Richmond daily palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1876-1904, 1899-01-27
A STRANGE STORY.
BY G. W. S. ANGEL.

1t was one of our Friday night SYM
posiums at the Cosmos Club, and as
our particular clique was made up OF
Merton. from the Geological Survey;
Herring, of the Fish Commission, to-
Gether with Long, from the Agricultur-
al Bureau; De Forrest, of the Army
Medical Museum, and myself, then
serving as Washington correspondent
for New York paper. it is needless
to say that the talk had run the entire
gamut of art, literature and science,
and had for the moment settled on
the belief in dual personalities.
Il tell you, gentlemen" said Merton,
with the authoritative air by which
he always attempted to settle ques-
tions under discussion. that while l
am willing to admit that there may
be some things almost impossible to
prove or disprove scientifically, yet
this talk about dual personality. sub
conscious mind and all such stuff is.
vulgarly speaking, simply rot" And
he lay back in his chair with self
satisfied air, as though there was
nothing more to be said on the sub
ject.
Long took up the argument, and the
debate grew rather warm as the pros
and cons were laid down in that ex-
cathedra way which we young men
are apt to affect. DR.. De Forrest had
thus far taken no part in the discus
sion, but had smiled once or twice at
our assertions in way that assured
US, who knew him so well. that he
had good story to tell if we could
only draw him out.
Come, Doctor" said Long as he
ordered a fresh round of brandies and
soda for the crowd, you ought to
know something about this question.
for you told US last week that you
had studied under Charcot when you
were in Paris"
De Forrest selected a fresh perfecto
from the box at his side. lighted it i'm
his usual careful way and blew a few
rings of smoke, which he Stehed
float lazily toward the ceiling before
he spoke.
Well. boys" he began, las Merton
has just said, there are some things
which we cannot as yet decide by
purely physical methods We cannot
weight the soul in our most delicate
balance, though the scale sinks if we
add but the fraction of a hair nor can we
by our most subtle reagents auaIyZe
that vital spark we call life in our lab
oratories. I do not care tonight TO
speak of the many curious phenomena
which I witnessed during INV studies
in Paris, for they might furnish You
with a clew to the story which is TO
follow: but I'll tell you a little incident
IN real life which occurred when | was
very young in my New York practice
and then leave the question for you TO
decide.
When I established myself in New
ork, back in the sixties. fresh from
my studies at Vienna. l Joined the
Bohemia Club That was not its
name, but as none OF You are old
enough to remember the club il I'll
do as well as any other and | shall
take the liberty of changing the names
of the actors in my story as well. for
obvious reasons
We We're rather jolly crowd at tbs,
Bohemia, for we worked hard at ol1r
different lines all day and then met
at the club in the evenings for reIaxa-
ton and TO compare notes. You see
We were young then. and not aurhori-
ties in our several branches. as Won
all are here" and he smiled in his
quizzical way as he looked round our
little circle.
Il here were two Southerners in the
club he continued, both NJ. D,s. and
although greatly alike in their features
and marvelously 50 in their dress.
they were totally different in char
aeter; and l suppose il would be har.l