The San Francisco call., 1907-06-16

of their RESIDENCE O-Der anu eO1CAuoos
bv flling her with wonder at the
beretofors hidden phases Of his
character
But his troubles are by no means
over. While in the hynotic state ons
dav he escapes from his friends ana
goes about town in the Erassfeld per
souality, geniAlly hai.ing old friends
and neishbors and running amuek gen.
erally. Eventually ne is captured bJ
the professor and the judge and re-
stored by Nine. lie Claire To tina
Anfdon plane of consciousness but not
before he has set in motion new
series Of double troubles which only
a very resourccful novelist eoa'd at
tempt to unravel.
A Feminine Exponent
The trinity Of novels hinsing dual
personality has but recently> beea COM
plcted. "The White cat by Gel~st Bur-
CESS is written from ctii anothe point
Of view. We have seen that Sscrcnson
gives US the tragedy OF dual person-
atty and that Herbert Quick ves u
It's comedy. Ir. Burgess may oe said
to elucidate it's romance. He offers
in yet another respect from the authors
of 'Dr. JekyIl and Mr.. Hyde and
''Double Trouble" in that The White
Cat" Is the first book to have a woman
as the subject of the abnormal dual
roles.
In ~The White Cat" we have deli
cateiy poised. accomplished youns
pcriodicany into hoydenish. ursophis-
ticated girl who insists on being called
Edna. The transformation is brought
about, not by the drinking of mys-
terious potion, but by some occult In
ternal agency operating while the sub
ject is asleep.
This state OF affairs obviously sug-
gests almost Infinite possibilities Of
plot. Joy is sulphite and Edna IS
\bronnlde. and while each Is altosether
oblivious Of what the other does. both
are determined to reign alone. Edna
is assisted by Dr. Copin and JOY has
for stanch supporters the autobfo-
graphic hero OF the book and a devoted
servant, Leah. Eventually JOY wins
but not before exciting things happen
The romance OF the situation IN The
White Cat" centers in the two simpfs
but significant facts that DR.. Copin
wants the Edna personality and the
hero is craznorcd OF the Joy PERSONAL
.ity Eoth parties are convinced that
alls fair in love and war and the fghr
is relentlessly fought TO finish. the
curtain falling on the baffied Doctors
exit
None OF these three novels is satis-
flying from the scientific viewpoint. The
stories. as stories. are interesting. well
constructed md brought to logical
close. but in al three the educated
reader finds an excessive drSft on his
sense of the probable. DIR. Jekyil ef-
fected the magvelous change cs person
ality by drinking potion ras.de from
a certain salt and Z certain le.,.G. But
what was the salt and what WIS the
Iicuide IN a similar way. TIE aIthof
OF ~Double Trouble" fails to T. eecifc
Ard the only xeIativeiv def Npla-
nation OF the mystery voucis- IS by
MIR Burgess is this:
"sie Lthc I.Gna reFsonaHt vas not
rlere1y anot.se- person in 3 Ield-
ing's euise. shc was only a. rt Of
q p~rsoa--a collection of fua .s SUI
RECENTLY synthesized to nav, inde-
pendent t-eonzcicusness and vi n. but
by no meaas perfect whol ais is,
: believe. the modern intern on OF
multiple personality. Certa,. Unite
psychological tracts are spj ~ and
run themselves. SO to 81 Ons
might. perhaps, say that y Is as II
France. ffermany. Austria &h. Italy
should float oft the map and achieve a
lesser Europe Of their owr. TIC rns
Of eleavaSe III Mss Fielding ,ase wal
chiefly along insellectual aid moral
lines; Edna was a lesser and. aientailY
a younger Joy-less cultures; less con-
scient:ous-~
TAis explanation is seientise and sat-
fsfyirs-as far Us it goes. rhe diff
cuitv is. is doesn't 30 far enough.
Whatever light rio-Iern science can
throw on this sui,-@e- Of duai PERSONAL
ity is intcrestin-. and there * no dan.
cor OF tlssvc being 50 much OF it that
the story as "a story will be spoiled.
Rather. the story Will be thereby
strengthened, for little rational ex-
planaticu would erase the stigma "im-
probable hfch the critics have
scrawled in arrogant red ink over Dr.
JeKyll and Mr.. Hyde. Double Trouble
and '-The White Cat
This unique trinity of novels Is not
destined to reign alone We are going
to haze more dual personality stories
many more o. them. in the course Oh
the naxt few years. There was a TINA
when Jules Verne was practically alone
In constructing novels about the air
ship and the submarine. He Is by N
means alone today. In like manner.
novelists great and small will be quick
to see the fctiona1 possibilities OF the
problem OF dual personality until the
theme will become as common and as
varied as the automobile story is juss
now.