144 



The Journal of Heredity 



Sanders, are of exactly the same 

 height, and nearly always weigh within 

 a few pounds of each other. When they 

 have been together, they have worn 

 each other's clothes perfectly and 

 friends found their voices indistin- 

 guishable. Their hair is identical in 

 color, and few people can tell them 

 apart. Mrs. Sanders' son has never 

 seen his aunt, but cannot distinguish 

 her photograph from that of his 

 mother. Both have weak lungs "and 

 have been run down from that cause, 

 and nearly always at the same time." 



"I am very sorry," the narrator 

 continues, "that I cannot remember 

 exact dates of illness, but many times 

 our letters bearing word of enforced 

 idlenesses have crossed, until we began 

 to expect to hear of the other's illness 

 as soon as one of us was indisposed." 



The mental similarities are perhaps 

 less to be expected than the physical 

 resemblances, but are no less striking. 

 To quote the informant: 



"It is almost uncanny, the way we 

 are always doing identical things at 

 the same time. The latest instance 

 is in having our hair cut, each without 

 the other's knowledge. This really 

 took courage, because the majority of 

 our friends do not approve. 



"We are both high strung and do 

 not seem to conserve our energy as 

 we should, but I have been resting 

 more gracefully this summer than I 

 ever have before, and in her latest 

 letter she expresses the same mood. 



"I believe (and of course say this 

 without conceit) that an intelligence 

 test would find our capacities very 



similar, and I surely would like to try 

 the experiment if the opportunity pre- 

 sented itself. 



"We both favor history, social study 

 'that functions,' and politics. Neither 

 of us cares for mathematics, and I 

 would not call either of us a good stu- 

 dent. We are too 'smattery,' although 

 we learn rapidly and with very little 

 effort. 



"I might add that we both seem to 

 show some administrative ability, be- 

 cause we invariably hold an office in 

 every organization we affiliate ourselves 

 with. Last year I was treasurer of our 

 state teachers' association, and am 

 chairman of two county committees 

 now. The latest letter from Bess 

 advises that she has just been elected 

 president of the women's division of a 

 commercial club. 



"We have never had a disagreement 

 between ourselves, and while I am fond 

 of my older sister and two brothers, yet 

 they have never seemed as close to me 

 as Bess." 



It is related of the Siamese twins 

 that if one was touched at night, the 

 other one would waken and inquire 

 what was wanted. Such mental simi- 

 larity in two individuals brought up 

 together is striking enough. But when 

 two individuals are separated in in- 

 fancy, brought up as differently as are 

 the twin sisters described above, and 

 still manifest such mental similarities, 

 it is impossible to resist the conclusion 

 that the psychical make-up of the indi- 

 vidual is very largely settled by the 

 time he is born. 



