Mary Toft: The Woman Who Fooled 18th-Century Doctors by ‘Giving Birth’ to Rabbits”

Abstract

Nathaniel St. André and the Rabbit Mystery: A Skeptical Physician in the Mary Toft Scandal

In 1726, Mary Toft, an unassuming English woman, convinced some of the most esteemed medical minds of her day that she was giving birth to rabbits. Yes, rabbits. This bizarre and grotesque hoax unfolded in an era where science and superstition shared the same dinner table, and "trust me, I’m a doctor" carried a very different weight. What began as a small-town oddity escalated into an international scandal, making fools of King George I’s royal physicians and leaving the medical community red-faced (and likely checking underbeds for stray bunnies). In this paper, we’ll examine the cultural, medical, and social conditions that allowed this ruse to flourish, how Mary managed to convince so many supposedly intelligent men, and how the whole ridiculous affair came crashing down. Prepare for a mix of historical analysis, academic insights, and enough snark to make a Victorian apothecary clutch his smelling salts.

I. Introduction: When Rabbits Were a Symptom, Not Dinner

Ah, the early 18th century—a golden age of powdered wigs, questionable hygiene, and scientific “advances” that mostly involved leeches and phrenology. Into this chaotic world hopped (pun absolutely intended) Mary Toft, a poor woman from Godalming, Surrey, who would soon become the talk of London—and not for her charming personality or excellent pudding recipes.

Mary managed to convince several prominent doctors that she was miraculously birthing rabbits. And not just one or two—over a dozen. If you're wondering how this worked and why no one immediately said, “Wait, that’s not how biology works,” you’re in the right place.

II. The Historical Context: Medicine or Magic Tricks?

A. 18th-Century Medical Science: A Wild Guess at Best

Medicine in the early 1700s was… experimental, to put it nicely. Physicians still believed in the four humors (blood, phlegm, black bile, and yellow bile) and thought diseases could be cured by balancing these fluids—usually through bloodletting or making you vomit aggressively (Porter, 1997).

B. The Public Fascination with "Freakish Wonders"

The 18th century was also a time of fascination with "monstrous births"—deformities, strange growths, and other medical anomalies were viewed as signs from God or evidence of witchcraft (Gordon, 1983). Traveling sideshows paraded malformed animals and humans as curiosities, blurring the line between scientific investigation and cheap entertainment.

In short, if someone said they were birthing rabbits, people weren’t likely to say, “That’s absurd,” but rather, “Where’s my monocle? I must see this for myself!”

III. Enter Mary Toft: The Woman, The Myth, The Bunny Mom

A. The Setup: The First "Birth"

The Chaotic Scene of Mary Toft's Rabbit Birth Hoax: Shock and Disbelief in 1726

In September 1726, Mary Toft allegedly began experiencing labor pains. A local surgeon named John Howard was called to examine her, and—brace yourself—he claimed to have witnessed her “giving birth” to parts of a rabbit (Howard, 1726). First, it was rabbit fur. Then, bits of internal organs. And then… whole rabbit limbs.

At this point, the rational response would have been, “Mary, are you hiding rabbits under your skirts?” But Howard instead wrote to some of England’s most esteemed doctors and invited them to observe this “medical miracle.”

B. The Arrival of the Experts: “Surely This Is Science”

Among those who visited Mary were Nathaniel St. André, surgeon to King George I, and Cyrus Browne, another prominent doctor. Both were shown fresh rabbit parts, allegedly delivered by Mary. St. André was so convinced he wrote a detailed paper claiming that Mary was indeed giving birth to rabbits and that it was a result of a “maternal impression”—an old belief that pregnant women could physically influence their unborn child through thoughts or trauma (St. André, 1726).

Translation: If you think about rabbits hard enough while pregnant, your child might end up as Bugs Bunny.

IV. How Did She Do It? The Mechanics of the Rabbit Ruse

A. Rabbit Smuggling 101

It’s widely believed that Mary (or perhaps her husband and accomplices) inserted dead rabbit parts into her body and then dramatically “gave birth” to them during her examinations. And yes, it’s as horrifying and unsanitary as it sounds.

B. The Willing Gullibility of Experts

You might wonder, “Surely these doctors noticed something was off?” Nope. They were so wrapped up in their excitement over discovering a medical miracle that they didn’t stop to ask basic follow-up questions.

For instance:

• Doctor: “Mary, how do you explain the fur on these rabbits?”

• Mary: “Uh… maternal instinct?”

• Doctor: “Sounds plausible.”

V. The House of Cards Collapses

A. The Hoax Revealed

Sir Richard Manningham Confronts Mary Toft: The Truth Behind the Rabbit Hoax Unravels

The scam began to unravel when King George I, tired of hearing about miracle bunny births, sent his personal surgeon, Sir Richard Manningham, to investigate. Manningham was a bit sharper than the others and threatened Mary with invasive surgery to determine the truth.

Faced with the prospect of sharp instruments and zero anesthesia, Mary confessed: It was all a hoax. She had been inserting dead rabbits herself, with the help of her husband and a local accomplice (Bondeson, 2000).

B. The Fallout: Public Humiliation

The medical community became a laughingstock. St. André’s career was effectively ruined, and Mary Toft was briefly imprisoned for fraud. The British press had a field day, printing cartoons and satirical articles about the "Rabbit Woman"for months.

VI. Why Did It Happen? The Bigger Picture

A. Poverty and Desperation

Mary was poor, and poverty breeds desperation. The stunt likely started as a means of securing attention, food, or financial help.

B. Credulity in the Age of “Science”

Even educated men were quick to believe in the extraordinary because science was still developing, and people wanted to believe in miracles.

C. Entertainment Value

Let’s be honest—people love a good freak show. And Mary delivered.

VII. Conclusion: When Science Hops Off the Rails

The Mary Toft rabbit affair remains one of the strangest footnotes in medical history. It’s a story of gullibility, ambition, and the lengths people will go to survive. It also serves as a cautionary tale about placing too much trust in authority figures without asking basic follow-up questions (like how rabbits got in there in the first place).

So, the next time someone tells you they’ve discovered a miracle, maybe—just maybe—check for rabbits first.

VIII. References

• Bondeson, J. (2000). The Two-Headed Boy and Other Medical Marvels. Cornell University Press.

• Gordon, R. (1983). Science and Sensibility in the 18th Century. Routledge.

• Howard, J. (1726). A True and Faithful Account of the Rabbit Births. London Medical Journal.

• Porter, R. (1997). The Greatest Benefit to Mankind: A Medical History of Humanity. HarperCollins.

• St. André, N. (1726). A Short Narrative of an Extraordinary Delivery of Rabbits.