SIAMESE TWINS IN HISTORY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 25, 30 January 1937, Page 7 (Supplement)

SIAMESE TWINS IN HISTORY.

Ten Different Types Of Union.

A MONSTER WITH TWO HEADS ON ONE TRUNK

rTC unusual operation which an anonymous surgeon performed upon the Godino brothers, "Siamese"' twins, has precedents in medical history, though they are undeniably few. snys Lincoln Barnett in tlio "New York lanes. Even in the curious annals of medic.al medicine, where scholars of the time frequently failed to distinguish bet-ween biological and imagined "inonsteiv." there are indications that various tyos of conjoined twins existed, and that physicians occasionally sought to separate them. That the operation on the Godino brothers was successful, as it appears to Ih>, was due principally to the fact that their systems were less cltnelv related than other united twins. Their circulatory networks were distinct, and their alimentary canals were linked only by a single flexure of intestine that passed from Simplicio's into Lucio's body through the connecting stalk. Ten Types Reported. Certain anatomists have sought to classify double organisms, or "Siamese" twins, into about ten categories. According to their terminology, the Godino twins were of the "pygopagous" variety —in other words, their bodies were joined at the base of the spine. This type of union has. been found less often than that where the connecting cartilaginous band lies in the sternal region. The famous brothers, Eng and Chang, who first gave to the public the misapplied term "Siamese" twins, were united at the breastbone. For years medical men debated the advisability of separating them. They finally died, still united, on January 17, 1874 (they were horn in Siam of Chinese parentage in May. 1811), whereupon an autopsy disclosed that while their intestines had been independent, their livers had been inter-related. The original Siamese

twins, like the Godino brothers, married sisters. English girls. They settled in North Carolina, adopted the name of I nnker, and liad eleven children between them, ail strong and healthv. Operations Successful. Instances where operations were performed successfully on twins of the Kn- , occurred in Paris in 1812 when both twin* survived, and in Gcrni.'iiiy m ISOti. when one child lived. One of the earliest known case* of such an operation w:;s recorded as having taken place in Constantinople in 04.~> A.D.. under the reign of the Koman Jvmjieror, Constantino YJI. On the latter occasion, according to the historian Le Beau, writing in IS7G, two niale children, united at the abdomen. had been found in Arme* ia and token to Constantinople for exhibition. Ono died, and a surgeon attempted to sa\e the others life bv an emergency operation. He lived for three da'vs. " successful operations have been recorded as having been performed on pygopagous, or back-to-back twins, though several examples of the tvpe achieved considerable fame. The iiest known are the "Biddenden Maids" of Biddenden, Kent, whose niemorv has '■ecu kept alive by -tlie parish church in their community since their death in 11:54. I he Biddenden Maids were Marv and Eliza ( hulkhurst. and tliev were united apparently not only at the' hips, but also at the shoulders. Thev were pious women, and when one died at thirtyfour. the other refused to let a surgeon attempt an operation, saving, "As we came together, we will also go together. Six hours after her sister's death, she died. Left Land to Church. These women, according to the legend, bequeathed their twenty acres to the churchwardens, and for' 800 years the parish has preserved their memory by

using tlic.income from that, little grant (in 1000 it amounted to £32) for disposition of 270 quartern loaves and proportionate cheese to the poor of the parish, and about 300 little cakes to strangers in Ti id do tide n on each Eastertide. Kach of the memorial cakes bears the impression of the Biddeiulen Maids with the dates 1100-1134. A later example of the same type of twin was reported l»v the historian Bateman in "The Doome," 1581. who related that in 1493 a creature having "two bellies, four arms, four legs and two heads was exhibited throughout Italy for gain's sake." In 1701, Helen and Judith. Hungarian sisters, whose description tallies with that of the (Jodino twins in every way. were shown over Europe, and subsequently placed for care in a convent, where they died at twentv-onc.

Pope, the poet, celebrated their existence, and they are mentioned also in Buffon's "Natural History." Negro Twins in 1851. A still more recent pair of pvgopagous twins were Millie and Christine, negroes born in Columbus County, N.C., on July 11. 1851. Their mother had eight other children, all normal. The sisters were exhibited in Paris in 1873. Barer than the chest-to-chest or back-to-back twins are the cranniopagi, or forehead-to-forehead type. Instances of these, inseparably united by osseous formations of the skull and also of the brain, were reported in 1495, 1501 and 1855 in various parts of Europe. An ojieration attempted in one case proved successful. Even more curious are several reported examples of conjoined twins who pos-

sessed two heads, four arms, two chests, but only a single trunk and only two legs. The imaginations of scholars throughout the ages have been captured by the existence of such a hazard of nature, and one such fictitious pair was celebrated by Mark Twain in his book, "Pudd'nhead Wilson." A real union of this sort, however, was found in the court of .Tames 111. of Scotland, who made much of his extraordinary retainer and elevated him to a post of jester and minstrel. The twin, Simplicio Godino, who was separated from his brother Lucio when the latter twin died from rheumatic fever on November 25 last, survived for ten days, dying from cerebrospinal meningitis just after the above article was written.