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Further into Imperfecta Living Curiosities: Agency and Exploitation of the Teratological Body Curiosity draws us to the monstrous. But seeing is believing: whether in a book, a museum, or in a show, for centuries people have flocked to see “monsters” for themselves. In the 19th century, many people born with non-normative bodies performed as “freaks” in circus sideshows. Circuses became a sensation and they served as a forerunner to the modern entertainment industry. This exhibit explores the lives of the performers and showmen whose livelihoods depended on the public’s curiosity about seeing wondrous bodies for themselves. Seeing is Believing: Visualizing the Teratological Body When it comes to the wondrous, seeing is believing. From this page, you can explore some of the ways that “monsters” have been depicted over the centuries. Woodcuts in early modern texts, preservation in medical museums, and photography all have been used to display people. These technologies allowed one person’s image to travel across the world and allowed their subjects to “survive” beyond death. What Does It Mean to be "Other?" What does it mean to be a “monster?” What does it mean to be “normal?” These are not objective categories. They have changed meaning throughout history as people have become exposed to a wider diversity of nature, people, and ideas. From this path, you can explore some types of “Otherness” that have, throughout history, challenged apparently objective categories and shaped the direction of science.

Paré’s 13 Reasons for Teratogenesis

The influence of Ambroise Paré (1510?-1590) on medical history is vast and varied. A French barber-surgeon who served kings, Paré is considered to be one of the fathers of surgery. He pioneered many of his techniques on the battlefields of 16th century Europe. A subject of particular fascination for Paré was the monstrous. Many of the woodcuts in his magnum opus Des Oeuvres (1585) depict these wonders. His 1573 book, Des Monstres, devoted itself to the subject and included the following thirteen reasons why monstrous births occurred:

The first is the glory of God.
The second, His wrath.
The third, too great a quantity of semen.
The fourth, too small a quantity.
The fifth, imagination.
The sixth, the narrowness or smallness of the womb.
The seventh, the unbecoming sitting position of the mother, who, while pregnant, remains seated too long with her thighs crossed or pressed against her stomach.
The eighth, by a fall or blows struck against the stomach of the mother during pregnancy.
The ninth, by hereditary or accidental illnesses.
The tenth, by the rotting or corruption of the semen.
The eleventh, by the mingling or mixture of seed.
The twelfth, by the artifice of wandering beggars.
The thirteenth, by Demons or Devils.

The ones bolded above are particularly relevant to a discussion of maternal impression. Paré cites children born covered in dark hair (possibly hypertrichosis) as caused by the sight of something wild. He warns “truly I think it best to keep the woman all the time she goeth with child, from the sight and of such shapes and figures.”

Another story of maternal impression from Paré is that of a child born with the face of a frog in 1517. As Paré recounts, the child’s mother had come down with a serious illness resulting in fever. On the advice of a neighbor, she attempted a cure in which she should take a live frog and hold it in her hands until it died. That night, she went to bed still holding the frog and “her and her husband embraced and conceived; thus this monster you see in this picture (< Image Link) was born by virtue of her imagination.”

Paré's belief in maternal impression as a cause of monstrosity is of note due to the influence his writing on medicine had throughout the rest of the early modern period.

Paré’s 13 Reasons for Teratogenesis

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