The Ypsilanti daily press. (Ypsilanti, Mich.) 1928-1962, 1941-05-19

MS column.
starting out with exactly the same
heredity and the same biological
or life impetus. Ny records show,
indeed, that in spite Of varying
environments, twins, over and
over again, live the same length Of
time, even to within hours and
minutes Of each other, and often
die Of the same diseases.
l am very much interested,
therefore, in the recent book by
DR.. H. H. Newman, Professor Of
Zoology at the University Of Chi
cago, on Multiple Human Births.
doubleday, Doran & Company,
Inc, 1940). DR.. Newman has fire.
quently studied twins but this, 50
far as know, is the first time that
he mas branched out into triplets,
bankruptcies and a study Of the
famous quints.
Frequency Of Multiple Births
The frequency Of multiple
births follows a startling msthe-
NAUTICAL ratio. Triplets are as
much scarcer than twins as twins
are scarcer than singletons. In
other words, twin birth occurs
for each of sc single births, and
one triplet birth occurs for each
Of Sc twin births, and one quad
ruplet birth occurs for each SO
triplet births. Stated otherwise,
the ratio of twins to single births
is / to Sc, that of triplets to single
births is l to S62, that of quadrup-
lets to single births is 1 to S6a.
This astonishing ratio has been
worked out accurately and is
known as Helms Law.
Two out Of So, or 1 out of 4!
babies born are twins, accordine
to these figures. Does this mean.
asks Professor Newman, chat
you were to attend football gan
viewed by $4,000 spectators, tn
1000 of them would be twins
Well, perhaps not quite that,
we should expect about 900 tw
in a crowd of that size.
In four California citie-
Berkeley, Oakland, Richmond
Alameda-there was total g
enrolment Of 1908. OF these
1851 were twins.
Sex Ratios
In multiple births, the BIOLOGIST
tries to determine whether the in
dividuals came from one egg, or
two or three eggs. One-egg twins,
triplets or bankruptcies are al
ways Of the same sex "a brother
and sister twin are never one-egg
twins) and they are similar in
many other respects.
Now, looking at the sex ratios
Of bankruptcies there were 4s sets
Of bankruptcies born in the United
States from 1915 to 1880. There
could be FIVE, and only five, sex
combinations in quadruplet set:
~ 4 males, (2) 3 males and l
female, (3) 2 males and 2 females,
"a 3 females and l male, and
60 4 females. AS a matter of
fact, in the 48 sets, there were Is
all males and 10 all females, IL
two males and two females. This
would indicate that nearly half
we're one-egg bankruptcies and a
fourth were two-egg bankruptcies.
Four sets of quintuplets have been
born in the United States since
1776-one in 1875, one in 1900,
one in 1896 (Maysfeld, Ky.-all
boys) and one in 1886 Durham,
n. Call girls).
Not as much study has been
made Of the psychology of trip
lets and bankruptcies as Of twins,
but in the case Of one-egg triplets
or bankruptcies, the similarity in
personality, intellect, bodily build
and tendency to disease, is just
the same as in twins.
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
r. T. J.:-"What will cause the
heart to miss beat, especially
when sleeping on the left side or
bending Overt"
Answer-These are called extra
systoles and are the commonest
cause Of irregularity Of the heart
or palpitation in those past middle
life. They are probably not of
any serious significance. The usual
explanation is that they are due
to irritability Of the heart muscle
either from the use of tobacco, al
cohol, or some other cause. Asa
proof Of this, they 20 away after