8i8 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



transferred to an asylum at Bonneval, wliere lie was taught the 

 trade of a tailor. After two months he had a convulsive attack 

 which lasted fifty hours; at its close the paralysis had disap- 

 peared and with it all recollection of the past three years, includ- 

 ing all that he had learned in the tailor shop. His character and 

 tastes had also changed. He had become quarrelsome, greedy, 

 and rude. Formerly he did not like wine, and used to give his 

 allowance to his comrades ; now he stole theirs whenever he could. 

 He robbed a fellow-patient and escaped ; when recaptured he 

 fought savagely with his captors. In June, 1881, he was released 

 as cured. For the next three years and a half he spent the greater 

 portion of his time in insane asylums in various parts of France. 

 In January of 1885 he escaped from the Bicetre in Paris, where 

 he was then confined, made his way to Rochefort, and enlisted in 

 the marines. He was soon arrested and convicted of theft, but 

 was thought to be insane and was sent to the asylum. There 

 he fell into the hands of Professors Bourru and Burot, of the 

 medical school at Rochefort. With infinite pains they recorded 

 his condition, traced out his past history, and in their little book. 

 Variations de la Personnalitd (Paris, 1888), have given us a very 

 careful analysis of the phenomena which he presented. After his 

 release from Rochefort, Louis Y was studied by other alien- 

 ists, especially by Dr. Mabille, of La Rochelle, and Prof. M. J. 

 Voisin, of the Salpetrifere. Of late years his health has improved 

 and many of his strange symptoms have disappeared. 



The case is too complex to be given at length ; a brief outline 

 must suffice. MM. Bourru and Burot found that his conscious 

 existence seemed split into at least five major states, in some of 

 which several minor ones might be distinguished. In each state 

 he remembered certain portions of his life, possessed certain sen- 

 sations, had control of certain groups of muscles, and manifested 

 certain traits of character. Each state could be induced in two 

 ways: (1) By applying an electric current, magnet, or some sub- 

 stance — such as a bar of soft iron or a piece of gold — to a definite 

 portion of his body ; (2) by suggestion. Later Dr. Mabille dis- 

 covered a third method of induction : by pressing upon certain 

 groups of muscles he could cause them to become rigid, and then 

 the patient passed into that state in which those muscles were 

 regularly rigid. 



Of these five states, the most important — that is, the one in 

 which he approached most nearly to the normal — could be pro- 

 duced by applying a bar of soft iron to the right thigh. In it he 

 was free from paralysis, and the strength of his arms was nearly 

 equal, but his left side was abnormally sensitive. His character 

 was that of an agreeable but commonplace young man ; his lan- 

 guage was correct ; he could read and write fairly well. He re- 



