Monsters are things that appear outside the course of Nature (and are usually signs of forthcoming misfortune).--Ambroise ParéWelcome back to the Dittrick Museum Blog!Last week, we discussed the "curious machine" of man-midwife Dr. William Smellie. This week, I will introduce Ambroise Pare and the birth of "monsters." The images that Dr. Parécollected in Des Monstres et prodigies(1573) continued to fire the imagination well into the 18th and 19th centuries, a time that witness the "birth" of Gothic monsters, as well. The Dittrick's collection includes a fine edition of this work, and it is replete with fascinating images, some of which...