170 galton.org
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Inquiries into Human Faculty
mentioned, there is a large proportion of cases of sharply-contrasted
characteristics, both of body and mind, among twins. I have twenty such
cases, given with much detail. It is a fact that extreme dissimilarity, such
as existed between Esau and Jacob, is a no less marked peculiarity in
twins of the same sex than extreme similarity. On this curious point, and
on much else in the history of twins, I have many remarks to make, but
this is not the place to make them.
The evidence given by the twenty cases above mentioned is absolutely
accordant, so that the character of the whole may be exactly conveyed by
a few quotations.
(1.) One parent says :—“ They have had exactly the same nurture from their
birth up to the present time; they are both perfectly healthy and strong, yet they
are otherwise as dissimilar as two boys could be, physically, mentally, and in
their emotional nature.”
(2.) “I can answer most decidedly that the twins have been perfectly dissimilar
in character, habits, and likeness from the moment of their birth to the present
time, though they were nursed by the same woman, went to school together, and
were never separated till the age of fifteen.”
(3.) “They have never been separated, never the least differently treated in
food, clothing, or education; both teethed at the same time, both had measles,
whooping-cough, and scarlatina at the same time, and neither had had any other
serious illness. Both are and have been exceedingly healthy, and have good
abilities, yet they differ as much from each other in mental cast as any one of my
family differs from another.”
(4.) “Very dissimilar in body and mind: the one is quiet, retiring, and slow but
sure; good-tempered, but disposed to be sulky when provoked;—the other is
quick, vivacious, forward, acquiring easily and forgetting soon; quick-tempered
and choleric, but quickly forgiving and forgetting. They have been educated
together and never separated.”
(5.) “They were never alike either in body or mind, and their dissimilarity
increases daily. The external influences have been identical; they have never been
separated.”
(6.) “The two sisters are very different in ability and disposition. The one is
retiring, but firm and determined; she has no taste for music or drawing. The
other is of an active, excitable temperament : she displays an unusual amount of
quickness and talent, and is passionately fond of music and drawing. From
infancy, they have been rarely separated even
