The Siamese Twins.

Cromwell Argus, Volume V, Issue 227, 17 March 1874, Page 7

The Siamese Twins.

The following sketch of the remarkable Siamese Twins was written shortly before their death. Some curious facts are revealed in this little biography. The Siamese Twins, Eng and Chang, were afflicted with illness in the year 1871. They were born at 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 baud, the size of the hand, about two inches broad and four inches thick. One could whisper in the ear of one without the other hearing, while volatile salts applied to the nose 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 with each other. They played a good game of draughts, made pretty much the same 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 Salsbnry, North Carolina, on a well-stocked plantation. In addition they had at one period ample funds invested through their agent in New York. During the war they continued to reside on their plantation, and lived in the same quiet and harmony sis ever. Of course, no one over thought of drafting them, and their negroes prospered, except when either of the twins was out of temper from any cause ; it was apt to work off in striking the first one that came to hand, from which the bevt 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 children, all prospered well enough ; but one of them bad a sixth, and this awoke envy and jealousy to such a degree that the twin sisters, 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 ago ; but one, we believe, the smaller and feebler of the two, looked, it is said, ten years o.der than the other. They could turn either back to back or face to face, but that is as far as the remarkable bond that united thorn permitted. It is almost certain that, should either die, the other could not survive even more than a few minutes, as there is an artery as large as the femoral artery that connects them. A few’ years since, they corresponded with some of the leading surgical ©iterators in London, as to the possibility of the umbilicus being cut,-so that in the case of the death of one, the other might be saved. At the request of the London surgeons they visited the 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 was 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 he continued long enough without endangering-the life of him who was the first.

to faint. Since the breaking out of the Rebellion the twins both dressed in the Confederate gray, and wore both members of the sf*me Church, liavbig 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 particulars of the sudden death of the j celebrated Siamese Twins, on Saturday nu>rn- j ing. at their residence at Mount A'uvy, Sur-1 rey County, N.C. Chang was partially paralysed last Fall, very much debilitated, and strongly addicted to strong liquor, as a means of alleviating bis sufferings. He had been quite feeble for several days, so much so as to confine the brothers to bed. On Friday night Chang became worse, and expired suddenly about four o’clock on Saturday morning. Eng became so terribly shocked that lie roared like a wild beast for awhile. This attack was 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 in the greatest grief—the children, many of whom are deaf-mutes, expressing their sorrow in the most pitiful manner.