'Framing Disability exhibition' Chang and Eng (1811-74) (tactile)
By:
Sign Up Now!
Already a Member? Log In
You must be logged into UK education collection to access this title.
Learn about membership options,
or view our freely available titles.
- Synopsis
- Title on print: Theorie des resemblances; lithograph by C Motte; 1839; 25.8 cm by 24.6 cm; published Paris, 1831-44. Chang and Eng were born in Siam (Thailand) in 1811, and are the most famous co-joined twins in history, giving the term ˜Siamese twins' to popular culture. They were joined at the chest by a four-inch tube of flesh, enabling them to walk side by side. The twins were ˜discovered' as children by a showman and travelled the world, arriving in London in 1829, where they exhibited at the Egyptian Hall, Piccadilly. This image appears in a French book Theorie des resemblances, 1831-44, by the Portuguese politician and naturalist José Joaquim Gama Machado (circa1775-1861). Machado moved to Paris in 1806 and is here depicted within the print playing chess with Chang and Eng. He uses the twins to argue his ˜theorie des ressemblances': that the laws of similarities observed within animals can also apply to humans, and writes beneath the image: style="margin-left: 36pt" 'Their characters are similar; the two minds appear to be only one, as well as their wills. Several times I have played a chess game with them¦the calculation of the movements and the pieces, was almost the same every time. They would never talk to each other when they played. However, we should not be more surprised of the similarity of their characters than of seeing two widows (Brazilian birds) living in cages in two different places to lose their tails at the same day at the same time.' (English translation) When Chang and Eng first went to France, they were banned from exhibiting for fear of harming pregnant women who, it was supposed, might be shocked into giving birth to a disabled child. The idea, although largely discredited by the medical profession in the 19th century, still lingered in the public imagination. By 1839, Chang and Eng had fired their agent and were successfully managing their own careers. They became US citizens, adopted the name ˜Bunker' and purchased a farm in North Carolina. They married two sisters who did not get along, so the twins divided their time between two houses and fathered 22 children between them. They became very wealthy and were able to retire. However, they returned to exhibiting after their fortune was nearly lost during the American Civil War (1861-65) - they were said to have supported opposite sides. Chang and Eng died in 1874 after Chang, a heavy drinker, succumbed to a stroke.
- Copyright:
- 2011
Book Details
- Book Quality:
- Excellent
- Publisher:
- RNIB
- Date of Addition:
- 05/25/17
- Copyrighted By:
- RNIB
- Adult content:
- No
- Language:
- English
- Has Image Descriptions:
- No
- Categories:
- Health, Mind and Body
- Submitted By:
- Ian Green
- Proofread By:
- N/A
- Usage Restrictions:
- This is a copyrighted book.