Inquiries into human faculty and its developmentGalton, Francis
Science
Inquiries into human faculty and its development
Galton, Francis
Ability; Eugenics
"Such was the marvellous similarity of their features, voice, 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."
In the other case, a father who was a twin, remarks of himself and
his brother:--
"We were extremely alike, and are so at this moment, 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 during an engagement of
marriage. Thus:--
"A married first, but both twins met the lady together 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 went 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.[13] 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 them by scent.
[Footnote 13: 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 anecdotes about them sent me
by the latter gentleman.]
I have a few anecdotes of strange mistakes made between twins in
adult life. Thus, an officer 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 I have; it was sent me by the brother of the
twins, who were in middle life at the time of its occurrence:--
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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