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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.

Of Marvels and Medicine: Perceptions of Abnormal Human Development

We brought together leading scholars and professionals in the world of disability studies and the history of medicine to explore aspects of our most recent exhibition in the Mütter Museum, Imperfecta.

Presenters/presentations:

Sabah Servaes, M.D. Congenital Anomalies: Then and Now
Shane Miller, Ph.D. Ambiguity and Excess in Medicine: Gothic and Enlightenment Structure in Nathaniel Highmore’s Case of a Foetus found in the Abdomen of a Young Man
Izetta Autumn Mobley, Doctoral Candidate, University of Maryland Troublesome Properties: Millie and Christine McKoy, Race, Gender, and Disability
Seth Kane, CEO, Lead Designer, The New Flesh Co. Historical Views of Prosthetic Users: Figures, Myths and Socioeconomic Influences
Sarah Rose, Ph.D. “We Lost Sixteen Fingers a Month”: Workmen’s Compensation, Idiot Asylums, and the Invention of ‘Disabled Bodies’
Katherine Ott, Ph.D. Retrieving Lost Community—Reflections on Teratology, Disability, and History

Follow this path to view videos of each presentation, with complete closed captioning.

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Welcome to Further into Imperfecta. This exhibit is a digital companion to Imperfecta, an on-site exhibit at The Mütter Museum open through the fall of 2019, which examines shifting perceptions about abnormal human development, from fear and wonder to curiosity and clinical science. Further into Imperfecta is presented using a non-linear format, allowing readers to explore various themes by following interrelated "paths."
Contents of this path:
1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. Of Marvels and Medicine: Perceptions of Abnormal Human Development
5. What’s Mom Got to Do With It? Maternal Impression in Western Medicine
Contents of this path:
1. Introduction Welcome to Further into Imperfecta. This exhibit is a digital companion to Imperfecta, an on-site exhibit at The Mütter Museum open through the fall of 2019, which examines shifting perceptions about abnormal human development, from fear and wonder to curiosity and clinical science. Further into Imperfecta is presented using a non-linear format, allowing readers to explore various themes by following interrelated "paths."
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. Of Marvels and Medicine: Perceptions of Abnormal Human Development
6. What’s Mom Got to Do With It? Maternal Impression in Western Medicine

Contents of this path:

This page references:

De duplicitate monstrosa commentarius [Tableau I] Meckel was a renowned pathologist and anatomist. Born at the end of the 18th century, Meckel was inclined to view the causes of monstrosities as part of nature, as developments rather than phenomena. Meckel was one of the first to suggest the idea of pleiotropy, meaning that one gene (heredity) can be responsible for multiple defects; and the first to promote the study of embryology in order to understand better the causes of monstrosity. In Meckel’s work, one can see the beginnings of what will be called teratology, the study of abnormalities of physiological development.

One of the greatest and lasting influences of the burgeoning 18th century medical societies was the detailed anatomical study of the causes of monstrosities. Above is an illustration of a superficial muscle dissection of conjoined twins.