MARY TOFT-THE RABBIT BREEDER by S. A. SELIGMAN Being a representation of the frauds by which the Godliman woman carried on her pretended rabbit breeding, also of the simplicity of our Doctors by which they assisted to carry on that imposture, discovered their own skill and contributed to the mirth of His Majesty's liege subjects. NEVER can the Medical Profession have been made to appear so ridiculous in the eyes of the general public, and indeed of each other, than by the affair of Mary Toft in 1726. She lived at Godalming (Godlyman) where she had been born and bred. In I 720 she married Joshua Toft, junior, a poor journeyman clothier, and bore him three children. She could not read or write and was said to be of healthy, strong constitution, of a small size and of a very stupid and sullen temper. On 23 April 1726, as she was weeding in a field she saw a rabbit spring up near her. She and another woman working nearby tried to catch it but with- out success. Soon another rabbit sprang up and was also unsuccessfully pursued. This set her longing for a rabbit, being five weeks pregnant at the time. That night she dreamed of rabbits and for the next three weeks had a constant strong desire to eat them, being a delicacy which she could not afford. Seventeen weeks after the episode in the field, she developed colicky abdominal pain and vaginal bleeding and passed something like a lump of flesh, there being another similar happening three weeks later. The symptoms ofpregnancy persisted, however, and in the early part of September, whilst working in the hop fields, milk flowed profusely from her breasts. This did not feel like a normal pregnancy to her and on 27 September she was taken very ill during the night and sent for her mother-in-law who was a midwife. She was delivered of what she took to be the lights and guts of a pig and these were taken by her husband to Mr. John Howard, who some days later came to her and delivered her of some further parts of a pig. Two weeks later, the whole affair appearing over, she was churched. Mr. John Howard was a surgeon at Guildford where he had practised midwifery for thirty years. He knew nothing of Mary Toft until he was approached about her strange delivery and at first did not believe this story. At last he agreed to go to Godalming with the results described above, then returning to Guildford believing the whole affair to be over. One month later, however, he was again in Godalming attending Mary Toft whose labour had now begun in earnest. During the first week in November reports began to reach London of peculiar happenings at Godalming. It appeared that one ofthe local inhabitants was being delivered ofrabbits at the rate ofalmost one a day. Accounts began to 349 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. IP address: 170.106.35.93, on 02 Oct 2021 at 00:57:37, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0025727300026648 S. A. Seligman appear in the newspapers and these rumours were confirmed by letters from the man-midwife in charge ofthe case, written to persons ofdistinction in town and describing the labours. One rabbit had been seen to leap in her abdomen for eighteen hours before it died and the moment it was delivered another com- menced struggling for birth. The motion produced by this struggle was so violent that it was sufficient to move the bedclothes and lasted for over thirty hours. With her pains the bones of the animal were heard to snap and break with the violent convulsive movements of the uterus. Mr. John Howard was so busily engaged in delivering rabbits that all his other work was neglected and because of this after delivering nine rabbits he moved Mary Toft to Guildford. In order that none might doubt his veracity, Mr. Howard invited anyone who wished to do so to come to Guildford where he would allow him personally to deliver one of the rabbits. This offer was keenly accepted by Mr. St. Andre. Mr. St. Andre came from Switzerland. During his early days in England he had kept himself by teaching French, German, dancing and fencing. In 1723 he was appointed Surgeon and Anatomist to the court on account ofhis linguistic ability. He was apprenticed to a surgeon and actually held the post of local Surgeon to the Westminster Hospital Dispensary although he did not take any medical degrees. The letters from Mr. John Howard made him wish to be convinced ofa fact ofwhich there was no instance in nature and on 15 November he attended the Honourable Mr. Molyneux, secretary to H.R.H. the Prince of Wales, and together they set offfor Guildford to inquire into this extraordinary case. They arrived in Guildford at 2.30 p.m. and sent for Mr. John Howard who came immediately, telling them that Mary Toft was at that time in labour with the fifteenth rabbit. At that point a nurse came to call him as the woman was having pains and they all proceeded to Mr. Howard's house where she was lodged. Upon entering they found her dressed in her stays sitting on the bedside with several women near her. St. Andre immediately examined her but delivery did not appear imminent and he waited for the onset of fresh pains. These came a few minutes later, at which time he delivered her of the trunk of a rabbit of about four months' gestation stripped of its skin but containing the heart, lungs and diaphragm. He cut off a piece of lung and put it in water in order to see that it sank, but it would not do so and even rose to the surface after Mr. Molyneux had pushed it to the bottom. They examined the viscera and found the heart to be large with the foramen ovale completely patent. The lungs were remarkably small and much darker than those of a rabbit which has breathed for some time. Mary Toft now seemed very cheerful and walked by herself to a chair by the fireside where St. Andre examined her and found some irregularities in the course of the right Fallopian tube, from which he deduced that the rabbits developed in the tube, only entering the uterus during her pains some hours before her delivery. On vaginal examination no blood or liquor was present and the perineum was intact. He also examined her breasts, finding milk in one but only a little serous fluid in the other. Her pulse was slow and steady and her tongue red. He asked for a specimen of urine but was unable to obtain 350 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. IP address: 170.106.35.93, on 02 Oct 2021 at 00:57:37, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0025727300026648 Mary Toft-The Rabbit Breeder one. This being done they all adjourned to the house ofthe Mayor, who was ill. Two hours later, whilst theywere still away, her pains returned violently and the nurse delivered the lower part of a male rabbit which fitted perfectly the trunk delivered earlier. It was also stripped of its skin and appeared anatomically normal. Upon their return they examined this together with some of the parts delivered previously. The rectum contained several pellets resembling common rabbit's dung. This was also present in the guts ofthe other rabbits together with a dirty coloured mucus like meconium. In the guts of the first rabbit they found a slender brittle white body resembling small fish bones. They then left, coming back later that evening, shortly after which her pains returned. These were so violent that four or five people could hardly confine her to a chair. Mr. St. Andre examined her and found the vagina empty with the os closed. Several minutes later the pains recommenced and he delivered the skin of the rabbit rolled into a ball, free from any moisture or blood. Ten minutes later, with fresh pains, he delivered the head with the fur on but part of one ear torn off and again no blood or liquor. She was given a sedative and when examined at IO p.m. her abdomen was soft except for the lumps noted previously. All the rabbits were examined and kept in separate pots with spirits of wine. On detailed investigation the first animal did not appear to be a perfect rabbit, three ofthe feet being like the paws ofa cat. The stomach and intestines together with the shape ofthe thorax also resembled a cat. The lungs and heart were not situated normally but were squeezed out between the upper ribs and the cervical vertebrae to which they were adherent. The lungs were only about one-sixth normal size and the bones were different from those of a rabbit apart from the head and one paw. All the others appeared normal rabbits of from two to four months' gestation. They were in component parts and were usually delivered as follows: firstly the four paws with the fur on; then the liver and intestines, the trunk and shoulders; in three or four the loins were separated from the pelves, in the remainder in one piece; the head with its fur; lastly the skin.