ANIMALS. 2J>1 



CHAPTER XII. 



OF MONSTERS. 



HITHERTO I have only spoken of those varieties in the human spe- 

 cies, that are common to whole nations ; but there are varieties of 

 another kind, which are only found in the individual ; and being more 

 rarely seen, are therefore called monstrous. If we examine into the 

 varieties of distorted nature, there is scarcely a limb of the body, or 

 a feature in the face, that has not suffered some reprobation, either 

 from art or nature ; being enlarged or diminished, lengthened or 

 wrested from its due proportion. Linnreus, after having given a cata 

 logue of monsters, particularly adds, the flat heads of Canada, the 

 long heads of the Chinese, and the slender waists of the women ot 

 Europe, who by straight lacing take such pains to destroy their health, 

 through a mistaken desire to improve their beauty.* It belongs more 

 to the physician than the naturalist to attend to these minute defor- 

 mities ; and indeed it is a melancholy contemplation to speculate upon 

 a catalogue of calamities, inflicted by unpitying nature, or brought 

 upon us by our own caprice. Some, however, are fond of such ac- 

 counts ; and there have been books filled with nothing eise. To these, 

 therefore, I refer the reader, who may be better pleased with accounts 

 of men with two heads, or without any head ; of children joined in the 

 middle ; of bones turned into flesh, or flesh converted into bones, than 

 I am.t It is sufficient here to observe, that every day's experience 

 must have shown us miserable instances of this kind produced by na- 

 ture or affection : calamities that no pity can soften, or assiduity re- 

 lieve. 



Passing over, therefore, every other account, I shall only mention 

 the famous instance, quoted by Father Malbranche, upon which he 

 founds his beautiful theory of monstrous productions. A woman of 

 Paris, the wife of a tradesman, went to see a criminal broke alive 

 upon the wheel, at the place of public execution. She was at that 

 time two months advanced in her pregnancy, and no way subject to 

 any disorders to affect the child in her womb. She was, however, of 

 a tender habit of body ; and, though led by curiosity to this horrid 

 spectacle, very easily moved to pity and compassion. She felt, there- 

 fore, all those strong emotions which so terrible a sight must naturally 



* Linnir.i Syst vol. i. p. 29. Monorchides ut minus fertiles. 



f Vide Phil. Trans, passim. Miscellan. Curioss. Johan. Baptist. Wenck. Dissertatio 

 Physica an ex virilis husnani seminis cum brutali per nefarium coitum commixtione aiT. 

 vicissim ex hruti maris cum muliebri huinauo seminis commixtione possit verus homo 

 generari. Vide etiam, Johnston! Thaumatographia Naturalis. Vide Adalbert} Disqui 

 sitio Physica ostenti duorum puerorum unus quorum dente aureo, alter cum capite gi 

 ganteo Bihue spectabantur. A man without lungs and stomach, Journal de Scavans, 

 1682, p. 301 ; another without any brain. Andreas Caroli Memorabilia, p. 167 an. 

 1876 ; another without ar.y head. Giornale di Roma, anno 1675, p. 26 ; another witnoiit 

 Any arms. New Memoirs of Literature, vol. iv. p. 446. In short, the variety of these au- 

 counts is almost infinite ; and, perhaps, their use is as much circumscribed as their v 

 tiety is extensive. 



