DE MONSTRIS. 266 



not an uncommon phenomenon to find a different mode 

 of development of the same material. In the museum 

 of the late and regretted Mr. Waterton there is the 

 head of a sheep, with a horn growing at the end of its 

 ear, and not on its forehead the hair having been 

 modified into horn, just as was the case with the horned 

 woman. The feathers of birds frequently undergo a 

 similar modification; and there is a well-known in- 

 stance of a whole family of human beings popularly 

 called the ' Porcupine Family ' many of whom had 

 the whole body covered with small horny growths. 



Then the two-headed man is evidently a reminis- 

 cence of one of the many known instances where twins 

 have been partially fused together. In the present 

 day we have the long-known ' Siamese Twins,' the 

 ' Two-headed Nightingale,' and the < Ohio Twins,' the 

 latter being united from the back of the head down 

 the entire spine. Plenty of similar instances have been 

 known. There were, for example, the 'Biddenden 

 Maids,' whose memory is still cherished in the neigh- 

 bourhood where they lived ; and I have before me a 

 collection of drawings illustrative of similar strange 

 developments. 



So with various other forms. The headless man 

 only represents a fact well known to every physiologist ; 

 while the very bold stroke of the artist in putting the 

 eyes, nose, and mouth into the breast, is not without 

 its parallel in nature. Multiplication or curtailment 

 of limbs is very common, and often runs in families ; 



