Homunculus

For other uses, seeHomunculus (disambiguation).

Ahomunculus(UK:/hɒˈmʌŋkjʊləs/hom-UNK-yuul-əs,US:/hoʊˈ-/hohm-,Latin:[hɔˈmʊŋkʊlʊs];"little person",pl.:homunculiUK:/hɒˈmʌŋkjʊliː/hom-UNK-yuul-ee,US:/hoʊˈ-/hohm-,Latin:[hɔˈmʊŋkʊli]) is a small human being.Popularized in sixteenth-centuryalchemyand nineteenth-century fiction, it has historically referred to the creation of a miniature, fully formed human. The concept has roots inpreformationismas well as earlier folklore and alchemic traditions.

The term lends its name to thecortical homunculus,an image of a person with the size of the body parts distorted to represent how much area of the cerebral cortex of the brain is devoted to it.

History

Alchemy

Paracelsus is credited with the first mention of the homunculus inDe homunculis(c. 1529–1532), andDe natura rerum(1537).

During medieval and early modern times, it was thought that homunculus, an artificial humanlike being, could be created through alchemy.The homunculus first appears by name inalchemicalwritings attributed toParacelsus(1493–1541).De natura rerum(1537) outlines his method for creating homunculi:

That the sperm of a man be putrefied by itself in a sealed cucurbit for forty days with the highest degree of putrefaction in a horse's womb [ "venter equinus", meaning "warm, fermenting horse dung"], or at least so long that it comes to life and moves itself, and stirs, which is easily observed. After this time, it will look somewhat like a man, but transparent, without a body. If, after this, it be fed wisely with the Arcanum of human blood, and be nourished for up to forty weeks, and be kept in the even heat of the horse's womb, a living human child grows therefrom, with all its members like another child, which is born of a woman, but much smaller.

The fully grown homunculus was supposedly greatly skilled in "art" and can create giants, dwarves, and other marvels, as "Through art they are born, and therefore art is embodied and inborn in them, and they need learn it from no one."

Comparisons have been made with several similar concepts in the writings of earlier alchemists. Although the actual word "homunculus" was never used,Carl Jungbelieved that the concept first appeared in theVisions of Zosimos,written in the third century AD. In the visions,Zosimosencounters a priest who changes into "the opposite of himself, into a mutilatedanthroparion".The Greek word "anthroparion" is similar to "homunculus" – a diminutive form of "person". Zosimos subsequently encounters other anthroparia in his dream but there is no mention of the creation ofartificial life.In his commentary, Jung equates the homunculus with thePhilosopher's Stone,and the "inner person" in parallel withChrist.

InIslamic alchemy,takwin(Arabic:تكوين) was a goal of certain Muslim alchemists, and is frequently found in writings of theJabirian corpus.In the alchemical context,takwinrefers to the artificial creation of life, spanning the full range of thechain of being,from minerals to prophets, imitating the function of thedemiurge.One set of instructions for creating animal life found within the JabirianKitab al-Tajmiinvolves finding a vessel shaped like the animal and combining the animal's bodily fluids within it, then placing the vessel at the center of a model of acelestial sphereas heat is applied to it. Some of the alchemists believed that these methods originated somewhere in India or Southeast Asia.

The homunculus continued to appear in alchemical writings after Paracelsus' time. TheChymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz(1616) for example, concludes with the creation of a male and female form identified asHomunculi duo.The allegorical text suggests to the reader that the ultimate goal of alchemy is notchrysopoeia,but it is instead the artificial generation of humans. Here, the creation of homunculi symbolically represents spiritual regeneration andChristian soteriology.

In 1775, Count Johann Ferdinand von Kufstein, together with Abbé Geloni, an Italian cleric, is reputed to have created ten homunculi with the ability to foresee the future, which von Kufstein kept in glass containers at hisMasonic lodgeinVienna.Dr. Emil Besetzny's Masonic handbook,Die Sphinx,devoted an entire chapter to thewahrsagenden Geister(scrying ghosts). These are reputed to have been seen by several people, including local dignitaries.

Folklore

References to the homunculus do not appear prior to sixteenth-century alchemical writingsbut alchemists may have been influenced by earlier folk traditions. Themandragora,known in German asAlreona,AlraunorAlrauneis one example;Jean-Baptiste Pitois'sThe History and Practice of Magicmakes a direct comparison to the mandragora in one excerpt:

Would you like to make a Mandragora, as powerful as the homunculus (little man in a bottle) so praised byParacelsus?Then find a root of the plant calledbryony.Take it out of the ground on a Monday (the day of the moon), a little time after thevernal equinox.Cut off the ends of the root and bury it at night in some country churchyard in a dead man's grave. For 30 days, water it with cow's milk in which three bats have been drowned. When the 31st day arrives, take out the root in the middle of the night and dry it in an oven heated with branches ofverbena;then wrap it up in a piece of a dead man'swinding-sheetand carry it with you everywhere.

The homunculus has also been compared to thegolemof Jewish folklore. Though the specifics outlining the creation of the golem and homunculus are very different, the concepts both metaphorically relate man to the divine, in his construction of life in his own image.

Preformationism

Main article:Preformationism

A tiny person inside asperm cellas drawn byNicolaas Hartsoekerin 1695

Preformationism is the formerly popular theory that animals developed from miniature versions of themselves.Sperm cellswere believed to contain complete preformed individuals called "animalcules".Development was therefore a matter of enlarging this into a fully formed being. The term homunculus was later used in the discussion of conception and birth.

Nicolas Hartsoekerpostulated the existence of animalcules in the semen of humans and other animals. This was the beginning of spermists' theory, which held that the sperm was in fact a "little man" that was placed inside a woman for growth into a child, an effective explanation for many of the mysteries of conception. It was later pointed out that if the sperm was a homunculus, identical in all but size to an adult, then the homunculus may have sperm of its own. This led to areductio ad absurdumwith a chain of homunculi "all the way down",an idea also known as thehomunculus fallacy.This was not necessarily considered by spermists a fatal objection, however, as it neatly explained theGenesis creation narrative's claim that it was "inAdam"that all had sinned: the whole of humanity was already contained in his loins during theoriginal sin.The spermists' theory also failed to explain why children tend to resemble their mothers as well as their fathers, though some spermists suggested that the growing homunculus assimilated maternal characteristics from the womb.

Terminological use in modern science

Main article:Cortical homunculus

The homunculus is commonly used today in scientific disciplines such aspsychologyas a teaching or memory tool to describe the distortedscale modelof a human drawn or sculpted to reflect the relative space human body parts occupy on thesomatosensory cortex(thesensory homunculus) and themotor cortex(themotor homunculus). Both the motor and sensory homunculi usually appear as small men superimposed over the top of precentral or postcentralgyrifor motor and sensory cortices, respectively. The homunculus is oriented with feet medial and shoulders lateral on top of both theprecentraland thepostcentral gyrus(for both motor and sensory). The man's head is depicted upside down in relation to the rest of the body such that the forehead is closest to the shoulders. The lips, hands, feet and sex organs have more sensory neurons than other parts of the body, so the homunculus has correspondingly large lips, hands, feet, and genitals. The motor homunculus is very similar to the sensory homunculus, but differs in several ways. Specifically, the motor homunculus has a portion for the tongue most lateral while the sensory homunculus has an area for genitalia most medial and an area for visceral organs most lateral.Well known in the field of neurology, this is also commonly called "the little man inside the brain". This scientific model is known as thecortical homunculus.

In medical science, the term homunculus is sometimes applied to certainfetus-like ovarian cysticteratomae.These will sometimes contain hair, sebaceous material and in some casescartilaginousorbonystructures.

In a recent article published in the peer reviewed journal Leonardo "The Missing Female Homunculus”by Haven Wright and Preston Foerder revisits the history of the Homunculus, sheds light on current research in neuroscience on the female brain, and reveals what they believe to be the first sculpture of the female Homunculus, done by the artist and first author Haven Wright, based on the current research available.

In popular culture

Further information:Alchemy in art and entertainment

Early literature

19th-century engraving of Wagner and Homunculus from Goethe'sFaust II

Homunculi can be found in centuries worth of literature. These fictions are primarily centred around imaginative speculations on the quest for artificial life associated withParacelsianalchemy. One of the very earliest literary references occurs inThomas Browne'sReligio Medici(1643), in which the author states:

I am not of Paracelsus minde that boldly delivers a receipt to make a man without conjunction,...

The fable of the alchemically-created homunculus may have been central inMary Shelley's novelFrankenstein(1818). ProfessorRadu Florescusuggests thatJohann Konrad Dippel,an alchemist born in Castle Frankenstein, might have been the inspiration for Victor Frankenstein. German playwrightJohann Wolfgang von Goethe'sFaust, Part Two(1832) famously features an alchemically-created homunculus.Here, the character of Homunculus embodies the quest of a pure spirit to be born into a mortal form, contrasting Faust's desire to shed his mortal body to become pure spirit. The alchemical idea that the soul is not imprisoned in the body, but instead may find its brightest state as it passes through the material plane, is central to the character. William Makepeace Thackeraywrote under the pen name of Homunculus.

Contemporary literature

The homunculus legend,FrankensteinandFausthave continued to influence works in the twentieth and twenty-first century. The theme has been used not only infantasy literature,but also to illuminate social topics. For instance, the British children's writersMary NortonandRumer Goddenused homunculus motifs in their work, expressing various post-war anxieties about refugees, persecution of minorities in war, and the adaptation of these minorities to a "big" world.W. Somerset Maugham's 1908 novelThe Magicianutilises the concept of the homunculus as an important plot element.David H. Keller's short story "A Twentieth-Century Homunculus" (1930) describes the creation of homunculi on an industrial scale by a pair ofmisogynists.Likewise,Sven Delblanc'sThe Homunculus: A Magic Tale(1965) addresses allegedmisogynyand the Cold War industrial-military complexes of the Soviet Union andNATO.In German children's authorCornelia Funke's book,Dragon Rider,the protagonists meet and are aided by a homunculus created by an alchemist. The homunculus, andalchemybroadly, is seen as more of amagicalphenomenon in the story, however, rather than necessarily having a symbolic meaning.

Other media

Homunculi appear in fantasy based television, film, and games in a manner consistent with literature. Examples can be found in numerous mediums, such as the podcastHello From The Magic Tavern,the filmsHomunculus(1916),Bride of Frankenstein(1935),The Golden Voyage of Sinbad(1973),Dr. Who episodeThe Talons of Weng-Chiang(1977), the made-for-television movieDon't Be Afraid of the Dark(1973) andits theatrical remake(2011),Being John Malkovich(1999), Guillermo del Toro'sThe Devil's Backbone(2001), Shane Acker's9(2009), Philipp Humm'sThe Last Faust(2019), Yorgos Lanthimos'Poor Things (film)(2023), television shows (such asBloodfeast,American Dad,Rick and Morty(season 2, episode 1) (2015),Smiling Friends(season 1, episode 5) (season 2, episode 5), andThe Big Bang Theory(season 3, episode 3), played byJohnny Galecki), fantasy role-playing games (such asDungeons & Dragons),video games(such asRagnarok Online,Valkyrie Profile,Shadow of Memories,The Legend of Heroesseries,Cabals: Magic & Battle Cards,Genshin Impact,Bayonetta 3,andMaster Detective Archives: Rain Code), books (such asThe Secret SeriesandSword of DestinyorSeventy-Two Lettersby Ted Chiang), graphic novels (such asBureau for Paranormal Research and Defense) and manga (such asAkihabara Dennō Gumi,Homunculus,Stone Ocean,Fullmetal Alchemist,Sorcerous Stabber Orphen,Fate/Zero,andGosick).

See also

• Cartesian theater
• Doppelgänger
• Fastachee
• Galatea,a mythical living sculpture made byPygmalion
• Golem
• Homunculus argument
• Karzełek
• Mind–body dichotomy
• Nuno
• Simulacrum
• Snugglepot and Cuddlepie
• Soul
• Takwin
• Telesphorus (mythology)
• Tulpa
• Human cloning

Further reading

• Montiel, L (2013)."Proles sine matre creata: The Promethean Urge in the History of the Human Body in the West".Asclepio.65(1): 1–11.doi:10.3989/asclepio.2013.01.
• Weiss, JR; Burgess, JB; Kaplan, KJ (2006). "Fetiform teratoma (homunculus)".Arch Pathol Lab Med.130(10): 1552–1556.doi:10.5858/2006-130-1552-FTH.PMID17090201.
• Watson JD, Berry A.DNA: The Secret of Life.New York, New York: Random House; 2003.
• Abbott, TM; Hermann, WJ; Scully, RE (1984). "Ovarian fetiform teratoma (homunculus) in a 9-year-old girl".Int J Gynecol Pathol.2(4): 392–402.doi:10.1097/00004347-198404000-00007.PMID6724790.
• Kuno, N; Kadomatsu, K; Nakamura, M; Miwa-Fukuchi, T; Hirabayashi, N; Ishizuka, T (2004). "Mature ovarian cystic teratoma with a highly differentiated homunculus: a case report".Birth Defects Research Part A: Clinical and Molecular Teratology.70(1): 40–46.doi:10.1002/bdra.10133.PMID14745894.
• Florescu, Radu(1975).In Search of Frankenstein.Boston: New York Graphic Society.ISBN0-8212-0614-1.
• Gregory, Richard L.(1990).Eye and Brain: The Psychology of Seeing(4th ed.). Princeton: Princeton University Press.ISBN0-691-02456-1.
• Gregory, Richard L., ed. (1987).The Oxford Companion to the Mind.Oxford: Oxford University Press.ISBN0-19-866124-X.
• Maconius, S. (1980).The Lore of the Homunculus.Red Lion Publications.
• Ryle, Gilbert(1984) [1949].The Concept of Mind.Chicago: University of Chicago Press.ISBN0-226-73295-9.
• Waite, Arthur Edward,ed. (1976) [1894].The Hermetic and Alchemical Writings of Aureolus Philippus Theophrastus Bombast, of Hohenheim, Called Paracelsus the Great(2 vols. ed.). Berkeley: Shambhala.ISBN0-87773-082-2.

External links

• Media related toHomunculusat Wikimedia Commons
• Homunculusarticle from The Mystica.