I have been reading Monster Theory (ed Jeffrey Jerome Cohen), a collection of essays, and came across a reference to The Plymouth Monster in Stephen Pender's essay entitile "No Monsters at the Resurrection". William Durston, a Doctor in Physic reported to the Royal Society that he had not had enough time to examine the bodies properly. Firstly, the father of the children had been unwilling to have the babies dissected, but when permission had been granted, Durston found his work hampered by the large crowd who had gathered to see the twins.
Durston wished to make more observations, but the "Fathers importunity to hasten the Birth to the Grave" put an end to his work. Dissection was reserved for executed criminals, and a body needed to remain whole to rise on Judgement day. Autopseys were viewed with deep suspicion (by uneducated people), even though there was a fashion for anatomical treatises and illustrations.
At no point is the mother of these twins mentioned in Durston's account, but the following link discusses another pair of cojoined twins (also from Plymouth, but dating from 1635?).
http://grotesque-observatory.blogspot.com/2011/08/plymouth-monster-conjoined-twins.html
