Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1869-03-16

another Judicial Investigation. Ii her
expressed determination be executed, it
is probable that some light win be thrown
upon the practice of professional divorce
attorneys.
Surgical Examination Of the siamess
Twins.
From the London Star.l
Sir James Simpson, the Professor of
Medicine and Midwifery ia the Univer-
sty of Edinburgh, has examined very
minutely and from every point of scien-
tifc interest these twins, and has deliv-
cred lecture to the students of the
University Class on these and other
recorded cases of united twins, of whom
they are in many respects the most re-
markable on record In this lecture,
which he publishes in the British Nedf-
cal Journal, he gives first their history
and description. Chang and Eng, or, as
they now sign themselves, Chang and
Eng Bunker, are now forty-eight years of
age. They we're two of several children;
the rest being naturally formed. When
infants they we're attached face to face,
but instructive efforts from the earliest
age have SO far elongated the band as to
enable them to adopt an imperfect lateral
relation to each other. They are short,
but wiry-looking men; Eng, the taller OF
the two, being only five feet two an d half
inches, Chang, an inch shorter. They use
the outer more than inner legs, by stand
ing, and these are the larger in circum-
ference. There is no inversion of posi-
ton Of the heart and other organs, as
Professor Allen Thompson, of Glasgow,
has shown to be the general law in reIa.
ton to united twins. Neither of the res
pirations nor circula tions of the two
brothers are synchronous. Examined
in Edinburgh by DR.. Aitkeu, when they
we're suffering from ir fuenza, the pulse
of one was twenty-iour beats to the
minute quicker than the other. Exam
iued in London by Sir Henry Thomp-
son and Mr.. Earnest Hart, there was less
differeuce-four pulsations in the min
ute. In their chemical as well as their
organic functions. they are shown by Sir
James Simpson to be two separate and
distinct individuals. They can walk,
swim and run; they are keen sportsmen
and good shots; intelligent, well in
formed, and good men of business. They
are naturally much accustomed to join in
the same conversation, but can each
easily carry on a conversation with two
different individuals. They sometimes
read separately, each to himself; more
often one aloud 10 the other. Their
minds, indeed, are more dual. than
their bodies; the latter are united
together, but the former are not.
The band of union is formed partly by
the extension Of the cartilages of the
breast bones; it is four inches and
half long, and eight inches and half in
circumference. When the twins have
suffered from blood diseases, as small
pox, measles, ague, they have been
affected simultaneously. Nevertheless,
from experiments which Sir James
Simpson has made with drugs, he con-
cludes that the vascular connexien be-
tween the two brothers is comparatively |
small. Ga the question of the surgical
separation of the Siamese Twins, "Chang |
and Eng" says Sir James Simpson,
"have themselves no desire to be surgi- |
caly divided from each other. But some |
Of their relatives and families have be-
come aazious that they should be sepa- /
rated, if it were possible to do so. The |
operation is possible, aud would be at !
tended with little or no difficulty I
but il would be 80 perilous in its char
acter that the twins could not, in my
opinion, be justified in submitting to it,
or any surgeon justified in performing |
it," He then enters into details to justify |
this opinion. Chang and Eng are mar
ried to two sisters, the daughters OF an |
American clergyman. Each brother has
nine children. The family of Eng con-
sisis Of six sons aud three daughters; the
family of Chang consists OF three sons
and six daughters. Their first children
were born within three or four days OF
each other; the others at irregular inter
walls. Chang ninth child was born three
months ago.
Sir W. Ferguson has carefully exam
ined the twins, and, we understand, con-
ours in the general opinion of surgeons
that any surgical separation would be
most likely attended with fatal conse-
ouenees, not so much on account Of any |
obstacle presented by the structure of the
uniting band Of flesh, as the moral eject
of the disunion on the two brothers.