THE SIAMESE TWINS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 1889, 23 March 1874, Page 3

THE SIAMESE TWINS.

The following sketch of the remarkable Siamese Twins was written shortly before their death, and appears in a late San Francisco paper. Some curious facts are revealed in this little biography. The Siamese Twins, Eng and Chang, lately residing in North Carolina, were afflicted with illness in the year 1871. They were born in a small village on the coast of Siam, in the year 1811. Their parents got their living by fishing, and until 1829, when Eng and Chang were brought to the United States, they made their living by selling shellfish. Their mother bore seventeen children. At one time she gave birth to three, and never less than two. But none of these children were deformed. The Twins were united at the anterior part of the chest by a prolongation of a kind of fleshy band, the size of the hand, about two inohes broad and four inches thiok, and capable of being considerably extended. One could whisper in the ear of one of them without the other hearing, while volatile salts applied to the nostrils of one had no effect on the other ; and while pinching the arm of one excited no sensation in the other, still if you but stuck a pin in the exact vertical centre of this connecting link, both would flinch from the hurt;. The Twins were seldom observed to converse wifch each other. They played a good game of draughts, made pretty much the Bame moves, and at the same time, and frequently played against each other. After attracting a vast amount of attention among scientists and physiologists in the Old World, they married two sisters, and settled down near Salisbury, North Carolina, on a well-stocked plantation. In addition they had at one period ample funds invested through their agents in New York. During the war they continued to reside on their plantation, and lived in the same quiet and harmony as ever, until some few yeara afterward. Of course, no one ever thought of drafting them, and their negroes prospered, except when either of the twins was out of temper from any cause ; ifc was apt to work itself off in striking the firsfc one thafc came to hand, from which the best escape was to keep out of the way. The brothers probably never would have had any difficulty, but that their wives, though sisters, turned away their hearts, and children were the cause of this estrangement. Up to the period that each had five ohildren, all prospered well enough ; but one of them had a sixth, and this awoke envy and jealousy to such a degree that the twin Bisters, not being bound together like the twin brothers, would no longer live under the same roof. The brothers were, it seems, about fifty-four years of age ; but one, we believe, the smaller and feebler of the two, looked, it is said, ten years older than the other. , They could turn either back to back or face to face, but that is as far es the remarkable bond that united them permitted. It is almost certain fchafc, should either die, the other conld not survive even more thai a few minutes, as there is an artery as large as tbe femoral artery that connects tbim. A few years since, they corresponded with some of the leading surgical operators in London, as to the possibility of the umbilicus being out, so that in case of the death of one, the life of the other might be saved. At the request of the London surgeon fchey visited that city, and many experiments were tried to determine the safety of such an operation. Among other things a ligature was tied firmly for a few minutes around the connection between them, so as to prevent the circulation of blood through the artery. But it seemed as if each would expire if this were persisted in. The smaller of the two fainted away and lost all consciousness, and there were symptoms that the same effect would follow to the other, but the process could not be continued long enough without endangering the life of him who was fche first to faint. Since the breaking out of the Rebellion the twins both dressed in the Confederate gray, and were both members of the same Church, having united with a small Baptist Church in their neighbourhood, of which they were considered very worthy members, though born Siamese. A special from Richmond gives the following partioulars of the sudden death of the celebrated Siamese Twins, on Saturday morning, at their residence at Mount Airey, Surrey County, N.O. Chang- was partially paralysed last Fall, since whioh time he hae been fretful, very much debilitated, and strongly addicted to drinking liquor, as a means of alleviating his sufferings. He had been quite feeble for several days, so muoh so as to confine the brothers to bed. On Friday night Chang became worse, and expired suddenly, about four o'clook on Saturday morning. Eng became so terribly shocked that he roared like a wild beast for awhile. This attack waß followed by what seemed to be a deadly stupor, and in two hours from the death of Chang, Eng breathed his last. The wives and families of the twins are iv the deepest grief — the children, many of whom are deaf-mutes, expressing their sorrow in the most pitiful manner.