Page:A case of double consciousness Albert Wilson 1904 MPD in a child.djvu/6

6 returned normal once or twice, and in a particular road, so her father conceived the idea of calling her persistently by name when she walked down this road. She would then return to normal, and after some time as soon as she entered that road she would, without any aid, return to her normal state, passing back to "Old Nick" when leaving it. The day after coming home, having been "Old Nick" on the journey, she returned to normal, and was very puzzled to explain her arrival, being unconscious of the journey.

The following event illustrates the continuity of the sub-stages:—On Sunday, September 20th, 1896, "Old Nick" left about 2 p.m. in the middle of her dinner. She stopped eating and fell off her chair dazed; when this passed off she had changed to another sub-stage. "Old Nick" next returned on a Sunday, April 4th, 1897, about the same time, that is during the dinner-hour. She was ill in bed in an imbecile state when she suddenly called to her sister, "What am I in bed for? I am quite well. You have been quick in getting my nightgown on me. Don't you know me? I am Nick." She smelt the dinner and asked to go down and finish her dinner, thinking it was the same dinner she had left on September 20th.

B 4 was a deaf mute, and first appeared on August 8th, 1895, at the end of "Old Nick's" first visit. It returned five times during the illness, for a few days only at a time. It comes and goes quite suddenly. She makes her thoughts known by writing.

This brain area ought to be easily localised—namely, the centre of speech and hearing with their association fibres. Arterial spasm or anæmia of these convolutions might explain the phenomenon.

B 5 was a personality which only came once and lasted about three weeks. It arrived on December 1st, 1895. In this sub-stage she says she was only three days old, and knew no one at first. She understands everything in the house, and is very good in helping her mother. She writes in the ordinary way, but if asked to spell a word does so backwards. She complains of pain in the left temporal and parietal regions.

B 1 arrived again on December 20th, 1895, when the last sub-stage disappeared. This I described as occurring in the third week of the illness. The features were violent mania, fear of snakes, great thirst and craving for oranges and lemonade, and headache; in fact, she was constantly asking for