A Seventeenth-Century Illustration
Originally published in 1684, this extremely popular work on generation and sexual reproduction was still being printed well into the 19th century. Amid the tales of monstrous births due to the mother witnessing traumatic events or having evil thoughts is a report on the female pygopagus twins depicted here. Amazingly, the author tells the reader that one twin outlived the other by three years, only to succumb to death itself from the burden of having to carry the corpse around with it!
Untitled illustration from: Aristotle, pseud. Aristotle's compleat master piece, in three parts. The 29th ed. London: Printed and sold by the booksellers, 1772, p. 94.
Courtesy National Library of Medicine