Again, several of the pygopagous twins, of whom there are scientific records, survived birth and lived for a number of years, and thus resembled the Biddenden terata. Helen and Judith, for instance, were twenty-three years old at death; and the North Carolina twins, although born in 1851, are still alive. There is, therefore, nothing inherently improbable in the statement that the Biddenden Maids lived for thirty-four years. With regard also to the truth of the record that the one Maid survived her sister for six hours, there is confirmatory evidence from scientifically observed instances, for Joly and Peyrat (Bull. de l'Acad. Med., iii., pp. 51 and 383, 1874) state that in the case seen by them the one infant lived ten hours after the death of the other. It is impossible to make any statement with regard to the internal structure of the Maids or to the characters of their genital organs, for there is absolutely no information forthcoming upon these points. It may simply be said, in conclusion, that the phenomenon of Biddenden is interesting not only on account of the curious bequest which arose out of it, but also because it was an instance of a very rare teratologic type, occurring at a very early period in our national history."Possibly the most famous example of twins of this type were Helen and Judith, the Hungarian sisters, born in 1701 at Szony, in Hungary. They were the objects of great curiosity, and were shown successively in Holland, Germany, Italy, France, England, and Poland. At the age of nine they were placed in a convent, where they died almost simultaneously in their twenty-second year.
During their travels all over Europe they were examined by many prominent physiologists, psychologists, and naturalists; Pope and several minor poets have celebrated their existence in verse;Buffon speaks of them in his "Natural History," and all the works on teratology for a century or more have mentioned them. Adescription of them can be best given by a quaint translation by Fisher of the Latin lines composed by a Hungarian physician and inscribed on a bronze statuette of them: --Two sisters wonderful to behold, who have thus grown as one, That naught their bodies can divide, no power beneath the sun.
The town of Szoenii gave them birth, hard by far-famed Komorn, Which noble fort may all the arts of Turkish sultans scorn.
Lucina, woman's gentle friend, did Helen first receive;And Judith, when three hours had passed, her mother's womb did leave.
One urine passage serves for both;--one anus, so they tell;The other parts their numbers keep, and serve their owners well.
Their parents poor did send them forth, the world to travel through, That this great wonder of the age should not be hid from view.
The inner parts concealed do lie hid from our eyes, alas!
But all the body here you view erect in solid brass.
They were joined back to back in the lumbar region, and had all their parts separate except the anus between the right thigh of Helen and the left of Judith and a single vulva. Helen was the larger, better looking, the more active, and the more intelligent. Judith at the age of six became hemiplegic, and afterward was rather delicate and depressed. They menstruated at sixteen and continued with regularity, although one began before the other. They had a mutual affection, and did all in their power to alleviate the circumstances of their sad position.
Judith died of cerebral and pulmonary affections, and Helen, who previously enjoyed good health, soon after her sister's first indisposition suddenly sank into a state of collapse, although preserving her mental faculties, and expired almost immediately after her sister. They had measles and small-pox simultaneously, but were affected in different degree by the maladies. The emotions, inclinations, and appetites were not simultaneous.
Eccardus, in a very interesting paper, discusses the physical, moral, and religious questions in reference to these wonderful sisters, such as the advisability of separation, the admissibility of matrimony, and, finally, whether on the last day they would rise as joined in life, or separated.
There is an account of two united females, similar in conjunction to the "Hungarian sisters," who were born in Italy in 1700. They were killed at the age of four months by an attempt of a surgeon to separate them.
In 1856 there was reported to have been born in Texas, twins after the manner of Helen and Judith, united back to back, who lived and attained some age. They were said to have been of different natures and dispositions, and inclined to quarrel very often.
Pancoast gives an extensive report of Millie-Christine, who had been extensively exhibited in Europe and the United States. They were born of slave parents in Columbus County, N.C., July 11, 1851; the mother, who had borne 8 children before, was a stout negress of thirty-two, with a large pelvis. The presentation was first by the stomach and afterward by the breech. These twins were united at the sacra by a cartilaginous or possibly osseous union. They were exhibited in Paris in 1873, and provoked as much discussion there as in the United States. Physically, Millie was the weaker, but had the stronger will and the dominating spirit.