The duality of the mind : read at the meeting of the Psychological Society of Great Britain, May 12, 1875 / by Mr. Serjeant Cox.
- Edward William Cox
- Date:
- [1875]
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: The duality of the mind : read at the meeting of the Psychological Society of Great Britain, May 12, 1875 / by Mr. Serjeant Cox. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.
10/16 page 10
![But first let me anticipate some difficulties that will probably occur to those who have heard of this suggestion but have given no thought to it. “ Are we,” they will say, “ conscious that we have two minds V’ Does any sensation inform us of a double mental action ? Would not confusion result from two different ideas being presented by the two minds ? What if they were to conflict ? Are the two minds identical in structure ? If not, how do they act in concert, for if they did not act in concert, what confusion of ideas and emotions would follow ?” The answer to these not unreasonable objections is that the two brains as organs of thought and feeling work together precisely in the same manner as do the two eyes and ears. In the normal condition of the organism the two eyes and two ears are so adjusted that the brain receives the impression of one object and communicates that impression to the Conscious Self. In fact, two objects are presented by the two eyes to the optic nerve, but at the point of junction of the two optic nerves at the base of the brain the two pictures presented on the two retinas fall into exact focus, and thus one picture (and not two pictures) is presented to the brain and thence to the Conscious Self. So the ears receive two sounds, but the brain only one sound. But if the two eyes be thrown out of focus by the slightest pressure, we are instantly conscious of their double action, for we per- ceive two pictures instead of [one. If we close one eye the objects seen by the other eye appear in a different position, which is again changed if we close that eye and open the other, and then changed again when we open both. So it is with the double brain. When the two brains are acting together, the Conscious Self receives only one impres- sion and as a rule they work in perfect accord. But in many abnormal conditions, as in reverie, in dream, in somnambulism, in trance, in insanity, the two brains do not act together. Like the two eyes when their action is [80]](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b2244385x_0012.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
