[TO THE EDITOR OP THE "SPECTATOR." j Sin, — In answer to
the query of your correspondent in the Spectator of May 10th, I distinctly recollect, though at what
precise age I cannot say, suddenly realising the utter isolation of my own individuality. I shall never forget the feeling of
terror and extreme loneliness which accompanied the sensa- tion, which was followed immediately by another which Mr.
R. Kipling describes accurately in his fascinating story "Kim." His hero soliloquises thus :-
"Who is Kim—Kim—Kim? In a minute, in another half- second, he felt he would arrive at the solution of the tremendous puzzle ; but here, as always happens, his mind dropped away from those heights with the rush of a wounded bird, and passing his hands before his eyes he shook his head."
This sensation has returned more or less vividly some two or three times. The realisation of personal individuality never, I think, after being once experienced, entirely forsakes us. I can see nothing in the instances quoted by Mr. Sherlock to disprove Moberly's view that our idea of personality is an instinct.—I am, Sir, &c.,
ESTHER WARING.
St. Mary's Settlement, Stopforcl _Road, Plaistow, E.
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