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The Feejee Mermaid and Other Essays in Natural and Unnatural History
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.
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.
336 pages, Hardcover
First published May 1, 1999
About the author
Jan Bondeson
31 books61 followersOutside of his career in medicine, he has written several nonfiction books on a variety of topics, such as medical anomalies and unsolved murder mysteries.
Bondeson is the biographer of a predecessor of Jack the Ripper, the London Monster, who stabbed fifty women in the buttocks, of Edward 'the Boy' Jones, who stalked Queen Victoria and stole her underwear, and Greyfriars Bobby, a Scottish terrier who supposedly spent 14 years guarding his master's grave.
He is currently working as a senior lecturer and consultant rheumatologist at the Cardiff University School of Medicine.
(from Wikipedia)
Bondeson is the biographer of a predecessor of Jack the Ripper, the London Monster, who stabbed fifty women in the buttocks, of Edward 'the Boy' Jones, who stalked Queen Victoria and stole her underwear, and Greyfriars Bobby, a Scottish terrier who supposedly spent 14 years guarding his master's grave.
He is currently working as a senior lecturer and consultant rheumatologist at the Cardiff University School of Medicine.
(from Wikipedia)
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
July 15, 2017
Una serie de ensayos entretenidos y que a través de la mirada de un científico nos llevan a conocer toda una serie de criaturas y fenómenos extraordinarios (desde juicios de animales hasta lluvias de ranas). Una lectura muy disfrutable.
February 16, 2020
This book strongly covers the fears of yesterday’s world. Mr Bondeson shows great publisher leadership with a great courage with strong words.
June 22, 2014
Since this is the first book of this kind that I have read I wasn't really sure what to expect. The author here has gone to great lengths to provide a well researched and informative collection of essays that are both entertaining and rather scholarly. I enjoyed stories about performing animals, oddball trials, the titular Feejee Mermaid and the spontaneous generation phenomenon among others that while written in separate essays seemed to build off the knowledge brought forth by the previous entries yet stood strongly on their own. My only issue with this title is that the research was so in-depth and written in such a scholarly way that the author at times had a tendency to describe in painful detail some scientific research that I felt didn't add to the story of the chapter's overall subject. These areas seemed to drag but ultimately didn't provide too big of a distraction from the entertainment value of the book. I don't think I would recommend this book to someone with merely little or no interest in such odd topics but if this sort of thing is your cup of tea it's definitely worth your time.
September 23, 2009
As the title indicates, this is a collection of essays on animal topics, mostly of the unusual sort—the history of belief in the basilisk, strange falls of the sort Charles Forte was so interested in, animals being put in trial, the biographies of a few very famous performing animals.
How interesting each essay is will depend on the reader and their own interests, but all are thoroughly researched and engagingly written, and I ended up enjoying subjects I knew little to nothing about before (the lives and deaths of Chunee and Jumbo the elephants, for example) much more than the topics I was interested in prior to cracking the cover.
How interesting each essay is will depend on the reader and their own interests, but all are thoroughly researched and engagingly written, and I ended up enjoying subjects I knew little to nothing about before (the lives and deaths of Chunee and Jumbo the elephants, for example) much more than the topics I was interested in prior to cracking the cover.
February 29, 2016
Almost as good as Freaks for those interested in either Bondeson's oeuvre or the subject matter. I rated it slightly lower because I've read some of the material in his other books, e.g. the long chapter on spontaneous generation. I got to learn the origin of why elephants fear mice though. Overall, it's very well written and compelling medical and natural history for those interested in strange subjects.
December 3, 2013
Jeez, sloppy editing! Among other things there's a reference to the legend of "Perseus and Medea" instead of "Perseus and Medusa"--in a paragraph on the importance of a classical education. Ouch. And how many times can one man call a basilisk s "loathsome beast?"
But overall it's fascinating and lots of fun. I read it as research, and it was quite useful.
But overall it's fascinating and lots of fun. I read it as research, and it was quite useful.
April 23, 2010
this book is good, but I don't want to read it, recalling barbaric victorian "entertainment" pitting bears and alligators together is not my cup of tea, not sure what I'm going to do with this book, it's still sitting on my nightstand, I will have nightmares if I finish it
unfinished-and-abandoned
March 1, 2009I'm not reading this. It has way too many horrific things about animals.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews