"Suppose you should hear a discussion upon the right to coerce a seceded State, and should to-day reach a conclusion as to the truth of the controversy; now, would you to-morrow, in one of your 'states,' remember the discussion?"
"No; certainly not."
"Not even if the discussion had occurred previously to the period affected by your memory?"
"I don't exactly catch, your meaning, Doctor."
"I mean to ask what attitude your mind has, in one of your 'states,' toward unsettled questions."
"No attitude whatever; I know nothing of such, one way or the other."
"How, then, could you ever form an opinion upon a disputed question?"
"I don't know, Doctor; I suppose that if I should ever form an opinion upon anything merely speculative, I should have to do it from new material, or repeated material, of thought."
"But now let us reverse this supposition: suppose that to-morrow you are in one of your 'states,' and you hear a discussion and draw a conclusion; will this conclusion remain with you next week when you have recovered the chain of your memory?"
"Yes."