A DUAL EXISTENCE.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1298, 3 February 1885, Page 3

A DUAL EXISTENCE.

The possibility of a dual brain control and of a twofold form of existence has for some time been acknowledged by scientists. A curious illustration of this problem was recently adduced in a lecture by Professor Huxley. A man was wounded by a shot, which fractured the bones on the left base of the skull. Shortly afterwards paralysis cf the right half of the body set in. After a year, however, the paralysis disappeared, but periodical disturbances of the functions of the brain made their appearance every four or five months, and continued to his death. The following are some of the facts of the man’s two-fold life, as reported by Professor Huxley“ In the periods of normal life the ex-sergeant’s health is perfect ; lie is intelligent and kind, and performs satisfactorily the duties of an bospbal attendant. The commencement of the abnonnal state is ushered in by uneasiness and a sense of weights upon the forehead, which the patient compares to the constriction of a circle of iron ; and after its determination he complains for some hours of dullness and heaviness of head. But the transition from the normal to the abnormal state takes place in a few minutes, without convulsions or cries, and without anything to indicate the change to a bystander. He is calm, except for a contraction of the brow’, an incessant movement of the eyeballs, and a chewing motion of the jaws, The eyes are wide open, and their pupils dilated. If the man happens to be m a place to which he is accustomed, he walks about as usual ; but if he is in a new place, or if obstacles are intentionally placed in his way, he stumbles gently against them, stops, and then feeling over the object with his hands, passes on one side of them. He offers no resistance to any change of direction which may be impressed upon him, or to the forcible acceleration or retardation of. his movements. He eats, drinks, smokes, walks about, dresses and undresses himself, rises and goes to bed at the accustomed hours. Nevertheless,

pins may be run into his body, or strong electric shocks sent through it without causing the least indication of pain; no odorous substance, pleasant or unpleasant, makes the least impression ; he eats ami drinks with avidity whatever is offered, and takes asafoetida, or vinegar, or quinine as readily as water ; no noise affects him ; the light influences him only under certain conditions; but perhaps the strangest feature is the perturbation of the moral state which manifested itself on these occasions. Although in his normal state he is a perfectly honest man, in his abnormal condition he is an inveterate thief, stealing and hiding away whatever he can lay his hands on, with much dexterity and with an absurd indifference as to whether the property is his own or not.”