The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1890-12-27
DUAL PERSONALITY.
A Story Told by Professor James.

A meeting of the American branch of
the Society for PsSchical Research the
first meeting since last March-was haid
last night in the ampbitheatre OF the
Society of Natural History. Pro
fessor William James described case OF
double personality of the so called ar
bulatory type, the investigation of which
he has just concluded,
The subject Is man, now about GO
years Of age, residing IN a small place
near Pawtucket, r. ]. This person was
a carpenter until 1867, when by il strsnge
visitation Of Providence, he was Induced
to adopt altogether different habits oi
life He h ID been an Atheist. One d ~
| while walking i'll tue "pen country, he
Thought he heard a voice, saying:
go 10 the chapc'. 90 to the chapel"
st" what rl'arel?" be inquired of his
invisible monitor.
ITO the Christian chapel" was the re-
ply.
Now the carpenter was on unfriendly
| terms With the minister of the Christian
chapel, ard he exclaimed aloud:
"Be'ore | cote the p'sce ! hope God
may strike me deaf, dumb and blind"
Instantly be fell to the earth. euvelcp
ed in darkness and silence, and without
the power of speech.
The events which followed, as P.ofer-
sor James said in telling this part Of the
| stroy, wero such as gen rally occur in
cases Of the sam, ,o,t, which are fire.
quent in Ieligi ms i,tory Suffice it to
say that tie events eliminated in the
mans rrs'nr,tlon 10 his seuses. in 8
adoption Of the vocation of an iiinerant
preacher.
For thirty years he followed this call
ing, Going a great deal of MISSIONARY
work, and becoming well known over .
large area Of Ne~ York State and West
ern New England.
Early in 1887 he had abandoned his
preaching. being, advanced in years and
DESTROYS Of living more quietly, and had
taken up again his old trade Of carpenter
ing. His health was still good, and he
worked twelve or thirteen hours day in
preference to nine or ten.
In what follows, 1t is we'll to member
Professor James's assurance Of his con-
vic.ion that Tia man in queS bon lie sin-
cere, free Il ON deception and Argentine
subject OF strange rsyohical phenomens.
One day while living at Greene, R. l.,
he suddenly disappeared from home.
Every effort was made to find him, but
to no avail. He was completely lost.
Two months later, in Norristown, Pa.
man named Brown, who kept a little
candy store, woke up in the middle oil
the night and found himself in strange
place. His bed was strange, the room
in which he lay was strange, and the
shop into which he CROPPED his way was
SO unfamiliar that he became thoroughly
alarmed. Fearing he would be taker
for burglar. he cried ter help. The
neighbors rushed out in he night and
discovered Brown, the cshdy merchant
in an unaccountable state.
"Where am /? Who am l? Who are
you?" he cried, in great perturbation.
They thought their neighbor must be
suddenly gone crazy. When told thai
his name was Brown. he denied it, ant
gave as his name that of the erstwhilt
preacher and carpenter of Rhode Island
The village doctor was called upon fol
; advice. He saw in the case something
different from ordinary maria, but still
he thought it was mania However, b,
communicated with Browns alleged re
latives in Rhode Island, and, to be sure
Browns assertions concerning himsel
we're found to be true.
But Brown now had no recollection O
his experience in the candy store, nor Die
Rhode Island.
The case became noised abroad and
was investigated by a Philadelphia ply
stefan, but with no results.
Al that was known was tina the mai
had been away from home two months
ak weeks Of which he had spent at Nor
ristown, but the remaining fortnight wa
blank to him aud could be explained b,
nobody else.
La the course of time the crcum
stances reached the notice of Prufesso
| Ia he
peaceably pursuing his trade OF carpet
ter. The Professor visited him ant
fnnpS. IssFs- to be hard headed matter
: ~ : -. hkee. After considerable per
sa. was persuaded to come I,
Cambfids and be hypnotized. Th
lprofessor thought that in hypnoti
trance the man might remember hi
Brown experience. And so he did. Thi
is the most valuable phase Of the phe
uomenon from psyohical point Of view
He was very readily hypnotized, and
as soon as he passed into the trance, be
gan to talk of Norristown and the cand
store. He also explained those two week
that had been up to this time a myster
to everybody. While prosaic enough
his account was perfectly circumstantial
Having conceived a notion that som
, trouble was in store tor him at home, b.
got on horse car one day and rode t,
Pawtucket, proceeded thence to New
York. stopped one night at the Crane
Union, went on to Philadelphia, put ~
a couple of nights at hotel and thel
took room at a boarding house. Th
location of this house he gave at III
Filbert street.
While there, seeing an advertisement
of small business for sale in Norristown
no went to that place, which he hat
never visited before, and set himself W
in trade.
Such was his story nhen he was in The
hypnotic state, and i'll that state he coulc
remember nothing of his former or nor
NAL condition. On the other hand, while
in his waking state he had no recollec
ton of his Brown experience subsequent
to his boarding the horse Car to ride tc
Pawtucket, Dor could he Tell why he
started GU this trip.
His Brown personality was, as Pro
lessor James put it, weak, iuspid, di-
luted extract of his normal personality
In the two States he was two entirely
different men.
He was byppotized many times, and
attempts were made by all sorts of arti
fees to effect at least a partial fusion OF