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578 The History of Ulisse Aldrovandi

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...lected, but only that in which the power of the species weakens, which is why afterwards either the whole fetus or certain parts of it are produced unlike the parents. For when the formative power finds the material of the fetuses properly disposed, it then procreates a fetus similar to the parent; if otherwise, it produces one that is dissimilar.

Now we shall set aside the causes derived from nourishment, nutritional power, diseases, and monstrous parents, as these were dealt with more fully in the section on universal causes. For the most part, the generation of these monsters arises from a powerful imagination. Just as it happens that a pregnant woman imprints the image of a desired thing upon the fetus, so it can also happen that if a woman, having received human seed, is afterwards involved with a dog, she might—through constant thought and the fear of giving birth to a dog—imprint canine parts upon the fetus. In such a case, it should not be said that the offspring issued from the dog's seed, since no compatibility is observed between human and canine seed. We have previously asserted that this cause also applies to the offspring of beasts; indeed, Cornelius Gemma reported that a dog with a hawk’s head was born due to the mother’s terror of that bird.

We do not deny, however, that monsters can emerge from different animals, provided they are of a compatible nature and temperament, as Aristotle testified regarding the monsters of Africa. Indeed, in such monstrous creatures, if the male seed (if it was a man) prevails in the upper parts of the fetus, then human upper parts result; and if the seed of a beast was strongly active in the formation of the lower parts, then the lower parts of the monster turn out to be animalistic.

Nevertheless, such monsters arising from two different species can sometimes be born because two seeds are enclosed in the womb; due to the narrowness of the space, they cannot expand to form two separate fetuses but instead coalesce into one. Thus, a "horrendous monster" is born, as the reader can contemplate in the following illustrations—provided that the seeds shared some compatibility.

Similarly, it seems that a cat with horrendous feet emerged without a doubt from the narrowness of the space. The matter intended for the formation of the feet, unable to expand in that position, was stretched out in length, and the feet were formed into spirals to accommodate the constraints of the place. Furthermore, a horse is believed to have been born with human feet because the material of the hooves, while still tender in the womb, was divided into several parts, much like the formation of human fingers—though the ancients attributed such things to omens and auguries.

On the Monstrous Foulness of the Skin

Chapter VII

Skin defects that disfigure many offspring are sometimes a matter of color—specifically, when Ethiopians are born to white parents, or conversely, when white infants are born to Ethiopians. This category also includes hairy offspring who, by nature, should be smooth and hairless; indeed, it covers certain fleshy or skin-like growths that sometimes hang from the skin of humans and other animals. Finally, the tearing and excessive hardness of a fetus’s skin are counted among these defects.

Regarding skin color, it should be noted that sometimes white infants are born to black parents, and conversely, black offspring to white parents. Heliodorus records that Persina, the Queen of Ethiopia, bore a daughter of remarkable white color by her husband Hydaspes (also an Ethiopian) because, during their union, she gazed with fixed eyes and an intent mind upon a displayed image of the beautiful Andromeda. On the other hand, Hippocrates tells of a certain noblewoman, who was white, from her husband