Two-Headed Boy of Bengal
In 1790, the Two-Headed Boy of Bengal was described by the surgeon Everard Home. Home was the brother-in-law and principal assistant of the celebrated John Hunter, and a medical scientist of some repute. He rightly claimed that the Two-Headed Boy was “a species of lusus naturæ so unaccountable, that, I believe, no similar instance is to be found upon record.” Home never went to India to see the boy, but collected several descriptions and drawings of him from laymen. The Two-Headed Boy was born in May 1783 in the village of Mundul Gait in Bengal; his parents were poor farming people. Immediately after the child had been delivered, the midwife, who was terrified by its strange appearance, tried to destroy the infant by throwing it into the fire; he was saved from the flames with burns on one eye and one ear of the upper head. The parents soon realised the possibility of earning money by exhibiting their child in Calcutta, where he attracted much attention. Large crowds gathered to see the Two-Headed Boy; to hide him from the eyes of people sneaking up to see him, his parents had to cover him up between the shows. In this way the boy spent his short and miserable life; his emaciated and sickly appearance, Home thought, was caused by his being covered with sheets most of the time. The Boy’s fame soon spread all over India, and several noblemen and civil servants had him exhibited in their houses. One of these, Colonel Pierce, described him in a letter to the President of the Royal Society, Sir Joseph Banks, who later gave the letter to Everard Home.
The two heads were of equal size and covered with black hair at their junction; the upper head ended in a neck-like stump, which one observer likened to a small peach. When the boy cried or smiled, the features of the upper head were not always affected, and their movements seem to have been purely reflex: a pinch in the cheek produced a grimace, and when it was given the breast, its lips attempted to suck. The natural head and body were quite normally developed, but a number of anomalies were noted in examining the parasitic head: the corneal reflexes were absent and the eyes’ reaction to light was weak. No pulsations could be felt in the temporal arteries of the parasitic head, but its superficial facial veins were well filled with blood. The ears were malformed, and the tongue small. The lower jaw was rather small, but capable of motion. The secretion of tears and saliva was plentiful. When the child slept, the eyes of the parasitic head could be observed to be open and moving. When he was first awakened, all four eyes moved in the same direction, but normally, the two heads’ eye-movements were independent.
Each head of a polycephalic animal has its own brain, and they somehow share control of the organs and limbs, though the specific structure of the connections varies. Animals often move in a disoriented and dizzy fashion, with the brains "arguing" with each other; some animals simply zig-zag without getting anywhere. Snake heads may attack and even attempt to swallow each other. Thus, polycephalic animals survive poorly in the wild compared to normal monocephalic animals.
A TWO FACED GOAT
A man holds a two-headed baby goat in Bauta, a rural
town outside Havana, Cuba.
The birth of the animal stunned local residents and owner Juan Bolanos
said he had to assist the birth.
The baby goat breathes and feeds with both heads and closes and opens
its four eyes at the same time.
However, vets do not expect the newly-born goat to live more than
10 days. - Reuters
Source: www.stuff.co.nz
There have been numerous reports of two-faced cats; most die soon after birth. Reports of two-headed kittens are common, relative to other animals, because of their status as household pets. Recent two-headed kittens include:
On 2000-06-07, Image, a two-faced kitten, was born on and died later
that year in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
On 2005-03-08, Deuce, a two-faced kitten, was born in Lake City, Florida,
and was euthanased shortly thereafter, having come down with pneumonia.
On 2006-06-12, Gemini, a two-faced kitten was born in Glide, Oregon.
On 2006-07-12, Tiger, a two-faced kitten was born in Grove City, Ohio.
Polycephalic cats in museums include:
The Museum of Lausanne in Lausanne, Switzerland, preserves a two-headed kitten (pictured).
The Laing Museum in the small town of Newburgh, Fife, Scotland, preserves
the stuffed body of a two-headed kitten born in the 19th century on
Mugdrum Island.
The Georgia State Capitol in Atlanta, Georgia, has a full body taxidermy
of a two-faced kitten.
A two faced kitten
Humans
Dicephalic conjoined twins (dicephalus dipus):
In 1990, Abigail and Brittany Hensel were born in Minnesota, United
States
In 2003, Sohna and Mohna were born in India
In 2004, Rebeca Martinez was born in the Dominican Republic with an
extra head but died 7 hours after surgery.
In 2005, Egyptian Naglaa Mohamed gave birth to Manar who had the head
and a remnant of a torso of another child attached. Surgery was performed
for separation. Naglaa Mohamed made an appearance on the Oprah Winfrey
show with her surviving child.
In 2006, Syafitri was born in Indonesia
