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IN THIS BOOK DOROTHY BURLINGHAM DOES NOT FOLLOW THE beaten path of twin research. She has an approach of her own and in pursuing it presents the reader with a wealth of data and conclusions, of the greatest value also for different aspects of twin psychology.
The data were collected in the Hampstead Nurseries, observations being recorded daily, and by several observers. The setup of the Nurseries allowed of receiving mothers with their children. The object of the study was to examine "in detail the lives of a small number of twin children and their environmental and innate conditions which account for the differences between their development and that of ordinary children" (p. ixf.).
As an introduction to her investigations, Dorothy Burlingham discusses the latency fantasies of having a twin, which turn out to be reactions to the disappointments of the oedipal phase. They show characteristics of two well-known types of daydream: the family romance and the animal fantasies. The fantasy of having a twin is rather common. Those who had it may, by this fact, as