Emblematic Monsters: Unnatural Conceptions and Deformed Births in Early Modern EuropeIn early modern Europe, monstrous births were significant events that were seen alive by many people, and dissected, embalmed and collected after death. Emblematic Monsters is a social history of monstrous births as seen through popular print, scholarly books and the proceedings of learned societies. Representations of monsters are considered in the context of their roles as wonders and emblems, and studies of the anatomy of monsters are discussed along with contemporary theories of their origin. By approaching accounts of monstrous births not only as a literary form but also as descriptions of real-life cases, similarities between the pre-scientific recording of wonders and the scientific case report can be explored. Most impressively, A.W. Bates draws upon his own experience of diagnosis of birth defects to summarise more than two hundred original descriptions of monstrous births and compare them with modern diagnostic categories. Emblematic Monsters is an up-to-date approach to a classical yet under-explored subject: gruesome, compelling and monstrous. |
Contents
List of Illustrations | 3 |
The Divine Works of God | 65 |
A Farrago of Medical Curiosities | 95 |
Some Causes of Monstrous Births | 113 |
From the Womb to the Tomb | 139 |
Retrospective Diagnosis | 175 |
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Emblematic Monsters: Unnatural Conceptions and Deformed Births in Early ... A.W. Bates Limited preview - 2016 |
Common terms and phrases
accounts of monstrous Aldrovandi American Journal anatomical Anencephaly animals Anon Appendix autopsy ballads baptised Batman belly birth defects Blemmyae body Bondeson broadsides Cabinet of Curiosities Cambridge Cephalothoracopagus child born Chylde classification conjoined twins Craniopagus Parasiticus Cyclopia Daston deformed described Diprosopus dipus dissection double monster early modern period emblems England example eyes female Fenton foetus Germany head Henry Oldenburg hermaphrodite History Holländer Ibid illustration infant Journal des Savans Journal of Medical learned societies legs Liceti limbs literature London Lycosthenes male malformations maternal impressions Medical Genetics Medicine midwives Miscellanea Curiosa monster born Monstris Monstrorum Monstroso monstrous births Monstrous Child Monstrum mother mouth note 12 note 26 note 9 Oxford Parapagus parasite parasitic twin Paré Paris Philosophical Transactions physician popular prodigies Ravenna reader resembling Roberts Syndrome Routledge Royal Society Rueff Schenck Schott seen seventeenth century signs Sirenomelia sixteenth century sooterkin Strange suggested Teratology Thoracopagus transl University Press woman