 constitutes in fact the first degree of double monstrosity. In some 

 cases every limb is doubled, and the individual then has eight 

 extremities ; in others there is only one superuumerary extremity, 

 which, in some cases, has been observed single at its origin and 

 doubled or tripled towards its termination, as when two or three feet 

 are attached to the same leg. (Andral, ' Auat. Pathol.,' vol. j.) It 

 has been observed that in whatever manner or degree two beings are 

 joined together, they are always united by corresponding aspects of 

 the body, that is to say, side to side, face to face, or back to back : 

 each part and each organ in the one corresponds to the same part or 

 organ in the other ; every vessel, nerve, or muscle situated in the line 

 of union joins itself to the corresponding vessel, nerve, or muscle in 

 the other subject, in the same manner as the two primitive halves of 

 any single organ, which, according to M. Serres's theory of eccentric 

 development, are originally separate, unite by the progress of 

 development. , 



We have already said that the two subjects composing a double 

 monster may be both nearly perfect and distinct, only adhering 

 together by one region of the body. Beings of this description are 

 sometimes capable of supporting au independent vitality for a con- 

 siderable number of years, though they are mostly destroyed during 

 parturition, their structure occasioning great difficulty to the process 

 of delivery. One of the most remarkable cases of complete double 

 monstrosity was that of the double female who was born in Hungary 

 in 1701, aud christened by the two names of Helen aud Judith. 

 This monster was shown about for seven years in almost all the 

 countries of Europe, and lived to the age of 22 years. The two 

 individuals, which were each quite perfect, except at the point of 

 union, were here placed back to back, and united by the buttocks aud 

 part of the loins. The external organs of generation offered evident 

 signs of duplicity, though there only existed -a single vulva, which 

 was placed iuferiorly and hidden between the four thighs ; the vagina 

 was at first single, but soon divided into two distinct canals, which 

 led to separate uteri. The two intestinal canals likewise terminated 

 in a common anus, and the vertebral columns were united at their 

 extremities. The aortas and veua> cavaj communicated at their lower 

 part, and thus established a large aud direct communication between 

 the two hearts, producing an intimate relatiou of life and functions 

 between the two beings. Whenever one was ill the other felt so too, 

 and participated in her sister's disease; it was therefore predicted 

 that the death of one would necessarily destroy the other, which 

 proved to be true. Judith, at the age of 22 years, was attacked with 

 diseate of the lungs and brain, of which she died. Helen, who, at 

 the commencement of her sister's attack, was in perfect health, soon 

 became ill, and both expired at almost the same iustaut. The Siamese 

 twins who were exhibited in London in 1829-30 were an example of 

 a less extensive union than the last. In their case a vital connection 

 was established laterally, and the fleshy mass which united them 

 was so small, that some surgeons who saw them thought it might be 

 practicable to separate them by an operation. 



The junction of two foetuses may take place by almost any region 

 of the body ; thus they have been seen attached to each other by the 

 crown of the head, both beiug placed in a straight line (Villeueuve, 

 'Description d'une Monstrosity, &e.,' 4to, Paris, 1831); by the 

 anterior portion of the thorax, or abdomen, or by part of the front 

 of both, as occurred in the Siamese twins. In this instance the 

 two brothers were only furnished with a single umbilicus. Two 

 varieties have been observed in the mode of junction wherever 

 situated ; in one the attachment is superficial, being effected only by 



