282 MAN AND THE WORLD. 



ment of perfection we should be all we are capable 

 of being. 



§ 23. And this account of the relation of the 

 Ego to the Self is not only metaphysically necessary, 

 but supported also by the direct scientific evidence 

 of experimental psychology. For it seems to pro- 

 vide an explanation of the exceedingly perplexing 

 phenomena of double or multifold and alternating 

 consciousness, multiplex personality and ''secondary" 

 selves. These curious phenomena forcibly bring 

 home to us what a partial and imperfect thing our 

 ordinary consciousness is, how much goes on within 

 us of which we know nothing, how far the pheno- 

 menal falls short of being co-extensive with our 

 whole nature. And yet we must either include 

 these changes of personality within the limits of our 

 own "self," or ascribe them to possession by "spirits." 

 And there can be little doubt that the former theory 

 is In most cases obviously preferable. The secondary 

 selves show such close relations to the primary, 

 display such complications of inclusive and exclusive 

 memories, betray such constant tendencies to merge 

 into or to absorb their primaries, that we cannot 

 exclude them from our "selves." Indeed, it is often 

 difficult to decide which of several personalities is to 

 be regarded as the primary self. What, e,g., is the 

 real self of personages like Fellda X. or Madame B. ?^ 

 Is it the Leonie of waking life, the dull uneducated 

 peasant woman, who knows nothing of the higher 

 faculties she is capable of displaying when the 

 habitual grouping of the elements of her being has 

 been resifted by hypnotlzation ? Or is it the bright 



^ Compare Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research, vol. 

 iv. p. 129. The case of Felida X., given fully in Hypnotisme et 

 Double Coftscience^ par le Dr, Azam. Paris ^ 1887. 



