were first shown in this country and then protested against their continued union, already beginning to be shameful. A printed document was handed to me in reply, purporting to contain "opinions" from Sir Astley Cooper and other surgeons, that the attempt would be dangerous and might be fatal. I said then and I say now, that it ought to have been done at all risks—with a hatchet, if necessary. I did not then, nor do I now believe that it would be as serious an operation as the amputation of an arm or a leg: infinitely less so than lithotomy or ovariotomy. It must be effected now-or at that terrible moment when the death of the one shall appal the shrinking survivor; and his fear, or perhaps some form of blood poisoning, shall vastly increase the peril.

And again: Contrast all these-the mere plus or minus monstrosities, with their heaviest load of material calamities with the present and future of "the Carolina twins," as they are called; two young women, inextricably united, like the Hungarian sisters and the Biddenden Maids of Kent. I am not aware that our journals have noticed this very remarkable pair, except in the slightest manner; yet, I am satisfied that the records of monstrosities contain nowhere, either in ancient or modern times, a case so full of curious, profound and painful interest. I first saw these amiable and unfortunate girls in Charleston, S. C., and find in my note book the following brief statement concerning them: "I went to-day, November, 1853, to the S. C. Hall, by invitation, to see something strange. Two little black children, now about two years old and in fine plump health, are united together at the sacrum, which very thick and broad. Just above it the spinal column divides and continues apart, each portion belonging to a distinct body. There is but one anus and one vulva; there are two meatus urinarii. The rectum, I suppose, is common to the two children connected with two colons,

is

etc. The vagina must divide and become double, as there are, doubtless, two uteri (occupying the two pelves) and almost certainly two urinary bladders."

In May, 1866, these twins came to Philadelphia. I visited them and sought and obtained, with no little difficulty, opportunity and permission to repeat the examination made in their infancy. I was accompanied by my friend and colleague, Dr. Ellerslie Wallace, Professor of Obstetrics in Jefferson Medical College. The twins are named Christina and Milly; and are of unmixed African blood, but evidently from a tribe of the higher and better order of Africans. I take the occasion to remark that there can be no error more absurd than to confound, as is universally done here at the North, the several nations or races of negroes marked with differences as prominent and indicative of superiority and inferiority among themselves, as those which place the Norman, Scotchman or Frenchman above the Finn or the Esquimaux, the Basque or the Highland or Irish Kelt.

These girls are modest, intelligent, well-mannered and gentle. They differ in height, C. being nearly an inch taller than M., and even more, proportionally in strength. C. can carry M. lightly and easily, dancing gracefully enough under her weight; but M., on the other hand, can scarcely lift C. from the floor. C. sings with a loud, clear, pleasant voice. M. is somewhat feeble about the chest, subject to cold and sore throat.

There is little to add to what is said above of the mode of union between them. It is at the lower end of the spine the sacrum alone being implicated. Prof. Wallace, indeed, thinks that there is a portion of the sacrum itself at its broad base, free or double. The connection of the soft parts, is, as in the Hungarian sisters, referred to by my Nashville friends, very extensive at the back and the buttock. As is already said, there exist one anus

and one vulva, with two vagina and two meatus urinarïï. As they lie on Milly's right side, the anal opening is below, At a corresponding point above and beyond the vulva, there is a small opening, a cul de sac, admitting a blunt probe to the depth of three-fourths of an inch; perhaps the trace of an abortive anus. The clitoris is double or bifid and the openings of the two vaginæ, slightly projecting in, the vulva lie side by side. They urinate and defecate together with common impulse; it is not yet certain, they are so young, whether they menstruate simultaneously. There is a vague community of sensation between them in some points. A touch below the spinal junction is felt by both; not so when made on the trunks, heads and arms. They once had intermittent fever; their chills and the subsequent stages of the paroxysms being entirely synchronous. One of them had suffered from severe sore throat-the physician attending called it diphtheria-the other remaining well.

They sit, stand, walk and lie together with their arms, the left of Milly and the right of Christina, constantly about each other, though they can and do bring them forward and use them separately and individually. Their thoraxes are somewhat twisted and unsymmetrical, rendered so necessarily by the perpetual pressure and leaning of one against the other. Milly's left chest is a good deal contracted, with a short sternum and projecting angular ribs and cartilages; there would seem to be scarcely sufficient room for the heart, which is pushed over below the mediastinum, striking the chest wall with defective force of impulse. Christina is better, and more fully developed. I remember very well having felt the pulse in the two, to ascertain whether the cardiac action was synchronous; but regret to say that I find no record of the result, and only wonder how I could have omitted it. I think the two beats were not in accordance.

It may, perhaps, be worthy of notice that all these examples of indissoluble union-osseous connection-occur in female twins, as in the Tennessean Josephine, the Sardinian girls, the Hungarian Sisters, and the Kentish Maidens of Biddenden, the earliest, I think on distinct record. "In the year 1100, at Biddenden in Kent, were born Elizabeth and Mary Chalkhurst, joined together by the hips and shoulders, and who lived in that state thirtyfour years, at the expiration of which time one of them was taken ill, and after a short period died; the surviving one was advised to be separated from the corpse, which she obstinately refused, saying these words: 'As we came together, we will also go together;' and about six hours after her sister's decease, she was taken ill and died also."

Thus was inflicted by nature or Providence the horrible torture which has rendered the name of Mezentius ever infamous for his cruelty, in binding together the living with the dead as punishment to his enemies.

Over the happiest human life hangs always the certainty of approaching catastrophe, the sword of Damocles suspended by a hair and sure to fall. This ever-present liability is doubled in these unhappy cases and aggravated by all possible entanglements of sympathy, anxiety, fear and love. Who can conceive of the mental condition of the Kentish maidens during their thirty-four years of life; of the Hungarian sisters, surviving twenty-two years; of the Carolina twins, now passing through their strange and æsthetically incomprehensible pilgrimage? Suppose any incompatibility or even inequality of temper, any marked discrepancy as to the ordinary vital functions, the generation or tolerance of heat or cold, the readiness to incur fatigue, weariness, restlessness and the like; it is clear that the susceptibility to annoyance of all kinds and great variety of suffering is doubled and more than doubled; while the capacity for any species of

enjoyment is certainly not in any manner or degree increased, but rather to all appearance narrowly restricted and greatly diminished.

If these separate individualities, these distinct souls. "cribbed, cabined and confined" by the mysterious and burdensome connection, not with one only, but two frail bodies, if they are united in spirit and closely sympathetic; such an existence might be tolerable. But how seldom are we-single, mentally, and corporally-fully at one with ourselves! How seldom does peace reign within our mortal microcosm! How then with these unhappy dualities, these double-bodied minds? Are they frank with each other, or have they concealment? Do they indulge in separate sentiment, thought, emotion, passion? Can either commit crime and suffer remorse without the knowledge or partnership of the other? Can they keep their stock of pleasures or of pain clearly distinct, or must they share and partake-per force? Who can tell?

Habit and necessity, "the inexorable must," it is always taken for granted, will reconcile all human beings to a condition which they cannot change. This is true, however, only in an imperfect degree and will be greatly modified by the original temper and disposition of the victim. We are told of the good humor and cheerfulness of Walter Scott under a defect which imbittered the life of Byron. Some wild animals are untamable, and fret themselves to death under restraint, while others become gentle and seem at ease. It is certain I think that no male twins would have reached maturity, in the intimate and unyielding bondage which has been borne for many tedious years, by at least three pairs of females. The more pliable feminine constitution, their readier tendency to unlimited mutual confidences and tender friendships, must have contributed essentially to soften the rigor of their cruel destiny.