Concerning Twins.

Te Aroha News, Volume V, Issue 239, 28 January 1888, Page 2

Concerning Twins.

Mb Galton has shown that many t\uns do actually bohave under similar circumstances in almost identical manners, that their characters often come as close to one another as it is possible for the characters of human beings to come, and that even where the conditions of later life have been extremely different, the original likeness of type often persists to the very end, in spite of superficial variations in style or habit of living. Some of his stories, carefully verified, are very funny. I will supplement them by two of my own. In one case a couple of twins,, men, had a quarrel over a pertectly unimportant matter. They came to very high words, and parted from one another in bad blood. On returning to their rooms — they lived apart — each of them suffered from a n't of remorse, and sat down to write a letter of contrition to the other to be delivered by the morning post. After writing it one brother read his letter over, and, recalling tho cause of thequarrel, added atoncea long postscript, justifying himself, and reopening the whole question at issue. The other brother posted his note at once, but thinking the matter over quietly, afterwards regretted his action again, and supplemented it by a second palinoda, almost unsaying what he had said in the first one. I &aw all three letters myself the next morning, and was simply amazed at their absolute sameness of feeling and expression. The other story relates to a fact which happened, not to twins, but to two successive brothers extremely like one another in build and feature, and evidently modelled in mind and character on the self-same j mould. It is only a small incident, bub as I can vouch for the correctness of the minute details, it has a certain psychological interest of its own. They met a lady dressed in blue, whom they had never seen before, at a military dance. Each of them asked at once to be. introduced to her at first sight j each asked the same officer for an introduction (though they had several friends in common present) ; each described her in the same way, not as " the lady in blue " (the most obvious point of appearance about her), but as "the lady with the beautiful ears;" each fell desperately in love with her offhand ; and each ask,ed her for a particular flower out of a little bouquet 1 containing four or five . more conspicuous .blossoms. Finally, each, came up (it the end of the evening to confide in , the same married lady of their apquaintance their desire to see more of the beautif til stranger. Still, even twins > do distinctly differ in some things from one another. However much they may look alike^ to strangers, they are always discriminable i by those who know them well, ' and' even in, Nearly childhood by mothers' * and nurses. always be -readily, from Muppinrby some -slight divergence oi'feat'ure or expression / |luz is 'always a trifle fatter or thinner 1 than Bufc,' •Tstabrother ; v \tfie two I)rbmios arid thfeWo 11 ' 1 deceive $ 16 ' QufcerjiXJiißlio* |bV their, ,clq?e resemblance, ;but noi^ven* "ShakWere "himself can, make i us, b.elieve, "thab Mrs'Ariiiphblus was're*d^ly misfcaKe'n. as* %b thetpersbnal idehtity."of her: Wn'ftusband;^ ; lldon'tr want<to..be .top^ha^d.pn^ latfyi b#tr s Mncft my^eilf,/ sKq^as gJad^of.the^xoMsißfovu t f a|utt\e innocent and, easily, 4 expliqa We %t)^* Aioj&ltb. ' an agreeable - Btrangqp. -r^ IQwr