348 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



daughter of a twin says : " Such was the marvelous similarity of their 

 features, voices, manner, etc., that I remember, as a child, being very 

 much puzzled, and I think, had my aunt lived much with us, I should 

 have ended by thinking I had two mothers," The other, a father of 

 twins, remarks : " We were extremely alike, and are so at this mo- 

 ment, so much so that our children up to five and six years old did 

 not know us apart." 



I have four or five instances of doubt durinsi: an enea^ement of 

 marriage. Thus : " A married first, but both twins met the lady to- 

 gether for the first time, and fell in love with her there and then. A 

 managed to see her home and to gain her affection, though B Avent 

 sometimes courting in his place, and neither the lady nor her parents 

 could tell which was which." I have also a German letter, written in 

 quaint terms, about twin brothers who married sisters, but could not 

 easily be distinguished by them.* In the well-known novel by Mr. 

 Wilkie Collins of " Poor Miss Finch," the blind girl distinguishes the 

 twin she loves by the touch of his hand, which gives her a thrill that 

 the touch of the other brother does not. Philosophers have not, I 

 believe, as yet investigated the conditions of such thrills ; but I have 

 a case in which Miss Finch's test would have failed. Two persons, 

 both friends of a certain twin lady, told me that she had frequently 

 remarked to them that " kissing her twin sister was not like kissing 

 her other sisters, but like kissing herself her own hand, for example." 



It would be an interesting experiment, for twins who were closely 

 alike, to try how far dogs could distinguish between them by scent. 



I have a few anecdotes of stransre mistakes made between twins in 

 adult life. Thus an ofiicer writes : " On one occasion when I returned 

 from foreign service, my father turned to me and said, ' I thought 

 you were in London,' thinking I was my brother yet he had not 

 seen me for nearly four years our resemblance was so great," 



The next and last anecdote I shall give is, perhaps, the most 

 remarkable of those that I have ; it was sent me by the brother of the 

 twins, who were in middle life at the time of its occurrence : " A was 

 again coming home from India, on leave ; the ship did not arrive for 

 some days after it was due ; the twin brother B had come up from 

 his quarters to receive A, and their old mother was very nervous. 

 One morning A rushed in, saying, 'O mothei', how are you?' Her 

 answer was, 'Xo, B, it's a bad joke ; you know how anxious I am ! ' 

 and it was a little time before A could persuade her that he was the 

 real man." 



Enough has been said to prove that an extremely close personal 



' I take this opportunity of withdrawing an anecdote, happily of no great importance, 

 published in " Men of Science," p. 14, about a man personating his twin brother for a 

 joke at supper, and not being discovered by his wife. It was told me on good authority ; 

 but I have reason to doubt the fact, as the story is not known to the son of one of the 

 twins. However, the twins in question were extraordinarily alike, and I have many anec- 

 dotes about them sent me by the latter gentleman. 



