In his book, The Two Headed Boy and other Medical Marvels, Jan Bondeson gives readers a peek into the misunderstood history, superstition and exploitation of humans who have been considered medical curiosities; the unfortunates stigmatized and sensationalized for their unusual traits.
In 2000, The Two-Headed Boy joined the ranks of Bondeson’s other works on medical oddities, including The Feejee Mermaid and other Essays in Natural and Unnatural History and A Cabinet of Medical Curiosities. His books are not merely a side-show glimpse of the disfigured. Bondeson approaches his topic as a serious and sensitive historian exploring of the myths and facts surrounding these unusual cases.
The Two-Headed Boy not only presents fascinating information on the medical conditions that give rise to bizarre human traits such as dwarfism, extreme hairiness, conjoined twins, gigantism and others, but also tells the often tragic personal stories of these medical marvels.
Factual Cases of Medical Oddities
Bondeson's book offers many historical cases, presented with detailed personal information and medical documentation when available (which is rather impressive, as some of the individual cases featured date back hundreds of years). These portrayals allow the reader not only to learn the medical basis of several astounding and bizarre characteristics, but also to discover the heartbreaking stories of those afflicted, many of whom spent their lives displayed as freaks for the financial gain of others.
The factual cases covered in The Two-headed Boy include:
- The Hairy Maid at the Harpsicord: The story of Barbara Urslerin and others (including entire families) with hypertrichosis, a.k.a. extreme hairiness.
- The Stone Child: Documentation of calcified fetuses, known as lithopedions; the rare mineralization of unborn babies that were sometimes unknowingly carried for decades in the abdomen of the mother.
- Horned Human: Accounts of people possessing horny growths; not a good trait to have during the dark ages of superstition, when those marked with such deformities were often thought to be devils incarnate.
- Conjoined Twins: Ranging from early tales of the Bidden Maids to modern day conjoined twins, Bondeson explores many cases of these inseparable siblings. In some instances, conjoined are two complete individuals, in other cases they are asymmetrically joined, with one twin incompletely developed and existing as a parasite of the healthy twin.
- Anomolies of Size: The book offers several examples of humans ranging far outside of the norm for stature or girth, including the unusually small, such as Nicholas Ferry (a.k.a. Bebe), the 16th century court dwarf of the King of Poland, the 7 foot 8 inch Swedish Giant of the same time period, and Daniel Lambert the corpulent man billed as the Human Collosus.
- Cat Eating Englishmen and French Frog Swallowers: In addition to physical oddities, Bondeson also investigates some of the strange and disturbing behavior that people have engaged in throughout history to turn a profit.
Bizarre Myths Explained
The Two-headed Boy also explores strange myths that, although sometimes surfacing repeatedly, appear to be without any medical substantiation. The author shares his insight into the factors which may have contributed to persistent myths of the bizarre, including:
- Women who were believed to have laid eggs
- A cursed countess who gave birth to 365 children
- The popular myth of the hog-faced gentlewoman
Factual or fanciful, this book is meticulously researched and includes numerous illustrations in the form of woodcuts, paintings, engravings and photographs, to help the reader better understand each case.
About the Book
- Title: The Two-Headed Boy and Other Medical Marvels
- Author: Jan Bondeson
- Publisher & Year: Cornell University Press, 2000
- List Price: $19.95
- Paperback ISBN: 978-0-801-489587
- Recommendation: A painstakingly researched volume that responsibly presents the history and tragedy of human anomalies.
For reviews of other excellent science books, see Dogs: Their Fossil Relatives and Evolutionary History and The Evolutionary Biology of Parasites.
About the Picture
A freak show at the Rutland Fair in Rutland, Vermont.. Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Farm Security Administration - Office of War Information Photograph Collection: CALL NUMBER: LC-USF34- 045516-D.
