410 Ulisse Aldrovandi

which had a navel between the thighs where the sex is revealed; but besides the two heads, it was equipped with four hands and four feet.

VI.

Ambroise Paré depicts another infant with a double head, as seen in the illustration, though it lacked a right arm. I mention it here to maintain the chronological sequence, as it came into the world in the year of our Lord 1575. Furthermore, as Schenck relates, on October 6, 1593, in the jurisdiction of the Wolmirstedt monastery, the wife of a certain innkeeper gave birth to a two-headed girl; after she died, Valentin Wager illustrated her in vivid colors.

Moreover, on May 29, 1597, in the village of Lustnau in the Duchy of Württemberg, not far from Tübingen, a monstrous birth was brought to light by common parents—namely, the father Jacob Hang, a vinedresser, and the mother Agnete. After sixteen weeks of pregnancy, the vinedresser's wife went into labor and gave birth to a stillborn fetus without danger to her own life.

This premature fetus possessed the genitalia of both sexes and consisted of twin heads and two necks; each head had two ears, two eyes, one mouth, and one nose. To those who saw it, this monster was a terrifying and horrible sight. The heads did not differ much from the skulls of deceased men, and each forehead appeared divided in the middle as if split open. There were two legs, along with tiny hands and thin feet contracted into a narrow space, as is commonly seen in miscarriages of this kind. This monster was diligently examined according to the laws of anatomy by the physicians of the famous University of Tübingen. They found a double heart, a double lung, and a double liver; in the lower belly, however, the stomach was single, and the intestines were not doubled. Thus far Schenck’s account.

VII.

To the aforementioned cases must be added a two-headed human monster with a tail, depicted from both the front and back. It is reported to have been born on October 26, 1598, in a town situated between Voghera and Tortona, the result of a union between a male and female first cousin. By the time it was drawn by the painter, it had long been dead and was preserved in oil of spike. The length of this monster was one and a half spans, and the width of its belly equaled a palm and a thumb. It had two heads the size of apples, covered with blond hair. It possessed two feet and four arms, two of which occupied their proper places in the human fashion, while the other two grew from the middle of the two heads near the back.

But in this monster, one thing above all was worthy of wonder: two fingers’ breadth above the anus, it had a tail one palm in length which covered the exit for excrement, just as is observed in tailed quadrupeds. This tail was the width of a pinky finger at its base and ended in a sharp point. Since no form of male genitalia or scrotum appeared, the monster was believed to be of the female sex. This image was communicated to the highly learned Ulisse Aldrovandi by Mario Galassi of Naples, a supreme investigator of natural things.

In the following year—specifically 1599, as Schenck records—in the village of Zeutern, located about a mile from Bruchsal in the Diocese of Speyer, the wife of a magistrate gave birth to a two-headed and wondrous offspring in the month of August. Having completed her full term of pregnancy, she was returning home from the countryside when she was seized by heavy labor pains. Falling to the ground, she was immediately overtaken by an epileptic fit; as night approached, she gave birth. After being gripped by the paroxysms of this "falling sickness" for nine continuous hours, she finally breathed her last that same night.

The infant was of a horrendous appearance, for those two heads mimicked the faces of monkeys. The rest of the body was similar to that of a well-formed boy, except for the arms, which appeared stunted in some parts. The feet reflected the shape of a monkey's feet rather than a human's, and finally, a rudimentary fox-like tail was visible around the buttocks.

VIII.

So much for the two-headed monster whose heads are seen in their proper place. Now, several things must be said regarding a more horrific and marvelous two-headed monster. Indeed, at that time when Francis I, King of the French, with