  The significance to which the cosmic microwave background observations by the
satellite COBE can be used to refute a specific observationally based
hypothesis for the global topology (3-manifold) of the Universe is
investigated, by a new method of applying the principle of matched circle
pairs. Moreover, it is shown that this can be done without assuming Gaussian
distributions for the density perturbation spectrum.
  The Universe is assumed to correspond to a flat Friedmann-Lema\^{\i}tre model
with a zero value of the cosmological constant. The 3-manifold is hypothesised
to be a 2-torus in two directions, with a third axis larger than the horizon
diameter. The positions and lengths of the axes are determined by the relative
positions of the galaxy clusters Coma, RX~J1347.5-1145 and CL 09104+4109,
assumed to be multiple topological images of a single, physical cluster.
  If the following two assumptions are valid: (i) the error estimates in the
COBE DMR data are accurate estimates of the total random plus systematic error;
and (ii) the temperature fluctuations are dominated by the na\"{\i}ve
Sachs-Wolfe effect; then the distribution of the temperature differences
between multiply imaged pixels is significantly wider than the uncertainty in
the differences, and the candidate is rejected at the 94% level.
  This result is valid for either the `subtracted' or `combined' Analysed
Science Data Sets, for either $10\deg$ or $20\deg$ smoothing, and is
strengthened if suspected contaminated regions from the galactic centre and the
Ophiuchus and Orion complexes are removed.
