University of Denver - Kynewisbok Yearbook (Denver, CO)

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THE STRANGE CASE OF J M , U. OF D. ALUMNUS The following was found in the annals of the Tokio Medical Society, in the year of our Lord 1920. Since the leading person, Mr. J---------- M--------- is an alumnus of this school and since the attending physician, eminent as an alienist and neurologist is an alumnus of the same school, it seemed very proper that this remarkable case, so valuable as a contribution to science, be entered in some of the records of this institution. Moreover, since some of the incidents mentioned took place about 1900-1902, it was tliotight eminently proper that this present volume lx made to contain the following account. If it occur to any to ask how this highly interesting narrative was secured, we lx forehand make the request that they check this curiosity and accept the word of the writer that Mr. J------- M-------- is now a very pleasant gentleman, clothed in his right mind and that he allowed these statements to Ik recorded hy the Tokio Medical Society out of pure regard for the advancement of science. The writer was in those parts and by mere chance read this account. Afterward he met Mr. J-----------M--------- and ascertained that the society's report was true in every detail. The narrative, which was given in the words of Mr. J------------ M-------- himself, was prefaced with the explanation that he was riding in a sedan chair when two of the carriers were killed by lightning; the others tied, and the chair, with its occupant, fell over an embankment. Mr. J------------- M------- became entirely unconscious and. naturally enough, his head was in a somewhat traumatic condition. He was found in a short time, fell into the hands of the most excellent physician who rcjxwts the case, while he himself gives the details from the moment of the loss of consciousness. lie says; “J heard a sound; I rolled over; I thought of all I had heard alxntt sudden death; I thought of inv life; darkness fell; 1 knew no more. “Rut the time came when 1 ojx?ncd my eves ami saw again. At that time 1 did not know that my j»ast life had an existence. I was simply conscious. I did not know that the bed and what 1 now know as ‘I’ were different.’ ♦ “After 1 had recovered consciousness and had lH gun to live, growing in knowledge as a child would grow, only very much faster, 1 remembered nothing of the old life. J became strong. One thy I was bathing in a stream when I dived to the bottom and struck my head on a rock. 1 was told that those with me carried me to a hospital near bv and there a new phase of my life Inrgan. I fell into the hands of l)r. J------ S-----. When I opened my eyes I saw the physician’s face and thought of my college days, but I remembered none of the events of the day lx fore. I continued in this state for what 1 have been told was a number of minutes, and then fell asleep. During this sleep I had dreams. 1 his was true of all sleep I had during those days. ( hu or two examples will suffice to indii-ate the character of the dreams. 182

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SOME SNAPSHOTS Chapel. the morniog after the State Oratorical. Dr. Howe and Beckwith standing Dr. Hyde In the Greek Room The Lineup. The Sophomore-Freahman Cane-Ruah 181 The “Scrap'

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“I thought it was morning and the breakfast bell rang. 1 was in great distress. I struggled to awake, but could not do so. The feeling was horrible. It was like a nightmare. The thought uppermost in my mind was 7:10 car, 7:10 car. At last I became conscious of giving up this struggle, and then a feeling of great calmness came over me. It was most perfect repose. ‘Wings of air’ is too tame to be of any use in describing the comfort 1 felt. I remember studying the situation with a view to knowing the cause of it in order to he able to reproduce it at will, and my thoughts seemed to Hit from one to another of my afternoon classes in the old college and then to the debating club to which I belonged, while I was there. The face of now one, now another, in the Fagiish classes would appear before niv eves, and then the picture of a mathematical class would appear. When I thought of the debating club I found also the thought of duration mingled with the rest, and it pleased me to think that all existence henceforth would be thus. I cannot account for this in any way better than by supposing that there was a double memory behind it, that of drowsy meetings and the feeling that this comatose state of the club was to last year after year. Once I caught a glimpse of the Annual Board and the Annual supporters in my dream, and it made me drowsier than before. '. t last I awoke; but before this I had noticed a change in my dream. I now saw an affair familiarly known as a ‘class scrap arising before my eyes. 1 could see the Sophomores arranged on one side and some of the freshest looking Freshmen on the other side. 1 think I could place the Sophomores as the class afterward known as 05. The ranks surged, the ground was all furrowed with their foot-prints, and then I awoke to find a hurricane raging out of doors. The doctor afterward discoursed learnedly to me about the effects of external stimuli in producing dreams, and also pointed out the effect of the vividness of past mental impressions. “After awakening I was in the state that we may speak of as Self Xo. 2 until someone brought the evening paper and began to read an account of a great battle going on in a distant part of the world. I had a momentary dizziness and caught a glimpse of banners flying, bearing inscriptions in letters like those I learned years ago in Goodwin’s Greek Grammar; I heard the word ‘Barbarians and wondered if by some magic the conflicts of the early Greeks were before my eyes. I craned niv neck to see if I would not recognize Xenophon. f heard ‘fraternity. and wondered if the bloody scenes of the French Revolution were being enacted, but I soon remembered that these I terms have a variety of meanings, and 1 now understand that this was simply a reflex of the annual ebullition of feeling in the University. I saw a Redskin, but soon I recognized the face of an old schoolmate. He was simply a Freshman being initiated. I then felt safer and thought best to regard him as a fellow mortal in need of pity for what seemed to be missing in his equipment. “The dizziness did not last long, and now again as Self Xo. 2. I heard the reader speak of a great election somewhere and then immediately of a balloon ascension, followed by a fearful fall: then of litigation and much trouble. With JS3