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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.

Monstrosities of a Mother’s Making

Jean Riolan (1580-1657), in his 1649 book, Opuscula anatomica nova, described one such case. A “double-fetus,” more commonly known as a conjoined twin, was born to a mother in 1605. The cause, according to Riolan, was the mother having looked at pictures of demons. Many believed at the time that the devil could directly affect an unborn fetus. In this case, however, the cause was the mother having seen, and then meditated upon, the images of demons that was the cause.

Riolan, was somewhat cautious in his belief in maternal impression. He believed that though the imagination could alter the properties of the fetus, it could not change the species. Fortunio Liceti (1577-1657), a prominent Italian physician, philosopher, and scientist, went further. He did not believe “mutilated monstrosities and those showing excessive parts” resulted from maternal impression; instead Liceti referred to monstrosities as lusus naturae (nature’s game).

As in Paré’s thirteen reasons, it was not always the imagination that caused a maternal impression, but rather an external event. Nicolas Culpeper (1616-1654), was an English botanist, herbalist, physician and astrologer. In his book A directory for midwives (1671) he described various accounts of maternal impression in the chapter “On Monsters.” Culpeper claimed that one woman, Anne Troperim, gave birth to two serpents after drinking from a brook near Basil, having swallowed the spawn of a serpent.

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Contents of this path:
2. Monstrosities of a Mother’s Making
4. Modern Science and the Limits of Maternal Impression Many of the ideas and scenarios presented here as examples of maternal impression seem fantastic or even absurd to the modern reader. Indeed, the continuing scientific revolutions of the 20th century, such as those in the field of genetics, did much to dispel the hold of maternal impression on western medicine. However, articles dating to the 1990’s continue to state that, in some cases, maternal impression is a real and literal exchange between a mother and the fetus she carries.

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Anatomical dissection by Jean Riolan.
Twins, Conjoined Thoracopagus Like many conjoined twins, these two boys were stillborn. Staff at a medical school found the jar hidden away in a closet and donated it to the Mütter Museum. Gretchen Worden (1947–2004), the late director of the Museum, who was fascinated by conjoined twins, nicknamed them Jim and James.

Conjoined twins are rare, occurring in only 1 out of every 200,000 live births. Identical twins form when a single fertilized egg divides into two parts, which then grow into separate embryos. If the egg does not fully divide, the embryo begins to split into twins, but does not completely separate. The twin fetuses develop with their skin and some internal organs fused together.

Death rates are high. About 40 to 60 percent of conjoined twins are stillborn; approximately 35 percent live for only one day after birth. If twins do survive birth, they have difficult lives. Modern medicine makes surgical separations possible in some cases, but the operations, which often attract international media attention, are long and complex. Sometimes, difficult decisions are necessary; if major organs are shared, one twin may need to be sacrificed so that the other can live.

These twins are the thoracopagus type, joined at the upper part of the torso and sharing a heart. About 40 percent of conjoined twins are thoracopagus. Twins connected at the lower abdomen (omphalopagus, 33 percent) may share a liver, digestive system, or genitals. A much rarer connection type is craniopagus (6 percent), in which the bodies are separated but the skulls are fused. Chang and Eng Bunker (1811–1874), the famous “Siamese” (actually Thai-American) conjoined twins, were joined at the abdomen by a band of cartilage. Their shared liver and a death cast of their bodies are on display at the Mütter Museum.