Cedar Falls gazette. [volume] (Cedar Falls, Iowa) 1860-1895, 1870-11-04
THE DOUBLE CHILD.
4 Professional Description of the
M0nstrOSity.

Il fFOtcsSi0hai description or the
MOnstrOsity.
The Delaware (Ohio) Gazette gives
a full description of the double
child" of which mention has been
heretofore made in our columns:
Ten days ago, the wife of Samuel
Finley, farmer residing in Morrow
county, about five miles southeast of
Ashley, gave birth to one of the
most singular malformations of the
human species ever heard of in any
age or country. The mother was not
allowed sight of her offspring until
after the physician who had been
summoned arrived, when it wa. ex-
hibited To her, and, as we are told
caused her to swOOn. And no won
der, for human eyes probably never
looked upon such an anomalous de-
velOpment in the human form.
One of our prominent physicians,
who has seen and examined this
strange freak of nature, favors us
with the following clear and accurate
description:
The wonderful thing can be truly
called double child. There is but
one spine, at each extremity of which
there is perfectly formed head and
face. Each has well formed shout.
! ders, arms and hands, aud a good
chest, containing lungs and heart, as
any other human being. Each has
also a stomach and liver. There is
but one naval, which is i'm the center
OF the abdomen, equidistant from
the two heads. 1t is Mt the middle
of the body that the two are grown
together. The abdomen appears tC
be but ono, and the organs contained
in it, below the stomach and small
intestines, are probably common tc
the two, as there is but one external
outlet.
Upon one side, at right angles to
| the body, there is well-formed pair
of hips, legs and feet. Upon the OPP
pOsite side there is one large leg (pOs.
sibly the consolidation of two legs,
upon the extremity of which there
are eight toes. Most mOnstrOsilies
are repugnaut to look upon. This
one is not so in any respect except
ing this leg.
This child, or those children, are
now ten days old, and are doing as
well as children mostly do at that
period of existence. 1t nurses at
| both heads. One will be asleep
while the other is crying, and some
times both will sleeper cry at the same
time. The natural outlets from the
body are in their natural position,
between the perfect pair of legs, and
are common to the two, there being
no outlet upon the opposite side. In
sex il is q female. The length from
the top of one head to the top of the
other is twenty iDches, and the
weight at birth was ten pounds"
There are no terms in our language
applicable to such phenomenon.
1t is something for which the die
tionary- makers have made no provi-
sion whatever, and which utterly
confounds all grammatical rules IA to
gender. number, and person. Let
any one undertake to write about it,
being precise as to the meaning and
application of terms, and he will at
once recognize the poverty of lam
guage.
AS might be expected, the house of
Mr.. Finley has during the past ten
days been overrun with visitors
come to witness this wonderful curl
osity. So great is the press that it
has been necessary to charge an adj
mission fee, which is now fixed at
one dollar. We understand the pa
rents have been offered ten thousand
dollars for the dual infant, the offer
being unconditional as to whether it
should live or not. The offer has
not been, and probably will not be,
accepted.