Siamese Hermaphrodites, 1573 (engraving)

Siamese Hermaphrodites - engraving from the book of Ambrose Parare: “” Monsters and Wonders”” (1573) - Excerpts from the text: “” Hippocrates on the generation of monsters says that if there is too much seed there will be a large number of portees or a monstrous child with superfluous and useless parts like two heads, four arms or legs, six fingers hands and feet or other things. On the contrary, if the seed fails in quantity, some limb will be defective, like having only one hand, no arm, or feet, or head, or other defaillant part. [...] In the year 1486, we were born in the Palatinate, quite close to Heildelberg, in a village called Rorbarchie, two gemstone children caring and joined together back to back, which were hermafrodite, as we can see from this portrait.