Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1893-11-19
STRANGE HAPPENINGS TO A
CELEBRATED NOVELIST
SUGGESTED JEKYLL AND HYDE,
Robert Louis Stevenson Describes In
Letter 10 a Friend, for Science,
What seems to Him a Double
Mental Action.

Those who have suffered from the hal
lucination of delirium will be Interested
IN the following analysis of the scnsa-
tons as explained by Robert Louis Stew
enson ia letter written TO H. w. II.
Myers, of the British Society for PSYCHE
cal research. The letter is as follows:
Vailonia Plantation, upopo' Samoan
Islands, July II. 1S92.-Dear Mr.
Myers: / am tempted to communicate
TO you some experience Of mine which
seem to me. ignorant as l am, OF u
high psychological interest.
l had infamous bad health when a
child. and suffered much from night
feyens hut from the age Of about thr-
teen till was about thirty. / did not
know what It was TO have high fever
or TO wander i'm my mind. 50 mat
these experiences, when they were re-
newed, came upon me with entire fresh
ness, and either | am a peculiar suD-
iect or / was thus enabled " observe
them with unusual closeness,
EXPERIENCE A.
During an illness at Nice ! lay awake
n whole night in extreme pam. From
Tho beginuing OF the evening one part
of nv mind became possessed OF no,
lion I, rrotesuuo and shapeleas that y
NAV best be described as d form OF
words. / thought the pain was or was
connected with, q wisp OF COL OF some
sort; knew not of what II eohsls'en'
nor vel where II was and cared nol' on
lv / thought II the two ends were
brought together the pain would cease:
| Now All the time, with another part oil
! any mind which ! venture 10 think was
] myself. / was fully alive to the absurd
/ IN of this idea, knew It to be a marx o.
/ impaired sanity, and was engaged MIN
I mn other self IN perpetual CONNECT
! Hirsclf Ind nothing more at heart than
| a. Eeep from my wife. who was nursing
me any hint OF this ridiculous hallu'
Z cinntion. the other was bound that she
/ sbonld be told Of IL. and ordered 10 euect
| the cnre. / believe il must have Deen
well In the morning before, the lever
| called my wife to my bedside, selzel
! her sayagely by the wrist, and, l2oh.
/ ;ng an her with face Of fury, cried
"vIby do you not put the two ends to-
,.ether and put me out Of painT
EXPERIENCE Is.
The other day in Sydney ! was seized
ON n Saturday with high fever Early
! N The afternoon / began 10 repeat me
chgticaliy the sound usuaIiy wrltith
l
sianfly stopped 1t. and explained 10 my
rnsthcr. who was in the rDom. my reason
| fer SO doing That Is the beginnlng Of
he mind 10 wander. ! said. ana ia,
~ he resisted az the outset fell
ss,asn and awoke, and repeated for the
resi Of the night 10 myself mentally a
non sense word which / could NOT recall
nerf morning. ] had been reading tho
5ex before the life Of Swift. and AL
Mont long one part Of my mind tfhs
atbsr fellow kept informing me that
was not repeating the w0rd myself, bnl
was only reading In a hook that sWii'
bnd IA repeated II in his last sickness
The Temptation 10 communicate M
r,nse-se uas again strongly felt by my
eeif mt was on this occasion ir1rm
nhsntiy resisted. aud my watcher hear,
from me M night. nothing Of Dean swirl
~ me words. nothing but what wa
r.,,ional and TO the point 50 much 70
thc wv, e,sn=ciousncsses when j can dls
cntangle them. but there y part o
~, t5oughts that ! have more difhcnl'l
T. ,ttrib5ifinx one part Of my mat
',,.,,in,,aiir I'D me remark the ffAn-
,s1icnsi feiicty Of the word, examine'
~ Tho svllablcs, showed me that 40
are was "a itself significant. and YET IN
whole expressed 70 a nicely ne toipl l,
,,o,,~ d;.lress Of one 10 q high lever an
Iie- arnovanec a aud rer9il iryn "
s+l.,ffoas al III muses.. ~ Vas HVu