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, in 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, b’ro- 
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! the toastmaster came to charge me with the duty 
nf proposing the health of the “ Prime Warden ” 
