1865-68 PROPOSES A TOAST 175 



on the event was Charles Dickens. ' I must write,' 

 says the novelist, ' the word of congratulation to 

 you all on the interesting intelligence you give 

 me. Your delight in it has delighted me, and I 

 cannot too cordially assure you of my heartfelt 

 sympathy. . . .' 



To a correspondent who asked for information 

 regarding the Siamese twins, Professor Owen 

 replied in a letter dated March 27, 1867 : ' I made, 

 at the request of the late Sir Astley Cooper, a 

 minute examination of the connecting band of the 

 Siamese twins in 1835, m relation to a possible 

 and safe severance, but ... it was evident that 

 the operation would have been attended with im- 

 minent danger of peritonitis and death of probably 

 both, unless, as suggested, a long continual com- 

 pression of the under part of the band had ob- 

 literated the part of the peritoneal cavity there 

 situated. To this the youths and their guardian 

 objected. The firm elastic part of the connecting 

 band was formed by a continuation, not of the 

 sternum (breast-bone), but of the xiphoid cartilage 

 below it from one individual to that of the other.' 



Writing to his sister on April 12, 1867, Pro- 

 fessor Owen says : — 



' Yesterday I went to a big dinner at Fish- 

 mongers' Hall, where Mr. Fowler, as President of 

 Institute of Civil Engineers, had been invited. And 

 lo! thetoastmaster came to charge me with the duty 

 of proposing the health of the " Prime Warden " 



