' MONSTROSITIES. 4„ 



heart and lungs of a second fcEtus (Fig. 102). In other instances, the 

 tumor is alone observed, without the additional limbs.* 



The Endocymian monstrosities are those double foetuses of which one, 

 or part of one, is included within the other. They are the Cryptodidymi 

 of Gurlt's Second Class. 



Origin of Monstrosities, and the Laws of Teratology. 



The causes which operate in the production of what we have desig- 

 nated " monstrosities," appear to be numerous. 



Putting to one side, as unworthy of notice, the superstitious ideas 

 which long prevailed with regard to the formation of these monstnosities 

 — because they can all be explained by the laws teratology — we come to 

 the period when Regis started the hypothesis that the germs of these 

 must have been originally produced with those of normal beings, and that 



Fig. 10 1. 

 PoLYMELiAN MONSTROSITY: EtnprosthromelophoTus (Gurlt): Calf- 



they w^ere developed in the ordinary course of generation. This hypoth- 

 esis, or something like it, was accepted by Winslow, Duvernoy, Haller, 

 and others, up to the time of Meckel. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, however, 

 successfully combated it, and demonstrated that these anomalies in or- 

 ganization are not primary, but accidental ; that embryos which, had they 

 been placed in ordinary circumstanc'es, would have been developed in a 

 normal manner, and which had, in fact, begun to be so developed, only 

 became anomalous and monstrous because their development was dis- 

 turbed. 



Therefore these anomalies did not exist previous to impregnation, but 

 were the result of some perturbation occurring during the development 

 of the embryos, which were at first perfectly normal. 



The opinion which at present prevails with respect to these malfor- 



* It is not improbable that the "Nadeah" bullock of India is an animal with a parasitic monstrosity 

 attached to it. A bull of this kind has been described, by an amateur, as having " an excrescence of skin, 

 covered with white hair, hanging from the top of the hump, about seven inches long and of a soft nature, 

 in appearance resembling a child's stocking, dangling from side to side as the animal moved, butin noway 

 unsightly or repulsive to look at." 



Such animals are worshipped, and not put to any work ; they are usually exhibited, covered with a kind 

 of earth-colored cloth trimmed with cowrie-shells, and the owners derive a livelihood by exhibiting them. 

 The "fakeers," or holy mendicants, usually obtain possession of them. These double or polymelian mon- 

 strosities receive their sacred designation from the god Mahadeo, who is believed by the Hindoos to have 

 ridden upon a bull called " Nadeah," which was capable of changing its shape, and producing as many 

 legs or horns for offensive or defensive purposes as it might find necessary. Thus it happens that any 

 animal with unnatural or extraordinary marks, is supposed to have some affinity to the great " Nadeah " of 

 Mahadeo, the founder of Hindoo teratology. 



1 



