THE MYSTERY OF TWINS.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 188, 4 May 1908, Page 3

THE MYSTERY OF TWINS.

The; death of twin sisters at precisely the same- moment a few weeks..ago (says the v, "Globe") has revived the old and oft dis- ' cussed question of the degrco' of sympathy that exists between twins. There can be , no doubt that both likomindedness and like-' ness aro-often, to' be observed. Everyone' knows how strong the physical resemblance . often is/between twins.. In infancy this, is sometimes: imoro marked than in maturer .' years. -When the-likeness persists into after life, there are often ■ difficulties of a comical kmd. Some amusing instances occur in a / book entitled:"Memoirs of the -Gemini Genc- / rals," • which was jnibhshed . about a dozen years ago for the -benefit, of the Gordoii Boys' -.Home.; v. • . From. .the, certain fact of frequent very \ close physical resemblance in,.twins,-we advance to. the less certain'ground of mental and . moral likeness and sympathy. , No one can doubt—there . are r. too -many examples known -and on record ~'.permit' of in-. . > credulity—that there .often "are strange and mysterious;sympathies : between twin child-' ren. The subject has ; been well illustrated ' in ; fiction in ' George :VSand's . "La Petite Fadette," where the .novelist's masterly pen delineates ; the mysteriously, sympathetic . relations between theVtwin brothers, Sylvinct / and ; . which i are . treated with .a delicacyand comprehension suited . to the - subject, and' just touched with':- a flavour .of .the. Barriehon tieasant superstition. i ~ ;■ . .Such mysterious sympathies exist; but the obscurity >of their origin and extent has naturally .led to,some.,: strange ideas about them. Some folk believe, that if omv of a twin pair, die, the other; is likely to pine, away-and ; die shortly also. _ On the .other .hand, there is an old and vigorous belief of a quito contrary kind, viz:, that if ,one diej the other, hoy. ever weakly before, will v at . once ; improve: and p;ain in health' 'and , strength. .T'.ie idea underlying this is that the vitality of the dead twin has been inherited by and added to' that of the survivor. v- : . The survivor of twins is sometimes credited with curious po-.vers. • In .folk-lore he takes his . place; with the seventh^son, and with - the child > born with a caul.' I .All these are supposed either to have special powers of f healing, or, .in some cases, to be gifted l with 1 the mysterious power of second-sight. ."In Essex," says Mr. .W. C. Black in his scholarly book on - " Folk-Medicine," "a ; . child known familiarly as, a 'left twin,' i.e., a child who has survived its fellow twin, is thought :to have the power of curing the thnish •by blowing i three times into the ; patient's; mouth, if, the patient is of tho . opposite.'sex.".; This is folk-lore pure and ■ simple. ... v.v'y ; ..'Another ; idea -not/.infrequently; met with . is t-hsjt- the intelligence- cf twins is below the average. It is always difficult- to-nrove a. negative;- but [it .is very doubtful: whether .facts siinnnrfc ; tMf>: neffon ox liVHr" 1 .mfnH:,genes' to. raiv.,extent., whatever.Y Isolatedex-.-.'rcrolcs'.natural'/.prove nothing either way; still ci::? 3 of. tivins anions well-known men occur, which sjivo no biqnort to such a. theory. , Thera, were. the l brothers Vaughan, for in-' stance. One v.r.s . Henry Vaughan,' the seventeenth . .century devotional poet and prose-writer, commonly known, as "Tho Siliirist," whose work, though uneven and sometimes unmusical, is intellectually stron". His twin brother was ; Thomas ' VauEhanf who/ .though:;- less! 'well: known, , did good work .in medicine.' Nearer our own day were tHe two famous: brothers ScottrrWilliam and John • Scott—"the glory .of the Grammar School of Newcastle."" One bccamo • Lord Elclon and the other lord Stowell. Both were men of the highest ability and distinction, and each was born with a twin sister. There is probably little/ 1 if any/ truth in the idea that the intelligence of twins is below the average. -It is mUch : more probable that their physical strength is likely to. be something less than normal. -