WHY TWINS ARE ALIKE.

Evening Star, Issue 15139, 22 March 1913, Page 10

WHY TWINS ARE ALIKE.

JiKMARKAIiLK JXSTAXCKS I he ama/inplr cl*e physical resemblance th.it twin., often boa,. t,> one another, savs .1 wr.tor in Pearson's Weekly.' is often .•'•corr.paii.ed by a,-curious sympathy thai smacks r, Tost of the supernatural: SiIrancis fialton, the great scientist, ma de a special etudy of the subject, and n„ nounced that with come pair* of twins that haa cr.me under his notice the two 6 eemed not so much two separate beings „* one °ft *"\ Vr' e 'i lch I,a!f feelin «f' whatever affected the other, whether physically or mentally. there is. for instance, a ca<e on record in which two twins had at the age of £, | heir first experience of toothache. Ihe pain (.-;,„,<* to both on the. same «a-y, and the same tooth had to'bo ex traded in each case. The*e twins we-e renr.rkal.lv Aikv. and very fond of each other | hoy IkUI, obtained Government clerkships, and kept house together. When one sickened and died of Bright's disease the other fell a victim to the same disease (which'is not contagious) shortly after. That the physical likeness cif twin-, ej.oeiicis ninth deeper than the skin is also shown by a curious case that the medical papeis were discussing: pome time ago. A Pans hcspital doctor had under his a patient sutTerinr; from an attack of rheumatic ophthalmia. One dav the patient remarked :

"My twin brother must be having ophthalmia just now." 'the doctor smiled at the idea, but next morning the patient handed him a. letter fioni the other twin, then at Vienna. Tt bt'o-an with the words: "I am down with ophthalmia. I suppose you have it too?" Twins researches show, are nearly always either so alike that it is almost impossible to tell the difference between then, or very unlike one another in deed. Cases in which they are only moderately alike are comparatively rare. When they are very unlike each other (and when one i.s a boy and. the other a j;irl. this is practically always the case) the physical tin liken ess is accompanied by a similar mental one. When the characters of twins nrr' not exactly the same they are exactly tli" opposite of one another. One will be quick, self-confident, and quick-tempered, but quick to foi-fjive : the other is slow, shy. and nood-tempo red, but slow to forgive when roused. Many pairs of twins. ?.* everyone knows, are difficult or almoift impossible to tell apart. In the ease of these .strikwijr re,semblances thesimilarity of character which accompanies it breaks out in curious ways. A London newspaper recently drew attention to a couple of Peckham twins, named Kvaiis, who bewildered the stranger by faking the same remarks simultaneously and betriu hummintr the same sons? at the same moment. There are lots of similar cases on record. The theory that a ! curious telepathy exists between twins are, as scientists put it. that their minds are in duplicate, is borne out bv the number of twins who are in the habit of fitiishint; one another's seiitcnieos. One of the most curious instances of this similarity of ideas among twins—one inquired into and authenticated by Sir Francis Gal ton himself—is that of a man who. travelling in Scotland, bought a set of champagneglasses which caught, his attention as a surprise for his twin brother, while at, the Game time his brother was buying an exactly similar set as, a surprise for the first twin. However slavtlirudy alike they may be in face, ways, and mind, the man who knows a pair of twins can readily verify the curious fact that in one point the iikeness never holds. No two twins, for some inexplicable reason, ever write, alike.