"Lusus naturae" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... Barnum, 'that you could prepare a great Patriotic National Lusus Naturae, recently found perching on Independence Hall, Philadelphia—or hold—that's better—Mount Vernon? Could you color an eagle, with red stars on his breast, and blue and white stripes running down ...
— The Continental Monthly, Vol 2, No 6, December 1862 - Devoted to Literature and National Policy • Various
... monster and the lusus naturae excepted, have a certain form, a certain complement of limbs, a certain internal structure, and organs of sense—may we not add further, certain powers ...
— Thoughts on Man - His Nature, Productions and Discoveries, Interspersed with - Some Particulars Respecting the Author • William Godwin
... face—that face so facile in the display of feeling or emotion. The voice also had a lilt of health and vitality which rang on the ears of age pleasantly. As he listened he thought of his eldest son, partly imbecile, all but a lusus naturae, separated from his wife immediately after marriage, through whom there could never be succession—he thought of him, and for the millionth time in his life winced in impotent disdain. He thought too of his beloved second son, lying in a ...
— The Judgment House • Gilbert Parker
... variety; singularity; exemption; salvo &c (qualification) 469. nonconformist; nondescript, character, original, nonesuch, nonsuch^, monster, prodigy, wonder, miracle, curiosity, flying fish, black sheep, black swan, lusus naturae [Lat.], rara avis [Lat.], queer fish; mongrel, random breed; half-caste, half-blood, half-breed; metis [Lat.], crossbreed, hybrid, mule, hinny, mulatto; tertium quid [Lat.], hermaphrodite. [Mythical animals] phoenix, chimera, ...
— Roget's Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases: Body • Roget
... of a human face to be formed on the side of a mountain, or in the fracture of a small stone, by a lusus naturae. The face is an object of curiosity for years or centuries, and by and by a boy is born, whose features gradually assume the aspect of that portrait. At some critical juncture, the resemblance is found to be perfect. A prophecy may ...
— Passages From The American Notebooks, Volume 1 • Nathaniel Hawthorne |
