 In 1895 , surgeon J. W. Ballantyne considered the case of the Biddenden Maids from a <unk> perspective . He suggested that they had in fact been <unk> ( twins joined at the <unk> ) . <unk> twins are known to put their arms around each other 's shoulders when walking , and Ballantyne suggested that this accounted for their apparently being joined at the shoulders in drawings . The <unk> <unk> and Christine McCoy had lived in Britain for a short time before going on to a successful singing career in the United States , and it was known from their case that such twins were capable of surviving to adulthood . 
