We are told by old historians of a monster which was born at Ravenna, in Italy, about the year 1512, which had wings instead of arms; and some peculiar marks on its body. We present the following figure of this singular creature.
Another monster was born about the year 1603, which from the account handed down to us, was from the navel upwards like a woman, and the lower parts like those of a beast. The following figure of this curious creature is taken from an ancient record of the subject. This monster appears to approach nearer to the figure of the fabled satyrs than any we have before seen, and may probably have given rise to those fabled monsters.
Where children thus are born with hairy coats,
Heaven’s wrath unto the kingdom it denotes.
Another monster was produced, representing a hairy child. It was all covered with hair like a beast. That which rendered it more frightful, was, that its navel was in the place where its nose should stand, and its eyes placed where the mouth should have been; and its mouth placed in the chin. It was of the male kind, and was born in France, in the year 1597, at a town called Arles, in Provence, and lived a few days, frightening all who beheld it. It was looked upon by the superstitious as a forerunner of those desolations which soon afterwards happened to that unhappy kingdom, where men to each other, were more like beasts than human creatures. The foregoing engraving from an old print—with two lines attached—give a clearer idea of the monster than any description of ours.
In the year 1581, a monster was born at Nazara, which had four arms and four legs, of a similar form to the figure above. Whether this monster lived for any length of time after its birth, or whether it perished soon after, we have no reliable account on which to rest our conclusions. There is no doubt but that many such unnatural births would be concealed: for the doctors of a former age would consider themselves justified in putting an end to the existence of such monsters. With regard to the formation of the child in this case, so far as can be gathered from the account of it, there was nothing to prevent it living: its vital organs were single, it was only the arms and legs that were double.
