Wig-gam : Twins 



317 



end of the town to the school buildin"; 

 to help the superintendent decide which 

 twin he ought to spank and in some 

 cases to decide which one he has al- 

 ready spanked." 



Many superstitions evidently prevail 

 about twins. Several persons wrote 

 to ask if marrying a twin would not 

 cause infertility, or else defective off- 

 spring. One woman, however, wrote 

 that she had always heard that if she 

 married a twin she could not produce 

 children, when as she remarks, her 

 "first baby was a set of triplets." This 

 good woman got more than she bar- 

 gained for. 



I am able to present here by photo- 

 graphs which I have made, some in- 

 teresting details of the Farmer twins, 

 aged seventy-eight, who were among 

 those at the "twin matinee." Each 

 had an unusual configuration in the 

 palm of his left hand, the remark- 

 able likeness of which is scarcely re- 

 vealed by the photographs. They 

 grew up as hard working boys, hand- 

 ling stones and rough material, and 

 from early life have been stone ma- 

 sons, having followed this craft for 

 more than sixty years — two human 

 generations — yet these rough environ- 

 mental procedures, especially applied 

 to the palms of the hands, have not 

 prevented an almost parallel develop- 

 ment of these physical characters. A 

 small mole over the lid of the left 

 eye in each twin has persisted since 

 birth, indicating, perhaps, the marvel- 

 ous minuteness of chromosomal con- 

 trol in ontogeny. When placed behind 

 a screen several persons were not at 

 all sure that they could distinguish 

 their voices. Their children and 

 workmen have always gotten them 

 confused. At seventy-eight, their 

 physical energy, as exhibited by a long 

 walk which the writer took with them, 

 and their movements are probably 

 almost as nearly identical now as 

 when they were born. 



The Tomson twins were interesting 

 since they related that their identity 

 had been almost complete in the judg- 



ment of some of England's noted 

 scientists. However, during the war 

 they went through great separate ex- 

 periences. They fought in different 

 branches of the service. Both were 

 wounded and one was gassed and they 

 lay in separate hospitals for many 

 months. They related that both in 

 their own opinion and feelings, and 

 in the judgment of their friends, these 

 profound experiences had worked a 

 change in their personalities and even 

 physical appearance, so that they are 

 not cj[uite so much alike as before. 

 This accords with the suggestions of 

 Galton, F. A. Woods and others, that 

 very great changes in the environ- 

 ment, especially extreme physical ill- 

 ness or trying experiences, will work a 

 change in the moral and mental be- 

 havior. 



However, they are still so similar 

 that Sir Oliver Lodge has frequently 

 entertained them for the observation 

 of scientific men and they stated had 

 recently "offered them '$10,000 for 

 their heads, to help him demonstrate 

 telepathy." 



Since they would often make the 

 same side remark simultaneously in 

 the midst of other conversation, or 

 recall some similar memory, or express 

 simultaneously the same desire and 

 would give almost identical answers 

 to questions when in separate rooms, 

 Sir Oliver laid this to telepathy. In 

 this connection, the Farmer twins re- 

 lated that on one occasion one was in 

 New York and the other in New Or- 

 leans. Suddenly the New York twin 

 became very much distraught and 

 stated to friends that his brother was, 

 in great danger and needed him badly. 

 This anxiety continued for precisely 

 four days, and as suddenly disap- 

 peared. Information later developed 

 that during these four days the New 

 Orleans twin had been on a ship in a 

 storm on the Gulf of Mexico, in hourly 

 danger of going down. Page Sir 

 Oliver ! 



The mother of the Fairbanks twins 

 also stated that she had always tried 



