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The second baby (or "the head") blinked and smiled, I assume in response to stimuli and not some random action. It seems obvious from looking at the photos that he/she/it was pretty much a fully formed head that was obviously lacking any type of body other then the small amount of growth below the chin area. Because the 2nd. baby, or "parasite" (a detestable way to phrase it) could not support it's own life due to no heart, lungs, kidneys, etc., it had to live off of it's sibling.
That in no way means it was not aware and sentient, which is how we humans catagorize ourselves as intellegent beings and having a "soul". My son (who died when he was 2 1/2 mths.) was born with an extremely rare disorder. The doctors in the NICU said he basically was only aware of whether he was comfortable or not (his brain was very undeveloped because of the disorder). He never responded to his nurses, and yet, when I arrived there everyday was the only time he opened his eyes (only seconds at a time) and stuck out his tongue (akin to the "head" blinking and smiling). Even with my son having basically a very primative brain, something enough was going on in there that he knew me as his mother though he spent 90% of his life with different nurses.
This story also reminds me of Chang and Eng, the "Siamese twins". In modern society they could very easily have been seperated, but not quite when they lived (late 1800's). They were only conjoined by a band of skin on their mid torso and if I remember correctly, they shared a liver and a major artery. Chang died from a brain clot and Eng died a few hours later because his heart kept pumping blood into Chang but it was not being returned back to Eng's body (some stories say it was just complete shock and fright). They both married, had sex, and sired some 20+ children between the two of them. If you ponder it, weren't they both parasite's? Neither could live without the other living (at least at that point in time).
Please excuse my wandering, the point I was aiming for is that the second baby (the "head") may very well have been sentient (however rudimentary) and needed it's sibling for life support. I can't help but wonder, if it had been allowed to mature to the appropriate age to learn language, if someone (doc's, parents, etc.) would have known that it was indeed sentient. Possibly using blinks to indicate "yes or no" or letters to spell out words.
Yes, my son colors my view a bit, but only a bit, it is mostly the fact that the undeveloped child showed awareness, and the pictures show a human head with visible signs of that, albeit without a body attached. Just overall strange and sad.
Ali
P.S. Although a fictional novel, "Chang and Eng" by Darin Strauss is a good book to read to get a feel of their lives.
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'Beware the Jabberwock, my son! The jaws that bite, the claws that catch! Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun, The frumious Bandersnatch!'--Jabberwocky, Lewis Carroll
"You cannot do a kindness too soon because you never know how soon it will be too late."--Ralph Waldo Emerson
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