[Illustration: The Siamese Twins.]
The Engraving is an accurate sketch of this extraordinary _lusus
naturae_, which promises to occupy the attention of the whole Town,
and has already excited no ordinary curiosity among all ranks of the
scientific and sight-loving. Deviations from the usual forms of nature
are almost universally offensive; but, in this case, neither the
personal appearance of the boys, nor the explanation of the phenomenon
by which they are united, is calculated to raise a single unpleasant
emotion. The subject is, therefore, not unfit for our pages, and the
following descriptive particulars, which we have collected from
various authentic sources, and our own observation, will, we are
persuaded, be read with considerable interest:
The earliest account of the Siamese Twins is by Dr. I.C. Warren, of
Boston, and was published in Professor Silliman's Journal of October
last. They were received of their mother by Captain Coffin and Mr.
Hunter, in a village of Siam, where the last-mentioned gentleman saw
them, fishing on the banks of the river. Their father has been some
time dead, since which they lived with their mother in a state of
poverty. They were confined within certain limits, by order of the
Siamese Government, and supported themselves principally by taking
fish. Their exhibition to the world was suggested to the mother as a
means of bettering their condition; to which proposition she acceded
for a liberal compensation, and the promised return of her sons at a
specific time.
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