126 Ulysses Aldrovandi

Following this, we list ulcers of every kind: varicose, worm-infested, those involving bone decay, cachectic or "Chironian" ulcers, herpetic, phagedenic, noma, and theriomata (or livid ulcers). We also find gangrene, syphilitic ulcers, bone caries, cerium, and cracks of the hands and feet. Likewise, there is a fissure along the length of the spine, so thin as to escape detection by sight, which—according to Schenck—frequently brings death to the patient. Furthermore, there are fistulas of all sorts, every species of scabies, itching, lichen or "mentagra," leprosy, burns, and the like.

Regarding tumors that arise contrary to nature, we observe that they are infinite. These include phlegmons, erysipelas, edemas, cancers, inflammations, carbuncles, syphilitic buboes, scirrhous tumors, nodules, and various cysts like atheromas, steatomas, and meliceris. One also encounters aneurysms, emphysemas, goiters, ganglions, calluses, corns, and various types of warts, sycosis, boils, and swellings such as parotitis, parulis, styes, and chalazia. There is also *plica*, a disease peculiar to Sarmatia, as well as acne (known as *ionthi* or *cossi*), umbilical hernias, and a variety of other hernias—whether bubonocele, sarcocele, hydrocele, epiplocele, enterocele, cirsocele, physocele, or compound forms—not to mention wens, which sometimes grow to weigh eight pounds.

And what of those horn-like protrusions that occasionally disfigure the human head? According to Scaliger, these are not monstrous births but rather a form of disease. Indeed, Lanfrancus records in his *Chirurgia Magna* that he saw a man whose head was marked by seven such protrusions, the tallest of which rivaled the length of a thumb. Amatus Lusitanus also mentions a boy born with a small horn on his head. When he reached adulthood, weary of being mocked as "the horned one" by other boys, he sought to have it removed. An over-confident surgeon cut it out by the roots, but with a tragic result: the patient died shortly thereafter, as horns of this nature are formed from the medullary substance of the brain.

Similarly, in the year 1639, a ten-year-old peasant boy with a horn on his head the length of an index finger came to the Hospital of Death in Bologna to be freed from this burden through surgery. Giovanni Battista—the son of the late Giovanni Caponi, a man most celebrated for his medical and astrological knowledge—was attending the hospital's patients at the time. A man of profound learning, Giovanni Battista warned that the boy would die if the horn were cut and wisely sent him away.

We now present an illustration of a horned man found in the Duchy of Maine, whose story is as follows: In our own times, in the Duchy of Maine in France, there lived a man named François Trouilly. He was a peasant of tall stature and great strength, well-proportioned in all his limbs, who typically dressed in wolfskins worn inside-out. Born in the small county of Mézières, he spent nearly his entire life in the woods. He reported that at the age of seven there was no trace of a horn, but from that time on, it began to erupt from his head, eventually sharpening into the shape of a ram’s horn on the right side of his forehead.

By the time he was discovered, he appeared to be about thirty-five years old, as could be conjectured from his appearance. He was found in the following manner: the Lord of Lavardin frequently visited a certain grove for hunting. One day, upon entering and spotting a group of peasants whom he suspected of being brigands, he ordered them all to be seized. The horned man, who was with them, was the first to flee and hide himself in the brambles.

However, he was forcibly extracted and brought before the Lord. He refused to uncover his head, lest he reveal such a great deformity. When the Lord’s servants finally removed his cap, the spectators were struck with wonder to see a horn on a head that was bald, save for some hair covering the back. Lord Lavardin immediately ordered him to be taken to the invincible King of France, who was then nearby; he was later taken to Paris so that he might be seen by everyone. Schenck also mentions a man from whose back a bone emerged in the likeness of a horn; after a general purgation of the whole body and the application of drying medicines, the bone fell off of its own accord.