A successor to his popular book A Cabinet of Medical
Curiosities, this new collection of essays by Jan Bondeson
illustrates various anomalies of human development, the lives of
the remarkable individuals concerned, and social reactions to their
extraordinary bodies.
Bondeson examines historical cases of dwarfism, extreme
corpulence, giantism, conjoined twins, dicephaly, and extreme
hairiness; his broader theme, however, is the infinite range of
human experience. The dicephalous Tocci brothers and Lazarus
Colloredo (from whose belly grew his malformed conjoined twin), the
Swedish giant, and the king of Poland's dwarf Bondeson considers
these individuals not as "freaks" but as human beings born with
sometimes appalling congenital deformities.
He makes full use of original French, German, Dutch, Polish, and
Scandinavian sources and explores elements of ethnology,
literature, and cultural history in his diagnoses. Heavily
illustrated with woodcuts, engravings, oil paintings, and
photographs, The Two-Headed Boy and Other Medical Marvels combines
a scientist's scrutiny with a humanist's wonder at the endurance of
the human spirit.
Contents:
The Two Inseparable Brothers, and a Preface
The Hairy Maid at the Harpsichord
The Stone-child
The Woman Who Laid an Egg
The Strangest Miracle in the World
Some Words about Hog-faced Gentlewomen
Horned Humans
The Biddenden Maids
The Tocci Brothers, and Other Dicephali
The King of Poland's Court
Dwarf Daniel Cajanus, the Swedish Giant
Daniel Lambert, the Human Colossus
Cat-eating Englishmen and French Frog-swallowers"
General
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