Product Description

In his new collection of essays, Jan Bondeson tells ten fascinating stories of myths and hoaxes, beliefs and Ripley-like facts, concerning the animal kingdom. Throughout he recounts--and in some instances solves--mysteries of the natural world which have puzzled scientists for centuries. Heavily illustrated with photographs and drawings, the book presents astounding tales from across the rich folklore of animals: a learned pig more admired than Sir Isaac Newton by the English public, an elephant that Lord Byron wanted to employ as his butler, a dancing horse whose skills in mathematics were praised by William Shakespeare, and, of course, the extraordinary creature known as the Feejee Mermaid. This object became the foremost curiosity of London in the 1820s and later in the century toured the United States under the management of P. T. Barnum. Bearing a striking resemblance to a wizened and misshapen monkey with a fishtail, the mermaid was nonetheless proclaimed a genuine specimen by "experts." Bondeson explores other zoological wonders: toads living for centuries encased in solid stone, little fishes raining down from the sky, and barnacle geese growing from trees until ready to fly. In two of his most fascinating chapters, he uncovers the origins of the basilisk, considered one of the most inexplicable mythical monsters, and of the Vegetable Lamb of Tartary. With the head and body of a rooster and the tail of a snake, the basilisk was said to be able to kill a person with its gaze. Bondeson demonstrates that belief in this fabulous creature resulted from misinterpretations of rare events in natural history. The vegetable lamb, a mainstay of museums in the seventeenth century, was allegedly half plant, half animal: it had the shape of a little lamb, but grew from a stem. After examining two vegetable lambs still in London today, Bondeson offers a new theory to explain this old fallacy.

CONTENTS Prelude The Dancing Horse Lament of the Learned Pig The Feejee Mermaid Obituary of an Elephant Jumbo, King of Elephants Animals on Trial The Riddle of the Basilisk Spontaneous Generation Odd Showers Toad in the Hole

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #769525 in Books
• Published on: 1999-05
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 315 pages

From Publishers Weekly
In the finest tradition of the bestiaries of old, Bondeson (A Cabinet of Medical Curiosities) presents tales of amazing animals. Some were very real, like Marocco the Dancing Horse, renowned throughout Europe at the beginning of the 16th century; the Learned Pig, a supposed porcine genius with a similar following 50 years later; and Chunee, an irascible elephant executed in London in 1826 after a stage and menagerie career. Others, like numerous mermaids, the basilisk (a reptilian-like creature reputedly so powerful that "all living creatures that met its gaze expired instantaneously"), lambs made of vegetables and geese growing on trees, were a good deal more fanciful or fully fabricated, even though they each had a wide following for centuries. Bondeson also discusses a host of other animal oddities, including a locust placed on trial for destroying crops, populations of frogs and worms raining from the sky, live toads encased in rock supposedly for centuries and able to hop away when freed, and termites who, upon hearing a judge's proclamation, lined up and, in neat order, marched to their new homes. In each of his 10 chapters, Bondeson successfully couples a wealth of historical material with the latest biological information. In doing so, he demonstrates winsomely that science has solved some long-standing mysteries, but that others remain beyond its reach. 63 b&w photos, eight drawings.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
This book is a testament to human ingenuity and determination through the ages. From the elaborate education of performing pigs to the brisk enterprise of manufacturing mermaid remains for tourists, Bondeson (A Cabinet of Medical Curiosities, LJ 10/15/97) illustrates the unusual in natural history with this collection of ten essays describing scientific hoaxes, misconceptions, and other assorted oddities of the natural world. The "strange but true" nature of these pieces is immediately appealing. The author draws heavily from both the literature (especially poetry) and illustrations of the time. Although some of the essays sag in the middleABondeson unnecessarily repeats statements, jumps back and forth in time, and strays from the storyAthis is for the most part an enjoyable and interesting read. Recommended for large public and academic libraries, especially those with collections in natural history.AMarianne Stowell Bracke, Univ. of Houston Libs.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Scientific American
Zoological curiosities, some real and some legendary but credited as real by gullible folk, are Bondeson's subject. He is a British physician, specializing in rheumatology and internal medicine, who for recreation investigates "various odd, macabre phenomena in medicine and natural history that are ignored by the modern, rationalist textbooks of the history of science." Among the real zoological curiosities he describes are animal showers (fish, frogs and worms falling with rain or snow) and Jumbo the elephant, one of P. T. Barnum's famous exhibits. Among the unreal ones are the Feejee Mermaid, which also found its way into Barnum's hands after a time as a popular exhibit in Europe, and the many toads (real themselves) that have been falsely reported as emerging alive after being entombed for long periods in stone or lumps of coal. Bondeson supplies plenty of pictures of his subjects and the often fanciful claims made for them.

Customer Reviews

Golly Gee a Feejee
Not many pictures in this book - but lots of words - good words.
The subject is handled with respect - which is not always done with topics such as this. The photos and illustrations are not reproduced very well so don't buy it for the pictures. There are some good essays and it reads fast. I have studied this topic for many years so I was prepared for the worst - meaning i wouldn't find much new stuff here - but hey I DID. New info about some old things I have been studying always impresses me and tells me that the writer(s) did their homework.

A REMARKABLE BOOK ABOUT NATURAL WONDERS
If you have any interest in the history of biology, this book is for you. It contains ten investigations into natural history at its most weird: learned pigs, barnacle geese growing from trees, vegetable lambs, showers of fish and toads, and the world's cleverest performing horse. The Feejee Mermaid of the title, half a monkey and half a salmon, had a long career in 19th century show business and beyond. A remarkable chapter deals with the criminal prosecution of animals for a variety of offenses, from the middle age onwards. One of the book's great strengths is that it successfully couples a wealth of historical data with modern science; this enabled Bondeson to actually solve the riddle of the Basilisk, a mythical creature born from the egg of a cockerel.

Jan Bondeson is apparently a British physician, and not a full-time historian of science. This would explain the book's vivid and readable prose, far from the normal turgid jargon of the 'academic'. Most of the essays are beautifully written, with contemporary quotations in poetry and prose effortlessly woven into the text. Sometimes I found, however, that the book had a lack of cohesion and overall theme. But in the book's best chapter, about spontaneous generation throughout the ages, Bondeson provides a remarkable and unique contribution to the history of biology. He uses his up-to-date knowledge of science to demonstrate that the same long-lasting ideas about generation of living tiaaue can be found in Aristotle's writings and in modern theories about the origins of life.

FEEJEE mermaid holds many curiosities
If you are at all interested in medical oddities, natural history, or a sideshow history, this is very interesting. It goes through the histories of a few oddities: the title character, the lerned pig, animals in rocks, and smart mules. it also reconstructs a continuum, especially in the case of the mermaid, of how these artifacts and oddities have been used and why people are interested in them. Also it explains how these seemingly impossible things have happened. Very interesting to anyone of a science or social science background.