Another foreign eye-witness who visited the Kunstkamera 

 in 1721 wrote that, "Among many other subjects ... I 

 especially noticed . . . the gradual development of the 

 human embryo from the first conception. In bottles filled 

 with spirits, you can see a uterus and in its opening a 

 baby with a completely formed head and face, many forms of 

 babies removed from the uterus, with skin or without skin, 

 with one head but with two faces, other monsters with two 

 heads, four hands, four legs, many fingers and, in addition, 

 a gradual alteration of frogs and their generation from 

 tadpoles...." 7 The teratological and embryological materials 

 were given to the Kunstkamera (3) either by physicians or by 

 people from different sections of Russian society responding 

 to the famous decree of 1718 (4) . After the establishment of 

 Petersburg Academy of Science in 1725, the Kunstkamera was 

 transmitted to its authority, and in 1728 a special building 

 opened for visitors on Vasilevsky island. 



The first attempts to study the teratological collections 

 of the Kunstkamera were made by academician Dyuvernua (5) , 

 who, as seen from the following document, had been instructed 

 to investigate the newly received material: "On September 16, 

 1728 the wife of a Saint Petersburg garrison soldier gave 

 birth to two sons Ivan and Voka, and Ivan had no hands. By 

 the decree of the Academy of Science it was determined that 

 the above mentioned infant be examined by professor of 

 Anatomy Dyuvernua along with other academy members. "8 

 Dyuvernua made a report on his results: "In the conference 

 Professor Dyuvernua showed the dead monsters sent from the 

 Admiral board and reported his works on this observation." 9 



Information about monsters received from distant 

 outskirts sometimes showed the extremely serious view of 

 monstrosities by simple Russian people. For example, one 



F. V. Berkhgol'tsa, DIARY (1721 - 1725) . First part, 



translated from the German by I. F. Ammona. New edition. 



(Moscow, 1902), quotation on pp. 107 - 108. 



"Materialy dlya istorii Imper. Akademii nauk" (Materials 



for the history of the Imperial Academy of science) v. 1, 



No. 617. October 1728, p. 404, 1885. 



Ibid., No. 687, March 18,1729, p. 474. 



23 



