Production of Human Generation, & c. 
This was the whole of the internal construction of this very 
extraordinary monster. There was not the smallest appear- 
ance of head, or vertebras, or ribs. There was neither brain, 
spinal marrow, nor nerves. It had no heart, nor lungs. It 
contained none of the viscera subservient to digestion, except- 
ing the intestines already mentioned ; nor any glandular sub- 
stance whatsoever. 
This being a monster of so singular a nature, I shall beg 
leave to add, to the foregoing description, a few observations, 
which the circumstances appear to me naturally to suggest. 
The mere description of any monster is of very small 
utility, unless it tends to explain some actions of the animal 
economy, before imperfectly, or not at all understood. It is 
on this account that very little addition has been made to the 
stock of our knowledge of natural history, from considering 
those monsters in which there are either supernumerary or 
confused parts ; because, if we cannot distinctly perceive the 
use, or necessity of parts, in their natural state, we are not 
likely to advance in information by the examination of those 
varieties of structure, where difficulties are only multiplied by 
the greater complication, or aggravated by the confusion of 
p&rts. The only useful inference in natural history, which can 
be drawn from monsters of the last kind is, that nature can 
deviate from the usual arrangement of parts, without any 
material inconvenience ; and therefore, that the existence of 
parts so as to be capable of being applied to the purpose for 
which they are intended, in the perfect state of the system, 
rather than any precise order of them, is required for carry- 
ing on the functions of an animal body. 
Monsters, however, where considerable parts are wanting, 
Y 
JMDCCXCIXI. 
