On 21 Jan 2004, Kathleen Kleissler wrote: > A colleague is wondering if what a student told her can possible be > true: this person says that he is a twin to an sibling born 4 months > after him. Does anyone know if this can possibly be true? >
Interesting question. I first checked my favourite source for such matters, Alan Guttmacher's ancient but still useful bible of pregnancy and birth (_Pregnancy, birth and family planning_, 1973). Guttmacher says that some twins are born "many weeks or even months apart". He cites, without reference, an Australian case where they were born 56 days apart. He also says that in these cases the "almost infallible rule" is that the woman has a double uterus with a pregnancy in each. Encouraged, I search Google for "double uterus" and "twins", and it produced.....Cecil Adams, the Straight Doper, answering the question "Can twins be born a month or two apart?". Yes, he says, and he adds that not all are cases of double uteri. He mentions the Australian case referred to by Guttmacher (which was a double uterus case) and (uncharacteristically) even provides a reference to a published report of six cases where twin delivery was intentionally delayed, one for 93 days. On the other hand, your student's claim of 4 months delay does seem a tad long to be believed. Adams cites an "informal claim" of 95 days as the record. Ol' Cec's essay is at http://www.straightdope.com/columns/021108.html Stephen ___________________________________________________ Stephen L. Black, Ph.D. tel: (819) 822-9600 ext 2470 Department of Psychology fax: (819) 822-9661 Bishop's University e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Lennoxville, QC J1M 1Z7 Canada Dept web page at http://www.ubishops.ca/ccc/div/soc/psy TIPS discussion list for psychology teachers at http://faculty.frostburg.edu/psyc/southerly/tips/index.htm _______________________________________________ --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
