The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1877-06-21
From the Scientific Americana
Dual Life.

Dual Life.
We have already discussed in some de-
tail the curious mental condition OF per-
sons who possess two distinct mental
lives. To such individuals the events
of the abnormal life are blank
while existing in normal state, and
yice versa DR.. Brown-Sequard has
advanced the hypothesis that this
phenomenal condition is a consequence
of our two brains, of which he believes
we ordinarily use but one, leaving the
other nearly unemployed
The Greenlanders have queer belief
that the shadow. which day by day ac-
companies us wherever we 90, at night
wanders away and has adventures. This
odd superstition regards the duality Of
life from another standpoint than the
almost purely physical one of DR..
Sequard; and Mr.. Herbert Spencer, in
his new work on synthetic Philosophy"
devotes some close reasoning to the prim-
tive idea of our possessing an alter ego,
and to the question of whether we do
not form conception of a mental self
through the incomprehensible expert
ences Of dreams. Dreams, he says. can
not be interpreted az we interpret them.
in the absence Of the hypothesis Of mind
as a. QlBLlnCb entlby anu
cannot exist before the experiences sug-
gesting it, There are dream experiences,
which seem to imply two entities; and
such O supposition involves the notion
that the second entity differs from the
frat simply in being absent and active al
night while the other is at rest. Only al
this supposed duplicate, once thought oil
as like the original in all things, becomes
gradually modified by the dropping oil
physical characters irreconcilable with
the facts, does the hypothesis of mental
self become established.
IL In notable fact that this belief in
the duality of self 10 constantly found
among savages, and that they bring the
same forward in explanation of the pc
culiar states known as swoon, catalepsy
etc, in which animation is suspended-ai
we'll as for sleep. Insensibility following
a blow or violent exertion, the Fijian be
lieves, is due to the duplicate self wander
sertion is more determined than in tn,
case of sleep, the return of the dup "
is followed by silence as to what hasl | dr
seen or done in the interval Il \ AZ
own common speech we show the " starr
which syncope yields seeming vei. Cor
ton of the primitive notion OF du
We speak Of one who revives II
fainting fit as coming back to himssomrp2
we use the term absent minded o. OF 81
stracted," literally meaning drawn iof ad
"Wits gone wool-gathering" is ar
vulgarism in point. All of these
clearly express the idea of some
having departed from the present
for time.
In apoplexy, the patient suddenly
ing betrays total loss of conscious
of feeling, and of voluntary movem.
there is snoring as in deep sleep.
the sufferer cannot be brought BAD R
himself by ordinary means, ane
savage witnesses such effects, and
ing his dream experiences. believes
the second self has gone away for
beyond recall Some time after !.
there is like prolonged insensil q
and then revival, and another sileI
to what has happened in the intervsa II
the third time, the absent some.
does not return.
Similar in the suddenness with w
il commences, but otherwise dissimilal
10 in the state of insensibility called cats
lepsy. instantaneous loss of conscious
ness 10 followed by state in which tn
patient presents the air of statue ratl
err than that of an animated being" an
control of the members is lost. There
attack; and interpreting the facts accorC
ing TO their primary meanings, the wal
dering other self will give no account {
its adventures. The Chippewas, belize
ing in the journeying of souls, think tha
those of persons in a trance, being r.
fused a passage, return to their bodit
and reanimate them"
There is still another state OF insens
bility which has shown itself repeated
of late among persons who have been pre-
foundly impressed by the religious n
vivals. We refer to ecstasy, in whic
the subject shows that he is mot hin
self" and seems to have vivid perceI
tions of things elsewhere. During thi
state, in which the muscles are ofte
rigid, and there is total suspension {
voluntary motion, visions of an extrao
dinary nature occasionally occur Thes
phenomena tend to strengthen the prin
five belief that each man is double. A
the various phases of coma, from stat
of slight drowsiness up to permanen
and profound stupor, are similarly inte
twill be seen, from Mr.. Spencer's rel
soning before given, that the suppositio
peculiar to the savage is not withou
some justification; and ii the prevalenc
of hypothesis is any support, this
certainly one most widely EXTENDED
The Fijian may sometimes be heard :
bawl out Justify to his own soul to n
turn to him. Among the Karens, q ma
is constantly in fear lest lis other seI