the luxuries they now obtain, together with the confinement their
situation necessarily involves, will bring their lives to a close
within a few years." We hope that such will not be the result of their
leaving their native shores; and we are much pleased with this passage
in a letter from Drs. Samuel Mitchill and Anderson to Capt.
Coffin--"They (the youths) are under the protection of a kind and
benevolent gentleman, and we know you will take good care of them, and
if they live, return them to their homes again." Of their strength
many instances are related: since they have arrived in London they
have lifted a gentleman of considerable weight, with great ease; and
on this point Drs. Mitchill and Anderson say--"As they are so vigorous
and alert, we readily coincide that in ten seconds they can lay a
stout ordinary man on his back."

We shall not go out of our way to state half the curious questions
which forcibly arose in our minds on visiting this interesting
exhibition. One of the most important, and least easy of solution, is
the structure of the connecting band--how it is kept alive--whether
blood flows into and circulates through it from each, and passes into
the system of the other--whether it be composed of bone, as well as of
cartilage--and whether it could be safely divided? Upon examining the
connexion, or _cord_, Dr. Warren says--"Placing my hand on this
substance, I found it extremely hard. On further examination, the
hardness was found to exist at the upper part of the cord only, and to
be prolonged into the breast of each boy. Tracing it upwards, I found
it to be constituted by a prolongation of the _ensiform cartilage of
the sternum_, or extremity of the breast-bone. The cartilages
proceeding from each sternum meet at an angle, and then seem to be
connected by a ligament, so as to form a joint. This joint has a
motion upwards and downwards, and also a lateral motion--the latter
operating in such a way, that when the boys turn in either direction,
the edges of the cartilage are found to open and shut.

* * * * *

"Besides this there is nothing remarkable felt in the connecting
substance. I could distinguish no pulsating vessel. The whole of this
cord is covered by the skin. It is remarkably strong, and has no great
sensibility, for they allow themselves to be pulled by a rope fastened
to it, without exhibiting uneasiness. On ship board, one of them
sometimes climbed on th