The weekly tribune., 1893-08-18
DUAL PERSONALITY.
RESIDUAL PHENOMENA OF THE MIND
IN SANE PEOPLE.

Best Seen In the Case Of y So Called Abb
sentminded business Man-Experienc
of the Sleeping Mind.
Evidence is not wanting to show that
what we call personality is an extremely
complex thing, the sum of subsidiary per-
sonalities which now shift and change
like the figures in a kaleidoscope, and
again becoming sharply defined under
some abnormal condition crystalline into
two or more distinct groups of elements,
which alternately sleep and wake or
even coexist. These complex elements
may be so unstable, the groups compos-
ing them constantly breaking up and
forming new combinations, that the idea
Of multiple personality does not natural
ly attach itself to them; it is only when
they become stable, and especially when
each exhibits a well defined conscious
ness that we begin to think of such
thing But besides the abnormal and
diseased conditions which cause such Q
separation or crystalization there are
other conditions in which in appears
somewhat less distinctly To one class
of these | desire to call attention very
brlety--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-
naming 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 Is the case often with residual per-
sonality. Nothing is more common than
for q group Of elements In what we cali
. person to be differentiated in one Of
various ways, leaving behind residual
group differing altogether in its charac-
teristics, though the differentiated group
represents to us and Is considered ia
be identical with the original person.
| The commonest method Of such differ
entiation Is sleep. The elements Of
sleep are, as 1t were, substracted from
the normal personality, but there is
usually left behind very curious some
thing-illogical, credulous, fantastic
whose nightly experiences the whole re-
!
~ dreams The next commonest case IL
that OF the absen,minded person The
major part of the person being absorbed
III mental processes of some sort, the re-
sidnal person lives its own separate men,
tai life. thinks. feels and wills by itself.
and perhaps carries on train OF proc
esses which Is continuous with preced-
ing tram 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 ir
thought. But, on the other hand, it may
be perfectly conscious and may carry
on an entirely different train of thought
of its own. Almost always, however, il
is eccentric and betrays a weakness a.
one point OF another
For instance, a suburban resident,
whom we will call 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-
u;u personality and to give up the maJo!
part OF himself to thought. The two per
sonallties act often with pertect-alwa!
with practical l-separatcncss, the residUa.
person being quite equal TO the low tfsk
OF evadlng vehicles, steering clear OF pass
ersoy ana turning the proper corners
When the Office Is reached and the tive
|
persons again become one II Is often q
difficult task to remember any circum'
stances OF the walk
On one occasion, however, left the
Astor library on Lafayette place, as he
supposed, intending to walk down Gin
ton place To do this he must turn first
to the left, then to the right and then
AGAIN TO the ieit. de turned once 10 'n'
} ieit' ana ailer some tiihe oeCanle uiiliIg
conscious that ne lau Waiked ior iont
tili'e' ana tlat the pace ior 'he seconu
: turn haa not oeeh rea'hou, :,
coming 10 himself ne iouilu hlinSe!'
Tar uo"h bEoaa"aE tracing oIch us