The record-union., 1897-07-26

habituated did I become in time to
this that 1 enjoyed it in all the affairs
of my life, and gave nothing more
than half my attention. Yet 1 had
control over both personalities, for my
will was one
Now 1 come to that part of my story
which makes me feel even as a little
child seeking the compassion of its eld-
ers, for that which 1 had long sought
came about, and suddenly, though not
without its adequate causes, for 1 had
been for many months living, in a
sense, a dual life in all but the sever
ance Of the will.
l sat alone in the great laboratory
no sound but the faint swishing of the
night wind through the open windows
no light but that which trembled in
from the swinging arc lamp in the
street and the blue fitful CLEAN of the
BunSen burners with which / worked.
There 1 sat, a young man and honored,
worshiping as / loved to think, in the
temple of Science. And then-I know
not the cause.-The light in the window
sprang into all the colors of the spec
trum; the peal Of an organ sounded
within my head, growing louder and
ever louder, until every nerve cell
throughout my being Quivered in unison
with its piercing note, and a pain as OF
a splitting spine smote me to the floor
in agony
1 ran on all fours to the window,
clambering with frightful agility down
the water pipe, and ran, nay, galloped,
with body bent and hands touching the
ground, through the starry night. l
shrieked as 1 ran, calling dreadfully
upon God to destroy me, for 1 expert
enced the awful mental tortures of the
damned, as 1 tried impotently to stop,
and felt myself in the possession of
thing low and vile, bent on the commits
sion of a dreadful crime. Now I came
TO the wood and even as l scurried.
animal-like, a dog ran out on me and
fed in terror. With incredible swift
ness I overlook him, and, seizing his
neck, broke in his head with a pointed
stone. Anon there came a man as if
to interrupt me. With menacing gest-
ure | drew myself erect and threw up
my arm as if to cast a spear, and he
went away. On I went through swamp
and thicket leaving behind me the
shouts of the people whom my Shrieks
had started in pursuit
was sane, / knew as / painted on,
but all sense of feeling and weight had
gone from my limbs, together with the
sense of bodily identity which no man
knows until he loses; and, above all
this, was the overwhelming conscious
ness that 1 was a lonely man in the
house of an enemy-a diSembodied rea-
son, fighting with a volition and body
beyond my control. Now, as l ran,
began to think and knowledge came to
me. What man is there who has not
had feelings, thoughts and desires for
which he cursed himself, yelling up
within him even when all that which
was best and nobleSt was aroused? Men
long since called such the prompting
of the devil, but we of the later knowl-
edge know them to be but the echoes
of d far-away time when man was as
the brutes that perish. Throw a man
into the water and he tries to climb
not swim; enrage him, and he shakes
his fist-not in the pugilistic fashion,
but as if to throw a spear In truth,
the ghosts are not dead yet, but walk
with US, and our prisons are filled with
the congenital unfortuates whose only
crime it is that the ghosts walk too
bravely. SO it came to me that the Sec
ond consciousness which had sprung
free and controlled my limbs had weld
ed itself together of all VeStigial in
stincts and unholy desires within me,
and had constituted itself a true rever-
sal to ancestral type. My bent posture
and my wonderful agility, and on
slaught on the dog-all were explained,
and 1 nearly swooned with horror as
thought of what might come, for was
in the possession of a savage.
BY this time I had reached far into
the swamp and the underbrush imped-
ed me. while my body, it seemed to me,
although l could not feel it, began to
labor heavily. Still further. however,
did I penetrate by climbing a tree and
swinging my body from branch to
branch, until, coming to a clearing,
dropped to the ground. Hours had
passed by this time, and now there
happened that which gave me shock
of surprise; for, coming to this long
copse of elder, 1 knelt down, with head
bent low, not knowing the purpose, un-
til the first CLINT of the sun broke
through the dawn and told me that still
in his instincts many worshiped the
God of Day.
Soon | went into the copse and lay
down. speculating much as to the rea-
sons. until after long time-O blessed
relief!-the feeling of my body came
slowly back. Mayhap some man
stricken with paralysis and cured of his
i'll may adequately tell of his relief
but l, a sober man of science and
gifted with but few words and poor
confess myself all unable. At first my
feeling came and went like the bob
of a pendulum, but at last it remained
and 1 could move my stiffened limbs
Long I lay, wondering and afraid to
move, until dread overpowered me and
terror tugged at my heart strings as
1 OWNED the truth. The fiend within
me slept. 1t was even so, for. as I
moved abruptly to test myself feeling
left me and came back only after the
lapse of many minutes
Il must do something" 1 thought; for
1 shuddered at the fate of any human
being [ might meet when possessed
Slowly and with infinite caution I rose
to my feet, and with catlike tread
walked slowly homeward, dreading the
awakening of the fiend.
Hardly had. l won the open fields,
when in the gray morning, l came upon
my beloved friend, the psychologist
standing. white and careworn, and with
him were men, with manacles in their
hands for he had guessed the truth.
Seize me and bind me-" l whispered
passionately; and even as l spoke the
savage beast within me awoke and
wrestled with him. Gently but strongly
they bound my struggling limbs and
brought me home. And there I am
even nOYX hound and with ac-