Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1891-01-08
DUAL PERSONALITY.
A QUEER STORY TOLD BY PRO-
FESSoR WILLIAM JAMES.

The Wonderful Case of n Man who Was
Somebody Else for Two Months-when
Hypnotized He Could Recall Every De-
tail OF His Experience.
Professor William james describes q
case of double personality of the so called
ambulntory type, the investigation OF
which he has just concluded.
The subject is a man, now about GO years
OF age, residing In small place near Paw
tucket, r. /. This person was n carpenter
until 1857, when, by a strange visitation OF
Providence, he was induced to adopt alto
gether different habits OF life. He had been
an atheist. One day, while walking in the
open country, he thought he heard voice
saying;
go 70 the chapel go TO the chapel"
"To what chapel2' he inquired of his in
visible monitor.
ITO the Christian chapel, was the reply.
Now the carpenter was on unfriendly
terms with the minister of the Christian
chapel, and he exclaimed aloud:
Before l 60 to that place l hope God
may strike me deaf, dumb and blind"
Instantly he fell TO the earth, enveloped
In darkness and silence, and without the
power OF speech.
The events which followed, as Professor
James said in telling this part of the story,
were such as generally occur in cases OF
.he same sort, which are frequent in re-
Iigious history Suffice il TO say that the
events eliminated in the mans restoration
TO his senses, in his conversion and in his
adoption Of the vocation of an itinerant
preacher.
For thirty years he followed this calling,
a
becoming well known over a large area Of
New York state and western New England.
Early in 1851 he had abandoned his
preaching, being advanced in years and de
sirous of living more quietly, and had
taken up again his old trade of carpenter
ing. Ills heaith was sun good, and he
worked twelve or thirteen hours q day in
preference 10 nine or ten.
In what follows 10 Is well TO remember
Professor James assurance of his conyic-
ton that the man in question is sincere,
free from deception and a genuine subject
of strange physical phenomena
THE CANDY MERCHANT.
One day, while living mt Greene, r. l., he
suddenly disappeared from home Every eff
fort was made 60 find him, but to no avail
He was completely lost.
Two months later, in Norristown, Pa, a
man named Brown, who kept little candy
store, woke up in the middle OF the night
and found himself in a strange place. His
bed was strange, the room in which he Law
was strange, and the shop into which he
cropped his way was so unfamiliar that he
became thoroughly alarmed. Fearing he
would be taken for burglar he cried for
help. The ueighbors rushed ont in the
night and discovered Brown, the candy
merchant, IN an unaccountable state.
Where am y Who am T. Who are
youN' he cried in great perturbation.
They thought their neighbOr must have
suddenly gone crazy When told that his
name was Brown he denied it, and gave as
his name that Of the erstwhile preacher and
carpenter Of Rhode Island
The village doctor was called upon for
advice, lie saw in the case something diff
ferent from ordinary mania, but still he
thought it was mania. However. he com.
municated with Browns alleged relatives
in Rhode Island. and, 10 be sure, Browns
assertions concerning himself were found
70 be true
But Brown now had no recollection of
his experience in the candy store. nor did
he know how he got there or how he left
Rhode Island
The case became noised abroad and was
investigated 10y u Philadelphia physician,
but with no results
All that was known was that the man
had been away from home two months
six weeks OF which he had spent at Norris
town, but the remaining fortnight was a
blank 70 him and could be explained by
nobody else.
In the course Of time the circumstances
reached the notice OF Professor James. The
man was now again nt home, peaceably
pursuing his trade Of carpenter. The pro
lessor visited him and found him 20 be n
haru headed, nutter-of-fact Yankee. After
considerable persuasion he was induced
to come 10 Cambridge and be hvpnotized
The professor thought that in "A hypnotic
trance the man might remember his Brown
experience. And 50 he did This is the
most valuable phase OF the phenomena,
from physical point OF view.
WHEN HYPNOTIZED.
He was very readily hypnotized, and
soon a. he passed into the trance bega1
talk OF Norristown and the candy stc
lie also explained those two weeks tb,,r
h'd been up 70 this time
everybody. While
count We