Newspaper readers have been furnished with the details of the
case of the Rev. Ansel Bourne, which may be briefly recalled.
Some years ago a stranger arrived in Norristown, Pa., rented a
store, stocked it, and began business in a quiet, business-like
way which attracted no attention and aroused no suspicion as
to any mental difficulty. Some two months later one of his
neighbors was startled by a call from the newcomer, who, in
a bewildered way, demanded to know where he was, and after a
time explained that he was a Rhode Island clergyman, could
not account for his presence in Norristown, knew nothing of
any of his actions while there, and could only recall that
he had drawn some money from a bank in his native place two
months before, after which his life was a blank. And yet,
during the entire period his actions had been apparently
rational, altho certainly in nowise suggestive of the clerical
profession--rather the reverse. For two months he had been the
sharp, shrewd business man during business hours, and a genial
and by no means straight-laced companion after his store was
closed. These instances of “multiplex personality” have been
recognized by alienists since the time of the historic cases
of Louis V and Felida X. In one state the patient is cheerful,
frank, generous; in another, morose, taciturn, miserly; now
belligerent and then the most peaceable of mortals; by turns
mendacious and truthful, the soul of honor, and the most
depraved of wretches, reveling in immorality, and leading the
life of an ascetic. That the different states are due to changes
in the psychical activity of different portions of the brain is
now the accepted theory, borne out by experiment. This activity
may be set up, modified, perverted, or totally arrested by
disease; but it may also be caused by the influence of one will
over another, as in the familiar illustrations of hypnotism.
A few years ago Dr. Hammond hypnotized a young man before the
New York Medico-Legal Society, causing him to commit imaginary
thefts, assaults, etc., and the phenomena are now the common
property of the medical lecture-room.--Chicago _News_.
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