Year: 1869

The London Times has the following interesting
facts concerning the Siamese twins:


The return to this country of the Siamese twins,
thiryeight years after their6rst appearance here,
has naturally excited good deal of interest and
curiosity, both among men Of science and the gen.
eral public The rumor that preceded them, to
the effect that the bond of their long union might,
perhaps, be shortly severed, has added much to
this feeling, and has given occasion to some very
unnecessary sensational writing upon the subject.
For this reason, and also because some Of the pop
ular notions about twins have been even aggrava-
ted with regard to them, we think it desirable to
place before our readers short account Of the
facts in the case.


Chang and Eng, the Siamese twins, we're born


in May, 1911, so that they are not quite fftyeight
years old. They are Of short stature. Eng, the
taller of the two, being FIVE feet two and halt
inches high, and Chang about an inch shorter.
They have had excellent health throughout lite,
and possess good muscular development. The
band that supports them sprang originally from
the breast bone, and kept them face to face; but
their efforts, during childhood, to obtain more
comfortable position, produced some bending of the
yielding structure concerned so that they can now
stand nearly, but not quite, shoulder to shoulder,
in which position they usually cross their adjacent
arms behind each others back. When necessary,
as at meals, they bring both arms forward with
out inconvenience. The band itself is about four
inches in length 1t is rather more than seven
inches in circumference in the centre, and more
than three inches deep with its junction with each
body. 1t is, unfortunately, too thick to be under
any circumstances translucent; all attempts to see
by means of the lime or magnesium light the ma.
ture of the contained structures have ended in fall
ure. As far as can be estimated by the touch, the
band contains at the upper part, the cartilages of
two breast bones curved around and meeting at its
centre, and united by q sort OF imperfect joint.
To these cartilages are added those OF some ADA
cent ribs, probably the seventh and eighth. At
the lower part it is quite certain that the general
cavity of the abdomen of each brother enters the
band but whether these cavities communicate in
the centre can not be ascertained with certainty.
The nerves of each brother pass little beyond the
middle of the band, so that touch is felt by both
over central portion about an inch wide; but be-
yond that portion only by the brother that is
touched The blood vessels Of each must in like
manner communicate but there is nothing like in-
terchange of blood between the two, and some ex-
periments have been made which show that chem
ical agents introduced into one body have no ap-
preciable effect upon the other: The hearts of
the two brothers are perfectly distinct, and even
somewhat unlike the pulses Of the two at the
time of our inspection were little different in fre
quency, and decidedly so in character On various
occasions they have been extremely different. The
respiration of the twins is wholly independent OF
each other.


It may, therefore, be said broadly that there is
no more intimate union between Chang and Eng
than such as might be effected artifcialy between
any two persons. They are in every respect two