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Gallery: Marvels on Exhibit

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Two well-dressed young men, joined at the abdomen by an exposed band of tissue, stand together on a stage beside a chess board; the man on the left holds a badminton racquet.
An advertisement with an engraving of the well-dressed twins set against a tropical background with a tent.
A detailed and embellished illustration of the twins as older men surrounded by images of their life and family.
A woodcut of two naked men joined by a small connected area at the base of the ribcage.
Nineteenth century illustration of Chang and Eng Bunker’s livers and shared hepatic vessels, showing how an injection into Chang passed into Eng.
Nineteenth century illustration detailing the peritoneal and hepatic pouches and ensiform cartilages in the connecting band of Chang and Eng Bunker.
Title page from a pamphlet published in Buffalo by Warren, Johnson, & Co., in 1869.
A detailed woodcut of two clothed women joined at the base of the spine, facing away from each other.
A detailed woodcut of two clothed women joined at the base of the spine, facing away from each other.

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Nineteenth century illustration detailing the peritoneal and hepatic pouches and ensiform cartilages in the connecting band of Chang and Eng Bunker.

Autopsy Diagram, 1897

With the widows' permission, a detailed autopsy of Chang-Eng was conducted by Drs. William Pancoast and Harrison Allen in the Mütter Museum of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia from February 10-11, 1874. Shown below from the autopsy report are a contemporary sketch of the bodies and a diagram illustrating the conjoined tissues and hepatic vessels of the connecting band. Given the shared hepatic vessels, it is doubtful that a skilled 19th-century physician could have successfully separated the twins without causing the death of one twin.


Fig. 3870 Peritoneal Pouches, etc. in the Connecting Band of Chang and Eng. Diagrammatic representation of the band. From: Fisher, George Jackson. "Teratology," A Reference Handbook of the Medical Sciences. New York: William Wood, 1889. Vol. 7, p. 25. Courtesy National Library of Medicine

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