Journal of Ottoman Legacy Studies (Mar 2021)
TEVELLÜD-İ ACÂİB: OSMANLI DEVLETİ’NDE YAPIŞIK İKİZLER
Abstract
Conjoined twinship is a deformity associated with the various conjoined parts of the body or the excess of some parts especially limbs. There are various studies conducted with conjoined twins in the international literature until now. Most of them are case reports or short biographic studies addressing the live of some world-famous twins (Biddenden Maids and Siamese Twins). Very few of these studies address the condition of conjoined twins legally and morally. There are also some publications that examined how this abnormality is perceived in the society and its reflections in iconography. The number of studies that address conjoined twins is limited in Turkey and there is no substantive study addressing the matter in detail. The present study briefly addressed some world-famous twins who were noted in previous studies and included in the teratology literature. However the conjoined twin cases recorded within the Ottoman borders were addressed and how this was perceived by the government and how these children were treated were investigated in this study, unlike those studies. The main resources of this study are the documents in the Ottoman Archive of the Presidency of Public Records of the Presidency of the Republic of Turkey, and some news about conjoined twins published in Ottoman gazettes. The researchers found 22 cases in the screenings made on the archive documents and gazettes, and one of the cases was in Iran and one was in the district of Libadiye affiliated with Greece. Therefore, the subject was addressed basically over 22 cases and statistically over 20 cases. Moreover, some news published in the gazettes of the Republic period were also used to form more examples for better understanding of the subject. The history of conjoined twins goes back to ancient times and can be seen in art such as in paintings, sculptures and ceramics and in mythologic narrations. However, individuals with any type of diseases or abnormalities in these early days were reflected as healthy and powerful individuals due to factors like superstitions and fear. Even though world-famous conjoined twins in history were born in different places, at different times, and under different conditions, they generally shared a common destiny. In addition to the fact that living standards of conjoined twins are low and their survival depends on the other sibling, the fact that this situation is seen as a bad fate and bad luck by the society and that they are turned into a commercial tool by being exhibited in circuses or fairs have become their unfortunate destinies. Conjoined twins were described as a single living creature based on the intensity of their bodies' adjacency in the Ottoman Empire just like in the entire world in the early days. Of 20 cases detected in the Ottoman Empire, seven were human samples and 13 were various animal samples. There is no evidence regarding miscarriage cases that are most commonly encountered in the pregnancy of conjoined twins. Not many examples might have been observed in similar subjects due to the reasons that such pregnancies end with miscarriage, children are born dead or die shortly after the birth. It can be considered that cases were not reflected in archive documents and gazettes due to some reasons. Most of the examples contain conjoined twins symmetrical from the anterior part of the body (ventral/abdomen). It is known that the thoracopagus/omphalopagus and cephalopagus types being at the top in the Ottoman Empire based on the incidence rate are among the most common types today. It was understood that the adjacency in the examined samples was due to twin pregnancies. It was observed that there was no conjoined twinship formed based on other fold of multiple pregnancy. On the other hand, the low number of cases and unspecified gender of the child do not enable us to give an opinion about the incidence frequencies according to gender, region, administrative units or different countries. The oldest conjoined twins case in the Ottoman Empire goes back to 1696. This document leaving the study questions unanswered in many ways is very important in terms of the fact that the Ottoman Empire tried to protect this conjoined twins by providing salary compared to contemporaries. However, there has been a possibility that these cases were tried to be kept secret since there might have been an understanding that these innate deformities were bad signs, sins or the punishment from Allah in the society. Although a low probability, the pieces on "monster births" published in Europe in the XVI and XVII centuries might have also affected the Ottoman society. It is possible for the majority of conjoined twins who were currently stillborn or died shortly after birth to have buried without anyone's knowledge due to the thought that it could cause the family to be blamed and marginalized. However, the limited number of examples obtained indicates that the Ottoman Empire addressed conjoined twinship as a disease at the discretion of God rather than marginalizing or blaming conjoined twins. Solid data on conjoined twins born alive or lived for many years were very scarce until the first half of the XIX century. Many human and animal cases with conjoined twinship were recorded in the first half of the XIX century. The fact that Chang and Eng brothers who were born in 1811 and became famous with the name "Siamese twins" gained the sympathy in many cities they were taken and changed the perspective towards individuals with this abnormality might have been effective in this. However, the most important reason of this must be the Mekteb-i Tıbbiye-i Adliye-i Şâhâne Numunehanesi in the Ottoman Empire. This sample unit where teratological and anatomical samples were collected was actually established imitating the anatomy museums in Europe in 1839 and samples collected from various parts of the country were used for medical education. Collection of such samples eased descriptive anatomy and pathological anatomy courses and made an important contribution to the generation of modern embryology and development of teratology; thus, significant progress was made in histology and surgical fields. Living creatures with any anomalies have been tried to be normalized in society over time with these developments in medicine. In addition to the documents describing the protection of conjoined twins with salaries or use of them as cadavers in the Ottoman Archives, the reasons for the reflection of such births were that the central government was informed about abnormal births or the permission of the central was required for some matters. Even though it is not possible to directly determine the perception of the society regarding individuals born with deformities in the Ottoman Empire based on these documents, it was found that conjoined twinship arouse curiosity and interest among the public. Especially the fact that the secret behind the formation of abnormal bodies could not be unraveled but considering these cases as a sign of the existence of Allah and his will increased the interest in conjoined twins. This situation emerged as a matter of mercy and compassion for the Ottoman Empire, unlike its contemporaries, and it was considered as a tool in the development of medicine in the future. On the other hand, no information about to what age conjoined twins lived, how they earned their livelihood, and what were the advantages and disadvantages of being conjoined were found in the samples. Also, no information about how these pregnancies and births occurred, and how was the mother's health after the birth was found. Due to the limited number of documents and information, it was not possible to shed light on the subject from different aspects. However, it could be noted that these subjects can be enlightened by future studies to be carried out based on new documents and information that may be obtained in the future.
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