The groundwork of psychology / by G.F. Stout.

  • George Frederick Stout
Date:
1903
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The groundwork of psychology / by G.F. Stout. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    normal conditions. Physical shock, such as may be caused by a blow on the head, often occasions forgetful- ness of the circumstance of the accident, frequently extend- ing to what happened a short time after it or before it. A child of four years, having fractured his skull, underwent a surgical operation. On his recovery he had forgotten both the accident and the operation. But at the age of five, in the delirium of a fever he gave a circumstantial account of them. It is matter of common knowledge that a man frequently forgets when he is sober what he has said and done when he was drunk. The somnam- bulist usually cannot remember what he has said in his sleep-talking or done in his sleep-walking. But on a re- currence of either state the thread of thought and action is resumed at the point where it left off. A young lady in a state of somnambulism snatched a locket from her sister containing some of their deceased brother’s hair: She resisted attempts to take it from her, and before pass- ing into ordinary sleep she placed it under her pillow, remarking, “ Now I have hid it in safety.” On waking in the morning she knew nothing of what had happened. When the somnambulism recurred a few days afterwards, she immediately began to look for the locket under her pillow. It had been removed in the interval. But she continued to search, saying: “ It must be there. I put it there myself a few minutes ago.” 1 Finally, we may refer to cases of double personality. One of the best as well as the oldest is that of an American lady who became totally oblivious of her previous existence after waking from a deep sleep which had lasted some days. Her whole envi- ronment, including both persons and things, was as strange to her as if she had been placed in it for the first time. 1 “ Carpenter’s Mental Physiology,” pp. 597-598.
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