Page:A case of multiple personality - Albert Wilson - 1904.djvu/51

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XLIX.]
A Case of Multiple Personality.
307

length figures of elaborately-dressed ladies—one, marked "Bride," with a veil, others with elaborate coiffures, and one with a hat and veil. In this last case, the veil is described as added after the rest of the figure was drawn. A note on it states that, as she could not see, she asked for her forefinger to be placed on the neck of the figure, and then drew a veil in the correct position. On one of the other drawings, it is noted that her father moved the paper as she was in the middle of drawing, so that the skirt was drawn at a considerable distance from the upper part of the figure. Dr. Wilson states that later on her sense of touch became much more acute, so that, if the paper was moved while she was in the middle of drawing, she could find out for herself, by feeling it, where to continue the lines.

These early drawings are mixed up with a good deal of writing, either mere lists of names and words, or apparently casual remarks,—possibly referring to conversations going on around her,—or fragmentary reminiscences of music-hall songs, such as the following:

Dear Father I want some pudding Toms Lamb She was a dear little dickey Bird Chip, Chip, Chip she went Sweetly she sang to me till all my money was spent She went of song we parted on fighting terms For she was one of the eary birds and I was one of the worms.

We will retire to the other room for a short interval to discuss nessessary matters Old Sam.

The writing, both in form and contents, strongly resembles the elementary stages of automatic writing with which psychical researchers are familiar.

A series of pictures executed about a month later are much better drawn; the faces are more correct, and have a certain variety of expression, though fundamentally similar and all in profile. The figures, again, are of the fashion-plate type. They are drawn in pencil and coloured with chalks. At this time B10 had begun to recover her sight, but was extremely short-sighted, not being able to see anything clearly more than about three inches from her eyes (see Dr. Tweedy's report).