Since the days when the Siamese twins arrived in this country and
occasioned so much excitement in medical circles, no illustration
of the freaks of nature has been found at all approaching in its
remarkable character to that given in the person of Christine Millie,
a native of North Carolina, who arrived at this port on Tuesday, per
City of Brussels, from New York. The young person who is about to
proceed to London for exhibition, is the child of parents formerly
slaves in North Carolina, still living, and having several other
children, and was herself born a slave. It is scarcely possible by
a written description to convey anything like an adequate idea of
the marvelous physical organization of this extraordinary being. In
figure, Christine Millie, who is 19 years of age, is rather short,
and possesses two heads upon one body, with two well-developed chests
and four arms. This portion of the frame is as perfectly distinct
in each figure as if the upper part were the heads of two persons;
but at the lateral posterior portion of the pelvis there is but one
body, with one spine, the lower parts of which gradually incline
outwards from each side, and terminate with four legs. The faces
are of the African type, with thick lips and large mouth, denoting
the race from which the girl has descended; but in conversation the
countenances brighten with intelligence, and those who have had the
opportunity of seeing the girl could not fail to be pleased with
the geniality of her manner and with the store of information which
she has at her command. The question which naturally arises, and
which it seems difficult to solve, is, whether this is one being,
or whether, in some extraordinary manner, two persons have thus
marvelously joined together. A very careful anatomical examination,
made by the professors at Jefferson Medical College, America, has led
to the discovery that the lungs, heart, and functions of digestion
are those of two persons, apparently perfect and healthy in each,
but that the whole of the lower organization of the body is that of
one female, with the exception of the four legs. Each head is said
to possess separate intellectual faculties, as entirely distinct as
the brain power of two different individuals, and the volitions of
the will are independent, but very much in harmony with each other.
In proof of this the two mouths will at the same time converse with
different persons upon topics of a widely different character, and
will join in singing a duet, one taking the soprano and the other the
contralto part. Experiments have been tried with a view to demonstrate
the nervous system, which showed that whilst above the junction the
sense of feeling was separate and distinct in each, below the point of
union it was common. Thus, a hand placed upon the shoulder of either
was noticed only by the one touched, but a pressure of the foot was
instantly felt by each.
Yesterday a private party of ladies and gentlemen had an interview
with this extraordinary person at the Washington Hotel, and were both
astonished and pleased. She seems remarkably cheerful, suffers no
inconvenience or pain from peculiar physical organization, dances with
freedom, and, for one of her race, sings with considerable taste and
expression. * * * * *
The editor of the _Liverpool Daily Post_ says: