Malformed calf
Date
25 March 1712
Creator
Unknown, Artist
Object type
Archive reference number
Manuscript page number
p3
Material
Dimensions
height (page): 172mm
width (page): 155mm
width (page): 155mm
Subject
Content object
Description
The head of a malformed calf brought by a butcher to John Craig at Gillingham, who described it in a letter dated 25 March 1712 to William Burnett. The letter was read at the meeting of the Royal Society on 3 April 1712. It was printed with this figure in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, vol. 27, no. 333 (1712).
Object history
3 April 1712, 'A letter to Mr Craig to Mr Burnet, dated from Gillingham March 25 1712 was read; giving an Account of a monstrous Calves head, which had no Cranium and very little Brain. The upper Jaw was divided into two halfs as far as the Dura Mater: each had a distinct eye and Nostrill: the under Jaw was bent round so intirely, that it lay between the two halfs of the upper Jaw, making the Tongue lye upon the Fore-head. This preternatural Division of the Upper Jaw was not covered with Hair but a Cutis of a red colour. The Calff was at the full growth' (JBO/11/ 281).
John Craig, ‘A description of the head of a monstrous calf’, Phil. Trans. vol. 27, no. 333 (January, February and March, 1712), pp. 429-30, fig. 6: head of a monstrous calf.
John Craig, ‘A description of the head of a monstrous calf’, Phil. Trans. vol. 27, no. 333 (January, February and March, 1712), pp. 429-30, fig. 6: head of a monstrous calf.
Related fellows
William Burnett (1688 - 1729, British) , Colonial administrator
John Craig (1663 - 1731, British) , Mathematician
John Craig (1663 - 1731, British) , Mathematician
Associated place