I 



Enrlif A itth ro/mlnf/ira! ffntfarrfim 127 



laming twins or rnlativeN ut' twiiiH, unci ' snowbulled ' by asking them fur 

 tilt) ii(lun'H.s<^H of other twiuH, \vhi(;li ho n-inarks led to a continuallv widening 

 circle of correspondence. Kiuully Galton ithtained information concerning 

 94 8etn of twins (hpo his statement in second paper). He considers their 

 resenihlanceH in the case of .'i5 twin-sets — each of like sex — in which there 

 was detailed «!videnco of close Himilarity. He finds that this likeness — 

 mental, physical and pathological — is maintained even when life has carrie<l 

 the twins into dilferent environments ; they appeiir to have the same 

 illnesses at the same times. The answers showed that in the hulk of crises 

 the resemblance of botly and mind continued unaltere<l up to old age and 

 under very different conditions of life ; in other cases dissimilarity was 

 attributed wholly to some form of illness or Jiccident which had Ijefallen 

 one twin and not the other. Galton then turns to the 20 sets of twins he 

 had detailed accounts of imlikeness between. He luis not a single case in 

 which his conespondents speak of originally di.ssimilar characters having 

 liecome assimilated through identity of nurture. 



"The iniprMution that all this uvidence leaves on the mind in one of some wonder whether 

 mirturo can do anything at all Imyond x>vin(? instruction and professional training. It ••m- 

 phatically corroUiraU's and g<H'« far Ix-yond tlie oonclusions to which wi- liad alri-ady lieon driven 

 by the cases of siiiiiiarity. In these the cau.ses of divergence Ix'gan to act alxiut the [s-riod of 

 adult life, when the characters had Is^conie somewhat fixed; but here the causes conducive to 

 assimilation Ix^gaii to act from the earliest moment of the existence of the twins, when the 

 di.s]xjsition was most pliant, and tliey were continuous until the pt-riod of adult life." (p. 404.) 



And then follows the passage cited on p. 8 of our first volume. 

 There is another passage also which is of great suggestiveness and may 

 be cited here: 



"Much stress is laid on the persistence of moral impressions made in childhood, and the 

 conclusion is drawn, that the effects of early teaching generally must Ixj inifKjrtant in a corre- 

 sponding degree. I acknowledge the fact, but doubt the deduction. The child is usually taught 

 by its parents, and their teachings are of an exceptional character for the following reason. 

 There is commonly a strong resemblance, owing to inheritance, Vietween the dispositions of the 

 child and its parents. They are able to understand the ways of one another more intimately 

 than is possible to persons not of the samt! IiKkkI, and the child instinctively assimilates the 

 habits and ways of thought of its parents. Its disposition is educat^nl by them, in the true sense of 

 the word ; that is to say, it is evokwl earlier than it would otherwi.so have l)een. On these grounds 

 I ascrilsj the persistence of habits that date from the early periods of home education, t<j the 

 pei'uliarities of the instructors, rather than to the period when the instruction was given. The 

 marks left on the memory by the instructions of a foster-mother are soon spungod clean away." 

 (p. 405.) 



Consider, says Galton, the history of the cuckoo, which is reared exclu- 

 sively by foster-parents! — Neither its note, nor its habits, nor its svm[)athie8 

 are influenced by those of its foster- parent.s. Galt<jn concludes generally that 

 j with reasonable care in the collection of our data, we may ignore the many 

 I small differences in nurttire which characterise individual cases. 



The reader of Galton's first paper may p<:)ssibly hold that he ought to 



[have given more of his data, but it nmst be remembered that his pajxr was 



written originally as a {x^pular article for Fvisi-rs MngaziHt', and Gallon was 



not yet a practised statistician. His innteri.il is worthv of a fresh .'inalvsis, 



