An Extraordinary Delivery Of Rabbits | Edward White | Paris Review | 5th July 2016

The strange tale of Mary Toft, a Londoner expecting her fourth child in 1726. “It seemed that she was going into premature labour. But her midwife, John Howard, observed that Mary gave birth not to a baby but to dead, dismembered animals — first something that looked like a pig’s bladder, then a cat’s paw and head, and afterward rabbits, one after the other. By the time Howard reported the case to the distinguished medical men of London, he had delivered eleven rabbits from Mary”