History of Monsters 483

up to now we have spoken of those who were born without arms. Now we must examine those monstrous births that entered the world with a single arm, or with one of them either mutilated or transposed. The historian Orosius recorded that, during the looming Macedonian War—specifically during the consulship of Gaius Petilius and Gaius Valerius—a boy was born at Sinuessa with only one arm. However, Julius Obsequens asserts that a small boy with a single arm was born to a maidservant during the consulship of Gaius Valerius and Marcus Herennius. For our part, we provide here an illustration of a fetus born with a single and imperfect arm; its fingers were few and poorly formed. This figure is displayed in the public museum under number I.

Jacobus Rufus, in his work on human conception, reported that two infants were once born in Amiternum. One was correctly formed in all parts of the body except for the feet, of which there were three; the third, along with a shin, originated from the left ham. The other boy also had three feet but lacked a right arm. Lycosthenes mentions this second fetus, born with a single arm in Amiternum in the year 3819 of the world, and it is shown in Figure II.

If we progress further, we encounter a monstrous man who had one arm intact and the other mutilated. He was born in the village of Dirlisdorff on December 6, 1497, with a well-constituted body, but his left arm was formed only as far as the elbow, where a fleshy tumor the size of a small nut protruded from the end. His other arm was indeed complete, but the hand was divided into only three fingers, which were nearly joined together. This boy was raised and used his monstrous hands not only to take food and drink, but also to count money, calculate accounts, and record them in a book with the most elegant characters. Furthermore, he performed all the other duties that are usually carried out by other men using both hands. According to Lycosthenes, he lived until 1557, at which time he was over sixty years old; his form is presented for inspection in Figure III.

There is also a youth of sixteen currently living in Bologna named Thomas Buganellus, whose right arm ends at the elbow, where certain rudiments of fingers and nails appear. Similarly, while we were writing these very lines on June 28, 1640, the wife of a certain carpenter gave birth to a boy with all parts intact except for the left arm, which ended at the elbow, where confused rudiments of fingers and nails could be seen.

If we turn our attention to monstrous births with transposed arms, we could undoubtedly bring forward many examples, but one or two will suffice. The first is mentioned by Caelius Rhodiginus as being born in his native village; it was a four-month-old fetus, but of unusual size. The little body was fully formed but two-headed, with two arms set in their proper place, while a third arm rose from the shoulders between the two heads.

Another monstrous infant was born in the suburbs of Stettin in 1554, as noted by Lycosthenes, citing Fincelius. This fetus, among other deformities, had a transposed left arm that occupied the place of the ear. Furthermore, it could not be determined whether the fetus was male, female, or hermaphrodite. Additionally, the arms and legs of the infant were stiff with continuous bone, lacking joints, elbows, or knees. The hands and feet hung down as if broken; this