Rough Ways Made Smooth: A series of familiar essays on scientific subjectsProctor, Richard A. (Richard Anthony)
Science
Rough Ways Made Smooth: A series of familiar essays on scientific subjects
Proctor, Richard A. (Richard Anthony)
Science
[Footnote 20: Since the above was written I have noticed a passage in
Dr. Carpenter's _Mental Physiology_, p. 719, bearing on the matter I
have been dealing with:--'The following statement recently made to me
by a gentleman of high intelligence, the editor of a most important
provincial newspaper, would be almost incredible, if cases somewhat
similar were not already familiar to us:--'I was formerly,' he said,
'a reporter in the House of Commons; and it several times happened
to me that, having fallen asleep from sheer fatigue towards the
end of a debate, I had found, on awaking after a short interval of
entire unconsciousness, that I had continued to note down correctly
the speaker's words.' 'I believe,' he added, 'that this is not an
uncommon experience among Parliamentary reporters.' The reading aloud
with correct emphasis and intonation, or the performance of a piece
of music, or (as in the case of Albert Smith) the recitation of a
frequently repeated composition, whilst the conscious mind is _entirely
engrossed_ in its own thoughts and feelings, may be thus accounted
for without the supposition that the mind is actively engaged in two
different operations at the same moment, which would seem tantamount to
saying that there are two egos in the same organism.' An instance in
my own experience seems even more remarkable than the reporter's work
during sleep, for he had but to continue a mechanical process, whereas
in my case there must have been thought. Late one evening at Cambridge
I began a game of chess with a fellow-student (now a clergyman, and
well known in chess circles). I was tired after a long day's rowing,
but continued the game to the best of my ability, until at a certain
stage I fell asleep, or rather fell into a waking dream. At any rate
all remembrance of what passed after that part of the game had entirely
escaped me when I awoke or returned to consciousness about three in
the morning. The chessboard was there, but the men were not as when
the last conscious move was made. The opponent's king was checkmated.
I supposed my opponent had set the men in this position either as a
joke or in trying over some end game. But I was assured that the game
had continued to the end, and that I had won, apparently playing as if
fully conscious! Of course I cannot certify this of my own knowledge.]
_DUAL CONSCIOUSNESS._
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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