The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1893-05-09
DUAL PERSONALITY.
RESIDUAL PHENOMENA or THE MIND
IN SANE PEOPLE.

1mts Feature OF NonpAex F~ers0nmItty u
Best Seen In the Case of n So Called Al
sentminded Business Man-Experiences
Of the Sleeping Mind.
Evidence IL moi wanting to show that
what we call personality ia an extremely
complex thing, the sum Of snbsidiary per
sonalities which now shift and change
hike the figures in q Kaleidoscope, and
again becoming sharply defined under
some abnormal condition c~rysta1lize into
two or more distinct groups OF elements,
which alternately sleep and wake or
ven coexist. These complex elements
may be 30 unstable, the groups compos-
ing them constantly breaking mp and
forming new combinations. that theid idea
OF multiple personality does not natural
iy attach itself to them: il is only when
they become stable, and especially when
each exhibits q well defined conscious
ness that we begin to think Of such a
thing. But besides the abnormal and
diseased conditions which cause such a
separation or capitalization there are
other conditions in which in appears
somewhat less distinctly. To one class
Of these / desire to call attention very
briefy-to that embracing what may be
called cases Of residual personality.
Residual phenomena Of all kinds are
particularly interesting and instructive,
especially those where the few things re-
manning in . group after many have been
removed differ widely In their collective
properties from those that have been
taken away, while these latter are not
In any way distinguishable from those
OF the sum of both before the division.
This h the case often with residual per-
sonaIity. Nothing Ii more common than
for Q group OF elements in what we call
q pesson to be. differentiated in one Of
various ways. leaving behind . residual
group differing altogether In It's charac-
teristics, though the differentiated group
represents to M and is considered to
be identical with the original person.
Tho commonest method Of such differ
entiadon 10 sleep. The elements Of
sleep are, a 1t were. substracted from
the normal personality, but there is
usually left behind a very curious some
thing-illogical. credulous. ~fantastic-
whose nightly experiences the whole re-
united person recollects in the morning
n dreams. The next commonest case Is
that Of the absentminded person. The
major part Of the person being absorbed
In mental processes of some sort, the re-
sidual person lives its own separate men,
tai life, thinks, feels and wills by itself,
and perhaps carries on q train of proc
esses which Ii continuous with a preced-
ing train carried on under similar cir
cumstances the day before.
This residual person may act very
mechanically, The reunited person may
fail to recollect what its acts or thoughts
were and be surprised to find how it has
been making use of his limbs while he
what he vainly regards as the one un
alterable ego--has been absorbed in
thought. But, on the other hand, it may
be perfectly conscious and may carry
on IN entirely different train of thought
OF its own, Almost always, however, 1t
il eccentric and betrays a weakness at
point or another.
For instance, a suburban resident,
whom we win cali A, Is accustomed ON
landing at the New York side OF the
ferry to abandon the mechanical task Of
walking to his office entirely to his resid-
nal personality and to give up the major
part Of himself to thought. The two per-
sonalities act often with perfect-always
vii hpracticaI-separateness theresiduaI
person bang quite equal to the low task
or essdfng vehicles. steering clear or pass
ersby and turning the proper corners
When the office h reached and the two
persons again become one, it is often a
difficult task TO remember any circum-
stances Of the walk. n4.
On one occasion, however, A left the
Astor library on Lafayette place. as he
supposed. intending to walk down Chin
ton place. To do this he must turn first
to the left, then to the right and then
again 10 the left. He turned once TO the
left and after some time became dimly
conscious that he had walked for a long
time, and that the place for the second
turn had not been reached.
Coming to himself. he found himself
far down Broadway. Tracing back bis
course mentally. he discovered that be
had been in the Mercantile library in
stead OF the Aston His first turn there
fore had taken him down Broadway. and
he Of course did not reach the place for
the second. Mark now the peculiarities
OF his residual person. 1t knew just
where it was to turn and in what direc.
ton, and had sense enough to be uneasy
when it did not come to the proper place
% turn, but 1t had not intelligence
enough to know that it was on the wrong
street. Its mind was too weak to b.
trusted further than it was accustomed
20 go. This residual person, in short
wasabout on a par with a harmless idiot
Again, B, a New Yorker, is walking
along absorbed in a process of thought
when his residual personality sees hi
friend q approaching. 1t is not aston
ished, for he is near Cs lodgings, but a
the person supposed to be G comes near
er, it sees that he only slightly resemble
q He has on shabby clothes, and hi
face is entirely different. The natura
conclusion would be that the person an
preaching wa not G. The residual pei