ARRIVAL OF CURIOSITIES OF NATURE.
Amongst the visitors who arrived at Liverpool from New York on Tuesday in the Inman steamer City of Brussels, was a party of ladies and gentlemen, whom the indefatigable Mr. Barnum, of showman notoriety, has nothing to do with, though here for the edification of the curious.
The most singular and physiologically interesting member of the party is a young lady, between eighteen and nineteen years of age, or rather, two young ladies rolled into one, who is certainly a rival to the famous Siamese Twins, and very much more attractive in appearance than Messrs. Chang and Eng. Those who saw the Siamese Twins during their presence in England will have a vivid recollection of the painful look that their features bore, and the constrained movements of their bodies while walking in any direction. There is a total absence of this in the young lady who bears the name of Miss Christine Millie, whose four bright black eyes and dazzling rows of pearly-white teeth light up a fair Creole complexion with an animation that is really attractive. This singular lusus naturæ is the offspring of parents who were slaves in North Carolina previous to the American civil war, and has several brothers and sisters who are like ordinary humanity. During the struggle the family suffered considerable privation; but as a curious illustration of the changes which have taken place in Southern society, through the war and the declaration of freedom from slavery, it may be mentioned that the father of Christine Millie is now the owner of the plantation on which he was once a slave. As to the young lady herself—for we have surgical authority for describing her—she has bodily only one person, though possessed of two heads, two pairs of shoulders, four arms, and two pairs of legs, amalgamated curiously with one trunk. We can only say that an hour’s audience with her yesterday afternoon proved her to be a cultured, self-possessed and accomplished person, who had a most singular attribute of being able to hold two totally distinct conversations at the same time with different persons, or the same person, can sing a duet very tastefully and tunefully in two voices, soprano and contralto, and can dance a mazourka with singular grace and facility. There was no difficulty made in exhibiting the upper portion of the dorsal connection, and it was done without any infringement of modesty.
From the Liverpool Leader
“MOST EXTRAORDINARY.”
In the steamship City of Brussels, from New York, on the 2d of May, 1871, arrived a cargo which, in the words of Mr. Toole, may be termed “most extraordinary.” Of all the curiosities ever unearthed by the immortal Barnum, none can compare in the most minute degree with Millie Christine, a daughter or daughters—whichever the fastidious please—of the State of North Carolina. They first saw the light nineteen years ago, and the mother is presumably the founder of that gigantic Woman’s Rights Association in America, which has lately made formidable inroads upon English society. Here we have a young lady with one body, but two distinct minds, borne by two separate heads. All the intelligent men who saw her at the Washington Hotel the other day, can bear witness to the marvellous intelligence which predominates in both brains; the conversational powers of the two heads at once in communication with two different persons; upon different topics, would sufficiently testify it. But the marvel did not stop here; some of the sweetest duets in the language of music were sung by a high soprano and a pure contralto. The notes issued from two heads, and yet but one trunk supplied the verve. It may now be added that this extraordinary trunk has two pairs of perfect legs, terminating in symmetrical and very pretty feet, and that, moving upon their pedal extremities, the trunk exhibits the very poetry of motion. The polka, the mazourka, the schottische, are delineated by these two pairs of pretty feet, in perfect time and harmony, and the spectator is rewarded not by one smile, as in the case of ordinary young ladies, but by two distinct smiles, winked at you by two pairs of sparkling and roguish eyes, and thrown at you by two different sets of the purest ivory that ever adorned the mouth of an Indian Sultana. There are a lot of people here, or elsewhere, always ready to strain at the smallest gnat and swallow the biggest camel, who will doubtless put this young lady down as outside the pale of ordinary humanity. If this prejudice should carry one so far as to avoid her, they alone will be the losers. We can testify that no person of ordinary intelligence can be in her company for half an hour without yielding to the charm of her manner and the fascination of her double smiles. She has you on both sides. If you remove your head from one position you are immediately the victim of another pair of eyes, which fix you and, in fact, transfix you. We candidly admit that we were fascinated, and that we immediately lost sight of the phenomenon and became overpowered by the influence of this dual brain. The young lady will shortly hold levees in London, and the public of Liverpool may hope to see her by-and-by. The eminent medical men of the United States testify that this remarkable freak of nature is united at the lateral posterior portion of the pelvis, while above that portion they are separated, have separate chests, two pair of fully developed arms, but only one trunk. With the double head they possess separate intellectual faculties as entirely distinct as in the brain power of two different individuals, while their faces indicate to a remarkable degree intelligence of a high order and great amiability.
VISIT OF EMINENT MEN IN LIVERPOOL TO MILLIE CHRISTINE.
On the 4th of May a reception for medical men was held at the Washington Hotel, Liverpool, and was attended by the following eminent members of that faculty: Dr. Nevins, Dr. Bickersteth, Dr. McGregor, Dr. Greegan, Dr. Slack, Dr. Gorst, Dr. Steele, Mr. T. Bickerton, F.R.C.S., etc.; Mr. Edgar Browne, M.R.C.S.; Mr. Jas. Pen Harris, Mr. W. H. Manifold, etc. Having had an opportunity of explaining the bond of union, these eminent men were unanimously of the opinion that Millie Christine is the most extraordinary phenomenon the world has ever seen.
THE TWO-HEADED GIRL.
LAUGHABLE ACCOUNT OF THE TWO-HEADED GIRL BY A WESTERN EDITOR.