216 Appendix.— Account of the Siamese Twin Brothers. 
Another question which has presented itself in relation to them, is, 
whether it would be possible to separate them from each other with 
safety. There seems to me nothing in the connecting medium, 
which would render such an operation necessarily fatal. It is not 
improbable that the peritoneum is continuous from the abdomen of 
one to that of the other. The division of this membrane would in- 
volve some danger, though not very considerable. 'The attempt to 
separate them, does not, however, appear to me to be authorized un- 
der existing circumstances. Surgeons are justified in putting the life 
of an individual at risk, when it becomes necessary in order to re- 
lieve him of a menacing disease ; but it would not be proper to haz- 
ard life, in order to procure some convenience, however desirable 
this might be. When the minds of these boys have been sufficiently 
cultivated to enable them to understand the nature and dangers of an 
operation ; and the advantages they would derive from it, the sub- 
ject might be presented to them; and if, with a full knowledge of the 
consequences, they desired and demanded the separation to be ef- 
fected, it might be proper to undertake it. Should one die before 
other, they should be cut apart immediately. The success of 
the operation would, of course, be affected by the nature of the mor- 
tal disease, and its influence on the constitution of the survivor. 
-A union of the bodies of twins by various parts, is not an unusual 
occurrence. The collections of anatomists present many such ob- 
jects. Ambrose Paré has depicted for the entertainment of his rea- 
ders, instances of union by the back, belly, and forehead. ‘The last 
occurred in two girls, who lived to the age of ten years, when one of 
them dying, a separation was made; the wound of the living girl as 
sumed a bad character, and soon proved fatal. The Hungarian sis- 
ters, who lived about a century since, were united by the back ; had 
one passage from the intestines, and one from the urinary organs: 
They died when they were twenty two years of age. In the Philo- 
_ sophical Transactions and various other works, a multitude of similar 
monstrosities are recorded ; most of them born dead, or dying soon 
