EXAGGERATION AS AN ^ESTHETIC FACTOR. 821 



eight years before. This is more than a reconstruction of ele- 

 ments ; it involves the revival of much that we usually suppose 

 to be irretrievably lost. If such a recrudescence of the old child- 

 ish self is possible, we must suppose that the growth of the brain 

 is carried on like that of an onion, layer upon layer. Of course, 

 I do not mean this literally. I merely mean that those portions 

 of the brain which were active in childhood, the activity of which 

 constituted my self of that period, may exist years after they 

 have been disused, and then suddenly be brought into action 

 again. Many such cases have been reported. The patient is de- 

 scribed as literally relapsing into childhood ; her thoughts, memo- 

 ries, desires, acts, even her writing, are those of her former childish 

 self. It is claimed by others that there is no true relapse into 

 childhood ; the patient merely acts the part of a child according 

 to her present notion of what she used to be. I have no doubt 

 myself that it is possible. If A. J. Brown could lie dormant for 

 three years under Mr. Bourne's skull only to revive the moment 

 Mr. Bourne was hypnotized, I see no reason why our childish 

 selves may not also survive, and in some cases there is good rea- 

 son to think they have done so. But most of the cases reported 

 are susceptible to the other interpretation, and, as it is the most 

 simple and natural, I would resort to it whenever possible. 



In my next paper I shall take up those derangements of per- 

 sonality in which there seems reason to believe that the second- 

 ary system does not wholly perish upon the reconstruction of the 

 first. 



EXAGGERATION" AS AN JESTHETIC FACTOR. 



By M. F. EEGNAULT. 



EXAGGERATION is a natural tendency of our minds, and 

 the fact is recognized by every psychologist. Yet, when we 

 study human thought and action, we forget the propensity to 

 exaggeration and exercise our ingenuity in accounting for seem- 

 ingly odd social facts which could be readily explained by apply- 

 ing this principle. There are not, perhaps, any branches of hu- 

 man activity in which the tendency to exaggerate is not marked. 

 We might observe its effects in all branches of science if we should 

 bring them up one by one. In history, persecutions and revolu- 

 tionary disturbances have resulted from the exaggeration of an 

 idea which may have been just in itself, but, taking possession 

 of the mind, it assumes an absolute character, while nothing in- 

 tervenes to counterbalance it ; and, acting under the domination 

 of an exclusive preoccupation, men commit deeds of a most aston- 

 ishing character. In linguistics, the influence of the same prin- 



