BODILY ILLNESS AS A MENTAL STIMULANT. 239 



had of what might be happening to her children away from 

 home, it would have been strange if some had not been 

 correct. The power of anticipating what others were about 

 to say is one which many imagine they have, mistaking the 

 occasional coincidence between their guesses and what has 

 been next said, for indications of a power which in reality 

 they do not possess. And so also with regard to the motives 

 of others. Many are apt, especially when out of health, to 

 guess at others' motives, sometimes rightly, but oftener very 

 wrongly, yet always rightly in their own belief, no matter 

 what evidence may presently appear to the contrary. 



The case cited by Mr. Butterworth affords evidence 

 rather of the unhealthy condition of the patient's mind 

 than of abnormal powers, except as regards the power of 

 thinking of two things at the same time, which we may 

 fairly assume was not ordinarily possessed by its relative. It 

 is rather difficult to define such a power, however. Several 

 persons have apparently possessed the power, showing it by 

 doing two things at the same time which both appear to 

 require thought, and even close attention. Julius Caesar, 

 for example, could write on one subject and dictate on 

 another simultaneously. But in reality, even in cases such 

 as these, the mind does not think of two things at once. 

 It simply takes them in turn, doing enough with each, in a 

 short time, a mere instant, perhaps, to give work to the pen 

 or to the voice, as the case may be, for a longer time. When 

 Caesar was writing a sentence, he was not necessarily think- 

 ing of what he was writing. He had done the thinking part 

 of the work before ; and was free, while continuing the mere 

 mechanical process of writing, to think of matter for 

 dictation to his secretary. So also while he was speaking 

 he was free to think of matter for writing. If, indeed, the 

 thought for each sentence of either kind had occupied an 

 appreciable time, there would have been interruptions of his 

 writing, if not of his dictation (dictation is not commonly 

 a continuous process under any circumstances, even when 

 shorthand writers take down the words). But a practised 



