History of Monsters. 645

...in the year of human salvation 1546, a woman in Paris, as reported by Ambroise Paré, gave birth in her sixth month of pregnancy to a twin fetus joined at the sides. Consequently, it had only two arms and four legs, as seen in Figure X. Paré dissected the body of this monster and found only a single heart.

Similarly, Rembert Dodoens mentions in his *Observations* twins joined at the side from the shoulder to the soles of the feet. One of these lacked a left arm and the other a right arm where they were joined at the side; as a result, they shared a single hip and foot, though the rest of the body was whole and separate.

Joachim Camerarius, in observations sent to Schenck, reported that he had dissected the body of a similar monster out of curiosity (for it is often useful to open such monsters so that Nature's various internal errors may also be revealed). At first glance, he discovered a single stomach and one large, wide liver, as the monster also had a large umbilical cord through which it drew nourishment from the mother’s blood. The intestines were of a single kind, not distinct enough for each infant to have its own; nevertheless, two spleens were visible, one occupying each side of the stomach. Two gallbladders were also seen attached to the liver on either side. Furthermore, in each infant, two kidneys, a bladder, a uterus, and the genital parts were located in their proper places. A single large, wide heart occupied the middle of the chest, not at all surrounded by the lungs, but by the membrane called the mediastinum, which was double and, like two walls, enclosed the heart with the pericardium. In the rest of the chest cavity, only a small portion of the lungs was visible. He did not open the infants' heads, as he did not think there would be anything singular or unnatural in them. It is true, however, that one of the infants' heads was larger than the other.

Human monsters with two bodies, born with their heads positioned diametrically opposite.

It sometimes happens that two fetuses in the human womb fuse at the buttocks and the perineum, with the result that the infants appear to face one another from opposite sides. For in Rome, according to the account of Lycosthenes, in the year of human salvation 1493, twins were reportedly born connected in such a way that they looked at one another with opposing hands and faces; they lived for only a few days.

Again, in August of the year of our Lord 1552, a two-bodied fetus is said to have been born in Middeltun, England, with faces turned away, four hands, a single belly, one umbilicus, and a single anus suitable for expelling waste. On one side of the body, two legs with normally proportioned feet hung down. From the other side came a single leg with a foot that appeared to be fused from two and was adorned with nine toes.

Schenck adds, following the thought of Jakob Rueff, that a similar female monster was seen where one of the fetuses survived for fifteen days while the other lived for only one. These twins rarely cried; one was quite cheerful, while the other was somber and prone to sleep. Their length and width were said to be five palms, and their appearance is shown in Figure I.

Ambroise Paré spoke of a not very dissimilar monster born in Paris in July 1570, joined at the perineum near the buttocks, with the umbilicus located at the site of the genitals. Thus, he says, in the Rue des Gravilliers at the Sign of the Bell, to a porter named Pierre Germain and a mother named Matthea Pernella, two small children were born. They were joined by a single navel and faced each other from opposite sides, though their sexes were distinct. Indeed, having been baptized in the sacred font, they were named Louis and Louise.