Perhaps the best known of all double monsters were the Siamese
twins. They were exhibited all over the globe and had the
additional benefit and advertisement of a much mooted discussion
as to the advisability of their severance, in which opinions of
the leading medical men of all nations were advanced. The
literature on these famous brothers is simply stupendous. The
amount of material in the Surgeon General's library at Washington
would surprise an investigator. A curious volume in this library
is a book containing clippings, advertisements, and divers
portraits of the twins. It will be impossible to speak at all
fully on this subject, but a short history and running review of
their lives will be given: Eng and Chang were born in Siam about
May, 1811. Their father was of Chinese extraction and had gone to
Siam and there married a woman whose father was also a Chinaman.
Hence, for the most part, they were of Chinese blood, which
probably accounted for their dark color and Chinese features.
Their mother was about thirty-five years old at the time of their
birth and had borne 4 female children prior to Chang and Eng. She
afterward had twins several times, having eventually 14 children
in all.
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