author
Nathanael St. André
1680–1776
A Swiss-born physician who made his career in England, he is remembered as much for medical writing as for one of the strangest public scandals of the eighteenth century. His name became closely tied to the sensational Mary Toft affair, when a claimed case of rabbit births briefly fooled parts of the medical world.
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About the author
Born in Switzerland around 1680, he moved to England while still young and built an unusual career there. Early accounts say he supported himself by teaching languages, dancing, and fencing before moving into medicine, eventually becoming known as an anatomist and surgeon.
He served as surgeon and anatomist to the royal household and published medical works, including A Treatise of Chirurgical Operations. Today, though, he is best known for his role in the 1726 Mary Toft case, in which he endorsed the false claim that a woman had given birth to rabbits. The episode badly damaged his reputation and turned him into a target for satire.
St. André lived a long life, dying in March 1776. His story survives because it sits at the crossroads of medicine, celebrity, and public credulity, making him a striking figure from the early history of modern science.