The Plymouth weekly Democrat. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1860-1869, 1868-11-19

i newspaper eultors are again speculatlng
and writing romantic .-ticles on the above
subject, melted by the assertion that
Messrs. Chang and Ebg are about visiting
Paris to find surgeon bold enough to
undertake their sepa ktion. The whole
movement is but anotl evidence of the
lamentable ignorance kof the public in
medical matters, and Il the prurient de-
light which the worl always takes in
wrapping everything { INJECTED with the
human system in the grossest mystery
There never has been ak question among
the medical men cit her in this country or
in Europe, in regard te he feasibility cf
the separation of those 70 individuals
that they are two being having distinct
segregated and perfeci organization, one
from the other, as any her two individ-
uals that there is nc aysical, moral or
mental unity between I'm, the only con-
nection being short sartilagiuous and
integumental band com on to the two,
the severance of which ould, in all prob
ability, be entirely harm ess; that no SEN
sations, nervous impr ssions, physical,
morbid mental, or nerve>mental condition
ever exhibited physica unity in their
dual corporal existence; that they have
no unity of conception, thoughts, &c.;
that it never was the Professional opinion
that the death of one Of tie brothers would
instantly be followed by hat of the other,
or that their separation was surrounded
by fearful difficulties; aud that the link
now binding them together is not means
of perfect physical union by which sensa-
tiOns or impressions are conveyed from
one to the other. There is, in fact, moth
ing more common between these Siamese
than what would have been acquired by
any other twins indissolubly united by q
hempen or metallic cord, and subj
as they have ever been, to precisely SINH
lar circumstances from their birth. In
deed, the band uniting them is almost in
sensible so much SO that, or shipboard
they were pulled about By rope tied tc
it. No pulsatiug vessel has ever been de-
tected In it, though, undoubtedly, it is
just here and nowhere else, in the center
Of this cord, made up Of gristle and skin
and for about an inch Tn ei;hec side, thai
there are vessels and nerves communica-
ting from one to the other. Here, bu
nowhere else, a touch on the space indi,
Gated is felt by both. Precisely here, ant
here alone, in the band uniting them
there is sensation and nothing else what
ever common to both. IF they are inclined
to eat, sleep, &C., and perform the func-
tions Of life with great similarity and agree
always in their tastes and habits, We mus
recollecs that their surroundings, position
&C., have all been precisely alike. Peo
pie foeget too that one of them is irritable
and the other mild; one OF them is tn
larger and stronger and more intelligent
and he controls the other. His slightes
movement is followed by the weaker one
from necessity, and not, as is general,
supposed, from unity Of will or harmaniou
action. They play games, Que agains
!, the other, and have quarreled just lik
other good brethren, and more than once
, While ct sea, one wanted to take a coll
bath, to which the other objected, and tn
captain had to Interfere to produce a re
conciliation. How absurd, then, to tall
of perfect conscntaneous thought, action
&C., between them.
The decision given by the profession i
Europe and America, thirty y-eight year
ago, when this case was first put on exh
bition, was that the lisament Of union wa
cartilaglnous, probably prolongation c
the ensiform cartilage from the sterun
and the chief if not the only objection t
its division, has been that the peritoneul
might be involved in the operation.
was moreover not one demanded by sui
= gerry, for the twins had lived and migf
t yet live for years; the question OF separ;
S ton, therefore, was with themselves O.
t their guardians, and not the professio
:. There were no disagreements, no differen
/, ces among the doctors on this subject
J, The case was involved in no mystery, an
i the diagnosis was easily made the Londo
s Lancet, 1880 even declared that it W;
c more rare than curious. BY the ecraseu
e or knife, any student who has attended
}. course of lectures may perform this oper;
;, ton with success, and which, more owe
n should be attended even by any one i
/ case of death, taxing care to divide III
a parts nearer the one deceased 1t woul
g appear, then, that there are no good re,
n sons why these naturalized Asiatics shoul
;. haye been permitted to violate the sevent
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