TESTING TWINS MYSTERY

Dominion, Volume 23, Issue 169, 12 April 1930, Page 31

TESTING TWINS MYSTERY

THE SECRET OF AFFINITY

A series of remarkable tests recently carried out by scientists show that “identical” twins, although they have been separated soon after birth and have not lived'together since, retain an uncanny affinity and think alike, reproduce each other's good and bad points, and In an important moment or crisis in life produce the same emotions and reactions. ' ■. ' , . An enormous amount of evidence has been gathered by the scientists in their efforts to.solve the mysterious affinity between twins, and it has been established that heredity and not environment has the strongest influence. In a recent divorce case where two twin brothers had married on the same day and ended their matrimonial careers by seeking to get the knot untied at the same time, the two wives complained of exactly the.same faults in each of their husbands. One was Jealous, so was the other. One was mean and bad-tempered, 'so was the other. One was subject to

periodic fits of depression, so was the ' other. In fact, the two husband twins. could almost be said to be carbon copies of each other both in appearance,' temperament,, and general char-' acteristi’cs. ' .■ 1 ’ . Together the twin divorces were ;> filed, and arm in arm the.twin brothers walked away, minus their wives. Hundreds of cases of twins have been investigated, their history carefully gone into, and the results tabulated. To discover whether ft is environment or heredity that determines character and success or failure in life, the cases of a number of twins who have been separated from infancy and brought up in different surroundings have been , studied. •

The investigations show unexpected and remarkable results, especially in the case of “identical” twins. f These, the scientists point out, are not to be confused with ordinary twins. In an, “identical” twin the characteristics of the other are reproduced in a degree so marked that In many instances their thumb and finger prints are almost replicas of each other. ■Study of identical twins by Professor Karl Lange, of Dresden, who lias been responsible for an important ' part of the investigation, has revealed support for the theory that heredity, and not environment, develops character. • ’ ■ - ■ ■■

Of thirteen pairs of identical twins that he investigated, ten of the brothers turned out to be convicts. Of the remaining three pairs one had also transgressed the law. One of the pair of twins he investigated were separated from each other by one hundred miles. They had held no communication with each other, and ■■ apparently were not interested in the slightest in each other's whereabouts. Yet at precisely the same hour on precisely the same morning they both ran •away, from their respective jobs. To carry this remarkable parallel of thought and action further, they both took to their beds almost at the same hour with appendicitis. ' ' Then there were two burglar twins who, working apart and holding no communication with each other, used exactly the same technique. • In the case of another pair of twins one embezzled a large sum of money. Shortly afterwards the other twin embezzled almost a like amount.

To probe further the disputed problem of whether heredity or environment determines existence, another scientist, Professor Horatio Newman, investigated the case of identical twins, one of whom had been brought up in the country and the other in the city. There was no apparent difference in the advantage of environment. The country twin was no better developed physically than his brother, and the city youth was no more developed mentally than the country lad.

Both, apparently, possessed the same degree of intelligence and the same standard of physical health. One twin proved to be quicker with one hand than the other. This peculiarity was found to be equally marked in the other twin, though in his case.it was the other hand. Two other twins whom Professor Newman examined were Georgina and Eleanor Kelly, who had grown up apart and did not even know of each other’s existence till they were brought together. In their ease it was found that they had exactly the same likes and dislikes with regard to food and clothes. One liked blue, so did the other. One liked fried eggs, and that was found to be the other’s favourite dish.' Until she became a physician's, assistant one confessed that she had never been completely happy, at her work. The other twin also stated that she, too, had been discontented until she got a position as assistant to a dentist. -

Friends of the Hon. Margaret Hore Ruthven and her sister, the Hon. Mrs. John Barran—better known to Society as the “Ruthven Twins”—have always been amazed at the' extraordinarily similar mental characteristics exhibited by these young women. Each has such an uncanny intuition as to what the other is thinking about that neither can keep a secret from the other. They never need to ask each other’s opinion on any topic. . They know what it will be beforehand ! One day when Miss Alison Hore Ruthven (as Mrs. John Barran then was) happened to be at Liverpool, Miss Margaret desired to consult her on some matter and put through a telephone trunk call, to her sister. Just as Miss Margaret had booked the call the telephone bell rang and Miss Alison was at the other end of the wire. She began immediately to discuss the matter about’ which her sister had wanted to ring her up 1 The affinity between the mental processes of twins was illustrfited not long ago when two twin youths, the sons of Mrs. R. Ellis, of Ealing, sat for' an examination.

Both made the same mistake in the same problem in a mathematics paper. They’were accused bf cheating by the examiner, who was afterwards obliged to withdraw his ’ accusation on being told that the brothers had sat at opposite ends of the examination hall.

But the most remarkable series of experiments with twins has been carried out by Dr. Harold E. Jones and his assistant, Mr.. Paul Wilson, who have examined and listed over two hundred pairs of twins. Mr. Wilson declares definitely that the examinations have established one fact—that intelligence is generally due to heredity and not environment. “We cannot go further than that at the present, because our experiments are far from being completed,” he states. "That we have conducted the most elaborate experiments along these lines is generally admitted, and pur jWOrk may take many years to complete. “It is the most effective way that has been so far devised to measure the difference heredity and environment make to a child’s intelligence.” To ascertain how closely the twins approximate to each other, they are subjected to a series of novel tests. Prints of fingers, hands, and feet are made, followed by a mental test. Then they are required to walk on powdered chalk and then on to a black surface -to determine their difference in stride. .. ■ , s ; There are also machines to determine the time taken by an impulse to travel from the eye to the brain and thence to the arms. Another device records the exact electrical reactions of a person's skin.