Multiple Ego Several Persons in One. 945 



pend upon the differentiation of certain tracts of cortical substance in 

 the anterior and middle lobes of the brain. In the case of Gage, this 

 acquirement appears to have been made chiefly by the left side of the 

 cerebrum, and when these tracts on that side were destroyed, he would 

 become, in a measure, destitute of the faculties represented b} r them, 

 until the corresponding tracts in the right hemisphere could by educa- 

 tion become differentiated to perform the same functions. After his 

 injury he was in the condition of one whose moral education had been 

 neglected till he had reached maturity, and then commenced with a half 

 brain in the unfavorable condition of being stiffened and inflexible from 

 long disuse, and hardened b} T age. 



It is a quite common opinion that the chief seats of the higher intel- 

 lectual and moral faculties are generally in the anterior portion of the 

 left hemisphere, and that the right hemisphere is decidedly in the back- 

 ground as to morals, refinement and culture. The case of Gage seems 

 to lend countenance to this theory. It does seem reasonable that the 

 centers for civilization and culture should be in the neighborhood of the 

 organs of speech, since the evolution of the former has depended upon 

 and kept parallel with that of the latter. But there are numerous ex- 

 ceptions to the rule that the speech centers are exclusively on the left side. 



1 At the battle of Bazeilles. in the last war between the French and 

 Prussians, F , a French sergeant 27 years old, was wounded by a ball 

 which fractured the left parietal bone. A few minutes afterward he be- 

 came paralyzed, first in his right arm. then in his right leg, and then 

 became senseless, and remained so for three weeks. His right side re- 

 mained paralyzed for a year, and then he recovered so as to show but a 

 slight weakness on the right side. Three or four months after he was 

 wounded, he became subject to periodical, abnormal mental conditions, 

 which lasted from 15 to 30 hours, and occurred after intervals of 15 to 

 30 days, continuing this alternation of normal and abnormal states for 

 the four years up to the time the account was published. In his normal 

 periods the subject was in good health, intelligent and kindly, and ac- 

 ceptably did duty as a hospital attendant. His abnormal spells began 

 by a feeling of compression about the forehead, after which for some 

 hours he had a dull, heavy feeling, and then without any outward sign 

 he passed into his abnormal state. In this state it appears that he was 

 totally devoid of conscious sensation of every sort, hearing, tasting, 

 feeling, smelling and seeing. Dr. Mesnet thought he could see under 

 certain conditions, but the reported facts hardly seem to warrant the 

 conclusion. But the sense of touch, paradoxical as it may appear, was 

 more than ordinarily acute, so that although when punctured with pins, 



1 This account is condensed from that of Dr. Mesnet, published in the Jonnial des 

 Debuts, Aug. 7, 1874, and by Prof. Huxley in his Automatism. 



