238 AOTMAL AUTOMATISM. 



Just so the frog " sees " the book which is in the way 

 of his jump, at the same time that isolated visual im- 

 pressions take no effect upon him.* 



As I have pointed out, it is impossible to prove that 



F is absolutely unconscious in his abnormal state, 



but it is no less impossible to prove the contrary ; and 

 the case of the frog goes a long way to justify the 

 assumption that, in the abnormal state, the man is a 

 mere insensible machine. 



If such facts as these had come under the knowl- 



* Those who have had occasion to become acquainted with the phe- 

 nomena of somnambulism and of mesmerism, will be struck with the close 

 parallel which they present to the proceedings of F. in his abnormal state. 

 But the great value of Dr. Mesnct's observations lies in the fact that the 

 abnormal condition is traceable to a definite injury to the brain, and that 

 the circumstances are such as to keep us clear of the cloud of voluntary 

 and involuntary fictions in which the truth is too often smothered in such 

 cases. In the unfortunate subjects of such abnormal conditions of the 

 brain, the disturbance of the sensory and intellectual faculties is not unfre- 

 qucntly accompanied by a perturbation of the moral nature, which may 

 manifest itself in a most astonishing love of lying for its own sake. And, 

 in this respect, also, F.'s case is singularly instructive, for though, in his 

 normal state, he is a perfectly honest man, in his abnormal condition he is 

 an inveterate thief, stealing and hiding away whatever he can lay hands on, 

 with much dexterity, and with an absurd indifference as to whether the 

 property is his own or not. Hoffman's terrible conception of the " Doppelt- 

 ganger " is realised by men in this state who live two lives, in the one of 

 which they may be guilty of the most criminal acts, while, in the other, 

 they are eminently virtuous and respectable. Neither life knows anything 

 of the other. Dr. Mesnet states that he has watched a man in his abnor- 

 mal state elaborately prepare to hang himself, and has let him go on until 

 asphyxia set in, when he cut him down. But on passing into the normal 

 state the would-be suicide was wholly ignorant of what had happened. The 

 problem of responsibility is here as complicated as that of the prince- 

 bishop, who swore as a prince and not as a bishop. "But, highness, if the 

 prince is damned, what will become of the bishop ?" said the peasant. 



