The Two Headed Boy: And Other Medical Marvels

Jan Bondeson

Cornell University Press, Sep 15, 2004 - Medical - 295 pages

A successor to his popular book A Cabinet of Medical Curiosities, this new collection of essays by Jan Bondeson illustrates various anomalies of human development, the lives of the remarkable individuals concerned, and social reactions to their extraordinary bodies. Bondeson examines historical cases of dwarfism, extreme corpulence, giantism, conjoined twins, dicephaly, and extreme hairiness; his broader theme, however, is the infinite range of human experience. The dicephalous Tocci brothers and Lazarus Colloredo (from whose belly grew his malformed conjoined twin), the Swedish giant, and the king of Poland's dwarf-Bondeson considers these individuals not as "freaks" but as human beings born with sometimes appalling congenital deformities. He makes full use of original French, German, Dutch, Polish, and Scandinavian sources and explores elements of ethnology, literature, and cultural history in his diagnoses. Heavily illustrated with woodcuts, engravings, oil paintings, and photographs, The Two-Headed Boy and Other Medical Marvels combines a scientist's scrutiny with a humanist's wonder at the endurance of the human spirit. Contents: The Two Inseparable Brothers, and a Preface The Hairy Maid at the Harpsichord The Stone-child The Woman Who Laid an Egg The Strangest Miracle in the World Some Words about Hog-faced Gentlewomen Horned Humans The Biddenden Maids The Tocci Brothers, and Other Dicephali The King of Poland's Court Dwarf Daniel Cajanus, the Swedish Giant Daniel Lambert, the Human Colossus Cat-eating Englishmen and French Frog-swallowers

What people are saying

Review: The Two-Headed Boy, and Other Medical Marvels: The Albany Congress of 1754

User Review  - Victoria - Goodreads

This was certainly a fascinating book! Each chapter focused on a different medical abnormality. Some chapters were quite disgusting - particularly the explanation of the 365 children born at once to ...

Review: The Two-Headed Boy, and Other Medical Marvels

User Review  - Mrs N - Goodreads

This book is about human physiological anomalies. Like, a lady who laid two eggs. Seriously. It's a long story as to why I got this book, but parts of it were pretty interesting.

About the author

Jan Bondeson, M.D., also holds a Ph.D. in experimental medicine. He is the author of "A Cabinet of Medical Curiosities" & other works.

Bibliographic information

• Title: The Two Headed Boy: And Other Medical Marvels
• Author: Jan Bondeson
• Edition: illustrated, reprint
• Publisher: Cornell University Press, 2004
• ISBN: 080148958X, 9780801489587
• Length: 295 pages
• Subjects: Medical / General; Medical / History; Medical / Pathophysiology; Nature / Essays