Anomalies and Curiosities of MedicineGould, George M. (George Milbrey)
Science
Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine
Gould, George M. (George Milbrey)
Abnormalities, Human; Medicine -- Anecdotes
CLASS II.--Double Monsters.--A curious mode of junction, probably the
most interesting, as it admits of longer life in these monstrosities,
is that of a simple cartilaginous band extending between two absolutely
distinct and different individuals. The band is generally in the
sternal region. In 1752 there was described a remarkable monstrosity
which consisted of conjoined twins, a perfect and an imperfect child,
connected at their ensiform cartilages by a band 4 inches in
circumference. The Hindoo sisters, described by Dr. Andrew Berry, lived
to be seven years old; they stood face to face, with their chests 6 1/2
inches and their pubes 8 1/2 inches apart. Mitchell describes the
full-grown female twins, born at Newport, Ky., called the Newport
twins. The woman who gave birth to them became impregnated, it is said,
immediately after seeing the famous Siamese twins, and the products of
this pregnancy took the conformation of those celebrated exhibitionists.
Perhaps the best known of all double monsters were the Siamese twins.
They were exhibited all over the globe and had the additional benefit
and advertisement of a much mooted discussion as to the advisability of
their severance, in which opinions of the leading medical men of all
nations were advanced. The literature on these famous brothers is
simply stupendous. The amount of material in the Surgeon General's
library at Washington would surprise an investigator. A curious volume
in this library is a book containing clippings, advertisements, and
divers portraits of the twins. It will be impossible to speak at all
fully on this subject, but a short history and running review of their
lives will be given: Eng and Chang were born in Siam about May, 1811.
Their father was of Chinese extraction and had gone to Siam and there
married a woman whose father was also a Chinaman. Hence, for the most
part, they were of Chinese blood, which probably accounted for their
dark color and Chinese features. Their mother was about thirty-five
years old at the time of their birth and had borne 4 female children
prior to Chang and Eng. She afterward had twins several times, having
eventually 14 children in all. She gave no history of special
significance of the pregnancy, although she averred that the head of
one and the feet of the other were born at the same time. The twins
were both feeble at birth, and Eng continued delicate, while Chang
thrived. It was only with difficulty that their lives were saved, as
Chowpahyi, the reigning king, had a superstition that such freaks of
nature always presaged evil to the country. They were really discovered
by Robert Hunter, a British merchant at Bangkok, who in 1824 saw them
boating and stripped to the waist. He prevailed on the parents and King
Chowpahyi to allow them to go away for exhibition. They were first
taken out of the country by a certain Captain Coffin. The first
scientific description of them was given by Professor J. C. Warren, who
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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