Critical Introduction

Ambroise Paré (1510–1590) was a royal surgeon and a foremost medical authority. His book On Monsters sits between the medieval model of monsters as signs of God's will and ill omens, and the Enlightenment model of monsters resulting from simple causes that can be explained through science. Here, we present the preface and first four chapters. These lay out Paré's view that “Monsters are things that appear against the course of Nature.” By this, he means to describe offspring that differ in various ways from their parents. In this, Parébuilds on a tradition that is at least as old as the writing of Saint Augustine, but rather than assuming all monsters to be the will of God and part of God's method of teaching humans about his plan for the universe, Parésuggests non-religious causes for some. These causes range quite widely, from scientific (if inaccurate) explanations regarding the quantity of semen and shape of the uterus to theological explanations about the devil. Even when Parérelies on supernatural explanations, though, he remains very much an early scientific thinker, enumerating several distinct categories of difference from normative expectations. However, his enthusiasm for the subject also seems to get the better of him at times.

Reading Questions

Is there any resolution of the tension between the theological and the medical explanations Parégives? We learn a bit about Paréas we read, including that he seems to own the preserved remains of some of the unusual babies he dissected. Does this change how we view him and his work?

Editorial Notes

We have cut some footnotes from the original text that did not add to the discussion and references to images that are reproduced separately. Explanatory footnotes inserted by the volume editors are enclosed in brackets. This translation uses the term “hermaphrodites” because the early modern source uses this term. It is no longer the preferred term for actual human beings whose bodies or gender identities lie between traditional notions of male and female. Intersex or trans* are now common terms.