THE HISTORY OF TWINS, ETC. 353 



same things, and seemed just like one person," One of the most cu- 

 rious anecdotes that I have received concerning this similarity of 

 ideas was that one twin A, who happened to be at a town in Scot- 

 land, bought a set of champagne-glasses which caught his attention, 

 as a surprise for his brother B ; while, at the same time, B, being in 

 England, bought a similar set of precisely the same pattern as a sur- 

 prise for A. Other anecdptes of a like kind have reached me about 

 these twins. 



The last point to which I shall allude regards the tastes and dis- 

 positions of the thirty-five pairs of twins. In sixteen cases that is, 

 in nearly one-half of them these were described as closely similar; 

 in the remaining nineteen they were much alike, but subject to cer- 

 tain named differences. These difierences belonged almost wholly to 

 such groups of qualities as these: The one was the more vigorous, 

 fearless, energetic ; the other was gentle, clinging, and timid ; or, 

 again, the one was more ardent, the other more calm and gentle ; or 

 again, the one was the more independent, original, and self-contained; 

 the other the more generous, hasty, and vivacious. In short, the 

 difierence was always that of intensity or energy in one or other of 

 its protean forms : it did not extend more deeply into the structure 

 of the characters. The more vivacious might be subdued by ill 

 health, until he assumed the character of the other ; or the latter 

 might be raised by excellent health to that of the former. The dif- 

 ference is in the key-note, not in the melody. 



It follows, from what has been said concerning the similar dispo- 

 sitions of the twins, the similarity in*the associations of their ideas, 

 of their special ailments, and of their illness generally, that the re- 

 semblances are not superficial, but extremely intimate. I have only 

 two cases altogether of a strong bodily resemblance being accompa- 

 nied by mental diversity, and one case only of the converse kind. It 

 must be remembered that the conditions which govern extreme like- 

 ness between twins are not the same as those between ordinary broth- 

 ers and sisters (I may have hereafter to write further about this) ; and 

 that it would be wholly incorrect to generalize, from what has just 

 been said about the twins, that mental and bodily likeness are invari- 

 ably coordinate, such being by no means the case. 



We are now in a position to understand that the phrase " close 

 similarity" is no exaggeration, and to realize the value of the evi- 

 dence about to be adduced. Here are thirty-five cases of twins who 

 were " closely alike " in body and mind when they were young, and 

 who have been reared exactly alike up to their early manhood and 

 womanhood. Since then the conditions of their lives have changed: 

 what change of conditions has produced the most variation? 



It was with no little interest that I searched the records of the 

 thirty-five cases for an answer; and they gave an answer that was 

 not altogether direct, but it was very distinct, and not at all what L 

 VOL. Tin. 23 



