396 FOETAL DYSTOKIA. 



. tions of different characters or individuals ; and on this basis was raised 

 the science of Teratology by his son Isidore. The labors of these men 

 have been largely supplemented by the researches of such authorities as 

 Meckel, Gurlt, Otto, Bischoff, Leyh, Martin-Saint-Ange, Forster, Dareste, 

 Panum, Lombard ini, and others. The labors of these investigators are 

 unknown to English veterinary literature — indeed the entire subject is 

 nowhere mentioned f it will, therefore, be our duty to notice it somewhat 

 fully, not only from its novelty in this'respect, but also from its import- 

 ance ina physiological and obstetrical point of view. 



Classification. 



Various classifications of monstrosities have been proposed at different 

 times by investigators, who generally based their classification either on 

 the notions they entertained as to the mode of formation of these crea- 

 tures, or on some physical peculiarity presented in their organization. 

 Buffon divided them into three classes — i, monstrosities by excess ; 2, 

 monstrosities by defect ; 3, monstrosities by irregularity in structure or 

 situation of parts. To these classes Meckel added a fourth, which 

 included the hermaphrodites. Martin-Saint-Ange divided them into — i, 

 monsters by excess, comprising the union of several foetuses — double 

 monsters, in fact ; 2, monsters by excess of growth ; 3, monsters by ab- 

 sence of one or more parts ; 4, monsters by general defect, as dwarfs ; 5, 

 hermaphrodite monsters. 



The two classifications which have generally been adopted by conti- 

 nental veterinarians are those of Ciurlt and Geoffrey Saint-Hilaire ; that 

 of the former — the eminent Berlin veterinary professor — being preferred 

 by the Germans, Italians, Dutch, and Danish, and that of the latter by 

 the French. 



Gurlt's classification and nomenclature are good and explicit, and in 

 some respects to be preferred to Saint-Hilaire's ; while those of the latter 

 offer advantages which might lead us to give them the preference, apart 

 from the fact that it is they on which the science was based. 



Gurlt t separates monstrosities into two classes — Simple and Co77ipound. 

 The first comprises eight orders, twenty-six genera, and seventy-three 

 species ; the second includes six orders, twenty-six genera, and fifty-nine 

 species. 



As some veterinarians may prefer Gurlt's classification to that of Saint- 

 Hilaire, and particularly for its practical utility, we give it here. 



CLASS I. 

 SIMPLE MONSTROSITIES. 



This class is occupied with a single individual, and refers to an 

 absence of or addition to parts, exaggeration of them, or alteration in 

 their form or position. It comprises 8 Orders, 26 Genera, and 73 

 SPEcms. 



ORDER I. — Simple Monstrosities through Absence of Parts : — 



1. Amorphus. — Absence of conformation ; i species : A. globosus. 



2. Acephalus. — Headless ; 2 species : A. untpes, A. bipes. 



* a monstrosity is generally only alluded to as such, or as a Lusus Naturce ; their scientific classification 

 has never been attempted in this country. 



t Pathologische Anatomic, Berlin, 1833. Article: '■'■ Missbildungen-" also '■'■ Ueber Thierische Miss- 

 geburten" Berlin, 1877. 



