The Monticellonian., 1917-03-29

door. Dr. Emmanuel came back We
aat round his fireplace and clipped
on the ends Of our perfectos.
Vel, gentlemen" said Emmanuel,
leaning against the mantel, which was
too hizh for him. and made him look
Ike bsnefcient gnome, Il told you
that his case possessed interesting
features
Yss. answered Tarrant, you did
Wat Is IT. Demoniacal possession"
POOH" answered the Doctor light
=. 4 don't believe in that"
The New Testament is full of 1t. :"
Yes. but the demon of those times
did not correspond to what we call
the evil spirit" answered the Doctor.
The demon, or daemon, as it was
! spelled, was simply an inner monitor,
a friend who watched over ore. So
crates had his demon who always ad-
yised him when he was in doubt.
Don't you remembe in that splendid
speech of his before the judges who
sentenced him to death, he refused to
purchase his life by ceasing to preach,
and told them that he believed death
must be a good thing, because his de-
mon had not dissuaded him from the
course he was taking? No, Tarrant-
there may be devils that take posses
sion of human beings, but am very,
very sceptical. What the evangelists
called demons were simply the pre-
yious personalities In the subjects,
trying to live again in their present
incarnation"
you mean," ! said, that Miss Al
! dyne's personality in her previous ex-
istence is trying to GUST the present
ene?"
sWered. Its succeeding, too. When
my friend Robinson brought her to
me she was simply moody and neuro-
tic Now she is fast losing her mind.
The old personality is conquering the
present one. | am afraid | shall have
TO Kill IT, he continued. But it's
hard thing to kill.
As we made no reply. he continued:
It's curious case, and yet many
of these cases of double personality
are reported from time to time. U.s.
1ly. however, they represent mere
assures in the stream of the present
/ personality. There is the famous case
of Miss Beauehamp, for instance, to
be found in all medical books upon
this subject. in which a single person
atty divided into nine parts, many of
them hating and plaguing each other.
! One of these personalities would take
possession of the subject and stuff
beetles down her back, afterward
awakening the dominant self, which
had horror of beetles.
However, in this case we have to
deal with two antagonistic personal
tiles, one of which has lived its life
and has no business meddling here
In the Miss Beauchamp case the prob
! lem was to unite the nine several
strand into one. Here it is to LII
the u drper. : nd shall kill, her
that woman who knocked me down
| just as easily as | would kill a rat. >"
He looked like fierce little fighter
as he stood there, clenching his fists
at the memory of the blow. And yet,
l don't think Emmanuel would have
killed rat Stay, though, | remem-
Der now a certain story of vivi
section, but that has no place here.
Did you ever read Hans Andersen
Fairy Tales'?" continued the Doctor.
IF SO, you are acquainted with the
Danish legend which appears and re-
appears all through those stories of
the beautiful princess who was
changed at night into malignant
devil, and this had to be killed or
exercised before the hero could marry
his princess. Well, here is the case.
Seth Robinson is a perfectly nor
NAL American gentleman of ire
proachable character and unimagin-
hundred odd years ago? Probably a
simple Roman gentleman of the old,
fast vanishing school which had made
his country the ruler of the world.
Or, since he was born in Athens, per-
haps the last personality of Mr.. Rob-
inson was an Athenian gentleman.
Whatever he was, his life was so nor
NAL and natural that his personality
disintegrated in the proper manner
1T call HeNeT De Tecdileu.
you mean that his last personality
has utterly vanished?" asked Tar
rant THAT is a hideous thought
it means annihilation.'
mo more so than that the actor is
annihilated when he strips off Othel-
los mask or Hamlets doublet," an
swered Emmanuel Remember, Tar
rant, all these succeeding PERSONAL
ties are nothing but phantoms as
sumed by the larger self, the soul
You, for example, as Paul Tarrant, the
millionaire, WILL l hope, utterly dis
appear; but the underlying self, which
will enter into its own heritage at
death, will never die, though it may
subsequently assume a beggar's robes
or a priests tonsure or a soldiers
uniform. And it is right and proper
that the personality should disinte-
CRATE Suppose the actor would not
lay aside his crown and robes when
the curtain went down; would we not
strip them from him with scant cere-
| mony? Well, then, Hiss Gladys AL
dyne, that dear little patient of mine
who is SO happy with Seth, shall not
be made the victim of her last person
ality. | am going to kill it. And /
shall do so without conjunction, for
Claudia is nothing but a phantom
which will not lay its trappings
aside"
"Claudia?'
Yes. That imperious, strong-fsted
Roman harridan, who knocked me
down hacausp [ would not piua har