nt with which we habitually identify ourselves--what we call
the normal or primary self--consists, in my view, of elements selected
for us in the struggle for existence with special reference to the
maintenance of ordinary physical needs, and is not necessarily superior
in any other respect to the latent personalities which lie alongside of
it--the fresh combinations of our personal elements which may be evoked
by accident or design, in a variety to which we at present can assign no
limit. I consider that dreams, with natural somnambulism, automatic
writing, with so-called mediumistic trance, as well as certain
intoxications, epilepsies, hysterias, and recurrent insanities, afford
examples of the development of what I have called secondary mnemonic
chains; fresh personalities, more or less complete, alongside the normal
state. And I would add that hypnotism is only the name given to a group
of empirical methods of inducing these fresh personalities."

A doctor in philosophy, to whom I submitted these pages, writes me as
follows:--"There can be no doubt that every man lives a sub-conscious as
well as a conscious life. One side of him is closed against examination
by himself (_i.e._ unconscious); the other is conscious of itself.
The former carries on processes of separation, combination, and
distribution, of the thought-stuff handed over to it, corresponding
almost exactly to the processes carried on by the stomach, which, as
compared with those of eating, etc., go on in the dark automatically."

Another doctor, not of philosophy but of medicine, who has devoted
special attention to the phenomenon of sleep, suggests a new
illustration which is graphic and suggestive. He writes:--

"With regard to dual or multiple consciousness, my own feeling has
always been that the _individuals_ stand one behind the other in
the chambers of the mind, or else, as it were, in concentric circles.
You may compare it to the Jewish tabernacle. First, there is the court
of the Gentiles, where Ego No. 1 chaffers about trifles with the outer
world. While he is so doing Ego No. 2 watches him from the court of the
Levites, but does not go forth on small occasions. When we 'open out' to
a friend the Levite comes forth, and is in turn watched by the priest
from the inner court. Let our emotions be stirred in sincere converse
and out strides the priest, and takes precedence of the other two, they
falling obediently and submissively behind him. But