Historical aspects

Mankind has been fascinated by abnormal births since antiquity. Descriptions of conjoined twins date back to the ancient Egyptians, but the earliest recorded case is that of the “Biddenden maids” born in Kent in 1100. Mary and Eliza Chulkhurst were joined at the hips and shoulders and lived together for 34 years when Mary suddenly became ill and died. She refused to be separated from her dead sister saying “As we came together we will also go together” and died 6 hours later.

Geoffrey Saint Hilaire cited an example of girls born in 1495 joined at the forehead causing them to stand face to face: “when one walked forward, the other was compelled to walk backward.” They lived until the age of 10 years, and when one died an unsuccessful attempt was made at separation.

Ambroise Paré reported on a 40-year-old man in Paris in 1530, who carried a parasite without a head which hung a pendant from his belly. Batholinus described the history of Lazarus-Joannes Bapista Colloredo, born in Genoa in 1617 who exhibited himself all over Europe. An imperfectly developed twin comprising one thigh, hands, body, arms and a well-formed head hung from his epigastrium. These are two examples of asymmetrical conjoined twins.

The Isle–Brewer xiphopagus twins, Priscilla and Aquila, were born in 1680 and were joined from the “navel up to a point just beneath the nipples.”