86 MONSTROSITY AND 



of this kind of human duplicity; and I might add, also, not 

 only a duplicity of the head, but also of the heart, and of the 

 tongue. The Siamese twins are, probably, an example, where 

 the egg did not altogether separate into two parts. No doubt 

 the many instances of twins, and triplets, and quadruples, which 

 occur so often lately, are partly derived from this method. 



This phenomenon, however, occurs most frequently, and, as 

 a rule, among the lower animals; and as we ascend in the 

 scale we find that it happens less often, and rather as an excep- 

 tional mode, and finally, its appearance among the highest ani- 

 mals is rare, and is looked upon as a monstrosity. I think, how- 

 ever, that this term, monstrosity, has served to mislead physiolo- 

 gists ; and so great oftentimes is the power of a name or term, 

 which may be persistently thrust forward by some one who has 

 a speciality or lifelong hobby to support, that it has prevented 

 the younger class of observers from attempting to look through 

 this thick curtain into the realities behind it. 



Now it is a noticeable fact that these duplications and bud- 

 dings which occur among the highest animals make their 

 appearance by far most frequently among the lowest and 

 diseased classes, where the qualities of life are in the most 

 degraded condition. It would seem as if the individuality, 

 the oneness, of the healthy, natural man, loses its power of 

 concentration and tendency toward a higher life when dis- 

 ease ensues, and especially when it is propagated from parent 

 to child and child to grandchild; and that Nature then re- 

 verted more or less toward the lower, more degraded kinds 

 of existence, and very naturally reproduced herself according 

 to a method which corresponds to this reduced condition, in 

 which there is an approximation to the state of vitality and 

 grade of the lower creatures on this earth. This, I am in- 

 clined to believe, is the true explanation of the phenomenon 

 which is called monstrosity among the highest kinds of an- 

 imals. 



But to return now to the more simple phases of nature. I 



