Anomaly and Norm

The Adaptability of Life Between Anatomy and Biology

1. Alberto Magno, De secretis mulierum 1740
2. Ambroise Paré, Des monstres et prodiges 1594

In the Middle Ages, treatises on monstra were abundant: they shifted the concept of monstrosity from a prodigy or divine sign to a problem of the history of science. The interpretation of the priest, authorized to “interpret” divine signs, was replaced by that of the auctoritas of the individual treatise: the monsters, from text to text, became fantastic characters, losing their original symbolic meaning as omens and assuming new ones, moral and allegorical.

Albertus Magnus (1193-1280), in his De secretis mulierum, argues that sexual intercourse from the side or standing up can produce monsters, an explanation that remained prevalent throughout the Middle Ages. Ambroise Paré (1510-1590), in his Des monstres et prodiges, claims that if a woman looks at or imagines monstrous figures during the early days after conception, a monstrous child will be born.

3. Ulisse Aldrovandi, Monstrorum historia 1642

Monstrosities, with their anomalies or variations, attracted not only doctors during the Renaissance but also thinkers and investigators of the mysteries of nature. In Ulisse Aldrovandi’s Monstrorum historia (1522-1605), everything known about monstrosities at the time was gathered: ancient texts were revisited, and everything said about monstra in them was reported, alternating information from Pliny, Aelian, or other medieval authors with recent or contemporary news without verification. At that time, it was difficult to dismiss as implausible or absurd the reports from authorities of the ancient world, who held great prestige among scholars.

Biblioteca storica di Medicina e Botanica Vincenzo Pinali e Giovanni Marsili