The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-11-11
SPLITTING ONE NAN INTO TWO.
PSYCHIC FEATS DONE BY PROF.
JANET or PARIS.
He Has Been Foremost In seeking 10
Demonstrate That the Victim OF Hys-
terra or Drink 10 Two different Per-
sons -Queer Proofs 0r His Theery.


terra or Drink IL Two Din Per-
sons queer Proofs 90 His TheSry.
M. Marie Pierre Felix Janet, professor
OF experimental psychology in the Univer-
sity Of Paris. who Ia now travelling and
lecturing in the United States, figures In
the public mind as a hypnotist. As q matter
of fact, he is this only incidentally. He
uses hypnotism when it seems the prope
thing to use, as he might use castor oil.
His real work ia the study Of hysteria.
Prof. Janet has been foremost among
those who have sought TO demonstrate that
the victim OF hysteria is at the same time
two different persons. A convenient APP
proach to his theory ia by way Of n Of
the most celebrated Of his cases.
Nine d. toward the end Of August
was busy with her household duties when
a strange man entered suddenly and called
out roughly, -Your husband is dead. They
are bringing him home. Prepare a bed,
Nine. D." The shock threw the woman
into a faint. from which she recovered to
find the house full Of excited n~eighbors
whose well meant oommiserations only
made matters worse.
In the midst OF the confusion the husband
appeared alive and well. Here he isl"
shrieked one OF the women. The distracted
wife, thinking that her husbands dead
body was being brought in, fell into a hys-
terical attack.
After three days of commissions and
delirium she came to herself with no memory
whatever OF the occurrence. In addition,
she had lost her memory Of everything that
had occurred for the six weeks previous.
That Is to say, she recalled her life UP to
July Il. Beyond that point her memory
was a blank.
Is If this were not affection enough, the
woman continued to forget everything that
occurred as fast as it happened. In the
time that it took her to walk out Of the
dining room she had forgotten her dinner.
She was bitten by a dog and while the wound
was still fresh insisted that she had never
been bitten in her life, but that she must
nave burned herself.
DIR. Janet discovered. first of all, that
Nine. ID. used to talk in her sleep about
the forgotten parts OF her life. That Is
TO say, the lost memories came back to her
in her dreams. Moreover. hypnotic sleep
answered even better than natural sleep
to bring out the latent memories.
Awake, Nine. d. remembered nothing.
Hypnotized, she recalled the smallest de-
tails.
She had. besides, a q OF falling into fits
Of abstraction during which she would sit
gazing flxedly into space, awake evidently,
for she would nun a tune, but more or
less unconscious of her surroundings. Dur
ing these ~reveries DR.. Janet would quietly
slip a pencil into her hand. Thereupon
the hand would start of Of its own socord
and haUin 70 Urito In thia aNtfcvnafin
writing, Of which Nine. d. knew nothing.
appeared the lost memories.
DIR. Janet proved in these n other ways
that the trouble with Mime. d. was that
there were two of her. The sudden mental
shock which brought on her attack had
broken her mind into two portions, which
had continued to live on, in the same body
to be sure, but otherwise pretty independent
Of each other.
One OF the two selves had the muscular
steering gear and controlled the body.
The other had the memory. When they
were asleep or hypnotized they got together
again, or. what is more likely in the light
OF recent work, the self that remembered
took advantage of the others condition and
got control Of a portion Of the muscular
apparatus-vocal organs at one time, writ
ing hand at another.
Here, then, il Prof. Janet's chief work.
He has done more than any other man to
establish the doctrine that in most nervous
and mental diseases there Ia a real splitting
OF the self.
The mind, instead OF remaining single
and sane, becomes a pair of mental and
moral Siamese twins-or sometimes Siamese
triplets or bankruptcies. There are dis
sociations and alterations OF personality.
Even the common American is
nov thought to involve a certain amount
of inner disintegration.
Prof. Janet has been especially successful
in devising methods of getting at these
absent parts Of the mind. One in particular,
which has been widely adopted by other
psychologists, is this:
An assistant engages the patient in oon-
versation and gets him-or more usually
her-completely absorbed in the talk.
Meantime Prof. Janet at the right moment
begins quietly in a low tone to speak, not
to the self who is oonversing with the
assistant, but to the other split of person.
He suggests that now, while the principal
self il too much engaged in other things to
notice what Is going on, the secondary
self shall take possession OF the writing
hand and have a little talk with tho doctor
on paper. Secondary selves are usually
highly suggestibIe. That is to say. they
do about as they are told and accept un.
critically any idea presented to them.
The other self in the hysterical's body at
once adopts Prof. Janete suggestion and.
like q dumb man who can hear. answers
oral questions on paper. By this device
Prof. Janet 10 able to put the secondary
self through q prolonged cross-examination
and discover the quality OF Its intelligence
and the range OF its memories.
A typical experiment Of the simpler sort
10 this The patient has, say, the right
arm paralyzed and completely devoid Of
feeling, so that it can be pinched or prioked
or twisted into awkward and painful posi-
tions without making the least impression
on the nominal owner. That arm, in short,
belongs to the secondary self.
Prof. Janet, after putting the parafyzed
hand out Of range Of the patients eyes,
gives it Ave light pinches. The patient. who
has Of course felt nothing, continues her
conversation with the assistant.