We are now in a position to understand that the phrase "close
similarity" is no exaggeration, and to realize the value of the evidence
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 I had
expected. They showed me that in some cases the resemblance of body and
mind had continued unaltered up to old age, notwithstanding very
different conditions of life; and they showed in the other cases that
the parents ascribed such dissimilarity as there was wholly, or almost
wholly, to some form of illness. In four cases it was scarlet fever; in
one case, typhus; in one, a slight effect was ascribed to a nervous
fever: then I find effects from an Indian climate; from an illness
(unnamed) of nine months' duration; from varicose veins; from a bad
fracture of the leg, which prevented all active exercise afterwards; and
there were three other cases of ill health. It will be sufficient to
quote one of the returns; in this the father writes:
"At birth they were _exactly_ alike, except that one was born with a bad
varicose affection, the effect of which had been to prevent any violent
exercise, such as dancing, or running, and, as she has grown older, to
make her more serious and thoughtful. Had it not been for this
infirmity, I think the two would have been as exactly alike as it is
possible for two women to be, both mentally and physically; even now
they are constantly mistaken for one another."
In only a very few cases is there some allusion to the dissimilarity
being partly due to the combined action of many small influences, and in
no case is it largely, much less wholly, ascribed to that cause. In not
a single instance have I met with a word about the growing dissimilarity
being due to the action of the firm, free will of one or both of the
twins, which had triumphed over natural tendencies; and yet a large
proportion of my correspondents happen to be clergymen whose bent of
mind is opposed, as I feel assured from the tone of their letters, to a
necessitarian view of life.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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