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
she had not the slightest consciousness of what had passed; but the
impression of the excited feelings still remained, for she remarked to
her sister, 'I cannot tell what it is that makes me feel so, but every
time that S. comes near me I have a kind of shuddering sensation;'
the individual named being a servant, whose constant attention to her
had given rise to a feeling of strong attachment on the side of the
invalid, but who had been the chief actor in the scene of the previous
evening. This feeling wore off in the course of a day or two. A few
days afterwards the somnambulism again returned; and the patient being
upon her bed at the time, immediately began to search for the locket
under her pillow.' As it had been removed in the interval, 'she was
unable to find it, at which she expressed great disappointment, and
continued searching for it, with the remark, "It _must_ be there--I
put it there myself a few minutes ago, and no one can have taken it
away." In this state the presence of S. renewed her previous feelings
of anger; and it was only by sending S. out of the room that she could
be calmed and induced to sleep. The patient was the subject of many
subsequent attacks, in every one of which the anger against S. revived,
until the current of thought changed, no longer running exclusively
upon what related to her brother, but becoming capable of direction
by _suggestions_ of various kinds presented to her mind, either in
conversation, or, more directly, through the several organs of sense.'
I have been particular in quoting the above account, because it appears
to me to illustrate well, not only the relation between the phenomena
of dual consciousness and somnambulism, but the dependence of either
class of phenomena on the physical condition. If it should appear that
dual consciousness is invariably associated with some disorder either
of the nervous system or of the circulation, it would be impossible,
or at least very difficult, to maintain Brown-Sequard's explanation of
the boy's case. For one can hardly imagine it possible that a disorder
of the sort should be localised so far as the brain is concerned, while
in other respects affecting the body generally. It so chances that the
remarkable case recently dealt with by French men of science forms a
sort of connecting link between the boy's case and the case just cited.
It closely resembles the former in certain characteristic features,
while it resembles the latter in the evidence which it affords of
the influence of the physical condition on the phenomena of double
consciousness. The original narrative by M. Azam is exceedingly prolix;
but it has been skilfully condensed by Mr. H.J. Slack, in the pages of
a quarterly journal of science. I follow his version in the main.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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