odditiesThe Public Domain Review1726 · Godalming, Surrey, England
In 1726 a Surrey woman convinced royal doctors she had given birth to rabbits
In September 1726, news reached the court of King George I that Mary Toft, a young servant in Godalming, Surrey, had given birth to animal parts, and over the following months she was said to have delivered a series of rabbits. The local obstetrician John Howard wrote to leading physicians, and the King sent investigators, including the royal surgeon Nathaniel St Andre. Some doctors were convinced, while others grew suspicious after examining the remains, which contained hay and straw. In early December Mary confessed to inserting dead rabbits herself, and she was sent to Bridewell prison. The affair shows how eager experts could be to believe a striking story.
The hoax fooled some of Britain's best-placed medical men and turned into a national scandal, a reminder that expertise can be undone by confidence and reputation. It also shows how 18th-century beliefs about the womb could make an impossible claim seem plausible.
William Hogarth satirised the affair in one of his prints.
background
Mary Toft (née Denyer; baptised 21 February 1703 – January 1763), also spelled Tofts, was an English woman from Godalming, Surrey, who in 1726 became the subject of considerable controversy when she tricked doctors into believing that she had given birth to rabbits.
In 1726 Toft became pregnant, but following her reported fascination with the sighting of a rabbit, she miscarried. Her claim to have given birth to various animal parts prompted the arrival of John Howard, a local surgeon, who investigated the matter. He delivered several pieces of animal flesh and duly notified other prominent physicians, which brought the case to the attention of Nathaniel St. André, surgeon to the Royal Household of King George I. St. André concluded that Toft's case was genuine but the king also sent surgeon Cyriacus Ahlers, who remained sceptical. By then quite famous, Toft was brought to London where she was studied in detail; under intense scrutiny and producing no more rabbits she confessed to the hoax, which was put upon by her family, and was subsequently imprisoned as a fraud.
From Wikipedia: Mary Toft (CC BY-SA 4.0) ↗
Image: The Public Domain Review
