n
conclusion, that the phenomenon of Biddenden is interesting not only on
account of the curious bequest which arose out of it, but also because
it was an instance of a very rare teratologic type, occurring at a very
early period in our national history."

Possibly the most famous example of twins of this type were Helen and
Judith, the Hungarian sisters, born in 1701 at Szony, in Hungary. They
were the objects of great curiosity, and were shown successively in
Holland, Germany, Italy, France, England, and Poland. At the age of
nine they were placed in a convent, where they died almost
simultaneously in their twenty-second year. During their travels all
over Europe they were examined by many prominent physiologists,
psychologists, and naturalists; Pope and several minor poets have
celebrated their existence in verse; Buffon speaks of them in his
"Natural History," and all the works on teratology for a century or
more have mentioned them. A description of them can be best given by a
quaint translation by Fisher of the Latin lines composed by a Hungarian
physician and inscribed on a bronze statuette of them:--

Two sisters wonderful to behold, who have thus grown as one, That
naught their bodies can divide, no power beneath the sun. The town of
Szoenii gave them birth, hard by far-famed Komorn, Which noble fort may
all the arts of Turkish sultans scorn. Lucina, woman's gentle friend,
did Helen first receive; And Judith, when three hours had passed, her
mother's womb did leave. One urine passage serves for both;--one anus,
so they tell; The other parts their numbers keep, and serve their
owners well. Their parents poor did send them forth, the world to
travel through, That this great wonder of the age should not be hid
from view. The inner parts concealed do lie hid from our eyes, alas!
But all the body here you view erect in solid brass.

They were joined back to back in the lumbar region, and had all their
parts separate except the anus between the right thigh of Helen and the
left of Judith and a single vulva. Helen was the larger, better
looking, the more active, and the more intelligent. Judith at the age
of six became hemiplegic, and afterward was rather delicate and
depressed. They menstruated at sixteen and continued with regularity,
although one began before the other. They had a mutual affection, and
did all in their power to alleviate the circumstances of their sad
position. Judith died of cerebral a