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History of Twins
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similarity and extreme dissimilarity between twins of the same sex are
nearly as common as moderate resemblance. When the twins are a boy
and a girl, they are never closely alike; in fact, their origin is never due to
the development of two germinal spots in the same ovum.
I received about eighty returns of cases of close similarity, thirty-five
of which entered into many instructive details. In a few of these not a
single point of difference could be specified. In the remainder, the colour
of the hair and eyes were almost always identical; the height, weight, and
strength were nearly so. Nevertheless, I have a few cases of a notable
difference in height, weight, and strength, although the resemblance was
otherwise very near. The manner and personal address of the thirty-five
pairs of twins are usually described as very similar, but accompanied by a
slight difference of expression, familiar to near relatives, though
unperceived by strangers. The intonation of the voice when speaking is
commonly the same, but it frequently happens that the twins sing in
different keys. Most singularly, the one point in which similarity is rare is
the handwriting. I cannot account for this, considering how strongly
handwriting runs in families, but I am sure of the fact. I have only one
case in which nobody, not even the twins themselves, could distinguish
their own notes of lectures, etc.; barely two or three in which the
handwriting was undistinguishable by others, and only a few in which it
was described as closely alike. On the other hand, I have many in which it
is stated to be unlike, and some in which it is alluded to as the only point
of difference. It would appear that the handwriting is a very delicate test
of difference in organisation—a conclusion which I commend to the
notice of enthusiasts in the art of discovering character by the
handwriting.
One of my inquiries was for anecdotes regarding mistakes made
between the twins by their near relatives. The replies are numerous, but
not very varied in character. When the twins are children, they are usually
distinguished by ribbons tied round the wrist or neck; nevertheless the one
is sometimes fed, physicked, and whipped by mistake for the other, and
the description of these little domestic catastrophes was usually given by
the mother, in a phraseology that is some-
