PENNY-A-LINE METAPHYSICS.
THE gentleman of the press who furnished the Observer with an ac- count of the Siamese Boys, has some metaphysical speculations touch- ing these interesting twins, that are too curious not to merit extracting. Havinng first adverted to " many curious questions," in the anatomy of the connecting band, " which time alone can solve"—how it is kept alive—whether blood vessels run through it—whether it contain bone as well as gristle—and having premised a doubt which is finely charac- teristic of a writer who manufactures intelligence by the piece, " whether the minds of the twin couple be of equal interest with their bodies"—he proceeds, in a nice spirit of caution, to put his argument touching the former.
" If the mind depend, as is most generally supposed, on the living body, there can be no doubt but each of these bodies must have a mind of its own. If the mind be something distinct from the body, and depend not on it—if it be, as sonic philosophers say, the result of external circumstances, the only d;Iference between men's minds being caused by the different circumstances to which they are exposed; then, as the circumstances in which these boys have lived have always been precisely the same, their minds may be one and the same."
If any one hereafter require a philosophical solution of the well- known fact that nine tailors make a man, they have it here cut and dry. All tailors sit cross-legged ; all tailors sew with the right hand ; all tailors affect cabbage; ergo, all tailors have one soul. Now, omne majus continet in se minus—if all tailors have but one soul, nine tai- lors have but one soul ; and the soul makes the man, Q. E. D.
There is a grand question, which CHANG and TENG are to settle, almost as important as that about souls, or the still greater one touch- ing the way in which the connecting baud lives. Fingers may live by writing manifold articles ; but, then a band of gristle and skin even though time should discover a bit of bone in it !—
" These two bodies always united will supply the best means of setting at rest the question now agitated by Mr.Owen and his disciples, and a more an- cient school of philosophers."
Sir ASTLEY COOPER said on Tuesday, the boys would bring more money together than apart ; but Sir ASTLEY is a mere ordinary mortal, and naturally looks to ordinary results. What is the lucre of gain, compared with settling a question on which that great philo- sopher Mr. OwEN on the one hand, and that nameless school of ancient philosophers on the other, are at issue ? Well may the writer conclude by wishing that the twins may long escape the body-snatcher, or as he bath it---" keep alive, not satisfy the curiosity of the anatomist."
Previous page
