MONSTROSITIES. 



395 



parturition difficult. In certain circumstances it may do so, but, as a 

 rule, provided it is in a proper position and properly developed, its death 

 has but little inflifence on this act. We have already alluded to the 

 death of the foetus at page 241. 



•CHAPTER III. 



Monstrosities. 



The designation "Monster," " Monstrosity," or Zz/i-z^j iV^/wr^ (French, 

 Monstre, Monstniosite ; German, Missgeburt ; Ita.\ia.n, Afos/ro ; Spanish, 

 Motistruo)^ is generally applied to a creature which exhibits some vice in 

 conformation, — some remarkable anomaly or organic deviation in form 

 or structure, or both, in one or more parts of its body. 



Monstrosities have been conveniently divided into two kinds : those 

 which are anatomically so, and those which are so by reason of their 

 vicious conformation. The first present no modifications externally, and 

 there is no disturbance of function, but merely a change in the number 

 or position of certain organs — a change only discoverable hy post-mortem 

 examination. The second includes those defects or deformities which 

 more or less seriously impair the value of the young creature, either by 

 destroying the symmetry of its shape, or rendering it more or less useless 

 by the absence or incompleteness of certain organs. 



The term " monstrosity," however, is usually reserved for a creature 

 which presents the most serious kind of organic alterations, and which 

 involve one or more organs — external or internal — these being modified 

 in form, structure, and relations. In this class we may have a deficiency 

 in one or more limbs, head, part of the head or trunk, or fusion more or 

 less incomplete of two or more individuals, etc. 



It must be admitted, however, that the limits between these groups of 

 anomalies or organic deviations are not well defined, and that they merge 

 into each other imperceptibly ; so that it is not always possible to say 

 where the one class ends and the other begins, and we can only fix upon 

 the types of each of these artificial groups. 



In ancient times the appearance of monstrosities was ascribed to the 

 influence of enraged gods, and they were regarded with fear or horror ; 

 or they were looked upon as prodigies or freaks of Nature, and described 

 as marvels or curiosities. 



Indeed, it was not until the end of the eighteenth and commencement 

 of this century that they began to be studied in a scientific spirit, and 

 their anomalies shown to be only simple modifications or irregularities in 

 the development of organs. Haller and Meckel commenced this new 

 era, but it was not until the philosophical study of this subject had been 

 pursued by Etienne and Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, that the science 

 of Teratology was founded on a true basis. Then it was clearly demon- 

 strated that monstrosities themselves did not escape the general laws of 

 organization, but own their sway and prove their universality, and that 

 Nature, in its widest divergencies, never ceases to be faithful to the 

 decrees whi::h the Creator imposed upon it at the commencement. 



In 1827, E. G. Saint-Hilaire proposed a scientific classification of mon- 

 strosities — those beings which had hitherto been looked upon as combina- 



