The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-11-01
Special FOREIGN Service.


LONDON, Oct. 31.-Thanks to a
freak of nature, Of which a hapless
English girl is the victim, we get such
glimpse into the mysteries of the
human mind as perhaps was never
obtained before.
Every one of high strung tempera-
ment has felt the power of moods,
which seem to transform the character,
making of an individual at, say, 10
o'clock in the evening quite a differ
ent person from that same individual
at 10 o'clock the following morning.
But through some strange lack of con-
Meeting links between moods, SO to
speak, a young woman now under
medical observation in England has
had thrust upon her the distinction of
having wholly twelve different selves,
most of them unacquainted with each
other, and having individual diseases,
accomplishments, virtues and faults.
For obvious reasons the girls name
cannot be given, but the case Is
vouched for by DR.. Albert Wilson, a
British specialist in mental diseases,
whose written account of his observa-
lions will appear almost Immediately
In the British Journal of Mental Sci
ence, a publication Of the highest
standing.
The young woman comes from a
other members are as sound and
healthy as anyone. She also was nor
NAL, bright and intelligent until 1895,
when she was twelve years old, she
had an attack of influenza followed
by six weeks of delirium, fits and par
tial paralysis-some kind of internal
revolution so violent in fact that her
very identity seemed to be torn asun-
der, for thereafter she was continually
being elected from one of her selves
and thrust into another.
The first new self apparently was
three years old. In this phase. the girl
could talk only baby talk. She knew
many words, but didn't know what
most of them meant. Asked to find her
nose. she might point to her ear, or
asked to choose white from an as
sortment of colors, she would select
black. This self soon learned to
write, but the writing was done back
wards, the beginning with the tail OF
the last letter of a word. In this state
she was dinly conscious of her first
self. whom she said she hated because
everyone loved that other person, but
nobody liked her, i. e., the present per-
sonality.
Becomes. Herself Again.
Suddenly she would change back
she would remember nothing of the
second personality. Then she would,
without warning, change back again,
continuing the second life exactly
where she had left off,, and knowing
nothing of what had passed in the
interval. In the first stage she was
very modest and well behaved. In
the second she was rowdy
Self No. turned up without warning
in July, 1895, and announced herself as
"Old Nick" name that proved ap-
propriate, for "Old Nick" had nasty
temper, although this personality had
better health than any of the others
After a short visit "Old Nick" disap-
peared for a year, and then came TO
stay for twelve weeks. In this stage
the girl was taken to the seaside to a
place with which she was perfectly
familiar, but "Old~Nick" proved COM
plete stranger there. Occasionally
however, a glimpse of some particular
ly familiar landmark would shake her
out of the ''Old Nick" state into some
other personality. "Old Nick's" re-
markable health is indicated by the
fact that once when the girl was i'll in
bed and in an imbecile state after a
fall from her chair at dinner, she sud-
denly rose apparently in excellent
health, asked why she was in bed and
wanted to go on with that dinner
where she had left off. This took place
in April, 1897, whereas the dinner had
been begun in the September of the
year before.
Was a Deaf Mute.
Self No. was deaf mute who ap-
peared four or five times and stayed
only few days at time. In this