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HYPNOTISMFirst Edition (Grant Richards), 1903
Second Edition (Alexander Moring, Ltd.), 1906
Third and Cheaper Edition (William Rider & Son, Ltd.), 1913HYPNOTISM

ITS HISTORY, PRACTICE
AND THEORY

by

J. MILNE BRAMWELL, M.B., C.M.

AUTHOR OF 'HYPNOTISM AND TREATMENT BY SUGGESTION,'
AND NUMEROUS ARTICLES ON THE PRACTICE AND THEORY OF HYPNOTISM

THIRD AND CHEAPER EDITION

LONDON
WILLIAM EIDEE & SON, Ltd.
8 PATERNOSTER ROW, E.C.
1913\3H

3 "13^

INTRODUCTION TO THIRD EDITION.

Since the publication of the Second Edition of my book nothing
has been written, as far as I know, which throws any fresh light
on the phenomena of hypnosis and suggestion.

On the other hand, much progress has been made with the
practical side of the subject.

For many years treatment by suggestion has played an im-
portant, and ever-increasing, part in Continental medicine.

It is only of late years, however, that its value has begun to
be acknowledged in this country. Now, many physicians recog-
nise that in functional nervous disorders better results are
frequently obtained by suggestion than by drugs. Some of them
have urged these views upon the profession: thus Sir George
Savage devoted a considerable part of his "Harveian Oration"
to the subject of suggestion, pointed out its importance as a
remedial agent, and cited successful cases of mine with which he
was personally acquainted.

It was in May 1889 that I first employed "suggestion," and
for the last twenty years I have entirely confined myself to that
Jorin of treatment.

J. MILNE BEAM WELL.

j i 17 Wimpole Street,

^ 3 London, W.PJREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION

The First Edition of the above work was practically exhausted in
ten months, and has now, for some time, been entirely out of
print.

Since it appeared, little of importance has been added to the
literature of hypnotism, and nothing which has caused me to
alter the views I have already expressed.

Under these circumstances, I feel justified in making the
Second Edition a practically unaltered reproduction of the First.

J. MILNE BRAMWELL.

33 Wimpole Street,

London, W.

viCONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

PAGE

Introductory..........1

CHAPTER II.

Historical .............3

(A) The Early History of Hypnotism, 3. Mesmer, 3. The Abb6 Faria,
3. Braid, 4. The scientific mesmerists :—John Elliotson, 4 ; and James
Esdaile, 14. The founder of hypnotism, James Braid, 21. His Neuryp-
nology, 23. Later writings, 25. Spread of his reputation abroad, 27.
English studies on Braid, 28. (B) Later History of Hypnotism, 29.
Dr. A. A. Li4beault, 30. The so-called Nancy School, 33. Progress of
hypnotism abroad, 33. Progress in England:—Society for Psychical
Research, 34. Progress in Scotland and Ireland, 35. Committee of the
British Medical Association, 36. History of my own practice, 37.

CHAPTER III

Methods of Inducing and Terminating Hypnosis	.	40

(A) General Methods of inducing Hypnosis: — Mesmer's, Esdaile's,
Braid's, 40 ; Li^beault's, 41 ; Bernheim's, Beaunis', "Wetterstrand's,
42 ; van Eeden and van Renterghem's, Charles Ricliet's, Luys', Yoisin's
(with the insane), 43. (B) Other Methods of inducing Hypnosis:—
Various sensory stimulations, 44. Narcotics: Indian hemp, 44.
Chloroform, 45. Alcohol, Chloral, Morphia, 47. Natural Sleep, 47.
(C) My own Methods, 48. Earlier methods, 48. Later methods, 50.

Direct combination with curative suggestions, 51. (D) Self-suggestion
and Hypnosis, 52. Classification of Methods of Hypnosis, 53. Methods
of terminating Hypnosis:—(1) Physical, 53 ; (2) Psychical, 54. Theo-
retical explanations of the effects produced by different Methods of
terminating Hypnosis, 55.

viiviii

HYPNOTISM

CHAPTER IV,

PAGE

Susceptibility to Hypnosis and the Causes which influence it 57

(1) Average susceptibility and various statistics, 57, My own cases:
(Group I.) from my own practice, 58; (Group II.) sent to me by
colleagues, 58. (2) Susceptibility in reference to the Depth of Hypnosis,
59 :—Nationality, 61. Sex, 61. Age, 62. Social Position, 62. Physical
Condition, 63. Sense Stimulation, 63. Mental Condition :—(a) General
Intelligence, 63. (b) Volition and Attention, 64. (c) Faith, 64. (d)
Self-suggestion, 64. (e) Imitation, 64. (/) Behaviour of spectators,
65. Morbid Mental and Physical Conditions :—(a) Mental excitement
and fear, 65. (b) Insanity, Hysteria, etc., 66. Nervous Diseases and
their Influence on Susceptibility to Hypnosis :—(a) Attention in Disease,
67. (b) Duration of illness, 67. (c) Morbid self-suggestion, 68.
Natural Somnambulism and Hysterical Sleep, 68. Natural Sleep, 68.
Narcotics, 69. Operator, 69. Number of attempts, 71. Conclusion,

72.

CHAPTER Y.

The Experimental Phenomena op Hypnosis . • . . 74

(I.) The Physiological Phenomena of Hypnosis: (A) Changes in the
Voluntary Muscular System, 74 :—Echolalia, 74. Paralysis, 76. Stages
of the Salpetriere School:—Lethargy, Catalepsy, Somnambulism, 77.
Remarks, 77. Summary, 80. (B) Changes in the Involuntary Muscular
and Vasomotor Systems, 81:—Pulse, 81. Respiration, 82. Bleeding,
82. Local Redness of Skin, 83. Blistering, etc., 83. Changes of
Temperature, 84. Remarks, 85. Menstruation, 87. Action of the
Bowels, 87. Urine, 87. Lachrymal Secretion, 87. Perspiration, 88.
Secretion of Milk, 88. (C) Changes in the Special Senses, Muscular
Sense, Common Sensations and Appetites : (1) Increased Action, 89 :—

Sight, 89. Hearing, 89. Smell, 90. Muscular Sense, 90. Common
Cutaneous Sensibility, 91. Thermo-sensibility, 92. Appetites: Hunger
and Thirst, 92. (2) Decreased, Arrested, and Distorted Action, 93 :—
Hallucinations as classified by Li^geois, 93. Motor Hallucinations, 93.
Anaesthesia and Analgesia, 94. Hunger and Thirst, 95. (II.) The
Psychological Phenomena of Hypnosis : (A) Post-Hypnotic Suggestions,
95:—(1) Persistent from Hypnosis, 95. (2) Deferred, 95. (B) Mapport
in Hypnosis, 96. (C) Consciousness in Hypnosis and its Relations to
Post-Hypnotic Memory, 97. (D) Spontaneity in Hypnosis, 98. Defini-
tion of spontaneity, 98 :—(1) Processes independent of external stimuli,
99. (2) Actions elicited, but not conditioned in character by external
stimuli, 99. (E) Memory in Hypnosis:—Unchanged, improved, or dimin-
ished, 100. Persisting during hypnosis ; incomplete to events of hyp-
nosis on awaking, 101. Persisting during hypnosis ; lost as to events of
hypnosis on awaking, 101. Effects of hypnotic training in increasing and
reviving hypnotic memory, 103. Post-hypnotic Amnesia, 104. Sub-
jects unable in response to suggestion to recall during hypnosis certainCONTENTS

events of past hypnoses, 106. Uncertainty whether inhibited sensations
occurred to be remembered, 107. Changes of personality, and alternat-
ing memories, 109. Owing to suggestion, the subject may have forgotten
in hypnosis the events of waking life, or of past hypnoses, 109. Owing
to suggestion, the subject may have forgotten on awaking some or all
of the events of waking life, 109. Owing to suggestion, the subject
may be unable to recall in hypnosis the events of previous hypnoses,
109. Owing to suggestion, the subject may have forgotten on awaking
some or all of the events of waking life, 110. Owing to suggestion, the
subjects may be able to recall in hypnosis or in the waking state the
sensory hallucinations of previous hypnoses, 110. The subject may
recall during hypnosis events of previous hypnoses and of waking life,
the latter better than in the normal condition; and by suggestion
retain this memory on awaking, 111. Memory in Relation to Post-
Hypnotic Suggestions, 111. Memory in "Waking Somnambulism,"
113. (F) Hypnotic and Post-Hypnotic Appreciation of Time :—Earlier
simple experiments, 114. Delboeuf's experiments, 116. Remarks
thereon, 118. My later experiments:—Miss D., 119. Her mental
condition during hypnosis, 122. Suggestions by others put en rapport
with her, 129. Analytical table, 133. Experiments with Miss O., 134.
The question of mal-observation or deception, 135. Absence of ill
results, 136. (G) Automatic Writing in Hypnosis,139. (H) Telepathy,
Clairvoyance, etc., 141. (I) Volition in Hypnosis—Suggested Crimes
—Automatism : their consideration deferred, 143.

CHAPTER VI.

On the Management of Hypnotic Experiments .	144

Braid's list of sources of error, 144. Other sources of error, 144 :—(1)
Collusion of operator and subject, 145. (2) Attempts of subject to
deceive operator, etc., 146. Alleged "spiritualistic" powers, 146. (3)
Unconscious errors of the operator, the subject, or both, 148. Rules to
be observed for trustworthy experimentation, 149.

CHAPTER VII.

The Different Stages of Hypnosis......150

Braid's classification, 150. Classification of the SalpStriere School, 150.
Classification of the Nancy School:—Li6beault's, 151. Bernheim's, 151.

Forel's, 152. Gurney's, 152. Max Dessoir's, 152. Remarks, 152. My
own classification of three stages, 155.

CHAPTER YIH.

Hypnosis in Animals . ........156

Catalepsy only evidence, 156. Induced by physical means alone, 156.
Yerworn's views, 157. Summary, 157.X

HYPNOTISM

CHAPTER IX.

PAOE

Hypnotism in Surgery.....* . .158

Esdaile's Indian cases, 158. Braid's cases, 161. My own cases, 161.

Report on dental cases by Mr. Arthur Turner, 162. Report of Demonstra-
tion to the Profession at Leeds (1890), 164. Other personal cases, 168.
Surgical Cases from other Authors : — (A) Confinements, 169. (B)
Surgical Operations, 172. Hypnotic Anaesthesia—Summary, 174.

CHAPTER X.

Hypnotism in Medicine........177

Motives for choice of cases, 177. (A) Grande HysUriet or Hystero-
Epilepsy, and consequent troubles, 178. (B) Monosymptomatic
Hysteria:—Aphonia, 181, Singultus, 182. Muscular Tremor, 183.
Catalepsy, 183. Muscular Spasm, 185. Hysterical Paralysis, with
Muscular Tremor and Spasm, 186. Various cases by other practitioners:—
Hysterical Paralysis, 189. Aphonia, 189. Singultus, 189. Blepharo-
spasm, 189. Hysterical Tremor simulating Paralysis agitans, 190.

Clonic Torticollis, 190. Clonic Muscular Spasm, 190. Paramyoclonus
multiplex, 191. (C) Various Manifestations of Ordinary Hysteria:—
Dyspepsia, Visceral and Menstrual Troubles, etc., 191. Insomnia, 200.
(D) Mental Troubles of a Hysterical Nature :—Perversions of Sentiment,
Obsessions, Irresistible Impulses, Hallucinations, Melancholia, Maniacal
Excitement, etc., 203. Neurasthenia with Obsessions, etc., 206.
Schrenck-Notzing's tabulated results of 228 neurasthenics, 207. Addi-
tional cases, 208. Perverted Sex, 209. Insanity, etc., 210. Robertson's
experiments with Hypnotism at Morningside Asylum: — (I.) As
a Direct Therapeutic Agent, 216. (II.) For Purposes of Management,
217. Remarks on Hypnotism in Insanity, 217. Voisin's results criti-
cised by Forel, 218. Special points in Voisin's treatment, 220. Dip-
somania and Chronic Alcoholism : (I.) General Results, 221:—(a)
Recoveries, 221. (&) Cases improved, 221. Failures, 222. (II.)
Histories of Illustrative Cases Recoveries, 222. Cases improved, 223.
Failures, 224. (III.) Discussion of the Morbid Conditions involved
and their Treatment by Hypnotism, 225. The Exciting Causes of
Dipsomania, 226. Differences from other forms of intemperance, 227.
Prognosis, 227. Hypnotic Treatment, 228. Morphinomania and other
Drug Habits, 229. Wetterstrand's Cases, 230. Vicious and Degenerate
Children, 232 :—B6rillon's Report to International Congress of Hypno-
tism, Paris, 1889, 232. Illustrative Cases, 233. Enuresis nocturna, 235.
Nocturnal Terrors ; Lies ; Nail-biting, 237. Obsessions, including'' Im-
perative Ideas" :—Involuntary contractions of bladder, 238. Fear of
cancer, 239. Fear of sleep-walking, 240. Folie du doute et dilire du
toucher, 241. Fixed idea of derision, 243. Agoraphobia and morbid
fears, 243. Morbid fears of offending popular superstitions, 244. OtherCONTENTS

cases, 245. Remarks, 245. Distinction between obsessions and true
insanity, 247. Professional obsessions, 251. Ribot's explanation, 253.
Folie du doute et dtlire du toucher inseparable, 254. Hack Tuke's
"automatic" designation inapplicable, 254. Obsessions often of
emotional origin, 255. Their relation to degeneracy, 255. Their transi-
tion from the normal state, 256. Abusive extension of idea of degeneracy
by authors, 256. Epilepsy :—My own cases, 257. Other cases, 258.
Remarks, 260. Chorea, 260. Stammering, 261. Sea-sickness, 262.
Skin Diseases :—Pruritus vulvae and eczema, 263. Hyperhidrosis, 264.
Eczema impetiginoides, 265. Eczema, 265. Hyperhidrosis, 266.
Remarks, 266.

CHAPTER XI.

On the Management of Surgical and Medical Cases .	267

(I.) Surgical Cases ; (II.) Medical Cases, 267. Treatment kept distinct
from experiment, 267. Selection of cases, 268. Three classes of
patients:—(1) Those in whom deep hypnosis has been induced, 268.
(2) Those slightly hypnotised, 269. (3) Those in whom hypnosis is
doubtful or absent, 269. Cases where physical and mental quiet are
impossible, 270. Nature of curative suggestions made, 271. Central
factor of all hypnotic treatment the development of the patient's control
of his own organism, 271.

CHAPTER XII.

Hypnotic Theories . . . . . . . . ,273

Two groups of phenomena:—(1) Those observed in subjects who ex-
hibited the widest range of hypnotic phenomena, and who are usually
termed "somnambules," 273. (2) Therapeutic results which follow
suggestion, but are not associated with the usual phenomena of hypnosis,
274. Theories of the Later Mesmerists, 275. Phenomena supposed to
depend on an emanation from the operator, 275. Indian practice of
Jar-phoonk, 277. Braid's Theories, 278. His first theory (physical),
278. Summary of earlier conclusions, 279. Termination of hypnosis
by current of cold air, 280. Subjective explanation anticipated by
Faria and Bertrand, 280. Braid's distinction of hypnosis and reverie,
281. Belief followed by doubts in phrenology, 281. Change of
methods and abandonment of fixed gazing, 282. Second views:
Hypnotism a condition of mental concentration or monoideism, 283.
Proposed fresh terminology, 284. Spontaneous and induced som-
nambulism ; natural and hypnotic sleep, 285. Effects of magnets, etc.,
due to subject's self-suggestions, 286. Power of suggestion to cause
alterations in bodily functions : increased lactation ; cure of hysterical
paralysis; effects of drugs in sealed tubes, 288. Homoeopathy;
general effects of drugs, 289. Phrenology; Braid gives up belief inxii

HYPNOTISM

effect of touch on the phrenologic organs, 290. Suggestion, passes,
etc. ; the effect of passes modified by suggestion " through the double
conscious memory," 291. Alleged dangers, 292. States analogous to
hypnotism, 293. Summary of Braid's latest theories, 294. Professor
J. Hughes Bennett's theories: Physiological, 294. 'Psychical, 295.
Modern Hypnotic Theories : Charcot's Theory, or that of the Salpetrikre
School, 296. Discussion: Is hypnosis a condition which can only be
induced in the Hysterical? 297. Are women more susceptible than
men ? 298. Are children and old people insusceptible ? 299. Can
hypnosis be induced by mechanical means alone ? Are hypnotic
phenomena divided into three distinct stages ? 299. Is hypnotism ol
little therapeutic value ? 300. Can various physical and mental
phenomena be excited by the proximity of metals, magnets, etc., 300.
Heidenhain's Theory: a "short-circuiting of nervous currents," 302.
Objections thereto, 303. Theories of Vincent and Sidis, 304. Mr.
Ernest Hart's Theory, 305:—Cerebral anaemia, 305. The Theories
of the Nancy School, 307. Their wide divergence, 307. Bernheim's
views a reproduction of Bennett's Psychical Theory, 307. Bernheim's
Theories, 308. Stated, 308. Summarised, 309. Discussed, 309. Ex-
planation of Hypnosis by means of a supposed general analogy between
it and the normal sleeping and waking states, 309. Supposed identity
of Hypnosis and Ordinary Sleep, 310. Supposed analogy between
Hypnotic Phenomena and the Automatic, Involuntary, and Unconscious
Acts of Normal Life, 311. Alleged weakened volition and automatism ;
suggested crime, 311. Definition of automatism, 312. Suggested
crimes the very opposite of automatism, 313. Are hypnotic subjects
sufficiently under the control of the operator to perform acts which
would be opposed by their normal volition ? 314. My own experience,
315. Explanations of refusals of uncongenial suggestions, given by the
subjects in subsequent hypnoses, 319. Statements of subjects hypnotised
as to their general consciousness in antecedent hypnoses, 320. Argu
ments in favour of assumed "helpless obedience " of hypnotised subjects
stated, 323. Cases of other operators analysed, 325. Summary on
suggested crimes, 330. "An Idea has a tendency to generate its
actuality": refuted, 331. "In Hypnosis the Tendency to accept
Suggestions is somewhat increased by the Action of Suggestion itself:
this alone distinguishes the Hypnotic from the Normal State " : refuted,
333. "The Result of Suggestion in Hypnosis is Analogous to the
Result of Suggestion in the Normal State," 334. Statement of results
of suggestion:—(A) In Hypnosis, 334. (B) By means of emotional
states, 335. " Does Suggestion explain Hypnosis and its Phenomena ?"

337.	My reasons for a negative answer, 337. Braid's later Yiews
regarding Suggestion, etc., 338. Contrasted with the Nancy School,

338.	Difference one of theory, not practice, 338. Views of Braid and
Forel on passes, 339. Attention in hypnosis, 339. Attention in the
induction of hypnosis, 340. Does concentration of attention cause
hypnosis ? 341. Rapport and Attention, 342. Bernheim's explanation
ol hypnotic amnesia, 344. Influence of the operator in inducing the
so-called automatism, 345. Instances where the operator has sought
to minimise his own importance, 346. Where he has sought to teach
the subject self-hypnotism, 347. Where after very slight hypnosis the
patient has taught himself to evoke hypnotic phenomena, 347.CONTENTS

xiii

Monoideism: revived by Bernheim, though discarded by Braid, 348.
Bernheim's theory of concentration of attention, 348. Quantity of
attention not limited, 348. In hypnosis numerous distinct phenomena
can be evoked simultaneously, 349. Hypnosis rather a condition of
poly-ideism than of mono-ideism, 350. Moll's Theory, 351:—Dream
consciousness ; hallucinations, positive and negative, 351. Objections,
352. Supposed Analogy between Hypnosis and certain, and often widely
differing, Pathological Conditions (Article in Journal of Mental Science,
1898), 354:—Hysteria, 354. Stupor, 355. L&tah, 356. Benedikt's
Theory, etc., 357. The Secondary or Subliminal Consciousness Theory,
358. Views of "William James, 358. F. W. H. Myers' exposition of
the subliminal consciousness, 358:—The self below the threshold of
ordinary consciousness, 359. Powers of the "subliminal self," 359.
Inhibition of pain ; the great dissociative triumph of hypnotism, 360.
Associative triumphs of hypnotism, 361. The intellectual or moral
achievements of hypnotism, 361. The possible source or origin of
hypnotic control over intimate organic processes, 362. Hysteria, a
disease of the subliminal self, 364. What is a normal man ? 366.
Brigham Young and Sir Isaac Newton contrasted, 366. Theory of the
late Professor Delboeuf, 367 :—Its resemblance to that of Myers, 367.
Suggestion capable of modifying organic changes, 367. Illustrative
cases, 367. Delboeufs explanation of the action of moral on the
physical, 368. Origin of hypnotic powers, 369. Theory of Professor
Beaunis, 370 : — His description of sub - conscious cerebration, 370.
Carpenter's Unconscious Cerebration, 370 :—Intellectual activity some-
times automatic and unconscious, 370. Examples:—Spontaneous
remembrance of a forgotten name, 371. Practical use of " unconscious
cerebration," 372. "Talking tables" and "planchettes," 372. Miss
Cobbe and music-playing, 373. Prelate and his sermons, 873. Oliver
Wendell Holmes and "unconscious cerebration," 374. "Unconscious
cerebration" and invention, 374. Discussion on the "subliminal" or
"secondary consciousness" theory, 374:—The Hypnotic Powers and
the Conditions more immediately associated with them, 375. Voluntary
and involuntary changes in the arrangement of ideas, 375. Inhibition
of sensory impressions in hypnosis, 376. Moral and Volitional Con-
ditions, 377. Hysteria, 378. The Evidence for the Existence of a
Subliminal Consciousness, 378. The question of secondary personalities

378.	Three groups of facts which apparently show the existence of a
secondary consciousness, 378:—(a) Phenomena arising from, or more
or less closely associated with, morbid states, 379. Illustrative cases,

379.	Spontaneous somnambulism, 386. (2>) Facts in support of a
secondary consciousness drawn from normal waking or sleeping life,
387(1) Time appreciation, 387. Cases of Dr. George Savage and
Professor Marcus Hartog, 387. (2) The recollection of forgotten facts
without the association of ideas connected with normal memory, 388.
Personal experiences: lecturing, writing, 389. The so-called inspira-
tions of genius, 390. Myers' "subterranean workshop," 390. (c)
Hypnotic phenomena which apparently support the theory of a
secondary consciousness, 390 :—Memory changes, 390. Time apprecia-

1 tion ; William James' comments on, 391. The " dressmaking problem "
and its solution, 391. Automatic writing, 391. Cases which apparently
afford evidence of the existence of two or more sub-conscious states,xiv

HYPNOTISM

392:—Sarah L., 392. Pierre Janet's cases: Leonie I., II., and III.,
393. Dr. Morton Prince's case: Miss X, I., II., and III., 394.
" Crystal gazing," 395. Gurney's cases of alternating memories in
hypnosis, 396. Remarks, 397. Importance of memory in relation to
sub-conscious states:—Views of William James and Myers; Locke's
"Identity and Diveisity," 397. Theoretical Explanations of Time
Appreciation in Hypnosis, 398. Bernheim's Theory, 398. Objections
to Bernheim's theory, 400. Further objections by Beaunis, 400.
Beaunis' Theory, 402. Paul Janet's objections to the theory of Beaunis,
402. Beaunis' Reply, 403. Discussion on Beaunis' views, 403.
Delbceuf s Theory, 404. Gurney's objections to the theories of Delboeuf
and Beaunis, 404. Gurney's Theory, 407. Discussion on the above
theories, 407. Multiple Personalities in Relation to Time Appreciation
and Calculation, 413: — Miss D.'s case, 413. Granting that separate
personalities exist in a given individual, how did they acquire their
powers ? 415. How have these powers been evoked ? 415. Is it
reasonable to suppose that the hypnotic powers existed in some lower
non-human ancestral type? 415. If we admit that hypnotic powers
are derived from some lowly non-human type, is their easy recovery
probable ? 416. Is it likely that the hypnotic powers should have been
lost in development ? 416. What is the connection between hypnotic
methods and the production of hypnotic phenomena ? 416. Pierre
Janet's Theory, 417 :—The secondary self always a symptom of hysteria,

417.	William James' reply, 417. Discussion on the above theories,

418.	No personal theory to bring forward in substitution for them,
420. The second group of hypnotic phenomena : Therapeutic Results,
when these occur in Conditions unassociated with clear and unmistak-
able Symptoms of Hypnosis, 421. Reasons for selecting the cases
drawn from my own practice, and cited in the chapters on " Hypnotism
in Surgery " and " Hypnotism in Medicine," 421. The above cases now
divided into two classes:—(a) Those in which genuine hypnosis was
induced ; (b) Those in which the characteristic phenomena of hypnosis
were absent, 421. I. Surgical Cases, 421. II. Medical Cases, 422.
Discussion on the conditions involved in Group (6), 423.

CHAPTER XIII.

The So-called Dangers of Hypnotism . . . • » 425

So-called dangers and automatism, 425. Braid's views, 425. Possi-
bility of danger, 425. Evidence of danger doubtful, 424. Yiews of
Charcot and Bernheim, 425. British Medical Journal and dangers,

426.	Moll's views, 426. Articles by X in the Journal of Mental
Science, 427. "Views of Forel and other members of the Nancy School,

427.	Yiews of Drs. Percy Smith, A. T. Myers, and Outterson Wood,

428.	Personal views as to hypnotic dangers, 428. Hypnotic dangers
referred to by X, 428 :—Harm reported by others, 429. Objection® toCONTENTS

xv

X's views, 429. Cases of harm reported by X, 430. Objections to his
statements, 430. Instances of alleged evil results of hypnotic practice
generally nothing but cases of delusional insanity, 431.

CHAPTER XIV.

Summary and Conclusion . .......433

Historical:—Elliotson, Esdaile, Braid, and Li^beault, 433. Methods
of inducing Hypnosis, Susceptibility, etc., 434. The Experimental
Phenomena of Hypnosis, 435. Hypnotism in Medicine, 435 :—Hypno-
tism simply a branch of Medicine, 435. Its value in functional nervous
disorders, 435. Facts to be considered in estimation of hypnotic results,

436.	The true object of all hypnotic treatment, 436. The so-called
Dangers of Hypnotism, 436 :—Experimental cases not followed by bad
effects, 436. Luys' experiments, 437. Hypnotic Theories, 437 :—The
Salp6triere School, 437. Inhibitory theories, 437. The subliminal
consciousness theory, 437. Its connection with Braid's latest theory,

437.	Reasons for doubting the existence of two or more distinct
personalities in the same individual, 438. Difficulty of explaining the
hypnotic state, 439. The future of hypnotism, 439.

CHAPTEE XV.

References ..... ...... 440

French: From the Revue de VHypnotisme, 440. French Books and
Pamphlets, 447. German : From the Zeitschrift fur Hypnotismus, 450.
German Books and Pamphlets, 453. English References, 454. List of
Esdaile's Works, 456. List of Braid's "Works. 460. List of References
to Braid or to his "Work, 463.

APPENDIX.

(A) James Braid........465

Independent account of the origin of Braid's researches, by the late Dr.
Williamson, formerly Professor of Natural History at Owens College,
Manchester, 465.

(

; (B) Spiritualism, Clairvoyance, Telepathy . . . .467

! Spiritualism and the Society for Psychical Research, 467. Dr. Hodgson
! and the Mahatmas, 468. Evil effects of spiritualistic stances, 468.
1 Clairvoyance : those who believe in its existence may be divided into
two groups :—(1) Those who are the victims of self-deception, 468. (2)xvi

HYPNOTISM

PAGE

Oases where the alleged clairvoyant power is assumed for purposes of
deception, 469. Illustrative case, 469. Telepathy and the Society for
Psychical Research, 469. Telepathy and Christian Science, 469.
Suggestion not excluded from telepathic experiments, 469. Curative
telepathic suggestions, 470. Malign telepathic suggestions, 470.

(C) Psychical Impotence....... . .470

INDEX	473

AUTHORS AND AUTHORITIES REFERRED TO .	.477CHAPTEE I.

introductory.

Although of late years hundreds of books have been written on
hypnotism, nearly all have been contributed by foreign workers,
and few have been translated. Apparently the latter do not
fulfil the requirements of English students, as I am frequently
asked for information which they do not contain. I propose,
therefore, not only to refer to my twelve years' hypnotic
practice and research, but also to give such a general account of
the subject as can be brought within reasonable compass.

In the chapter on history, much is purposely omitted that has
already been given by Moll, Li^geois, and others, regarding Mesmer,
his predecessors and immediate followers. On the other hand,
I have drawn particular attention to the work of Elliotson, Esdaile,
and Braid, as what was done, especially by the two former, is
apparently almost entirely forgotten.

I hope the description of the different methods may prove
useful to those who wish to begin hypnotic work.

It is impossible to give anything like a full account of the
medical and surgical cases that have been recorded. I have
therefore (1) selected some from my own practice, and (2) chosen
others, most of which have neither been previously translated
into English nor published abroad in easily accessible form—
the majority being taken from foreign medical journals, etc.

I have found it equally difficult to condense the experimental
phenomena of hypnosis, and have been compelled to give a short
account of most of them; but post-hypnotic appreciation of
time, which apparently has an important bearing on hypnotic
theory, is dealt with in greater detail.

The chapter on stages occupies little space. I have given,

B2

HYPNOTISM

however, more fully the causes which influence susceptibility to
hypnosis, as these are of great practical importance.

I have drawn attention to the importance of care in the
management of medical and particularly experimental cases, as
it is to want of caution in the conduct of the latter that we
owe most of our fallacies.

Hypnotic theories are too numerous and complicated to be
described at length, but the principal ones have been outlined
and discussed.

Finally, I have endeavoured to show what awaits those who
embark on hypnotic practice—to picture its successes and failures,
and the dangers, mainly theoretical, which are said to be associated
with it.CHAPTER II.

historical.

(A) THE EARLY HISTORY OF HYPNOTISM.

Just as chemistry arose from alchemy, astronomy from astrology,
and the therapeutics of to-day were formerly represented by
disgusting compounds, largely drawn from the living or dead
human body, so Hypnotism had its origin in Mesmerism. Hence,
amongst hypnotic phenomena are to be found those mesmeric
ones which have stood the test of a rigorous investigation,
and are now explained in a more scientific way. Phenomena,
such as Mesmer (5. 1734, d. 1815) described, had been observed
from an early date in human history; but after his day they
were usually called by his name and explained by his theory,
i.e. by the action of a mysterious force or fluid, supposed to
emanate from the operator.

The phenomena themselves, the methods supposed to evoke
them, and their theoretical explanation, will be again referred to
more fully. For the present it is only necessary to remember that
the mesmerists believed that they excited the phenomena by
various physical means, such as fixed gazing and passes with con-
tact. The subjects then passed either into a condition resembling
lethargy, in which anaesthesia and other symptoms of decreased
sensibility occurred, or into what was termed " lucid trance," char-
acterised by hyperesthesia of the special senses. The mysterious
force or fluid just referred to was held to explain everything.

In 1814, the Abb£ Faria suggested that the phenomena were
subjective in origin, but his views made little impression and
were soon forgotten. On the other hand, the influence of Mesmer
continued to be widely felt: numerous observers in different

34

HYPNOTISM

countries produced phenomena resembling those he had shown,
and explained them in much the same way.

It is only by studying the work of the later mesmerists,
and contrasting it with that of Braid, that we are able to under-
stand how hypnotism arose, shook itself free from the fallacies
and misconceptions which preceded its birth, and finally estab-
lished itself among the sciences. Ignorance of what was done
by the rival schools of Mesmerism and Hypnotism probably
accounted in some measure, at all events, for the reproduction
of mesmeric errors at the Salp^triere, and for the claims of
the Nancy school to be the discoverers of much that had
already been demonstrated by Braid.

John Elliotson was the leader of a great mesmeric move-
ment which began in England in 1837. This I propose to
sketch, as well as the antagonism between Braid and the
mesmerists, and possibly can do so best by presenting short
histories of Elliotson, Esdaile, and Braid.

JOHN ELLIOTSON.

John Elliotson, the son of a Southwark chemist, was born
in 1791. He received a sound classical education, then went
to Edinburgh and graduated as M.D. He next visited the
most important Continental medical schools, and, on his return
to England, continued his studies at Cambridge and St. Thomas
and Guy's Hospitals.

In 1817, he was appointed assistant physician to St.
Thomas's Hospital, and physician six years later, but only
obtained the privilege of giving clinical lectures with great
difficulty. These were at once successful, and I can best
describe them by giving, almost in his own words, the account
published by a contemporary writer in the Medical Times, vol.
xi. 1844-45. They were telling things, he said, full of
learning, acuteness, careful discrimination, philosophic liberality
and daring, and often wonderfully accurate decisiveness. Their
interest was quite peculiar. The cases were carefully selected,
each stage marked with the greatest nicety, and the principles,
whatever they were, on which the patient was treated, recklessly
bared to the world. In addition, there was a large dash of
novelty, either in the treatment or in its explanation. Elliot-HISTORICAL

5

son's motto was everlastingly " Onward!" If he did not look
with hate, he did with distrust, on all that was old—the past
seemed nothing to him, the future boundless. Beyond the
mere narrative description of disease, he thought that nothing
had been done before his time—that the medical edifice had
yet to be erected, and he was determined to have his full share
of the labour. The spirit of progress had permeated his whole
being. With so much of art unexplored before him, and so
little of life for the task, his genius strove to reach the goal in
leaps, and sought distinction in medicine like a youthful
Napoleon in war. ... We owe to him the employment of
quinine in heroic doses, the recognition of the value of iodide
of potassium, the use of prussic acid in vomiting, iron in chorea,
sulphate of copper in diarrhoea, the employment of creosote, etc.

The Lancet also pointed out that Elliotson had shown how
the heart sounds were influenced by posture, and had also
drawn attention to many other hitherto unnoticed phenomena
connected with auscultation. Elliotson, in fact, was the earliest
to use the stethoscope in England, and began to do so immedi-
ately after the publication of Laennec's work. At first he made
his observations quietly in his hospital wards, but, as soon as
he drew attention to them, he was ridiculed and abused. The
stethoscope, as well as the facts of percussion and auscultation
as described by Avenbrugger, were condemned as fallacies by
the foremost teachers of medicine in London, while, even at a
much later date, they were treated at St. Thomas's with indigna-
tion or silent contempt. At the College of Physicians a senior
fellow, in a Croonian Lecture, denounced the folly of carrying a
piece of wood into a sick-room. Another condemned the
stethoscope as worse than nonsense, and said: " Oh! It's just
the thing for Elliotson to rave about." While a third, on
seeing one on Elliotson's table, said: " Ah! Do you use that
hocus pocus ?" On Elliotson replying that it was highly im-
portant, he added: " You will learn nothing by it, and, if you
do, you cannot treat disease the better."

In 1831, Elliotson was appointed Professor of the Practice
of Medicine at University College. His connection with that
institution and the commencement of his mesmeric researches
were described in the Meclical Times by the writer already
referred to, and I again quote the latter almost in his own words.6

HYPNOTISM

Thus, he said, on the establishment of the University of London,
or, as it is now called, University College, Elliotson moved
there, as to a temple after his own heart, and devoted him-
self enthusiastically to its interests. He was all for the College,
was its great impelling force, and worked for it with an alacrity
and energy that explains much of its early progress. The
Hospital may be said to have been mainly his erection. Yet
here, in the home of his labours, the scene of his triumphs, he
received his greatest check. Dupotet's visit to this country
attracted much attention to mesmerism, and led Elliotson to
investigate the subject. His experiments were successful, and,
believing that he had found an opening into an unexplored science,
he pursued them with zeal and daring enthusiasm. His reckless
independence made many enemies, and official opposition to
mesmerism led him to resign his Hospital appointments. Not-
withstanding this, Elliotson adhered to mesmerism, and sacrificed
to it friends, position, and practice, but still looked sanguinely
forward to the hour when the profession would say of it as of
creosote, iodide of potash, prussic acid, auscultation, etc.: " Useful
novelties if properly employed."

This account understates both the amount of mesmeric work
done at University College and the opposition it received. The
demonstrations of Chenevix, in 1829, first drew Elliotson's attention
to the subject, but it was only after seeing Dupotet, in 1837, that
he commenced his own researches. In conjunction with his
clinical clerk, Mr. Wood, he regularly mesmerised some of the
patients, and obtained important therapeutic results. His students,
as well as those of other hospitals, soon became greatly interested,
and attended in such numbers that Elliotson was obliged to
mesmerise in the theatre, instead of in the wards. His colleagues,
while boasting of their refusal to witness his demonstrations,
persecuted and annoyed him in many petty and disgraceful ways.
The Dean, in advising him to desist, urged that the interests of
the School ought to be considered, rather than those of science and
humanity, and that the risk of the loss of public favour was of
more importance than the truth of the wonderful facts alleged, or
of their benefit in the treatment of disease. To this Elliotson
replied " that the institution was established for the discovery
and dissemination of truth; all other considerations were
secondary, and we should lead the public, not the public us.HISTORICAL

7

The sole question was whether the matter were the truth or
not."

In 1838, the Council of University College passed the following
resolution: " That the Hospital Committee be instructed to take
such steps as they shall deem most advisable to prevent the
practice of mesmerism or animal magnetism in future within the
Hospital." Elliotson was therefore ordered to cease mesmerising
his patients, and immediately resigned his appointments, never
afterwards entering either College or Hospital. He felt the insult
keenly, especially as he was senior physician, and had done much
to increase the reputation and prosperity of the School. In
addition, the Hospital owed its origin to him, and he had made
enemies amongst his colleagues by insisting that the Medical
School was inefficient without one. Further, he asserted that
the action of the Council was unreasonable, as the majority
of its members had refused to witness his experiments or even to
discuss the subject with him.

In 1846, Elliotson's turn came to deliver the Harveian
Oration, but, as soon as it was known that he had accepted the
office, he was attacked in the most savage manner, in order to
prevent his appearing. For example, the Lancet called him a
professional pariah, stated that his oration would strike a vital
blow at legitimate medicine, and would be a black infamy degrad-
ing the arms of the College.

Undeterred by this, Elliotson made mesmerism the subject of
his address. Without referring to the attacks which had been
made upon him, he simply stated the result of his researches, and
respectfully invited the College to examine alleged facts of over-
whelming interest and importance. He exhorted his hearers to
study mesmerism calmly and dispassionately, and reminded them,
with more truth than tact, that all the greatest discoveries in
medical science, and the most important improvements in its
practice, had been opposed by the profession in the most violent
and unprincipled manner. As examples of scientific discoveries
which had been received in this way, he cited those of the lacteal
vessels, the thoracic duct, the sexual system of plants, the circula-
tion of the blood, the sounds of the chest and their relation to the
diseases of the heart and lungs and their coverings, etc. As
instances of improvement in practice which had been treated
in like manner, he referred to the employment of Peruvian bark,8

HYPNOTISM

inoculation and vaccination for small-pox, the use of mild
dressings, instead of boiling oil, in gun-shot wounds, the ligature
of the bleeding vessels after operation, instead of the application
of burning pitch or red-hot irons, etc. We should, Elliotson said,
never forget these things, nor allow authority, conceit, habit, or
the fear of ridicule to make us hostile to truth. We should
always have before our eyes that memorable passage in Harvey's
works: " True philosophers, compelled by the love of truth and
wisdom, never fancy themselves so wise and full of sense as not
to yield to truth from any source and at all times: nor are they
so narrow-minded as to believe any art or science has been
handed down in such a state of perfection to us by our predecessors
that nothing remains for future industry." All this, Elliotson said,
should be borne in mind when considering the alleged facts of
mesmerism. In his opinion many of these were indisputable;
for ten years he had shown how mesmerism could prevent pain
during surgical operation, produce sleep and ease in sickness, and
even cure many diseases which had been unrelieved by ordinary
methods. It was the imperative and solemn duty of the profession
to carefully and dispassionately examine the subject. He there-
fore earnestly implored them to do so, if they cared for truth,
their own dignity, and the good of mankind.

In 1843, Elliotson and his sympathisers started the Zoist, a
journal for the collection and diffusion of information connected
with cerebral physiology and mesmerism. It appeared quarterly,
from April, 1843, until it was discontinued on ^December 31st,
1855. Its writers then claimed that its object had been fulfilled
—-their views had been made public for thirteen years. The whole
work comprises thirteen volumes, averaging about 500 pages each.

Elliotson was a constant writer in the Zoist, and con-
tributed many medical and surgical cases observed by himself
or others. These comprised amputations of the thigh, leg, arm,
breast, etc., which had been performed painlessly during mesmeric
trance in England and Scotland, as well as on the Continent and
in America. The most important operations, however, were those
recorded by Esdaile in India, and published in the Zoist from
time to time. Cure or improvement was alleged to have followed
mesmeric treatment in insanity, epilepsy, hystero-epilepsy,
hysteria, stammering, neuralgia, asthma, torticollis, headache,
functional affections of the heart, rheumatism, and other diseases,HISTORICAL

9

Elliotson asserted that mesmerism was especially useful in
hysteria and other functional nervous disorders. These diseases,
he said, were generally misunderstood, and treated in a worse
than useless manner by blistering, bleeding, and salivation.
Marriage, with disastrous results, was sometimes suggested as a
remedy for hysterical women, on the supposition that the disease
was essentially of a sexual character. It was not, however,
necessarily connected with the uterus, nor confined to the female
sex, but occurred frequently both in boys and men. Mesmerism,
not medicine, was the appropriate treatment for hysteria.

In addition to mesmerism, sanitation, education, the undue
harshness of the criminal code, and the insufficient attention paid
to the mental condition of criminals, were subjects which occupied
prominent places in the Zoist, and views were expressed which,
though long since accepted, were doubtless at that time regarded
as extremely revolutionary.

In an essay entitled "Physical Well-being, a Necessary
Preliminary to Moral and Intellectual Progression" attention was
forcibly drawn to the evils arising from the overcrowded and
insanitary conditions of the houses of the poor.

The crying necessity for national education was insisted upon,
and the injustice of a Government scheme, afterwards given up,
was thus referred to: " Dissenters are to be compelled to pay to-
wards the support of schools where religious doctrines are taught
of which they disapprove, and the schools are to be under the
absolute control of the clergy. Not only must they pay for
exclusive Church schools and send their children to them, but
they are themselves debarred from receiving one farthing from
the poor-rates towards their own schools. . . . Education is the
proper remedy for crime, and there ought to be a national system
of education, apart from religious belief and sectarian influence."

As the result of the influence of the Zoist, a Mesmeric Infirm-
ary was opened in London, and Mesmeric Institutions were formed
in Edinburgh, Dublin, and elsewhere. At one of these, in
Exeter, Mr. Parker, surgeon, claimed to have mesmerised 1200
persons, and to have performed 200 painless surgical operations.
The medical journals almost entirely ignored the surgical and
therapeutic claims of mesmerism, and usually only referred to it
in order to assail its followers with the most violent abuse. In
the Lancet of July 31st, 1847, for example, the following editorialIO

HYPNOTISM

statement appeared: " Of course the parties concerned in the
infamous publication (the Zoisf) are in a state of perpetual
mortification at their fallen and degraded position, and therefore
they bite and rail; the leper [sic] must be taken with his spots."

The subjects of the various surgical operations were uni-
versally regarded either as impostors or as persons insensible
to pain. In Nottinghamshire, in 1842, Mr. Ward, surgeon,
amputated a thigh during mesmeric trance; the patient lay
perfectly calm during the whole operation, and not a muscle was
seen to twitch. The case, reported to the Eoyal Medical and
Chirurgical Society, was badly received; and it was even asserted
that the patient had been trained not to express pain. Dr.
Marshall Hall suggested that the man was an impostor, because
he had been absolutely quiet during the operation; if he had
not been simulating insensibility, he would have had reflex
movements in the other leg. Dr. Copland proposed that no
account of such a paper having been read before the Society
should be entered in its minutes. He asserted that "if the
history of the man experiencing no agony during the operation
were true, the fact was unworthy of their consideration, because
pain was a wise provision of nature, and patients ought to suffer
pain while their surgeons were operating; they were all the
better for it and recovered better." Eight years afterwards, Dr.
Marshall Hall publicly stated at a meeting of the Society that
the patient had confessed that he had suffered during the opera-
tion. The doctor was promptly challenged to give his authority,
and replied that he had received the information from a personal
acquaintance, who, in his turn, had received it from a third
party, but that he was not permitted to divulge their names, and
would not give any further information on the subject. The
man was still living, and signed a solemn declaration to the
effect that the operation had been absolutely painless. Dr. Ash-
burner attended the next meeting, and asked permission to read
this statement in opposition to Dr. Marshall Hall's, but the
Society would not hear him.

Elliotson opposed and constantly attacked spiritualism, but,
on the other hand, shared the mesmeric errors of his day; he
believed in clairvoyance, phrenology, and odylic force, and trans-
lated Burq's Metallo- Therapia.

Elliotson's fallacies, especially as to clairvoyance, were eagerlyHISTORICAL

ii

seized upon by his opponents, and made the subject of constant
and virulent attack. He, in his turn, assailed what he regarded
as medical errors. Thus, in referring to the treatment of a case
of nervous exhaustion by blood-letting, he said ammonia and not
the lancet was required. He asserted that the indiscriminate
use of blood-letting, and other debilitating measures, had caused
the death of thousands of human beings, and had left a still
greater number enfeebled for the rest of their lives. Formerly,
the surgeries of country practitioners were crowded at spring and
fall with healthy persons waiting to be bled. He had protested
against this practice thirty years ago, but now medical men had
run into the other extreme, and had entirely abandoned depletion,
which, in properly selected cases, was a valuable remedy.

As to the administration of medicines, Elliotson said, our aim
should be to benefit the patient with the smallest number of
grains or drops, but the dose ought to be steadily increased until
the system had felt its power. Some practitioners had actually a
fixed dose for each medicine; others changed their prescriptions
incessantly, and the patient believed he had tried everything,
whereas time had simply been wasted. Thus, one of the physi-
cians at University College Hospital made a clean sweep at every
visit of all the drugs he had prescribed at the previous one. The
public had no conception of the absurd mode in which medicines
were administered; for example, when iodide of potassium was

first introduced Sir-began by opposing it, then prescribed

it in the invariable dose of two grains, never giving more, even if
it produced no effect.

Elliotson also complained of the role played by fashion in
medicine. For thirty years, he said, the liver was the favourite
organ; all diseases were referred to it, all treatment directed to
it. Of late the kidneys had had an equal run; but he was sick
of hearing about renal diseases, and twenty years previously had
steadily opposed the doctrine that albumen in the urine neces-
sarily indicated structural disease of the kidneys.

r E|liotson found children easy to mesmerise, and stated that
.he could thus cure or relieve many of their diseases; at the same
sime he insisted upon the injury done to them by the ordinary
medical treatment of his time. His views on the management
of children were remarkable, and he drew a vivid picture of their
^sufferings from the cruelty of parents, medical men, and teachers.12

HYPNOTISM

What he said about corporal punishment might be read with
profit by those who are still advocating its retention in girls'
schools. Children suffering from nervous diseases were made
worse, he said, by being needlessly tortured with blisters and
'other external irritants. Yet the little creatures were far more
sensitive than we were, and felt more pain from an equal cause.
When he thought of medical men's cruelty to innocent little
children, he often wished their complaints had been left to nature.
yS If well treated and managed, children were positively heavenly
' beings, far superior to their elders in moral excellence. They
were affectionate, confiding, and disposed to truth, and yet, at
^libme, at school, and elsewhere, they were the most persecuted ot
-^all human beings. Their faults resulted from bad management, and
could be corrected by good example and advice. Dulness and
crossness were often the result of over-fatigue, and the poor child
^was punished when he ought really to have been sent to bed.
Many little things made us cross, but no allowance was made for
the young. Convulsions sometimes arose from over-work, and
r terror was no uncommon cause of nervous affections. Such
maladies were often not recognised, and punished as obstinate
faults. St. Vitus' dance, local twitchings and the like were
often supposed to be due to bad habits or obstinacy. Momentary
fits of epileptic unconsciousness, little paroxysms of insanity,
causing absurdity or anger for a few minutes, were frequently
mistaken for bad conduct, and the child punished accordingly.

As far as I can learn, Elliotson, up to the time of his death,
continued to believe in clairvoyance and other alleged mesmeric
phenomena of a similar nature. The following statement, how-
ever, at the conclusion of the last volume of the Zoist, indicated
that these beliefs were losing ground among its writers: " Ex-
amples of clairvoyance abound in all the volumes, but, though
this phenomenon appears unquestionable, we all know that gross
imposition is hourly practised in regard to it, both by professional
clairvoyants and private individuals considered to be trustworthy,
but influenced by vanity and wickedness. The assertions of a
clairvoyant are to be believed in scarcely one instance out of a
hundred, and only then when they are free from the possibility
of lucky guess or trickery, and the facts otherwise verified. A
host of clairvoyants are impostors."

One of the contributors to the Zoist has certainly changed hisHISTORICAL

*3

views on the subject of phrenology. I refer to Herbert Spencer,
who appears there as the author of the following essays : "A
New View of the Functions of Imitation and Benevolence," " On the
Situation of the Organ of Amativeness" " A Theory concerning the
Organ of Wonder " !

Although Elliotson was firmly convinced of the value of
mesmerism as a remedial agent, he contented himself with
urging its claims in the Zoist. He did not consider it universally
applicable, and only suggested it in cases which he thought
specially suitable, and where, in addition, there existed no
prejudice concerning it. In all other instances he treated his
patients by ordinary methods, and still displayed the same high
diagnostic and therapeutic powers for which he had been so
justly celebrated. Despite this, he was constantly abused and
attacked in the grossest manner possible, the term madman being
one of the mildest that was applied to him. Of this he com-
plained at last in strong and pathetic terms. For fifteen years,
he said, he had supported the unprovoked persecution of his
professional brethren. He had been ridiculed and abused by
them in their daily conversations among themselves and their
patients, and in all the medical journals. Those who had
formerly called him in consultation had now not only ceased to
do so, but were untiring in their efforts to prevent his being
employed by others, and thus his professional income had been
reduced two-thirds. This, however, was not his greatest
affliction; one, in whose judgment he had confided, had caused
him losses equal to his professional ones, and, what was worse
than all, those whom he had loved from infancy had unexpectedly
turned upon him without provocation, and conducted themselves
in such a way as nothing but mental aberration could explain.

In 1829, Elliotson delivered the Lumley Lectures, his subject
being " The Recent Improvement in the Art of distinguishing
various Diseases of the Heart" These he published in 1830.
He also contributed many papers on different subjects to the
medical journals, translated Blumenbach's Physiology, and, at a
later date, brought out an independent work on the same subject,
as well as on the Principles and Practice of Medicine. He was
Censor of the Eoyal College of Physicians, and President of the
Eoyal Medical and Chirurgical Society of London.

Elliotson, who had never married, died, after a lingering14

HYPNOTISM

illness, on July 29th, 1868, in Davies Street, Berkeley Square, in
the house of his friend, Dr. Symes, a former pupil who had
always been devoted to him.

JAMES ESDAILE.

James Esdaile, son of the Kev. Dr. Esdaile of Perth, was born
on February 6th, 1808. He graduated at Edinburgh in 1830,
and then obtained an appointment in the East India Company.

On April 4th, 1845, when in charge of the Native Hospital at
Hooghly, Esdaile made his first mesmeric experiment, his subject
being a Hindoo convict with double hydrocele. As the usual
injection had produced severe pain, Esdaile tried to mesmerise
the patient, but did not expect to succeed, as he knew nothing
about mesmerism except what he had read of Elliotson's doings.
The man, however, fell into a deep trance, and became profoundly
analgesic. Encouraged by this, and a still more striking success
with the same patient, Esdaile continued his experiments, and
soon reported seventy-five mesmeric operations to the Medical
Board. His letter was not even acknowledged. At the end of
the year, when his operations atoiounted to over a hundred, he
placed the results before the Government. The Deputy-Governor
of Bengal, Sir Herbert Maddock, at once appointed a Committee
of Investigation, mainly composed of medical men. Their report
was an extremely favourable one. On receiving it, the Govern-
ment sent the following official communication to the President
of the Committee :—

"The Committee's report has been ordered to be published, and the
Deputy-Governor entirely concurs with the remark of the President in
Council, that it is sufficient for the present that it should be allowed to work
its own way towards producing conviction among the profession and the
public, and, at this stage, any more direct encouragement on the part of the
Government to the general introduction of mesmeric practice would be
premature. But so far has the possibility of rendering the most serious
operations painless to the subject of them been, in his Honour's opinion,
established by the late experiments performed under the eye of the Com-
mittee appointed for that purpose, as to render it incumbent on the
Government to afford to the meritorious and zealous officer by whom the
subject was first brought to its notice, such assistance as may facilitate his
investigations, and enable him to prosecute his interesting experiments under
the most favourable and promising circumstances.

" With this view his Honour has determined, with the sanction of theHIS TO RICA L

Supreme Government, to place Dr. Esdaile for a year in charge of a small
experimental hospital, in some favourable situation in Calcutta, in order that
he may, as recommended by the Committee, extend his investigations to
the applicability of this alleged agency to all descriptions of cases, medical as
well as surgical, and all classes of patients, European as well as Native.
Dr. Esdaile will be directed to encourage the resort to his hospital
of all respectable persons, especially medical and scientific, whether in
or out of the service, who may be desirous of satisfying themselves of the
nature and effect of his experiments, and his Honour will nominate, from
among the medical officers of the Presidency, "Visitors," whose duty it
will be to visit the hospital from time to time, inspect Dr. Esdaile's pro-
ceedings, without exercising any interference, and occasionally, or when
called upon, report upon them, through the Medical Board, for the in-
formation of the Government. On these reports will mainly depend what
future steps the Government may deem it expedient to take in the matter.—
I have the honour to be, Gentlemen, your most obedient servant,

Fred. J as. Halliday,

Secretary to the Government of Bengal"

In accordance with this, a small hospital in Calcutta was
placed at Esdaile's disposal by the Government in November,
1846, and the following official visitors appointed: R.
Thompson, M.D.; D. Stewart, M.D.; J. Jackson, F.RC.S.; F.
Mouatt, M.D.; and R. O'Shaughnessy, F.R.C.S. Esdaile was as
successful here as he had been at Hooghly, the class of cases
and the character of the operations being very similar. At the
end of the year (December, 1847), the medical officers reported
that complete insensibility to pain was obtained by mesmerism
in the most severe operations, and that its influence in reducing
shock was decidedly favourable.

In June, 1847, Esdaile wrote to the Government of Bengal
as follows:—

" Since his Honour the Deputy-Governor has determined upon printing
the Keport of the Mesmeric Hospital for the last six months, I hope that I
may be permitted to take this opportunity to make a few remarks on the
working and prospects of the experimental hospital so liberally and
benevolently established by the Government.

" For some months we were almost exclusively occupied with surgery, the
fame of painless operations having eclipsed the less striking, but even more
important, medical relations of the subject; but these are now becoming more
generally known by the public, and medical results have already been
obtained of an important and highly encouraging description, and other
cases now in hand of the gravest nature, such as palsy, epilepsy, madness,
and other painful nervous affections, promise to repay our labours amply.
But these cases are so old and inveterate that it requires long treatment toi6

HYPNOTISM

make an impression on them, and protracted observations before we can be
sure of our results.

" The surgical cases, for reasons well known to you, are almost all of one
description (the removal of the enormous tumours of elephantiasis), but
fortunately for the demonstration of the anodyne and narcotic power of
mesmerism, the operations have generally been the most severe and dangerous
that are required to be performed on the human body, A greater variety of
both surgical and medical cases is, however, desirable, and could be easily
found in the public hospitals of Calcutta. It is in the practice of large
hospitals, with their ever-varying patients and incidents, that the general
utility of mesmerism will be best and most speedily illustrated. . . .

"... In conclusion, I would beg leave to direct respectfully the attention
of the Government to the statistics of the subject, it being a point of much
interest to ascertain the ratio of mortality under the old and the new school
of surgery. For this purpose I have the honour to append a return of all
the mesmeric operations performed by me, now amounting to 133, and I
hope the Government will think the subject of sufficient importance to call
for the necessary means of comparison from the different hospitals in Calcutta."

Before the end of the year of trial, a petition was sent to the
Governor-General, signed by over 300 Native gentlemen of
Calcutta, praying for the continuance of the Mesmeric Hospital,
on the ground that they had studied the reports, personally
witnessed many of the operations and their results, and had
satisfied themselves of their value.

Despite the favourable report of the official visitors, and the
petition already referred to, the Mesmeric Hospital was closed.
A second one, however, entirely supported by voluntary sub-
scriptions, mainly drawn from Native sources, was opened on
September 1st, 1848, and Esdaile placed in charge. This was
continued for six months, then closed, as the Deputy-Governor
appointed Esdaile to the Sarkea's Lane Hospital and Dispensary,
for the express purpose of combining mesmerism with the
common practice of medicine.

Before Esdaile left India he had performed thousands of
painless minor operations and about 300 capital ones.
Amongst the latter were nineteen amputations and one lithotomy,
but by far the greatest number were for the removal of the
enormous scrotal tumours so common in India. Details of some
cases will be given in the chapter on " Hypnotism in Surgery"; but
his own and more extended account of his work, and the flocking
of the Natives to be operated on under the new anaesthetic, form
one of the most fascinating pages in the history of medical
science. The removal of the larger scrotal tumours was con-HISTORICAL

17

sidered so dangerous that few surgeons eared to attempt it. Dr.
Goodeve {Trans. Medical and Physical Society of Calcutta, vol.
vii.) put the mortality at 50 per cent. Although many of
Esdaile's cases were particularly formidable ones, upon which
other surgeons had refused to operate, his mortality in 161
consecutive cases was only 5 per cent. Further, none of the
fatal cases died immediately after operation, all deaths subsequently
resulting from fever, cholera, or like causes.

At first Esdaile mesmerised all the patients himself; but,
after doing so for six weeks, he became extremely exhausted, and
suffered from irritability and sleeplessness. He therefore in-
structed his Native hospital assistants how to mesmerise, and,
except on rare occasions, confined himself to the performance
of operations.

Esdaile's mesmeric work was constantly attacked in the
Indian medical journals. It was asserted that the coolies of
Bengal enjoyed being operated on, and that, knowing Esdaile's
hobby, they came from all quarters in order to please him.
Esdaile was described as an honest fool, who was deceived by
his patients—a set of hardened aiid determined impostors. In
reply, Esdaile drew attention to the following facts :—(1) During
the six years previous to 1845, he had only operated on eleven
cases of scrotal tumour, but, since using mesmerism, he had had
more operations of this kind in a month than took place in all
the other Native hospitals in Calcutta in a year. (2) During
operation the patients remained perfectly quiet, and showed
neither the ordinary nor the physiological signs of pain, i.e. the
characteristic changes in pulse and pupil did not occur. (3) The
same patients showed signs of acute pain when operated on in the
waking state. (4) There was no pain after operation, when this
had taken place during mesmeric trance, and the patients on
awaking generally asked for food. In conclusion, Esdaile pointed
out that his patients constantly sent him others, and asked
whether it was more likely they had told their friends that they
had cheated him into believing they were asleep, or truly assured
them that they had had their tumours removed during painless
trance.

It was asserted also that if Esdaile's patients were not all
impostors, they were certainly all hysterical. Esdaile replied
that he did not see how hysteria could have got into his hospitals,

ci8

HYPNOTISM

where he had never seen it before—coolies and felons not being
at all nervous subjects. If that charge were true, fashionable
surgeons, who had the disease and antidote ready to their hands,
should have no difficulty in performing painless operations. He
therefore would soon expect to hear that " Lady Tantrum " had
had her arm cut off in a fit of hysterics without knowing it.

Esdaile complained that no account of his painless operations
was published in any of the medical journals, and that their
editors purposely kept the facts from the profession. Yet in a
year's report of the Calcutta Mesmeric Hospital were to be found
accounts of 62 capital operations, with 3 deaths, and 640
miscellaneous operations. As all this had been going on regularly
for four years, surely it was worthy of mention, if only as an
example of epidemic insanity. What reader of English medical
journals, he asked, had ever heard of the report of the Mesmeric
Committee and Hospital, published by order of the Government,
or of the second Mesmeric Hospital in Calcutta, which was still in
full operation ?

Chloroform was introduced into India before Esdaile left, and
he attempted to show its inferiority to mesmerism. Some of his
objections were undoubtedly due to his strong feeling in favour of
mesmerism; others arose from the frequency of the disagreeable
or dangerous results, which not unnaturally followed the use of
a new and little - understood method of inducing anaesthesia.
Esdaile found nine cases of death from chloroform reported in the
only medical journal he happened to have at hand at the time,
and contrasted this with 100 capital operations performed by him
in the mesmeric trance. Of the latter only two died within the
month—one of cholera and one of tetanus—and there had been
neither pain during or after operation, nor disagreeable local or
general after-effects.

When the American Congress, of 1853, offered a prize of
10,000 dollars to the discoverer of the anaesthetic powers of ether,
described as the earliest anaesthetic, Esdaile sent an indignant
protest. He did not claim the reward, but drew attention to the
well-known fact that painless mesmeric surgery was daily per-
formed in his hospitals years before ether was heard of.

Although Esdaile's operations formed the most striking part
of his work, many of his medical cases are interesting, and some
of the more remarkable will be cited in the chapter on " HypnotismHISTORICAL

19

in Medicine." He frequently obtained brilliant results in cases of
functional paralysis, but warned both practitioner and patient that
time and perseverance were often necessary, especially in long-
standing cases. His explanation of the action of mesmerism in
diseased conditions will be discussed when dealing with " Theory."

Until he left India in 1851, Esdaile devoted himself entirely
to mesmeric work. Not only did this bring him no pecuniary
profit, for it involved no increase in his official salary, but he also
sacrificed for its sake all private practice and other chances of
money-making.

After leaving India, Esdaile settled in Perth, but his interest
in mesmerism remained unabated. On September 15th, 1851,
he wrote to Elliotson as follows:—

"Before leaving Calcutta, I had the satisfaction of seeing Dr. Webb, Pro-
fessor of Anatomy, gazetted as my successor at the Mesmeric Hospital."

This was the same Dr. Webb who said, in his introductory
lecture at the Medical College of Calcutta:—

" The practicability, which has been daily demonstrated in the Mesmeric
Hospital in this city, of performing the most dreadful operations of surgery
without pain to the patient, must be regarded as the greatest medical triumph
of our day. I cannot recall without astonishment the extirpation of a cancer-
ous eye, while the man looked at me unflinchingly with the other one. In
another case, the patient looked dreamily on with half-closed eyes the whole
time of the operation, even while I examined the nature of the malignant
tumour I had removed, and then, having satisfied myself, concluded the
operation."

I was for some time puzzled by the fact that I could dis-
cover no mention of Dr. Webb in connection with the Mesmeric
Hospital after Esdaile left India, but the following letter from
Webb to Elliotson supplied the information:—

"I had risen," wrote Dr. Webb, "so high in the estimation of my friend
Esdaile that he made it a last request with the Government that I should
succeed to the Mesmeric Hospital. Should you see him, he will learn with
surprise that the charge which was promised him and given me, as I under-
stood, was supposed never to have been given, and conferred on some one
else who never had a mesmeric case."

In a letter to Elliotson, on September 29th, 1851, Esdaile
thus explained why he had left India:—

" My reasons for leaving India were simply that I hated the climate, the
country, and all its ways from the moment I set foot in it, and had long
determined to quit it at the first practicable moment, which I have accord-20

HYPNOTISM

ingly done. Knowing that all the wealth of India could not bribe me to
remain a moment after the expiration of my period of service, I was per-
fectly indifferent to being called an advertising quack, etc., for addressing
the public through the newspapers—their only source of information—the
medical journals having combined to suppress all evidence on the subject of
mesmerism. I could well afford to laugh at the attempts to injure me and
my practice, the truth being that I did not care a straw about it. If I lived
a few years, I knew that my actions would give the lie to the friendly com-
mentators on my conduct, who gave out that I was agitating for a place in
Calcutta, in order to drive a great trade there like themselves. You may
imagine their astonishment and delight at seeing me give up, almost as soon
as got, what to them is the summum bonum of good fortune—a good place
:n Calcutta with the prospect of a great practice. . . ."

On December 9th, 1852, Esdaile informed Elliotson that the
inhabitants of the Far North were as susceptible to mesmerism as
those of the Farthest East. Dr. Fraser Thompson, surgeon to the
Perth Infirmary, became a convert, and employed mesmerism in
a variety of diseases. He successfully operated also on some
patients in that institution, but his colleagues promptly called a
meeting of the directors, and stated that they would resign if the
practice of mesmerism were permitted in the hospital.

In March, 1852, Esdaile published a pamphlet on The
Introduction of Mesmerism as an Ancesthetic and Curative Agent
into the Hospitals of India, which he dedicated to the members
of the medical profession. In this he complained bitterly of his
treatment by the editors of different medical journals, and of their
determined attempt to suppress all evidence in favour of mes-
merism. Professor J. Y. Simpson, of Edinburgh, had written to
Esdaile to the effect that he owed it to himself and his profession
to let his proceedings be known in England. In response to this,
Esdaile sent an account to an English medical journal of 161
scrotal tumours removed during mesmeric trance. The history
of what followed, and Esdaile's opinion of the treatment he
received, I shall give in his own words:—

" My article was not published, and I then sent a more general paper con-
taining a r&umtf of my surgical work. This was rejected for its unpractical
character! I have heard that it is given as a reason for not printing my
paper that, though no one now denies my facts, these apply to the Natives of
India only. But, as far as I know, no medical journal has admitted the
reality of painless mesmeric operations, even for India, or inserted one of the
numerous European cases reported from London, Paris, Cherbourg, etc. . . .
They will not admit, or permit you even to hear of, such indisputable facts,
through fear of the consequences. But, supposing the Natives of India wereHISTORICAL

21

alone concerned, is it of no interest to the surgeon, the physician, the physi-
ologist, and the natural philosopher, to know that the hundred and twenty
millions of our Eastern subjects (one would suppose they were monkeys) are
so susceptible to mesmeric influence that painless surgical operations, and
other medical benefits from mesmerism, are their natural birthright? You
have been told all along by your journals that your medical brethren
engaged in studying mesmerism are either fools or quacks. But how men
like myself, who neither want, nor will accept, private practice, can be
reduced to the category of quacks I do not well see. If we are fools, we
ought to be encouraged to write ourselves down as such, as the speediest and
most effectual way of exposing us. I am convinced that you and I are
agreed on one point, namely, in liking to be allowed to judge for ourselves,
and that you will not submit to be hoodwinked or led by the nose by
persons we pay to keep us well informed of new facts, and the progress made
in our profession all over the world. To pretend that there is a free medical
press in Great Britain is a mockery and a delusion. And the proof of this
is that medical men, who pledge their unblemished private and professional
reputation for the truth of their statements, are not allowed to be heard by
you in your professional organs, if what they advance is contrary to the pre-
judices and foregone conclusions of the editors. . .

After a time Esdaile found the climate of Scotland too cold,
a weakness of the lungs having been his reason for going to India
in the first instance, and he removed to Sydenham, where he died,
on January 10th, 1859, at the age of fifty. He had been
married three times, but had no children.

A list of all Esdaile's published works that I have been able
to trace will be found in the chapter of Eeferences.

JAMES BKAID.

The name of James Braid is familiar to all students of
hypnotism, and is rarely mentioned by them without due credit^
being given to the important part he played in rescuing that^
science from ignorance and superstition. Eegret is usually
expressed, however, that he held many erroneous views, which
it is claimed the researches of more recent investigators have
disproved. The following, as far as I can gather from hypnotic
works, and from conversation with those interested in hypnotism,
are the opinions almost universally held:—(1) Braid was an
English surgeon. (2) He believed in phrenology. (3) He was
the discoverer or rediscoverer of the subjective origin of hypnotic
phenomena. (4) He knew nothing of suggestion. In all this,22

HYPNOTISM

one thing alone is correct, namely, that Braid was the rediscoverer
of the subjective nature of hypnotic phenomena. This estimate
of Braid has arisen from imperfect knowledge of his writings.
Few seem to be acquainted with any of his works except
Neurypnology, or with the fact that this was only one of the
first of a long series on the subject of hypnotism, and that later
his views completely changed.

James Braid, who was born at Rylaw House in Fifeshire about
1795, was educated at Edinburgh, and qualified there as a
surgeon. After practising in Scotland for some years, he removed
to Manchester, where he remained up to the time of his death,
and gained a high reputation as a skilful physician and surgeon.

On November 13th, 1841, Braid, for the first time, was
present at a mesmeric stance: the operator was Lafontaine.1 At
that time mesmeric phenomena were generally believed to be
due either to mysterious force or fluid, self-deception or trickery.
Braid held the latter theory, and on the first occasion saw
nothing to cause him to alter his views. At the next stance,
six days later, he noticed that one subject was unable to open
his eyes. Braid regarded this as a real phenomenon, and was
anxious to discover its physiological cause; and the following
evening, when the case was again operated on, he believed he
had done so. After making a series of experiments, chiefly on
personal friends and relatives, he expressed his conviction that
the phenomena he had witnessed were purely subjective, and
began almost immediately to place these views before the public,
his first lecture being delivered on December 27th, 1841.

In 1842, Braid offered a paper on the subject of hypnotism
to the Medical Section of the British Association held that year
in Manchester. This was refused, whereupon he gave a con-
versazione, at which many members of the Association were
present, read his paper, and showed cases. His first work on
mesmerism was entitled Satanic Agency and Mesmerism reviewed,
in a Letter to the Rev. H. M°Neile,, A.M., of Liverpool, in Reply
to a Sermon preached "by him at St. Jude's Churchy Liverpool,
on Sunday, April 10th, 181^2. McNeile had charged Braid
with " refusing to state the laws of nature by the uniform action
of which hypnotic phenomena were produced." To this Braid

1 A description of this stance will be found in the Appendix, ray attention
having been directed to it too late for insertion here.HISTORICAL

^3

replied that he had always explained the phenomena on physio-
logical and psychological principles, but that McNeile had refused
to attend his lectures or to read any account of them. Braid,
who at that time believed in the physical origin of hypnotic
phenomena, referred M°Neile to the theory by which he attempted
to explain certain changes in the central nervous system, more
particularly decreased functional activity, as the result of the
exhaustion of other nerve centres from continued monotonous
stimulation. But, he said, even if his theories did not explain
all the phenomena, surely he might be allowed to employ the
knowledge he had acquired, without being stigmatised from the
pulpit as a necromancer who produced his effects by " Satanic
agency." If a hundred persons started in a steamer, and twenty
became sick, while the remainder escaped, would it be fair to
charge the captain of acting by Satanic agency because the whole
were not sick, and because, according to McNeile, " if it be in
nature, it will operate uniformly and not capriciously ? ... If
it operate capriciously, then there is some mischievous agent at
work; and we are not ignorant of the devices of the devil."
Would any man but Mr. McNeile say that, because the captain
gave the signal to heave anchor, to spread the sails, and other
"talismanic tokens" for steering the vessel, and because only
fart of the passengers became sick, he was consequently affecting
them through Satanic agency: or that it would alter the matter
one whit because medical men could not assign the true cause
of sea-sickness, or tell why some should be affected by it and
not others ?

In 1843, Braid published Neurypnology, or The Rationale
of Nervous Sleep, of which eight hundred copies were sold in
a few months. In this work are to be found his earliest theories.
After having established the subjective origin of the phenomena,
he proposed that they should be called "hypnotic" instead of
" mesmeric," and invented the following terminology:—

Neurypnology, the rationale or doctrine of nervous sleep.

Neuro-hypnotism, or nervous sleep, a peculiar condition of the nervous
system produced by artificial contrivance.

Then, for the sake of brevity, suppressing the prefix " neuro,"
he gave the following terms :—

jHypnotic, the state or condition of nervous sleep.

Hypnotise, to induce nervous sleep.24

HYPNOTISM

Hypnotised, put into the condition of nervous sleep.

Hypnotism, nervous sleep.

Dehypnotise, to restore from the state of nervous sleep.

Hypnotist, one who practises neuro-hypnotism.

Braid placed his results and methods before his medical
brethren, insisted that they alone ought to use hypnotism, and
warned the ignorant against tampering with a powerful agency,
which might produce either good or evil according to the manner
in which it was managed and applied. Hypnotism, he said, was
capable of curing many diseases for which formerly there had
been no remedy; but none but a medical man was competent to
employ it with advantage to the patient or credit to himself.
Braid particularly insisted that hypnotism was not a universal
remedy, and stated that whoever talked of such a thing was
either a fool or a knave. In reference to his successful thera-
peutic results, Braid said that he had always tried to dispel
mystery, and could teach any intelligent medical man to do
what he had done. In skilled hands there was neither pain,
discomfort, nor danger associated with hypnotic treatment.
Further, he was able to influence a larger percentage of patients
by his methods than the mesmerists did by theirs, even with
the supposed aid of mysterious agencies.

Braid stated that he had taken every care to avoid deception
in his experiments, but, despite this, did not expect his conclusions
to be at once accepted. He hoped, however, that his professional
brethren would investigate the subject calmly, with an honest
desire to arrive at truth, and, having been sceptical himself, he
could make allowance for others. A superficial examination of
the phenomena was not enough; some theoretical knowledge of
the subject was also essential. For example, different patients
showed varying susceptibility, and yet many observers expected
that all should present uniform hypnotic phenomena. Further,
the mental conditions might change slowly or abruptly according
to the methods employed, and, from a like cause, widely varying
phenomena might be evoked in the same subject at different
times. Yet it was not unusual for two observers to be
simultaneously demanding opposite test conditions in the same
subject.

In many instances, Braid published the written testimony
of others in support of his successful treatment of differentHISTORICAL

25

patients by hypnotism. He explained tliat the action of certain
medical men, who had fraudulently obtained and published
false statements in reference to his practice, rendered this
necessary.

Braid frequently referred to the almost incredible opposition
he had to combat, both at the hands of the orthodox medical
practitioner and of the mesmerists. His explanation of this I
give in his own words:—

" Throughout the whole of my inquiries my chief desire has been to arrive
at what could be rendered most practically useful for the relief and cure of
disease ; and I hesitate not to say that, in the hands of a skilful medical man,
who thoroughly understands the peculiar modes which I have devised for
varying the effects in a manner applicable to different cases, hypnotism, besides
being the speediest method for inducing the condition, is, moreover, capable
of achieving all the good to be attained by the ordinary mesmerising processes,
and much more. ... Of course there is one point which renders hypnotism
less an object of approbation with, a certain class of society, viz. that I lay no
claim for it to produce the marvellous or transcendental phenomena; nor do
I believe that the phenomena manifested have any relation to a magnetic
temperament, or some peculiar or occult power, possessed in an extra-
ordinary degree by the operator. These are all circumstances which appeal
powerfully to the feelings of all lovers of the marvellous, and therefore tell
in favour of mesmerism ; and, moreover, seeing that, for conducting the
hypnotic processes with any degree of certainty and success, I contend that,
in many cases, knowledge of anatomy, physiology, pathology, and therapeutics
are all requisite, it is obvious that such requirements must be less calculated
to secure the approbation of non-professional mesmerists and amateurs, whose
magnetic creed taught them to believe that the mere possession by them of
the magnetic temperament—of a surcharge by nature, within their own
bodies, of a magnetic fluid or odyle—was quite sufficient to enable them to
treat any case as efficiently as the most skilful medical man in the universe,
simply by walking up to the patient with the will and the good intention of
doing him service, or by adding thereto, occasionally, the efficacy of mesmeric
touches, passes, or manipulations. . . . Like the originators of all new
views, however, hypnotism has subjected me to much contention ; for the
sceptics, from not perceiving the difference between my method and that of
the mesmerists, and the limited extent of my own pretensions, were equally
hostile to hypnotism as they had been to mesmerism ; and the mesmerists,
thinking their craft was in danger—that their mystical idol was threatened
to be shorn of some of its glory by the advent of a new rival—buckled on
their armour, and soon proved that the odium mesmericum was as inveterate
as the odium theologicum.,}

Nmryymology was followed by a long series of publications
on the subject of hypnotism, and a list of all Braid's writings that I
have been able to trace will be given in the chapter of Keferences.26

HYPNOTISM

Braid's later theories, it is to be particularly noted, differed widely
from his earlier ones; but these will be discussed when dealing
with that subject.

In 1852, in the preface to the third edition of Magic, Witch-
craft, etc., Braid stated that he now gave his view of all
important hypnotic and mesmeric theories, and hoped by this
means to make up in some measure for the delay in the publica-
tion of another edition of his work on Hypnotism, which had long
been out of print and was frequently called for.

" That call," he said, " I hope shortly to be able to respond to, with such
fulness of detail as the importance of the subject merits—more particularly
with regard to its practical application for the relief and cure of some forms
of disease, of which numerous interesting examples will be adduced."

At the conclusion of The Physiology of Fascination, etc., he
said:—

" It is my intention shortly to publish a volume entitled Psycho-Physiology:
embracing Hypnotism, Monoideism, and Mesmerism. This work will comprise, in
a connected and condensed form, the results of the whole of my researches in
this department of science, and it will, moreover, be illustrated by cases in
which hypnotism has been proved particularly efficacious in the relief and
cure of disease, with special directions how to regulate the processes so as to
adapt them to different cases and circumstances."

Shortly before his death, Braid contemplated publishing a
second edition of Neurypnology in France: this was never done,
nor did the two proposed works above referred to ever see the
light.

In the chapter of References I shall give a list of all Braid's
works and articles which I have been able to trace. These have
long been out of print, and of the former only Eos. 2, 3,
4, 6, and 7 are to be found in the Library of the British
Museum. I possess Nos. 1, 2, 5, 6, and 8, as well as most of
his articles and two long MS. letters addressed to "M. High-
field, Esq., Surgeon," dated respectively 28th October, and 16th
November, 1842.1 These letters, which give an interesting risumi
of Braid's views on the subjective nature of hypnotic phenomena,
contain a description of the hyperesthesia of the special senses,
and of some successful medical cases, together with the denial of

1 The numbers just quoted correspond with those given in the list of Braid's
works and articles in the chapter of References.HISTORICAL

2 7

the alleged dangers of hypnotism and of the supposed automatism
of the subject. Braid published an account of many interesting
medical and surgical cases treated by hypnotism. A few of the
more important of these will be referred to in the chapters dealing
with medical and surgical cases.

In 1859, Dr. Azam of Bordeaux became acquainted with
Braid's hypnotic work, and commenced to investigate the subject
for himself. An account of his experiments, with much reference
to Braid, appeared in the Archives de Mtdecine in 1860. About
the same time Broca, who had obtained marvellous results with
Braid's methods, read a paper on Hypnotism before the Academic
des Sciences, which attracted much attention, and Yelpeau pre-
sented a copy of Neurypnology to the same Society. A committee,
composed of members of the four sections of the Institute, was
then formed to report on the subject. On hearing of this, Braid
wrote to the AcadAmie to say how much pleasure Azam's brilliant
results, and the action of the Society, had given him.

From that date, the subject of hypnotism was never lost
sight of in France; but it was not until forty years after its
original publication that Neurypnology was translated by Dr. Jules
Simon, who stated that Braid's researches procured for him
numerous enemies; but that, despite this, he pursued them with the
precision of genius, and was able to add artificial somnambulism
to the pathology of the nervous system—a phenomenon which the
investigations of the greater number of modern neuro-pathologists
have confirmed.

Braid's first translator was W. Preyer, Professor of Physiology
at the University of Jena, who, in 1881, published The Discovery
of Hypnotism. This was a condensation of Neurypnology, together
with the translation of the pamphlet sent by Braid to Azam in
1860, which had passed into the possession of Dr. Beard of New
York, who lent it to Preyer. The same pamphlet is also trans-
lated into French, and forms an appendix to Dr. Jules Simon's
Neurypnologie, which appeared in 1883. In 1882, Preyer
published Hypnotism, which consisted of a translation of most of
Braid's other works.

In 1890, Preyer brought out another work on the subject of
hypnotism. This contained a translation of a MS. of Braid's,
entitled On the Distinctive Conditions of Natural and Nervous
Sleep, which now for the first time saw the light. In reference28

HYPNOTISM

to this, Preyer stated that Braid left his MSS. to his daughter,
and that she, on her death, bequeathed them to her brother, Dr.
James Braid, jun., who died on November 22nd, 1882. Preyer
visited him at Burgess Hill, Sussex, in August 1881, and received
the MS. from him.

In addition to the information drawn from Preyer's books,
I am personally indebted to him for the gift of various pamphlets
by Braid, with some of which I was previously unacquainted.

I published a short account of Braid's work, with a list of
his writings, in Brain, part lxxiii., Spring 1896. This was
followed by other articles with more complete bibliographies in
the Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research, part xxx.,
June, 1896, and in the Revue die VHypnotisme, vol. xi. pp. 27,
60, 87, and 129. The last article attracted the attention of
Professor Bernheim, who wrote a reply to it (Revue de
VHypnotisme, vol. xi. p. 137), in which he attempted to show
that Braid was unacquainted with suggestion. This article I
answered (Revue de VHypnotisme, vol. xi. p. 353), giving quotations
from Braid's published works, which clearly showed that he
not only employed suggestion as intelligently as the members of
the Nancy school now do, but also that his conception of its
nature was clearer than theirs.

In 1899, an important work on James Braid was published
in England. This is entitled Neurypnology, or The Rationale of
Nervous Sleep considered in Relation to Animal Magnetism, and
illustrated by numerous Cases of its successful Application in the
Relief or Cure of Disease, by James Braid, M.R.C.S., C.M.W.S.,
etc. A new edition, edited, with an introduction, biographical and
bibliographical, embodying the author's later views and further
evidence on the subject, by Arthur Edward Waite. (London,
George Bed way, 1899.)

The above work comprises (1) a biographical introduction,
which gives a short account of Braid's life and a more extended
one of his writings; (2) a reproduction of the original edition
of Neurypnology, which forms the greater bulk of the volume;
(3) an appendix of editorial notes, chiefly drawn from Braid's
later works; and (4) a bibliography of Braid's writings.

Although Neurypnology is historically interesting, it must
not be forgotten that it was written almost immediately after
Braid commenced his hypnotic work, and that later his viewsHISTORICAL

29

underwent a complete change. The French translation of
Neurypnology is more valuable than Mr. Waited, as in an
appendix of 36 pages it reproduces Braid's last MS., which
gives a summary of his more matured theories.

The bibliography, to which Mr. "Waite attaches great
importance, only imperfectly reproduces those just referred to,
which I myself published at earlier dates. Apparently, too,
Mr. Waite himself believes in animal magnetism, metallo-
therapeutics, phrenology, and clairvoyance, but when he attributes
to Braid a belief in these things, he shows that he has absolutely
failed to grasp the spirit and significance of hfe teaching.

Braid died suddenly on March 25th, 1860, according to
some accounts from apoplexy, according to others from heart
disease; he left a widow, son, and daughter. He maintained his
active interest in hypnotism up to the end; and three days
before his death sent his last MS. to Dr. Azam, with the follow-
ing inscription: " Presented to M. Azam, as a mark of esteem
and regard, by James Braid, Surgeon, Manchester, March 22nd,
1860." Sympathetic notices of Braid's death appeared in the
local papers and different medical journals, all of which bore
warm testimony to his professional skill and high personal
character. The Lancet drew attention to the fact that, though
he was best known in the medical world by his theory and
practice of hypnotism, he had also obtained wonderfully success-
ful results in operations in cases of club foot and other deform-
ities, which brought him patients from every part of the
kingdom. Up to 1841, he had operated on 262 cases of
talipes, 700 cases of strabismus, and 23 cases of spinal
curvature.

(B) LATEK HISTORY OF HYPNOTISM.

Although the justness of Braid's views as to the subjective
origin of mesmeric phenomena was generally admitted, and
despite the attention drawn to his theories and practical work
by such well-known men of science as Professors Carpenter and
John Hughes Bennett, the practice of hypnotism apparently3°

HYPNOTISM

ceased in England after Braid's death. At the present day,
however, hypnotism has found a place in the medical practice of
every country in Europe, the pioneer to whom this result is
mainly due being Li^beault, of Nancy.

DE. A. A. LItiBEAULT.

LitSbeault was born in 1823, and commenced to study
medicine in 1844. He read a book on animal magnetism, in
1848, which impressed him greatly, and a few days later he
successfully mesmerised several persons. He received his
M.D. in 1850, and shortly afterwards started country practice.

He worked hard, and was often in the saddle making his
rounds at 2 a.m. In 1860, he began to study mesmerism
seriously, just at the time that Velpeau communicated Azam's
experiments to the AcadAmie de Midecine. In order to find
subjects Liebeault took advantage of the parsimonious character
of the Trench peasant. His patients had absolute confidence in
him, but they had been accustomed to be treated in the ordinary
manner. He therefore said to them: " If you wish me to treat
you with drugs, I will do so, but you will have to pay me as
formerly. On the other hand, if you will allow me to hypnotise
you, I will do it for nothing." He soon had so many patients
that he was unable to find time for necessary repose or study.
In 1864, he settled at Nancy, lived quietly on the interest of his
capital, and practised hypnotism gratuitously among the poor.

For two years he worked hard at his book, JDu sommeil et
des Mats analogues, considdrds surtout au point de vue de Vaction
de la morale sur le physique, but of this one copy alone was sold.
His colleagues regarded him as a madman; the poor as their
Providence, calling him " the good father Liebeault." His
clinique was crowded with patients; he cured many who had
vainly sought help elsewhere, and few left him without having
received benefit. In 1882, he cured an obstinate case of
sciatica, of six years' duration, which Bernheim had treated in
vain for six months. In consequence of this, Bernheim came to
see him and his work. This was a great event in the life of the
humble doctor. At first Bernheim was sceptical and incredulous,
but soon this changed into admiration. He multiplied his visits,LATER HISTORY OF HYPNOTISM

3i

and became a zealous pupil and true friend of Li^beault. In
1884, Bernheim published the first part of his book, Be la
Suggestion, which he completed, in June 1886, by a second
part, entitled La TMrajoeutique Suggestive. From that date
Li^beault's name became known throughout all the world. The
first edition of his book was quickly bought up, and doctors
flocked from all countries to study the new therapeutic method.

In the summer of 1889, I spent a fortnight at Nancy in
order to see Liebeault's hypnotic work. His clinique, invariably
thronged, was held in two rooms situated in a corner of his
garden. The interior of these presented nothing likely to attract
attention; and, indeed, any one coming with preconceived ideas
of the wonders of hypnotism would be greatly disappointed. For,
putting aside the methods of treatment and some slight differences
probably due to race-characteristics, one could easily have
imagined oneself in the out-patient department of a general
hospital. The patients perhaps chatted more freely amongst
themselves, and questioned the doctor in a more familiar way
than one is accustomed to see in England. They were taken in
turn, and the clinical case-book referred to. Hypnosis was then
rapidly induced in the manner which will be described under
" Methods," suggestions given and notes taken, the doctor main-
taining the while a running commentary for my benefit.

Nearly all the patients I saw were easily and rapidly
hypnotised, but Li^beault informed me that the nervous and
hysterical were his most refractory subjects.

As I was a stranger, an exception was made in my favour,
and I was shown a few hypnotic experiments; but cure
alone seemed the sole object of his work. The quiet, ordinary,
everyday tone of the whole performance formed a marked
contrast to the picture drawn by Binet and Fer^ of the morbid
excitement shown at the Salp6tri£re. The patients told to go
to sleep apparently fell at once into a quiet slumber, then
received their dose of curative suggestions, and when told to
awake, either walked quietly away or sat for a little to chat
with their friends: the whole process rarely lasting longer than
ten minutes. The negation of all morbid symptoms was
suggested; also the maintenance of the conditions upon which
general health depends, i.e. sleep, digestion, etc. I noticed that
in some instances curative suggestions appeared to be perfectly32

HYPNOTISM

successful, even when the state produced was only that of
somnolence. The cases varied widely, but most of them were
either cured or relieved. No drugs were given; and Li^beault
took especial pains to explain to his patients that he neither
exercised nor possessed any mysterious power, and that all he
did was simple and capable of scientific explanation.

Two little incidents, illustrating the absence of all fear in
connection with Li^beault and hypnotism, interested me greatly.

A little girl, about five years old, dressed shabbily, but
evidently in her best, with a crown of paper laurel-leaves on her
head, and carrying a little book in her hand, toddled into the
sanctum, fearlessly interrupted the doctor in the midst of his work
by pulling his coat, and said: " You promised me a penny if I got
a prize." This, accompanied by kindly words, was smilingly given,
incitement to work having been evoked in a pleasing, if not scientific
way. Two little girls, about six or seven years of age, no doubt
brought in the first instance by friends, walked in and sat down
on a sofa behind the doctor. He, stopping for a moment in his work
made a pass in the direction of one of them, and said : " Sleep,
my little kitten," repeated the same for the other, and in an
instant they were both asleep. He rapidly gave them their
dose of suggestion and then evidently forgot all about them. In
about twenty minutes one awoke and, wishing to go, essayed by
shaking and pulling, to awaken her companion—her amused
expression of face, when she failed to do so, being very comic.
In about five minutes more the second one awoke, and, hand in
hand, they trotted laughingly away.

Braid anticipated many of the most important observations
of the school of Nancy; but we ought not, on that account, to
undervalue the services of that school, and more especially those
of its founder—Li^beault. Braid's researches were undoubtedly
the exciting cause of the hypnotic revival in France; but, as we
have seen, little or nothing was known of any of his works
except Neurypnology, and his last MS., which contained some of
his later views, was not published in that country until
1883. Li£beault independently arrived at the conclusion that
the phenomena of hypnotism were purely subjective in their
origin, and to him we owe the development of modern
hypnotism.

Another point in reference to their careers is worthy of note.LATER HISTORY OF HYPNOTISM

33

Braid's views at once brought him fame. His books sold
rapidly, the demand for them exceeding his power of supply.
The medical journals were open to him, to an extent which
may well excite envy in those interested in the subject at the
present day. Li^beault's book, on the contrary, remained
unsold; his statements only found sceptics, his methods of
treatment were rejected without examination, and he was
laughed at and despised by all. From the day he settled in
Nancy, in 1864, until Bernheim—some twenty years later—was
the means of bringing him into notice, Li^beault devoted himself
entirely to the poor, and refused to accept a fee, lest he should
be regarded as attempting to make money by unrecognised
methods. Even in his later days fortune never came to him,
nor did he seek it. And his services—services which he him-
self, with true modesty, described as the contribution of a single
brick to the edifice many were trying to build—only began to be
appreciated when old age compelled him to retire from active
work. Though his researches have been recognised, it is certain
that they have not been estimated at their true value, and that
members of a younger generation have reaped the reward which
his devotion of a lifetime failed to obtain.

The term " School of Nancy " has been applied to Liebeault and
his colleagues; but, as Professor Beaunis points out, they do not
claim to have originated a school, and, though they agree on
certain points, differ widely on others.

Other Continental Workers.—In 1878, while Li^beault's
work was practically ignored, Charles Bichet asserted that the
phenomena of hypnotism were genuine. In the same year, Charcot
drew public attention to the subject, and he and his followers
formed what has been called the Salp£tri&re School. Charcot's
researches attracted attention in this country, but his observations
were not confirmed; and the interest in hypnotism for which he
was responsible practically died away, or, if his experiments were
quoted, it was only in order to discredit hypnotism.

In Germany, about 1880, Heidenhain and others interested
themselves in hypnotism, but the influence of their work was not
lasting.

In 1882, Bernheim, who, as we have seen, had become a
convert of Liebeault, commenced to hypnotise all the hospital
patients who came under his care. His work was carefully

D34

HYPNOTISM

watched—from the physiological side—by Professor Beaunis—
from the legal one—by Professor Li^geois. In the first four years
about 5000 cases were recorded, hypnosis being obtained in 75
per cent, A few years later the number had increased to 10,000,
and the percentage of successes to 85. Of the medical men, who
now came to Nancy from all countries, most, if not all, were
convinced of the genuine nature of hypnotism, and many com-
menced to study and practise it on their own account. The
history of the growth and development of this movement is so
fully given in the last English edition of Moll's Hypnotism, that
it is unnecessary to describe it in detail. In most European
countries hypnotism now plays an important part, while many
of those who practise it are well known by their contributions to
other departments of medicine. Hypnotism has also found its
way into university class-rooms, and has occupied a prominent
place at numerous medical congresses, more particularly the
International Congresses of Experimental Psychology.

It possesses also a rich literature. Max Dessoir, in his
Bibliography of Modem Hypnotism, published in 1888, and
augmented by an Appendix in 1890, cites 1182 works by 774
authors, and since then the number has largely increased. Several
journals, notably the Revue de VHypnotisme and the Zeitschrift
fiir Hypnotismus, occupy themselves almost exclusively with the
subject, while others, such as the Annates de Psyehiatrie} contain
from time to time important contributions to its psychological side.

England.—To the Society for Psychical Eesearch we owe the
first attempt, since Braid's time, to subject hypnotism to rigorous and
far-reaching scientific investigation. This Society was established
in 1882, for the purpose of investigating those obscure phenomena
which alone, amongst all other natural phenomena, had remained
uninvestigated by modern science. It is expressly stated that
membership of the Society does not imply the acceptance of any
particular explanation of the phenomena investigated, nor any
belief as to the operation in the physical world of forces other
than those recognised by physical science.

The President of the Society is Sir Oliver Lodge, F.RS., while
his predecessors were Sir William Crookes, F.RS., Henry Sidg-
wick, Balfour Stewart, F.RS., William James, and the Eight
Hon. A. J. Balfour, F.RS. Amongst past and present Vice-
Presidents and members of the Council were to be found : HenryLATER HISTORY OF HYPNOTISM

35

Sidgwick, Oliver J. Lodge, F.E.S., A. Macalister, M.D., F.RS.,
William James, F. W. II. Myers, J. J. Thomson, F.RS., W. F.
Barrett, F.E.S.E., the Eight Hon. A. J. Balfour, F.E.S., the Eight
Hon. G. W. Balfour, Lord Eayleigh, F.E.S., Walter Leaf, Litt.D.,
and J. Yenn, D.Sc., F.RS.	s

In the list of members appear Professors Bamsey, Beaunis,^
Bernheim, Bowditch, Stanley Hall, Th. Eibot, Li^geois, Lombroso,
Charles Bichet, Drs. Max Dessoir, Fer£, Li^beault, Schrenck-
Notzing, Pierre Janet, Wetterstrand, and many other well-knowp''
names.

At an early date in the existence of the Society, a Committee
was appointed for the purpose of investigating hypnotism; the
subjects for experiment being almost invariably healthy men.
The Eeports of the Committee were published from time to time
in the Proceedings of the Society, besides valuable articles by the
late Edmund Gurney and Frederic Myers. The views of the
yformer were markedly in advance of those held at that time,
while Myers' attempts to explain the phenomena of hypnotism by
the intelligent and voluntary action of a secondary or subliminal
v' consciousness, still remains the most important of recent contribu-
tions to the theoretical side of the subject.

The commencement of the present revival of hypnotism
in England, from its medical side, was apparently due to
Dr. Lloyd Tuckey who happened to be in the neighbourhood
of Nancy in August, 1888, and visited Li^beault out of curiosity.
He then went to Amsterdam and Paris to see the cliniques there,
and on his return commenced to employ hypnotism amongst his
own patients. His most important work is Psycho-Therapeutics,
now in its third edition.

Dr. Kingsbury, of Blackpool, was one of Dr. Tuckey's earliest
followers, and, in 1891, published The Practice of Hypnotic
Suggestion,

Scotland.—In 1890, Dr. Felkin published Hypnotism, or
Psycho-Therapeutics, while Dr. George Eobertson, Superintendent,
Murthly Asylum, Perth, has written several articles on the subject,
the most important being " The Use of Hypnotism among the
Insane," Journal of Mental Science, 1892.

Ireland.—In 1891, Sir Francis Cruise published a pamphlet
entitled Hypnotism, in which he drew the attention of the
profession to the value of the work being done at Nancy. Since36

HYPNOTISM

then he has successfully used hypnotism in the treatment of
dipsomania, kleptomania, etc., as well as in various functional
nervous disorders. Nothing else has apparently been published
in Ireland on the subject; but Sir Francis claims to have made
several converts, who employ hypnotism in their practice.

The list just given by no means exhausts the names of those
who practise hypnotism, but simply refers to some of the earlier
workers who drew attention to the subject by their writings.

In 1891, the British Medical Association appointed Sir
William Broadbent, Sir William Gairdner, Drs. Clouston,
Drummond, Kingsbury, Needham, Conolly Norman, Suckling,
Hack Tuke, Outterson Wood, and Yellowlees to act as a Committee
"to investigate the nature of the phenomena of hypnotism, its
value as a therapeutic agent, and the propriety of using it." At
the Annual Meeting, in 1892, the Committee presented the
following report, which, it is to be noted, was unanimous:—

" The Committee, having completed such investigation of hypnotism as
time permitted, have to report that they have satisfied themselves of the
genuineness of the hypnotic state. No phenomena which have come under
their observation, however, lend support to the theory of ' animal
magnetism.'

" Test experiments which have been carried out by members of the Com-
mittee have shown that this condition is attended by mental and physical
phenomena, and that these differ widely in different cases.

"Among the mental phenomena are altered consciousness, temporary
limitation of will-power, increased receptivity of suggestion from without,
sometimes to the extent of producing passing delusions, illusions, and
hallucinations, an exalted condition of the attention, and post-hypnotic
suggestions.

" Among the physical phenomena are vascular changes (such as flushing
of the face and altered pulse rate), deepening of the respirations, increased
frequency of deglutition, slight muscular tremors, inability to control suggested
movements, altered muscular sense, anaesthesia, modified power of muscular
contraction, catalepsy, and rigidity, often intense. It must, however, be
understood that all these mental and physical phenomena are rarely present
in any one case. The Committee take this opportunity of pointing out that
the term hypnotism is somewhat misleading, inasmuch as sleep, as ordinarily
understood, is not necessarily present.

" The Committee are of opinion that as a therapeutic agent hypnotism is
frequently effective in relieving pain, procuring sleep, and alleviating many
functional ailments. As to its permanent efficacy in the treatment of drunken-
ness, the evidence before the Committee is encouraging, but not conclusive.

u Dangers in the use of hypnotism may arise from want of knowledge,
carelessness, or intentional abuse, or from the too continuous repetition of sug-
gestions in unsuitable cases.LATER HISTORY OF HYPNOTISM

37

" The Committee are of opinion that when used for therapeutic purposes
its employment should be confined to qualified medical men, and that under
no circumstances should female patients be hypnotised, except in the presence
of a relative or a person of their own sex.

" In conclusion, the Committee desire to express their strong disappro-
bation of public exhibitions of hypnotic phenomena, and hope that some
legal restriction will be placed upon them.

F. Needham, Chairman.

T. Outterson Wood, Hon. Sec"

This report was referred back for further consideration. In
1893, it was again presented, with the addition of an important
appendix, consisting " of some documentary evidence upon which
the report was based." This comprised—

" 1. Details of a series of valuable investigations carried out by Mr. J. N.
Langley, M.A., F.R.S. (Lecturer on Physiology in Cambridge University), in
conjunction with Mr. Wingfield, B.A. On the death of Dr. Ross of Man-
chester, Mr. Langley joined the Committee, and placed these details at its
disposal.

" 2. A report by Dr. G. M. Robertson, who, acting as Dr. Clouston's repre-
sentative, visited Paris and Nancy for the special purpose of investigating and
reporting upon the methods employed at these two schools.

" 3. A report by Dr. Yellowlees, approved by Professor Gairdner.

" 4, Reports by Drs. Robertson, Fleming, Kingsbury, Draper, and Hack
Tuke.

" 4a. A resume of cases treated by Dr. T. Outterson Wood.

" Dr. Hack Tuke, in presenting the report, said he hoped the adoption of
the report would, among other things, give a stimulus to the movement for
putting a stop to public exhibitions of hypnotism."

A Dr. Brown moved that the report should lie on the table.

The amendment was seconded.

It was suggested that the amendment should be altered so
as to read that the report be received only, and the Committee
thanked for their services.

The resolution to receive the report was carried.

HISTORY OF MY OWN PRACTICE.

My first introduction to the subject was indirectly due to
James Esdaile. As we have seen, after leaving India he lived
for some time in my native town, Perth, and many of his ex-
periments were seen and afterwards reproduced by my father,3S

HYPNOTISM

the late Dr. J. P. Bramwell. These experiments, which as a boy
I witnessed from time to time, deeply impressed me; and 1 eagerly
devoured such books on the subject as my father possessed,
notably Dr. Gregory's Animal Magnetism and a translation of
Reichenbach's work.

When a student at Edinburgh, my attention was again drawn
to hypnotism by Professor John Hughes Bennett. A rtsumt of
Braid's work and theories formed a regular part of his course of
physiology, and he confidently asserted that one day hypnotism
would revolutionise the theory and practice of medicine.

Soon after leaving Edinburgh I became busily engaged in
general practice, and hypnotism was almost forgotten until I
learned that it had been revived in the wards of the Salp^trifere.
Of the methods and theories in vogue there I knew nothing, but
determined, if opportunity occurred, to go to Paris to study them.
Before this chance arrived, however, a case occurred in my own
practice in which hypnotic treatment was apparently indicated.1
Although I told my patient how little I knew of the subject, I
had no difficulty in hypnotising him. My success encouraged
me to persevere—at first cautiously amongst personal friends,
and then more and more boldly amongst my patients in general.

On March 28th, 1890, I gave a demonstration of hypnotic
anaesthesia to a large gathering of medical men at Leeds. This
was reported in the British Medical Journal and the Lancet,2 and,
in consequence, so many patients were sent to me from different
parts of the country that I decided to abandon general practice,
and to devote myself to hypnotic work.

As I was well aware of the fate that had awaited earlier
pioneers in the same movement, I naturally expected to meet
with opposition and misrepresentation. These have been en-
countered, it is true; but the friendly help and encouragement
received have been immeasurably greater. I have also had many
opportunities of placing my views before my professional brethren,
both by writing and speaking, opportunities all the more valued
because almost always unsolicited. My interest in hypnotism has
brought me in contact with many medical men in other countries,
and I owe a debt of gratitude for the kindness and courtesy
invariably shown me by those whose cliniques I have visited
in France, Germany, Belgium, Sweden, Holland, and Switzerland.

1 Case No. 80, pp. 238-9.	2 Pp. 164-7.LATER HISTORY OF HYPNOTISM

39

In the history of hypnotism, especially in reference to its de-
velopment from mesmerism, there are several facts which ought
never to be forgotten. Elliotson and Esdaile, however mistaken
in their theories, were far in advance of their fellows. Amid
much that was false, they had discovered genuine pheno-
mena, and investigated them in a scientific spirit, and success-
fully employed their knowledge for the relief of pain and the
cure of disease. Further, we shall see, when dealing with
theories, that their fallacies and mistakes were reproduced in an
exaggerated form by Charcot and his disciples. Braid did not
destroy mesmerism root and branch, and substitute hypnotism as
something totally distinct in its place. He might rather be said
to have taken over the business of his predecessors, to have
written off as valueless much of what they regarded as assets,
and to have reconstructed a company on new lines. His views,
too, as already mentioned, underwent constant change and
development; and I hope to show, when discussing hypnotic
theories, that he ended by holding opinions which are far in
advance of those generally accepted at the present day.CHAPTER III.

methods of inducing and terminating hypnosis.

(A) GENERAL METHODS OF INDUCING HYPNOSIS.

Hypnotic methods differ widely, and, before discussing my own,
I propose to give short accounts of some of the more important,
beginning with that of Mesmer.

Mesmer's Method. — Mesmer put his hands upon the
shoulders of the subject, then brought them down the arms to
the extremities of the fingers, and, after holding the thumbs a
moment, repeated this process two or three times. He also
touched the seat of pain with his fingers, or with the palm of his
hand, following the direction of the nerves as much as possible.
Mesmer employed a species of actual handling or passes with
contact; on the other hand, many later operators made passes
without contact, and erroneously believed that the two methods
were identical.

Esdaile's Method.—Before beginning to mesmerise a patient,
Esdaile put him to bed in a darkened room, directed him to close
his eyes, and to try to go to sleep.1 The operator then made
passes without contact over the entire body, and from time to
time breathed gently upon the head and eyes. This process was
continued for an hour, and at the end of it many of the patients
were sufficiently influenced to undergo painless operations.

Braid's Method.—The following was the method employed
by Braid at the commencement of his hypnotic practice:—He
took a bright object, generally his lancet-case, and held it in his

1 The word "sleep" must not be taken as implying that the hypnotic condition
is identical with natural sleep. The supposed connection between them will bs
discussed later.

40INDUCING AND TERMINATING HYPNOSIS	41

left hand about a foot from the patient's eyes, and at such a
distance above the forehead that it could not be seen without
straining. The patient was told to look steadily at the object
and to think of nothing else. The operator then extended and
separated the fore and middle fingers of the right hand, and
carried them from the object towards the patient's eyes. The
lids generally closed involuntarily; if this did not happen the
process was repeated. The patient was told that he was to allow
his eyelids to close when the fingers were again carried towards
them, but that the eyeballs were to be kept fixed in the same
position, ,and the attention concentrated on the idea of the object.
This rarely failed. The eyelids closed; and, if the limbs were
elevated, they generally remained in the position in which they
were placed. If this did not happen, Braid quietly told the
patient to keep his limbs fixed, when they speedily became rigid.

After a time Braid found that fixed gazing was frequently
followed by pain and slight conjunctivitis. Thereupon he
changed his methods. The prolonged gazing was abandoned, and
the patient was instructed to close his eyes at an early stage of
the proceedings. Hypnosis was induced as easily as before, and
the unpleasant symptoms disappeared. Provided the body and
mind were at rest, he found he could hypnotise as readily in the
dark as in the light. He succeeded, moreover, with the blind:
these facts induced him to abandon his physical theory, and to
conclude that the influence was exerted through the mind, and
not through the optic nerves. It was worthy of remark, he said,
that repeated hypnoses increased susceptibility. This arose from
habit, association of ideas, and imagination. In such cases, if the
patients believed something was being done which ought to
produce hypnosis, the state appeared. On the other hand, the
most expert hypnotist in the world would exert his influence in
vain, if the patient did not know what was expected of him, and,
at the same time, voluntarily conform to the demands of the
operator. At a later date, Braid emphatically asserted that direct
verbal suggestion afforded the best method, both for inducing
hypnosis and for evoking its phenomena. Physical methods he
regarded simply as indirect suggestions, their influence depending
upon the mental states they excited.

Ltebeault's Method.—The following is Li^beault's method, as
I witnessed it at Nancy:—The patient was first placed in an42

HYPNOTISM

arm-chair, then told to think of nothing and to look steadily at
the operator. This fixation of the gaze was not maintained long
enough to produce any fatigue of the eyes, and appeared to be
simply an artifice for arresting the attention. If the eyes did not
close spontaneously, Li^beault requested the patient to shut them,
and then proceeded to make the following suggestions, or others
resembling them :—" Your eyelids are getting heavy, your limbs
feel numb, you are becoming more and more drowsy," etc. This
was continued for a minute or two; then Li^beault placed his
hand upon the patient's body, and suggested the sensation of
local warmth.,

Bernheim's Method. •— Bernheim first makes explanatory
suggestions to remove the patients fears, and then says:—"Look
at me and think of nothing but sleep; your eyelids begin to feel
heavy, your eyes are tired; they begin to blink, they are getting
moist, you cannot see distinctly. They are closed." Some
patients, he finds, close their eyes and fall asleep almost im-
mediately ; with others he is compelled to repeat the process. If
the patients show no signs of sleep or drowsiness, he assures them
that sleep is not essential and that the hypnotic influence may be
exerted without it.

Beaunis' Method.—Professor Beaunis says:—" The method
most frequently used, and which we might call ' classical/ is fixed
gazing. I say to the patient: ' Look at me very steadily/ and at
the end of a little time his eyelids close and he sleeps. After the
subject has been hypnotised several times any method will re-
induce the condition."

Wetterstrand's Method.—In August, 1894, I visited Dr.
Wetterstrand, of Stockholm, and attended his clinique for about a
fortnight. He hypnotised his patients in three rooms com-
municating with each other; these were darkened, and great
silence was observed. The patients who had previously been
hynotised were first put to sleep, and while they rested quietly
the fresh cases were dealt with. In addition to making verbal
suggestions, Wetterstrand employed passes more largely than is
usually done by members of the Nancy school; these were made
over the eyes, face, and arms, and always with contact. Some-
times he would touch the forehead with one hand, while with the
other he pressed heavily over the region of the heart. Before
commencing the passes, he generally requested the patient toINDUCING AND TERMINATING HYPNOSIS	43

look at his eyes, but this was never continued long. The patients
rested quietly for about an hour, while Wetterstrand passed from
one to the other whispering suggestions audible only to the
person addressed.

Van Eeden and van Renterghem's Method.—Drs. van
Eeden and van Kenterghem, of Amsterdam, whose clinique I
visited in 1893, also largely employ this quiet, prolonged resting
in a darkened room, combined with softly whispered suggestions.

Method of Charles Richet.—Professor Charles Richet, of
Paris, says :—" I place my patient in an arm-chair in front of me,
in each of my hands I take one of his thumbs, and squeeze them
somewhat strongly and with fairly uniform pressure. After
continuing this for three or four minutes, I generally find that
nervous patients experience a sensation of heaviness in the arms,
elbows and wrists. I then make passes with outstretched
hands; these consist of uniform movements from above down-
wards in front of the eyes, as if I desired to close them. At
first I thought it necessary to make the patient look fixedly at
some object, but it now appears to me that this was a useless
complication. Steady gazing has perhaps some influence, but it
is not indispensable."

Lilys' Method.—The late Dr. Luys, of Paris, frequently
succeeded in inducing hypnosis by making his patients look at a
revolving mirror. This was a modification of the lure employed
by bird-catchers, in which looking-glass replaced the little
brilliant points sprinkled over the moveable arms. A description
of an improved instrument of this kind is given under " My own
Methods."

Voisin's Method with the Insane.—In certain cases of
insanity, the late Dr. Auguste Yoisin, of Paris, attempted to
induce hypnosis by force. The patient, either held by assistants
or placed in a strait-jacket, had his eyes kept open, and was
compelled to look at the light of a magnesian lamp or at Voisin's
fingers. If necessary, the process was continued for three hours;
suggestions meanwhile being made. The patients, who at first
usually struggled, raved and spat in the operator's face, eventually
became exhausted and, in successful cases, passed into a condition
of deep sleep.44

HYPNOTISM

(B) OTHER METHODS OF INDUCING HYPNOSIS.

Sensory Stimulation.—Sudden stimulation of the visual
centres will sometimes, it is said, produce hypnosis; as, for
example, in the case of the patients at the Salpetriere, alleged to
be hypnotised by a flash of the Drummond light. Both sudden
and monotonous stimulation of the sense of hearing, such as the
loud noise of a gong, the ticking of a watch and soft music, have
been used for the induction of hypnosis. According to some
authorities, galvanism, especially when applied to the head, some-
times produces hypnosis or a condition resembling it. Of this I
have seen one example: a male patient—treated by Dr. de
Watteville at the West End Hospital—apparently became hyp-
notised when a weak constant current was applied to his head,
and I found him as responsive to suggestion as the typical
hypnotic somnambule.

Professor Pitres, of Bordeaux, states that hypnosis can be
induced by pressure on certain parts of the body, which he terms
zones hypnogknes; the sensitive parts vary in different subjects,
and in some instances are said to occur on one side of the body
alone. Some of Moll's patients maintain that they only become
hypnotised when he touches their foreheads. Chambard, Laborde,
Purkinje, Spitta, Baumler, and Eulenberg stated that they had
succeeded in inducing hypnosis by gentle monotonous stimulation
of various parts of the body.

Stimulation of the muscular sense is also said to induce
hypnosis or allied states, and of this numerous examples are
claimed to be found in the various dances practised by certain
Eastern fanatics and savage tribes.

Narcotics.—At the present day narcotic drugs are frequently
used to assist the induction of hypnosis, and in ancient times
they are stated to have played an important part in the pro-
duction of ecstatic conditions, more or less closely resembling the
hypnotic. The drugs usually employed now are Cannabis Indica
and chloroform, but many others, a list of which is given in the
chapter on Susceptibility, have been used for the same purpose.
Although Esdaile and other writers refer to the use of Cannabis
Indica in the induction of hypnosis, the earliest recorded instance
of its use, with which I am acquainted, is the one quoted byINDUCING AND TERMINATING HYPNOSIS	45

Braid from Pereira's Materia Medica. The operator was Dr.
O'Shaughnessy, of Calcutta, and the alleged induction of hypnosis
was an accidental one. The following is the account referred
to:—" At 2 p.m. a grain of the resin of hemp was given to a
rheumatic patient. At 4 p.m. he was very talkative, sang, called
loudly for an extra supply of food and declared himself in
perfect health. At 6 p.m. he was asleep. At 8 p.m. he was
found insensible, but breathing with perfect regularity, the pulse
and skin natural, and the pupils freely contractile on the approach
of light. Happening by chance to lift up his arm—the professional
reader will judge of my astonishment," observed Dr. 0., " when I
found that it remained in the posture in which I had placed it.
The patient had become cataleptic. We raised him to a sitting
posture, and placed his arms and legs in every imaginable attitude.
A waxen figure could not have been more pliant. He continued
in this state till 1 a.m., when consciousness and voluntary motion
quickly returned." A similar experiment was made with another
patient, with like results.

According to Dr. von Schrenck-Notzing, of Munich, Cannabis
Indica markedly facilitates the induction of hypnosis; if the
toxic condition is not too pronounced, suggestions given as in
hypnosis are carried out; the resulting hallucinations being more
distinct and brilliant than the spontaneous ones. The following
is an illustrative case:—

The subject, aged 22, was healthy, and had never been
previously hypnotised. At 6 p.m. he was given about a grain
and a half of the extract of Cannabis Indica. At 7 p.m. he
was excited, felt intoxicated and his face was flushed. Pulse
104. At 8 p.m. he felt overpowered with fatigue, was compelled
to lie down and could not keep his eyes open. Schrenck-Notzing
then placed his hand upon the patient's forehead, and successfully
suggested cataleptic rigidity of the arm, analgesia of one arm and
hyperesthesia of the other, hallucinations of sight, hearing and
taste, change of personality; and also a post-narcotic suggestion
which was carried out the following day.

Chloroform.—Amongst those who have successfully used
chloroform in the induction of hypnosis, Eifat and Herrero de-
serve especial mention. The latter, who is Professor of Clinical
Medicine at Yalladolid, gave an extremely interesting account
of his experiments at the First International Congress of46

HYPNOTISM

Hypnotism (Paris, 1889). He selected six subjects, whom he
had failed to hypnotise by ordinary methods, and, in their case,
was able to confirm the statement of Dr. Eifat, of Salonica, that
the narcotism of chloroform, at the end of the period of nervous
excitement, and in the moments which precede the stage of
delirium, is a condition quite as suggestible as that of hypnotic
somnambulism. With four of these subjects, either from
individual peculiarities or from too rapid administration of the
chloroform, the period of susceptibility was so short that it
hardly afforded time for making suggestions.

The experiment was repeated the following day with two
subjects, a couple of days later with the others; and precautions
were taken with the object of prolonging the period of suggest-
ibility. After four or five inhalations of chloroform one patient
passed into a suggestible condition resembling somnambulism,
and, at the suggestion of Herrero, remained in this state for two
hours after the inhaler had been removed. The three others
required half the time, and less than half the chloroform, to
arrive at the same condition they had reached in the former
experiments. One of them was told, while in this condition of
pseudo-chloroformic somnambulism, that in the future half a
minute's looking at Herrero's eyes would be sufficient to produce
this state; the suggestion was successful. Under similar
circumstances, the others were told to oppose less and less
resistance to the action of the narcotic. Five days later, the
one who had responded most slowly to this suggestion went to
sleep almost immediately, when the inhaler, either dry or
moistened with a little alcohol, was applied to his nostrils.
Four subjects, who had resisted hypnosis, were thus easily con-
verted into excellent somnambules by suggestions made during
chloroform narcosis; and, at the same time, the necessity for
giving chloroform was removed by suggestion.

According to Herrero, this proved that chloroform could
overcome unconscious resistance to hypnosis, but did not show
that it could remove the conscious resistance opposed by the will.
Shortly after making these experiments, however, he had amongst
his patients a lady suffering from mania. Her doctor in Madrid
had previously tried to hypnotise her every day for a month
without success, and she now looked upon hypnotism as a
satanic art and firmly refused to have anything to do with it.INDUCING AND TERMINATING HYPNOSIS	47

Herrero considered this a good test case and, without mention-
ing a word about hypnotism, succeeded in persuading her to
take chloroform. In less than five minutes, fifteen grammes
produced the suggestible period of anaesthetic sleep; therapeutic
suggestions were then given, and also others for the purpose of
changing the chloroform narcosis into hypnosis. The next day
three grammes were sufficient to produce the suggestible period;
the following day it appeared when only the dry inhaler was
used. On the fourth day she went to sleep by looking at
Herrero's fingers and, during the two months she remained under
treatment, hypnosis was always induced in this way, and gener-
ally instantaneously. Herrero says that since then he has often
changed chloroform narcosis into hypnosis, and has only failed
on one occasion, when he was compelled to abandon the attempt
owing to the opposition of the patient's relatives. In conclusion,
he expresses his conviction that, by means of chloroform and
suggestion during the proper period of narcosis, one can always
succeed in inducing hypnotic somnambulism, despite any resist-
ance opposed consciously or unconsciously by the patient.

Alcohol.—Schrenck-Notzing sometimes employs alcohol for
the induction of hypnosis, and, in addition, claims to have changed
intoxication into hypnosis.

Chloral, Morphia.—Bernheim finds repeated doses of chloral
or injections of morphia useful, when the ordinary methods of
inducing hypnosis have failed.

Sometimes, when only slight hypnosis can be obtained by the
usual means, narcotic drugs have proved useful in deepening the
condition. Schrenck-Notzing relates a case in which he induced
slight hypnosis with difficulty, but failed to obtain any response
to curative suggestions; similar suggestions given during deep
sleep resulting from chloral were successful.

Natural Sleep.—Many authorities claim to have changed
natural into hypnotic sleep. According to Wetterstrand, it is
often very easy to put oneself en rapport with sleeping persons,
especially with children. The following is his method:—One
hand is laid carefully and lightly on the sleeper's forehead, the
body is gently stroked with the other, and, in a subdued voice,
the patient is told to go on sleeping. When questioned he
replies, and rapport is established. If his arm is raised it is
often found to be cataleptic, or may be made so by suggestion.48

HYPNOTISM

Wetterstrand thinks this method of inducing hypnosis of much
practical value and claims to have often used it successfully.

Moll was once able to change the afternoon nap of a gentle-
man, whom he had often hypnotised, into hypnosis without
awaking him. He mentions that Baillif, Gscheidlen, Berger,
Bernheim, and Forel have succeeded in changing natural sleep
into hypnosis, even in persons who had not previously been
hypnotised, or who had been refractory in the waking state.

According to Beaunis, it is easy by similar methods, to
change natural somnambulism into hypnosis.

Schrenck-Notzing says he has frequently succeeded in induc-
ing hypnosis from natural sleep, and also from hysterical attacks
of sleep. One or two instances are also recorded by Esdaile and
Schrenck-Notzing, in which post-epileptic and other forms of
coma have been changed into hypnosis.

(C) MY OWN METHODS.

These have varied widely. At first I attempted to induce
hypnosis mainly by mechanical means: at that time I was
ignorant of what had been written on the subject by Li^beault
and other members of the Nancy school, and had not observed
the methods of other operators.

After seating the patient in a comfortable chair, I arranged
a small moveable mirror above his eyes, and placed a lamp in
such a way as to throw a bright light upon it. The patients
were told to look fixedly at the mirror as long as they could keep
their eyes open. In some instances the eyes closed rapidly and
hypnosis quickly appeared; in others, even after half an hour's
gazing, there was no apparent result. When this was the case,
I requested them to shut their eyes, and made passes without
contact over the face and upper part of the body, at the same
time adding a few suggestions. Hypnosis was induced in every
instance, but sometimes much perseverance was necessary, and in
one case success was only obtained at the sixty-eighth attempt.
At that time the patients were all drawn from my own practice,
and the induction of hypnosis, which at first had often been
tedious and difficult, soon became easier with increased experience.
Mechanical aids were gradually discarded: the patients simplyINDUCING AND TERM IN A TING HYPNOSIS

49

looked at my eyes for a few seconds, while I made energetic
suggestions. I now held a clinique three times a week, and
sometimes hypnotised from thirty to sixty patients in an evening,
I passed rapidly from one to the other, saying to each in turn:
" Look at my eyes! Your eyelids are getting heavy, you cannot
keep them open, they are closing now, they are fast!" As the
eyelids closed, which they almost -invariably did at once, I made
an energetic pass in the direction of the patient's face and said:
" Sleep !" With two exceptions, success was obtained in every
case, and in nine out of ten in the time necessary to utter the
words just quoted. The patients were still nearly all drawn from
my own practice, but, unlike my earlier cases, few suffered from
severe illness and many were hypnotised for operative purposes
only.

Shortly after the hypnotic demonstration at Leeds, on March
28th, 1890/1 commenced to receive a different class of patients,
all of whom were strangers to me. Most of them suffered from
neurasthenia, hysteria, or other forms of functional nervous
trouble; but in addition there were many cases of dipsomania and
some of genuine insanity. In all, the illness was of long duration
and other methods of treatment had been employed without
benefit. To my surprise and disappointment, a small percentage
alone were hypnotised by the method so successfully employed
amongst my own patients. At first the fresh cases were treated
along with others already hypnotised; but this, instead of aiding
me as formerly, seemed to increase my difficulties, as the new
patients found others sleeping around them a disturbing element.
Each patient was then taken singly, and fixed gazing at a mirror
in a darkened room again resorted to. In addition, I frequently
made them look at my eyes while I made verbal suggestions. I
also procured one of Luys' revolving mirrors, but found it worse
than useless. The instrument was driven by clockwork, but
could not be stopped until it ran down, and there was no method
of regulating its speed. It made a loud and disagreeable noise,
which from time to time became more marked and irregular, and
irresistibly suggested an infernal machine on the point of explod-
ing ! I had another constructed without the faults which char-
acterised that of Luys. This too was driven by clockwork, but
could be arrested at any time and its speed regulated, while the

1 Pp. 164-7.

EHYPNOTISM

sound was uniform and soothing. With this mirror I succeeded
in easy cases, such as could have been hypnotised by any other
method, but it was no help in difficult ones. By one or another
of these methods I hypnotised about 75 per cent of my patients,
but in many instances only after repeated trials. After a time
mechanical means were again almost entirely abandoned; and I
relied more and more on verbal suggestion and careful study of
the patient's mental condition.

The following is now my usual method:—I rarely attempt
to induce hypnosis the first time I see a patient, but confine my-
self to making his acquaintance, hearing his own account of his
case, and ascertaining his mental attitude with regard to hypnotism.
I usually find, from the failure of other methods of treatment,
that the patient is more or less sceptical as to the chance of his
being benefited. In most cases also he has either read misleading
sensational articles on hypnotism, or his friends have painted its
dangers in striking colours. I endeavour to remove erroneous
ideas, and refuse to attempt to induce hypnosis until the patient
is satisfied of the safety and desirability of the experiment. I
never tell a patient that I am certain of being able to hypnotise
him, but always explain how much depends upon his own mental
condition and power of carrying out my directions. I then say:
" Presently I shall ask you to look at my eyes for a few seconds,
when probably your eyelids will become heavy and you will feel
impelled to close them. Should this not happen, I shall ask you
to shut them, and to keep them closed until I tell you to open
them. I shall then make certain passes and suggestions, but I
do not wish you to pay much attention to what I am saying or
doing, and above all you are not to attempt to analyse your
sensations. Your best plan will be to create some monotonous
drowsy mental picture and to fix your attention upon that. You
must not expect to go to sleep. A certain number of hypnotised
persons pass into a condition more or less closely resembling
sleep; few do so at the first sitting, however, and you must only
expect to feel drowsy and heavy." After these explanations, and
having darkened the room and instructed any spectators to remain
quiet, I place my patient in a comfortable chair and request him
to look at my eyes, at the same time bringing my face slightly
above and about ten inches from his. The patient's eyes some-
times close almost immediately. Should they not do so, I continueINDUCING AND TERMINATING HYPNOSIS

5*

to look steadily at him and make suggestions. These are twofold;
the patient's attention is directed to the sensations he probably is
experiencing, and others, which I wish him to feel, are suggested.
Thus: " Your eyes are heavy, the lids are beginning to quiver,
the eyes are filling with water. You begin to feel drowsy, your
limbs are becoming heavy, you are finding it more and more
difficult to keep your eyes open, etc." Sometimes this produces
the desired result; the eyes close and the first stage of hypnosis
is induced. If this does not take place, I direct the patient to
close his eyes, and make passes over the head and face, either
with or without contact, repeating meanwhile appropriate verbal
suggestions. This is continued for half an hour. No stereotyped
method is employed, however, the process being varied with
different patients, or with the same patient at different times, to
suit the particular needs of special cases. To ensure success, it
is necessary to understand the mental condition of the patient, to
gain his intelligent co-operation, and to create a clear picture of
hypnosis together with the expectation of its appearance.

In a few instances I have attempted to change natural sleep
into hypnosis, but so far without success. I have occasionally
employed galvanism, and have also given chloroform, chloral,
bromide and various other drugs, but generally with negative
results.

I have hypnotised several patients who were completely deaf:
some of these were unacquainted with the deaf and dumb alphabet,
and writing was the only means of communication. The neces-
sary explanations and instructions were given beforehand in this
way, as also the suggestions which were to be fulfilled during and
after hypnosis.

For the first few years of my hypnotic practice, I never made
curative suggestions until hypnosis had been induced. I changed
my methods, however, after having observed in Continental
cliniques that suggestions were frequently responded to in cases
of slight, or even doubtful, hypnosis. Now, in addition to
attempting to induce hypnosis in the manner just described, I
combine this with curative suggestions. Thus, from the very
first treatment the patient is subjected to two distinct processes,
the object of the one being to induce hypnosis, that of the other
to cure or relieve disease; and frequently the latter is successful
before the patient can be described as genuinely hypnotised.52

HYPNOTISM

(D) SELF-HYPNOSIS AND SELF-SUGGESTION.

Putting aside the question of self-hypnosis amongst fakirs and
other religious fanatics, I am not acquainted with many instances
in which the primary hypnosis has been induced by the subject
himself. Braid, however, stated that he hypnotised himself on
more than one occasion, and successfully suggested the disappear-
ance of rheumatic pain. Professor Forel, of Zurich, and Dr.
Coste de Lagrave have also succeeded in hypnotising themselves,
and the latter can influence himself in many ways by suggestion;
thus, he states he is able to get rid of pain, fatigue, mental
depression, etc.

Shortly after commencing hypnotic work, I found that
patients, who had been deeply hypnotised, could be instructed
to reinduce the condition at will. Here, suggestions during
hypnosis were not necessary for the production of its phenomena;
they were equally efficacious when made beforehand in the
waking state. The subject was able to suggest to himself when
hypnosis should appear and terminate, and also the phenomena
which he wished to obtain during and after it. This training
was at first a limited one; the patients, for example, were
instructed how to get sleep at night or relief from pain. They
did not, however, always confine themselves to my suggestions,
but originated others and widely varying ones, regarding their
health, comfort, or work. In several instances they made use of
self-hypnosis for operative purposes, and astonished their dentists
by remaining insensible to the pain of having their teeth extracted.
In some instances this power has been retained for over twelve
years.

I have also observed the phenomena of self-hypnosis in
healthy persons who had been hypnotised for experimental
purposes. Here, the subjects, when awake, could suggest to
themselves that muscular rigidity, local and general analgesia,
hallucinations, etc., should appear during hypnosis; and then
hypnotise themselves at will, when the phenomena duly appeared.
During self-hypnosis the subjects were either en rapport with
every one or only with certain individuals, according to the
suggestions they had made to themselves beforehand.

Even in slight hypnosis self-suggestion is not without in-INDUCING AND TERMINATING HYPNOSIS	53

fluence, although its results are neither so striking nor so far-
reaching as in the ease of somnanibules.

CLASSIFICATION OF METHODS OF INDUCING HYPNOSIS.

The methods by which hypnosis is induced have been classed
as follows:—(1) Physical Methods; (2) Psychical Methods; (3)
those of the Magnetisers.

The modern hypnotiser, however, whatever his theories may
be, borrows his actual technique from Mesmer and Li^beault with
equal impartiality, and thus renders classification well nigh
impossible. Thus, the members of the Nancy school, while
asserting that everything is due to suggestion, do not hesitate
to use physical means. The passes with contact employed by
Mesmer are almost exactly reproduced by Wetterstrand. Fixed
gazing generally precedes or accompanies suggestion, and, when
these fail, Bernheim does not scruple to have recourse to
narcotics.

As to physical methods, it is more than doubtful whether
these have ever succeeded when mental influences have been
carefully excluded, and the subjects have been absolutely ignorant
of the nature of the experiment. No one was ever hypnotised
by looking at a lark-mirror, until Luys borrowed that lure from
the bird-catchers and invested it with hypnotic powers. On the
other hand, any physical method will succeed with a susceptible
subject who knows what is expected of him.

METHODS OF TEKMINATING HYPNOSIS.

The hypnotic state tends to terminate spontaneously. In
slight hypnosis this usually happens as soon as the operator leaves
the patient; in more profound stages it may not occur until after
the lapse of several hours. The methods of artificially terminat-
ing the condition may be divided as follows:—(1) Physical, by
means of various sensorial stimuli; (2) Psychical, by direct or
indirect suggestion.

(1) Physical,—Esdaile's method of terminating the mesmeric
state consisted in blowing sharply on the patient's eyes, rubbing
the eyelids and eyebrows, or sprinking cold water on the face.54

HYPNOTISM

Sometimes these methods failed, and then the patient was allowed
to sleep quietly until the condition terminated naturally.

On one or two occasions patients undergoing surgical operations
came out of the trance before the operation was completed;
Esdaile's investigations led him to believe this was due to the
action of cold. In hot weather the patients were operated on
almost naked, and it was observed that those who were com-
pletely anaesthetic when tested in the mesmerising room, where
they were covered up in bed, became more or less conscious when
placed in the operating room, and the blankets removed. Patients
in the mesmeric trance, who were insensible to the loudest noises,
the cutting of inflamed parts, the application of nitric acid to raw
surfaces, and other painful surgical operations, became fully
conscious when their naked bodies were exposed for a few minutes
to the cold air. Subsequently this mistake was avoided, and no
further cases occurred in which the trance terminated before the
close of the operation.

At the commencement of his hypnotic practice, Braid used to
awaken his patients by directing a current of cold air upon their
faces, but he afterwards abandoned this in favour of suggestion.

According to Pitres, pressure upon certain parts of the body,
called by him zones hypno-frdnatrices, will terminate the hypnotic
condition. The forcible opening of the eyes has also been used
as a method of awakening.

(2) Psychical.—The members of the Nancy school suggest
during hypnosis that the subject shall awake1 at a given signal,
as, for example, when the operator utters the word " Awake," or
counts " One, two, three." The nature of the signal itself is of
little or no importance, the essential point being that the subject
shall understand its import.

The method just described is the one I usually adopt, and I
have rarely experienced the slightest difficulty in awaking my
patients. In a few instances, where deep hypnosis had been
obtained at the first attempt, the patients did not awake instantan-
eously in response to suggestion, and afterwards remained some-
what drowsy and heavy. When this occurred, I at once re-
hypnotised the patient and repeated the suggestion that he should

1 The word "Awake" is simply used for convenience and must not be taken
as implying that the hypnotic condition is one of sleep. The supposed connection
between hypnosis and sleep will be discussed later.INDUCING AND TERMINATING HYPNOSIS	5$

immediately respond to my signal, and that on awaking nc
trace of drowsiness should remain. A very little training of this
kind produced the desired result.

Theoretical Explanations of the Effects produced by differ-
ent Methods of terminating Hypnosis.—According to Moll, the
awaking from hypnosis, like that from natural sleep, occurs in
two ways : (1) from mental causes and (2) from sense-stimu-
lation. In the opinion of Forel, however, and certain other
members of the Nancy school, the stimulation of the special
senses only awakens the patients when it acts as an indirect
suggestion, the physical stimulus being simply the signal for
awaking.

Dr. Crocq, of Brussels, on the other hand, draws attention to
the fact that Bernheim and Beaunis say that the subject can
generally be awakened by verbal suggestion, but, if this is not
sufficient, that it can then be effected by blowing two or three times
upon the eyes. The blowing, he says, according to these authors,
then becomes a stronger suggestion than a verbal command. It
appears to Dr. Crocq a contradiction to attribute the immediate
awaking of the subject by blowing upon the eyes to suggestion,
when one has just failed to arouse him by repeated verbal com-
mands. One cannot in justice raise the objection that blowing
upon the eyes is an unconscious suggestion, seeing that this has
succeeded where direct suggestion has just failed. Again, when a
subject, who knows nothing of hypnotism nor of what you wish
him to do, is put to sleep for the first time, blowing upon his
eyes will awake him without anything to this effect having been
suggested to him. Blowing, therefore, appears to possess a
particular property which provokes awakening.

While Braid believed that the mental effect, resulting from
the indirect physical action of mechanical means, could be checked
or reversed by stronger and more direct verbal suggestion, he
still held, and I think justly so, that physical impressions
were capable of producing both physical and mental results. Forel,
on the contrary, denies the physical influence of mechanical
processes, on the ground that suggestion is capable of altering
their supposed action. He says : " Blowing on the face no longer
awakens my subjects, because I have suggested that this would
remove pain instead of arousing them." From this he concludes
that the act of blowing produces no result, and considers this a56

HYPNOTISM

powerful argument against the Somatic school. Would it not be
equally logical to contend that the prick of a pin produced no
physical effect, because the subject, rendered insensible to pain by
suggestion, had been taught to regard the pin-prick as a signal to
evoke some other condition ? Forel ignores too completely the
artificial character of the hypnotic state. Doubtless hypnotic
subjects can be trained to inhibit certain sensations, and to regard
others as the signals for the manifestation of various phenomena;
but we are not justified in concluding from this that all the
ordinary physical impressions spontaneously cease to be appreci-
ated in hypnosis. Further, in slight hypnosis and in untrained
subjects, the action of physical impressions can be readily observed,
and a loud noise, or the prick of a pin, will speedily terminate
the condition. Finally, Esdaile's patients referred to above
had clearly not been taught that cold was to arouse them in the
midst of an operation.CHAPTER IV.

SUSCEPTIBILITY TO HYPNOSIS AND THE CAUSES WHICH
INFLUENCE IT.

(1) Average Susceptibility.—In April, 1892, Schrenck-Notzing
published the result of his First International Statistics of
Susceptibility to hypnosis. Fifteen observers in different countries
furnished returns which showed, without reference to sex, age
or health, that they had tried to hypnotise 8705 persons, with
519 failures: i.e. only 6 per cent were uninfluenced.

Van Eeden and van Kenterghem, from May 5th, 1887, to
June 30th, 1893, attempted to hypnotise 1089 persons, and
only failed with 58, or 5*33 per cent.

Liebeault informed me that he had no complete record of
the thousands of cases he had treated during his hypnotic
practice of over thirty years, but that, from 1887 to 1890, he
had tried to hypnotise 1756 cases, his failures only amounting
to a fraction over 3 per cent.

From 1882 to 1886, Bernheim attempted to hypnotise 5000
of his hospital patients, and succeeded with 7 5 per cent. A few
years later the number had risen to 10,000, and the successes to
over 80 per cent.

B^rillon, out of 250 cases in children, hypnotised 80 per cent
at the first or second attempt.

Up to March, 1890, Wetterstrand's cases amounted to 3209,
and of these only 105, or 3*7 per cent, were uninfluenced.
Amongst the failures 7 5 had only been tried once or at most twice.
By the end of January, 1893, the number of his hypnotic patients
had reached 6500, while the percentage of failures had decreased.

In the first year of his hypnotic practice, Forel endeavoured
to hypnotise 205 patients, many of whom were insane. He

5758

HYPNOTISM

succeeded in 171 cases and failed in 34; but in the last 105
the failures fell to 11 per cent. In 1898, he informed me that he
had tried to hypnotise about 1000 persons and had succeeded
with over 95 per cent.

Amongst my earlier patients the average susceptibility varied
from 100 per cent in one group to 7 8 per cent in another. These
groups illustrate the fact that susceptibility to hypnosis is influenced
by many widely differing causes, and that, unless these are carefully
noted, general statistics on the subject are apt to be misleading.
The first group comprised patients drawn from my own general
practice at Goole; the second, strangers who had come to me
from a distance.

Group I. — Many of the patients in this group were
hypnotised in the hurried rounds of a large general practice:
unless the case was of special interest no notes were taken, and
I have no complete record of the numbers treated, which roughly
speaking amounted to about 500. The following table, however,
gives the first 100 consecutive cases which were treated at my
own house, the results in every instance being recorded at the
time:—

Table A.

Total Number, 100 ; Male, 27 ; Female, 73.

Greatest Age, 76 years; Lowest Age, 4 years; Average Age, 23*42
years.

Results.

Refractory, 0 ; Slight Hypnosis, 12 ; Deep Hypnosis, 40 ; Som-
nambulism, 48.

Hypnotised at First Attempt, 92 ; After Repeated Trials, 8.

Average Number of Trials in these Eiglit Cases, 4.

Average Number of Sittings in the 100 Cases, including Attempts at
Hypnosis, 10.

This table, I think, fairly represents the results obtained in
the 500 cases referred to. It is to be noted, however, that
although no failures are recorded in the 100 examples just cited,
I was unable to hypnotise 2 out of the total 500 treated.

Group II.—The following table gives the first 100 con-
secutive cases in which the patients were not drawn from my
own practice. In every instance the results were recorded at
the time:—SUSCEPTIBILITY TO HYPNOSIS

59

Table B.

Total Number, 100; Male, 42 : Female, 58.

Greatest Age, 70 years; Lowest Age, 9 years : Average Age, 34 years.

Results.

Refractory, 22 ; Slight Hypnosis, 36 ; Deep Hypnosis, 13 ; Som-
nambulism, 29.

Hypnotised at First Attempt, 51 ; After Repeated Trials, 26.

Average Number of Trials in these 26 cases, 15.

Average Number of Sittings in the 100 cases, including Attempts at
Hypnosis, 35*9.

Remarks.—These two tables form a marked contrast. Table
A contains no refractory subjects, while in Table B these
amount to 23. In A also a larger proportion passed into the
deeper stages, and this difference is further accentuated by the
fact that the average number of sittings in B greatly exceeded
that in A. Further, it is probable that the number of somnam-
bules in A could easily have been increased. In many instances
no direct attempt was made to produce somnambulism: i.e. amnesia
on awaking was not suggested. At a later date, I found that
several members of this group could be rendered somnambulic at
a single sitting, although they had not previously passed into that
stage and had not been hypnotised for many months. It is to be
noted that while in A 92 were hypnotised at the first attempt,
in B the number only amounted to 51. Again, the number of
trials required to induce hypnosis, when this did not appear at the
first attempt, only averaged 8 in A, whereas it reached 15 in B.
Amongst the refractory patients in B the number of unsuccessful
attempts varied from 3 to 156, the average being 38*20.

The means employed for inducing hypnosis is described in
the chapter upon " Methods." It is important to note that in B
these were usually numerous, varied and prolonged, while in A,
on the contrary, they were generally short and simple.

These tables will be again referred to in discussing the
different causes which influence susceptibility.

(2) Susceptibility in reference to the Depth of Hypnosis.
—No uniform classification of hypnotic stages exists, and thus it
is difficult to compare the various statistics on the subject. I
will, however, quote some of them here, at the same time
referring the reader to the chapter on " Stages " 1 for fuller in-
formation as regards classification.

1 Pp. 150-155.6o

HYPNOTISM

The following results were obtained in the 8705 International
cases recorded by Schrenck-Notzing :—

Refractory . 519, or 6 per cent. Hypotaxis . 4316, or 49 per cent.
Somnolence . 2557, or 29 „	Somnambulism, 1313, or 15 „

In 1089 cases treated by van Eeden and van Eenterghem
of whom 529, or 48*57 per cent, were men, and 560, or 51*42
per cent, women, we find the following results:—

Refractory . 58, or 5*33 percent. Deep Sleep . 445, or 40*87 per cent.
Slight Sleep . 466, or 40*87 „ Somnambulism 120, or 11*61 „

Li^beault gives the result of 7 5 5 cases, thus:—

				Proportion per cent.	
	Men.	Women.	Total.		
				Men.	Women.
Somnambulism . .	54	91	145	18*8	19*4
Very profound Sleep	21	34	55	7 3	7*2
Profound Sleep .	108	163	271	37*6	34*8
Light Sleep . . .	52	99	151	18*1	21*1
Somnolence .	21	50	71	7*3	10*6
Uninfluenced	31	31	62	10*8	6*6
Total . .	287	468	755		

The above table is restated by Beaunis in order to show the
influence of age upon the different stages:—

Age.	Somnam-	Very Deep	Deep	Slight	Somnol-	Not in-
Years.	bulism.	Sleep.	Sleep.	Sleep.	ence.	fluenced.
Up to 7 . .	26*5	4*3	13*0	52*1	4*3	0
7-14 . .	55*3	7*6	23*0	13*8	0	0
14-21 . .	23*2	5*7	44*8	5*7	8*0	10*3
21-28 . .	13*2	5*1	36*7	18*3	17*3	9*1
28-35 . .	22*6	5*9	34*5	17*8	13*0	5*8
35-42 . .	10*5	11*7	35*2	28*2	5*8	8*2
42-49 . .	21*6	4*7	29*2	22*6	9*4	12*2
49-56 . .	7*3	14*7	35*2	27*9	10*2	4*4
56-63 . .	7*2	8*6	37*6	18*8	13*0	14*4
63 and over .	11*8	8*4	39*9	20*3	6*7	13*5SUSCEPTIBILITY TO HYPNOSIS

61

Beaunis draws attention to the fact that this table shows
clearly that somnambulism is reached more frequently in
children than in adults.

The statistics of Dr. Ringier, of Zurich, give similar results;
between the ages of 7 and 14 his somnambules amounted to
52*94 per cent, and from 14 to 21 years to 42*31 per cent.

These figures are in marked contrast to those of the general
statistics which disregard age. Thus, of the 8705 cases recorded
by Schrenck-1STotzing, and of the 1089 given by van Eeden and
van Eenterghem, nearly the same proportion, i.e. 15 and 11*61 per
cent, became somnambules. The percentage of somnambules in
Li^beault's 755 cases was 18*8 in men and 19*4 in women, while
Braid found that only 10 per cent of his patients became
somnambules.

In my groups, as we have seen, the number of somnambules
was remarkably high, reaching 48 per cent in Table A and 29
per cent in Table B. Further, in A deep hypnosis was
obtained in 48 per cent, slight hypnosis in 12 per cent, while
none were refractory.

(3)	Nationality.—Race, apparently, has no influence upon
susceptibility. Li^beault's extraordinary success led to the assump-
tion that the French were peculiarly susceptible, but the statistics
of Wetterstrand, of Stockholm, compare favourably with the results
obtained at Nancy, while Dr. Grossmann, of Berlin, asserts that
he hypnotises 93 per cent of his patients, and lays stress on the
fact that most of them are hard-headed North Germans. Dr.
Morier told me that he found Colonial patients in South Australia
as susceptible as those of European origin. Esdaile asserted that
there was no difference in susceptibility between the Scotch and
the Natives of India, and hypnotic anaesthesia was induced as
readily in Perth Infirmary as in the Government hospitals in
Calcutta. -Most of my patients were English, and their suscepti-
bility, as far as Table A is concerned at all events, has not been
exceeded elsewhere.

(4)	Sex.—Sex has little or no influence on susceptibility.
Wetterstrand finds both sexes equally easy to influence, while in
Li^beault's statistics the difference in favour of women amounts
to only 1 per cent. Dr. Hugh Wingfield, when Demonstrator
of Physiology at Cambridge, hypnotised 152 undergraduates, and
only failed in about 20 per cent of the total number tried.62

HYPNOTISM

As there was never more than one attempt made with the same
subject, this undoubtedly underrates the susceptibility. Esdaile's
patients, with very few exceptions, were males, and Li^beault and
others have remarked upon the ease with which soldiers and
sailors can be hypnotised.

My own observations agree with these. In Table A all the
males were hypnotised, the only refractory cases in the entire
group of about 500 being two females, both hysterical.

(5) Age.—According to most authorities, children are more
easily hypnotised than adults. Wetterstrand found that all
children from 3 or 4 to 15 years of age could be influenced
without exception: his youngest successful patient being
years old. B^rillon, out of 250 cases in children, hypnotised
80 per cent at the first attempt. Li^beault also found them
peculiarly susceptible, and one of his statistical tables records
100 per cent of successes up to the age of 14. In adult life,
age, apparently, makes little difference; in the same table we find
that from the ages of 14 to 21 the failures were about 10 per
cent, and from 63 years and upwards about 13 per cent. The
following figures illustrate the influence of age upon susceptibility
in 744 of Li^beault's patients :—

Up to 7 years of age	. Total 23.	No failures.	
From 7 to 14 years of age	„ 65.	)>	
„ 14 to 21 „	„ 87.	Failures	9, or 10*3 per cent.
„ 21 to 28 „	„ 98.		9, or 9*1 „
„ 28 to 35 „	„ 84.	>>	5, or 5*9 „
35 to 42	„ 85.	? >	V, or 8*2 „
„ 42 to 49 „	„ 106.		13, or 12-2 „
„ 49 to 56 „	„ 68.		3, or 4*4 „
„ 56 to 63 „	„ 69.	>>	10, or 14*4 „
„ 63 and upwards	„ 59.	>>	8, or 13*5 „
Generally speaking, I have found		children	. more susceptible

than adults, my youngest successful case being 3 years of age.
Qn the other hand, I have met with failures within the ages that
Liebeault and Wetterstrand found invariably susceptible.

(6) Social Position. — Drs. Dollken (Marburg) and Carl
Gerster (Munich) state that a marked difference exists between
the lower and higher classes, the latter being more easily hyp-
notised. Bernheim claims to have succeeded with many patients
belonging to the upper classes, while Wingfield, as we have seen,
hypnotised 152 undergraduates at the first attempt. Forel, onSUSCEPTIBILITY TO HYPNOSIS

63

the other hand, draws attention to the fact that the bulk of
Li^beault's patients belonged to the working classes, and states
that unprejudiced, uneducated people are as a rule easily
hypnotised.

As far as my observations go, the induction of hynosis is not
influenced by the social position of the patient. It is true that
susceptibility was less marked in Table B than in Table A,
while at the same time the majority of cases in the former were
of a higher rank than in the latter. On the other hand, causes
which undoubtedly influence susceptibility adversely were more
marked in B, and, when these were absent, social position had
apparently no effect.

(7)	Physical Condition.—According to Moll, Liebeault, and
others, good general health favours the induction of hypnosis.
Many of my most successful cases were strong healthy males,
who were easily hypnotised for operative and experimental
purposes. As already seen, undergraduates, soldiers and sailors
generally proved good subjects.

(8)	Sense-Stimulation.—Fixed gazing, the sudden flashing of
a bright light, revolving mirrors, monotonous sounds, the application
of hot plates to the head, galvanism, and monotonous stimulation of
the cutaneous nerves by means of passes, have all been employed
in the induction of hypnosis. What part these methods play in
increasing susceptibility; how much is due to direct physical,
how much to indirect mental, influence, it is difficult to determine.
In Table A, where with few exceptions hypnosis was easily
induced, they were hardly employed at all, while in Table B,
especially in the refractory cases, they were used to a much
greater extent.

(9)	Mental Condition. — (a) General Intelligence.—Gerster
states that fools are the least susceptible to hypnosis, whereas the
intelligent man with the well-balanced brain is more or less easily
influenced. Moll, also, finds the dull and stupid difficult. Dr.
von Krafft-Ebing, of Vienna, and Bernheim hold similar views:
the former states that intelligent subjects can be readily hyp-
notised, and the latter claims to have succeeded with many
highly educated persons; while Forel asserts that every mentally
healthy man is naturally hypnotisable. With these opinions I agree;
for I have found the stupid and unimaginative more difficult to
influence than those possessing fair intelligence.64

HYPNOTISM

(b)	Volition and Attention.—It is sometimes stated that
feebleness of will facilitates the induction of hypnosis, but this
Moll declares to be erroneous. The subjects must be able to
arrest their thoughts and direct them into a particular channel—
an indication of strength, not weakness of will. This opinion is
shared by Krafft-Ebing; while Forel considers that subjects who
cannot remain mentally passive, and who analyse their own
sensations, are difficult to influence. Braid considered that there
was a direct relation between the power of concentrating the
attention and susceptibility. Fixed gazing alone would not excite
hypnosis; the attention must be concentrated on some non-
exciting object or idea—this was the primary and imperative
condition. Amongst my own patients, I have usually observed
that strength of will, and power of concentrating the attention,
favoured the induction of hypnosis, while their absence had an
opposite effect.

(c)	Faith.—Faith alone has apparently little effect on sus-
ceptibility. I have failed with subjects who firmly believed I
could hypnotise them, and that they were specially susceptible.
On the other hand, I have succeeded with many who were con-
vinced that they could not be influenced. Li^geois says it is not
necessary for the subject to have faith, as the magnetisers used
to assert, but he must loyally observe the prescribed conditions.
Forel states that people who laugh and say that they cannot be
hypnotised are often easily influenced: those who a moment or
two before had regarded hypnotised persons as impostors, and the
operator as a dupe, were often quickly hypnotised before they
realised what was taking place.

{d) Self-Suggestion.—A determination to resist the operator
renders the induction of hypnosis impossible. Here the failure
is due to conscious self-suggestion. Some of my unsuccessful cases
of dipsomania, who only agreed to be treated under the pressure
of their relatives, afterwards confessed that they had resisted
every attempt to induce hypnosis. The involuntary self-
suggestion of the patient is a still more common obstacle; but to
this I will refer when dealing with morbid states.

{e) Imitation.—Many operators attach much importance to
the influence of imitation upon susceptibility, and for this
reason attempt to hypnotise fresh patients in the presence of
others who are put to sleep before them. Li^beault invariablySUSCEPTIBILITY TO HYPNOSIS

65

hypnotised his poorer patients in the presence of each other,
and refractory subjects amongst his private ones were always
brought to his clinique in the hope that they might be influenced
through imitation. Van Eeden and van Eenterghem usually
hypnotise more than one patient at a time in the same room.
Bernheim hypnotises his hospital patients in the wards, and thus
the others see what he is doing. Forel says it is advantageous
to hypnotise another person in the presence of the patient, and
attributes much of Wetterstrand's success to the fact that he
generally treats a number of patients simultaneously.

With these opinions I do not entirely agree. In Table A sus-
ceptibility was probably increased by imitation, but the patients
in Table B found that the presence of others embarrassed
them and distracted their attention. I now almost invariably
treat each patient separately. Before beginning, however, I
occasionally hypnotise an old patient in the new one's presence;
and possibly this sometimes facilitates matters by removing fear,
and creating a vivid picture of the desired condition.

(f) Behaviour of Spectators. — As Moll has stated, it is
extremely important that spectators should maintain silence and
especially refrain from expressing doubt or mistrust in any way,
as the least word or gesture may thwart the attempt to induce
hypnosis. For example, I was once asked to hypnotise a patient
suffering from grave and long-standing nervous disease. His
medical man, in introducing me, assured him that I had the power
of compelling him to do whatever I liked, even to making him sign
a cheque for £20,000 in my favour. Needless to say, I failed
to induce hypnosis. The third attempt was more promising ; but
at its conclusion the same medical man remarked to the patient
that he was evidently one of those persons whom it was impossible
to hypnotise!

(10) Morbid Mental and Physical Conditions.—(a) Mental
Excitement and Fear.—Fear, with its attendant mental excite-
ment, usually prevents the induction of hypnosis. In England
at the present day nearly every one has read, and been more
or less influenced by, various unfounded newspaper stories
regarding the dangers of hypnotism. The public generally has
accepted the misleading statement that hypnosis is characterised
by unconsciousness and suspended volition; and while patients
are under the influence of these ideas it is difficult or impossible

F66

HYPNOTISM

to hypnotise them. In such cases no attempt to induce hypnosis
should be made at the first interview. The true nature of the
hypnotic state should be explained, and the patient's fears
removed. Above everything he should be made to understand
that his volition will not be interfered with. Forel, too, holds
that mental excitement is unfavourable to the production of
hypnosis, and fear renders it impossible. Thus, he says, the first
attempt to induce hypnosis frequently fails because the patients
imagine that extraordinary things are going to happen to them.

(b) Insanity, Hysteria, etc.—According to Bernheim, it is a
mistake to think that the nervous, weak-brained, or hysterical
are easy to influence; on the contrary it is often difficult or
impossible to hypnotise those suffering from mental disorders.
Moll states that the hysterical are particularly difficult to
hypnotise. This is largely due to the spirit of contradiction
which exists in such patients, and the opposing self-suggestions
that result from it. If we take, he says, a pathological condition
of the organism as necessary for hypnosis, we shall be obliged to
conclude that nearly every one is not quite right in the head.
On the contrary, it is now generally agreed that the mentally
unsound, particularly idiots, even if not wholly insusceptible, are
still very much more difficult to hypnotise than the healthy.
Wetterstrand states that one of the best somnambules he ever
saw was remarkable for good health and freedom from nervous-
ness. Further, he invariably found that the most difficult to
influence were the hysterical, restless, and egotistical, who were
unable to concentrate their thoughts and attention.

Gerster says the daily press echoes the statement that it is
only the "credulous" and feeble-minded who can be hypnotised;
the opposite, however, is correct. According to Forel, all
experienced operators agree that the insane are undoubtedly the
most difficult to hypnotise. With patience and perseverance
some of the milder forms of mental disorder may be influenced;
but it is extremely difficult to hypnotise those who are suffering
from grave insanity. Here, owing to the continuous cerebral
irritation, and the fact that the attention is fixed exclusively
upon diseased ideas, it is almost impossible for suggestion to find
an entrance into the brain. As we have seen, Esdaile's patients
were regarded as hysterical, but he pointed out that hysteria
was unknown in his hospitals. Braid found patients with verySUSCEPTIBILITY TO HYPNOSIS

67

mobile brains difficult to influence, and entirely failed with idiots,
despite mucli perseverance.

My personal observations accord with these views. Nearly
all my difficult and refractory cases suffered from some form of
nervous disease; and I have, as a general rule, found that the
difficulty in inducing hypnosis bore a direct proportion to the
gravity and duration of the mental disturbance. The tables
already referred to illustrate this. In A, 2 cases were experi-
mental and 22 were hypnotised for minor operations: both the
former and most of the latter were in good health, while the
majority of the remainder neither suffered from grave disease,
nor had been ill long.

In Table B, there were 12 experimental and 2 operative
cases, all in good health. The remainder suffered from grave and
long-standing disease, such as insanity, dipsomania, hysteria,
neurasthenia, and the like.

As the existence of nervous diseases apparently lessens the
susceptibility to hypnosis, I now propose to consider the different
conditions associated with these affections which apparently form
obstacles to success.

(a)	Attention.—I have hitherto failed to hypnotise idiots,
apparently because they possess little spontaneous and no volun-
tary attention. The condition of the attention in hysteria,
neurasthenia, and certain types of insanity forms a serious, but not
insuperable, obstacle to the production of hypnosis. It is necessary,
first, that the patient should attend to and understand the
operator's description of the phenomena of restfulness, drowsiness,
lethargy, etc., which it is desired to evoke, and, secondly, that he
should be able to fix his attention on some inanimate object or
monotonous train of thought. In the cases just referred to this
result is particularly difficult to obtain. The patient's attention
is concentrated upon his own diseased condition, and he is con-
stantly watching, analysing, and exaggerating his symptoms. Some-
times, as in hysterical melancholia and certain forms of obsession,
the patient is a prey to a continued flow of unhappy thought,
which he is incapable of arresting. At others, the physical con-
dition renders hypnosis difficult, since the various forms of
hysterical tremor and spasm absorb the attention, and make
mental quietude impossible. Pain is also an obstacle.

(b)	Duration of Illness.—Prolonged illness is undoubtedly un-68

HYPNOTISM

favourable to the production of hypnosis. Here the morbid
symptoms have become ingrained, as it were, while the failure of
all previous treatment has rendered the patients hopeless.

(c) Self- Suggestion.—The conditions just referred to give
rise to various forms of self-suggestion antagonistic to the
operator. Thus, the failure of other forms of treatment excites
the self-suggestion that hypnotism will also prove unsuccess-
ful. The patients, wTho are constantly analysing their own
sensations, are also self-suggestionists who are only interested in
themselves. One of my patients, for example, who had suffered from
hysterical neurasthenia for twelve years, finally regarded all her
symptoms as the result of medical treatment. Thus, pain in the
head was due to galvanism, in another part of the body to
massage—in fact a number of localised painful regions were
labelled with the names of the medical men who had attended
her. Hypnotism was not more fortunate. Not only did fixed
gazing speedily produce headache and nausea, but passes made
behind the patient's back at a distance of 20 feet—though with
her knowledge—frequently excited actual vomiting.

(11)	Natural Somnambulism and Hysterical Sleep.—I
have had no opportunity of attempting to induce primary hypnosis
during either of the above-mentioned states. Beaunis and other
authorities, however, consider that susceptibility to hypnosis is
increased during natural somnambulism. Gerster found that
children who, without being actual somnambules, talked and
answered questions in their sleep, could be easily hypnotised.
Schrenck-Notzing states that hysterical attacks of sleep favour the
induction of hypnosis, and that the one condition can be changed
into the other.

(12)	Natural Sleep.—Beaunis, Moll, Wetterstrand, Schrenck-
Notzing, Gscheidlen, Baillif, Berger, Bernheim, Forel, Gerster, and
other observers, assert that natural sleep increases the suscepti-
bility to hypnosis, and cite many instances in which the one has
been changed into the other. A like opinion was expressed at an
earlier date by Bertrand. I have, however, been unable to con-
firm these observations. In several instances I have attempted to
change natural sleep into hypnosis by the method described by
Wetterstrand, but always without success. The cases, however,
were all difficult ones in which many unsuccessful attempts had
previously been made.SUSCEPTIBILITY TO HYPNOSIS

69

(13)	Narcotics.—Various narcotic drugs have been employed
from very early times as a means of increasing susceptibility to
hypnosis. Esdaile and Braid cited opium, hemp, aconite,
hyoscyamus, laurel leaves, wine, ether and chloroform amongst
the substances which were supposed to have this effect. Bernheim
finds that susceptibility is increased by repeated doses of chloral
and injections of morphia. Claude Perronnet states that chloro-
form, belladonna, ether, stramonium and hyoscyamus favour the
production of hypnosis, According to Schrenck-lSTotzing, the
general influence exercised upon the nervous system by narcotics
markedly increases susceptibility. He, like Braid, considers
Cannabis Indica the best drug for this purpose, but he has also
found chloroform, morphia, sulphonal, bromide of potassium,
paraldehyd and alcohol useful. Eifat states that susceptibility is
so enormously increased by the action of narcotic remedies that,
by their means, hypnosis ought to be obtained in almost every
instance. Some authorities, particularly Herrero, attach much
importance to the influence of chloroform. Wetterstrand does
not always succeed in inducing hypnosis by the aid of chloroform ;
but in several instances, when other methods had failed, it
enabled him to obtain profound somnambulism. Forel has
only tried on two occasions to change chloroform narcosis into
hypnosis; both attempts failed, but the cases were extremely
difficult ones.

I have employed chloroform in three instances without
success. In the first case, a lady about 40 years of age, suffering
from hysterical neurasthenia, chloroform was administered on
several occasions; suggestions being given until deep narcosis
was obtained, and also while this was passing off. In the second
case, a girl aged 12, suffering from moral insanity, chloroform was
also administered. In the third case, a patient in the National
Hospital for Nervous Diseases, several attempts were made to
induce hypnosis under the influence of chloroform; but these
invariably failed: later, when the patient came to my own
house, I succeeded in hypnotising her by ordinary methods. I
have occasionally given chloral, bromide and Cannabis Indica, but
without any definite increase of susceptibility. These negative
results, however, all occurred in extremely difficult cases.

(14)	Operator.—While the subjective nature of hypnotic
phenomena is accepted, most authorities still attach importance7 o

HYPNOTISM

f ...............^

to the personal influence of the operator. Bernheim asserts that
every hospital physician ought to be able to hypnotise 80 per cent
of his patients; and that, if he cannot do this, his failure results
> from lack of experience or of other qualities necessary for success.
) For el agrees with this opinion, with the limitation, however,
that the insane be excluded from the statistics.

According to Moll, it is absolutely indispensable that the
operator should possess practical experience of the methods of
inducing hypnosis, and at the same time be acquainted with the
varying mental conditions of mankind. It is only, he says, by
experience and power of observation that one is enabled to choose
the method the most likely to succeed. Easy subjects can be
hypnotised by any one, but the difficult by the experienced
operator alone. The influence of one person over another is
dependent on the individuality of both. Thus A, for example,
can be hypnotised by B, while he remains refractory to the
efforts of C. On the other hand, D can be hypnotised by C, but
not by B. Moll compares this influence to that which exists
between teacher and pupil, and to other natural relationships.
The successful operator, he says, must be calm, tactful, and patient.
It is thus much easier to write prescriptions than to spend hours
daily in the attempted induction of hypnosis.

---------- jn Krafft-Ebing's opinion, the application of suggestion is a

complicated psychological process and not mere talking. Schrenck-
Notzing considers that while the technique can be learnt by
study and practice, the physician who is a good psychologist will
always be the most successful in influencing his patients. The
individuality of the operator is of greater importance than
mechanical and artificial methods.

Forel says the operator must be enthusiastic, patient, con-
fident, and fertile of resource in varying his methods. The
greatest obstacle to success is lack of interest and of personal
initiative; and those who try to hypnotise mechanically by a
given plan frequently fail. The operator must be free from
distrust and nervousness, and not easily depressed or fatigued:
it is essential that he should understand, and know how to manage,
the mental condition of his patients. He must be able to obtain
their consent to the attempted induction of hypnosis ; tactfully
remove their fears by explaining that nothing unnatural or
mystical is going to take place; keep them from becomingSUSCEPTIBILITY TO HYPNOSIS

71

mentally excited or nervous; and remove the idea that sleep is
necessary for the success of the experiment.

Verbal suggestion is the method now mainly relied on for
the induction of hypnosis; and both the character of the sug-
gestions, and the manner in which they are conveyed undoubtedly
influence susceptibility. The skilful operator arouses in the
patient's mind the image or picture of the hypnotic state, and at
the same time evokes the expectation of its appearance. He
directs the patient's mind to the sensations he is actually ex-
periencing, and utilises these as the starting-point from which
he suggests others which he wishes him to feel.

InTfctfers opinion, something more is wanted in the operator
than patience and perseverance. He must be able to inspire his
patients with the same qualities; and it is by no means an easy
matter to persuade a patient to undergo a hundred or more unsuc-
cessful attempts to induce hypnosis. Forel also draws attention to
the fact that at Nancy, where a number of patients are hypnotised
in one room, the operator makes his suggestions in a loud voice
and thus they are heard by every one. Wetterstrand, on the
contrary, whispers his suggestions softly to each patient in turn,
and this, Forel thinks, increases susceptibility.

(15) Number of Attempts.—Lloyd Tuckey says: "My
practice is to make three or four attempts to hypnotise and, if
no effect is produced, I feel that the subject is not susceptible.
I have occasionally, in special cases, made five or six attempts,
but so far I have almost invariably found that if no effect is
produced at the third sitting it is useless to make further efforts,
at least for some time to come." Very different views are held
by other observers. According to Forel, much time and perse-
verance is often necessary in obstinate cases, and with these the
attempts should be repeated frequently and with short intervals
between them.

Moll holds that the repetition of the process is an important
factor in the induction of hypnosis; the chance increasing
enormously with the frequency of the sittings. He has, he says,
sometimes made forty or more attempts without result and then,
by further repetitions, finally succeeded in many of the cases.
Wetterstrand rarely induces hypnosis at the first attempt, and,
although he usually does so at the third or fourth, has sometimes
found as many as seventy sittings necessary. In one case Dr.72

HYPNOTISM

Oskai Yogt, of Berlin, only succeeded in obtaining somnambulism
after 500, and in another after 700 sittings. In many of my
cases which yielded the best therapeutic results, hypnosis was
only obtained after repeated failures. In extreme instances the
number of these amounted to over 100.

Conclusion.—As a general rule I have found the nervous,
ill-balanced and hysterical the most difficult to influence; and
healthy people, who possessed the power of concentrating their
attention, the easiest. Exceptions have occurred, however, and
I have sometimes, though rarely, succeeded at the first attempt
in inducing deep hypnosis, and even somnambulism, in patients
suffering from hysteria; and this despite the presence of pain,
muscular tremor or spasm.

Beyond this, however, and the effect of the other causes just
referred to, the varying susceptibility to hypnosis is still difficult
to explain.' For example, I have seen nothing elsewhere which
equalled the susceptibility of my own patients at Goole. Further,
although my therapeutic results of late years have not fallen
below those obtained in the second group of patients treated at
Goole—those not drawn from my own practice—the apparent
susceptibility to hypnosis has been much less.

It is difficult to estimate correctly the conditions responsible
for these varying results, and I cannot believe that there was any
inherent peculiarity in the inhabitants of Goole, which rendered
them specially susceptible to hypnosis. The following facts,
however, are worthy of note:—

(1)	Before beginning hypnotic work, I had already been
sixteen years in general practice at Goole, and had gained my
patients' confidence.

(2)	At that time hypnotism had not been discussed in news-
paper and magazine articles, and no dread as to its results had
been excited.

(3)	As already stated, most of my earlier patients were hyp-
notised either for operative purposes, or for the relief of illness,
which was neither grave nor of long standing.

The difference in susceptibility, between the first and second
groups referred to above, may be explained by the fact that the
conditions which characterised the former were absent from the
latter. Thus, those of the second group were all strangers to
me, and nearly all suffered from grave and long-standing disease.SUSCEPTIBILITY TO HYPNOSIS

73

The patients I have treated of late years, however, are of
exactly the same type as those of the second group. Notwith-
standing this, my percentage of cases of profound hypnosis has
fallen to the average given by Schrenck-ISTotzing's statistics. I
can only account for this by the alteration in method already
referred to. Formerly, curative suggestions were not given until
hypnosis was induced,' now they are employed from the very
beginning, and I frequently find that recovery takes place before
the patients show any symptom of undoubted hypnosis. My
first aim is no longer the hypnotic state, but direct hypnotic
cure.

Whether all the patients, who recover under this form of
treatment, have been really hypnotised is a question which will
be discussed later. If hypnosis, as Bernheim says, is nothing
but suggestion, then, in that sense, they have been hypnotised.
On the other hand, if we accept Braid's conception of hypnosis,
we must answer the question in the negative.CHAPTER Y.

the experimental phenomena of hypnosis.

Hypnotic phenomena were formerly supposed to owe their origin
to purely physical stimuli. As we have seen, metals and magnets,
when applied to the subject's skin, or even held at some distance
from his body, were alleged to produce extraordinary and varying
results. These statements, now generally regarded as entirely
fallacious, will be again referred to in discussing hypnotic theories.

On the other hand, phenomena such as those about to be
described are now held to be due to suggestion. The importance,
however, of the part played by suggestion is varyingly estimated
by different authorities; some assert that it explains the pheno-
mena, others hold that it is simply the artifice used to excite
them. This point, an important one in reference to hypnotic
theory, will also be discussed later.

It must not be supposed that the phenomena about to be
described arise in the order in which they are placed; the
arrangement is a purely artificial one adopted for convenience'
sake. Later, attempts at classification will be discussed in the
chapter on " The Different Stages of Hypnosis." Meanwhile, it
should be understood that all the phenomena cited cannot be
elicited in every subject. In slight hypnosis the phenomena are
neither so varied nor so striking as those occurring in deeper stages;
but most, if not all, tend to show a control of the organism
in excess of that exerted by volition acting in the normal state.

(I.) THE PHYSIOLOGICAL PHENOMENA OF HYPNOSIS.
(A) Changes in the Voluntary Muscular System.

The first muscular change observed in hypnosis is usually a
sudden or gradual closing of the eyes. The appearance of the lids

74THE EXPERIMENTAL PHENOMENA OF HYPNOSIS 75

varies; sometimes they are closed more tightly than natural by
muscular spasm, at others they are not quite shut, and a portion of
the eyeball remains visible. When closed, the eyelids either remain
motionless, or quiver as long as the hypnosis lasts. In some
instances, just before or immediately after the closure of the lids,
the eyeballs roll upwards—usually, however, quickly returning to
the normal position. Occasionally the eyeballs turn inwards as
well as upwards; in one case I observed both were turned to the
left. In many cases of deep hypnosis, however, the eyes remain
open, not only in the state itself, but also while it is being in-
duced ; and it is to be noted that most, if not all, of these changes
really depend upon the methods employed by the operator.

In a certain proportion of hypnotic subjects the limbs can be
bent at the joints like soft wax, and maintain any position in
which they are placed; this condition is termed flexibilitas area.

According to Bernheim, catalepsy can be induced in all subjects
who have passed the first stage. The amount of muscular
contraction varies widely, sometimes being barely sufficient to
maintain an upraised limb in position, at others passing into a
tonic contracture of nearly all the voluntary muscles. Moll
asserts that a cataleptic posture was maintained for seventeen
hours in one instance, and also cites a case of Berger's, where a
young girl, although continually watched, was said to remain in
this condition seven hours without perceptible change. At the
same time, Moll admits that dynamometric investigations do not
give very definite results; he thinks they show a slight decrease
of muscular power in hypnosis. Binet and	state that a

cataleptic subject cannot remain in a constrained position for
more than ten or fifteen minutes, and that a similar feat might
be performed by a strong man. Notwithstanding this, they think
the following important differences exist between suggested and
voluntary muscular contraction. An arm made rigid by sugges-
tion drops slowly and gently, and records a perfectly straight
tracing on Marey's apparatus; the respiratory tracing being also
normal. In similar experiments in the waking state, the hand
and arm soon tremble, and the breathing becomes hurried and
irregular.

Carpenter stated that a marked increase of muscular power
was frequently induced by suggestion. One of Braid's subjects,
who was so muscularly feeble that for years he had been unable76

HYPNOTISM

to lift a weight of twenty pounds, took a quarter of a hundred-
weight upon his little finger and swung it round his head with
the utmost ease. On another occasion, he raised half a hundred-
weight as high as his knee on the last joint of his forefinger.

Continued movements, sometimes of a complicated nature, may
be induced in hypnosis and maintained for a longer or shorter
period.

Various changes of personality can be suggested during
hypnosis, when the control of the muscular movements, necessary
for representing the different parts, is frequently apparently greater
than that possessed by the subjects in their normal state.

Echolalia.—According to Berger, hypnotised subjects are
capable of repeating everything like phonographs. The most
interesting instance of this phenomenon is cited by Braid. One
of his subjects, a young work-girl, who did not know the grammar
of her own language and was entirely ignorant of music, correctly
accompanied Jenny Lind in several songs in different languages,
and also in a long and difficult chromatic exercise which was
specially improvised in order to test her.

Many observers have noticed an absence of muscular tedium.
Thus, when uncomfortable positions are suggested or assumed
during hypnosis, the fatigue and pain which usually follow
excessive muscular exertion are apparently absent.

Paralysis.—The different voluntary muscles may be paralysed
singly or in groups. In some cases the paralysis is apparently
due to the fact that the muscles necessary for the performance of
any given movement do not contract; in other instances the
necessary muscles act, but are overpowered by the violent con-
traction of the antagonistic ones.

According to Drs. Paul Eicher and Gilles de la Tourette, of
Paris, hypnotic paralyses are characterised by the following features
which distinguish them from those of an organic nature, viz.
complete laxity of the limbs, exaggeration of tendon reflexes, spinal
trepidation, loss of muscular sense, exaggeration and modification
of the muscular contractions provoked by the galvanic current, and
vasomotor troubles. These observations have not been confirmed
by the Nancy school. Moll, for example, after repeated experi-
ments, found no difference between the electric excitability of
the nerves and muscles in the hypnotic and the normal states.

Most of the muscular phenomena just referred to are supposedTHE EXPERIMENTAL PHENOMENA OF HYPNOSIS 77

to have been excited by direct verbal suggestion, while, as regards
the remainder, the exclusion of suggestion is not proved. Accord-
ing to the Salpetrikre school, however, certain abnormalities
appear in the voluntary muscles during the respective stages of
hypnosis, which are not of psychical origin, and arise independently
of suggestion in response to physical stimuli. These are:—

(1)	Lethargy.—The limbs are relaxed and fall by their own
weight; the tendon reflex is increased. There is neuro-muscular
hyperexcitability, i.e. the muscles tend to contract under the
influence of mechanical stimuli, whether applied to tendon,
or nerves of supply, or the muscles themselves. Excitation of
the antagonistic muscles causes the contracted ones to relax.

(2)	Catalepsy,—Every position given to the limbs is main-
tained for some time; there is neither tendon reflex nor increase
of muscular irritability.

(3)	Somnambulism.—Gentle stimulation of the skin causes
rigid contraction of the underlying muscles, which does not cease
when the antagonistic ones are excited, but disappears when the
original stimulation is repeated. Further, the muscles do not
contract if subjected to the same stimuli which excite them
when the subject is in the lethargic condition.

The phenomena just described are now generally regarded as
artificial in their origin, but this point will be discussed under
u Theory/'

Remarks. — All the new reflexes described by Charcot,
Heidenhain, and others are apparently due to suggestion and
training; and, as Moll has pointed out, the supposed alteration
in the ordinary tendon reflexes is open to doubt. Thus, there is
an increase in the patellar reflex when the muscles are completely
relaxed by suggestion, and a decrease when they are rigid.

According to Moll, the continued and other forms of
muscular contractions observed in hypnosis take place either
without or against the will of the subject. In the former case
they are executed easily and steadily; in the latter, they are
characterised by strong muscular contractions and trembling,
indicating ineffectual resistance to the will of the operator, and
thereby showing an increased depth of hypnosis. The phenomena
Moll describes do not, I think, warrant his conclusions as to the
state of the subject's volition. This will be discussed more fully
later: meanwhile, I may point out that the operator may have78

HYPNOTISM

unconsciously suggested an unsuccessful resistance to the execu-
tion of the movement.

In order to induce the muscular movements, the subject, says
Moll, must thoroughly understand what the operator wishes.
While Moll admits that the common and most natural way of
effecting this is by telling the subject what he should do, i.e. the
method of " verbal suggestion," he, at the same time, states that
verbal suggestion is made more effectual by means of the operator's
gestures. Further, he asserts that certain muscular phenomena,
such as catalepsy, cannot always be excited by mere verbal
suggestion, and then mesmeric passes are necessary in order to
produce them. These views cannot be accepted unquestioned.
Braid long ago pointed out that the passes and gestures of the
operator, together with the placing of the hypnotised subject in
different attitudes, constituted only a clumsy and indirect method
of arousing in his mind the idea of certain muscular movements;
whereas the very same idea and consequent movements were
more easily excited by direct verbal suggestion.

It is true that the hypnotised subject's powers of perception
are frequently increased, thus enabling him to interpret indirect
suggestions which might be meaningless to him when awake.
Further, his power of hearing, comprehending, and responding to
direct verbal suggestion is also greater than in the normal state.
All these gestures, passes and other indirect suggestions, appear
to me very much in the light of "baby language" or comic
pantomime. If we wish to induce a normal individual to escape
from danger, as, for example, the presence of a lion, we tell him
that one is near, and that he ought to get out of the way as
quickly as possible. We should not dream of attempting to
influence him by going down on all fours and roaring; and I see
no reason for conveying suggestions to hypnotised subjects in
similar ridiculous ways. Moll himself admits that mesmeric
passes are only responded to when the individual knows what
they are intended to effect. He also states that while centrifugal
passes excite contractions and centripetal ones dissipate them,
such action is apparently due to unintentional suggestion, as he
has often found their effects reversed. Surely the recognition of
this fact should have prevented Moll from attributing a greater
power to passes than to verbal suggestion.

Although Moll asserts that the voluntary muscles are entirelyTHE EXPERIMENTAL PHENOMENA OF HYPNOSIS 79

under the influence of external suggestion during hypnosis, he
also describes conditions in which suggestion is stated to have
little or no effect. He divides hypnotised subjects into two
groups according to their condition: (1) Active; this state on
superficial observation might be mistaken for the waking one.
(2) Passive; characterised by muscular relaxation. In both
there is, he says, resistance to suggestion. Thus, in No, 1,
when a continued movement has been suggested, Moll finds it
impossible, in some instances, to at once counteract the first
suggestion by a second—the movement being continued despite
the operator's command. In No. 2, in spite of all suggestions,
the subjects let their arms drop after they have been raised, and
do not respond to questions. Moll asserts—the italics are his
own—that: (< One of these two functional abnormalities of the
muscles exists in all hypnotic states" i.e. a movement which has
been excited by suggestion cannot always be terminated in the
same way, or a suggested movement may remain unfulfilled.
None of Moll's three contradictory propositions can be accepted
without examination. Thus, (a) the voluntary muscles are not
entirely under the influence of suggestion during hypnosis. A
subject, who will execute movements which are indifferent or
agreeable to him, will invariably refuse to perform those which
are repugnant to his moral sense. (6) I have always found
that suggested contractures and continued movements ceased at
command, unless the order was given in such a way as to be
misinterpreted by the subject, or he had been previously trained
by the methods of the stage performer, (c) Again, I have only
found instances of extreme muscular relaxation, and refusal to
respond to suggestions, amongst those who had been trained by
passes, gestures and other similar methods. The effects of this
training, however, could always easily be removed by suggestion,
whereupon the subjects would now promptly answer questions
and execute movements. Braid demonstrated how the slightest
change in the operator's voice might vary or reverse the result of
his commands. Thus the suggestion, that a subject should try to
stop a continued movement, might be made in such a way that
the varying emphasis on the word try might convey three different
ideas to his mind, viz.: (1) that he was to continue the move-
ment ; (2) that he was to continue, but apparently attempt to
stop it; (3) that the movement should cease. In reference to8o

HYPNOTISM

continued movements and muscular contractures which cannot at
once be dissipated by suggestion, Moll states decidedly that these
phenomena must be distinguished from " suggestion." Suggestion
produces a particular muscular action, but does not explain its
long duration. It cannot be supposed, he says, that an idea
which I implant in the subject should have more effect than the
idea he himself originates, and, thus, if there are phenomena
which are characteristic of hypnosis, their existence proves that
the external and the self-suggested idea affects the functions
differently; or else that the muscles in hypnosis are influenced
by something besides suggestion, i.e. the tendency to contracture.

Thus, according to Moll: (1) Hypnosis is characterised by
a tendency to muscular contracture. (2) Suggestion does not
explain the duration of the contractures. (3) It is unreasonable
to suppose that differences exist between the operator's suggestion
and the self-suggestions of the subject. All these statements are
open to question: (1) Neither muscular contraction nor relaxation
characterises hypnosis; each in turn may be excited, but neither
arises spontaneously. (2) Suggestion, strictly speaking, is only
the method used to excite hypnotic phenomena, and does not
explain any of them; but, in the sense in which Moll uses it, it
does explain the long-continued contraction. The contraction
continues because the subject has accepted the idea that it should
do so: it ceases when his muscles become exhausted, or when his
brain receives the fresh idea that it should stop. The power of
maintaining the contracture beyond the limits of normal strength
is, of course, another matter, and one which suggestion does not
explain. (3) The waking self-suggestions of the subject often
differ widely in their results from those of the operator given in
hypnosis. This does not show a difference in the suggestions
themselves, but in the conditions under which they are made.

Voluntary Muscles. Summary.—As far as my personal
observations go, there are few, if any, changes in the voluntary
muscles which are absolutely characteristic of hypnosis; and none
which arise independently of direct or indirect suggestion. The
most noticeable phenomenon is the long maintenance of an uncom-
fortable posture, associated with extreme muscular rigidity, and
the subsequent absence of fatigue. As most, if not all, of the
muscular feats of hypnosis could be reproduced by trained
unhypnotised persons, the phenomena are only worthy of noteTHE EXPERIMENTAL PHENOMENA OF HYPNOSIS 81

when it can be clearly proved that they are beyond the hypnotic
subject's waking powers.

(B) Changes in the Involuntary Muscular and
Vasomotor Systems.

Pulse.—The induction of hypnosis is sometimes accompanied
by an acceleration of the pulse. This, although regarded as a
characteristic phenomenon by some authorities, appears to be due
to emotional causes alone; for, although it frequently appears the
first time hypnosis is induced, it rarely occurs afterwards. During
deep hypnosis, when the subject is allowed to rest undisturbed by
suggestions of any kind, the pulse sometimes falls spontaneously.

I have seen many instances in which the frequency of the
pulse was altered by suggestion. In some cases it was only
necessary to state quietly that the pulse should beat faster or
slower; in others the suggestion was not successful unless it was
associated with an emotional one. Thus, to quicken the pulse,
the subject was told that he was hurrying to catch a train; to
produce slowing, something depressing was described.

The following case is an example of the former class, i.e. that
in which the alterations were produced by simple suggestion. I
hypnotised the subject, Mrs. A., aged 40, and the results of the
suggestions were recorded by Dr. Alcock, of Goole, who reported
as follows : " Dudgeon's sphygmograph was employed, but all
possible precautions were taken to prevent the errors which are
sometimes associated with its use. Thus, the position of the
instrument, and the adjustment of the tension apparatus, were
not altered in any way from the beginning to the close of the
experiments, and all the tracings were taken at one sitting, rapidly
one after the other. Without suggestion in the waking state, the
pulse was 80 and the tracing normal; the aortic and dicrotic
notches were well marked, and both occurred during and on the
down-stroke. The subject was then hypnotised and increased
rapidity suggested, when the pulse rose to 100. The tracings
showed a decrease in the aortic notch, almost to the verge of
extinction; while the dicrotic notch became more prominent, and
appeared rather as a separate wave on its own account, than as a
part of the down-strcke. In other words, the down-stroke more

G82

HYPNOTISM

nearly reached the base-line before the dicrotic wave commenced.
These tracings apparently showed that decreased tension was
associated with increased speed. Slowing of the pulse was then
suggested, when it fell to 60, and tracings the reverse of those
just referred to were now recorded. The aortic notch occurred
almost immediately after the up-stroke was finished, and the
following wave appeared as a rounded hump, approaching the
initial up-stroke in height. The dicrotic notch began early in the
down-stroke and the dicrotic wave was well marked. These
tracings apparently showed that decreased speed was associated
with increased tension. The subject was then told that her pulse
should beat at its normal rate, when it again rose to 80. There
was now no difference between the tracing, and that taken before
hypnosis had been induced or suggestions given. The respiration
remained unchanged throughout the experiments." In another
case, where Professor Waller was the recorder, I easily obtained
an alteration of 20 per cent in the pulse rate by suggestion.

Moll, Beaunis, and many others record similar alterations in
the rapidity and tension of the pulse. Beaunis believes that
these changes are brought about by suggestion acting directly
upon the inhibitory centres of the heart. Moll, on the other
hand, thinks we should hesitate before accepting this conclusion.
The action of the heart is influenced both by respiration and by
ideas which affect the emotions, and thus the phenomena are
probably an indirect result of suggestion. As we have seen, in
some cases the phenomena in question could not be induced unless
respiratory changes and emotional states had previously been
excited, and to these doubtless Moll's objections apply. Where
neither respiratory changes nor emotional states were evoked,
Beaunis' explanation appears more probable.

Respiration.—With the exception that respiration sometimes
remains unchanged in hypnosis during violent muscular exertion,
there is little of note to record. It is true that the respiration
can be accelerated, slowed or temporarily arrested, by suggestion,
but similar phenomena can be induced voluntarily in the waking
state.

Bleeding.—Bourru, Burot, Mabille, Jules Yoisin, Artigalas,
Eemond, Hulst and others report cases in which bleeding from
the skin has been induced by suggestion. In some instances the
subjects were carefully watched during the whole of the experi-THE EXPERIMENTAL PHENOMENA OF HYPNOSIS 83

ments, and precautions were taken to prevent fraud. In others
this was evidently not the case; and, in addition, the operators
rubbed the skin with a blunt instrument.

Dr. Hulst (America) asserts that he caused a subject's nose
to bleed by suggestion; but, as she suffered from frequent epistaxes,
the possibility of coincidence is not excluded.

Local Redness of the Skin.—Forel records several cases in
which he produced local redness of the skin by suggestion. In
one instance this appeared at the end of five minutes; the subject
being carefully watched all the time by Forel and other medical
men.

Beaunis reports similar cases, and asserts that all precautions
were taken to eliminate mal-observation or fraud.

Schrenck-Notzing cites an interesting experiment which he,
and Dr. Eybalkin, of St. Petersburg, made upon Camille, Li^beault's
celebrated somnambule. They suggested to her in the waking
state that the skin below her ear was red and inflamed, and that
she had evidently been bitten by an insect. In about three
minutes there appeared a patch of erythema with a distinct rim.

Blistering, etc.—At Nancy, in 1885,—in the presence of
Li^beault, Bernheim, Li^geois, Dumont and Beaunis—Focachon
hypnotised a subject, strapped a piece of gummed paper upon
the back of her left shoulder and suggested that this should
produce a blister. On the following day several blisters appeared,
which suppurated freely.

Forel records similar experiments with one of his nurses.
The blister suppurated for eight days, and seven weeks later the
place was still discoloured.

On February 21st, 1890, Eybalkin hypnotised a boy, aged
16, suggested that he should touch an unlighted stove with his
arm, and that a blister should form at the seat of contact. The
arm was then bandaged, and the subject put to bed and watched.
Three hours later there was considerable swelling, accompanied
by redness; next morning two large and many small blisters had
formed.

Krafft-Ebing has published a case, that of lima S., in which
he and Dr. Jendrassik, of Buda-Pesth, assert that they produced
blisters and marks like burns by suggestion. When an object
was pressed upon the subject's skin and suggestions of heat made,
a blister or eschar like that of a burn appeared, the exact size and84

HYPNOTISM

form of the object used. If, however, the object was pressed
upon the left side of the body, the mark appeared in a reversed
position on a corresponding part of the right side, and there only.
The subject was hysterical and suffered from right hemianesthesia.

Hulst states that with one of his subjects, a girl aged 22, he
succeeded on three occasions in producing local inflammation of
the skin, with the formation of superficial sores.

I have never been able to produce a blister by suggestion.
In several instances, however, I have seen local redness of the
skin appear, under circumstances which apparently excluded fraud
or mal-observation.

Cases are also recorded in which suggestion is stated to have
prevented blistering under circumstances where this would other-
wise have occurred. Thus, similar blisters were placed on each
forearm of Focachon's subject, and it was suggested that the one
on the left should produce no effect. Next day the right arm
alone was blistered.

Delboeuf made the following experiment with his subject J.
After obtaining her consent in the waking state, he hypnotised
her, extended her arms on a table, and suggested that the right
should be insensible to pain. Each arm was then burnt with a
red-hot bar of iron, 8 millimetres in diameter, the extent and
duration of its application being identical in both. There was
pain in the left arm alone. The burns were bandaged and J.
sent to bed. During the night the pain in the left arm continued,
and next morning there was a wound on it 3 centimetres in
diameter, with an outer circle of inflamed blisters; on the right
there was only a defined eschar, the exact size of the iron and
without inflammation or redness. The day following the left
arm was still more painful and inflamed. Analgesia was then
successfully suggested, when the wound soon dried and the in-
flammation disappeared.

Changes of Temperature.—In the case of lima S., Krafft-
Ebing and Jendrassik claim not only to have changed her
temperature, but even to have produced the exact degree
suggested.

Dr. Dumontpallier, of Paris, recorded a case in which he
obtained a local increase of temperature of 3° centigrade. Dr.
Lehmann, of Copenhagen, also claims to have obtained an increase
of temperature by suggestion, while Drs. Mares and Hellich, ofTHE EXPERIMENTAL PHENOMENA OF HYPNOSIS 85

Prague, state that they have reduced the temperature from 37°
C. to 34*5°. In the latter two cases the respective suggestions
of heat and cold were made.

Dr. Le villain, of Paris, records a case where Charcot is said
to have produced the w&bme bleu des hystdriques by suggestion.
The subject was told that her hand would swell, become blue
and turn cold. The hand increased to nearly double its former
volume and presented all the appearance of " blue oedema"; its
temperature fell 3° C. lower than the rest of the body. Sug-
gestion quickly caused the symptoms to disappear.

I have never succeeded in changing the temperature in
hypnosis. On one occasion I suggested to an extremely good
somnambule that the skin of his arm should become burning hot.
The subject at once complained of pain and heat, but, although
the suggestions were energetically continued for about half an
hour, there was no increase of temperature; suggestions of cold
were equally unsuccessful in lowering it. The observations were
made by Professor Waller, and the instrument employed was
infinitely more sensitive than the ordinary clinical thermometer.

Remarks.—The evidence as to the production of blistering
and changes of temperature by suggestion is by no means con-
clusive. In none of the cases which have come under my notice
have sufficient precautions been taken to eliminate the possibility
of fraud or mal-observation. Thus, in Focachon's cases, the
subject was alone and unwatched the whole night. Krafft-Ebing
appears to have taken the temperature in the axilla with an
ordinary clinical thermometer. This method is obviously un-
trustworthy, as hysterical subjects have frequently succeeded in
raising the temperature by rubbing the thermometer. On March
25th, 1895, I received the following reply from Dr. Hulst, in
reference to the precautions that had been taken in his case:
" The experiments I made were not well controlled and fraud can-
not be positively excluded. I want to confess, however, that I have
had some doubts with regard to the blistering experiments with
my subject—not so much because I doubt her honesty, but because
the burning sensation which she experienced may have induced
her to rub or scratch unconsciously; yet I never saw her do so."

In the Zeitschrift fur Hypnotismus, vol. iv., 1896, Schrenck-
Notzing gives the following account of experiments made with
Eva S. The subject was apparently hysterical, and showed86

HYPNOTISM

increased vasomotor excitability in the waking state; slight
pressure on the skin almost immediately produced redness.
During hypnosis, Drs. Flach and Offner produced erythema of
the skin by gently rubbing it with a cold key, which they told
the subject was red-hot. Parish, the author of Illusions and
Hallucinations,, then joined the experimenters and apparently
induced blistering by simple verbal suggestion. The experiment
repeated under more stringent conditions, was again successful.
At the suggestion of Schrenck-Notzing, the subject was brought
to Munich, and, in the presence of Parish, Eudinger, Clausner,
Moritz, Lowenfeld, Mueller, Hoffmeyr, Schrenck-Notzing, Kopp,
Minde, Billinger, Hirschberger, and Albrecht, a fresh attempt was
made to produce blistering. At 6.45 p.m. the subject was undressed
and put to bed, and the left hand and arm bandaged. A portion
of skin on the back of the right forearm, between the wrist and
the elbow, was selected for the experiment. The right arm was
then enclosed in a wooden box, with an opening in the top
through which the portion of skin selected could be seen. With
this exception, the entire arm, hand and box were enveloped in
a complicated series of bandages, with which sheets of paper had
been incorporated. The subject was then hypnotised and the
blister suggested. She was continually watched until 6.15 p.m.
of the following day. At times the subject appeared to fall into
a natural sleep; at others she was awake and restless, and com-
plained of itching and burning. At the termination of the
experiment, the bandages on both arms were found to be so far
loosened that the subject could move her fingers. Perforations,
resembling pin-pricks, were observed both in the layers of paper
and the bandages, but none of these were found at the place
selected for blistering, which was protected by the wooden box.
Schrenck-Notzing found a hairpin near the bed, and the subject
had been seen to lay her right arm over her head upon the
pillow, and also to move both arms a good deal. The experiment
was repeated under still more stringent conditions; the arm was en-
veloped in a plaster of Paris bandage and the subject closely watched
for twenty-four hours. The results were entirely negative.

Schrenck-ISTotzing justly calls attention to the amount of
freedom allowed to subjects in these and other similar experi-
ments which are now regarded as classical. Thus, Focachon's
subject, who was alone all night, might have mechanicallyTHE EXPERIMENTAL PHENOMENA OF HYPNOSIS 87

irritated her skin in the first experiment, and in the second held
the blister away from it and so prevented its action.

Menstruation.—For el states that he has succeeded in exciting
or arresting menstruation by suggestion. He has also caused it
to appear at a given moment by post-hypnotic suggestion, and
regulated its duration and intensity. Most of these experiments
were made upon his female asylum attendants, who were subjected
to careful examination.

I have rarely attempted to alter the normal menstrual function
by suggestion, but have frequently done so when irregularities
existed. Examples of these from my own practice, and those of
others, are to be found under " Menstrual Disorders."

Action of the Bowels.—Many instances are recorded in
which action of the bowels has been excited or arrested by
suggestion. Braid claims to have made the first observation of
this kind. A girl, aged 14, suffering from constipation, was told
by Braid during hypnosis that her bowels would act in five
minutes. He awoke her and the suggestion was carried out at
the time indicated. She was again hypnotised, and the experiment
successfully repeated. At a later date, Braid stated that he had
made many similar suggestions in other instances, and with
unvarying success.

According to Moll, the peristaltic action of the bowels can
generally be easily excited by suggestion; and in some instances
the effect of aperients can be checked in the same way. These
statements are confirmed by the observations of Beaunis, Forel,
Krafft-Ebing and many others.

Urine.—Wetter strand asserts that with one of his patients,
suggestion not only removed difficulty in micturition, but also
largely augmented the amount of urine secreted. Generally
speaking, however, the cases cited as showing suggestive altera-
tions in the secretion of urine are neither numerous nor conclusive.
All that is proved in most instances is that the patient emptied
the bladder in response to suggestion.

Lachrymal Secretion.—Most observers record cases in which
the lachrymal secretion has been excited in hypnosis. This is
usually done either by suggesting emotional states, or a sensory
delusion such as a pungent smell. Beaunis asserts that he has
excited the lachrymal secretion of one eye by suggestion, while
the other remained normal.88

HYPNOTISM

Perspiration.—The only instances I know of in which
perspiration has been altered by suggestion will be cited under
" Medical Cases."

Secretion of Milk.—Several cases are recorded in which the
secretion of milk has been increased or arrested by suggestion.
One of the earliest is cited by Esdaile. His sister-in-law, when
weaning a child, suffered from the accumulation of milk in her
breasts, which rendered them painful and swollen. Esdaile
hypnotised her and in half an hour she was free from pain. Next
morning the breasts were soft and comfortable, and there was no
further secretion of milk.

An experiment, the reverse of this, is related by Braid. He
hypnotised a patient who was nursing, and suggested an in-
creased secretion of milk in one breast. On awaking she had no
recollection of what had been done, but complained of a feeling of
tightness and tension in the breast. Her husband then told her
that Braid had been trying to increase the secretion of milk. She
was sceptical as to the result, as her child was fourteen months
old and the milk had almost disappeared. Her breast, however,
almost immediately became distended with milk, and a few days
later she complained that her figure was deformed in consequence.
Braid again hypnotised her and successfully repeated the experi-
ment with the other breast. The patient suckled her child for
six months longer, the supply of milk being more abundant than
it had been at any time since her confinement.

The following case is reported by Grossmann :—B., aged 20,
primipara, suckled her child for a fortnight and then ceased to do
so, as she had to leave home. Three weeks later she returned
and wished to again nurse the child, but the secretion of milk had
ceased absolutely in the right breast and almost entirely in the
left. The patient was hypnotised, and the sensations associated
with the flow of milk suggested. In three minutes, the veins of
the left breast became enormously congested and milk began to
flow from it. At first, repeated pressure failed to produce a single
drop from the right breast, but when the suggestions were repeated
milk was secreted freely. Some hours later the breasts were still
full, though the patient had not attempted to suckle the child.

Grossmann, evidently unaware of Esdaile and Braid's cases,
cites this as the first instance in which alteration in milk-secretion
had been caused by suggestion.THE EXPERIMENTAL PHENOMENA OF HYPNOSIS 89

Dr. Hassenstein, of East Prussia, reports a case in which the
secretion of milk entirely ceased owing to emotional causes, and
was rapidly restored by suggestion.

(G) Changes in the Special Senses, Muscular Sense,
Common Sensations and Appetites.

(1) Increased Action.

Sight.—I have seen the range of vision, both distant and
near, increased by suggestion in subjects whose sight was normal.
Sometimes, however, the improvement was due to the disappearance
of a spasm of the accommodation, and an interesting example of this
class is cited under " Medical Cases." 1

One of the most remarkable instances of increased vision is
described by Dr. Bergson (France). The subject read letters
reflected in the operator's eye, the image of which was only
of an inch high.

Hearing.—In deep hypnosis, I have invariably found that the
hearing could be rendered more acute by suggestion; the range,
as tested with the stop-watch, being frequently double that of the
normal state. Similar observations are recorded by others; and
Beaunis, in addition, succeeded in accelerating the time of reaction
to auditory sensations.

In the Zeitschrift fur Hypnotismus, for 1896, Dr. Inhelder,
formerly assistant physician to Professor Forel, published ten
years' experiments with male and female warders in the night
watching of suicidal and homicidal lunatics. The warders were
hypnotised, trained to sleep by the bedside of dangerous patients,
and to awake the instant the latter attempted to get out of bed.
Sounds which had no reference to the warder's duties were inhibited
by suggestion, while those which it was important they should
hear were rendered more acute.

In addition to their ordinary routine of hard work, these
warders sometimes performed night duty for six months at a
stretch, without being unduly fatigued. The results, as far as
the patients were concerned, were also uniformly successful and no
accident of any kind occurred. When I visited Forel, in 1892,
he successfully repeated this experiment for my benefit.

1 Pp. 191-4.9°

HYPNOTISM

Smell.—The experiments of Braid and other observers show
that hyperesthesia of the sense of smell can frequently be induced
by suggestion. One of Braid's subjects, when blindfolded in a
room full of people, could identify any person known to him by
the sense of smell alone. If allowed to smell a glove, he could
afterwards recognise its owner, but his power of performing these
feats disappeared when his nostrils were plugged.

Muscular Sense.—The following experiments were made with
Mrs. A., and recorded by Dr. Alcock. Four pill-boxes, new and
identical in appearance, were selected, and a 2-drachm weight
placed in each. To three, however, other weights were added,
giving an ascending series of 20 grains at a time. The boxes,
lettered underneath S, I, N", G, respectively, were nearly the same
weight, viz. S, 38 grains; I, 36 grains ; N, 35 grains; G, 37 grains.
The weights in the first experiment were, therefore: S, 2 drachms
38 grains ; I, 2 drachms 56 grains ; N, 3 drachms 15 grains; G, 3
drachms 37 grains. At first the subject was tested in the waking
state, when it was found that she was unable to discriminate
between S and G, a difference of 1 drachm 2 grains. She was
then hypnotised, hyperesthesia of the muscular sense suggested,
and the following precautions taken. On each occasion the
boxes were first mixed; then one was selected at random and
the distinguishing letter only noted after the experiment. The
subject was blindfolded; her arms were extended and the palms
of the hands turned upwards. A box was placed on each hand,
and she was asked to say " Eight" or " Left/' accordingly as she
considered which hand supported the heavier box. She was never
told whether she had made a correct estimate or not, and never
saw, either before, during or after the experiments, the contents or
lettering of the boxes. Until the conclusion of the experiments,
I knew nothing of the boxes selected or their contents.

S and N

I

S
N
S

s

N
S
I

G
I
G
I
I
G
G
N

EXPERIMENT No. I.

differing in weight grains 37. Result—Correct.

41.
18.
22.
18.
18.
22.
59.
19.

Wrong.
Correct.THE EXPERIMENTAL PHENOMENA OF HYPNOSIS 91

EXPERIMENT No. II.

This was identical with the first, with the exception that the
added weights gave an ascending series of 10 grains at a time.
The weights of the boxes, therefore, were as follows: S, 2
drachms 38 grains; I, 2 drachms 46 grains; N", 2 drachms 55
grains; G, 3 drachms 7 grains. Increased sensibility was then
suggested, with the following result:—

S and G

differing in weight grains 29

s		N	» 17.	
s	)?	I	j, ,, 8.	
I		N	„ „ 9.	Wrong.
I	>>	N	n » 9-	Correct.
s		I	» » 8-	Wrong.
s		I	„ „ 8.	Correct.
s	»	I	» » 8-	
N	>>	G	„ „ 12.	
N	»	GJ	12.	91

S and G

differing in weight grains 29

Result—Correct.

Result—Correct.

In a third experiment, the weights ascended by 5 grains at a
time, and next-door neighbours in the series were tried. In that
instance, exactly the same numbers of failures and successes were
recorded.

Miss M., one of my subjects, who could only play a few dance
tunes upon the piano with her music before her and in the absence
of strangers, when hypnotised, blindfolded and deprived of her
music, played the same tunes much more brilliantly before a room
full of people.

Braid recorded cases of hypnotised subjects who were able to
write neatly, crossing the t's and dotting the i's, even when most
effectual precautions were taken to prevent their seeing what they
were doing. They could go back a line, strike out a false letter
and write the correct one in its proper place. One subject could
accurately correct the mistakes in a whole page, but, if the relative
positions of the paper and table were changed, all the alterations
would be wrong, as they were placed according to the original
position of the paper.

Braid believed that the phenomenon of echolalia, to which
reference has already been made, was due in great measure to
improvement in the muscular sense.

Common Cutaneous Sensibility.—The following experiments92

HYPNOTISM

were made with Mrs. A., and the results again recorded by Dr.
Alcoek. The ordinary method, with a pair of blunt-pointed
compasses, was employed, and the parts selected were the hands
placed behind the subject's back, and the region over the eyebrow.
Precautions were taken to prevent the subject seeing what was
done, or being influenced by unconscious suggestion on the part of
the operator. Thus she was never asked: " Do you feel one or
two points ? " but was told beforehand to say " One " or " Two," as
she imagined herself to be touched by one or two points. I
hypnotised the subject and made suggestions of increased
cutaneous sensibility; but, as I sat with my back towards her, I
saw nothing of the experiments, and only learnt the results
afterwards. The following were the distances required in order
that the points could be appreciated as distinct:—

Eight palmar hypotlienar eminence. Before suggestion. Half an inch.

„	„	„ After „	Quarter of an inch.

Back of left hand along length of first finger. Before suggestion. Seventeen

lines.

„	„	„	„	After suggestion. Nine lines.

Just over left eyebrow and parallel to it. Before suggestion. One inch.

„	„	„	After „ Half an inch.

Berger also records similar experiments, which were repeated
and confirmed by Moll.

Thermo-sensibility.—The following experiments were made
with Mrs. A., and the results again recorded by Dr. Alcock.
Two test-tubes were nearly filled with tepid water, and a few
drops of cold added to one of them. Mrs. A. then took a tube
in each hand and was told to guess which was the warmer.
The experiment was repeated and varied in several ways, when it
was found that she could discriminate between minute differences
of temperature, which we ourselves could not detect, and which
she could not appreciate in the normal state.

Braid and later observers also cite cases of increased sensitive-
ness to changes in pressure and temperature. According to the
former, some subjects recognised objects placed half an inch from
their skin; others walked about in absolute darkness without
striking against anything, because they recognised the position of
objects by alterations in the resistance of the air and in the
temperature.

Appetites, Hunger and Thirst.—I have observed manyTHE EXPERIMENTAL PHENOMENA OF HYPNOSIS 93

instances in which suggestion induced hunger in patients suffering
from a morbid loss of appetite. I have also seen healthy subjects,
who had just partaken of a hearty meal, again make an equally
good one when hunger was suggested to them.

(2) Decreased, Arrested and Distorted Action.

(/The activity of the special senses may be decreased by
suggestion, or their action may be entirely arrested, and the
subject rendered insensible to visual, auditory and other sense-
impressions.

Sensory delusions, hallucinations as well as illusions, can also
be evoked in the same way.

Liegeois classifies hallucinations as follows:—

(1)	Positive.—The subject sees hallucinatory objects, and
these act in the same way as if they were real in preventing the
view of other objects.

(2)	Negative.—^An object disappears in response to sugges-
tion and then apparently ceases to hide other objects.

(3)	Retroactive.—Here it is suggested to the subject that he
has heard or seen imaginary things; on awaking he remembers
them and believes in their reality.

(4)	Deferred. — The appearance of the hallucination is
delayed by suggestion and appears at the date fixed. This
form will be dealt with more particularly under post-hypnotic
suggestions.

(5)	Hallucinations of Memory.—These will be discussed
when dealing with the general question of memory in hypnosis.

(6)	Changes of Personality.—Here the subjects assume the
role suggested, and speak and act in accordance with their con-
ception of the part. This Liegeois considers to be a veritable
hallucination.

Motor Hallucinations.—While the subject is at rest, if he is
told that he is making certain movements, the physical phenomena
usually associated with them appear. According to Beaunis,
this is a true hallucination; an act which is not performed is
believed by the subject to be executed, because the idea of it is
aroused in the ideomotor centres.

Moll asserts that visual hallucinations are more easily evoked94

HYPNOTISM

when the subject's eyes are closed, as the act of opening them is
apt to terminate the hypnosis. Illusions, in his opinion, are
more readily suggested than hallucinations.

My experience does not accord with Moll's. I have never
found any difficulty in inducing sensorial hallucinations in deeply
hypnotised subjects, no matter whether their eyes were open or
shut.

There is an important point in reference to certain negative
hallucinations, viz., that the object must first be seen in order
not to be recognised. One can, for example, place a minute mark
on one of twelve otherwise exactly similar pieces of paper, and
suggest to the subject that he shall not see the marked one.
Here, before the negative hallucination can take place, the
subject must first select the particular paper by recognising the
mark.

When a negative hallucination is suggested, the subject
frequently adds a positive one on his own account. Thus, if an
object is obliterated by suggestion, and a second one moved behind
the first, he apparently still sees the second. The memory of
the latter has been transformed into a visual hallucination.

Binet and F£r£ believe that a suggested visual hallucination
produces the same optical phenomena as a real image. A prism,
they say, doubles it, and complementary colours give their
natural resultant. Bernheim points out, and my experiments
agree with his, that this only occurs in trained subjects who
know what they are expected to see.

Anaesthesia and Analgesia.—According to Moll, complete
analgesia is extremely rare in hypnosis, although authors, copying
from one another, assert that it is common. There is an immense
difference, he says, between pricking the subject with a needle
and using the faradic brush. The pain caused by the use of the
latter is so great, especially when considerable electric force is
used, that very few hypnotised persons can bear it.

I have generally been able to induce profound anaesthesia or
analgesia when the stage of somnambulism has been reached, and,
unlike Moll, have found such subjects completely insensible to
powerful applications of the faradic brush. To one, acutely
sensitive to pain in the normal state, analgesia alone was suggested,
when she watched and discussed the application of the brush,
and described the tactile sensations associated with it. PainTHE EXPERIMENTAL PHENOMENA OF HYPNOSIS 95

was entirely inhibited. In such cases, the corneal and con-
junctival reflex is either absent or can be abolished by suggestion.
The nose and throat also can be rendered insensible, and subjected
to careful examination without pain or discomfort to the subject.
Some interesting experiments of this kind were made for me by
Dr. Greville Macdonald. Given deep hypnosis, analgesia and
anaesthesia are equally easy to induce, and can be evoked simul-
taneously and separately in the same subject. One arm, for
example, may be made anaesthetic and the other analgesic, and the
latter condition even associated with a hyperesthesia of tactile
sensations. Further examples of anaesthesia and analgesia are
given under " Surgical Cases."

Hunger and Thirst.—Debove, Fillassier, and others record
experimental cases in which the desire for food and drink was
removed by suggestion; the subjects abstaining from both for a
considerable period, without the inconvenience which they would
have otherwise experienced.

(II.) THE PSYCHOLOGICAL PHENOMENA OF HYPNOSIS.
(A) Post-Hypnotic Suggestions.

Under ordinary circumstances, the instant hypnosis is
terminated all the phenomena which have characterised it
immediately disappear. In response to suggestion, however, one
or more of these phenomena may manifest themselves in the
subject's waking life. This is brought about in two ways. (1)
Where the operator suggests that one or more of the phenomena
shall persist after waking. For example, the analgesia success-
fully suggested in all my operative cases was continued by this
means after hypnosis was terminated. The same thing can be
done in experimental cases, and muscular contractures, alterations
in the special senses, or hallucinations thus continued from the
hypnotic to the waking state.

(2) The most interesting class of post-hypnotic suggestions,
however, are those in which the appearance of the phenomena
has been delayed until some more or less remote time after the
termination of hypnosis. The production of sleep at night, the
prevention of the return of periodic pain, the excitation of the96

HYPNOTISM

action of the bowels, or of the menstrual flow, are examples of
this from the therapeutic side; while post-hypnotic appreciation
of time, automatic writing, delayed hallucinations, etc., are
examples from the experimental side. The mental condition of
the subject during the fulfilment of post-hypnotic suggestions
will be referred to in discussing memory, and again dealt with
under " Theory."

(B) Rapport in Hypnosis.

In deep hypnosis, particularly in the somnambulistic state,
the phenomenon called rapport generally appears. The subject
responds to the operator alone; and, while the latter's slightest
gesture or softest whisper is instantly obeyed, he remains inert
though others may stimulate him by speaking loudly or acting
roughly. The following case illustrates this:—

I hypnotised C., a soldier in good health, in the presence of
Mr. Ernest Hart, Drs. Hack Tuke, Outterson Wood, Wingfield
and others. Mr. Hart said that he could wake C. and asserted
that this was the easiest thing in the world to do. He shook C.
and told him to wake up, but with no result. He then asked me
to leave the room, alleging that my presence prevented his success.
I did so and closed the door after me, but remained close to it. I
heard Mr. Hart say : " Wake up. Dr. Bramwell has gone home ;
we are all going away and the room will be locked up for the
night." Mr. Hart and the others then left the room, walking
very loudly, and joined me in the passage. Mr. Hart then
suddenly slipped back into the room and shut us out.' Five
minutes after, he admitted that he could not waken 0. We
returned to the room and I whispered to C.: " Wake up." He
at once did so.

Next day, during hypnosis, I asked C. what Mr. Hart had
done to him while they were alone in the room. He said Mr.
Hart had forcibly lifted his eyelids and rubbed his eyeballs with
his fingers. A week later the experiment was repeated, when
Mr. Hart and others employed every means they could think of
to arouse C. These attempts failed, but he again awoke the
instant I requested him to do so.

I could easily cite many other instances of a similar natureTHE EXPERIMENTAL PHENOMENA OF HYPNOSIS 97

which have been observed by myself and others. It is not
necessary to do so, however, as I propose to show, in discussing
this question in the chapter on " Theory," that the phenomenon
is a purely artificial one, the result of training by the operator, or
of self-suggestion on the part of the subject.

(G) Consciousness in Hypnosis.

Only 10 per cent of Braid's subjects passed into a condition
resembling sleep, followed by amnesia on waking. The lost
memory could generally be restored by suggestion in subsequent
hypnoses ; but, in a few instances, Braid was unable to thus recall
the events of hypnotic life, and thought that when this happened
the subjects had passed into a deeper and more unconscious stager
which he termed hypnotic coma.

According to the Salpetriere school, the stage of lethargy is
characterised by loss of consciousness.

Bernheim's observations and statements as to hypnotic
consciousness are somewhat contradictory. Thus, he asserts that
the profoundest somnambules show consciousness when stimulated
by questions, and afterwards can recall what has passed. From
this he concludes that consciousness always persists during every
phase of hypnosis. He describes, however, other somnambules
who are supposed to have lost consciousness. These, he says,
fall into a profound and heavy sleep, and are incapable of
remembering anything on awaking — even if tormented by
questions during hypnosis, they remain inert.

Remarks.—Generally speaking, the hypnotic condition—
whether slight or deep—is a conscious one. This is obviously
true as regards the lighter stages, where the subject not only
realises all that is taking place around him, but can also recall it
when the hypnotic state is terminated. In profound somnambulism
also the subjects can usually recall in subsequent hypnoses all
that has passed in previous ones; sometimes, however, they may
undergo operations and perform acts of which they are unconscious.
Thus, {a) in surgical cases, where anaesthesia has been successfully
suggested, the patients are unable to recall anything about the
operations, either when awake or in subsequent hypnoses. If
analgesia alone is suggested, they can revive tactile, but not

H98

HYPNOTISM

painful sensations. The fact that this unconsciousness of pain
is real and not a negative hallucination, is proved by the absence
of shock, the persistence of analgesia after awaking, and the
unusual rapidity of the healing process.

(b)	Under certain circumstances the events of profound
hypnosis cannot be recalled by suggestion. If the subject is
told to sleep deeply, and to be unconscious of everything until
awakened by the operator, two widely differing conditions may be
observed : (1) Despite the commands of the operator, the subject
at once manifests consciousness if any experiment, of which he
disapproves, is attempted. (2) If, however, he is neither questioned
nor touched, he generally takes no notice of anything said or done
around him. On awaking, he frequently has no recollection of
what has passed, and suggestion in hypnosis sometimes fails to
revive the lost memory.

(c)	The hypnotic subject can be trained to perform automatic
acts. If some simple movement is suggested, of which volition
does not disapprove, it may after a time become automatic, i.e.
after having been frequently voluntarily and consciously performed,
it may be executed unconsciously as a genuine automatic act in
response to the habitual stimulus which has excited it. The
memory of this act—one which has apparently not aroused
consciousness—cannot be evoked in subsequent hypnoses.

(D) Spontaneity in Hypnosis.

Moll believes that he has observed spontaneous mental and
physical action even in the deepest forms of hypnosis. At the
same time, he admits that he is unable to prove that these
apparently spontaneous acts did not result from some external
stimuli, which might have been so slight as to escape observation.
He states that he has been struck by the absence of independent
currents of thought in deeply hypnotised subjects.

The first difficulty met with in attempting to discuss " spon-
taneous " action is the ambiguity attached to the word itself.
According to Moll, in order that an act or thought should be
spontaneous it must arise independently of external stimuli.
From that point of view, an effect may occur without a cause or
a phenomenon without a generator. It is more logical, however,THE EXPERIMENTAL PHENOMENA OF HYPNOSIS 99

to admit that previous sensations have been registered and that
volition is a resultant of past, as well as of present, sensations.

For practical purposes, in discussing spontaneity we may
divide the mental and physical phenomena into two groups: (1)
Where the phenomena are not due to the suggestions of the
operator, or to impressions received from the outer world during
hypnosis. (2) Where the phenomena have been excited by stimuli
received during hypnosis, but where their character has not been
definitely determined by these stimuli, i.e. where the response to
the given sensations has been, as it were, chosen by the subject.

Group 1.—Of this class a typical example will be given in
discussing automatism, i.e. the dressmaking problem solved by D.
When I hypnotised her I knew nothing about her difficulties.
The solution of the problem came into her mind while she was
resting quietly in a condition of profound hypnosis with her eyes
shut—at a time when no suggestions of any kind, either direct
or indirect, were being made to her.1

Other somnambules also stated, when questioned in subsequent
hypnoses, that they occasionally, although rarely, thought of the
events of their waking life when hypnotised, and arranged plans
for the future. More extended investigations, carried out on the
same lines, would probably show that somnambules possess more
independent mental activity than they are generally credited with.
It must be remembered, moreover, that the suggestions of the
operator tend to curtail the mental activity of the subject. Thus,
in the " deep " stage, they are usually told to sleep and to think of
nothing, while in the " alert" stage they are generally occupied in
carrying out more or less complicated suggestions.

All the phenomena of self-hypnosis already referred to—and
further discussed under " Theory "—fall under Group 1. For, al-
though we can identify the stimuli which excited them, these arose
before hypnosis took place and originated with the subject himself.

Group 2.—Examples of this group are very numerous. Thus,
I suggested to E. during hypnosis that he should open his eyes
and act as if he were awake. He was to go into another room,
where he would find Dr. F. and entertain him until I joined them.
When I entered the room, F. told me that E. had given him an
interesting account of the hypnotic operations at Leeds, and of a
lecture and demonstration I had given at York. E. had been

1 P. 320.IOO

HYPNOTISM

present on both occasions and was one of the patients operated
on. When I told F. that E. was in the hypnotic state he would
not believe it. I awoke E.; he had 110 recollection of what he
had said or how he had got into the room. He was rehypnotised
and questioned, when he recalled my instructions and how he had
carried them out. I asked him why he had chosen hypnotism as
the topic of conversation. He replied that he was sure Dr. F.
had come to find out about it, and so he chose that subject as he
thought it would interest him.

Miss D.'s description—which will be given in the chapter on
" Theory "—of being doctored by her mother is another example
of this kind.1

Under this group also fall all the cases in which subjects
have resisted disagreeable suggestions. Here the response to the
external stimuli was opposite or different to that desired by the
operator, and in this sense was spontaneous on the part of the
subject. This form of " negative spontaneity " shows itself both
in action and thought; the subjects not only oppose physical
resistance to the suggestions, but, if questioned, give their reasons
for doing so.

(E) Memory in Hypnosis.

Memory in relation to hypnotic states varies widely and is
influenced by the depth of the hypnosis, the personality of the
subject and the suggestions of the operator.

Memory in hypnosis may be:—

(I.) Unchanged.—In this group, the subjects when hypnotised
can recall the events of normal life, and on awaking remember all
that has passed during hypnosis.

In some instances, however, where the memory is apparently un-
changed, closer examination shows that it has either been increased
or diminished. Of this the two following cases are examples:—

(a) I had frequently hypnotised Miss G., and could influence
not only her voluntary muscles but also her special senses. On
awaking she could always recall what had passed, despite
suggestions to the contrary. At a later date, I found I could
induce analgesia. Touching the cornea, passing needles into the
flesh, and probing the nose and vocal chords were unaccompanied

1 P. 321.THE EXPERIMENTAL PHENOMENA OF HYPNOSIS 101

by pain or disagreeable sensations. On awaking, despite suggested
amnesia, the subject could recall all the tactile sensations
associated with these operations, but was unable, even in response
to suggestion, to revive any memory of pain.

(b) Certain changes in the voluntary muscles and the special
senses could be induced in Mrs. H., all of which she remembered
on awaking. Analgesia, however, could not be induced. Though
her memory was apparently unchanged, experiment revealed the
existence of a sub-conscious one, superior to the normal. I
suggested, during hypnosis, that she should fall asleep the first
time Mr. K. called and shook hands with her. On awaking, she
remembered what had been said. A week or two passed with-
out her seeing him, then one day Mr. K. met her at my house
and shook hands with her. She did not fall asleep. Both the
subject and I had forgotten the exact terms of the suggestion,
and believed it had been a failure. Some time afterwards, how-
ever, Mr. K. called at the subject's own house, when she fell
asleep the moment he shook hands with her. She was not
thinking of the suggestion at the time.

(II.) The subjects can recall during hypnosis the events of leaking
life and those of previous hypnoses—with a clearness corresponding
to their powers of memory in the normal state—but, on awaking,
the incidents of hypnosis are more or less forgotten.

In this group the subjects usually assert that they are able
to remember all that has passed during hypnosis. Questioning,
however, reveals the fact that their memory is not nearly so
perfect as they believe it to be. Further, what they do recall
soon fades, thus resembling ordinary dreams, which, although
vivid on awaking, are often quickly forgotten.

(III.) The subjects can recall during hypnosis the events of
previous hypnoses, as well as those of normal life, and on awaking
remember little or nothing of what has occurred.

The hypnotic memory just referred to surpasses the normal
one: the improvement shows itself (a) in an increased power of
recalling impressions received during hypnosis, and (b) in reviving
the lost impressions of normal life.

The following are examples of group (a) :—

(1) During hypnosis, I read some verses twice to Miss S.
which were new to her, and suggested that she should recall them
on awaking. The experiment was successful, despite the fact102

HYPNOTISM

that her normal memory was so bad that it was almost impossible
for her to learn anything by rote.

(2)	Miss D., as we shall see, was able to recall in subsequent
hypnoses complicated series of figures, which had been read to
her once or at most twice in hypnosis—a feat quite beyond the
powers of her normal memory.1

The following are examples of group (6):—

(1) As already stated, Miss M., an imperfectly educated girl,
could play a few tunes upon the piano, but only with her music
before her. When hypnotised and blindfolded she played them
much more brilliantly. As she would never play before strangers
when awake, and did so when hypnotised, this showed not only an
improvement in memory, but the absence of various inhibitions
due to nervousness and shyness.

The improvement of memory as to remote events is still
more interesting; and this I have frequently demonstrated in the
following manner:—(2) Certain subjects were first questioned in
the normal state as to the earliest events they could remember,
when it was generally found they could recall nothing which had
happened before the age of five or six. They were then hypnotised
and, starting from the first event in their lives they could recall,
it was suggested that they should revive the memory of earlier
and earlier incidents. Some of the subjects related what they
stated had happened at the age of two, and one described a
children's party given on the first anniversary of her birthday.

(3)	Sometimes I suggested a modified change of personality
i.e. that the subject had become a child again and was learning
to write. By this means samples of handwriting were obtained,
beginning with the first ppthooks and altering in character as
increased age was suggested: these the subject was unable to produce
in the normal state. On awaking, the subjects remembered
nothing they had told me. When I, in my turn, related the
incidents, some recognised them and wondered how I knew what
they themselves had long forgotten; others recalled nothing.

As far as the facts themselves are concerned, older relatives
confirmed the statements made by the subjects. This, however,
does not exclude possible error. The subject, who thought she
recalled the first anniversary of her birthday, may only have
remembered an account she had heard at a later date, but, as no

1 Pp. 119-139.THE EXPERIMENTAL PHENOMENA OF HYPNOSIS 103

recollection of this was to be found in the normal consciousness,
its revival would indicate an improvement, although not so far-
reaching a one, in memory.

In Dr. Morton Prince's case, referred to under " Theory," 1 the
subject was able to recall during hypnosis events of which the
normal consciousness possessed no knowledge—notably those
that had occurred during the delirium of fever.

The increase in hypnotic memory is closely related to the
depth of the hypnosis, and reaches its fullest development in
somnambulism, which is characterised by post-hypnotic amnesia.
Moll, Krafft-Ebing and many others also cite cases of improve-
ment in hypnotic memory, which more or less closely resemble
the examples just given.

The recollection during hypnosis of the events of waking life,
and of those of previous hypnoses, rarely occurs spontaneously in
the untrained subject. The questions of the operator, however,
readily evoke these memories, and his indirect suggestions produce
the same result. Thus, when a disagreeable suggestion is given,
the subject is able to recall, despite the wishes of the operator,
the feelings, sentiments or prejudices of his waking life, and, acting
in accordance with these, rejects the suggestion. The subject, on
the other hand, who has been frequently hypnotised and taught
to revive lost memories by suggestion, soon comes to do so
spontaneously. When hypnosis is induced, especially its " alert"
stage, the subject takes up his hypnotic life at the point at which
he left it when last hypnotised; and the memories of past
hypnoses and of waking life are at once restored, or at all events
reappear, just as ordinary memories would, with every association
of ideas that is brought about by his surroundings. Subjects in
the " deep " stage, who are apparently unconscious of whatever is
passing around them which does not directly concern them,
frequently pass into the " alert" stage when anything is said or
done which does interest them. Their memory then revives; and,
as in the case of Miss D. already referred to, they spontaneously
join in the conversation.

Cases are said to have occurred in which the forgotten dreams
of normal sleep have been spontaneously recalled in hypnosis;
but this I have been unable to confirm.

It has been attempted during hypnosis to revive the memory
1 Pp. 394-6.104

HYPNOTISM

of what has occurred during the administration of an anaesthetic,
such as ether or nitrous oxide gas, but the experiments of this
kind with which I am personally acquainted were failures.
Further, I have never succeeded during hypnosis in recalling the
events of normal sleep. With one subject, whose hypnotic
memory of the events of waking life was exceptionally good, I
carried out the following experiment:—He was in the habit of
falling asleep every Sunday afternoon in his arm-chair; and on
these occasions he was read to aloud, the sentences being repeated
again and again. I afterwards hypnotised him and suggested
that he should recall what had been read. The experiment,
though frequently repeated, was invariably unsuccessful.

As far as my experience goes, the loss of memory associated
with non - hypnotic double personality cannot be restored by
suggestion. I have, however, only experimented with one case.
The subject, like Felida X.,1 passed spontaneously into a second
state of consciousness, and could recall nothing in the normal
state of what she had said or done during the attacks. During
hypnosis there was a marked improvement in memory as regards
the events of waking life, but suggestion failed to revive anything
which had happened in the attacks.

Post-Hypnotic Amnesia.—All hypnotic stages, except the
slightest, are characterised by a decrease of memory on awaking,
which usually corresponds to the depth of the hypnosis. Some-
times the subject recalls and retains a certain proportion of the
incidents of his hypnotic life; at others he remembers everything
on waking, but forgets it all a few minutes after; finally, he may
have absolutely no recollection of anything he has said or done
during hypnosis. This stage, characterised by complete amnesia
on waking, is termed " somnambulism," and in it the phenomena
of deepest hypnosis can be excited by suggestion, i.e. one can
obtain alterations in the special senses as well as in the muscular
system. This amnesia after hypnosis, however, is sometimes
reached in slight stages, when alterations in the voluntary
muscles can alone be induced; in other instances it is absent in
the deeper ones, characterised by alterations in the special senses.
One subject, for example, may be unable on awaking to recall
that the muscles of his arm had been rendered rigid, while another
may distinctly remember a sensory hallucination.

1 Pp. 385-6.THE EXPERIMENTAL PHENOMENA OF HYPNOSIS 105

According to Bernheim, subjects who cannot remember the
events of hypnosis on awaking are sometimes also unable to
recall what immediately preceded hypnosis. Although this
phenomenon can be produced by suggestion, I have never seen it
arise spontaneously.

The two most important points as to post-hypnotic amnesia
are (1) the circumstances under which the condition arises, and
(2) those associated with the restoration of the lost memories.

(1)	It is difficult to determine whether post-hypnotic amnesia
ever appears without either direct or indirect suggestion. The
majority of those, who have passed into the stage in which their
special senses can be influenced by suggestion, remember on
awaking nothing of what has taken place. Here, although the
operator may have made no direct suggestion of amnesia, indirect
suggestion is not excluded. "With nearly every one, the idea of
hypnosis represents a kind of sleep with subsequent forgetfulness;
and this is so ingrained that the majority of those in whom
hypnosis short of somnambulism has been induced, assert that
they have not been hypnotised, because they have not been asleep.
This point of view often remains unshaken, despite the explana-
tions of the operator. Further, in those who have been deeply
hypnotised without subsequent amnesia, this phenomenon can
generally be excited by a single direct suggestion of the operator.

(2)	In cases of complete post-hypnotic amnesia, I have never
seen the lost memories spontaneously revived in the waking state,
nor restored by association of ideas—even when this has been of the
most direct kind and the subject has been informed of the events
of hypnosis. My observations have led me to accept Beaunis'
conclusion that the lost memories of hypnosis possess this dis-
tinctive and essential characteristic: that they cannot be revived
by chance association of ideas, and therefore are fundamentally
different from those of the waking state.

Bernheim, Moll, Heidenhain and others hold different views.
According to these authorities, the lost memories of hypnosis can
be restored in the following ways:—(A) By direct association of
ideas; e.g. the subject is told something of what has happened and
recalls the rest. (B) By chance association of ideas acting just
as they would do in normal life. (C) By the operator's touch.
Bernheim says : " I lay my hand on the subject's forehead to
concentrate his attention ; he thinks deeply for an instant, with-io6

HYPNOTISM

out falling asleep, and all the latent memories arise with great
precision." (D) By the operator simply asserting to the subject
in the waking state that he is to remember. (E) By means of
the dreams of normal sleep.

The restoration of the lost memories of hypnosis during
normal sleep is a phenomenon I have never observed ; and, as
far as I am aware, the only instances on record are two cited by
Bernheim. Before accepting the spontaneous revival of lost
hypnotic memories, one must be sure of two things: (a) that in
the cases cited the post-hypnotic amnesia was complete, and (b)
that no new hypnosis was induced.

(a)	In cases short of somnambulism, where the subject
remembered some of the events of hypnosis on awaking, and then
more or less quickly forgot them, it is possible that the lost
memories may have been restored by the association of ideas, and
also that similar memories might be revived in normal dreams.
Such instances are widely different, however, from those in which
the subject has forgotten all the events of hypnosis on awaking :
these, I believe, are quite unaffected by association of ideas or
dreams.

(b)	Fifty years ago, Braid drew attention to the fact that lost
memories were revived when the operator placed his hand on the
subject's body, and thus helped him to concentrate his attention.
Braid recognised, however, that the condition induced was a fresh
hypnosis; but this, the all-important point, Bernheim apparently
fails to grasp. All trained somnambules can recall the events of
hypnosis in response to the simple statement of the operator,
" Now you remember." The phrase " Now you remember " equals
in value the word "Sleep," or any other signal for inducing
hypnosis. In response to it, the subject passes into the hypnotic
state and relates the events of past hypnoses. When his story
is finished, and his attention directed into some other channel,
the normal state reappears and he forgets all he has just said.

(IV.)—The subject may be unable, even in response to suggestion,
to recall during hypnosis certain events of past hypnoses.

Attention has already been drawn to the fact that the subject
can revive the past impressions of hypnosis, better than his
ordinary self can recall similar ones of waking life. This state-
ment, however, only applies to the hypnotic events of which the
subject has been conscious. Impressions may be received whichTHE EXPERIMENTAL PHENOMENA OF HYPNOSIS 107

do not reach hypnotic consciousness; these cannot be recalled in
subsequent hypnoses. They are of two kinds :—

(1)	Those received during profound hypnotic conditions. As
already stated, when a somnambule is told to sleep deeply and to
hear nothing except the operator's voice, and that only when
addressed to him, he may or may not be able to recall in
subsequent hypnoses what has taken place. If anything is said
which concerns him, he may apparently remain unconscious, or, like
Miss D., pass into the " alert" stage and join in the conversation.
In both cases he is able to recall what has taken place. Further,
he will successfully resist any experiments which are disagreeable
to him; and he knows in subsequent hypnoses what they were and
why he opposed them. On the other hand, if nothing is said or
done which in any way interests the subject, he usually remains un-
conscious, and can generally recall nothing in subsequent hypnoses.

(2)	Further, the subject may be unable to recall, during sub-
sequent hypnoses, specially selected sensations inhibited during
"alert" as well as "deep" stages. The familiar example is the inhibi-
tion of pain for operative purposes. Anaesthesia may be suggested,
when the patient can revive neither painful nor tactile sensations ;
or analgesia alone may be induced, when the patient can recall
the steps of the operation, but has no memory of pain. That this
inhibition of pain is a real, not an apparent one, is proved by
the following facts :—(1) Not only do the patients remain passive
during operation, but the physiological signs of pain are absent,
i.e. there is neither dilatation of pupil, nor increase of pulse.
(2) There is no corneal reflex. (3) Powerful applications of the
faradic brush elicit no signs of pain. (4) Shock is absent.

(5)	Pain on awaking can be prevented by post-hypnotic suggestion.

(6)	The healing process is abnormally rapid.

Again, certain sounds may be inhibited, which subsequently can-
not be recalled. For example, Forel's warders, as we have already
seen,1 who slept by the bedside of homicidal lunatics, heard nothing
unless the patients attempted to get out of bed. All other sounds
failed to disturb them and could not be recalled, while the absence
of fatigue in this form of night-watching also demonstrated the
genuine nature of the inhibition.

Braid recognised three main conditions of post-hypnotic
memory:—(1) The subjects afterwards remembered the events of

1 P. 89.io8

HYPNOTISM

hypnosis. (2) They forgot on awaking the events of hypnosis,
but recalled them in subsequent hypnoses. (3) After the deeper
stage, which he called "hypnotic coma," memory was lost and
not revived in subsequent hypnoses.

According to Bernheim, the hypnotic condition in all its
stages is a conscious one; and, when amnesia follows on awaking,
the lost memories can be revived in various ways, including that
of simple affirmation by the operator. The subject can then
recall everything that has been said and done by himself and
others; nothing is forgotten. Bernheim states that the hypnotic
coma of Braid does not exist. Subjects, he says, who remain
inert during hypnosis, and are without apparent memory on
awaking, are really conscious all the time. In support of this,
he asserts two things:—(1) The operator, by stimulating the
subject by questions, etc., can always elicit signs of consciousness
during hypnosis ; he can always make the subject come out of
his torpor. (2) On awaking, the subject can be made to recount
all that has passed. These statements are only partially correct.
It is true, no matter how profound the hypnosis, that the operator
can at once arouse the subject's attention and keep it alert. If
he does so, the deep stage which I have described does not appear.
On the other hand, such a stage can be induced and may be
maintained under the conditions I have described, i.e. in the
absence of sensations interesting or disagreeable to the subject.
In such cases, as the subjects can recall nothing when questioned
in subsequent hypnoses, the conclusion that this particular stage
was not a conscious one appears reasonable. This view is further
strengthened by the fact that particular sensations, notably pain,
can be entirely inhibited and never exist for consciousness at all.

"While Bernheim asserts that consciousness is never lost and
that memory can always be revived, he formerly described {Sugges-
tive Therapeutics, p. 8) a condition which I have never observed,
and of which he now denies the existence {Revue de VITypnotisme,
vol. xii. p. 143). Speaking of somnambules, he says : " Others, on
the contrary, fall into a deep, heavy sleep and remember absolutely
nothing on waking. While they are asleep they can be questioned
in vain—tormented with questions : yet they remain inert."

Under certain circumstances, subjects are said to be unable
to recall during hypnosis events which happened at an earlier
period in the same hypnosis.THE EXPERIMENTAL PHENOMENA OF HYPNOSIS 109

Of this class two groups of cases are cited :—(a) Changes of
personality. According to Moll, and some other authorities,
when changes of personality are suggested during hypnosis these
are associated with loss of memory, i.e. a subject as Napoleon
does not remember what he did as Frederick the Great. This
partial amnesia is an artificial one accidentally created by
suggestion, and in subsequent hypnoses the subject can recall
what he said and did when playing both roles.

(ib) Alternating memories without change of personality.
Gurney described two stages of hypnosis, distinguished from each
other by entirely different memories. In stage A the subject
knew nothing of stage B, and in B nothing of A.1 I have never
seen these stages arise spontaneously; but have artificially created
them by suggestion, and found that the subjects could recall in
subsequent hypnoses all that had been said and done in both stages.

(V.) Owing to suggestion, the subject may have forgotten in
hypnosis the events of waking life.

As already stated, there is a tendency to recall in hypnosis
the events of waking life. This develops with time and training,
until at length the subject possesses even a richer store of the
memories of waking life than he does in the normal state.
Suggestion may partly or entirely suspend or destroy this memory,
and so create an artificial amnesia. Hence, the subject may in
hypnosis recall nothing of waking life, or only certain selected
incidents which have not been excluded by suggestion. The lost
memories can be restored by suggestion; and thus the condition
differs from the so-called amnesia we have just discussed in the
last section. There, the subject could not recall what he had
never experienced; here, in response to suggestion, he forgets
what he formerly knew, and later again recalls it by the same
means.

(VI.) Owing to suggestion, the subject may be unable to recall in
hypnosis the events of previous hypnoses.

Here the changes in memory correspond to those just
described under section V. The memories of previous hypnoses,
which would have arisen either spontaneously or in response to
suggestion, are prevented from doing so, either in whole or in
part, by the suggestions of the operator. This amnesia can be at
once abolished by further suggestion.

1 Pp. 396-7.IIO

HYPNOTISM

According as arranged by the operator, the two forms of
amnesia just described may either occur separately, or may be
combined in the same subject. In the latter case the subject
will be unable to recall in hypnosis the events of waking life,
and those of previous hypnoses.

(VII.) Owing to suggestion, the sulject may have forgotten on
awaking some or all the events of waking life.

This amnesia may occur in various ways:—

(a)	It may apparently be complete. The subject is then
unable to recall anything connected with his waking life, and may
even have lost the sense of his own identity. All memory of
previous hypnoses is also forgotten.

(b)	The amnesia may be limited by suggestion. Here the
subject cannot remember selected events and ideas of his past
life. For example, he may be unable to recall certain words or
letters; or may remember them, and yet be unable to utter them
or write them down. This power of suggesting post-hypnotic
amnesia is sometimes of therapeutic as well as of experimental
value. For instance, one of my patients, a nervous girl, was much
frightened by seeing a friend in an epileptic fit and was unable
to dismiss the scene from her mind. This was blotted out by
suggestion and although several years have passed since then, its
memory has never arisen either in the normal state or in hypnosis.

(c)	The amnesia just described may be modified by the post-
hypnotic suggestion that the memories of hypnosis alone be
continued into the waking state. The subject then forgets in
waking life the events of his past normal life, and remembers those
of his past hypnotic life which he would otherwise have forgotten.

(VIII.) Owing to suggestion, the subject in the normal state may
be unable to recall certain selected events in waking life, which took
place after hypnosis terminated.

Of this class Forel's warders again afford an example. He
found that some of them were greatly distressed by the purposeless
noises of the insane, and suggested, during hypnosis, that they
should only hear those sounds in the waking state which were
necessary for the performance of their duties. All others were
inhibited and never existed for the waking consciousness; and
thus suggestion in subsequent hypnosis failed to revive them.

(IX.) Owing to suggestion, the subjects may recall in hypnosis,
or in the waking state, the sensory hallucinations of earlier hypnosis.THE EXPERIMENTAL PHENOMENA OF HYPNOSIS m

For example, the subject may remember in hypnosis a
hallucinatory dog which he believes he has seen in a former
hypnosis and, as the result of suggestion, this memory may be
prolonged into waking life.

(X.) The subject may recall during hypnosis the events of
previous hypnoses and those of waking life, the latter to a greater
extent than he could do in the normal condition ; and by mggestion
this memory may be retained on awaking.

Here amnesia has been prevented by suggestion, and there is
now no break in the memory of the hypnotised subject. It
is true he cannot recall inhibited sensations which have never
existed for consciousness, such as those described under No. IY.
Apart from this, the only alteration is one of improvement. In
the waking state the subject now remembers past events which
he was unable voluntarily to recollect, but the memory of which
has been revived in hypnosis. He also recalls the impressions
he received during hypnosis—impressions which he would not
have been able to revive so vividly had they been made in the
waking state. He remembers, for instance, the piece of poetry
which has been read to him twice during hypnosis, and which he
would have required to have heard read many times in the normal
state, in order to retain an equally clear recollection of it.

(XI.) Memory in Relation to Post-Hypnotic Suggestions.

According to most authorities, post-hypnotic suggestions,
even when executed some time after awaking, are not carried
out in the normal condition; there is, in effect, a new hypnosis
or a state closely resembling it. In support of this, they rely
mainly on the alterations which take place in memory; as
a rule post - hypnotic acts are forgotten immediately after
fulfilment.

According to Moll, the conditions under which post-hypnotic
acts are carried out vary widely. He summarises them as
follows:—(1) A state in which a new hypnosis, characterised by
suggestibility, appears during the execution of the act, with loss
of memory afterwards and no spontaneous awaking. (2) A state
in which no symptoms of a fresh hypnosis are discoverable,
although the act is carried out. (3) A state with or without112

HYPNOTISM

fresh susceptibility to suggestion, with complete forgetfulness of
the act and spontaneous awaking. (4) A state of susceptibility
to suggestion with subsequent loss of memory.

At first I believed that all post-hypnotic acts were forgotten
immediately after fulfilment. Later, I noticed many exceptions to
this rule, but these—with the exception of those occurring in so-
called " waking somnambulism "—have been confined to one class,
viz. that where the removal of morbid symptoms has been success-
fully suggested. Thus, if I successfully suggest to a patient, who is
suffering from insomnia, to sleep eight hours the following night,
he remembers that he has done so. The same thing happens
when constipation or amenorrhea is cured by suggestion; and
yet the same patients may be unable to recall experimental post-
hypnotic suggestions, such as rigidity of the muscles. Why
they should remember the former and forget the latter is a
question by no means easy to answer. The explanation may
possibly be found in the fact that the suggested sleep, for
example, is not so much the direct outcome of the suggestion
as of the removal of the morbid conditions on which the insomnia
depended.

The different phenomena described by Moll as associated with
post-hypnotic states are largely the result of training. The
following experiment illustrates this. I suggested to 0. that ten
minutes after awaking she should commence to rotate her hands.
I awoke 0., who then carried on a conversation with me and
another person who was present. At the end of ten minutes she
carried out the suggestion. I asked her why she moved her
hands. She replied: " I fancy you told me to when I was asleep."
" Do you remember my having done so ?" " No." " Can you
recall anything which happened when you were hypnotised ?"
"No." A fresh experimental suggestion of a simple and un-
objectionable nature was made, but was not carried out. I then
said to 0: " Stop moving your hands." She did so. I talked
about something else for a moment or two and then asked her
why she had moved her hands. She denied having done so and
was unable to recall anything about it. She remembered, however,
everything else that had taken place while the experiment was
being carried out. I rehypnotised 0. and gave her the same
post-hypnotic suggestion and then aroused her. While she
executed it, I succeeded, by varying my suggestions and makingTHE EXPERIMENTAL PHENOMENA OF HYPNOSIS 113

them more forcible, in getting her to accept fresh suggestions and
to recall the memories of the previous hypnosis.

(XII.) Memory in " WaJcing Somnambulism "

The term " waking somnambulism" is applied by Beaunis
to a condition in which a subject, who has been previously
deeply hypnotised, will accept suggestions similar to hypnotic ones,
without having on that occasion been subjected to any hypnotic
process, or having passed through any state resembling sleep or
trance. The following is a typical example:—I say to N".,
who has not been recently hypnotised, but who is a somnambule:
" I am going to prick your arm with a needle and you will feel
no pain." I pass the needle deeply into his flesh, while he looks
on smilingly. I ask : " Doesn't this hurt you ? " " No." " Do
you know what I am doing?" "Yes." Except for the
suggested analgesia N.'s condition apparently in no way differs
from the normal. His eyes are open and his movements natural
He not only talks to me, but to others around him, and answers
questions and reasons just as he would do when awake. I now
abandon the experiment and turn his attention in another
direction. A moment or two afterwards I ask him: " Are you
sure it did not hurt you when I pricked your arm ?" He
replies: "What do you mean? You never pricked my arm."
He has entirely forgotten the incident. Beaunis considers this
condition a hypnotic one for two reasons: (1) the subject will
receive other suggestions of a hypnotic nature; (2) the sugges-
tions are forgotten immediately after fulfilment. With the first
proposition I entirely agree, for I have observed that all
subjects, in whom deep hypnosis has previously been induced,
will subsequently exhibit the same range of phenomena in
response to suggestion in the apparently waking state. The
condition termed " waking somnambulism" is undoubtedly a
hypnotic one, but there are some slight points of difference
between it and the usual form of hypnosis induced in the same
subjects by ordinary methods. In ordinary somnambulism all
the events of hypnosis are forgotten on awaking, and can only
be recalled in fresh hypnoses. In the cases of waking somnam-
bulism which I have observed, sometimes the suggestions were

IU4

HYPNOTISM

forgotten almost immediately, at others they were remembered
for a longer period, and in some cases were recalled after the
lapse of weeks. The subject of one of these experiments was
questioned in hypnosis as to her memory of suggestions carried
out in a state of waking somnambulism. She replied: " Some-
times I forgot them quickly, sometimes remembered them for an
hour or two, never longer." When I reminded her that she had
recalled one at the end of a month, she replied: " Oh yes!
You made the suggestion just before I left your room, and I
talked it over with my mother on my way home." Here the
recollection of the event was complicated by the subject's
verbal description of it, and possibly by her mother's comments.

With another subject, I noticed a difference between the
mental attitude as to hallucinations suggested in hypnosis and
those created in waking somnambulism. On several occasions
she saw a cat in response to suggestion. She was always
delighted with the imaginary animal, believed it to be a real
one, and showed great pleasure in playing with it. At a later
date, in the apparently waking state, I successfully suggested
a similar hallucination. She said: "I see that cat, but it is
not real. I know it is only an imaginary one you have made
me see."

The occasional persistence of the memory of post-hypnotic
acts, and the recognition of the artificial nature of a hallucination,
are the only differences I have discovered between waking
somnambulism and the " alert" stage of ordinary somnambulism.
Both conditions are hypnotic ones; and the slight apparent
differences between them are probably due to unconscious train-
ing by the operator, or to the self-suggestions of the subject.

(F) Hypnotic and Post-Hypnotic Appreciation of Time.

As already stated, I commenced to employ hypnotism as a
therapeutic agent in 1889, and in less than two years treated
over 500 patients; of these 48 per cent became somnambules,
i.e. were unable, when hypnosis was terminated, to recall the
events of hypnotic life. Having observed that the curative effect
of suggestion was increased by prolonged hypnosis, I frequently
suggested to my patients that they were to remain in that state'THE EXPERIMENTAL PHENOMENA OF HYPNOSIS 115

until a given hour—usually that of their next meal—and then
left them. Although rarely present at the conclusion of the
experiment, I obtained ample and trustworthy evidence that
hypnosis invariably terminated at, or within a few minutes of, the
hour indicated, and thus accidentally discovered that deep hypnosis
was associated with an increased appreciation of time. These
observations—the by-product of therapeutic work—led to care-
ful experiment with somnambules, the majority of whom were
males and all in good health. The following were the usual
suggestions given: (1) A simple act was suggested during
hypnosis, which was to be carried out at a given time before that
state terminated. (2) The subject was told during hypnosis
that this state was to cease at a specified future hour. (3) The
performance of some simple act at a given hour after the termina-
tion of hypnosis was suggested. (4) Awaking from natural
sleep at a given hour was suggested during hypnosis. (5) The
subject was told in the waking state that he was to pass into
the hypnotic condition at a given hour, remain hypnotised for
a specified time, and perform certain simple acts at stated
intervals; then pass again into the normal state and remain in
it for a specified time, and again pass into the hypnotic con-
dition. These experiments, continued from 1889 to 1902, have
been frequently repeated before competent observers. The
majority of the suggestions were executed at the moment
indicated, while in the remainder the error in time appreciation
rarely exceeded five minutes. In many instances, except those
referred to in group No. 4, the subjects were carefully watched
from the beginning to the end of the experiment.

Similar phenomena have been observed by nearly all who
have done practical hypnotic work; and I have seen experiments,
resembling those just cited, reproduced in various foreign cliniques.
Two, formerly regarded as the most remarkable of their kind,
were made by Beaunis and Li^geois. In one of these a
visual hallucination appeared after a suggested interval of 172
days, and in the other after 365. The late Professor Delboeuf,
however, pointed out, in reference to all such experiments, that
even in the longest a fixed date had been impressed upon the
subject's mind. Thus, Beaunis' subject was told that the 17 2nd
day was New Year's Day, and Li^geois' was impressed by the
fact that the suggestion was to be executed in a year from theii6

HYPNOTISM

time it was given. The experiments, therefore, did not involve
the carrying out of a suggestion after the lapse of so many days,
which the subjects were supposed to count as they passed, but
simply on the arrival of a fixed and easily recognised date. This
objection applies with great force to my earlier cases. In every
instance a specified hour was suggested; and, in order that the
subjects might be conveniently watched, the time involved
rarely exceeded a few hours. This point will be again referred
to in treating of the theoretical explanation of the appreciation
of time. Meanwhile, I wish to draw attention to the experiments
made by Delboeuf, with the object of eliminating an easily
recognised fixed date from the suggestions.

Delboeuf's Experiments.—These occupied a week, from
Saturday, October 2, to Saturday, October 9, 1886. His
subjects were his two maid-servants, J. and M., sisters, aged
respectively 20 and 23. All the experiments were of a similar
character; from time to time during hypnosis the subjects were
told that they were to do something at the expiration of a certain
number of minutes, an interval of waking life always intervening
between the suggestion and its fulfilment:—

Exp.1 1.—Sat., Oct. 2, 1886 ; subject J.; time 6 a.m. Bug.: At the
expiration of 350 m. J. was to ask Delboeuf if she should harness the donkey.
Delboeuf's wife was ill and went out in an invalid carriage drawn by a
donkey, but J. had nothing to do with it; thus her question would be
unusual. Res.: The impulse to ask the question came into J.'s mind at the
time it was due, but she successfully resisted it.

Exp. 2.—Subject M.; time 8 a.m. Sug.: At the expiration of 350 m.
M. was to ask Madame Delboeuf if she would like to go out. Under the
circumstances the question would be an unusual one. Res.: At 1.50, the
hour indicated, M. was impelled to ask the question, but as she happened to
be in the village on an errand, was unable to do so. She returned at 2.30
and carried out the suggestion.

Exp. 3.—Mon. ; subject J.; time 9.15 a.m. Sug.: In 900 m., i.e. at
12.15 a.m., J. was to go into the bedroom of one of Delboeuf's children and
pull his ear. Res.: Suggestion was carried out 95 m. too soon.

Exp. 4.—Subject M.; time 9.25 a.m. Sug.: M. was to kiss Mile. H.
Delboeuf at the expiration of 700 m. Res.: Twenty-five m. before the
suggestion fell due M. looked for Mile. H. Delboeuf in order to kiss her, but
could not find her.

Exp. 5.—Subject M.; time 10.4 p.m. Sug.: In 900 m. M. was to kiss
Mile. C. Delboeuf. Res.: At the time indicated, i.e. 1.4 on Tuesday
afternoon, M. was having her lunch with the other servants when she

1 Exp. = Experiment. Sug. = Suggestion. Res. = Result, d. =days. li. = liours.
m. = minutes.THE EXPERIMENTAL PHENOMENA OF HYPNOSIS 117

suddenly got up from the table, sought and found Mile. C. Delboeuf and
carried out the suggestion.

Exp. 6.—Tues.; subject J.; time 6.30 a.m. Sug.: At the expiration of
1600 m. J. was to pull the cook's nose. Res. : Suggestion carried out 60 m.
too soon.

Exp. 7.—Subject M.; time 6.45 a.m. Sug.: At the expiration of 1150
m. (Wed., 1.55 a.m.) she was to go into the cook's bedroom and pull her by
the ear. The cook was told what was likely to happen. Res.: At the exact
hour the subject had a strong impulse to carry out the suggestion, but
resisted this until 4.15 a.m., when she gave in and went to the cook's room.
The cook laughed, whereupon M. said : " If you laugh I shall pull your ear."

Exp. 8—Wed. ; subject J. ; time 9.55 a.m. Sug.: At the expiration of
1300 m. (Th., 7.35 a.m.) J. was to ask Madame Delboeuf if she would like
to have her hair dressed. Res.: Suggestion carried out 69 m. too soon.

Exp. 9.—Subject M.; time 6.55 a.m. Sug. ; At the expiration of
1500 m. (Th., 7.55 a.m.) M. was to ask Madame Delboeuf if she required
anything. Res.: Suggestion carried out with absolute accuracy.

Exp. 10.—Friday ; subject M.; time 6.30 a.m. Sug.: M. was to feel
sleepy at 10 p.m. ; go to bed and sleep profoundly. Res.: Correct.

Exp. 11.—Subject J.; time 9.15 a.m. Sug.: At 11 p.m. J. was to go into
M.'s room, and give her a complicated suggestion to be carried out at 5.30
next morning. Res.: J. went to bed at 10 p.m. in her own room and
quickly fell asleep. At 10.50 p.m. (10 m. too early) she went to her
sister as suggested, but could not afterwards recall what she had said or done.

Exp. 12.—Subject M. Sug.: M. to execute the orders just referred to at
5.30 a.m. Res.: She did nothing, however, beyond carrying out the first part
of the suggestion, i.e. that she should go to bed and sleep profoundly, and
was unable to remember whether her sister had said anything to her or not.

Exp. 13.—Sat. ; subject J. ; time 9.30 a.m. Sug.: At the expiration of
3300 in., J. was to ask Delboeuf if she should carry a small ladder to the
pear tree. Res.: The impulse to ask the question arose 90 m. too late, but
J. did not give way to it.

Exp. 14.—Subject M. ; time 10 a.m. Sug.: Similar to the last, to be
executed after a like interval. Res.: Identical with the above, but 90 m.
too soon.

Summary.—There were in all fourteen experiments. The
suggestions, to be carried out after the lapse of 350, 700, 900,
1500, 1600, 1150, 1300 and 3300 minutes respectively, were
made at varying hours of the day and night, while some fell due
at night after the lapse of several days.

Results.—Three of the suggestions were fulfilled at the
moment they fell due; four were carried out, but not at the
exact time. In three an impulse to carry out the suggestion
arose at the right moment. In one of these, the subject success-
fully resisted the suggestion, in another, she was accidentally
prevented from executing it, while in the third, she struggled118

HYPNOTISM

against it for two hours and twenty minutes, and then carried it
out. In three, the impulse to carry out the suggestion arose, but
not at the correct time. In one of these cases, accidental circum-
stances alone prevented the suggestion from being carried out,
but, in the two others, the subject successfully resisted it. One
alone, No. 12, failed completely, but this may have been due to
the fact that No. 11 was not fulfilled in its entirety, i.e. it is
uncertain whether J. gave the requisite orders to M. As, however,
the essential fact in the experiments was not the actual carrying
out of trivial and sometimes absurd suggestions, but the subject's
recognition of the terminal time, the cases in which an impulse
arose at the correct moment must be classed amongst the successes.
The number of these is thus raised to Six, while of the eight
remaining experiments seven were partially successful. Of the
latter, four were carried out and an impulse to execute the sugges-
tion arose in the other three, but in none was the time accurate;
the error varied from a tenth to a thirty-seventh of the interval.

Remarks.—J. and M. were strong, healthy peasant girls, who
had frequently been hypnotised and were both good somnambules.
At an earlier date, J. was the subject of the two symmetrical
burns already referred to1; later she married and her first child
was born painlessly during hypnotic trance.2

J. and M. were very imperfectly educated, and could with
difficulty tell the time by the clock. It was impossible for them
to at once reduce such a large number of minutes as 400 into
'hours, and they were obliged to proceed by successive additions,
thus:—1 hour =60 minutes; 1 hour and 1 hour makes
60 + 60 = 120; 120+another hour makes 180, and so on.
Before reaching 360 they had often made mistakes, and, no
matter what method they adopted, were absolutely incapable of
reducing such numbers as 1600 and 1150 minutes into hours.
Further,.supposing they recalled the suggestion on the termination
of hypnosis and noted what o'clock it was—which they neither
did nor could do—they would still, for example, have to determine
by mental calculation the hour which corresponded to 6.45 p.m.,
increased by 1150 minutes, a feat entirely beyond their powers.

Later, in order to discover whether J.'s hypnotic arithmetical
powers exceeded her normal ones, Delboeuf put the following
problems to her during hypnosis:—(1) "Turn 350 minutes into
1 p. 84.	2 p. 171.THE EXPERIMENTAL PHENOMENA OF HYPNOSIS 119

hours." Answer: " Six hours. Wo, five and a half hours." (2)
" Turn 1200 minutes into hours." Answer: " Fifteen hours. No,
twelye and a half hours." (3) "Turn 150 minutes into hours."
Answer: " Two and a half hours." (4) " Turn 240 minutes into
hours." Answer: "Two hours." (5) "Turn 300 minutes into
hours." Answer, after five seconds' calculation : " Four and a
half hours." Then, after a further calculation : " Five and a half
hours." Finally: " Five and three-quarter hours." Delboeuf
asked J. to explain the last calculation to him. She replied:
"This makes five and a half hours plus 3 times 10, which makes
five and a half hours exactly." Delboeuf tried to help J. as
follows: "How much is 60 + 60 ?" Answer: "120 minutes."
"120 + 60 ?" Answer: "180 minutes." " 180 + 60 ?" An-
swer, after a long hesitation: "240 minutes." "240 + 60 ?"
Answer: " 290 minutes." J. had spent ten minutes over
attempting to solve the last problem and showed great signs of
fatigue. Delboeuf did not consider it necessary to push the
question further. It is to be noted that M. was a somewhat
better arithmetician than J., and that, in the experiments
referred to, her results were more accurate than J.'s.

Further Time Experiments.—The following were inspired
by Delbceufs, and the results were so remarkable that I feel
justified in giving as many details as possible, in order to present
a fairly complete picture of the subject of the experiments, and
of the circumstances under which they were carried out.

Miss D., aged 19, was sent to me by Dr. de Watteville for
hypnotic treatment, on Sept. 2, 1895, and her medical history is
fully given on page 183.

Hypnosis was induced at the first attempt; and at the seventh
sitting Miss D. reached the stage of somnambulism, i.e. she was
unable in the normal state to recall the events of hypnotic life.
From that date she could at once be made analgesic or anaesthetic
by suggestion: touching the cornea or tickling the back of the
throat with a feather produced no reflex, and the passing of a
needle deeply into the flesh was unattended by pain.

During treatment suggestions had been made fixing the hour
at which Miss D. was to fall asleep at night, and the moment at
which she was to awake in the morning. As these were remark-
ably successful, it occurred to me that she might prove a good
subject for experiments similar to those of Delboeuf. Miss D.120

HYPNOTISM

was an intelligent girl who had received an ordinary Board-school
education, and her arithmetical powers were in keeping with this;
she could do ordinary sums in multiplication and subtraction
with the aid of a pencil and paper; but failed, unless they were
extremely simple, to solve them mentally. Notwithstanding this,
she asserted that she had been the best in her class at mental
arithmetic. She possessed no particular aptitude for appreciating
the passage of time. The following experiments were made after
her recovery, and with the consent of her parents:—

Exp. 1.—Nov. 5, 1895 ; time 4 p.m. Suggestion giving during hypnosis :
At the expiration of 5 h. and 20 m. Miss D. was to make a cross on a piece
of paper, and write down the time she believed it to be without looking at
clock or watch.

Result.—The suggestion was carried out the minute it fell due.

Remarks.—On this occasion I did not say anything to Miss
D. about the experiment, either before or after hypnosis; and,
being a somnambule, she retained in her waking consciousness no
recollection of the suggestion. I told her mother its nature, but
not the time at which it should be fulfilled. At 9.15 the same
evening her mother noticed that Miss D. was restless and asked
her what was the matter. She replied: u I feel I must do some-
thing, but cannot tell what." At 9.20 p.m. she rapidly made a
cross with a pencil, and wrote "20 minutes past 9 " on a piece
of paper, at the same time saying: " It's all silliness." There
was no clock in the room; but her mother went into the next
room where there was one, and found that the time was 9.20.
When I again saw Miss D., I explained the nature of the experi-
ments I proposed making, and instructed her to carry a pencil
and paper during the day, and to put them by her bedside at
night. I did not describe the experiments as anything extra-
ordinary, but simply told her that hypnotised subjects were often
able to appreciate time, and that I wished to see whether she
could do so. No pecuniary or other reward was promised or
given. I told her I should make these suggestions from time to
time, but not on each occasion she visited me. I neither told
her in the waking condition that suggestions had been made, nor
informed her relatives when I made them, nor what they were.
They knew that suggestions of this nature were given frequently,
but only became acquainted with them by seeing Miss D. carry
them out, or by hearing from her that she had done so. BeforeTHE EXPERIMENTAL PHENOMENA OF HYPNOSIS 121

making the suggestions, I wrote them down in my case-book and,
when Miss D. again visited me, I copied into it what she had
written on the different pieces of paper. In many instances, I did
not calculate when the suggestions fell due, and in others the
calculations I made at the time were proved to be erroneous, the
results of the experiments in these cases being only determined
when the series was completed.

The experiments which followed were all of the same
character, i.e. during hypnosis Miss D. was told that, at the ex-
piration of a certain number of minutes, she was to make a cross
and write down the hour she believed it to be without consulting
the clock, an interval of waking life always intervening between
the suggestion and its fulfilment. The simple and uniform
character of my experiments was due to the consideration that
Delbceufs subjects resisted suggestions that were distasteful to
them. The idea of making a cross on a piece of paper excited
no opposition in Miss D.'s mind; while the fact that she recorded
in writing the time at which the suggestion was fulfilled, especially
when this was witnessed by others, put me in possession of
evidence of a certain value. The arithmetical problems involved
in the first one or two of the following experiments were com-
paratively simple. In N"0. 3, for example, as Miss D. could easily
tell when 24 hours fell due, the suggestion practically resolved
itself into one to be fulfilled in 100 minutes. Soon, however, the
experiments became complicated and involved much more difficult
problems in arithmetic.

Exp. 2.—Nov. 28, 1805 ; 2 p.m. Sag.: To be fulfilled in 320 m.1

Besult.—Correct.

Remarks.—The suggestion was carried out at 7.20 p.m.
when the subject was in a friend's house. She had no watch
with her and the clock in the room was wrong.

Exp. 3.—Dec. 4 ; 3.15 p.m. Bug.: In 24 h. and 100 m.

Result.—Correct.

Remarks.—When in a friend's house the following afternoon
she carried out the suggestion at 4.55. She then asked the time.
Her friend looked at her watch and told her, whereupon she

1 In this and all the following experiments, Miss D. was to make the cross
referred to, and write down the time corresponding to the terminal minute of the
series involved in the suggestion.122

HYPNOTISM

remarked: " Your watch is 3 minutes fast." This was the
case.

Exp. 4.—Dec. 12 ; 3.20 p.m. Sug.: In 24 h. 1440 m.

Result.—3.20 p.m., Sat., Dec. 14: Correct.

Exp. 5.—Wed., Dec. 18 ; 3.45 p.m. Sug.: In 24 h. 2880 m.

Result.—3.45 p.m., Sat., Dec. 21 : Correct.

Exp. 6.—Tues., Dec. 24 ; 2.55 p.m. Sug.: In 30 h. 50 m.

Result—9.45 p.m., Wed., Dec. 25: Correct.

Exp. 7.—Tues., Dec. 24 ; 3.10 p.m. Sug.: In 7200 m.

Result—3.10 p.m., Sun., Dec. 29 : Correct.

Remarks.—When No. 7 was fulfilled Miss D. was teaching a
Sunday-school class, when she suddenly felt an impulse to make
a cross and mark the time. It was only after doing so that she
looked at the clock, which was behind her.

Exp. 8.—Tues., Dec. 31 ; 3.45 p.m. Sug.: In 4335 m.

Result—4 p.m., Fri., Jan. 3, 1896 : Correct.

Exp. 9.—Dec. 31, 1895; 4 p.m. Sug.: In 11,525 m.

Result.—11.5 a.m., Wed., Jan. 8 : Wrong.

Remarks.—The result ought to have been 4.5 p.m., Jan. 8.
I rehypnotised Miss D. on that day, and asked her to recall the
suggestion I had made on Dec. 31. She said it was to be executed
in 11,225 in.; it is possible that I had made a mistake, but not
at all likely, as I read the suggestion to her with the figures
before my eyes. The supposed suggestion of 11,225 m. had
been carried out correctly.

I now attempted to find out during hypnosis the subject's
mental condition in reference to these suggestions. In reply to
my questions she informed me:—(1) That when the suggestions
were made in hypnosis she did not calculate when they fell due.
(2) That she did not calculate them at any time afterwards
during hypnosis. (3) That she had no recollection of them when
hypnosis terminated. (4) That no memory of them ever after-
wards arose in the waking state. (5) That shortly before their
fulfilment she always experienced a motor impulse, i.e. her
fingers moved as if to grasp a pencil and to perform the act of
writing. (6) That this impulse was immediately followed by the
idea of making a cross and writing certain figures. (7) That sheTHE EXPERIMENTAL PHENOMENA OF HYPNOSIS 123

never looked at clock or watch until after she had made her
record.

Experiments, Wed., Jan. 8, 1896.—No. 10: 4.5 p.m. Sug.: In 4,417
m. No. 11 : 4.5 p.m. Sug.: In 11,470 m. No. 12 : 4.30 p.m. Sug.; In
10,070 m.

As Miss D. had stated in hypnosis that she made no calcula-
tions, in order to vary the experiments, I asked her, as soon as I
made the suggestions and before terminating the hypnosis, to
calculate when they would fall due and tell me the result. She
replied as follows: No. 10, in 3 d. 37 m., or 23 m. to 5 next
Saturday afternoon. No. 11, in 187 h. 50 m., or 7 d. 9 h. 50 m.
Next Wednesday morning at 5 m. to 12. No. 12, in 1067 h.
40 m., or 6 d. 23 h. and 40 m., 4.20 p.m. next Wednesday.

Miss D.'s calculation in No. 10 was 1 h. 5 m. too early,
the interval (which was .1 h. too short) having apparently been
calculated from 4 o'clock, instead of 4.5 p.m. In No. 11 her
calculation was 1 d. 3 h. 20 m. too early. Here (1) 11,270
was taken instead of 11,470, and hence the interval was
calculated to be 187 h. 50 m., equalling 7 d. 19 h. 50 m. (2)
7 d. 9 h. 50 m. was given instead of 7 d. 19 h. 50 m. The
time falling due was then calculated with this interval (7. 19. 50),
but (3) a mistake of 1 d. was made.

In No. 12 her result was correct, but did not correspond
with her calculation. 10,070 m. equals 167 h. 50 m., not
1067 h. 40 m. Here (1) a cypher was wrongly inserted and
(2) 40 m. miscalculated for 50. The latter error was repeated
when 6 d. 23 h. 40 m. was given instead of 6 d. 23 h. 50 m.

Results.—No. 10, Sat,, Jan. 11, 5.42 p.m.: Correct. No. 11,
Thurs., Jan. 16, 3.15 p.m.: Correct. No. 12, Wed., Jan. 15,
4.20 p.m.: Correct.

Remarks.—As the subject had wrongly calculated during
hypnosis the time the suggestions fell due, I concluded that she
had thus fixed these dates in her own mind, and would carry out
the experiments in accordance with them. My astonishment
was great when they were executed correctly. I rehypnotised
Miss D. and said to her: " You did not carry out these sugges-
tions at the hours you told me they would fall due. Why was
this ?" She replied : " What I told you was all wrong." " How
do you know the other results are right ?" "I can't tell you ; I
only feel that they are." Further questioning elicited no memory124

HYPNOTISM

of the processes by which the original mistakes had been corrected.
Miss D. assured me that she had never thought of the suggestions
from the time they were made; she simply fulfilled them in re-
sponse to an impulse to write down the figures, and, while doing
so, neither recalled her calculations nor even the suggestions
themselves.

When No. 12 was fulfilled, Miss D. had been hypnotised in
my room for an hour, and had had no opportunity of consulting
the clock. Exactly at 4.20, without waking or opening her eyes,
she said she had to make a cross and put down the time—this
was preceded by the movement of the fingers already described.
From that date I arranged that some of the experiments should
fall due when Miss ,D. visited me, but not, it is important to note,
every time she came. They were fulfilled either in the normal
waking state or in hypnosis, and Miss D. recorded them herself
in my case-book. I then at once compared her figures with the
actual time and entered the result, this being nearly always
witnessed and signed by others. From that date several sugges-
tions were made at each sitting. In some cases, the actual time
at which the suggestions were made was given as the starting-
point of all the experiments; in others, varying and what we
may term " imaginary" ones were chosen: i.e. the subject was
told the actual time, but ordered to carry out the experiment
from, say, 2.15 p.m. of the previous day.

jExperiments, Wed., Jan. 15, 4.45 p.m.—No. 13, from 4.45 p.m. Bug,:
In 4453 m. No. 14, from 2 p.m. Bug.: In 10,470 m. No. 15, from 3
p.m. Bug.: In 10,060 m.

At the time the suggestions were made the subject was again
asked in hypnosis to calculate when they would fall due and
replied rapidly: "No. 13, in 722 h. and 33 m., or 11.15 p.m.
next Wednesday." "No. 14, in 197 h. and 30 m., or 4.5 p.m.
next Wednesday." "No 15, in 8 d. 5 h. and 30 m., or 4.25 p.m.
next Wednesday."

In No. 13, Miss D.'s calculation was 4 d. 4 h. 17 m. too
late. 4453 m. equals 74 h. 13 m., not 722 h. 33 m. Perhaps
4453 was mistaken for 43,353, equalling 722 h. 33 m. The
time of falling due had been calculated from the interval of
No. 14.

In No. 14, her calculation was 4 h. 25 m. too early. 10,470THE EXPERIMENTAL PHENOMENA OF HYPNOSIS 125

m. equals 174 h. 30 m., not 197 h. 30 m. The time of falling
due was also wrong. There is no explanation for either of these
independent errors.

In No. 15, her calculation was 1 h. 45 m. too late. The
wrongly calculated interval, 8 d. 5 h. 30 m., corresponded to the
wrongly calculated 197 h. 30 m. of No. 14; this interval had
apparently remained in the mind. The time of falling due had
been calculated with 4.45 as initial time, as in No. 13, instead
of 3.0.

Results,—No. 13, Sat., Jan. 18, 6.58 p.m. Correct. No. 14,
Wed., Jan. 22, 8.30 p.m. Correct. No. 15, Wed., Jan. 22,
2.40 p.m. Correct.

Remarks.—Again the subject's miscalculation did not affect
the accuracy of her results, and questioning in hypnosis again
failed to revive any memory of the processes by which these had
been reached.

Experiments, Wed., Jan. 22, 4.5 p.m.—No. 16. Sug.; In 20,180 m.
No. 17. Sug.: In 20,160 m. No. 18. Sug.: In 20,140 m.

Miss D.'s calculations in hypnosis:—"No. 16, in 336 h.
20 m., or 13 d. 20 m. Tues., Feb. 4, at 4.25 p.m." "No. 17,
Tues., Feb. 4, at 4.5 p.m." "No. 18, Tues., Feb. 4, at 3.45 p.m."
In each instance these calculations were 1 d. too early, but in
No. 16, 20,180 m. was correctly given as 336 h. 20 m.

Results.—No. 16, Feb. 5, 4.25 p.m. Correct. No. 17, Feb.
5, 4.5 p.m. Correct. No. 18, Feb. 5, 3.45 p.m. Correct.

Remarks.—On Wed., Feb. 5, I hypnotised Miss D. at 3 p.m.
At 3.45, without passing from the hypnotic state, she made a
cross and wrote down the correct time. I aroused her at 4
o'clock, and she carried out the remaining experiments correctly
at 4.5 and 4.25.

Experiments, Wed., Feb. 5, 4 p.m.—No. 19. Sug.: In 10,050 m. No.
20. Sug.: In 10,080 in. No. 21. Sug.: In 10,090 m. No. 22. Sug.: In
840 m. No. 23. Sug.: In 900 m.

Miss D.'s calculations in hypnosis:—"No. 19, Wed., Feb.
12, 3.30 p.m." " No. 20, Wed., Feb. 12, 4 p.m." " No. 21, Wed.,
Feb. 12, 4.10 p.m." "No. 22, Thur., Feb. 6, 6 a.m." "No. 23,
Thur., Feb. 6, 7 a.m."

The above, made almost immediately, were correct in every
instance.126

HYPNOTISM

Results.—No. 19, Wed., Feb. 12, 3.30 p.m. Correct. No.
20, Wed., Feb. 12, 4 p.m. Correct. No. 21, Wed., Feb. 12,
4.10 p.m. Correct. No. 22, Thur., Feb. 6, 6 a.m. Correct.
No. 23, Thur., Feb. 6, 7 a.m. Correct.

Remarks.—When Miss D.'s mother went to her bedroom on
the morning of the 6th, she found her asleep and two pieces of
paper on a table by her bedside. On each was a rough cross;
on one the figure 6, on the other 7, both very badly written.
Miss D. said she had not awakened during the night.

The other suggestions were carried out during hypnosis in
my room, the time being marked by Miss D. in my notebook
and witnessed by others.

The five suggestions were given rapidly one after the other.
These, and similar complicated ones, were never read to the
subject more than twice, and sometimes only once.

I rehypnotised Miss D., and questioned her about the sug-
gestions which had been carried out during the night, presumably
in natural sleep. She told me she remembered nothing about
them; and afterwards, when suggestions were again carried out
in natural sleep, her memory was equally at fault.

jExperiments, Wed., Feb. 12.—No 24, 3.30 p.m. Sug.: In 2220 m.
No. 25, 3.30 p.m. Sug.: In 2285 m. No. 26, 3 p.m. Sug.: In 10,115 m.
No. 27, 3 p.m. Sug.: In 10,150 m. No. 28, 4 p.m. Sug.: In 20,190 m.

Miss D.'s calculations in hypnosis:—"No. 24, in 18 h. and
40 m., or 10.10 to-morrow morning." "No. 25, to-morrow
morning at 11.15." "No. 26, next Wednesday at 25 m. to
4 p.m." "No. 27, next Wednesday at 5.30 p.m." "No. 28, a
fortnight and half an hour."

The answers to Nos. 26, 27, 28, were given immediately.
In No. 24, Miss D.'s calculation was 18 h. and 20 m. too early,
but would have been correct if the interval suggested had been
1120, instead of 2220 m. In No. 25, her calculation was
18 h. 20 m. too early, but would have been correct had the
suggested interval been 1185, instead of 2285 m. In No. 26,
her calculation was correct. In No. 27, her calculation was
1 h. 20 m. too late. Here the interval seems to have been
taken as 7 d. 150 m., instead of 10,150 m. In No. 28, her
calculation was correct as far as it went, but the exact time of
fulfilment was not given.THE EXPERIMENTAL PHENOMENA OF HYPNOSIS 127

At the time I made the suggestions I also calculated when
they would fall due, thus:—No. 24, Feb. 14, 5 a.m. Wrong;
half an hour too late. No. 25, Feb. 14, 6.5 a.m. Wrong; half
an hour too late. No. 26, Feb. 19, 3.35 p.m. Eight. No. 27,
Feb. 19, 4.10 p.m. Eight. No. 28, Feb. 26, 4.25 p.m. Wrong;
5 m. too soon.

Results.—No. 24, Fri., Feb. 14, 4.30 a.m. Correct. No.

25,	Fri., Feb. 14, 5.35 a.m. Correct. No. 26, Wed., Feb. 19,
3.35 p.m. Correct. No 27, Wed., Feb. 19, 4.10 p.m. Correct.
No. 28, Wed., Feb. 26, 4.30 p.m. Correct.

Remarks.—Nos. 24 and 25 were fulfilled during sleep. On
the 14th, Miss D., on awaking, found papers by her bedside with
4.30 and 5.35 written on them. On the 19th, she was hypno-
tised in my room at 3 p.m., and carried out Nos. 26 and 27 while
in hypnosis. On both occasions she wrote the time in my note-
book. and this was witnessed. I asked her during hypnosis if
she remembered my last suggestion (No. 28), made the previous
week. She said she did, and repeated it correctly; but stated
she had never thought of it since, and did not know when it
would fall due, or the number of minutes that had elapsed since
it was given. She had apparently forgotten that, when the
suggestion was given, she had calculated when it would fall due.
No. *28 was executed correctly during hypnosis on Feb. 26.

Experiments, Wed., Feb. 19.—No. 29, 3.30 p.m. Sug.: In 720 m.
No. 30, 3.30 p.m. Sug.: In 780 m. No. 31, 3.30 r.m. Sug.: In 2160 m.
No. 32, 3 p.m. Sug.: In 10,135 m. No. 33, 3 p.m. Sug.: In 20,210 m.

Miss D.'s calculations in hypnosis:—These, with the exception
of No. 32, were all correct, and her replies were almost instan-
taneous. No. 32 was said to be due at 2.5 p.m. on Wed., Feb.

26.	This was 1 h. 50 m. too early, and represented an interval
of 7 d. less 55 m., instead of 7 d. plus 55 m,

jResults.—No. 29, Thur., Feb. 20, 3.30 a.m. Correct. No.
30, Thur., Feb. 20, 4.30 a.m. Correct. No. 31, Fri., Feb. 21,
3.30 a.m. Correct. No. 32, Wed., Feb. 26, 3.55 p.m. Correct.
No. 33, Wed., Mar. 4, 3.50 p.m., was written down at 3.48. The
calculation, therefore, was correct, but the time appreciation 2 m.
too early.

Remarks.—On awaking at 7 o'clock on the morning of the
20th, Miss D. found a piece of paper with 3.30 marked on it,128

HYPNOTISM

and another with 4.30. On the morning of the 21st, she found
a piece of paper with 3.30 marked on it. She had no recollec-
tion of waking during the night, and, as usual, questioning in
hypnosis failed to revive any memory of what she had done. The
other suggestions were fulfilled in my room and witnessed by
others.

Experiments, Wed., Feb. 26, 3.30 p.m.—No. 34. Sug.: In 2140 m.
No. 35. Sug.: In 3590 m. No. 36. Sug.: In 5030 m. No. 37. Sug.: In
10,125 m. No. 38. Sug.: In 10,100 m. No. 39. Sug.: In 20,180 m.

Results.—No. 34, Fri., Feb. 28, 3.10 a.m. Correct. No.
35, Sat., Feb. 29, 3.20 a.m< Correct. No. 36, Sun., Mar. 1,
3.20 a.m. Correct, No. 37, due Wed., Mar. 4, at 4.15 p.m.,
was not recorded. No. 38, Wed., Mar. 4, 3.50 p.m., was written
down at 3.48. Calculation therefore correct, but time apprecia-
tion 2 m. too early. No. 39, Wed., Mar. 11, 3.50 p.m., was
written down at 3.51^-. Calculation, therefore, correct, but
time appreciation 1^ m. too late.

Remarks.—These suggestions were only read to Miss D.
once ; she was then asked to repeat them, and did so correctly,
with the exception of No. 37. She was told not to make any
calculations. Nos. 34, 35 and 36 were executed during sleep,
and the papers, as usual, were found at Miss D.'s bedside iri the
morning. It is to be noted that 3.50, March 4, the terminal
time of No. 38, was also the time at which another suggestion,
made a fortnight before, fell due, and which has already been
recorded in its proper place. Miss D. stated at 3.48 that she
had to make two crosses and to put down 3.50 twice. No.
37, due at 4.15 p.m., Wednesday, March 4, I have no record of.
I am not certain whether this is my fault or Miss D/s; I wTas
hypnotising another patient when the suggestions were fulfilled,
and I might well have omitted to enter this one; on the other
hand, Miss D. might have failed to carry it out. Three
suggestions fell due very quickly, and one of them, as we have
seen, belonged to another series. When suggestions were made to
fall due in a fortnight, and I saw the subject in the week between,
I sometimes questioned her in hypnosis as to the unfulfilled
ones: she always assured me that she had never thought of
them, did not know how much of the time had elapsed, nor when
they fell due.THE EXPERIMENTAL PHENOMENA OF HYPNOSIS 129

Experiments, Wed., Mar. 4, 3.45 p.m.—No. 40. Bug.: In 10,080 m.
No. 41. Bug.: In 10,055 m. No. 42. Bug.: In 10,040 m. No. 43
Bug.: In 750 m. No. 44. Bug. : In 2160 m. No. 45. Bug.; In
2195 m.

Results,.—No. 40, Wed., Mar. 11, 3.45 p.m., was written down
at 3.44. Calculation correct; time appreciation 1 m. too soon.
No. 41, Wed., Mar. 11, 3.20 p.m., was written down at 3.22.
Calculation correct; time appreciation 2 m. too late. No. 42
Wed., Mar. 11, 3.5 p.m. Correct. No. 43, Thur., Mar. 5, 4.15
a.m., during sleep. Correct. No. 44, Fri., Mar. 6, 3.45 a.m.,
during sleep. Correct. No. 45, Fri., Mar. 6, 4.20 a.m., during
sleep. Correct.

Remarks.—When these suggestions were given Miss D. was
not asked to calculate when they would fall due. Mr. Bark-
worth, a member of the Society for Psychical Eesearch, and Dr.
Barclay, of South Canterbury, N.Z., were present when Nos. 40,
41 and 42 were fulfilled.

At this sitting, March 11, fresh suggestions were made under
the following conditions. Mr. Barkworth and Dr. Barclay were
both put en rapport with Miss D., and it was agreed that they
should each make two time suggestions, arranged so as to fall
due at the next sitting, when they promised to be present.
These were given when I was out of the room, and I was not
told what they were until after their fulfilment. The suggestions
were as follows :—

Experiments, Wed., Mar. 11, 4 p.m.—No. 46. Sug.: In 21,400 m.
No. 47. Bug.: In 21,420 m. No. 48. Bug.: In 21,428 m. No. 49.
Bug.: In 21,434 m.

Results.—No, 46, Thur., Mar. 26, 12.40 p.m., was written
down at 12.38. Calculation correct; time appreciation 2 m. too
early. No. 47, Thur., Mar. 26,1 p.m., was written down at 12.59.
Calculation correct; time appreciation 1 m. too early. No. 48,
Thur., Mar. 26, 1.8 p.m. Correct. No. 49, Thur., Mar. 26,
1.14 p.m. Correct.

Remarks.—Miss D. was hypnotised at 12.30 p.m. on
Thursday, March 26, and carried out the suggestions while in
that condition. Mr. Barkworth and Dr. Barclay were both
present and checked the records. None of us, however, had
any idea whether the experiments were carried out correctly or

KHYPNOTISM

not, as Mr. Barkwortli and Dr. Barclay had mislaid their notes,
and were unable to recall the suggestions they had given.
Miss D. was roused from the hypnotic state, and, as usual,
remembered nothing of the suggestions. She was then re-
hypnotised, asked to recall them, and replied as follows: " They
were made at 4 p.m. last Wednesday week, and were to be
fulfilled in 21,400, 21,420, 21,428 and 21,434 minutes.
Mr. Barkwortli and Dr. Barclay gave two suggestions each."
Miss D. stated that she had made no calculation at the time
and had not thought of the suggestions afterwards. On April
22, Dr. Barclay sent me the lost memorandum of his two
suggestions, viz. 21,428 and 21,434 minutes from 4 p.m. on
the day already mentioned. On April 27, Mr. Barkworth wrote
to tell me that he also had found his lost memorandum and
that the suggestions were 21,400, 21,420, 21,428 and 21,434
minutes, the first two having been made by himself, the two
latter by Dr. Barclay. This agreed with Miss D.'s account.

A fresh series of suggestions was made on April 8, some to
fall due during the night, others the following week in my
presence. The subject lost her papers recording the former, and
I was too busy to enter the latter. These are the only experi-
ments in the whole series which are not recorded, and they are
omitted for the above reasons. Later Miss D. found the records
of the suggestions, which had been carried out during natural
sleep. They were correct.

Experiments, Thur., May 7, 3 p.m.—No. 50. Sug.: In 8650 m. No.
51. Sug.: In 8680 m. No. 52. Sug.: In 8700 m.

I still further complicated these by suggesting as follows: " No. 50 is
to be fulfilled in the waking state. Five minutes before No. 51 falls due
you are to pass into the hypnotic condition. No. 51 is to be fulfilled dur-
ing hypnosis, but five minutes afterwards you are to pass into the normal
waking state, and continue in that until after the execution of No. 52.
Eight minutes after No. 52 is carried out hypnosis will again appear."

Results.—No. 50. (a) Suggestion fulfilled, Wed., May 13,
3.10. Correct. (&) Hypnosis appeared at 3.31 p.m. This
ought to have been 3.35 p.m., and was therefore 4 minutes too
early.

No, 51, Wed., May 13, 3.40 p.m. (a) Suggestion fulfilled
during hypnosis. Correct, (b) Miss D. passed spontaneously
into the normal state at 3.45. Correct.THE EXPERIMENTAL PHENOMENA OF HYPNOSIS 131

No. 52, 4 p.m. (a) Suggestion fulfilled in the waking state.
Correct, (b) Hypnosis appeared exactly at 4.8. Correct.

Remarks.—On May 13, Miss D. came into my consulting-
room at 3.5 p.m., and almost immediately fainted. She had
recently met with a severe accident and was in acute suffering.
Immediately on regaining consciousness, she said she had to
make a cross at 3.10 and did so in my case-book: others were
present in the room when all the suggestions were fulfilled, with
the exception of the first.

Experiments, Wed., May 13, 4.30 p.m.—The suggestions were given
in the following general terms: "You are to repeat all the experiments
made last Thursday, but to-day you are to start from 2.55 instead of 3
p.m., and to each suggestion you are to add 1440 minutes." The original
suggestions were not cited, nor any other information given. The experi-
ments, therefore, were as follows :—

No. 53, Wed., May 13, 4.30 p.m. Bug.: In 8650 min. from 3 p.m.,
plus 1440 m., minus 5 m. from starting point. No. 54, Wed., May 13,
4.30 p.m. Bug.: In 8680 m. from 3 p.m., plus 1440 m., minus 5 m.
from starting-point. No. 55, Wed., May 13, 4.30 p.m. Sug.: In 8700 m.
plus 1440 m., minus 5 m. from starting-point.

Remits.—No. 53, Wed., May 20, 3.5 p.m. Fulfilled in the
waking state. Correct. Hypnosis appeared at 3.30. Correct.
No. 54, Wed., May 20, 3.35 p.m. In hypnosis. Correct.

Miss D. passed spontaneously into the normal state at 3.40.
Correct.

According to the original suggestions, Miss D. was to
remain in the normal state until the fulfilment of the next
experiment, but, as she had a severe headache, I hypnotised her,
made curative suggestions, and told her hypnosis would terminate
one minute before the next experiment fell due. She passed
into the normal waking state at 3.49, 6 minutes too soon.
No. 55, Wed., May 20, 3.55 p.m., was written down at 3.50.
Calculation, therefore, correct, but time appreciation 5 minutes
too early.

I rehypnotised Miss D. immediately the above experiment
was fulfilled. At 4.3 p.m., while still in the hypnotic state, she
said it was 3 minutes past 4, and that I had suggested hypnosis
would appear at that hour. This was correct.

Remarks.—It is to be noted that hypnosis appeared at 3.30
p.m., the exact time suggested. This is particularly interesting,
as the experiment, correctly executed at 3.30 on May 20, was132

HYPNOTISM

the erroneously carried out experiment of May 13, complicated
by five minutes having been deducted from its starting-point,
and 1440 added to its interval.

No. 55 was the last experiment of the series. A few others,
similar in character, were made in October, 1896. These were
successful, but presented no fresh features, and as Miss D. had to
cease her visits, owing to her approaching marriage, further
experiment was impossible.

Summary.—Fifty-five experiments are cited; of these one,
apparently, was either not carried out by Miss D., or unrecorded by
me, while in another (No. 9) she mistook the original suggestion,
but fulfilled it correctly in accordance with what she thought it
had been. Forty-five were completely successful, i.e. not only
did Miss D. write down the correct terminal time, but this was
done, also, at the moment the experiment fell due. Eight (Nos.
33, 38, 39, 40, 41, 46, 47, 55) were partially successful. In
these the terminal time was correctly recorded in every instance,
but there were minute differences, never exceeding five minutes,
between the subject's correct estimate of when the suggestion
fell due, and the moment at which she carried it out. The
proportion which these errors bear to their respective intervals
varies between 1 to 2028 and 1 to 21,420. The following
table gives an analysis of the conditions under which the experi-
ments were carried out and their results:—Experiments.		Witnessed by				Results.		Unrecorded.	Remarks.
		Friends or Relatives.	Bramwell and Others.	Bramwell Alone.	Unwitnessed.	Correct.	Wrong.		
Fulfilled in the wak- ing state  Fulfilled in hypnosis  Fulfilled in natural sleep  Unfulfilled Total	26  15 13  1	14  0 0  0	11  15 0  0	1  0 0  0	0 0  13 1	20  12 13  0	6  3 0  0	0  0 0  1	1 mistaken suggestion.  1 fulfilled 2 minutes too soon. 1 2 ,, ,, 1 >> 1 »> n 1 tt 2 ,, ,, 1 tt & it a  1 fulfilled 1^ minutes too soon. 1 >t 2 ,, ,, •1 tt 1 tt t>  In each instance figures which cor- rectly represented the terminal time of the experiment were found at the subject's bedside in the morning; but there is no evidence to show whether this was done at the moment the suggestion fell due—i.e. the sub- ject's calculations were correct, but evidence as to the time ap- preciation is wanting.  It is doubtful whether this experi- ment was carried out by the subject. It is, however, possible that I omitted to record it, as it fell due when I was engaged with another patient.
	55 I 14  i		26	1	14	45	9	1	

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HYPNOTISM

Similar experiments, more or less successful, were made with
other somnambules, but in none were the results so striking as
with Miss D. In those about to be cited the subject was Miss
O., aged 20, an intelligent, well-educated girl, who had received
some scientific training. Her arithmetical powers were superior
to Miss D.'s, but she possessed no particular aptitude for appre-
ciating the passage of time. She was a somnambule, could be
rendered anaesthetic and analgesic by suggestion, and had been
the subject of several painless minor surgical operations. Her
health, from the commencement of the experiments up to the
last report (January 1903) has been good.

The first experiments consisted in determining by suggestion
the time of waking from normal sleep. The hours selected varied
widely; but the results were almost uniformly successful, and the
greatest error recorded did not exceed five minutes. Others
similar to Miss D.'s followed, thus:—

Exp. 1, Nov. 25, 1895, 3.55 p.m. Sug.: In 24 h. and 50 m. Res.:
Correct. Remarks: In reply to questioning in hypnosis, Miss 0. stated that
when the suggestion was given she calculated when it would fall due and
determined to carry it out at that hour. Exp. 2, Nov. 27, 1.20 p.m. Sug.:
In 1445 m. Res.; 10 m. too early. Exp. 3, Dec. 6.3 p.m. Sug.; In
1440 m. Res.: Correct. Exp. 4, Dec. 9, 3.15 p.m. Sug.: In 2880 m.
Res.: Correct. Exp. 5, Dec. 12, 3.30 p.m. Sug.: In 1540 m. Res.: 7 m.
too late. Exp. 6, Dec. 16, 3.30 p.m. Sug.: In 1620 m. Res.: 13 m. too
late. Exp. 7, Dec. 20, 3 p.m. Sug.: In 1380 m. Res.: Correct. Exp. 8,
Dec. 31, 3.15 p.m. Sug.: In 24 h. 1200 m. Res.: Correct Exp. 9, Jan.
2, 1896, 3.10 p.m. Sug.: In 24 h. 1430 m. Miss O.'s calculation, made in
hypnosis, was 40 m. too early. Res.: 5 m. too late. Exp. 10, Jan. 6, 3.15
p.m. Sug.: In 24 h. 100 m. Miss O.'s calculation in hypnosis was correct.
Res.: 8 m. too late. Exp. 11, Jan. 27, 3.10 p.m. Sug.: In 24 li. 150 m.
Miss O.'s calculation in hypnosis was correct. Res.: 10 m. too soon. Exp.
12, Mar. 27, 3.10 p.m. Sug.: In 24 h. 240 m. Miss O.'s calculation in
hypnosis was correct. Res.: Correct.

Time experiments more or less closely resembling those cited
were repeated occasionally with Miss O. up to August, 1900, and
with practically identical results.

Before considering theoretical explanations of hypnotic and
post-hypnotic appreciation of time, I propose to discuss (A) the
possibilities of mal-observation or deception, and (B) to draw
attention to certain other points which appear worthy of notice.THE EXPERIMENTAL PHENOMENA OF HYPNOSIS 135

(A) The Question of Mal-observation or Deception.

(1)	The subjects of all my time experiments were either
former patients or personal friends. None of them were trained
hypnotic subjects, and in no single instance was a pecuniary
reward promised or given. All this, however, does not in itself
exclude the possibility of mal-observation or deception, and I
would rather base my arguments in favour of the genuineness of
the results on post-hypnotic amnesia, and the fact that some of
the problems involved were beyond the subjects' waking powers.

(2)	While, however, all observers recognise post-hypnotic
amnesia, it must still be admitted that loss of memory might be
assumed for purposes of deception. Fortunately, there are other
hypnotic phenomena impossible of imitation; amongst these may
be cited: (a) the absence of certain organic changes following
injury (Delboeufs case of two symmetrical burns), and (b) the
absence of physiological signs of pain during severe and prolonged
operation. The latter fact was clearly demonstrated in the
operations on my patients at Goole and Leeds (Journal of Dental
Science, March 30, 1890,1 and Lancet, April 5, 1890).2 Several
of these patients were afterwards the subjects of my time experi-
ments, and all who were employed for this purpose, including
Miss D. and Miss 0., could be easily rendered anaesthetic or
analgesic by suggestion.

(3)	Post-hypnotic amnesia alone, even when it is undoubtedly
genuine, does not exclude possible error, as the subject might
receive information from the operator or spectators. It is,
however, difficult to say how this could have happened in Miss
D.'s case. Thus, twenty-seven experiments were fulfilled in my
absence, and no information regarding these—excluding of course
the suggestions made to Miss D. during hypnosis—was given to
any one until some time after the whole series was completed. I
did not calculate when any of these twenty-seven suggestions
would fall due, and did not know, until after their fulfilment,
whether they had been carried out correctly or not. Twenty-
seven further experiments were fulfilled in my presence; these,
with one exception, were also witnessed by others. In four of
them suggestions were made by Mr. Barkworth and Dr. Barclay;
and I did not know what they were until afterwards. These

1 Pp. 162-3.	2 Pp. 161-7.13^

HYPNOTISM

two operators, however, could not assist the subject, as they had
lost the memoranda of their suggestions and were unable to recall
the figures. In the remaining twenty-three, none of the spectators
knew what the suggestions were. Indeed, in most instances they
did not know that any experiments were being carried on until
they saw them executed and were asked to witness the figures,
their ignorance being purposely arranged.

(4)	In the twenty-three cases just cited, before giving the
suggestions I calculated when they would fall due. Could Miss
D. have learnt anything about this through telepathy or muscle-
reading? During the last twelve years, I have searched for
evidence of telepathy, and also taken part in the experiments of
other observers; the results, however, have invariably been
negative. If, for argument's sake, we conceded the possibility of
telepathy, recognising also that somnambules possess hyperaesthesia
of the special senses, it would still be difficult to see what in-
formation Miss D. could have obtained from me. In the majority
of the experiments I did not work out when the experiments
would fall due; and, even when I did, many of my calculations
were only approximately correct, although I was not aware of
this "until after all the experiments were completed. Moreover,
I have an unusually bad memory for figures, and never, either
before or during the execution of the suggestions, recalled my
calculations as to the time at which they were supposed to fall
due. Further, when the experiments were carried out, I was
nearly always busily engaged with other patients, and so placed
that Miss D. could not see my face.

(5)	Again, even supposing post-hypnotic amnesia had not
existed in Miss D.'s case, the retention In the waking state of
the memories of hypnotic life would not in itself explain her
feats in calculation and time appreciation. Miss D.'s memory,
knowledge of arithmetic and power of appreciating time, in no
way exceeded that of other imperfectly educated girls in her
station of life. Her normal memory was incapable of retaining
complicated series of figures, and she was unable to make even
much simpler mental calculations than those involved. After
the suggestions were made, she remained in the hypnotic state
for an hour or more and could not consult the clock. During
this period, it was absolutely impossible for her to record the
suggestion in any way other than mentally.THE EXPERIMENTAL PHENOMENA OF HYPNOSIS 137

(B) Other Points of Interest.

(1)	Five minutes before the first experiment was fulfilled,
Miss D. became restless and felt she must do something. This
preliminary state of restlessness was absent in all the subsequent
ones. In them, when the time for carrying out the suggestions
arrived, Miss D. had a sudden twitching of the fingers of her
right hand, immediately followed by the idea of writing down
certain figures. The abruptness of this invasion of the normal
consciousness, by a message from the subliminal one, was
particularly noticeable when Miss D. was actively engaged in
conversation at the time.

(2)	On the twenty-four occasions Miss D. was asked to
calculate when the suggestions fell due, she was wrong in the
first nine instances, but in the remaining fifteen right in eleven
and wrong in four. As the experiments advanced, not only the
frequency, but also the extent, of Miss D.'s errors in calculation
decreased, and the answers were given much more rapidly.
Sometimes the correct replies were almost instantaneous, and in
these instances no conscious calculation could be traced. It is
to be noted that Miss D.'s mistaken calculations had no effect on
the correctness of her results.

(3)	Memory.—Once only did Miss D. spontaneously recall
in hypnosis that a time suggestion—yet unfulfilled—had been
given. This was Experiment No. 3, where the suggestion was an
easily remembered one, viz. 24 hours and 100 minutes. On
other occasions, when Miss D. was questioned in hypnosis as to
the unfulfilled suggestions, she invariably recalled the fact that
these had been made, but rarely remembered their exact terms.
She always asserted that she had never thought of them, did not
know how much time had elapsed since they had been given, nor
when they were due. This was so even in cases where she had
correctly calculated the terminal time. At first Miss D. forgot
all about the suggestions immediately after they were fulfilled:
she did not know she had made a cross or written down the
figures, and could not recall what they meant. This condition of
memory was identical with what is almost universally associated
with post-hypnotic acts. Later, for convenience' sake, it was
suggested to Miss D. during hypnosis that she should remember
having executed the experiments. She then knew in the waking138

HYPNOTISM

state that she had made a cross, and written down certain figures,
but recalled nothing of the original suggestion of which these acts
were the fulfilment. When Miss D. was questioned in hypnosis,
after the execution of the suggestions, her memory, on certain
points, was very clear. She could recall in every detail the
terms of all experiments that had recently been carried out, ie.
she remembered the hours at which they had been made, the
number of minutes suggested, her own calculations, if any, and
the moment and circumstances under which the suggestions had
been fulfilled. Putting aside the calculations she made at the
time in response to suggestion, she was unable to recall having
made any others, or to give any information as to the methods
by means of which she had correctly fulfilled the experiments.
When a second series of suggestions was given, before the first
had been fulfilled, after all had been carried out, she could recall
both series and place each member of them in its proper order.
This memory, however, was not persistent. A fortnight after the
experiments had been executed, although Miss D. still remembered
in hypnosis that they had taken place, she was unable to recall
the details. When experiments were fulfilled in normal sleep
she remembered their terms in hypnosis, and when they had been
given, but not when they had been executed.

(4)	The experiments had no prejudicial effect on Miss D.'s
health. On the contrary, this steadily improved. She is now a
strong, healthy, well-developed woman, the mother of two children,
and has had no return of her nervous symptoms.

In no single instance did any bad effect, even of the most
trivial description, follow these or other hypnotic experiments.

(5)	The results of the experiments were only estimated after
the series was completed, when a friend, Mr. Bartrum, B.Sc., kindly
checked them for me. He discovered that some of my calculations
made at the time had been erroneous. I am also indebted to him
for a critical examination of the calculations the patient was asked
to make when the suggestions were given.

(6)	With the following exception, the phenomena observed
in the cases of Miss D. and Miss 0. differed little. When a
simple suggestion was given, Miss 0. sometimes spontaneously
calculated when it would fall due. Miss D., on the other hand,
never made any spontaneous calculations at all. Apparently
Miss 0. did not spontaneously calculate the more complicatedTHE EXPERIMENTAL PHENOMENA OF HYPNOSIS 139

arithmetical problems. When she did so, in response to sugges-
tion, her results were invariably correct; but, despite this, the
experiments were not always fulfilled at their appropriate time.
Miss D., on the contrary, was often wrong in her calculations,
while the suggestions themselves were carried out with phenomenal
accuracy.

(7) In some later experiments Miss 0. apparently made no
spontaneous calculations, despite the fact that the arithmetical
problems involved were extremely simple. For example, I
suggested that she should shake hands with me forty minutes
after I aroused her from hypnosis. At the moment indicated, in
the midst of an animated conversation, she suddenly asked me to
shake hands with her. In reply to my questions, she said she
had felt impelled to do this, but could not tell why. A few
minutes later she had entirely forgotten the incident. I re-
hypnotised her; she then recalled the suggestion and the impulse
she had experienced, but could not remember having made any
calculation or having in any way marked the passage of time.

(0) Automatic Writing in Hypnosis.

Most of the time appreciation experiments just referred to
involved a certain amount of " automatic writing." In the experi-
ments about to be cited automatic writing was the main feature;
and its occurrence, while the normal consciousness was otherwise
actively engaged, the chief point of interest.

In choosing a subject for this form of experiment two things
are essential, viz. (1) he must be a somnambule, i.e. retain no
memory on awaking of what has passed in the hypnotic state,
and (2) hypnosis must be capable of being induced and terminated
instantaneously. Thus, when hypnosis is terminated immediately
after the suggestion has been given, it follows that the problem
must be solved by the secondary consciousness, while the subject
is in the waking state, and his normal consciousness purposely
actively engaged.

I have often made the following and similar experiments. I
ask a subject while awake to write down a few verses: these I
take charge of and do not show him again. I then make him
read aloud from some book previously unknown to him: this140

HYPNOTISM

being chosen in order to engage his entire attention. While
reading, I hypnotise him suddenly, place pencil and paper near
his right hand and suggest: " On waking you will go on reading
where you left off, and at the same time write down how often
"b" (or any other letter selected) occurs in the verses you
gave me. Wake up." He awakes, resumes reading, and at the
same time writes down the answer to the problem suggested.
This, almost invariably correct, is often done so rapidly that I
have not had time to count the letters, even with the verses
before me. I now tell the subject to stop reading, and ask him
what he has written. He replies : " Nothing," and when I show
him the paper, is astonished and declares he does not know what
it means. I then rehypnotise him, whereupon the lost memory
returns, and he not only recalls the suggestion, but also the fact
that he has carried it out.

Thus, the primary waking consciousness retains no recollection
of the hypnotic suggestions. It does not know that the secondary
consciousness, after the hypnotic state has been terminated, first
solves the problems and then directs the motor acts which record
the solutions. It is also unconscious of the motor acts themselves.

Gurney made many interesting experiments, with healthy,
non-hysterical men, which illustrate the severance of the normal
or primary, from the latent or secondary, consciousness. Of these
the following are examples:—

(1)	The first were simple cases which involved memory, but
not independent thought. Thus, Gurney showed P., one of his
subjects, a planchette and made him write his name with it.
P. was then hypnotised, told that it had been as dark as night in
London on the previous day, and that he would record this fact
in writing. On awaking he remembered nothing. His hand was
then placed on the planchette—a large screen being held in front
of his face, so that it was impossible for him to see the paper or
the instrument—and in less than a minute he wrote: " It was a
dark day in London yesterday."

(2)	In the next experiments statements were impressed on
the subjects, but nothing was said as to subsequently recording
them. After waking, however, the writing was executed as before.

(3)	Gurney made more complicated experiments with another
subject. During hypnosis, questions were asked about his past life,
or arithmetical problems were suggested. He was then awakenedTHE EXPERIMENTAL PHENOMENA OF HYPNOSIS 141

immediately, before he had time to think of a reply, and, to
engross his attention, told to count backwards from a hundred;
meanwhile the planchette wrote the correct answers to the
different questions.

(4) Further experiments involved the reckoning of time.
These, however, were not confined to the execution of an order
at a given moment, but involved, in addition, other calculations
made in the waking state at a suddenly selected moment, regarding
which nothing had been previously said to the subject. For
instance, during hypnosis he was told that he had to do something
at a given date, and also that, before this time arrived, he would
be required to write down the number of minutes that had passed
since the suggestion was given, as well as the number that had
still to elapse before its fulfilment. In the interval, when his
hand was placed upon the planchette he generally wrote the
answers to the problems. The results, allowing for the time
occupied in writing, were remarkably accurate.

The mental states involved in these various experiments will
be discussed in the chapter on " Theory."

(H) Telepathy, Clairvoyance, etc.

Many of the mesmerists, including Elliotson and Esdaile,
believed in the existence of telepathy, clairvoyance, and other
so-called "higher" or "occult" phenomena. In telepathy, thought
was supposed to be conveyed directly from the brain of one person
to that of another, without the intervention of any of the usual
media of transmission; in clairvoyance, the subject was supposed
to see, as in a mirror or picture, events which were taking place
at a distance. Braid, as we shall see in discussing his theories,
showed that the belief in telepathy and clairvoyance was the
result of mal-observation and self-deception. Within recent
times, however, there has been a revival in the belief as to the
existence of telepathy and clairvoyance, particularly the former.
To confine ourselves for the moment to telepathy, we find its
existence asserted by two classes of observers :—

(1) A small group—mainly comprised of men who had
distinguished themselves in one or more branches of science—who142

HYPNOTISM

claimed to have investigated the alleged phenomena by scientific
methods. Amongst these may be cited the late Professor Henry
Sidgwick, Frederick Myers, Edmund Gurney and Dr. A. T. Myers.
Although their experiments were carefully conducted,- it is doubtful
whether all possible sources of error were excluded; and I am
unable to accept them as conclusive.

(2) The second group—who boldly assert that telepathy is
an accepted scientific fact, a phenomenon which any expert can
produce at will—belong to a totally different class. Thus,
Hudson, in his book, The Law of Psychic Phenomena, talks of
telepathy as a recognised commonplace, and describes it as the
basis of the most successful branch of Christian Science, namely
" the Absence Treatment/' Here the physician sits dreamily in
his consulting-room at home, and sends mental curative suggestions
to his different patients. Or, better still, he just thinks of them
a moment before going to sleep at night; and then his "subconscious
mind" works on their " subconscious minds " while all of them
are sleeping. The patients are not aware of receiving any im-
pression from the operator, but tfyat is easily explained—their
normal consciousness does not know what is happening to their
"subconscious mind." For these extraordinary statements Mr.
Hudson has no evidence of value to offer; but, despite this, the
merits of the absence treatment must be obvious to the hard-worked
general practitioner.

After many years' hypnotic work, and frequent opportunities
of investigating the experiments of others, I have seen nothing,
absolutely nothing, which might be fairly considered as affording
even the slightest evidence for the existence of telepathy, or any
of the so-called " occult" phenomena.

For several years a Committee of the Society for Psychical
Kesearch, of which I was a member, devoted itself mainly to
telepathic experiments. Our methods were simple and effective,
and yet placed no unnecessary barrier in the way of the appearance
of the phenomenon. The subject, generally hypnotised, was placed
in an armchair, and told that the operator would select different
cards from a pack and that he, the subject, was to try to guess
the cards in turn. The operator, who was so placed that the
subject could not see what he was doing, drew the cards from
the pack at random, told the subject that he had selected one,
that he was looking hard at it, and that he, the subject, wouldTHE EXPERIMENTAL PHENOMENA OF HYPNOSIS 143

see or know what it was. Meanwhile the operator stared fixedly
at the card for several minutes, and concentrated his attention
entirely on it. In these experiments, as well as in a long series
of private ones, the percentage of correct guesses fell below the
number which ought to have been reached according to the laws
of chance. Despite all this, it would be unphilosophic to deny
the possibility of telepathy; and I am quite ready to be convinced
of its existence, if any one can divine even as few as six out of
every dozen cards selected by the operator under circumstances
similar to those described.

In all the cases of alleged clairvoyance that I have seen, the
operator—either consciously or unconsciously—so aided the
subject by suggestions as to render the experiments absolutely
valueless. In some instances, of which an example will be cited
later, the so-called clairvoyant not only pretends to see what is
passing at the time, at some more or less distant place, but also
claims to be able to foretell what will happen in the future.

(I) Volition in Hypnosis—Suggested Crimes—Automatism.

The question, whether the hypnotised subject is an automaton
or still retains the power of exercising his volition, is the most
important one with which we have to deal. In this chapter I
ought to cite the cases which illustrate the mental condition in
hypnosis, but, as these are conflicting, some apparently showing
evidence of the existence of automatism, others of an opposite
state, I shall defer doing so until discussing hypnotic Theories,
when, for convenience' sake, the phenomena and their varying
explanations will be dealt with together.CHAPTER YI.

on the management of hypnotic experiments.

Braid successfully demonstrated that many of the alleged pheno-
mena of mesmerism owed their origin to defective methods of
observation. He drew out a list of the more important sources
of error which, he said, ought always to be kept in mind by the
operator. These, which I now give, should be placed in a
prominent position in every hypnotic laboratory:—

(1)	The hyperesthesia of the organs of special sense, which
enabled impressions to be perceived through the ordinary media
that would have passed unrecognised in the waking condition.

(2)	The docility and sympathy of the subjects, which tended
to make them imitate the actions of others.

(3)	The extraordinary revival of memory by which they
could recall things long forgotten in the waking state.

(4)	The remarkable effect of contact in arousing memory, i.e.
by acting as the signal for the production of a fresh hypnosis.

(5)	The condition of double consciousness or double person-
ality.

(6)	The vivid state of the imagination in hypnosis, which
instantly invested every suggested idea, or remembrance of past
impressions, with the attributes of present realities.

(7)	Deductions rapidly drawn by the subject from uninten-
tional suggestions given by the operator.

(8)	The tendency of the human mind, in those with a great
love of the marvellous, erroneously to interpret the subject's
replies in accordance with their own desires.

Braid considered that belief in thought transference arose
from failure to guard against the sources of error similar to those
just described, and stated that he had never met with any case

144MANAGEMENT OF HYPNOTIC EXPERIMENTS 145

where the subjects could correctly interpret his unexpressed
desires, without some sensible indication of them. Braid was
also absolutely incredulous as to the existence of clairvoyance;
and, although he made numerous experiments, not only upon his
own subjects, but also upon many of the renowned clairvoyants
of the day, he never found anything but hypnotic exaggeration
of natural powers. In reference to the alleged intuitive powers
of mesmeric subjects he held that, whereas with animals instinct
was usually right, with somnambules it was generally wrong. It
was true that certain patients could successfully predict their
own hysterical attacks, but here the prophecy produced its own
fulfilment} by self-suggestion.

The following may also be noted as possible sources of error
in hypnotic experiment:—

(1) Operator and subject may both voluntarily try to deceive the
spectator. For example, the stage performer frequently asserts
that he can produce telepathic phenomena at will. The following
are examples of the way in which this is done:—

(a)	The operator leaves the room : his accomplice then arranges
a number of cards face upwards -upon the table, asks the specta-
tors to select one, without altering their position, and to tell him
which is chosen. The operator is then recalled: he asks the
spectators to think of the card selected, and quickly tells them
which it was. The accomplice has indicated it by touching that
part of his own face, which represents the card, according to the
private code existing between him and the operator.

(b)	Sometimes the spectators are requested to choose any
number they like. The operator enters, puts his hands on the
head of each spectator in turn, and asks him to think of the
selected number. When he comes to his accomplice, the latter
indicates the number by moving his jaws.

(c)	The trick may be made more striking by means of an
elaborate code. The subject is blindfolded, and placed at the
opposite end of the platform from the operator. The latter asks
the spectators to hand him coins, watches, and the like. While
he holds these in his hands, the accomplice correctly cites the
dates upon them, etc. The necessary information is conveyed by
means of a sort of patter: thus, each time the operator receives
an object he explains to the audience the impossibility of decep-
tion, etc. This gives the necessary information: certain words

L146

HYPNOTISM

or letters, according to previous arrangement, indicating certain
figures, etc.

In instances similar to the above, although the operator
generally pretends that the subject's occult powers are due to
""hypnotism, it is often obvious that the latter has never been
hypnotised at all. Sometimes, however, it is only the operator
who is consciously acting a fraud, and the subject may be a
somnambule who shows real, but erroneously interpreted, post-
hypnotic phenomena. Thus, the operator may suggest to the
subject during hypnosis that he is to perform certain acts in the
waking state at a given date, and then skilfully induce the
spectators—who are ignorant of the post-hypnotic suggestions—-
to believe that they have had a voice in the time fixed for the
appearance of the phenomena to be evoked.

(2) The operator may be honest, while the subjects may try to
deceive him. The latter are of two classes: (a) Those who deceive
for gain: paid subjects whose interest it is that the desired
phenomena should appear, (b) Hysterical subjects, who wish to
attract attention, and whose vanity is flattered if the experiments
succeed. A dishonest subject, acquainted with the phenomena
of hypnosis, can undoubtedly simulate many of them more or less
exactly. He may even, by training, acquire a certain amount
of the hyperesthesia of the special senses that characterises deep
hypnosis, and use this in the production of the alleged telepathic
phenomena, etc. In the case of hysterical subjects it is difficult
to determine how much is conscious fraud, how much unconscious
self-deception. In some instances, the phenomena are alleged to
owe their origin to a spirit who " controls " the subject, and uses
him for conveying a message from the other world.

The following case came under my own observation:—
Mrs.-has convinced many people, some of them of scien-
tific eminence, that she is a medium of communication between
this and the unseen world. She is not a paid subject: beyond
this I have nothing to say, one way or the other, either as
to her good faith or the condition of her nervous system, but
will simply relate what occurred. At the request of a friend,

who believed in Mrs.-'s powers, I accompanied him to her

house. At first we sat and talked, waiting for the moment

when Mrs.-should be " controlled " by the spirit—that of a

dead child. In about a quarter of an hour, Mrs.-partiallyMAN A GEMENT OF HYPNOTIC EXPERIMENTS 147

closed her eyes, and I was informed she had passed into a condi-
tion of hypnotic trance. A few minutes later she commenced to
talk in a baby-voice, and carried on a conversation with my
^ friend. This was of no particular interest. She then asked
whether I had a letter in my pocket. I gave her one; when she
at once proceeded to give me alleged spirit information, both as to
the letter and its writer. She said: " The letter has come a long,
long way. It has come from over the sea. It has had difficulty in
finding you. The person who wrote it is living in a strange land;
high, high up in a house with many steps. There are crowds of
people down below walking loudly; they have clogs on. The person
who wrote the letter is a woman. She is worrying about money, but
she need not; she is quite rich. She thinks she is ill, but she
isn't; there is nothing the matter with her. She wants a good
shaking; it would do her good if you threw her out of the window."

Some of this information was correct, but could have been
equally well given by any one with ordinary intelligence. The
medium's eyes were partially open: the envelope bore a foreign
stamp, and, owing to my absence from town, had been readdressed.
Further, the character of the handwriting was obviously feminine.
It was, therefore, easy to guess that the letter had come from a
foreign country—consequently from over the sea—and that it
was from a woman. The remaining statements, however, did not
^ give me a high opinion of spirit intelligence. Thus, the writer of
the letter had a sufficient and assured income, but was neither
wealthy nor troubled about money. She was not an imaginary
invalid: on the contrary, she had had her breast amputated for
cancer, and also several of her fingers and toes on account of
E^naud's disease.1 This latter malady was still progressing and
caused her severe suffering, which she bore with great patience.
She wrote from Mustapha Superior, where the Arabs do not go
about in clogs; and, on account of her lameness, had certainly
not chosen her rooms on the top of a tower.

f Tly experiences as to other alleged cases of spiritualistic
j phenomena, whether occurring in mediumistic, hysterical, or
(SrHeged hypnotic trance, have left me equally unconvinced of
l_the truth of spiritualism. On the other hand, they have pro-
duced strong conviction as to several other things; but what
these are I may leave my readers to divine.

1 Case No. 5, pp. 181-2.148

HYPNOTISM

(3) The accuracy of the experiments may be destroyed by un-
intentional errors on the part of the operator, the subject} or both.
These form by far the most frequent sources of fallacy. Thus,
the assumption by the mesmerists, and by the hypnotists of the
Salpetri&re school, that the subjects were unconscious during the
lethargic stage, was the source of widespread error. All the
phenomena supposed to be due to the action of metals, magnets,
drugs in sealed tubes, etc., were really due to the verbal sug-
gestions of the operator. The " control" experiments by which
Braid demonstrated this source of fallacy are worthy of note.
He showed (a) how the phenomena, supposed to be due to a
magnet, for example, appeared in the presence of an imitation
one, which the subject believed to be real. (6) Again, the pheno-
mena did not appear in the presence of a real magnet, when the
subject did not know it was near, (c) Finally, the phenomena
could be evoked by verbal suggestion, without the presence of
magnets, either real or imitation.

Undoubtedly one of the commonest sources of error is the
hyperesthesia of the organs of special sense, which is so char-
acteristic of deep hypnosis. Nor is the hyperesthesia confined
to the hypnotised subject alone, for I have seen professional
thought-readers, who by watching the * faces of the spectators
were able to divine their thoughts. Even if the bulk of the
audience controlled the expression of their emotion, one amongst
them, more enthusiastic or less well-balanced than his companions,
was apt to give the necessary information. Thus, the Hypnotic
Committee of the Society for Psychical Eesearch found that a
thought-reader could successfully exercise her art in the presence
of a certain group of the members. She failed entirely, however,
when Dr. A., who may be described as a believer in the occult,
was eliminated. When each member of the group, with the
exception of Dr. A., was experimented on individually the results
were also negative: when, however, Dr. A. was taken alone the
experiments were again successful. On another occasion, Dr. B.,
a foreign savant, who had recorded numerous successful tele-
pathic experiments, was present. In his case the indications
given, by voice and gesture, were so obvious as to be absurd;
but, notwithstanding this, he undoubtedly believed he was care-
fully conducting a scientific experiment

Although many errors may arise in hypnotic experiment,MANAGEMENT OF HYPNOTIC EXPERIMENTS 149

they can be usually avoided by care and experience. The
following rules should be adopted, viz.:—

(1)	Never experiment with paid subjects.

(2)	If possible, choose healthy men: they will not suffer
from a hysterical desire to appear interesting.

(3)	Whenever it can be done, the operator should select
subjects whom he knows and can trust.

(4)	The hypnotised subject, no matter in what stage, should
be regarded not only as awake, but also as possibly possessing
increased activity of the special senses.

(5)	All physiological experiments ought to be conducted in
a laboratory, and tested with instruments of precision. The
operator should confine himself to exciting the phenomena, which
should invariably be recorded by an independent observer.

(6)	Psychological experiments cannot be conducted in the
same way as physiological ones. Amnesia, for example, can
neither be weighed in a balance nor precipitated in a test-tube.
Experiments of this kind should therefore not only be numerous,
but be made on many different subjects, with every precaution
taken to ensure their trustworthiness. Further, the results
should be checked by independent observers, and everything
done to prevent error arising through the operator's unconscious
self-deception.CHAPTEE VII.

THE DIFFERENT STAGES OF HYPNOSIS.

As we have seen, many and widely varying phenomena occur in
hypnosis, and frequent attempts have been made to group these
in such a way as to divide the condition itself into different stages.
Thus, Braid employed the term " Hypnotism" to denote, not a
single state, but a large number of widely varying stages or con-
ditions. These he divided into three main groups:—

(1)	Slight Hypnosis.—The subjects became more or less
lethargic, but were conscious of what took place and suffered no
subsequent loss of memory. This group comprised 90 per cent
of those who responded to curative suggestions.

(2)	Deep Hypnosis.—The subjects on awaking were unable
to recall the events of hypnosis, but, on being rehypnotised, the
lost memory could be revived. This condition Braid termed
" double consciousness."

This latter condition he further subdivided into two others :—

(a)	Alert, characterised by hyperesthesia of the special
senses and increased power of co-ordinate muscular movements.

(b)	Deep, distinguished by general loss of sensibility.

(3)	Hypnotic Coma.—The deepest stage of all. Here, not
only were the events of hypnosis forgotten on awaking, but the
lost memory could not be revived in subsequent hypnoses.1

Braid believed also in the existence of numerous intermediate
stages, which passed into one another by insensible gradations.
In all of them, however, the training which the subject received
from the operator played an important part.

Many other attempts at classification have been made.

Thus, in the opinion of the Salpetriere school, the hypnotic
condition is divided into three clearly defined stages, viz.

1 At a later date, Braid believed that the lost memory could be revived in
subsequent hypnoses.

ISOTHE DIFFERENT STAGES OF HYPNOSIS	151

Lethargy, Catalepsy, and Somnambulism. These, they say, usually
occur in fixed order and are induced, as well as the phenomena
which characterise them, by definite physical stimuli.

(1)	Lethargy, usually obtained by causing the subject to look
steadily at an object placed at a short distance above the eyes, is
characterised by what Charcot termed " neuro-muscular hyper-
excitability," i.e. the muscles contract either singly or in groups,
when a mechanical stimulus is applied to the muscles themselves,
to their tendons, or to the nerves which supply them. This
stage is changed into others by the action of certain physical
stimuli. Thus:—

(2)	Catalepsy is evoked by raising the subject's eyelids and is
marked by muscular rigidity; the limbs maintaining, for an abnor-
mally lengthened period, any position in which they are placed.

(3)	Somnambulism is produced by pressing or rubbing the
top of the head, and is distinguished by purely "automatic
phenomena " originating solely from the commands of the operator.

The classification of the Nancy school is by no means uniform.
Thus, Li^beault gives six stages:—

(1)	Drowsiness.

(2)	Drowsiness: suggestive catalepsy possible.

(3)	Light Sleep: automatic movements possible.

(4)	Deep Sleep: here the subject ceases to be in relation with
the outer world; he hears what the operator says, but not what
is said by others around him.

(5)	Light Somnambulism: memory on awaking indistinct and
hazy.

(6)	Deep Somnambulism : entire loss of memory on awaking.
All the phenomena of post-hypnotic suggestion possible.

Bernheim divides hypnosis into nine degrees:—

(1)	Drowsiness: the subject is able to open his eyes, but does
not exhibit catalepsy, anaesthesia, hallucinations, or sleep properly
so called. He is, however, to a certain extent suggestible; and
distinct therapeutic effects may be obtained.

(2)	This stage resembles the first, with the exception that the
subject is unable to open his eyes.

(3)	Here, whether the eyes are open or shut, and the subject
drowsy or wakeful, catalepsy can be suggested: the position,
however, can be changed by an effort of the subject's will.

(4)	In this stage automatic movements may frequently beHYPNOTISM

induced, but the subject is unable voluntarily to terminate suggested
catalepsy.

(5)	In addition to the phenomena manifested in the previous
stage, contractures can now be induced by suggestion and various
muscular movements inhibited.

(6)	The subject now exhibits a more or less automatic
obedience: he is inert and passive if left to himself, but rises,
stands, or walks at command.

(7)	This stage is characterised by loss of memory on awaking,
but hallucinations cannot be suggested.

(8)	Here, in addition to loss of memory, hallucinations can be
induced during hypnosis, but post-hypnotic hallucinations cannot
be evoked.

(9)	In this stage, in addition to the phenomena already
enumerated, post-hypnotic hallucinations are possible.

Forel gives three stages:—

(1)	Drowsiness: the subject can resist suggestions with an
effort.

(2)	Hypotaxy (Fascination): here, voluntary muscular move-
ments can be inhibited and the subject is unable to open his eyes.

(3)	Somnambulism: this is characterised by loss of memory
on awaking, i.e. the subject has forgotten the events of hypnosis.

Delboeuf divided hypnotic phenomena as follows:—

(1)	The stage in which pain is felt.

(2)	The one in which analgesia can be produced.

Edmund Gurney gave two stages, closely resembling those of
Braid already referred to, viz.: (1) Alert; (2) Deep.

Max Dessoir divides hypnotic phenomena into the following
two large groups, which are separated from each other by the
extent of the functional disturbances:—

(1)	In this class the voluntary muscles alone are affected.

(2)	Here, in addition, changes in the special senses occur.

Remarks.—The artificial character of the stages is the

point most worthy of notice in all these attempts at classifica-
tion. According to Braid, the phenomena of hypnotism only
appeared after certain changes had been evoked in the central
nervous system. They did not even then arise spontaneously,
however, but owed their origin either to self-suggestions or to
the training of the subject by the operator. These facts have
been largely ignored by later writers. The Nancy school, whileTHE DIFFERENT STAGES OF HYPNOSIS 153

pointing out the artificial nature of the stages of the Sal-
petriere, fail to recognise that their own classification not only
possesses similar disadvantages, but is also still more complicated.
Thus, in the case of such phenomena as closure of the eyes and
rigidity of the limbs, Max Dessoir has drawn attention to the
fact that the closing of the eyes in hypnosis is a pure accident—
the result of a method which has become more or less stereo-
typed—and states that hypnosis is frequently induced while
the eyes remain open. This criticism is a just one, for the
suggestion that the eyelids should close is usually the very first
that is made in practice. Further, once the eyes have been
closed by suggestion, rigidity of the limbs does not follow as a
natural sequence, but requires to be suggested in its turn.
Thus, if during hypnosis I lift the arm of an untrained subject,
it wi]l fall directly I release it. If I suggest, however, that the
limb shall remain in the position in which I have placed it,
the phenomenon generally appears. I can only recall one instance
in which muscular changes took place in an untrained subject
without direct suggestion. Deep hypnosis was obtained at the
first attempt and the condition known as flexibilitas cerea appeared.
This subject, however, had seen others hypnotised in whom
muscular changes had been induced; and probably, in her case,
the flexibilitas cerea was the result of self-suggestion.

Further, the phenomena that characterise the lethargic
stage or appear on its termination are suggested, either by the
operator or by the subjects themselves. The latter almost invari-
ably believe that hypnosis is identical with sleep: this to them
means forgetfulness on awaking, i.e. post-hypnotic amnesia. This
self-suggestion is so ingrained that explanation is usually power-
less to remove it; and, unless amnesia has been induced, the
Subject almost invariably asserts that he has not been hypno-
tised. In many of my earlier cases, it is true, analgesia and
hypnosis appeared simultaneously, although I had given no sug-
gestion to that effect. Indirect suggestion, however, had certainly
not been excluded, as the fact that many painless hypnotic opera-
tions had been performed on my patients was well known.

Moll, from the objections he raises to the classification of
Forel, Lidbeault and Bernheim, evidently believes that certain
hypnotic phenomena arise spontaneously. He complains that
the writers referred to contrast the particular group of hypnotic154

HYPNOTISM

states followed by amnesia with others in which no loss of
memory occurs; whereas it would be better to base classification
on the phenomena that appeared during hypnosis, rather than on
the forgetfulness which follows it. Memory after hypnosis, he
says, is influenced by many factors, including suggestion, which
have nothing to do with the depth of the hypnosis. The same
objection, however, as we have seen, may be applied with equal
justice to all the phenomena which are usually selected as
characteristic of the different stages. In nearly every instance
the presence of direct or indirect suggestion can be easily demon-
strated, while it would be difficult to find a single case in which
it is possible to prove that suggestions have been entirely
excluded. Another point to which I propose referring more
fully is the question of volition. Bernheim's stages are largely
based upon the so-called " automatism99 of the subject, and his
alleged inability to resist suggestions; but, as I hope to show,
neither of these phenomena characterises hypnosis.

With so much evidence in favour of the artificial character
both of hypnotic phenomena and of their sequence, I do not
consider that one is justified in speaking of various phenomena as
" occurring in," and being " characteristic of " certain stages. It
would be more correct to state that one can induce different
phenomena which vary according to the depth of the hypnosis,
the personality of the subject, and his hypnotic training.

While admitting the artificial origin of hypnotic phenomena,
we may still with advantage attempt to classify them. Among
the various groupings of hypnotic stages, which we have just
been considering, Max Dessoir's appears to be the best, and
forms a distinct advance upon the numerous and misleading
subdivisions of Bernheim. Exception might be taken to it,
however, on the ground that on the one hand it takes no account of
certain slight but important hypnotic states, and on the other omits
all reference to Somnambulism, i.e. that hypnotic condition which
is followed by amnesia. Under the first class, I include those
cases in which patients are influenced by curative suggestions at
a stage when alterations neither in the voluntary movements nor
in the special senses can be induced. Now, although in some
instances curative suggestions are not responded to until deep
hypnosis is reached, in others this response forms the first and
only evidence of its existence. Further, the therapeuticTHE DIFFERENT STAGES OF HYPNOSIS

155

phenomena are the only ones to which the ordinary medical
man attaches much importance; and to him a classification,
which includes, as " hypnotic/' cases where there is slight difficulty
in opening the eyes, and excludes others where grave and long-
standing disease has almost immediately vanished under the
influence of suggestion, must appear faulty.

As regards somnambulism, the remarkable changes of
memory which take place in this stage surely render it worthy
of special mention. The fact that some of Wetterstrand's
patients remained for months in a condition resembling sleep,
and others passed lengthened periods in apparently active mental
life, without the waking consciousness retaining any recollection
of either of these conditions, is surely as striking a phenomenon
as the alterations in the voluntary muscles, chosen by Max
Dessoir as characteristic of one of his two great groups.

Again, many medical men are careful to avoid all merely
experimental suggestions when employing hypnotism for curative
purposes. This adds another difficulty to classification. In such
instances, the patients voluntarily close their eyes and rest quietly
while curative suggestions are made. As the muscular and
sensorial conditions are not tested in any way, the only evidence
of the existence of hypnosis is to be found in the response to the
curative suggestions, and the amnesia which sometimes, though
not always, follows awaking. These patients, therefore, do not
fall under Max Dessoir's classification, as neither amnesia nor
response to curative suggestions is included in his two groups.
In some such cases, amongst my own patients, deep hypnosis had
undoubtedly been induced, as it was readily evoked at a later
date in response to a single suggestion. Putting these cases on one
side, and confining ourselves to experimental phenomena alone, the
most convenient classification is possibly Max Dessoir's, with the
addition of the stage of somnambulism. Thus:—

(1)	Slight Hypnosis: changes in the voluntary muscles can
be induced.

(2)	Deep Hypnosis: here, in addition, changes in the special
senses can be evoked.

(3)	Somnambulism: in this condition, while a large variety
of hypnotic reactions (many of them characteristic of the " alert"
stage) can be evoked, the waking consciousness is unable spontane-
ously to revive what has occurred.CHAPTER VIII.

hypnosis in animals.

Many observers, from Schwenter and Kircher onwards, have
stated that they have succeeded in hypnotising guinea-pigs,
rabbits, frogs, birds, crayfish and other animals. The principal
argument in favour of this is drawn from the fact that some of
these animals, after certain physical stimuli had been applied to
them, presented the phenomenon of catalepsy. Is this catalepsy
invariably a genuine one ? I am inclined to think that in many
instances it is a conscious simulation of death, adopted by the
animals from the instinctive knowledge of the fact that certain
birds and beasts of prey, except under pressure of extreme hunger,
will not attack what is dead. If, for example, you turn a beetle
on its back it will remain motionless and apparently cataleptic,
with its legs sticking rigidly in the air. The moment you go
away, however, it scrambles to its feet and resumes its journey.
Here death, or catalepsy, was only shammed, and doubtless the
insect was keenly watching your every movement and anxiously
waiting for your departure.

Granting, however, that the catalepsy is a genuine one, im-
portant differences exist between it and hypnosis in general,
thus:

(1)	Physical means alone will not induce hypnosis in the
human subject: he must also know what is expected of him.
We have no evidence, however, that a crayfish becomes cataleptic
from a clear idea that the operator has suggested that condition.
On the contrary, it can be induced in vertebrate animals deprived
of their cerebral hemispheres, and solely by the maintenance of the
body in an abnormal position by means of an external force.

(2)	The phenomenon is explained in varying, and even oppo-
site, ways by different observers. Thus, Heubel and Wundt con-

156HYPNOSIS IN ANIMALS

1S7

sider the so-called hypnosis of animals a true sleep, resulting
from the cessation of external stimuli. Preyer, on the other hand,
believed the condition to be one of paralysis from fright, or
catalepsy produced by sudden peripheral stimulus.

(3) Catalepsy is only one, and a comparatively unimportant,
phenomenon of hypnosis. One of the main characteristics of
the hypnotic state is the rapidity with which one phenomenon
can be changed into its opposite: we have, however, no like
condition in the so-called hypnosis of animals.

The most valuable observations on the subject are those of
Yerworn on Vertebrates. According to him, there exists in the
so-called hypnosis of animals a special form of activity in the
muscles, which is invariably associated with a peculiar condition
of inactivity of the cerebral cortex. A persistent tonic contraction
of the muscles exists, and is determined by excitation of the nervous
elements of the mid-brain. During the immobile state, sensation,
peripheral and central, is unaltered; and the animal appears to be
conscious of sensations produced by external impressions. Further,
if these are sufficiently intense to evoke an efficient discharge from
the cerebral cortex, the condition of immobility and muscular
contracture terminates. Reflex muscular excitability is not
lowered: it only appears to be so because the muscles, owing to
contracture, are incapable of responding properly to the central
nervous discharge. There is no inhibition of the lower neuro-
muscular mechanisms : on the contrary, the lower centres are
released from cerebral control and discharge a continuous stream
of nervous impulses. Finally, the cessation of the discharge of
impulses from the cerebral cortex is complete. This was obviously
so when the cerebral hemispheres had been previously removed.
In the intact animal, Yerworn believes that the sudden cessation
of cerebral discharge is the result of an inhibition, due to the
activity of other parts/ of the nervous system or to special condi-
tions of the centres themselves. The more one appreciates the
complexity of the hypnotic state—the fact that it is essentially
distinguished by an increased power of controlling the organism,
without diminished consciousness or volition—the more one must
recognise that it finds no analogy in an animal deprived of its
cerebral hemispheres, and discharging a continuous stream of
nervous motor impulses from its lower centres.CHAPTER IX.

hypnotism in surgery.

In Elliotson's time, as we have seen, mesmerism was frequently
employed as an anaesthetic in surgical operations, and a full
account of many of these is to be found in The Zoist. In his
day, too, the announcement of a birth in the daily papers was
sometimes also followed by the statement: "painlessly during
mesmeric trance."

Esdaile's Surgical Cases.

The most remarkable series of painless mesmeric operations,
however, were those performed by Esdaile in India. Records of
these are to be found in the Government reports, in Esdaile's
published works, and in the pages of The Zoist They comprised,
as already stated, nearly 300 capital operations, and many
thousand minor ones.

The following is Esdaile's own description of two typical
cases:—

No. 1. " S., aged 27, came to the Native Hospital with an
immense scrotal tumour as heavy as his whole body. He was
mesmerised for the first time on October 10th, 1846, then on
the 11th and 13 th, on which latter day he was ready for opera-
tion. The operation was performed on the 14th. The tumour
was tied up in a sheet to which a rope was attached, and passed
through a pulley in the rafter. The colis was dissected out, and
the mattress then hauled down to the end of the bed; his legs
were held asunder, and the pulley put in motion to support the
mass and develop its neck. It was transfixed with the longest
two-edged knife, which was found to be too short, as I had to dig
the haft in the mass to make the point appear below it, and it
was removed by two semicircular incisions right and left. The
flow of venous blood was prodigious, but soon moderated under

158HYPNOTISM IN SURGERY

159

pressure of the hand; the vessels being picked up as fast as
possible. The tumour, after half an hour, weighed 103 pounds,
and was as heavy as the man's body. During the whole operation,
I was not sensible of a quiver of his flesh. The patient made
a good recovery."

No. 2. " Two years before, the patient, a peasant, aged 40,
began to suffer from a tumour in the antrum maxillare; the
tumour had pushed up the orbit of the eye, filled up the nose,
passed into the throat, and caused an enlargement of the glands
of the neck." An assistant having failed to mesmerise this man
in a fortnight, Esdaile took him in hand himself, and thus
describes the result: " In half an hour he was cataleptic, and a
quarter of an hour later I performed one of the most severe and
protracted operations in surgery; the man was totally unconscious.
I put a long knife in at the corner of his mouth, and brought the
point out over the cheek-bone, dividing the parts between; from
this I pushed it through the skin at the inner corner of the eye,
and dissected the cheek-bone to the nose. The pressure of the
tumour had caused absorption of the anterior wall of the antrum,
and on pressing my fingers between it and the bone it burst, and
a shocking gush of blood and matter followed. The tumour
extended as far as my fingers could reach under the orbit and
the cheek-bone, and passed into the gullet—having destroyed the
bones and partition of the nose. No one touched the man, and
I turned his head in any position I desired, without resistance,
and there it remained until I wished to move it again; when the
blood accumulated, I bent his head forward, and it ran from his
mouth as if from a spout. The man never moved, nor showed
any signs of life, except an occasional indistinct moan; but when
I threw back his head, and passed my fingers into his throat to
detach the mass in that direction, the stream of blood was directed
into his windpipe, and some instinctive effort became necessary
for existence; he therefore coughed, and leaned forward to get
rid of the blood, and I suppose that he then awoke. The opera-
tion was finished, and he was laid on the floor to have his face
sewed up, and while this was being done, he for the first time
opened his eyes."

The patient afterwards informed Esdaile that he did not know
he had coughed, and was quite unconscious up to the termination
of the operation. The dressings were removed three days after-i6o

HYPNOTISM

wards, when it was found that the wounds in the face had healed
by first intention. The recovery was satisfactory.

The following cases of amputation of the leg were reported by
" Visitors " to the Hospital:—

No. 3. " The patient was sinking: she had been attacked
with fever, and Dr. Esdaile, though he was not satisfied that she
had been mesmerised sufficiently, determined to operate at once,
as further delay endangered her life. The leg was taken off a
little below the knee. . . . The thigh and-knee from which the
leg had been taken were perfectly motionless, and the only
evidence of life was her respiration. She was not held or tied
down in any way, and, during the whole operation, not the least
movement or change in her limbs, body, or countenance took
place. Dr. Esdaile left her to awake naturally, which she did
in about a quarter of an hour. She then told us that she had
had a good and undisturbed sleep, without dreams or pain, and
that she was ready to have her leg amputated. Upon receiving
ocular demonstration that the operation had been performed her
countenance expressed surprise and pleasure, and, as if doubtful
of the fact, we observed her pass her hand over the stump
apparently to test the reality of what she saw. Shortly after-
wards we quitted the hospital, leaving her composedly waving a
punkah over her face."

No. 4. " The patient had not been previously mesmerised,
and Dr. Esdaile was doubtful whether this could be done deeply
enough for operative purposes. He instructed a Native assistant
to commence the process, and the patient quickly passed into a
state of deep coma. Esdaile then amputated the leg six inches
above the knee; not a muscle moved, the pulse was steady and
regular, there was no perspiration on the forehead, no paleness
of the countenance; in fact the patient was as motionless as a
corpse. Shortly after the operation he awoke in the most natural
manner, stretching out his arms, yawning and rubbing his eyes.
He said, in reply to questions, that he had had a good sleep and
felt all the better for it. He was intensely surprised when told
that the operation was over; and showed his gratitude in the
usual Native manner, by placing his hands on his breast and
muttering blessings on the doctor."

From amongst many other interesting cases the following are
cited:—A case of compound fracture of the leg, in which aHYPNOTISM IN SURGERY

161

portion of bone was sawn off, and the fracture set during mes-
meric trance. Several cases of strangulated hernia, which had
resisted all attempts at reduction: during mesmeric sleep, there
was complete relaxation of the abdominal muscles; and in every
instance the hernia was easily reduced. Esdaile also recorded
cases of stricture of the urethra, with retention of urine, success-
fully treated by the induction of mesmeric trance ; and also a case
of labour which took place painlessly during the same condition.

Braid's Surgical Cases.

Braid's surgical operations were neither numerous nor varied,
and consisted mainly of dental extractions, opening of abscesses,
and the like. He claimed, however, to have cured several cases
of spinal curvature by suggestion, and asserted that the use of
mechanical appliances, except in cases of caries of the vertebrae,
was worse than useless. The following is an illustrative case:—
No. 5. The patient, a girl aged 16, suffering from spinal
curvature, had been treated by various specialists for six years.
At first she was kept in bed for sixteen months, and treated by
extension, counter-extension, and various gymnastic exercises.
Afterwards she wore a complicated mechanical apparatus for four
years, growing meanwhile steadily worse. Braid easily hypnotised
her at the first attempt, removed all mechanical apparatus, and
rendered the morbidly weak muscles cataleptic by suggestion.
After a week of this treatment, there was a marked increase of
muscular strength; and the patient could walk for half an hour
without the support of stays or other mechanical apparatus. She
made a good recovery, as did also her younger sister, who had
been under treatment for the same complaint for three years
before Braid hypnotised her.

Personal Cases.

Shortly after commencing hypnotic work I found I could
sometimes induce anaesthesia by suggestion, and from that time
occasionally performed surgical operations during hypnosis. In
most of the following illustrative cases, however, I hypnotised
while others operated :—

No. 6- Miss -, aged 20, was operated on for double

strabismus by Mr. Bendelack Hewetson, of Leeds, November 4th,
1889 ; hypnotic suggestion being the only anaesthetic employed.
She obeyed all his commands; kept her eyes in the required

M162

HYPNOTISM

position, or turned them so as to put the muscular fibres on the
stretch. Anaesthesia was perfect; when awakened she would not
believe that the operation had been performed, until shown her
eyes in a looking-glass. There was no subsequent pain.

On December 26th, 1889, she fractured her nose; hypnotic
anaesthesia was induced, and the bones moulded into position.

These operations were followed by others, and early in March,
1890, the late Mr. Arthur Turner, of Leeds, came to Goole to
test my methods. The following account of his observations
appeared in the Journal of the British Dental Association for
March 15 th, 1890:—

" Being a firm believer in the advantages of the use of nitrous
oxide over other methods of producing narcosis for the require-
ments of our specialty, I was by no means ready to believe that
there existed any other means of inducing total insensibility to
pain comparable, as regards safety and efficiency, with our justly
valued anaesthetic. Within the last few days, however, I have
been surprised to find that hypnotism properly applied is of the
greatest value, not only in rendering a patient insensible, but
also in preventing after-suffering. I do not here propose to enter
into any lengthy detail, but merely desire to state some of the
facts observed by me. I was recently invited by Dr. Bramwell,
of Goole, to see some of his patients whom he was treating
hypnotically, and to test the value of hypnotism in relieving or
preventing pain during the removal of teeth.

" I had a large choice of patients, and selected those which I
considered would afford a severe trial of this method. One upper
molar, which another dentist had on three occasions failed to
remove, I extracted without difficulty, and with no signs of pain
from the patient. She then, without awakening, rinsed her mouth,
and I extracted the fellow-tooth on the opposite side. The
hypnosis was induced and removed almost instantaneously. She
stated emphatically that she had no recollection of the operation
being performed, that she had felt no pain, and there was no
resulting tenderness of the gums.

"Another case, that of a young girl suffering from valvular
disease, a weak anaemic subject, whom one would expect to find
' deepen' considerably under nitrous oxide, and remain in a state
of collapse for a whole day after ether, was quickly and quietly
rendered unconscious. I then extracted two left lower molars,HYPNOTISM IN SURGERY

163

which were decayed down to a level with the alveolus, with pulps
exposed; also two right lower molar stumps, and a lower bicuspid:
all difficult teeth. There were slight muscular twitchings, such
as one often finds under an anaesthetic, but there was no complaint
of pain after the operation, and the patient was quickly restored
to her normal condition. I extracted in all about forty teeth,
tried my best to discover defects, and questioned the patients
myself, but the results were most satisfactory. Three typical
cases are here appended:—

"Miss A., age 15. Teeth extracted: right upper molar, left
upper molar, caries; left lower molar, abscess ; temporary canine,
persistent.

" Remarks.—No conjunctival reflex, dilated pupils, no pain.

"Mrs. B., age 36. Teeth extracted: upper molar right, first
and second lower molars right, left lower wisdom, and right lower
bicuspid—stump forceps used in each case.

" Remarks.—Conjunctival reflex absent, no sign of pain.

" Miss C., age 24. This patient was sent to me from another
room with a note from Dr. Bramwell, stating that he would not
be present during the operation, and enclosing a written and
signed order for her to sleep, and submit herself to my control.
Upon presenting this the patient at once fell asleep.

"I extracted two upper bicuspid stumps, quite buried by
congested gums and very tender to the touch. I then awakened
the patient, and found that she was quite free from pain.

"This is important as showing that patients may be sent
from a distance, without necessitating the personal attendance of
the hypnotiser.

" A great advantage of hypnosis over narcosis is that no gag
is required in the former, as the patient is entirely under the
control of the operator, opening the mouth at command or altering
position as suggested.

" I hope to get Dr. Bramwell to give a demonstration to a
meeting of the Society, when those interested will be able to
judge for themselves.	W. Arthur Turner, L.D.S. Eng."

Leeds.

The demonstration referred to was given at Leeds shortly
afterwards, a report of it being sent without my knowledge to
both the British Medical Journal and the Lancet; the following
account appeared in the latter:—HYPNOTISM

" Demonstration of Hypnotism as an Ancesthetic during the
Performance of Dental and Surgical Operations.

" A correspondent, on whom we can rely, kindly furnishes us
with the following remarkable report:—

" A number of the leading medical men and dentists of Leeds
and district were brought together on March 28 th, through the
kind invitation issued by Messrs. Carter Brothers and Turner,
dental surgeons, of Park Square, Leeds, to witness a series of
surgical and dental operations performed in their rooms by Dr.
Milne Bramwell, of Goole, Yorkshire. Great interest was evincec*
in the meeting. . . . Upwards of sixty medical men and dental
surgeons accepted the invitation. Amongst the gentlemen present
were the following:—Mr. Thomas Scattergood, Prof. Wardroj
Griffith, Mr. Pridgin Teale, Prof. Eddison, Dr. Jacob, Dr. Churton
Mr. Mayo Eobson, Mr. H. Bendelack Hewetson, Mr. Henderso;?
Nicol, Mr. Moyniham, Mr. Littlewood, Mr. Henry Gott, Mr
Churton, Mr. Edmund Eobinson, Mr. "William Hall, Dr. Braith-
waite, Mr. Wood, Dr. Light, Dr. Trevellyan, Dr. Caddy, Prof.
M'Gill, Dr. Turner (Menston Asylum), Dr. Hartley, Dr. Hellier,
Mr. W. H. Brown, Dr. Bruce (Goole), Mr. Dennison, Mr. Edward
Ward, Mr. H. Eobson, Mr. King, Mr. Glaisby, Mr. Sherburn, and
Mr. Wayles. A letter expressing regret at his inability to be
present was read from Dr. Clifford Allbutt, in which he reminded
the meeting that he remembered the time—thirty-five years ago
—when Liston performed several serious operations, using hypno-
tism as the anaesthetic, at the hands of a scientific lay friend in
Lincolnshire. Mr. Jessop was also prevented at the last moment
from being present. The object of the meeting was to show the
power of hypnotism to produce absolute anaesthesia in very painful
and severe operations.

"The first case brought into the room was a woman of 25.
She was hypnotised at a word by Dr. Bramwell, and told she
was to submit to three teeth being extracted without pain at the
hands of Mr. T. Carter, and further that she was to do anything
that Mr. Carter asked her—such as to open her mouth, spit out,
and the like. This was perfectly successful. There was no
expression of pain in the face, no cry, and when told to awake
she said she had not the least pain in the gums, nor had she felt
the operation. Dr. Bramwell then rehypnotised her, and orderedHYPNOTISM IN SURGERY

her to leave the room and go upstairs to the waiting-room. This
she did as a complete somnambulist.

" The next case was that of a servant girl, aged 19, on whom,
under the hypnotic influence induced by Dr. Bramwell, a large
lacrymal abscess extending into the cheek had a fortnight
previously been opened, and scraped freely, without knowledge or
pain. Furthermore, the dressing had been daily performed, and
the cavity freely syringed out under hypnotic anaesthesia. To
the ' healing suggestions/ daily given to the patient, Dr. Bramwell
in a great measure attributes the very rapid healing, which took
place in ten days—a remarkably short space of time in a girl
affected by inherited syphilis, and in a by no means good state
of health. She was put to sleep by the following letter from
Dr. Bramwell addressed to Mr. Turner, the operating dentist in
the case:—

"Burlington Crescent, Goole, Yorks.

"Dear Mr. Turner—I send you a patient with enclosed
order. When you give it to her, she will fall asleep at once and
obey your commands.	J. Milne Bramwell.

" Go to sleep by order of Dr. Bramwell, and obey Mr. Turner's
commands.	J. Milne Bramwell.

"This experiment answered perfectly. Sleep was induced
at once by reading the note, and was so profound that at the end
of a lengthy operation, in which sixteen stumps were removed,
she awoke smiling, and insisted that she had felt no pain; and,
what was remarkable, there was no pain in her mouth. She was
found after some time, when unobserved, reading the Graphic in
the waiting-room as if nothing had happened. During the whole
time she did everything which Mr. Turner suggested, but it was
observed that there was a diminished flow of saliva, and that the
corneal reflexes were absent: the breathing was more noisy than
ordinary and the pulse slower. Dr. Bramwell took occasion to
explain that the next case, a boy of 8, was a severe test, and
would not probably succeed; partly because the patient was so
young, and chiefly because he had not attempted to produce
hypnotic anaesthesia earlier than two days before. He also
explained that patients require training in this form of anaesthesia;
the time of training or preparation varying with each individual.i66

HYPNOTISM

However, he was so far hypnotised that he allowed Mr. Mayo
Kobson to operate on the great toe, removing a bony growth and
part of the first phalanx, with no more than a few cries towards
the close of the operation; and with the result that when
questioned afterwards he appeared to know very little of what
had been done. It was necessary in his case for Dr. Bramwell
to repeat the hypnotic suggestions. Dr. Bramwell remarked that
he wished to show a case that was less likely to be perfectly
successful than the others, so as to enable those present to see
the difficult as well as the apparently straightforward cases.

"The next case was a girl of 15, highly sensitive, requiring
the removal of enlarged tonsils. At the request of Dr. Bramwell,
Mr. Bendelack Hewetson was enabled, whilst the patient was in
the hypnotic state, to extract each tonsil with ease, the girl, by
suggestion of the hypnotiser, obeying each request of the operator,
though in a state of perfect anaesthesia. In the same way, Mr.
Hewetson removed a cyst, of the size of a horse-bean, from the
side of the nose of a young woman who was perfectly anaesthetic,
and breathing deeply; and who, on coming round by order,
protested ' that the operation had not been commenced.'

"Mr. Turner then extracted two large molar teeth from a
man with equal success; after which Dr. Bramwell explained
how this patient had been completely cured of drunkenness by
hypnotic suggestion. To prove this to those present, and to show
the interesting psychological results, the man was hypnotised,
and in that state he was shown a glass of water, which he was
told by Dr. Bramwell was 'bad beer.' He was then told to
awake, and the glass of water was offered him by Dr. Bramwell.
He put it to his lips, and at once spat out the ' offensive liquid.'
Other interesting phenomena were illustrated and explained by
means of this patient, who was a hale, strong working-man.

" Mr. Tom Carter next extracted a very difficult impacted
stump from a railway navvy, as successfully as in the previous
case. Dr. Bramwell described how this man had been completely
cured of very obstinate facial neuralgia by hypnotism. The
malady had been produced by working in a wet railway cutting,
and had previously defied all medical treatment. After the third
hypnotic treatment—some weeks previously—the neuralgia had
entirely disappeared, and had not returned. The man had also
obtained refreshing hypnotic sleep at night, being put to sleepHYPNOTISM IN SURGERY

167

by a written order from Dr. Bramwell, and on one occasion by a
telegram, both methods succeeding perfectly.

"At the conclusion of this most interesting and successful
series of hypnotic experiments, a vote of thanks to Dr. Bramwell,
for his kindness in giving the demonstration, was proposed by
Mr. Scattergood, Dean of the Yorkshire College, and seconded by
Mr. Pridgin Teale, F.R.S., who remarked ' that the experiments
were deeply interesting, and had been marvellously successful.'
The latter also said ' he felt sure that the time had now come
when we should have to recognise hypnotism as a necessary part
of our study.' The vote was carried by loud acclamations.

" Messrs. Carter Brothers and Turner were cordially thanked
for the great scientific treat, which they had so kindly prepared
for the many to whom hypnotism had been first introduced that
day, and for the further opportunity, afforded to the few who had
seen Dr. Bramwell's work previously, of studying its application
as an anaesthetic. Mr. Henry Carter replied for the firm, and
the meeting closed; the patients looking as little like patients as
persons well could, giving neither by their manners nor expression
the slightest suggestion (except when external dressings were
visible) that they had suffered, or were suffering from, extensive
surgical interference."—The lancet, April 5th, 1890, page 771.

The above account, with the exception of a few details, is
correct. The removal of the exostosis was rendered a more
severe operation, by a preliminary evulsion of the great toe nail,
and, although the patient showed slight signs of pain, he was
afterwards unable to recall what had happened. The after-
condition of the patients was remarkable; and the unpleasant
symptoms which sometimes follow the use of anaesthetics were
absent. They all made a hearty meal; and then returned to Goole,
a journey of over an hour by train. The nurse in charge told
me she might have been conducting a party home from a fair,
as they passed the time in laughing and singing. With the
exception of the boy whose toe had been operated on, and who
was unable to put on his boot, none of them kept the house;
while in every case the healing process was remarkably rapid,
and unaccompanied by pain.

From that date I employed hypnotic anaesthesia in a
number of minor operations; but, with the exception of the
two following, few are worthy of special note.HYPNOTISM

No. 7. Mr.-, aged 40, was run over by a loaded railway

waggon, and sustained severe comminuted fractures of the right
clavicle, scapula, humerus, radius and ulna. The elbow joint was
opened, and gangrene of the lower arm followed. The patient
ultimately recovered; but all the joints of the right arm,
shoulder, elbow, wrist, and fingers, were ankylosed. On several
occasions he was put under chloroform, and the adhesions
broken down; this was always followed by swelling, inflamma-
tion and return of the immobility. Later, he would neither take
an anaesthetic, nor allow any attempt at passive movement to
be made without one. He was easily hypnotised at the first
attempt and analgesia induced. For some weeks this was
repeated frequently, and on each occasion the adhesions were
broken down, and the mobility of the joints increased. He
ultimately returned to his employment, with a strong and use-
ful, though somewhat deformed arm. This case was seen by
Mr. Mayo Eobson, both before and after hypnotic treatment.

No. 8. Mrs. -, aged 41, a weak nervous woman, abnor-
mally sensitive to pain, had her teeth extracted painlessly in
what was apparently the waking state — the only anaesthetic
being suggestion. This was regarded as an experiment which
might possibly fail, and the patient made me promise to put
her to sleep if she had pain. The operation was performed
on July 21st, 1892, at Mr. Bendelack Hewetson's, Leeds, in
the presence of a number of medical men, including Mr. H.
Littlewood, F.K.C.S. The following account was given by Mr.
Henderson Nicol, L.D.S. Eng., the numbers quoted showing the
teeth extracted, according to Dr. Thompson's Approved Record
Plate:—

" Nos. 21, 22, 24, 25 and 26 were removed without any
interval, and entirely without pain, or any symptom of feeling,
on the part of the patient. After an interval of a few minutes
for rinsing out her mouth, Nos. 27 and 1 were removed with-
out interval, and with some slight indication of pain in the case
of No. 1, but none in the case of No. 27, which, in common with
Nos. 21 and 22, was very firmly attached to the jaw. After a
further interval of a few seconds, No. 16 was removed; it was
much broken down, and there were symptoms of some pain.
All the teeth were much diseased, and the extractions under
ordinary conditions would have caused acute pain. ... IHYPNOTISM IN SURGERY

169

think, considering the circumstances under which the operation
was done, it was a remarkable success, and I am pleased to have
seen it."

Remarks.—The patient was not prepared in any way for the
operation, and the analgesia was not post-hypnotic, i.e. it was not
suggested to her during a previous hypnosis that pain should be
absent on this particular occasion. Without the employment
of any mechanical methods, or verbal suggestion of hypnosis,
she was simply told in the waking state that the operation
should be painless. She lost much blood and felt faint, but this
soon passed off, and she gave the following account of her
sensations:—She had a little pain when No. 1 was extracted, but
this was nothing to what she had felt when she had had teeth
drawn previously, and not sufficient to make her remind me of
my promise to hypnotise her. She had the fixed idea that this
tooth would hurt her; a previous attempt to extract it having
failed. She described the various steps of the operation, and
asserted that all the extractions, except No. 1, were absolutely
painless. The analgesia was still further tested by a powerful
application of the faradic brush.

A few days later, under the same conditions, I extracted her
remaining four teeth, and, despite the fact that they were all
firmly attached to the jaw, this was accomplished without pain.
Neither operation was followed by pain, and the gums healed
rapidly; when the casts of the mouth were taken all unpleasant
sensations were prevented by suggestion. It is to be noted that,
in the above case, analgesia alone was suggested, and that this
appeared unaccompanied by anaesthesia.1

Suegical Cases from other Authors.

(A) Confinements during Hypnosis.

No. 9 (Dr. Kingsbury, of Blackpool). V. S., aged 14 years
and 7 months, was hypnotised twelve times before confinement,
and deep anaesthesia induced. Dr. Kingsbury was called at
7.30 p.m.; the os was slightly dilated, and the pains occurred
every 15 or 20 minutes. The patient was hypnotised, told
to have 110 pain, and to bear down when the uterine contractions
1 The medical history of this case is given later, (No. 20, pp. 191-4.)HYPNOTISM

occurred. At 11 p.m., she was delivered of a child weighing
8^- lbs. The placenta followed in ten minutes; she still remained
asleep and, when awakened, felt well, and remembered nothing
of what had happened.

No. 10 (von Schrenck-Notzing). B., aged 25, primipara.
Strong, healthy and well-nourished. First hypnotised, November
17th, 1891; this was repeated six times up to the 26th. At
2.45 a.m., on the 29th, she was hypnotised during labour. Not-
withstanding that the uterine contractions were strong and very
painful, she fell asleep in two or three minutes and her cries
ceased. Eupture of the membranes took place at 3.5 a.m., and
the labour continued rapidly till 3.30 a.m., when the head reached
the vulva. At 3.58 a.m., the pains became very weak and no
further progress was made. It was now suggested to the patient
to bear down more forcibly; the pains at once became longer,
and so strong that a rupture of the perineum was feared. These
suggestions were then discontinued. At 4.12 a.m. the head was
born, and at the next pain the body followed. At 4.15 a.m. the
placenta was ejected. The patient was awakened by suggestion
at 4.20 a.m. ; she opened her eyes, gradually became conscious,
and looked about her in a surprised manner. She declared that
she had felt no pain from the moment she was first hypnotised.
There was no rupture of the perineum. The os was fully dilated
at 3 a.m., and the entire labour, including passage of the placenta,
completed at 4.15 a.m.

No. 11 (Wetterstrand). Eegina A., aged 25; married, four
children. Previous confinements—followed by severe after-pains
—lasted from 10 to 12 hours. The patient was hypnotised
several times before this—her fifth—confinement. Wetterstrand
was called on October 19th, 1887, at 2.45 p.m.: pains slight;
os admitted three fingers. Hypnosis with deep anaesthesia was
induced. At 3.15 p.m. the pains became stronger, and at
4.30 p.m. the child was born. Afterwards the patient could
recall nothing: there were no after-pains and the recovery
was rapid.

The same patient was again confined on April 8th, 1889.
She was hypnotised at the commencement of the labour, and
remained in a condition of somnambulism until after its comple-
tion. Again, awaking was followed by amnesia. The labour
lasted two hours: there were no after-pains.HYPNOTISM IN SURGERY

171

No. 12 (Dr. Pritzl, of Vienna). Mrs. S., aged 36, primipara.
Admitted into hospital, September 10th, 1885, and easily hypno-
tised. On October 31st, 8 p.m., the os admitted three fingers
and the pains were severe. Hypnosis was then reinduced: the
birth took place at 11.15 p.m., and the placenta was expelled
five minutes afterwards. The patient, awakened an hour later,
was much surprised to find the confinement over; she declared
she had slept soundly from the moment she had been hypnotised.

No. 13 (Dr. Mesnet, of the Hotel Dieu, Paris). Alice D.,
aged 22, primipara. Hypnotised previously to confinement. At
midnight, on March 31st, 1887, the os was the size of a two-
franc piece, and the pains violent. Hypnosis was then reinduced,
and she ceased to suffer. The birth took place at 4.45 a.m., and
the patient was not awakened until her linen had been changed,
and the infant dressed. She was unable to recall anything.

No. 14 (Dr. Fraipont, Lecturer on Gynaecology at the

University of Li&ge, Belgium). Mrs. -, aged 29, primipara.1

At 5 p.m. the os was the size of a five-franc piece, and the pains
regular and severe. Hypnosis was induced by Professor Delbceuf
and her sufferings ceased. At 8.45 a.m. Dr. Fraipont had to
leave, and Delboeuf ceased to hypnotise her. Dr. Fraipont
returned at 10.45 a.m., and hypnosis was again induced. The
child was born at 1 p.m., and was above the average weight.
Although the patient appeared to suffer during Dr. Fraipont's
absence, she was unable on awaking to recall anything that
had occurred. Good recovery.

No. 15 (Dr. Fanton, Marseilles). L., aged 19, primipara.
Hypnosis was first induced on December 19th, 1889, and som-
nambulism with anaesthesia obtained on January 4th, 1890.
On February 8th, 10th, 15th, and 18th, Dr. Fanton induced uterine
contractions by suggestion. On February 29 th, at 6 p.m., labour
commenced; and at 10 p.m. the uterine contractions were strong
and painful. The patient was then rehypnotised, and the sugges-
tion given that the labour should be arrested from 11 p.m. till
midnight. The suggestion was successful and the uterine con-
tractions entirely ceased. At midnight they recommenced
strongly and regularly, but were unattended by pain. At 1.30
a.m. they were again arrested by suggestion for two hours. From

1 This patient had been the subject of several of Professor Delbceuf s experiments.
See pp. 84, 116, 117, 118 and 119.172

HYPNOTISM

3.30 a.m. till 11 a.m., the labour progressed naturally, but with-
out pain. At 11 a.m. the os was fully dilated, and the labour
was again arrested by suggestion for three hours. Shortly after
the expiration of this period the labour was completed painlessly.
On being awakened, the patient did not know she had been
confined, and could recall nothing of what had passed. She
made a good recovery. The experiment took place in hospital,
and Professors Mazail and Lojan, and Drs. Audiffrent, Jourdan,
Eubino, Pourri&re, Fournad and Lieutard were present.

No. 16. Dr. Dobrovolsky (Switzerland) reports eight cases
of confinement during hypnosis, four of which were primiparae.
Three were hypnotised for the first time during labour; one
once before labour; one twice; one three times; one four times;
and one six times. The following is the most remarkable case:—

No. 17. M. L., aged 24, primipara, was hypnotised three
times before confinement, the last occasion being on November
13th. During each sitting1 it was suggested to her that her
labour should be painless. In the evening of November 22nd,
she felt uncomfortable and lay down for some hours. About
3 A.m. she found that she was wet, and got up and changed the
linen on her bed. After this she could not sleep, and had from
time to time a feeling of pressure in the body, but this hardly
gave her any appreciable pain. At 7 a.m. she said to the patient
in the next bed: " Fetch the nurse; I feel that something has
passed from me." When the nurse arrived the child was born.
In this instance, a practically painless confinement was the result
of post-hypnotic analgesia suggested nine days earlier.

The anaesthesia, however, does not seem to have been complete in
all Dr. Dobrovolsky's cases. One patient remembered her last three
pains, while another was conscious of the application of forceps;
but in all the suffering was undoubtedly diminished, and the
results are especially remarkable considering how seldom hypnosis
had been induced before labour.

(B) Other Operations.

No. 18 (Dr. Tillaux, Surgeon to the Hotel Dieu, Paris).
The patient, a young woman, suffered from cystocele, and the

3 The word "sitting " is used for convenience' sake in all instances where patients
have received hypnotic treatment with suggestion.HYPNOTISM IN SURGERY

173

operation of colporrhaphy was performed. She was hypnotised
in bed by the House Surgeon, M. T^moin, and passed into the
stage of somnambulism. In obedience to suggestion, she then
walked to the theatre and lay down upon the table. The opera-
tion lasted half an hour; she showed no symptoms of pain, and
chatted continuously with the House Surgeon. She was carried
back to bed while still asleep, and, on being aroused, was
immensely surprised to find that the operation was over.

No. 19 (Dr. Bourdon, M£ru). Mrs. D., aged 34, uterine
fibroid. The tumour, which was about the size of the fist and
sessile, was removed through the vagina by means of Grafe's
serre-nceud; the operation was tedious, but the patient ex-
perienced no pain.

No. 20 (Dr. Schmeltz, Nice). M., aged 20. Enormous
sarcomatous tumour of the breast. Hypnosis was induced on
several occasions before the operation, which was performed in
the presence of a number of medical men. The tumour was
removed, the axilla thoroughly explored, five drainage tubes
introduced, and the enormous wound closed with thirty-two wire
sutures. The operation lasted about an hour. Dr. Schmeltz
operated slowly, and quite at his ease. The patient was very
merry, chatting brightly, and laughing heartily from time to
time. She placed herself in different positions as requested,
without the aid of an assistant, etc. She suffered pain neither
during nor after the operation, and slept well the following night.
Eecovery was rapid, and the wound was only dressed once after
the operation; the drainage tubes were removed on the third
day, and the stitches on the fifteenth day, when union was
complete. The tumour weighed over 4 lbs., and microscopical
examination confirmed the diagnosis.

No. 21 (Schmeltz). Mile. B., aged 18. Ectropion of the
left lower eyelid since the age of 10 months. She had been
twice operated on in 1889, but the condition had become worse.
She consulted Dr. Schmeltz in November, 1890, and told him
she had suffered so much from the after-effects of the anaesthetic
that she would never take one again. Hypnosis was easily
induced at the first attempt. On November 28th, 1890, in the
presence of several medical men, Dr. Schmeltz successfully
performed " Adams' operation"; this was neither attended nor
followed by pain.174

HYPNOTISM

No. 22 (Dr. Edward Wood, America). Mr.--, aged 17.

Necrosis of the upper third of the humerus. The patient was
hypnotised on the three days preceding the operation, which was
performed in hospital on September 9th, 1889. An incision
was made down to the bone, the diseased portion removed,
drainage tubes inserted, etc. The operation was a tedious one,
and, at its conclusion, it was suggested that the patient should
continue to sleep for two hours. He did not awake until the
time indicated, and then asked for food. No pain. Good recovery.

No. 23 (Dr. Grossmann, Berlin). Eight cases of fractures
and dislocations reported in the Zeitschrift fur Hypnotismus,
March, 1894. In every instance, hypnosis appears to have been
induced for the first time on the day of the operation, which
was rendered painless by suggestion.

Numerous other operations during hypnotic anaesthesia have
recently been reported. Amongst these the following may be
mentioned:—Sandberg (Sweden), Dental operations; Forel (Switzer-
land), Cataract; Diaz (Cuba), Dental operations; van Eeden and
van Eenterghem (Holland), Dental operations.

Hypnotic Anesthesia. Summaky.

The chief objection to hypnotic anaesthesia is the difficulty
and uncertainty of the induction of the necessary degree of
hypnosis. Although recent statistics show that about 94 per
cent of mankind can be hypnotised, with a considerable pro-
portion many preliminary attempts are necessary, and generally
hypnosis never becomes deep enough for operative purposes.
Suggestive anaesthesia can only be induced, apparently, in about
10 per cent of those hypnotised. Under these circumstances,
unless grave reasons existed for the non-employment of other
anaesthetics, it would be waste of time to attempt to hypnotise a
patient for operative purposes alone. Apart from this, hypnosis
possesses many advantages as an anaesthetic. Thus:—

(1)	Once deep hypnosis, with anaesthesia, has been obtained,
it can be immediately reinduced at any time.

(2)	No repetition of any hypnotic process is necessary; the
verbal order to go to sleep is sufficient.

(3)	The hypnotised presence is not essential. The patientHYPNOTISM IN SURGERY

175

can be put en rapport with the operator by written order, or by
other means previously suggested during hypnosis.

(4)	No abstinence from food or other preparation is necessary.

(5)	Nervous apprehension can be removed by suggestion.

(6)	Hypnosis is pleasant, and absolutely devoid of danger.

(7)	It can be maintained indefinitely, and terminated
immediately at will.

(8)	The patient can be placed in any position without risk—
a not unimportant point in operations on the mouth and throat—
and will alter that position at the command of the operator.
Gags and other retentive apparatus are unnecessary.

(9)	Analgesia alone can be suggested, and the patient left
sensitive to other impressions—an advantage in throat operations.

(10)	In labour cases, the influence of the voluntary muscles
can be increased or diminished by suggestion.

(11)	There is no tendency to sickness during or after
operation—a distinct gain in abdominal cases.

(12)	Pain after operation, or during subsequent dressings, can
be entirely prevented.

(13)	The rapidity of the healing process, possibly as the result
of the absence of pain, is frequently very marked.

While Schrenck-Not zing and other observers state that
hypnotic suggestion can render labour painless, and facilitate
its course by regulating the position of the body and limbs, and
increasing or diminishing the uterine contractions through the
action of the voluntary muscles, Dr. Fanton claims other and
more startling advantages. According to him, suggestion acts
directly upon the uterus itself: the operator can thus cau^e its
contractions to appear or disappear at will; and, in complicated
cases, this may save the life of both mother and child. Further,
uterine inertia may be successfully combated without the use of
ergot, and the forceps frequently rendered unnecessary. The
after-contraction of the uterus can be excited by suggestion, and
post-partum haemorrhage prevented. In cases of adherent
placenta, turning, etc., the uterus can be relaxed by suggestion,
and the necessary operations greatly facilitated. Finally, Dr.
Fanton claims to have successfully excited premature labour by
suggestion, and considers it criminal to have recourse to other
means, such as dilatation of the cervix, perforation of the
membranes, etc., without having first attempted this method.176

HYPNOTISM

Although Dr. Fanton founds his statements on numerous cases
and experiments, many of them observed by other medical men,
the results he claims are so startling that few are likely to accept
them without further evidence. One must admit, however, that
the involuntary contractions of the uterus are sometimes arrested
by emotional states. An assistant, sent to a patient who
expected to see his principal, often finds that the labour, which
was progressing rapidly before his arrival, ceases the moment he
enters the room.

It is possible that improvement in the method of inducing
hypnosis may arise; but, until then, its usefulness in surgery
will ever remain extremely restricted. Hypnotic anaesthesia,
however, must always be of keen interest to both physiologist
and psychologist. As will be pointed out later, it is a thing
apart, and by no means an ordinary narcotic—not a fresh example
of the methods for preventing pain by checking all conscious
cerebration.CHAPTEK X.

HYPNOTISM IN MEDICINE.

To the physician, the chief interest of hypnotism depends upon
its value in the treatment of disease. To illustrate this, I now
propose to cite cases in which it has been employed for that
purpose by myself and others.

Amongst the former are to be found a few drawn from my
general practice at Goole. All of these cases, however, were
seen by other medical men, generally before, during, and after
hypnotic treatment; and most of them were shown at the
meetings of one or more medical societies. The remainder—
almost without exception sent to me by other medical men-
have been treated since I came to London a little over ten
years ago.

In most instances, sufficient time has elapsed to enable one
to judge of the permanency of the results. In all the after-
history of the case has been traced, and in many the last reports
have been of quite recent date. Most of the cases drawn from
other sources have neither been previously translated into
English, nor published abroad in readily accessible form—the
majority being taken from foreign medical journals, etc. Many
of them are reported by well-known Continental medical men;
and, again, in most instances, the after-histories of the patients
have been carefully traced and recorded. This selection has
been made in order to put fresh material before my readers, as
accounts of many cases, treated by Bernheim, Wetterstrand, and
others, have already been published in English translations.
In each instance, the source from which the case is drawn will
be given in the chapter of " References."

I do not propose to cite examples of all the different forms
of disease in which hypnotism has been employed. The account

N173

HYPNOTISM

only claims to be an illustrative one : the majority of the diseases
selected, therefore, are those in which hypnotism has been most
frequently used as a curative agent. In some instances this rule
has been departed from, either because the employment of hypno-
tism in such other diseases has excited interest or controversy, or
because the cases themselves present points of special interest.

In the chapter of " References " many cases will be referred
to other than those about to be cited. Some of these are
additional examples of the various cases I propose to quote; the
remainder illustrate the use of hypnotism in diseases other than
those about to be reviewed. Successful cases have been chosen
purposely, and little reference made to those in which hypnotic
treatment failed. In my concluding chapter, however, I shall
again return to this point, and discuss—as far as the very
imperfect data permit—the value of hypnotic treatment as com-
pared with other methods.

For the present, in order to prevent misconception, it ought
to be clearly understood that those who employ hypnotism re-
gard it only as an additional weapon by which disease may be
combated. They use it just as they would any other new
remedy, or fresh form of treatment that advancing science has
brought within their reach. If it sometimes succeeds where
other methods have failed, the opposite is equally true. Even
in the former case this implies no slur on " Medicine," regarded
in its widest sense; on the contrary, if the therapeutic value of
hypnotism be proved, Medicine, as a whole, is so much the richer.

Hypnotism has undoubtedly given its best results in the
treatment of functional nervous disorders. Amongst these the
various forms of hysteria deserve the first place, and may be
grouped as follows :—

(1) Hysteria.

(A) Grande HysUrie, or Hystero-Epilepsy, and the conditions
which sometimes persist after the convulsive attacks have
disappeared, e.g. paralyses, contractures, spasms, ancesthes%€e)
amauroses, etc.

The following example is from my own practice:—

No. 1. Miss-, aged 19, June, 1900. A tall, well-

developed Italian girl, educated and highly intelligent. Mother
suffered from hysteria. The patient had her first hystericalHYPNOTISM IN MEDICINE

179

attack in November, 1894, after overworking for an examination.
This was preceded by headaches and boisterous laughter: then
muscular twitchings, at first confined to the shoulders, appeared.
Soon these movements became more violent and generalised, and
alternated with various muscular contractures: the latter some-
times affected the jaws, and the teeth became firmly clenched.
This condition lasted till May, 1895, then disappeared after a
short hypnotic treatment.

In July, 1895, clonic spasms reappeared during sleep. In
September, 1896, she came to England to teach in a High School;
and shortly afterwards began to have spasms in the daytime. At
first these affected the left side only, then practically all the
voluntary muscles. From the latter date, until December, 1899,

the patient was hypnotised by Dr.-at irregular intervals.

At first the attacks ceased after one or two sittings, but the
longest remission was only eleven weeks, and they frequently
returned at the end of a few days. By degrees the treatment
lost its influence: the spasms became more violent and severe, a
contracture of the left leg appeared, and the patient could only
limp a few steps. She suffered much from headache, was
extremely emotional, often depressed, had morbid ideas and
frequent attacks of hysterical laughter and weeping.

In December, 1899, hypnotic treatment was discontinued,
and the patient consulted a well-known neurologist. At first she
was placed in a medical man's house; but, as her condition grew
worse, she was removed in two months, and admitted as a con-
tributing patient to the National Hospital, Queen's Square, Blooms-
bury. There she was treated by isolation, rest in bed, and hot
baths. Blisters were also applied in order to render the move-
ments painful. Later, large doses of hyoscine, chloral, bromide,
etc., were given, and the patient kept in a more or less narcotised
condition for weeks. Despite this, the twitchings, convulsions,
and contracture of the leg increased in severity, and she was dis-
charged on June 18th, 1900, much worse than when she entered.

She was then brought to me by Dr. Sainsbury, and I began
hypnotic treatment the following day. At that time, except
during sleep, the patient had constant jerking movements of the
left side, involving the face, arm, leg and trunk, while the head
was drawn violently to the left. She had also frequent attacks—
sometimes ten or twelve a day—of the true Salpetriere type ofi8o

HYPNOTISM

grande hysUrie. After violent generalised convulsions lasting
several minutes, the head was drawn backwards towards the
heels {arc de cercle), and the face became cyanosed; then, after
much abdominal gurgling, the spasm relaxed, the attack ceased,
and the unilateral muscular movements recommenced. She
never lost consciousness, and the seizures were not followed by
amnesia; there were no signs of organic disease.

For the first fortnight, every time I tried to hypnotise the
patient she had a convulsive attack, but, despite this, I made
suggestions in the usual way. She then gradually became quieter,
and a week later the morbid symptoms disappeared. The treat-
ment, however, was continued until July 31st; but neither during
that time nor afterwards were any drugs given.

On September 20th, 1900, she returned to work, and from
then up to the last report (May, 1903) there had been no
relapse. She has gained in weight, is strong, and plays hockey
and other outdoor games. She has become progressively less
and less emotional; has lost the morbid ideas that used to haunt
her, and ceased to worry over trifles. Since July, 1900, there
has been no treatment, hypnotic or other.

In several other somewhat similar cases equally good results
were obtained. In one of these, the patient had frequent attacks
of generalised convulsions, invariably followed by amnesia. She
also suffered from storms of neuralgic pain; these occurred several
times a day, and were absolutely sudden in their appearance and
termination.

In another case the patient had attacks of convulsions, followed
by generalised catalepsy. During the latter condition, which
frequently lasted for several hours, the patient was apparently
unconscious, and insensible to external stimuli. In both cases
recovery followed hypnotic treatment, and there was no relapse.

Successful cases were reported by the older writers, amongst
the most interesting being one of Elliotson's:—The patient had
suffered from convulsive attacks of hystero - epilepsy for nine
years, and also during the same period from a contracture of one
leg. She had passed twenty-two months in different hospitals
without improvement, but recovered quickly under Elliotson's
care, and had not relapsed three years later.

The following are more recent examples:—

No. 2 (Krafft-Ebing). Miss -, aged 18, had always been

nervous, excitable, and bad-tempered. From the age of six sheHYPNOTISM IN MEDICINE

181

had had hysterical symptoms, including nocturnal terrors, sleep-
walking, etc. In July, 1890, she had an attack of hystero-
epilepsy, which lasted three hours: then fourteen days' delirium,
followed by amnesia. From that date the ordinary hysterical
symptoms became worse; the convulsive attacks soon averaged
two a day, and consisted of generalised convulsions, arc de cercle,
grands mouvements, etc., followed by delirium. Hypnotic treatment
was begun about the middle of October, 1890, and in a month
the patient was well. Two years later there had been no relapse.

No. 3 (Wetterstrand). Mrs. —-, aged 36, had suffered for

eight years from attacks of hysterical convulsions, associated with
dysmenorrhoea, menorrhagia, hsomatemesis, and hemi-ansesthesia.
No organic disease had been detected. The patient improved
under ordinary hypnotic treatment, and recovered completely
after ten days' " prolonged sleep "

No. 4 (Dr. Tatzel, of Essen on the Ruhr, Germany1). Mrs.-,

aged 32, March 24th, 1894, was confined in July, 1892, and six
weeks later began to suffer from hysterical convulsions. Her
previous health had been good. The attacks always began with
a loud scream, followed by muscular twitchings and convulsions:
on awaking the patient remembered nothing, but felt ill and
depressed all the following day. She had lost flesh, suffered from
constipation, want of appetite, and palpitation; she had also
become sullen, indolent, parsimonious, and careless in dress and
appearance. Complete recovery followed hypnotic treatment.

Equally successful cases are reported by Bernheim, Krafft-
Ebingj Stembo and many other Continental observers. B^rillon,
who for three years watched Dumontpallier's cases of grande
hysUrie at the Piti^ Hospital, stated that most of the patients
recovered completely and were then in good health — some
married and mothers of families, others occupying responsible
business positions.

(B) Monosymptomatic Hysteria; Monoplegia, Mutism, Aphonia,
Hiccough, Blepharospasm, Discromatopsia, etc.

The following cases are from my own practice:—

No. 5. Aphonia.—Miss-, aged 55, June, 1899, had suffered

during childhood from " broken chilblains." In 1888, she showed

1 Now of Munich.182

HYPNOTISM

unmistakable symptoms of Benaud's disease: the third finger of
the right hand became contracted and gangrenous, and had to be
amputated. Later all the fingers and toes became more or less
contracted, rendering further amputations necessary—the last,
that of the left great toe, having taken place a few weeks before
she consulted me in 1899.

The patient had lost her voice early in 1897; but physical
examination revealed nothing abnormal, and galvanic and other
treatment had produced no result.

She was then sent to me by Mr. Stephen Paget, on account
of her aphonia, and first hypnotised on June 22nd, 1899: a
fortnight later the voice commenced to improve, and was normal
by the end of July, when treatment was discontinued. In January
1903, she reported that there had been no relapse, despite the fact
that she had been very ill from her other nervous trouble.

No. 6. Singultus.—Mrs.-, aged 49, April 1895. Father

died insane. The patient had suffered for many years from
dyspepsia, constipation, depression, neurasthenic fears, etc. During
the last six years there had been frequent attacks of spinal
neuralgia, and she had rarely slept without narcotics. Severe
menorrhagia from 1890 to 1894, when the catamenia ceased.
In 1892, she was found to have a large uterine fibroid. In
August, 1892, violent attacks of hiccough commenced, and soon
only ceased during sleep. There were also frequent exacerbations
of a convulsive character, which sometimes lasted for hours and
left the patient exhausted.

After prolonged treatment by drugging, galvanism, etc., the
patient was sent to me by Dr. de Watteville. I first tried to
hypnotise her in April, 1895, but only succeeded in the following
December after eighty-five failures; my efforts till then being
frustrated by the constant attacks of hiccough which distracted
her attention. There was progressive improvement from the
latter date: at first the attacks only ceased while the patient was
being hypnotised; then they stopped when she came into the
consulting-room. Later the same thing happened when she came
into the waiting-room; then preparing to visit me would be the
signal for the hiccough to cease. The attacks entirely disappeared
a month after the first induction of hypnosis, and treatment was
abandoned. Up to the last report (1902) there had been no
relapse.HYPNOTISM IN MEDICINE

i«3

No. 7. Muscular Tremor.—Miss -, aged 19, September,

1895. Good family history. The patient had suffered from
obstinate constipation since infancy, and menstruation, which
began at 11 years of age, had always been painful. With these
exceptions her health had been good up to fifteen months previously,
and she had had no hysterical symptoms of any kind. Then,
after over-exertion and mental strain, violent muscular tremor of
the right arm and hand commenced. This only ceased during
sleep, and soon spread to the right leg, and then to the left arm
and leg. Walking was difficult and painful, and latterly she could
hardly cross a room: she also complained of constant diffused
headache. From the beginning of her illness, if she looked at a
bright object—especially anything blue—everything appeared of
that colour. This impression persisted for about an hour, while
its disappearance was always sudden and accompanied by a feeling
of faintness. After electricity, massage, careful drugging, and
change of air had been tried—all with negative results—the
patient was sent to me by Dr. de Watteville.

Hypnosis was induced at the first attempt on September 2nd,

1895,	and followed by immediate improvement; in a month the
patient was well and returned to work. Three months later there
had been 110 relapse; the bowels were regular, and menstruation
painless. On several occasions, she had ridden over fifty miles a
day on a heavy tricycle without undue fatigue, and had gained
over a stone in weight. She married shortly afterwards, and, at
the date of the last report (1901), was a strong, healthy, well-
developed woman and the mother of two children. There had
been no relapse.

No. 8. Catalepsy.—Miss -, aged 28, dressmaker, was

admitted to the National Hospital, Queen's Square, August 5th,
1896 (Dr. Gowers' Wards), and I am indebted to Dr. Stewart,
House Physician, for the following notes:—

" For the last ten years the patient had suffered from sickness
after food, and pain in the abdomen. Used to spit up blood in
small quantities, but no cough, wasting, or night sweats. Said she
had coffee-ground vomit followed by tarry motions. Since January,

1896,	she had also had pain in back and attacks of stiffness.

" On admission.—A well-nourished, but pale, anaemic girl.
Intelligent. No motor or sensory paralysis. No anaesthesia.
Organic reflexes normal — plan tars present, erector spinse in-184

HYPNOTISM

creased. Jaw, biceps, and wrist jerks present No ankle clonus.
Cranial nerves normal. Some ovarian and epigastric tender-
ness. Chest normal. Visual fields, pupils, and discs normal.
Has had attacks of rigidity; several a day, sometimes lasting
twelve hours. These come on suddenly, painlessly, and without
warning. Spasm first affects legs and feet. Legs become stiff,
knees extended; ankles extended and toes stiffly flexed. Spasm
is most marked in extensor and adductor muscles of leg; but all
muscles are rigid. Pulling on one foot pulls the other over too,
as if glued to it. When trunk becomes rigid, the whole body is
like a bar of iron and can be lifted up by one foot. Abdominal
muscles hard, respiration shallow and back muscles rigid. When
the arms are affected, they are stiffly extended parallel to the
body; the fingers flexed at metacarpophalangeal joints, but
extended at others; the thumbs adducted and wrists stiffly flexed.
Face sometimes stiff, jaws firmly clenched and unable to be
separated: speech impossible; no risus sardonicus; expression
impassive. Eyes not affected. Neck stiff and extended.

"November 23rd, 1896. Numerous observations have shown
that there are two hysterogenetic spots—(1) Interscapular region
of spine: (2) Lumbar spine:—pressure on these induces an attack.
Attacks can be relieved by application of faradic brush to external
malleoli in turn; first one leg and then the other becoming
relaxed. The duration of the attack varies from a few minutes
to several hours; afterwards the patient perspires a good deal
about the hands and feet, and feels tired. After a severe attack,
when the face has been involved, she usually vomits also.

"December 8th, 1896. Patient has had several attacks of
urgent vomiting, apparently causeless, with severe pain, necessi-
tating rectal feeding by peptonised enemata.

"January 20th, 1897. Patient has been getting steadily
worse ; attacks have increased in frequency and severity; she is
rigid nearly all day and occasionally wakes up rigid during the
night.

"Yesterday I (Dr. Stewart) induced stiffness of legs experi-
mentally by rubbing lumbar region, and stiffness of shoulders and
arms by rubbing interscapular region. Patient lay with trunk,
legs, and thighs rigidly extended; toes pointed and arms parallel
to body. She could be lifted by head and heels like a log; the
face was rigid; and she could neither speak, smile, protude herHYPNOTISM IN MEDICINE

185

tongue, nor move her facial muscles. The eyes, however, could
be moved freely in all directions, and the eyelids could be opened
and closed. Temperature before, during, and after this attack
was 98*2. Eigidity of arms, neck, and face passed off when hands
were rubbed, but that of the trunk and lower extremities required
application of faradic brush to external malleoli one after the other.

"On January 26th, Dr. Bramwell saw the patient and
commenced hypnotic treatment."

On March 4th, Dr. Stewart, in forwarding me the above
notes, congratulated me on the result, which he said had been
very satisfactory.

Remarks.—I saw the patient on sixteen occasions from
January 26th to March 4th, 1897. At first I visited her at
the hospital: she was suspicious and evidently dreaded some
disagreeable experiment, and I failed to influence her, despite the
fact that on several occasions suggestions were made during
chloroform narcosis. Later she was brought regularly to my
house, where I showed her others who had been hypnotised, and
thus gained her confidence. From that time she improved
rapidly, and before the treatment ceased the attacks had dis-
appeared. Her recovery was confirmed by a later report.

No. 9. Muscular Spasm.—Miss -, aged 26, July 3rd,

1900, although always nervous and never very strong, had fair
health up to 1897, when, after a severe mental shock, she began
to have muscular spasms in the arms. These soon spread to the
legs, and a few weeks later practically all the voluntary muscles
of the body became affected—the movements hardly ceasing a
moment while the patient was awake. The attacks were very
irregular in character: at one moment the flexors and extensors
of the arm were affected, when the patient struck out with
startling rapidity—hitting those near her, or any inanimate
object that happened to be within range of the blow. A
moment afterwards the legs would be similarly affected; the
head violently jerked, or the muscles of the face convulsively
twitched. She was cut and bruised from her involuntary
violence, complained greatly of headache, and was anaemic and
feeble. She could not walk without assistance, and was unable
to dress or feed herself. Attacks of muscular spasm frequently
occurred during sleep, and invariably awoke her.

The patient was sent to me by Dr. Bold Williams, ofHYPNOTISM

Llandudno, on July 3rd, 1900. Hypnosis was induced at the
first attempt and she began to improve; but a week later,
although the hypnosis had become profound, the attacks still
continued. For a few minutes she would rest quietly as if asleep,
and then convulsive movements appeared: if slight they did not
arouse her, but if severe, she came out of the hypnotic state with
a start and looked confused. When this happened I rehypnotised
her, repeating the process until she had had at least half an
hour's continuous rest. At the end of three weeks the attacks
ceased, and treatment was abandoned. She walked and slept
well, had no difficulty in dressing or feeding herself, and her
general health had greatly improved. Up to the last report
(April, 1903) there had been no relapse.

No. 10. Mr.-, aged 39, May, 1902, had done twelve

years' service in the Eoyal Navy. No bad marks; all entries
"very good." Good service medal. In June, 1893, he was
Ship's Corporal on H.M.S. Victoria under Admiral Tryon,
when she was rammed and sunk by the Gamperdown.

When the ship wa3 sinking it was his duty to go below and
release the prisoners. This he did, then went down to the
battery-deck to see if the ports were closed. While there the
ship sank and carried him with her.

He thinks the subsequent explosion blew him to the surface.
He was picked up unconscious by one of the boats, and taken
on board H.M.S. Nile. After prolonged artificial respiration,
he had an attack of noisy delirium, followed by seventeen
hours' further unconsciousness. Immediately afterwards violent
generalised muscular tremor appeared. This was constant, except
during sleep, and was aggravated if any one approached him. He
could do nothing for himself, and had to be fed through a bent
tube, which extended from the back of his head to his mouth.
The attendant, who had to stand behind so as not to be seen,
poured liquid nourishment into one end of the tube, while the
patient, with much difficulty, took it from the other end.

Three days later he entered Malta Hospital, where he stayed
a month. He was then sent to the Naval Hospital at Haslar,
where he remained until October 3rd, 1893, when he was invalided
and sent home. During the first year after his accident he was
stated to have had four " epileptic fits," but from the description I
have been able to obtain, it seems probable that these wereHYPNOTISM IN MEDICINE

187

attacks of catalepsy. Marked muscular tremor continued for a
year, then gradually became less violent and finally almost ceased.
The most striking and persistent feature in the case was difficulty
in walking. This showed itself from the beginning: at first the
patient could walk a step or two alone, but if any one came near
him, he fell suddenly on his back. After leaving hospital this
symptom became more pronounced, and he only left his bed to
be helped into a chair. He could stand, however, and move
about a little, by holding the chair and pushing it in front of
him. After being kept on as invalided, from year to year for four
years, he was finally pensioned off as incurable.

On May 8th, 1902, he was sent to me by Dr. Eoome of
Southsea. The patient told me that he had never known what
sickness was until his accident. He now complained of nothing
but his inability to walk: his general health was excellent,
and he never felt ill or depressed. He was powerfully built and
strong in the arms, but the muscles of the lower extremities were
markedly wasted and flabby, and the pulse weak. Eeflexes much
exaggerated: the slightest touch over the patella produced a
violent convulsive kick Further, any muscular stimulus, particu-
larly if unexpected, produced an immediate response. For
example, if his foot touched an inequality in the bedclothes, he
would be almost thrown out of bed by the violence of the
muscular start.

His walking was still limited to moving a little about his
room, with the aid of a chair. Anything beyond this was
followed by a fall. At first the exciting cause was mainly
emotional: he fell if any one came near him. Later, he fell if
he attempted to walk with the assistance of another person: if
he encountered the slightest inequality in the ground he tumbled,
and dragged his companion with him. This did not occur
because his legs failed him; his fall seemed always due to a
distorted or exaggerated reflex. The slightest unexpected stimulus
to the soles of the feet was followed by a convulsive response,
when he fell rigidly and violently on the back of his head.
Beyond this I could discover nothing abnormal. There was no
paralysis, no loss of consciousness, and no alterations in sensation
other than those just described.

I began hypnotic treatment on May 8th, and continued it
five times a week until July 24th, 1902, when the patienti88

HYPNOTISM

returned to Portsmouth. Hypnosis, in the sense in which I
understand it, was never induced. Apparently nothing was done
beyond making " curative suggestions," while the patient rested
quietly in an arm-chair: he never even became drowsy. Despite
this, the result was striking. In a week he could cross his room;
and, after the first month, he spent hours at a time walking about
the streets and parks. He even went into crowds without fear or
tremor, and saw the various military reviews, etc., which were
held at that time.

After returning home he wrote to complain that he felt
nervous and depressed; he also stated that he had fallen while
walking. On February 2nd, 1903, he returned for four days'
further treatment. He told me that his nervousness had passed
off, and that he had several times walked as much as fourteen
miles in one day. He had tumbled down on four occasions: the
character of these accidents, however, differed from the earlier
ones. Now, instead of falling rigidly backwards, his legs gave
way and he slipped down—somewhat in a sitting fashion. There
had been no return of muscular tremor, but there was still a
certain amount of timidity and difficulty in walking. This,
however, was confined almost solely to mounting steps, and such-
like obstacles. On February 5th, I took the patient to see Dr.
de Watteville, who thought that, from the absence of emotional
symptoms, one might almost call the case one of muscular
hysteria. As the patellar reflex was now distinctly below normal,
and the muscles of the lower extremities still flabby, he suggested
giving glycerophosphates, with 5-drop doses of liqour strychninae.
This was done and the patient returned home. Later reports
satisfactory.

It is of interest to note that, although the patient responded
to suggestion in this instance, ordinary medical treatment associ-
ated with self-suggestion had entirely failed. He had had the
fixed idea that a certain medical man could cure him, and, as
soon as he left hospital, had placed himself under his care; but
despite his faith, he had received no benefit. From that date
he had been almost continuously under treatment, and had con-
sulted in all nineteen different medical men.

Many other successful cases, including all the various forms
of hysteria comprised in this section, have been reported by
Continental observers. Of these the following are examples :—HYPNOTISM IN MEDICINE

No. 11 (Dr. A. Gros, France). Hysterical Paralysis.—Miss

-, aged 30, had always been emotional, but hysterical

symptoms only commenced at the age of 16. At 18, convulsive
attacks appeared; these soon became frequent and severe, and
were associated with boulimia and persistent spinal neuralgia.
In October, 1894, the patient suddenly fell while walking and
had to be carried home. Despite baths, electricity, and careful
drugging, the paralysis and other hysterical symptoms were still
unrelieved in September, 1897. The patient was then hypnotised
and recovered in a week. No relapse.

No. 12 (B^rillon). Hysterical Paralysis.—Miss --, aged

40, May, 1890, had an attack of hysterical convulsions at the
age of 31: this was followed by paralysis of the lower extremities,
and she had been confined to her bed ever since—a period of
nine years. Recovered after a short hypnotic treatment.

No. 13 (B^rillon). Aphonia, etc.—Miss -, aged 22.

Previous health good; no family history of hysteria. In July,
1886, after having spoken louder than usual when teaching, her
voice became hoarse, then disappeared; a few days later the
aphonia passed into mutism. Physical examination gave negative
results, and there was no improvement from galvanism of the
chords and other treatment. She recovered after the first
hypnotic sitting, but relapsed five months later. The voice
returned, however, after a single rehypnotisation; and two years
later there had been no further relapse.

No. 14 (Dr. Burot, of Eochefort). Singultus.—Mrs. -,

aged 58, September, 1888, had suffered for many years from
migraine, and hysterical weeping accompanied by muscular tremor.
In April, 1888, she had her first attack of hiccough, followed a
fortnight later by another at the same hour. Soon the attacks
became continuous, were accompanied by retching and vomiting,
and only ceased during sleep. Eecovered after two hypnotic
sittings: nine months later there had been no relapse.

No. 15 (B&illon). Blepharospasm,—Miss -, aged 20,

March, 1889. Family history of phthisis and hysteria. In
February, 1888, after mental shock, incessant convulsive twitching
of the left eyelid appeared, followed three days later by complete
blepharospasm: this had remained unrelieved ever since, despite
constant and varied treatment. The spasm disappeared after the
first hypnotic sitting, and a year later there had been no relapse.190

HYPNOTISM

No. 16 (Dr. Lemoine, of Lille). Hysterical Tremor simulating

Paralysis agitans.—Mr. -, aged 57, began to have muscular

tremor of the right arm after a mental shock at the age of 36. This
soon spread to the right leg, and later the left side was also
affected; the tremor continued during repose and was increased
by every attempt at voluntary movement. He also suffered from
frequent headaches, and had anaesthetic patches on the right arm.
After six days' hypnotic treatment, the tremor, which had lasted
twenty-one years, entirely disappeared. No relapse.

No. 17 (Tatzel). Clonic Torticollis.—-Mr. -, aged 44,

May, 1894, government official, had good health up to 1890,
when he commenced to have pain in the right side of the neck.
This was soon followed by constant clonic spasm of the muscles
of the right side of the face and neck. The head was constantly
drawn backwards, with such force that the resulting friction
against the collar had rubbed off much of his hair. He was un-
able to dress or undress himself: breathing was difficult and
eating painful. As he did not improve, he went into the hospital
at Bonn in May, 1891, and remained till September, when he
was discharged as incurable. From that time, he passed through
the hands of several medical men and many quacks, trying,
amongst other things, the Kneipp cure. After having spent all
his money in this way, he had to be supported by the parish;
and when Tatzel first saw him (May, 1894) he was a broken-
hearted, despondent man, who only ventured out after dark, and
then tried to control the muscular spasms by holding the handle
of his walking-stick between his teeth, Eesult: after several
months* hypnotic treatment the spasms entirely ceased, and the
patient had gained fifty pounds in weight. No relapse.

No. 18 (van Eenterghem). Clonic Muscular Spasm.—Mr.

-, aged 42, October, 1896. Family history good. The

patient was supposed to have had meningitis in 1875, and suffered
during convalescence from clonic spasms of the neck. These
soon ceased, however, and he continued in good health until
November, 1895, when some of his cervical glands became
inflamed. He recovered from this, but in February, 1896, began
to have constant and violent spasms of the muscles of the right
side of the neck. Careful drugging, massage, the continued and
faradic current, and prolonged rest in bed produced no improve-
ment. He entered the Burgerziekenhuis Hospital on May 28 th,HYPNOTISM IN MEDICINE

191

1896, where hot douches, baths, massage, etc., were employed
without improvement. On June 24th, the accessory nerve of
Willis was stretched, and the operation repeated on July 1st, but
without result. On August 11th, the head was fixed in a
mechanical apparatus and the patient discharged. On October
4th, when the spasms were as violent as ever, hypnotic treatment
was commenced: this was continued for five months and resulted
in complete recovery. No relapse.

No. 19 (Dr. Scholz of Bremen). Paramyoclonus multiplex.—

Miss-, aged 19, healthy and well developed: no previous

symptoms of hysteria. Suddenly, after a shock, she felt intensely
cold and all her limbs trembled. The same evening the first
paramyoclonic attack appeared: there were short rhythmic
quiverings of the muscles of both upper arms and shoulders—
about 120 to the minute, also rhythmic spasms of the muscles of
the eyelid.

In another case, also reported by Dr. Scholz, there were
clonic spasms of the muscles of the head, neck, trunk, and
extremities, resembling violent shivering fits.

Both patients rapidly recovered under hypnotic treatment,
and six years later there had been no relapse.

Dr. Stadelmann (Germany) records two cases of severe
generalised muscular spasm, both of which recovered after one
hypnotic sitting. No relapse. Dr. Curt Schmidt, of Dresden,
reported a case of supposed ulcer ot the stomach, with sickness,
loss of appetite, abdominal pain, hysterical twitching, neuralgia,
etc., which yielded at once to hypnotic suggestion. Dr. Stembo,
of Wilna, published a case of frequent attacks of sleep, which
occurred several times a day and sometimes lasted for hours; the
patient quickly recovered under hypnotic treatment. Successful
cases of this form of hysteria are also reported by Bernheim,
Dumontpallier and many others.

(0) The various Manifestations of ordinary Hysteria—Dyspepsia,
Visceral and Menstrual Troubles, etc.

The following cases are from my own practice:—

No. 20. Mrs.-, aged 41, March 20th, 1892, had always

been more or less delicate. Obstinate constipation since infancy;
this had been worse during the last twelve years, the minimum192

HYPNOTISM

interval between successive actions of the bowels being a week.
Chronic dyspepsia, anaemia, and emaciation. Severe dysmenorrhcea
since commencement of menstruation. Married twenty years : no
children, sexual desire absent, marked dyspareunia. Frequent
attacks of depression since 1882: for two years the condition
had practically been one of melancholia—she had shunned all
society, neglected her domestic duties, and frequently shut herself
alone in her bedroom for hours, and spent the time in crying.
Insomnia since 1889. Sick-headache since childhood: for the
last twelve years these attacks had been more frequent and severe,
and latterly had averaged one a day—invariably followed by
vomiting. As long as she could remember, she had been short-
sighted; and reading and working, especially by artificial light,
soon produced headache.

On December 9th, 1889, I sent her to see the late Mr.
Bendelack Hewetson (Ophthalmic Surgeon to the Leeds Infirmary),

who afterwards supplied me with the following notes: " Mrs.-

complained of distressing and almost constant headaches, with
frequent nerve-storms of migraine. She had persistent pain over
the eyes and at the back of the head, extending down the neck;
the roots of the hair were tender. She read ' Snellen's' with
the right eye and with the left unaided, but required a — ^
to enable her to read with either eye. Ophthalmoscopic
examination showed that she was hypermetropic, and that this
condition was over-corrected by ciliary spasm, rendering her
virtually myopic and necessitating a minus glass."

Mr. Hewetson prescribed atropine for a month, and after-
wards a + glass for reading. The headaches ceased while the
atropine was used, but the patient said the glasses hurt her and
would not persevere with them, and the headaches soon returned
with increased violence.

She suffered greatly from her teeth, of which she had but
twelve left, all decayed. She was anxious to have them extracted,
but was afraid to face a dentist, and asked me to have the
operation performed during hypnotic anaesthesia. I explained
that patients suffering from hysteria rarely became hypnotised
deeply enough for operative purposes, and tried to persuade her
to take an ordinary anaesthetic. As she refused to do this, I
consented to the experiment. To my surprise, before I had
finished my usual preliminary explanations, profound hypnosisHYPNOTISM IN MEDICINE

193

appeared. I then suggested that she should sleep well, be free
from headache and depression; that her appetite and digestion
should be good, the bowels regular, etc., etc. I also successfully
suggested local and general ana3sthesia. The curative suggestions
were quickly responded to: she slept well, her headaches dis-
appeared, the bowels acted regularly. Menstruation and connection
became painless, digestion and appetite improved, and she rapidly
gained in weight and strength.

The toothache entirely disappeared; and, owing to this and
other reasons, she deferred the operation for some time. Mean-
while, I discovered that I could produce profound anaesthesia by
simple suggestion in the apparently normal waking state. On
these occasions, the patient recognised and talked with those
around her, and afterwards remembered everything that had
happened, except the sensations which had been specially inhibited.
The teeth were ultimately extracted in this apparently waking
state, and the account of the operation has been already given
(pp. 168-9).

Afterwards Mr. Bendelack Hewetson saw the patient several
times, and gave me the following notes:—

"Dr. Bramwell brought Mrs.-to see me in July, 1892.

She stated that she had had no headache since being hypnotised
on March 20th, 1892. She was a new creature mentally and
physically—bright, healthy-looking and well nourished; formerly
she had been a burden to herself and her friends. On examina-
tion, I found her vision in every way as defective as on the first
occasion I had seen her. Dr. Bramwell then suggested to her,
in what was apparently the normal waking state, that she should
be able to read the bottom line of ' Snellen's' unaided by glasses.
This she did successfully, and immediately afterwards repeated
the feat on a changed series of test types. Obviously Dr. Bram-
well could induce his patient to relax her accommodation, and
to produce the same improvement of vision as had resulted from
a minus glass. Dr. Bramwell then suggested that the increased
range of vision should be maintained, and that the patient should
continue to be able to read"' Snellen's' •§-§ unaided.

"I saw her again on October 26th, 1892, when she stated
that she had remained entirely free from headache, and that the
increased range of vision had been maintained. I found that
Dr. Bramwell, by suggestion in the apparently normal waking

0194

HYPNOTISM

state, could enable the patient to reproduce the ciliary spasm
and the original condition of vision, and again to relax the
accommodation and gain the increased visual range/'

On June 30th, 1893, Mr. Hewetson wrote me as follows

"As I am much interested in Mrs.-s case, I asked her to

visit me in order that I might make a further examination. She
came to-day looking bright and well nourished. She told me
that she felt well in every way, and had had no return of her
headaches or other nervous symptoms. There was no evidence
of ciliary spasm, although she had been using her eyes very much
of late for reading and fine work. She never wore glasses, and
could read ' Snellen's' -|$ easily with either eye."

ISTo. 21. Miss-, aged 33, April, 1893, was anaemic and

emaciated, and had suffered all her life from insomnia: since an
attack of influenza in 1890, she had only averaged three hours'
sleep per night. Menstruation commenced at 13 years of age,
and had always been painful and excessive. Obstinate constipa-
tion since 1889. During the last three years she had had
several attacks of eczema and herpes, the latter followed by
intercostal neuralgia, which still persisted: she also suffered from
muscular rheumatism, was nervous, irritable, and intolerant of
all forms of noise.

She was sent to me by Dr. Roe, of Penryn, on April 15th,
1893. Deep hypnosis was easily induced at the first attempt,
and it was suggested that she should sleep all night. Two days
later, she told me that the night after she saw me she had slept
from the moment she had put her head upon the pillow till called
the following morning, a thing she had never done before. The
next night was equally good. I rehypnotised her, and suggested
the disappearance of all morbid symptoms; but, as she was
obliged to leave London next day, I did not see her again until
March 5th, 1894. She looked well, was bright and cheerful,
and had gained over a stone in weight. She was entirely free
from dysmenorrhea, constipation, rheumatism and insomnia. Up
to the last report (1903) there had been no relapse.

No. 22. Miss-, aged 20, April 6th, 1894, had always

slept} badly. The insomnia varied, but according to her mother's
account, she had not had a good night's sleep since birth. At
the age of 8, pains in the back, particularly in the lumbar region,
began; these soon became constant, and were aggravated by theHYPNOTISM IN MEDICINE

195

slightest exertion. Since 1883, there had been frequent attacks
of headache; pain usually frontal, sometimes occipital—rarely
followed by sickness. Myopia corrected by glasses. Periods—
always painful and excessive—lasted eight or nine days, and
necessitated rest in bed. Latterly all the symptoms had been
worse; she was never free from pain, always felt fatigued and
depressed, while even a short walk was followed by acute suffering.
She had had prolonged medical treatment without benefit. No
organic lesion of any kind had been discovered: with the exception
of a tendency to conical cervix, the uterus and ovaries were
normal.

She was sent to me by Dr. Boulting, of Hampstead, on April
9th, 1894, and hypnosis was easily induced at the first attempt.
This was repeated sixteen times up to June 26th; then abandoned,
as all the morbid symptoms—menorrhagia excepted—had dis-
appeared.

Miss-— again consulted me early in 1896. She now slept

well, was free from headache and spinal pain, and capable of
more than the average amount of exertion. The periods were
painless; but, as the menorrhagia still persisted, she was
hypnotised twice a week for three months. Eesult nil. I then
decided to keep her in the hypnotic state during a period. On
June 1st, 1896, she entered a nursing home, where she was
hypnotised and put in charge of a nurse, who was placed en
rapport with her. Hypnosis was maintained until the evening of
June 3rd, when she was aroused, as the period had not begun. It
did so, however, during the night of the 7th. She was rehypnotised
on the morning of the 8 th, and kept in the hypnotic trance until
the 12 th, when the period terminated some days earlier than
usual. Before hypnosis the temperature was 98*8°. During
hypnosis the morning and evening temperature was almost
invariably 98°; on two occasions the evening temperature rose
to 98*2°. Before hypnosis the pulse was 80; during hypnosis
it varied from 60 to 65. The patient was fed by the nurse at
stated intervals without being aroused, and the action of the
bowels and bladder regulated by suggestion. Since then the
periods have been normal in duration and amount; and, instead
of keeping her bed, the patient has been able to cycle, &c. No
relapse up to last report (1903).

No. 23. Miss-, aged 28, July 1896. Father markedly196

HYPNOTISM

neurotic; two brothers and a sister had nervous breakdowns,
and one brother, aged 38, had been paralysed for seven years.
The patient had good health up to September 12th, 1891, when
severe pain in the right hip and leg suddenly appeared. This
lasted two years, then ceased, only to reappear almost immediately
in the left leg. During the first two years of her illness she
never walked more than a quarter of a mile; then even this was
abandoned, and she took to a bath-chair. She became emaciated,
suffered from insomnia, constipation and headache, lost all interest
in life, and would not even read a novel.

Treatment.—Eest on her back in bed for two months, Weir
Mitchell, careful drugging, massage, electricity, baths at Droitwich
and Bath. Then, under the advice of a well-known neurologist,
Paquelin's cautery to leg; 70 applications daily from July, 1895,
to May, 1896, about 20,000 in all. Meanwhile, she grew
steadily worse, and was finally pronounced incurable.

The patient then consulted Dr. Raymond Crawfurd, who
brought her to me on July 18th, 1896. I at once began
hypnotic treatment, and repeated it daily until July 31st. She
slept well the night following the first sitting, and two days
later her pains had disappeared, and she walked without difficulty.
At the end of a week she exchanged her bath-chair for a bicycle,
and, although she had never formerly mounted the latter, soon
became a good rider. On July 31st, she started on a cycling
tour, and on her return home at once commenced to lead an
extremely active life. At the last report, December, 1902, she
was in good health, and had been free from pain ever since the
treatment.

No. 24. Mrs. -, aged 25, February, 1894, had always

been nervous and emotional; when a child, any excitement
caused vomiting. Attacks of migraine since the age of 8:
latterly these had been very frequent, and accompanied by
feelings of giddiness and confusion. Catamenia appeared at 15 ;
slight dysmenorrhcea. Married at 19 : the succeeding period, an
exceedingly painful one, was followed by pregnancy. After the
periods recommenced they were regular, but invariably preceded
by much uneasiness, and accompanied by attacks of severe
spasmodic pain in the lower part of the body and back. This
lasted from one to three days; and the patient, who kept her
bed, was unable to lie down during the paroxysms, and had toHYPNOTISM IN MEDICINE

19 7

get on her hands and knees, maintaining this position almost
continuously for the first twenty-four hours. There was constant
nausea with occasional vomiting. Discharge scanty. Uterus
retroflexed; slight leucorrhcea. Depression; frequent attacks of
hysterical weeping. Dyspareunia; no sexual desire.

After drugging, pessaries, and other local treatment had
been tried without result, the patient was sent to me by Mrs.
Dickinson Berry, M.D., in February, 1894.

Hypnosis was induced twenty-nine times up to May 5 th,

1894,	when the morbid symptoms had disappeared. In April,

1895,	the patient reported that the periods were free from pain,
lasted three days, instead of five as formerly, and that the dis-
charge was more abundant. The interval was now four weeks
instead of three. Marital relations normal. About a year later,
the patient wrote to say that she had again become pregnant, and
that the periods had been normal up to then.

No. 25. Miss-, aged 19, November, 1889, was markedly

anaemic and had suffered from attacks of frontal headache since
the age of 7; these averaged two a week and were invariably
followed by vomiting. Menstruation, always painful, commenced
at 13. Early in 1887, the periods began to be scanty, with
prolonged but irregular intervals, and ceased in May, 1888.
After a short hypnotic treatment in November, 1889, somnam-
bulism with anaesthesia was induced. The patient was the
subject of the two painless operations reported, pp. 161-2. In
February, 1889, her health was remarkably good, with the
exception that the amenorrhcea still persisted. I rehypnotised
her and suggested that, on March 13th, 1889, she should
experience all the symptoms which had formerly preceded
menstruation—pain in the back and thighs, sensation of weight
and dragging in the abdomen, etc.—that these should last two
hours, the catamenia then appear and all pain cease. During
the six weeks which preceded the date fixed, I hypnotised the
patient two or three times a week, and repeated the above
suggestions. On the morning of March 13th, the symptoms
indicated appeared, continued for two hours, and were followed
by menstruation, which lasted five days. During the next fort-
night, I hypnotised her on three occasions, and suggested that
menstruation should appear on April 7 th, and, on this and
subsequent occasions, be free from pain. After this, menstruation198

HYPNOTISM

was normal for over two years; the patient then married and
became pregnant. She had no return of headache, and her
general health remained good. Case shown at medical meetings
in London, Leeds, and elsewhere.

No. 26. Mrs. -, aged 34, December, 1901. Nervous

temperament. Amenorrhoea since the birth of her youngest
child two years previously. She was only able to suckle the
child two days, owing to the scanty secretion of milk. Later, the
secretion increased, but was never enough for nursing purposes;
it persisted, however, despite both external and internal treatment.
In September, 1901, she had had an attack of inflammation of
the breast with threatened abscess; this was followed by two
other attacks at monthly intervals.

The patient was sent to me by Dr. Swan, of Devonport
Street, W., on December 31st, 1901, and was hypnotised on fifteen
occasions from that date until March 6th, 1902. The secretion
of milk ceased, and there was no return of the mammary inflamma-
tion. Menstruation appeared on January 21st, 1902, and was
regular from then until pregnancy occurred some months later.

Braid found hypnotic treatment valuable in menstrual dis-
orders, and his results have been confirmed by recent observers,
thus:—

No. 27 (Bernheim). Mrs. -, aged 35. Menstruation

normal, with an interval of twenty-one days, up to her first
pregnancy. Afterwards she suffered from menorrhagia and
dysmenorrhea: at first the interval between the periods was
fifteen days, but for the last two years it had varied from eleven
to thirteen. During hypnosis, Bernheim suggested a progressive
retardation of the period—a definite time being fixed for its
appearance, i.e. after 26, 27, 28 and 29 days—these suggestions
were successful; an interval of 29 days was established, the
dysmenorrhcea relieved, and the period reduced from six days
to three.

No. 28 (Yoisin). Miss-suffered from amenorrhoea, with

hysterical symptoms and abdominal neuralgia, which had resisted
ordinary treatment. On October 16th, 1886, it was suggested
during hypnosis that menstruation would appear on the evening
of the 20th. This was successful: the patient was rehypnotised
on the 21st, and told that the discharge would continue until
the evening of the 23rd. This was also responded to. OnHYPNOTISM IN MEDICINE

199

November 9th, it was successfully suggested that the menses
would appear at the end of four weeks and last two days.

In two other cases of amenorrhea cited by Yoisin, the
catamenia appeared in each instance in response to a single
hypnotic suggestion.

The following table gives the results in some of the cases
treated by Dr. Tyko Brunnberg, of Upsala:—

Cases. No ^n{j°ve" Improved. Cured.

Amenorrhcea ....	9	1	2	6

Menorrhagia ....	9	3	2	4

Menorrhagia and Dysmenorrhoea	5	113

Dysmenorrhoea ...	3	1	1	1

Total . 26	6	6 14

One of the patients, a girl over 20 years of age, had never
menstruated: the catamenia appeared after the second hypnosis.
Several of the successful cases of dysmenorrhoea were severe
and of long standing, the periods being much lengthened and the
intervals shortened.

Gascard reported two cases of menorrhagia in which recovery
almost immediately followed suggestion, while Berillon, Burot
and Decle claimed to have succeeded in many cases similar to
Bernheim's just cited.

Successful cases of amenorrhoea, dysmenorrhoea and menor-
rhagia are also recorded by Drs. Delius, Wetterstrand, Yoisin,
Berillon, Gascard, Journ^e, Marandon de Monthyel, Burot, D&cle.
Many of the cases had long resisted other methods of treatment,
while their recovery was confirmed by later reports.

At the First International Congress of Hypnotism, Paris,
1889, Dr. Briand, Physician to the Asylum of Villejuif, showed
a hypnotised subject to whom it had been suggested (1) that
menstruation should commence the following morning at six
o'clock, and (2) that a blister should appear on her right arm
where a piece of cigarette-paper had been applied. The first
suggestion was successful, but to the latter there was no response.
The further suggestion that the catamenia should cease was at
once fulfilled.

Dr. Bugney reported a case of menorrhagia, associated with
uterine fibroid, which was successfully treated by suggestion:
the menorrhagia disappeared and the tumour diminished.200

HYPNOTISM

Some of the patients above referred to were undoubtedly
hysterical, but in others the only symptom of nervous disorder
was the menstrual disturbance. The fact that this was un-
associated with discoverable organic cause is the excuse for
having included all the cases under " Hysteria."

Insomnia.—Insomnia is frequently present in hysteria and
neurasthenia, and sometimes, as in the following cases from my
own practice, forms the chief symptom of nervous trouble.

No. 29. Master-, aged 16, April 24th, 1890, had not

had a good night's sleep since birth. There had been no break
in the insomnia, but it had varied in intensity, and had been
worse since January, 1890. While in bed the patient recalled
all the events of the day; he did not feel excited, ill, or tired,
but his brain remained abnormally active and he lay awake till
4 or 5 A.M., when he would perhaps get two or three hours' sleep.
Physical fatigue did not influence the insomnia, nor had it been
relieved by various forms of medical treatment and prolonged
travel. His education had been almost entirely aural, but one
term at school had been tried with disastrous results: he became
absolutely sleepless and prostrate.

He was hypnotised at the first attempt on April 24th, 1890,
and slept well the following night. Hypnosis was repeated
about forty times during the next two months, after which he
started active mental and physical work. Since then there has
been no relapse; and, in 1900, Dr. Oliver, of Harrogate, who
had originally sent the patient to me, reported that he was then
leading a useful, active, and successful life.

No. 30. Mr.-, aged 60, May 1900, had always been a

light sleeper, but this had never been a serious trouble to him.
His health had been good up to 1895, when he gave up business,
after having worked hard from boyhood. Immediately afterwards
insomnia appeared; this grew worse, despite medical treatment
and much exercise in the open air. For a time narcotics helped
him, but afterwards they lost their effect, although changed fre-
quently. From 1896, he had never had three consecutive good
nights, and often passed many with an average of two hours' sleep.
His dread of insomnia became an obsession; he feared going to
bed, and would not retire to rest unless some one shared his room.

The patient was sent to me by Dr. Herbert Tilley, whom
he had consulted for aural trouble. At first he was absolutelyHYPNOTISM IN MEDICINE

20I

incredulous as to the possibility of his being helped by hypnotic
treatment, and often interrupted the process to explain this.
After a few sittings, however, although he did not become drowsy
or even restful, the suggestions took effect and he began to
sleep better. In a month he was well, and had abandoned all
drugs. Up to the last report (1901) there had been no relapse.

The following case presents many points of interest. The
patient, who describes his own condition, is a trained observer,
well known by his contributions to more than one department
of natural science. He was originally sent to me by Dr. Boulting,
of Hampstead. The results obtained by the patient's self-
suggestion are worthy of note, particularly considering the slight
amount of hypnosis which had been induced.1

No. 31. "A professional man, aged 51; subject to migraine,
heavy smoker, very abstemious from alcohol.

" Having suffered from sleeplessness and other nervous
symptoms, I sought Dr. Bramwell's aid at Easter, 1900,

" I had tried various systems of counting myself to sleep,
and each in turn, as it became more familiar and easy, had lost
its effect. Dr. Bramwell asked me to sit down and compose
myself to sleep in my usual way, and to pay as little attention
as possible to him. His procedure was that which I understand
he usually adopts; and during the sittings I tried to get drowsy
by using my most recent method of counting (synchronous with
respiration). I had three sittings, and during the second alone
was I at all somnolent, and that very little. The following has
been the result of the treatment:—

" (1) My sleeplessness has been completely removed, and my
sleep has been more continuous and more restful than before.
I have even slept when new business cares of a most acute kind
presented themselves suddenly a quarter of an hour before bedtime.

"(2) Further, I have been able to influence myself in
various ways by suggestion, which I employ in the following
manner. I count, as I formerly did, when trying to get to sleep,
and alternate this with self-suggestions. What I aim at is to
produce a stage in which I am sleepy enough to be suggestible,
and yet sufficiently awake to make suggestions to myself.

" The method is least efficacious when I go to bed sleepy.
I then find it difficult to count, sometimes even impossible, a

1 It is to be noted too that I did not teach the patient to hypnotise himself.202

HYPNOTISM

drowsy state intervening. A vigorous effort, however, to wake
up completely and count afresh is usually successful.

" (3) I have been able to induce analgesia and sleep during
toothache, whether the latter arose from periostitis or from
inflamed pulp: in these cases the pain goes a few moments before
sleep. I suggest that fI shall sleep well and without pain/
Sometimes the pain comes on again and wakes me, but a few
more suggestions, will induce fresh analgesia and sleep. Similarly,
being subject to sea-sickness, I send myself to sleep on embarka-
tion without much difficulty, and sleep, usually very lightly,
quite free from qualms: on awaking, even in rough water, I feel
no tendency to sickness. I have had two failures to send myself
to sleep on the boat by suggestion out of some twenty passages:
the one was due to flies which kept alighting on my face; the
other instance was when I was convalescent from influenza, and
I attribute it to the lack of power of myself as operator.

"(4) Post-hypnotic suggestion has on the whole failed. I
think that I have sometimes succeeded in relieving constipation:
I know that I have sometimes been unable to do so. I have
failed by suggestions going on every night for three weeks to
escape sea-sickness without going to sleep. I have not succeeded
in curing migraine. I have, however, stopped or prevented the
simple congestive headache of coryza* I have been also much less
irritable during migraine-fits, etc.

" I attribute my difficulty of post-hypnotic suggestion to the
fact that here the operator is the subject, and that the former is
least efficient at the time when the latter should be most
impressionable.

" I am usually able next morning to remember at what stage
of my 'count' I lost consciousness. This is generally almost
sudden. However, the approach of sleep is usually preceded by
hallucinations or idiotic questions which I all but hear,1 or by
twitchings, or by a combination of these. A moment of intense
wakefulness now comes on, in which I know from recollection of
past experience that I shall sleep very soon, improbable as it
feels. Much more rare is the drowsy condition referred to above,
which recalls the state of insomnic people, who ' have heard the
clock strike every hour in the night/ but not heard a child
wailing for half an hour in an adjoining room."

1 ■" My thought is mostly verbal, auditive: I am a poor visualist."HYPNOTISM IN MEDICINE

203

{!)) Mental Troubles of a Hysterical Nature, Perversions of Senti-
ment, Obsessions, Irresistible Impulses, Hallucinations, Melan-
choliaManiacal Excitement, etc.

The following cases are from my own practice:—

No. 32. Mrs.-, aged 30, April 26th, 1897. Father, and

several brothers and sisters, markedly nervous. The patient had
always been nervous; had bitten her nails since early childhood
and never slept well. After her first confinement, in 1891, she
became afraid of driving, and got into a panic during thunder-
storms : on one occasion this was followed by a short attack of
aphonia.

Her second confinement took place on January 12th, 1897
Almost immediately afterwards she became profoundly melan-
cholic, suffered from insomnia, constipation, indigestion, and loss
of appetite, amounting to absolute disgust for food. She refused
to see her child; and her home became wholly distasteful to her.
Careful medical treatment and change of scene were without
result. She was sent to me by Dr. Boulting, of Hampstead, on
April 26th, 1897. In addition to the symptoms just described,
she was haunted by the idea of suicide, and could think of nothing
else. She was extremely agitated, could not sit still or keep her
attention fixed, and had frequent attacks of uncontrollable weeping.
After a few weeks' hypnotic treatment she commenced to
improve, and before the end of July had recovered and returned
home. Not only did her morbid ideas and suicidal impulses
disappear, but she also lost many of the nervous symptoms which
had existed before her illness. There has been no relapse up to
the present date (1903).

No. 33. Mrs.-, aged 46, June 22nd, 1900. Father and

an uncle on the mother's side committed suicide. Patient had
always been nervous, emotional, and a bad sleeper. Since 1897,
after influenza, the insomnia had been much worse, and she
rarely got more than three hours' sleep at night. She suffered
constantly from a peculiar sensation in the neck, with a feeling
that she must fall forward. She was very depressed, had fits
of uncontrollable weeping, and had lost interest in life. There
were also strong suicidal impulses, and the fixed idea that she
would commit suicide like her father and uncle. She was sent204

HYPNOTISM

to me by Dr. Seton, of Kensington, and completely recovered
after a month's hypnotic treatment: there had been no relapse
up to the last report (November, 1902).

No. 34. Mr. -, aged 37, May, 1899. Father insane

and under restraint. Twelve months previously, the patient
began to suffer from constant pain at the back of the head and
neck, which was followed by marked decrease in his powers of
attention and work. He then became profoundly depressed,
lost all affection for his wife and children, and had the fixed idea
that he would become insane. Drugs, lengthy holidays with
plenty of exercise in the open air, and finally treatment in an
asylum, were tried without benefit. Complete recovery, however,
took place after six weeks' hypnotic treatment. On December
18th, 1902, the patient wrote to say that he was in good health,
and that there had been no return of any of his morbid symptoms,
despite the fact that he had had much family trouble. He had
recently lost both parents, and one sister had become insane. In
January, 1903, Dr. Wonnacott, of Wandsworth, who had originally
sent the case to me, wrote confirming this report.

No. 35. Miss--, aged 38, November, 1900. Mother

suffered from religious melancholia, and died in an asylum.
Maternal uncle weak-minded. One of the patient's cousins
committed suicide, several are insane, and one suffers from
obsessions. One sister has delusions, another obsessions. The
patient had good health up to puberty, then became quiet and
depressed. In 1892, she had an attack of acute melancholia,
which lasted several months; since then she has always been
depressed and peculiar. In 1895, after a shock, she had a second
attack of acute melancholia, and a further one in July, 1900,
following a similar cause. When I first saw her, in November,
1900, she hardly ever spoke, was profoundly depressed, had
morbid religious ideas, and was untidy and extremely eccentric.
She was never permitted to go out alone, as she was quite incap-
able of taking care of herself, or of avoiding the traffic. After the
first sitting, on November 2nd, 1900, she commenced to talk
brightly, and told me next day of the various religious fears
which had been tormenting her, but which had now entirely
vanished. Hypnosis was repeated on four subsequent occasions
up to November 14th, when all morbid symptoms had dis-
appeared. A few days later, she was well enough to go alone toHYPNOTISM IN MEDICINE

205

San Francisco to nurse a sister during her confinement. In
November, 1902, Dr. Ozanne, of Harrogate, who had sent the
case to me, reported that the patient was in good health and
leading a useful life. There had been no relapse.

No. 36. Miss -, aged 22, April 30th, 1901. Father

very unstable mentally. One of the patient's brothers was insane,
and a sister suffered from chorea. Six months previously the
patient became depressed, and was tormented with religious
doubts and fears: she believed she had committed the unpardon-
able sin, and felt she ought to punish herself in consequence.
She gave up all pleasures, and finally refused to see her friends or
write to them. There were strong suicidal impulses. Medical
treatment, including residence in nursing homes and isolation
from friends, had been without result.

The patient was brought to me by Dr. Shuldham, of Hamp-
stead, and hypnotised on twenty occasions from April 30 th to
July 23rd, 1901. She rapidly improved, and was well before
the treatment terminated. At the last report, May 15 th,
1903, she was still in good health, both mentally and physically.

No. 37. Mrs.-, aged 56, had a bad family history: her

mother, sister, and two brothers having suffered from insanity.
The patient had her first attack of melancholia fifteen years
previously: this was followed by others, both prolonged and
severe. Hypnotic treatment was begun on February 12th, 1902,
at the request of Dr. Sainsbury. At that time the patient had
kept her bed for several months: she was profoundly depressed,
had frequent attacks of hysterical weeping, suicidal impulses, etc.
Her physical health was good, but she asserted that she could not
leave her bed, as her mind was gone, and she did not know what
to do, or even what clothes to put on. She felt that nothing in
life could ever interest her again. At the end of four months she
was well, and at the last report (February, 1903) there had been
no relapse. She was leading an active, happy life, without the
slightest trace of any nervous trouble.

Another somewhat similar case, sent, about the same time,
by Dr. Harrison, of East Grinstead, was equally successful; and
many of a like nature might be cited from my own practice and
those of others. The two following cases are examples from the
latter source:—

No. 38 (Yoisin). Mrs.--, aged 30, June, 1888, suffered2o6

HYPNOTISM

from muscular movements resembling chorea: these started in
1870, and had continued ever since. In 1881, she became
depressed and had suicidal impulses. Shortly afterwards marked
hysterical attacks appeared: these were characterised by pains in
the head, sensations of choking, hypersesthetic and anaesthetic
points, amnesia, etc. Later she became profoundly melancholic:
suffered from severe insomnia, had constant suicidal ideas, and
twice tried to end her life. For eighteen years she had taken
iron, valerian, bromides, and other drugs: hydropathic treatment,
the actual cautery, etc., had also been tried, but without result.
Hypnosis was easily induced at the first attempt, and after three
sittings all morbid symptoms disappeared. The recovery was
confirmed by later reports.

No. 39 (Yoisin). Miss-, aged 24, March, 1887. Maternal

grandfather nervous, impressionable, and addicted to alcohol.
Father was highly nervous, and died of consumption at 39.
Mother living, aged 45 ; also very nervous. The patient had
good health up to 1885, when she became depressed, had attacks
of uncontrollable weeping, and was obliged to abandon work.
She was tormented with erotic thoughts, and dreaded becoming a
prostitute: she had also the fixed idea that she would become
insane, and felt that she ought to commit suicide in order to
prevent this dishonour to her family. She was hypnotised five
times during March, 1887; all morbid ideas disappeared, she
gained in health and strength, resumed work, and passed a
scholastic examination. Recovery confirmed by later reports.

(2) Neurasthenia.

The following examples are from my own practice:—

No. 40. Mr. -, aged 32, May, 1895, although nervous

and highly strung, had been physically strong and athletic up to
1887, when he broke down, apparently from overwork and
under-feeding. His appetite became capricious, and he suffered
from constipation, dyspepsia, nervous trembling, and persistent
feelings of lassitude and weariness. The slightest physical exer-
tion, such as walking a quarter of a mile, produced feelings of
collapse and utter exhaustion. He was constantly depressed,
and wished to end his life—according to his own account,HYPNOTISM IN MEDICINE

207

nothing but want of pluck prevented his committing suicide.
He gave up smoking, dieted himself strictly, tried change of air,
sea voyages, and prolonged medical and hydropathic treatment
without benefit.

He was first hypnotised in May, 1895: this was repeated
almost daily for six weeks, when his morbid symptoms had dis-
appeared, and he had gained eight pounds in weight and enjoyed
exercise. In September, 1900, he stated that he had practically
perfect health; that he frequently bicycled over a hundred miles
a day without undue fatigue; sometimes danced the greater part
of the night, and was fresh for his office next morning. There
had been no return of any of the symptoms which had formerly
troubled him. In December, 1902, Dr. Eric Pritchard, of
Hampstead, who had sent the case to me, informed me that the
patient was still in good health, although he had been living in
the tropics for some considerable time.

No. 41. Major-, aged 45, April, 1900, had good health

up to 1890, when he began to suffer from insomnia, constipation,
irritability, depression and morbid terrors. He constantly felt
he was about to die, or that something dreadful was going to
happen to him. Despite treatment, the symptoms persisted, and
the patient left India and returned to England in 1898, with the
intention of retiring from the Army. While at home his health
improved, and he went back to India in 1899. Shortly after-
wards, all the old symptoms returned with increasing violence:
he never slept without narcotics and, despite them, frequently
awoke during the night in abject terror, with a feeling of
impending death. He dreaded going about alone, and felt that
he would die before completing the shortest journey. The most
trivial accident, such as a puncture of his bicycle tyre, plunged
him into irritability and despair: he believed he was under a
curse, etc. He habitually took too much alcohol, not because he
had any craving for stimulants, but because they steadied him
and relieved his neurasthenic fears. He was sent to me by Dr.
Roe, I.M.S., for hypnotic treatment. This was begun in April,
1900, and continued for six weeks: before the end of that time
the patient wTas well. He then returned to duty in India: later
reports confirmed his recovery.

In 1893-94, Schrenck-Notzing published an account of 228
neurasthenics treated by himself, Brugelmann, Berillon, Bourdon,2o8

HYPNOTISM

Voisin, Burckhardt, Forel, Eingier, Ritzmann, Bourru, Burot,
Stadelmann, von Corval, Michael, Drozdoivski, von Kozuchoivski,
Neilson, Tuckey, Bernheim, van Renterghem, and Wetterstrand,
The following were the results:■—

I. Hypnotic.

In 70 cases—equalling 31-8 per cent—slight hypnosis was induced.

In 134 cases—equalling 60*9 per cent—either deep hypnosis, or
somnambulism, was obtained.

In 16 cases—equalling 7*3 per cent—there was no hypnosis.1

II. Therapeutic.

72 cases—equalling 31*6 per cent—recovered.

84 cases—equalling 36*8 per cent—were much improved.

72 cases—equalling 31*6 per cent—showed no improvement.

The following are examples taken from the cases just referred
to:—

No. 42 (Berillon). Major-, aged 40, had been healthy

and athletic up to two years previously; then, following anxious
sedentary work, he became emaciated and anaemic, and suffered
from headaches and generalised muscular pain. He almost
entirely lost the power of walking; complained of indigestion,
insomnia, frequent attacks of giddiness, palpitation, and pseudo-
angina. He became profoundly depressed, and had suicidal
impulses, together with the fixed idea that he would never be
able to work again. Dilatation of the stomach was diagnosed,
and for two years he was treated for that and other symptoms
without benefit. He was hypnotised regularly for three weeks:
then recovered and returned to duty. No relapse.

No. 43 (Bourdon). Mile.-, aged 23, after an accident at

15, suffered from sickness, headache, constipation, vertigo, spinal
neuralgia, muscular weakness, insomnia, nocturnal terrors, etc.
Treatment: Drugging, electricity, washing out of stomach, etc.
Result nil. Hypnotised: recovered. No relapse.

No. 44 (Briigelmann). Mr.-, aged 44, clergyman, had

long suffered from spasmodic attacks of asthma, which gradually
became so frequent and severe that he had to abandon his
profession ; finally he could neither walk nor talk. He also had
various other nervous symptoms of a neurasthenic character.
Treatment: Drugging, electricity, inhalations, local applications

1 In this group 8, out of the total of 228 cases, are omitted. In 6 the stage is not
given, and 2 were treated in the waking condition.HYPNOTISM IN MEDICINE

209

to throat and nose, etc. Eesult nil. After twenty hypnotic
sittings the patient recovered and resumed work.

B^rillon has reported good results in many cases of neur-
asthenia : some of these were associated with profound melancholia,
others with fixed ideas and sexual aberrations.

Successful cases are also reported by Bingswanger, Hirt,
Valentin, Tatzel, Auguste Yoisin, Delius, Mavroukakis, Wetter-
strand, Forel, van Eeden and van Eenterghem. The two last
authorities have reported 99 cases, of which 35 were improved
and 21 cured.

The following have also written in favour of the hypnotic
treatment of neurastheniaArndt, Beard, Lehr, Bouveret, Hoist,
Loewenfeld, Koch, Laufenauer, Eosenthal, Gerhardt, Eomberg,
Jolly, Maack, Mueller.

In Schrenck-Notzing's opinion, impotence of psychical origin is
sometimes the only symptom of neurasthenia; out of 18 cases
which he reported, 10 were cured by suggestion.

I have seen several cases which tend to confirm this view.
In the following one, sent to me by Dr. Eaymond Crawfurd, if
the patient suffered from neurasthenia, impotence was the only
symptom of that disorder.

No. 45. Mr.-, aged 35, healthy and athletic. Continent

before marriage. No masturbation. The patient had been
married over three years; he was completely impotent, and this
condition had not been improved by medical treatment.

Hypnotic treatment was begun on November 28th, 1898,
and continued for a month. Despite the fact that deep hypnosis
was not induced, curative suggestions were responded to. From
Christmas, 1898, his sexual life has been that of a vigorous,
normal man. There has been no relapse, and he is now the
father of a healthy child.

^According to Schrenck-Notzing, onanism, sexual hyperesthesia,
paresthesia, and perverted sexual instincts are frequently associated
with neurasthenia. He asserts that the grossest sexual aberra-
tions, even when they have become deeply rooted and have
changed the entire personality, are frequently cured by sugges-
tion ; and that this forms one of its most important therapeutic
applications. For an account of these disorders and their
successful treatment by suggestion, the reader is referred to the
writings of Krafft-Ebing and Schrenck-Notzing. Both these

P2IO

HYPNOTISM

authorities have not only been successful in cases of satyriasis
and nymphomania, but have also had good results in "sexual
inversion."

*	I have seeri little of the grosser forms of sexual disorder,
either because these conditions are rare in this country, or
because those who suffer from them do not seek medical aid.
The results, however, have been encouraging. In one case of
"sexual inversion" in an adult male, all morbid habits were
abandoned after hypnotic treatment; and the patient is now
leading a normal life. Another similar case, sent to me by Dr.
van Eenterghem, of Amsterdam, also did well.

•	Several cases of nymphomania were also successful. In one
of these, an unmarried woman, both ovaries were removed at her
own urgent request. This, however, was only done after con-
sultation with Dr. Savage, in order to ascertain that her mental
condition entitled her to be listened to. The operation, apparently,
had no effect upon the disease; but this yielded to hypnotic
treatment. The patient is now leading a useful and respectable
life.

(3) Insanity.

Personal Results,.—I have only attempted to employ hypnotic
suggestion in eight cases of undoubted insanity. In five I failed
to induce hypnosis, while three were more or less deeply
hypnotised, with the following results:—

In the first case, although suggestion produced sleep and
relieved the pain of an organic malady, it left unaffected the
delusions of persecution from which the patient had long
suffered.

In the second, the treatment quieted excitement and produced
sleep: while the third was as follows:—

No. 46. Mrs. -, aged 35. Nervous family and

personal history. On June 7th, 1898, the patient's husband
informed me that she had made a determined attempt at suicide,
during an attack of acute mania. She had then been certified,
and sent to the Priory, Koehampton, on June 3rd. There she
was violent, slept badly, never spoke, refused all nourishment,
and had to be fed artificially. Her husband was anxious that IHYPNOTISM IN MEDICINE

211

should hypnotise her, and had obtained the consent of Drs. Savage
and Chambers to the experiment.

I visited the patient on June 8 th, apparently succeeded in
inducing slight hypnosis, and suggested that she should take her
food naturally, sleep well, cease to be violent, etc. From that
date she never required artificial feeding, and soon began to be
quieter and to sleep better. One day, by a ruse, I succeeded in
making her speak, and from that time she talked more and more
freely. Hypnotic treatment was continued till the end of July,
when she was practically convalescent. When last I heard of her,
in 1901, there had been no relapse. How far the hypnotic
treatment aided the patient's recovery it is difficult to say. The
fact that she commenced to take food immediately after the first
induction of hypnosis may have been a mere coincidence; and it
must not be forgotten that she was also receiving careful medical
treatment.

jRemarks.—Although I have cited few personal examples of the
use of hypnotism in insanity, it is to be noted that I have related,
under other headings, several cases in which the patients showed
more or less marked evidence of insanity. Thus, amongst the cases
of obsession will be found several in which the fixed ideas had
become true insane delusions, which influenced the patient's whole
life and conduct. Some of these patients also suffered from
hallucinations, and had been certified; while others had been
voluntary boarders in asylums.

* Amongst the cases of " hysterical" melancholia are to be found
several as grave as those usually cited as "insane" by other
authorities. Some of these had long suffered from attacks of
profound melancholy; a large proportion had suicidal impulses,
while several had made more or less determined attempts at
suicide. In more than one successful case the patient had been
certified before treatment was commenced.

In some of the cases of moral insanity, the condition was
considered sufficiently grave to necessitate restraint, both for the
sake of the patients themselves, and in order to prevent them from
corrupting others: restraint, indeed, was only delayed until the
result of hypnotic treatment could be ascertained.

Although Elliotson claimed to have obtained good results in
insanity, Esdaile's was the first systematic work in that field
with which I am acquainted. He employed mesmerism in the212

HYPNOTISM

Calcutta Asylum for six months, but admitted that the general
results were disappointing. In excuse he stated that the majority
of the patients suffered from grave and apparently hopeless
insanity, and that little or nothing was known of their history:
most of them had been brought in by the police, who had found
them wandering alone and deserted. Despite this, Esdaile
claimed to have obtained good results in several instances: few
details, however, are given. One patient who suffered from
frequent attacks of epilepsy, invariably followed by eight or ten
days of acute mania, was stated to have recovered. Another, who
had cut his throat during an attack of mania, had the necessary
surgical operation performed during mesmeric anaesthesia.

Later, Esdaile stated that Dr. Keen, of Berhampore, had
employed mesmerism for several years in his large asylum, where
he claimed to have obtained excellent therapeutic results^ and also
to have found it of great use in maintaining quiet and discipline.

Braid also recorded the successful treatment of several cases
of delusional insanity, which in most instances were complicated
by hallucinations. Many cases are also reported by more recent
observers:—

No. 47 (Voisin). Miss-, aged 22, 1880, was the first

insane patient treated by Yoisin. For seven months she had
had sub-acute mania, with hallucinations; also frequent inter-
current attacks of acute mania, with homicidal impulses. It was
during one of the latter, when extremely violent and confined in
a strait-jacket, that Yoisin first tried to hypnotise her. He
succeeded with difficulty at the end of three hours, and the
patient fell into a profound sleep which lasted three hours and a
half. At first, the treatment appeared to have no effect upon the
recurrence of the acute maniacal conditions, and Yoisin frequently
found her violent and furious. On each occasion, however, he
cut short the attack; and it was, he said, astonishing to see her
fall into a profound and calm sleep, when a moment before she
had been yelling, gesticulating and striking her attendants. He
then commenced to prolong her sleep by suggestion, and kept her
in the hypnotic state for ten or twelve hours a day. Notwith-
standing this, as soon as she awoke her language and conduct
were deplorable. She was then told during hypnosis to be
obedient and well - behaved; these suggestions were quickly
responded to: she became well conducted, careful of her person,HYPNOTISM IN MEDICINE

213

and employed herself in sewing, &c. Finally, she recovered
completely, and became a nurse in one of the Paris hospitals,
where her conduct has been irreproachable.

No. 48 (Yoisin). Miss -, aged 25, November, 1884.

Grandmother epileptic. Five years previously, the patient began
to suffer from mania, with auditory and visual hallucinations.
When Yoisin first saw her she had frequent acute attacks of
furious delirium, lasting from eight to fourteen days, during which
she refused to eat or drink, spat at her attendants and tried
to bite them. Yoisin succeeded in hypnotising her in one of the
attacks, by holding her eyes forcibly open for three hours, and
compelling her to look fixedly at a magnesium lamp. He then
successfully suggested that she should sleep twenty-three hours
and a half, during which she took the food and drink she had
refused in the waking state. At first, she was only allowed to
remain awake three hours and a half per week, but as she
improved the duration of the hypnotic sleep was diminished.
After four months' treatment, all morbid symptoms disappeared,
and she became polite, sociable, and amiable. Fifteen months
later there had been no relapse, and she obtained the post of
wardrobe maid at the Salpetri&re.

• No. 49 (Voisin). Miss-, aged 40, entered Voisin's wards

011 June 24th, 1886. She was profoundly melancholic and
almost completely mute; when she spoke, which was at rare
intervals, she stated that she was accused of murder, and that the
police had come to arrest her. During the day she rarely moved;
but she was restless at night, and, as she was continually trying
to strangle herself (her neck was surrounded by an ecchymosed
circle evidently produced by a cord), she was put in a strait-
jacket. She had refused to eat for a fortnight, and there was
incontinence of urine and fseces.

On June 29th, the condition was unchanged. She was then
hypnotised, told to sleep all night, to drink the milk given her,
etc. These suggestions were successful; she commenced to
improve from that date, and at the end of a month her recovery
was complete.

No. 50 (Voisin). Miss -, aged 20, had entered Voisin's

wards a year previously; she was extremely violent, rolled on
the ground, tore her clothes, would not work, and used filthy
language During menstruation, these symptoms were so214

HYPNOTISM

aggravated that she was kept in a strait-jacket. Voisin succeeded
in hypnotising her at the beginning of a menstrual period, and
made her sleep for a week: this was repeated on four subsequent
occasions with similar results. Not only did the patient sleep
quietly during the whole of each period, but she gradually became
calmer and more rational in the intervals, and then recovered
completely.

In 1889, Voisin reported, amongst others, the following cases
of which he had traced the after-history:—(1) Melancholia with
hallucinations, treated in 1885. (2) Melancholia with hallucina-
tions, suicidal ideas, and attempted suicide, treated in 1885.
(3) Acute mania with convulsive attacks, treated 1886. (4)
Melancholia with refusal of food, treated in 1884. (5) Sub-
acute mania, treated 1885. (6) Sub-acute mania, treated 1888.
(7) Acute mania, treated 1885. (8) Melancholia, treated 1888.
(9) Melancholia, treated 1888. Cases (8) and (9) relapsed after
attacks of epilepsy; the remaining seven continued well.
Numerous other insane cases, many of them equally interesting
and successful, were reported by Voisin from time to time.

No. 51 (Dr. Br&naud, of Brest). Mrs.-, aged 25, had good

health until after her third confinement, when she became melan-
cholic, and developed an intense aversion for her husband and
children. This was associated with morbid religious ideas; she
believed that virgins alone could enter heaven, and that she was
damned eternally on account of her marriage and pregnancies. She
thought she could only save her soul by penance, and tried to
starve herself to death. She refused all food, suffered continuously
from insomnia, and rapidly became very feeble and emaciated.
She was hypnotised at the first attempt, and took food during
the hypnotic state. The disappearance of all morbid fears was
suggested; on waking these had vanished, and she asked for her
children. Hypnosis was repeated the next day, after which her
recovery was complete; two years later there had been no
relapse.

No. 52 (Velander, Sweden). Miss -, aged 36, had good

health up to 25, when she suddenly commenced to be troubled
about her soul. From that date she became markedly melancholic,
and more and more silent; by the end of twelve months she was
absolutely mute, and remained so for ten years. Then hypnotic
treatment was commenced: at the first sitting, after repeatedHYPNOTISM IN MEDICINE

215

suggestions, she spoke a few words indistinctly; a fortnight later
she was well.

No. 53 (Liebeault). Mrs. —-, aged 36, May, 1892. Her

father worried about trifles, and, after losing some money, became
melancholic and threatened to commit suicide: four months later
he drowned himself. The patient's first husband was accidentally
drowned twelve months after marriage, and her second husband
died suddenly when she had been married three years. From
that date, early in 1891, she became profoundly melancholic,
avoided her friends, slept badly, neglected her work and person;
and had the fixed idea that she would commit suicide by drowning.
She was hypnotised 52 times from May to July, 1892, when all
morbid ideas entirely disappeared. In 1894, Liebeault told me
that she was still well, both mentally and physically.

No. 54 (Burot). Mrs. --, aged 29. Father died from

congestion of the brain; on the mother's side an aunt and cousin
were insane, and another aunt was hysterical. At the age of
20, a year after her marriage, the patient had miliary fever. Up
to that time, she had excellent health both mentally and physi-
cally, but after her illness she became emotional and irritable.
Three years later, after mental shock, she began to sleep badly,
and suffered from nightmares and nocturnal terrors. She com-
plained of pains, flushings, dizziness, difficulty in breathing and
walking, cough, palpitation, obstinate constipation, etc. She
dreaded death, and became profoundly depressed. Two years
later she began to hear noises and voices, and had the delusion
that certain persons had combined to kill her and her family, etc.
She became so excited and violent that she was placed in La
Fond Asylum. At first the excitement continued, she suffered
from insomnia, was dirty in her habits and refused food: gradually
she became calmer, and finally passed into a semi-idiotic condition.
At the end of four months she was sent home, when she again
became violent and difficult to manage; she sometimes escaped
and tried to drown herself, and always complained that she was
pursued by voices.

The patient then had six weeks' hypnotic treatment; this
was followed by very marked improvement, which was still
maintained six months later, when she was again brought to Dr.
Burot, and had renewed treatment for six weeks. From that
date all morbid symptoms entirely disappeared; she had neither216

HYPNOTISM

delusions nor hallucinations, became once more bright and cheerful,
and resumed her former active and orderly habits. She slept
well, the constipation disappeared, and her periods, formerly
irregular and scanty, now became normal. Later reports confirmed
the recovery.

Successful cases are also reported by other Continental
authorities; amongst these may be mentioned R^poud (the
Cantonal Asylum of Marsens, Fribourg), who claims to have
obtained results similar to Voisin's, with insane patients who
were not hysterical; Burckhardt (Pr^fargier Asylum), cases of
delusional insanity and acute puerperal mania; de Jong, and
Eubinovitch, cases of melancholia, etc.

Until recently few attempts have been made in this country
to hypnotise the insane.

In 1890, Drs. Percy Smith and A. T. Myers published an
account of the hypnotic treatment of 21 insane patients in
Bethlem Hospital. Improvement followed in six instances,
but the results appear to have been due more to increased
personal attention than to hypnotic influence.

In 1893, similar experiments were conducted at Morningside
Asylum by Dr. George Eobertson. He did not succeed in curing
any case of genuine insanity, but hypnotism enabled him to
control the worst case of suicidal and homicidal mania that had
been in Morningside for ten years. He also reported that a
patient suffering from hypochondriacal melancholia recovered
after six weeks' hypnotic treatment.

The following is his summary of the uses of hypnotism among
the insane:—

(I.) As a Direct Therapeutic Agent.

(a)	Hypnotism sometimes succeeds in intractable cases of
insomnia where narcotics have failed, and thus ought to be of
great service when the brain nutrition is bad, and depressing
drugs specially undesirable.

(b)	Where the brain is highly unstable, it may be of direct
therapeutic value as a sedative, and thus prevent an outburst of
excitement from passing into mania.

(c)	It is useful in dispelling fleeting delusional states, and
minor psychoses.HYPNOTISM IN MEDICINE

217

(II.) For Purposes of Management

(a)	Hypnotism may be used to overcome the morbid re-
sistance of patients to the administration of food, medicine, etc.

(b)	It may be employed in cases of excitement and violence,
instead of mechanical, chemical, or physical means of restraint.

In 1897, Dr. Woods, Hoxton House Asylum, reported the
following cases treated by hypnotism:—

10 cases of melancholia (in 8 there were delusions). Eesult:
6 recovered, 3 improved, and 1 uninfluenced.

1 case of puerperal mania. Eecovered.

3 cases of mania. 1 recovered, 2 improved.

1 case of dementia. Eesult nil.

The following is an example:—

No. 55 (Woods). Melancholia.—Miss-, aged 16, admitted

December 20th, 1893. The patient was in great distress, cried
continually, and had delusions. She fancied that she was lost,
wished to die, was full of self-accusations of wickedness, slept
badly, and refused food.

She had ordinary asylum treatment without improvement
until the second week in January, 1894, when she was hypnotised
three times, and curative suggestions were made. Distinct im-
provement followed.

Third week.—Hypnotised twice and continued to improve.

Fourth week.—Hypnotised twice. She now had good nights,
took her food well, was stronger, and had not cried for some days.

From that time she was not again hypnotised, but continued
to improve, and by April 3rd had recovered.

Remarks.—Yoisin's claim to have been the first to employ
hypnotism in the treatment of the insane is untenable, and
was obviously made in ignorance of the work of Esdaile and
others. It is also interesting to note that the observations of Dr.
George Eobertson, as to the advantages of hypnotism in procuring
quiet and maintaining asylum discipline, had been forestalled by
Dr. Keen more than forty years previously.

While most modern writers are agreed that minor psychoses
can be dispelled by hypnotic treatment, few, save Yoisin, have
claimed to have cured true insanity by this means. Although no
one denied the genuineness of Yoisin's results—his patients were218

HYPNOTISM

mostly treated in asylums, and open to the observation of liis
colleagues—the accuracy of his diagnosis was disputed by Forel.

In the opinion of the latter, Voisin's so-called insane patients
simply suffered from hysteria; and this, together with analogous
mental troubles of a fugitive character, could undoubtedly be cut
short by hypnotism. Forel admitted that he had been able to
induce sleep in the insane by suggestion, and to obtain a tem-
porary cessation of hallucinations. In a case of dementia (with
inactivity, vicious tendencies, and intercurrent submaniacal attacks)
he succeeded in making the patient work, improved his mental
condition, and arrested the maniacal attacks, which had not
returned three years later. On the other hand, he had never
cured genuine insanity by suggestion; and, even when he had
succeeded in obtaining hypnosis, had entirely failed to produce
any permanent influence upon the morbid mental condition. In
true melancholia, he had only been able to induce sleep and
hasten convalescence. The brain, he said, was the instrument we
employed in suggestion; and, if the instrument itself were spoilt,
we were no longer able to make use of it, or only to a very small
extent, as a means of reacting upon itself, and influencing its
functions in general.

In reply, Voisin admitted that hypnotism could do nothing in
somatic mental affections, such as general paralysis, apoplectic
affections, cerebral softening, etc.; but, on the other hand, he claimed
to have cured many cases of genuine insanity by its means—for
example, delusional insanity, in which the patients had the fixed
belief that they were persecuted, and had marked suicidal impulses;
also cases of true melancholia, as well as acute and sub-acute
mania, etc. Further, he had also succeeded with other mental
maladies, more or less closely connected with insanity, such as
hysteria, epilepsy, and conditions of mania, etc., associated with
them; also with morphinomania, dipsomania, moral insanity and
perversity, as well as the various forms of obsession.

Finally, even if his patients had suffered from hysterical—
not true—insanity, their recovery still marked a therapeutic
advance of no little importance. Asylums, he said, contained a
large number of the hysterically insane, who were violent and
dangerous, and who inspired both disgust and pity by their
tendency to drink and steal, thek lies, dirtiness, and obscene
and unnatural acts. Many of these, who had long been asylumHYPNOTISM IN MEDICINE

219

inmates, were now—thanks to hypnotism—leading active and
useful lives.

E^poud and others claim to have obtained results similar to
Voisin's; but, despite their support, the question whether insanity
in its graver forms can be cured by hypnotism is still under
discussion. One must not forget, however, in endeavouring to
estimate the value of this form of treatment, that the experiment
practically dates from Voisin's first case in 1880, and that com-
paratively few attempts have been made by others to give the
method a fair trial. This is partially explained by the amount
of time and trouble the process frequently requires. At first Yoisin
only succeeded with 10 per cent of his insane patients, and this
often only after prolonged and repeated sittings. Later, his per-
centage rose, and the time required was less; but the process was
still usually difficult and tedious. Dr. George Eobertson, it is
true, states that between a third and a half of suitable cases may
be hypnotised, and considers one attempt of fifteen minutes
sufficient. It is to be regretted that this statement, confirmed by
no other modern observer, is unaccompanied by a complete list of
cases treated. The value of the Bethlem experiments is much
lessened by the fact that in no instance did the number of attempts
exceed nine, while in six cases only one was made.

Many of those who stated that they were unable to personally
confirm Voisin's results, admitted that their experience had been
extremely limited—some, for example, had only tried hypnotism
in one or two cases of true insanity.

My own experiments, in cases of undoubted insanity, have
been too few to be of value. I have, however, as already pointed
out, had good results in many cases of melancholia, such as have
been classed as insane in some other statistics.

On the one hand, then, we have negative or imperfect results
cited by authorities who, as a rule, have only attempted to
hypnotise a limited number of insane cases, and generally
speaking not under the conditions Yoisin found essential to
success. Thus, (1) Frequently sufficient time was not given to
the attempted induction of hypnosis. (2) The experiment was
not repeated often enough. (3) After hypnosis was obtained,
Voisin's methods—prolonged sleep, etc.—were rarely employed.

On the other hand, we have the strong positive evidence of
Yoisin's successful cases. These number several hundreds, and220

HYPNOTISM

represent eighteen years' work; while the after-history of many
of them was carefully traced, when it was found that the recovery
had been maintained.

The question, as raised by Forel, is really little more than
one of diagnosis as to the conditions—organic or functional—
associated with the mental disturbances. To the ordinary
individual, patients who have been asylum inmates for years,
who are filthy in language, person, and conduct, who refuse food,
attack their friends and attendants, and suffer from delusions and
hallucinations, are insane enough for all practical purposes. The
treatment which in Voisin's hands cured such patients, and
enabled them to return to work, is surely worthy of further
investigation and experiment. Apart from this, it must also be
admitted that a certain proportion of the insane are cured or
recover; and it seems reasonable to suppose that a method of
treatment which—without drugs—can sometimes procure sleep,
remove excitement and other morbid mental conditions, may prove
a valuable remedial agent.

Further, at a later date, Forel himself reported successful
cases. In one instance the patient, who believed himself to be
controlled by a spirit which entirely regulated his life and forced
him to do the most absurd things, was easily hypnotised by Forel:
the hallucinations disappeared after the first sitting. Another
patient, who suffered from paranoia with delusions of persecution,
also recovered after hypnotic treatment. No relapse.

In conclusion, the following points as to Yoisin's methods
deserve notice:—

(1)	His first attempt to induce hypnosis was sometimes
continued for three hours, and the process repeated daily for
weeks.

(2)	He did not give varied curative suggestions to begin with,
but frequently repeated one as to the relief of some prominent
symptom, and then left the patient in the hypnotic trance for an
hour or two.

(3)	When patients did not respond readily to suggestion,
Yoisin kept them continuously in the hypnotic state—often for
several weeks at a time. He found this a therapeutic method of
great value; it was also of much use in preventing regularly
recurring attacks of mania, especially those associated with the
menstrual#period.HYPNOTISM IN MEDICINE

221

(4) Voisin neither experimented with his patients nor suggested
delusions, hallucinations, nor any act or thought that could be
hurtful. He invariably suggested obedience and usefulness, good
thoughts and actions, and the desire to be helpful, amiable, etc.

(4) Dipsomania and Chronic Alcoholism.

Since I came to London, about ten years ago, I have treated
76 cases of dipsomania and chronic alcoholism by means of
hypnotic suggestion. I propose (I.) to draw attention to the
general results; (II.) to cite illustrative cases; (III.) to discuss
some points in reference to the morbid conditions involved, and
to this particular method of treating them.

(I.) Genekal Eesults.

(a) Recoveries.—28 cases recovered: by this I mean that the
patients ceased drinking during treatment; and that, so far as I
have been able to learn, they have remained total abstainers up
to the present date, or to that of the last report received. Although
the earliest of these cases has now passed ten years without
relapse, I will not describe the patient as " cured," for it is
possible that the disease may return : one of my patients relapsed
after eight years' total abstinence.

Of the above 28 cases, 17 were males and 11 females. The
average age was 40. Average number of hypnotic treatments, 30.
Average length of time since recovery, 3 years.

All the patients in this, as well as in the two other groups,
belonged to the educated classes.

(&) Cases improved.—These numbered 36 — 26 males and
10 females. Average age, 39. Average number of hypnotic
treatments, 32. Average length of time since treatment, 3^ years.

The results obtained in this class varied widely. The best
case abstained for eight years, then relapsed, but has now-—after
further treatment—again abstained for eighteen months. In a
considerable proportion of the remainder the improvement has
been marked and valuable. Several of the patients, who formerly
led lives of drunkenness, are now engaged in useful work and
only drink at rare intervals.222

HYPNOTISM

(c) Failures.—These numbered 12—10 males and 2 females.
Average age, 43. Average number of hypnotic treatments, 20.

In the majority of the above eases it was impossible to get
the patients to cease drinking during treatment, which, in 6 out
of 12, was very short. In more than one instance, however,
although the treatment was prolonged, and carried out under
favourable circumstances, no benefit was obtained.

As far as I have been able to learn, all the cases of failure
that passed through my hands are now dead or still remain un-
cured. Several of them left me to go into retreats; but few, if
any, derived lasting benefit there.

(II.) Illustrative Cases.

(a) jRecoveries.

No. 56. Dr.-, aged 32, February, 1893, began taking

stimulants at college, and took them regularly afterwards, although
rarely in excess till 1888. At that date, he had been in practice
for two years and was doing well, then had frequent drinking-
bouts. Despite continued and careful supervision, he drank
rectified spirits in secret, sometimes several gallons a month.
His health suffered greatly, he was often on the verge of delirium
tremens, and on one occasion was supposed to have had slight
cerebral haemorrhage. He complained of palpitation and angina
pectoris, and asserted that it was the pain of the latter which
made him drink. As his bouts of drunkenness became more
frequent and severe, he was compelled to abandon work and to
return home. There he became steadier, and his parents pur-
chased another practice for him. At first he did well, but soon
began drinking again and often took narcotics. I was told that,
unless I could cure him, he would have to give up work and be
kept by his parents.

He was hypnotised 44 times from February 21st to April
18th, 1893 : he then returned to his practice at a distance from
town, and I have not seen him since. Shortly after beginning
treatment he entirely abandoned stimulants and narcotics, and
soon lost all craving for them. He rapidly improved in health
and weight, and ceased to complain of palpitation or angina.
After passing twelve mouths without relapse, he married. OnHYPNOTISM IN MEDICINE

223

February 27th, 1894, his mother wrote as follows:—"The
treatment has been completely successful. My son is perfectly
well, and quite like his old self—sound in mind and body, and
without the slightest wish or need to take drugs or stimulants in
any form whatever. His practice increases steadily. Could

anything be more satisfactory ? " About the same date Dr.-

wrote to say that he had never felt better in his life, and had no
desire for stimulants. From then up to the present time (1903)
I have heard occasionally from my patient or his wife. All the
reports are of the same character: he is strong, well, happy,
prosperous, and a total abstainer.

No. 57. Mr.-, aged 35, with a family history of alcohol-
ism, had taken stimulants in excess since the age of 18. Marked
dipsomania during the last four years. Two attacks of delirium
tremens. The patient was sent to me by Dr. Walker, of St.
John's Wood; hypnotic treatment was begun in December, 1896,
and continued for about two months. The patient abstained
from alcohol from the beginning of treatment until his death
from accident three years later.

No. 58. Mr.--, aged 37, December, 1898, had a family

history of alcoholism. With the exception of six months, which
he spent in a doctor's house, the patient had drunk to excess
for many years. He was not easily affected by stimulants, and
rarely got into a state of obvious intoxication: he soaked, was
sodden, dull, stupid, and listless. He had enough money to
live on, and was without occupation, hobbies, or friends. After
ordinary medical treatment had been abandoned, his relatives
persuaded him to place himself under my care. Hypnotic
treatment was begun in December, 1898 : shortly afterwards
all craving disappeared, and the patient became an abstainer.
Up to the present date—February, 1903—there has been
no relapse, and he leads a healthier, more interested, and
active life.

No. 59. Mrs.-, aged 44, November 23rd, 1894, was sent

to me by Mr. Jessop, of Leeds. Family history of alcoholism. At
the age of 20 the patient had frequent hysterical attacks, and for
these stimulants were prescribed in rather large quantities. Two
years later she began to drink in excess, but did not do so often,
and rarely became intoxicated. From 32 to 36, she was an
abstainer; she then commenced taking stimulants again, and224

HYPNOTISM

attacks of genuine dipsomania soon appeared. From that time
she suffered from an almost constant craving for alcohol. She
was, however, a woman of culture, refinement and high principle-—■
devoted to her husband and children—and the idea of giving way
to drink was in every way abhorrent to her. She struggled with
all her might against the temptation; but, after fighting it success-
fully for a week or two, the craving became irresistible, and a
drinking-bout invariably followed.

Hypnotic treatment was begun on November 23rd, 1894,
and continued to February 14th, 1895. From the very first
sitting she abstained from stimulants, but the craving, although
much diminished, did not entirely disappear for some months.
Up to the present date—April, 1903—there has been absolutely
no relapse. It is to be noted that in this case, although the
patient responded immediately to suggestion, there were no other
indications of hypnosis.

(b) Gases Improved,

No. 60. Mr.--, aged 40, October, 1891, had a family

history of alcoholism and had long taken spirits too freely: for
the last four years his drinking-bouts had been frequent and
severe. He suffered from insomnia, digestive troubles, and
lightning pains, and walked badly—his feet seemed encased in
wool, and he had difficulty in feeling the pavement. A well-
known specialist told him he had locomotor ataxy, and was
incurable. He was then sent to me by Dr. Morier, of St. John's
Wood, and hypnotised 15 times. Eesult: six months' abstention
from alcohol, with marked improvement in general health and
nervous symptoms. Insomnia then reappeared, and he took
alcohol occasionally and narcotics — generally sulphonal—
regularly. After six weeks' renewed treatment in the autumn of
1892, he remained an abstainer for three years, and the ataxic
symptoms entirely disappeared. Later, he again took narcotics
regularly and stimulants occasionally, and died suddenly from
cardiac syncope.

No. 61. .Mr. --, aged 47, April, 1895. Father and

mother drank to excess. The patient, who lived in Australia,
commenced drinking when at Oxford, and had done so ever
since. He married in 1876, and was frequently intoxicatedHYPNOTISM IN MEDICINE

225

during his honeymoon. In 1878, he had his first epileptic fit,
followed by six others at distant intervals. There had been
three attacks of delirium tremens, the first in 1879. He not
only had frequent excessive drinking - bouts, but also took
stimulants regularly, except when ill after an unusually bad
attack. He always got drunk when he visited his farm, and
only returned home sober four times out of a hundred and fifty.
He came to England in 1895, and had an attack of delirium
tremens just before beginning treatment in April, 1895. He
was then sent to me by Dr. Allden, of Bridport, and easily
hypnotised at the first attempt: he at once become a total
abstainer, but treatment was continued for two months. He
then went back to Australia, fought a keenly contested election
without touching stimulants, and gained a seat in Parliament.
There was no relapse until the autumn of 1898, when he began
to take stimulants occasionally. He returned for further treat-
ment on January 9 th, 1901. He was again easily hypnotised,
and at once gave up all stimulants. There has been no return
of the epilepsy.

(c) Failures.

No. 62. Mrs.-, aged 40, September, 1893, with a family

history of alcoholism, had suffered from dipsomania for seven
years. After a fortnight's treatment, during which time the
patient took stimulants regularly, and became intoxicated on
more than one occasion, the treatment was abandoned.

No. 63. Mr. -^December, 1893, aged 32, with family

history of alcoholism, had taken stimulants in excess since the
age of 18. Well-marked dipsomania during the last five years.
The patient was seen on four occasions, but, as each time he
presented himself in an intoxicated condition, the treatment was
abandoned.

Remarks.—In addition to cases reported by other observers
in this country, successful ones have been published by Knory,
Farez, Ylavianos, Bourdon, Bechterew, Kibokoff, Bushnell, Yoisin,
Ladame, Forel, Tatzel, Hirt, Nielson, de Jong, Bernheim, van
Eeden, van Eenterghem, Hamilton Osgood, Wetterstrand,
Schrenck-JSTotzing, Krafft-Ebing, etc.

For example, de Jong reported that he had treated many
cases, some of which had then remained over three years without

Q226

HYPNOTISM

relapse. Hirt claimed to have had eight complete recoveries out
of thirteen cases. Wetterstrand cited the case of a man who
for several years had drunk a bottle of brandy, and injected
30 centigrammes of morphia, daily. Recovery took place after
34 sittings, and there had been no relapse. Yoisin published
numerous successful cases, some of them being women over 40
years of age. He traced the subsequent history of many of
them, and reported years later that there had been no relapse.
Ladame drew special attention to three cases treated by Forel:
all of them had suffered from chronic alcoholism and attacks of
delirium tremens, and had long been inmates of his asylum.
They were extremely difficult to manage, and expressed their
determination to resume drinking as soon as they were liberated;
but, despite this, complete recovery followed hypnotic treatment.

(III.) Some Points in Reference to the Morbid Conditions

involved, and their treatment by hypnotic suggestion.

As the majority of my patients suffered from dipsomania, I
wish to say a word as to that condition, and the differences
between it and ordinary alcoholism. A typical case of the
former presents the following phenomena:—The patient, while
abstaining, begins to be haunted with ideas about drink. This
is soon followed by the desire for drink, but at first the impulse
is combated by the will. It soon, however, becomes irresistible;
and, after the first glass is taken, the craving is increased, and
the struggle is abandoned in despair. The patient then drinks
for a varying period, after which the craving suddenly disappears;
this stage is followed by one of physical weakness accompanied
by remorse. These conditions in their turn disappear, and the
patient enjoys a period of more or less complete health and comfort,
undisturbed by any morbid craving for stimulants. This passes, and
a new attack begins which follows the course of its predecessors.

The Exciting Causes of Dipsomania.—In many, but by no
means all my cases, there was a family history of alcoholism.
It is difficult to determine, however, what part this played in
the production of the dipsomania, as I have also known many
instances where drunkenness in the parents was followed by
total abstinence in the children. On the other hand, all the
dipsomaniacs I have observed showed symptoms of degeneracy;HYPNOTISM IN MEDICINE

227

most of them were impulsive, nervous, emotional, sensitive, and
thus more or less ill-balanced mentally.

An accidental circumstance—usually some mental trouble—
is generally the immediate exciting cause of the first attack.
Similar causes may excite subsequent attacks ; but when the
disease is fully developed, its manifestations occur at more or
less regular intervals, and often without any discoverable
immediate exciting cause. I do not know, however, of a single
case in which dipsomania has been suddenly aroused, no matter
by what cause, in those who till then had been total abstainers.
In all there was a previous history of the use of alcohol.

Differences between Dipsomania and other Forms of Intemperance.
—Many persons, who are strong both mentally and physically,
habitually take too much alcohol—they do so on account of the
physical or mental comfort it brings. Usually they do not
struggle against their self-indulgence until it begins to endanger
their health, pocket, or reputation. The dipsomaniac, on the
other hand, drinks because he is impelled to do so against his
will. Drink, though it may have been enjoyed previously, now
gives him neither physical comfort nor mental pleasure, and he
struggles through an attack like a felon working out his sentence.

The moral condition of the average inebriate differs widely
from that of the ordinary dipsomaniac. Shame is often sadly
lacking in the former, while the dipsomaniac, on the contrary,
feels his degradation keenly. Finally, the drunken bouts of the
dipsomaniac, unlike those of the ordinary inebriate, are rarely
associated with other excesses.

Prognosis.

According to Ladame, the prognosis in dipsomania, especially
where there is a family history of alcoholism, is an extremely
grave one; and prolonged retention in an asylum or a retreat
rarely yields good results. He admitted that total abstinence
societies did valuable work, but considered their method of
treatment somewhat analogous to the hypnotic. When they
succeeded, the patient was generally under the influence of
religious ideas, propounded and received " au moment psycho-
logique" while he was in a condition of remorse and despair.
The solemn vow which he made to abstain from drink was also
a powerful self-suggestion. If the subsequent circumstances228

HYPNOTISM

were favourable, and his friends rallied round him and encouraged
him in every way possible, there was a chance of his being
cured. On the other hand, many dipsomaniacs were not
responsive to religious or ordinary moral influences: such cases
were not likely to receive benefit from total abstinence societies
and similar means, but often recovered under hypnotic treatment.

Hypnotic Treatment.

The following are the most important points:—

(1)	The patient must be willing to be cured. Difficulties as
to this are more frequently encountered in cases of chronic
alcoholism than in dipsomania. Even the latter patients, how-
ever, sometimes dread treatment, as they think it may raise an
artificial barrier between them and drink, and yet leave them
fighting with the craving. Probably also they have been told
that hypnotism is dangerous, and will rob them of their will-
power. These fears are usually dispelled by means of a little
tact and explanation. The patient must be made to understand
that the object of the treatment is to remove the craving; that
the force of the volition is increased, not diminished, by hypnosis;
and that the use of hypnotism for medical purposes, in skilled
hands, is absolutely devoid of danger.

(2)	Susceptibility to hypnosis is a varying and important
factor. Most authorities agree that all, except idiots and those
suffering from certain forms of mental disease, can be hypnotised.
On the other hand, the ill-balanced are usually difficult to
influence. Time and trouble are often requisite ; and frequently
slight hypnosis alone can be induced. Fortunately deep hypnosis
is not essential to the production of good therapeutic results.

(3)	In dipsomania one ought to begin treatment at the
commencement of a period of quiescence, and aim at preventing,
or at all events retarding and weakening, the next attack.
When stimulants are taken continually, the patient must be
helped and encouraged to reduce them as speedily as possible,
and then stop them altogether.

(4)	The management of the patient during the earlier part
of the treatment, before suggestion has taken effect, is important.
If possible, he should never be left alone, but always have
near him some trustworthy person, to whom he can confide his
temptations, and turn for aid in overcoming them. As restraintHYPNOTISM IN MEDICINE

229

had proved useless in all the cases which came under my notice
I never employed it. Doubtless it might have been a help
at the commencement of the treatment, but its moral effect is
invariably bad.

(5)	The operator must be persevering and not easily dis-
couraged : many persons, who ultimately do well, relapse more
than once during treatment.

(6)	A distaste for alcohol ought to be suggested, as well as
the abolition of the craving for it. The patient must be made
to understand that he can never look forward to being a moderate
drinker, and that the only choice before him lies between total
abstinence and the gutter.

(7)	Even when the craving disappears quickly, the patients
ought to be hypnotised regularly for a month. If they can be
seen from time to time for the next six months, so much the
better and safer.

(8)	The object of the treatment is not only to cure the
diseased craving, but also to strengthen the will of the patient,
and help him to combat the temptations of social life. The
latter point is important. Some patients forget what they have
gone through, and, although they have no diseased craving, yield
to ordinary temptation. If the patient has not gained the power
of controlling himself, the treatment has failed in its object; for
self-control, not artificial restraint, is its essential feature.

In estimating the results, it must not be forgotten that the
majority of my cases were extremely unfavourable ones.

(5) Morphinomania and other Drug Habits.

Patients suffering from hysteria and neurasthenia frequently
acquire drug habits; the latter, however, are usually abandoned
as soon as the insomnia and other morbid symptoms disappear
under treatment. This, however, is only true of ordinary hypnotic
drugs, and does not apply to opium or morphia. The treatment
of patients addicted to the latter, especially where the drug is
administered subcutaneously, presents many difficulties, and re-
lapses are frequent. My personal results have been so much
less satisfactory than those of Wetterstrand, that I will only cite
two cases from my own practice, and deal more fully with his
statistics.230

HYPNOTISM

No. 64. Mr.-, aged 25, February, 1899, suffered from

chronic diarrhoea at the age of 16, for which a mixture containing
laudanum was prescribed. This was the commencement of an
opium habit which had continued ever since: it was difficult to
ascertain the exact amount taken, as the patient tried to conceal
this, but he admitted to a daily consumption of 6 drachms of
laudanum. Latterly he had much changed in character, while
his memory and general business capacity were markedly impaired.
The patient was sent to me by Dr. Ware, of Hampstead, on
February 24th, 1899, and hypnotised 40 times up to July 19th,
1899. Result: recovery, confirmed by later reports.

No. 65. Mrs. -, aged 37, February, 1898. Twelve

months previously, after an attack of influenza, the patient began
to suffer from insomnia and severe depression. Sleep was never
obtained without narcotics, and there was one attempt at suicide.
Six months later, there were frequent attacks of intercostal
neuralgia, and, to relieve these, morphia was injected subcutane-
ously. This had been continued ever since, and repeated several
times daily. The amount taken varied, but it was never less
than 3 grains. Hypnosis was induced at the first attempt in
February, 1898, and the patient slept well the following night.
After a fortnight's treatment the morphia was abandoned, and
all morbid symptoms quickly disappeared. Up to the last report
(1903) there had been no relapse.

The following table, published in 1896, gives Wetterstrand's
results in 51 eases:—

	i »	Women.	Total.	i s	No effect.	Relapsed.	Cured.
Morphinism in wliich the morphia							
was injected subcutaneously .	16	22	38	2	5	3	28
Morphinism in which the morphia							
was taken internally	1	2	3	...	...	1	2
Morphinism and Alcoholism	1		1		...		1
Morphinism and Cocainism	2	1	3	1	1		1
Cocainism.....	1	...	1				1
Opium internally	...	4	4	...	...	1	3
Chloralism ....		1	1				1
Total	21	30	51	3	6	5	37HYPNOTISM IN MEDICINE

231

Many of the cases were extremely grave and of long standing ;
and with several abstinence-treatment in a nursing home had
been tried, sometimes more than once, without success. Amongst
the successful ones was a medical man who had taken morphia
for eighteen, and cocaine for four, years. Another patient, Dr.
Landgren, published his own case five years after he had been
successfully treated by Wetterstrand. He had taken morphia
for nineteen years, with the exception of a few months spent in
a retreat.

In many instances the morphia had been prescribed for the
relief of some disease. When this was a functional nervous
disorder it generally yielded to suggestion; but, even in organic
and incurable maladies, Wetterstrand was often able to arrest
pain, procure sleep, and break the narcotic habit. From this he
concluded that suggestive treatment ought to be tried before
narcotics were prescribed, even in diseases likely to end
fatally.

All Wetterstrand's cases, with the exception of one, were
treated in private houses, and he found residence in a retreat
quite unnecessary. The following are the points which he con-
sidered the most important in order to ensure success:—(1)
The patient should be placed under the care of an absolutely
trustworthy nurse. (2) The doctor must gain the patient's con-
fidence, treating him as an invalid deserving of sympathy, and
not blame him for having given way to a bad habit. (3) The
morphia should not be stopped at once, but rapidly decreased,
and the patient constantly informed of the diminution. (4) In-
jections of water, instead of morphia, were wrong and ought to be
scrupulously avoided. (5) The sittings should be held once or
twice daily, and, if possible, profound hypnosis induced.

Latterly Wetterstrand has treated many of his drug cases by
" prolonged sleep," and his results have been even more brilliant
than those already cited. Successful cases are also reported by
other observers. Thus:—

No. 66 (Fulda). Miss -, aged 36, had suffered from

hysteria for eleven years, and had injected morphia subcutane-
ously during the last ten, the average amount taken being 20
centigrammes daily. Insomnia, depression, and amenorrhoea—
the latter of fifteen months' duration. After three months'
hypnotic treatment all morbid symptoms had disappeared, and232

HYPNOTISM

the morphia habit was abandoned. Two years later there had
been no relapse.

No. 67 (Marot). Mrs.-, aged 37, had suffered since the

age of 26 from grande hysUrie of the true Salpetriere type—con-
vulsions, ansesthesise, ovarian pain, restriction of the field of
vision, etc. There were also marked gastric disturbances: the
patient had kept her bed for nineteen months, and was much
emaciated.

In August, 1883, her medical man gave her an injection of
morphia, and this was repeated daily by herself or others until
the end of July, 1889. It was impossible to determine the exact
amount taken: her own chemist admitted that he supplied her
with 10 to 20 centigrammes daily; but it was known that she
also got it from others, but not to what extent. Finally, she
could not pass more than an hour without an injection : her arms,
legs, and abdomen were covered with numerous cicatrices, the
result of abscesses, as well as subcutaneous nodules and the
ordinary marks resulting from the use of the syringe.

In July, 1889, the patient was deeply hypnotised at the first
attempt, and slept till nine o'clock the following morning in
response to suggestion. The treatment was continued daily until
the patient's recovery, which was rapid. Three and a half years
later there had been no relapse, and the skin was absolutely
normal.

According to Marot, the craving for morphia can only be
removed by suggestion: ordinary treatment may get rid of the
physical necessity for taking it, but there is always the danger
that the craving will return.

Further successful cases are also reported by Voisin, B&rillon,
Tanzi, Bauer, and many others.

V(6) Vicious and Degenerate Children.

The following conclusions as to the value of hypnotism in the
treatment of vicious and degenerate children were submitted by
B^rillon to the International Congress of Hypnotism, Paris,
1889:—

(1) Many carefully observed facts prove the therapeutic
value of suggestion in the following diseases of children: incon-HYPNOTISM IN MEDICINE

2 33

^tinence of urine and faeces, nervous twitchings, nocturnal
^terrors, onanism, blepharospasm ; and other disturbances of the
svjjarvous system of a functional character.

(2)	So far, no appreciable results have been obtained in
cretinism, idiocy, or deaf-mutism.

(3)	Suggestion constitutes an excellent auxiliary in the
[education of vicious and degenerate children, especially where

there are habits of lying, cruelty, inveterate idleness, or cowardice.

(4)	Suggestion should be confined to cases where the usual
methods of education have failed, and medical men alone should
employ it. It is not necessary to hypnotise normal children:
ordinary training ought to be sufficient for them. When, how-
ever, children are addicted to theft, and other vicious or repulsive
habits, and are afflicted with disgusting infirmities, we ought to
try to cure them by hypnotism, especially when their parents are
in despair, owing to the failure of all other forms of treatment.

These conclusions were adopted unanimously by the Congress,
and were transmitted to the Minister of Public Instruction and
the Minister of the Interior.	______________________

The following are illustrative case^lrom my own practise?:—

N"o. 68. Mr.-, aged 19, February 26th, 1893. Family

history bad; mother highly nervous, father died insane. Up to
the age of 14 the patient was lively and intelligent; he then
commenced to masturbate, and his mental condition rapidly
deteriorated. He lost interest in his studies, and frequently
stole, generally in a purposeless manner. He had been expelled
from school, and, when I first saw him, was under the care of
Dr. Kingston, of Willesden, who sent him to me. I was informed
that the patient was still guilty of theft, addicted to self-abuse,
untruthful, absolutely untrustworthy, and strangely apathetic and
lazy. There was little or nothing, even in the way of amuse-
ment, in which he took the least interest.

• After two months' hypnotic treatment he began to improve:
before the end of the year he had recovered, and learnt a business
in which he took great interest. Later reports satisfactory.

No. 69. Miss -, aged 15, January 22nd, 1894. Her

mother, who had a family history of insanity, was morally insane,
and lived a vagabond, drunken life. Her father and uncle both
drank, and died insane. I was informed that the patient was deceit-
ful, rebellious, and mischief-making. She frequently complained of234

HYPNOTISM

^queer feelings in her head, but it was difficult to tell how much
was real and how much pretence. She was quick and intelligent,
and could do her lessons in about a quarter of the time most
children took. She was very impatient of restraint: she had
been sent to two or three families and one school, but in each
instance had been dismissed, as she was so insubordinate and
unmanageable.

I was also informed that the patient lied, stole, and had
frequent outbursts of violent passion. I found her strong, mus-
cular, and well-developed; palate normal, menstruation regular.

On January 22nd, 1894, after consultation with the late Dr.
(Hack TukeJ she was placed in a nursing home, and regularly
Hypnotised for a month. This was followed by marked improve-
ment, and for the next three years the treatment was occasionally
repeated, but at distant intervals. The patient finally grew into
a bright, healthy, attractive woman, who now (1903), with the
exception that she is still somewhat emotional, shows hardly a
trace of her former defects.

No. 70. Miss -, aged 13, March, 1894. Bad family

history. Before the patient was born her mother suffered from
melancholia. The child herself had been mentally peculiar from
infancy; she was persistently untruthful, deceitful, insolent, and
dirty in her habits. She had been addicted to self-abuse since
the age of 7. On several occasions she had stolen money from
servants and others—sometimes considerable amounts. She had
been expelled from school, and had to be kept at home. She was
strong, healthy, and well-grown, with nothing abnormal about
the head or palate.	_

After consultation with Im Savage*, the patient was hypnotised
three times a week from MarclTtolE[ay, 1894; this was followed
by marked improvement, and the treatment was repeated at
intervals during the next two years. Complete recovery took
place, and up to the present date (1903) there has been no
relapse.

No. 71. Miss-, aged 22, April, 1895, had suffered from

fits of violent passion since early childhood. She was so little able
to control herself that her mother often feared she might kill her
sister, and she still (1895) often came to blows with her younger
brother. She had always been intensely selfish, and could not
see why she should do anything for others. She admitted herHYPNOTISM IN MEDICINE

235

defects of character without shame, and said she heartily enjoyed
quarrelling and setting others by the ears. She consented in the
^waking state that I should try to alter^her character, and I
.suggested during hypnosis that she should give up quarrelling,
and take a pleasure in helping others. A complete change took
^lace: she became affectionate, good-tempered and helpful. Even
; when ill there was no trace of her former irritability. Up to the
, present date (1903) there has been no relapse. This patient was
^originally sent by Dr. Boulting, of Hampstead, on account of spinal
neuralgi^nd insomnia, and was successfully treated by hypnotism
for these affections.1

; No. 72. Miss -, aged 13, February, 1900, had always

! been emotional and highly nervous. For several years she had
I walked in her sleep, and during the last four had been addicted
jyto constant nail-biting. Wearing gloves at night and other
\ careful treatment failed to check the habit, and the nails were
I always worn to the quick. This patient, who was sent to me by
^ Professor William James, of Harvard University, was easily
I hypnotised at the first attempt, and neither bit her nails nor
walked in her sleep after the second sitting. Later reports
satisfactory.

Enuresis nocturna is of frequent occurrence in degenerate
children, and, with one exception, in every case in which
I induced genuine hypnosis the patient recovered. In 1890,
for example, I had 18 cases, all successful. Of these, 12
were girls and 6 boys, their ages varying from 4 to 12 years.
In every instance the recovery was confirmed by later reports.

The failure already referred to was a young lady, aged 23,
who had suffered from enuresis nocturna from infancy. This had
become progressively worse, and since the age of 16 had occurred
every night. She was of a nervous temperament and somewhat
irritable, but otherwise strong and healthy: there was nothing
physically wrong with the bladder or urethra. Careful and varied
medical treatment had been without result. Hypnosis was
easily induced at the first attempt, and the incontinence dis-
appeared as long as she remained under treatment. Shortly after
returning home she relapsed; with renewed treatment the enuresis
again ceased, but only to reappear later.

No. 73. Mr.--, aged 27, April, 1900. When I first saw

1 Case No. 22, pp. 194-5.236

HYPNOTISM

this patient I was informed that he never spoke, except when
questioned, and that his replies were generally unintelligible.
Nothing seemed to interest him, and he neither worked nor
amused himself. He was heir to an entailed estate, a fact which
added importance to his mental condition. The latter, in the
opinion of a well-known alienist, was more likely to terminate in
idiocy than improvement.

Apparently the patient had been backward in development,
and in consequence had been the butt of his schoolfellows. As
the result of this, he had progressively lost confidence in himself,
and had become more and more self-conscious. Behind all this,
however, he appeared to possess much more intelligence than he
was credited with; and this view was shared by Dr. Fletcher
Beach, who saw the patient in consultation with me.

Hypnotic treatment was begun on April 19th, 1900, and
repeated on 44 occasions up to February, 1901. During that
time the patient spoke more and more distinctly, and became
less shy and self-conscious. Since then his life has become
progressively more normal. He is now engaged in active work,
and even speaks in public. The last report, in December, 1902,
was thoroughly satisfactory.

The following are from the practice of others:—

No. 74 (Yoisin). Miss -, aged 11, December, 1886, lied

persistently, and had masturbated since she was two years old.
She could not be left alone for a moment during the day, and it
was always necessary to tie her hands at night. Eecovered after
hypnotic treatment.

No. 75 (Voisin). Miss ——, aged 9^-, July, 1887, was
intelligent, but excessively idle. At the age of 7, while living
with the children of peasants, she was taught to masturbate. Six
months later she was dismissed from school on this account,
and her mother frequently caught her renewing the practice.
Hypnotised five times from July 25th to August 15th, 1887.
Eecovered.

No. 76 (Yoisin). Master -, aged 16, June 1888, had

always been difficult to manage, but from the age of 6 had
become more and more uncontrollable. He lied, stole, and
masturbated: treatment and discipline produced no improvement,
and he was expelled from every school he went to. He recovered
after being hypnotised regularly for a month. A year laterHYPNOTISM IN MEDICINE

237

there had been no return of his vicious habits: his character was
completely changed, he enjoyed work, was amiable and well-
behaved, admired what was good, and sought every possible
occasion to be useful and pleasing to others.

In 1889, Liebeault published 22 consecutive cases of more
or less grave mental disturbance in children; of these 10 re-
covered, 8 were improved, and in 4 there was no result. The
following are three examples :—

No. 77. Master -, aged 18, collapsed after overwork,

and had long been under medical treatment without benefit. He
was dull, stupid, morose, and avoided everybody; he rarely
did anything on his own account, was obstinately silent, and
would hardly reply to questions. He suffered from general
feebleness, diarrhoea, incontinence of urine, muscular tremor,
profuse perspirations, and headaches. He recovered after a
month's hypnotic treatment, and there was no relapse.

No. 78. Master-, aged 17, began to suffer from headache

some months previously when preparing for an examination.
Shortly afterwards he became stupid, and then passed into a
condition resembling melancholia with mutism. He recovered
after two months' hypnotic treatment, and there was no relapse.

No. 79. Miss-, aged 8, had always been stupid and had

learnt with difficulty: she also masturbated and suffered from
incontinence of urine. Complete recovery after short hypnotic
treatment.

BerillonJias recorded numerous cases of nocturnal terror in
^hiHr^rin which recovery took place after a few hypnotic treat-
ments. Equally good results were obtained in various nervous
" tics " ; amongst these patients one constantly made a noise with
his tongue, another suffered from involuntary winking of the
right eyelid.

B^rillon has reported many cases of nail-biting which have
been cured by hypnotic suggestion ; in some this habit was the
only symptom of degeneracy, in others it was associated or followed
by other nervous symptoms.

Berillon terms mil-biting onychophagie, and considers the
condition a serious one for the following reasons:—

(1) It is a sign of degeneracy, and is frequently followed by
other symptoms of this condition, e.g. onanism, nocturnal terrors,
sleep-walking, nervous irritability, etc.238

HYPNOTISM

(2)	It may be the means of introducing the germs of disease
into the mouths of the patients.

(3)	Nail-biters become clumsy in the use of their hands;
and the condition is often associated with a certain amount of
local anaesthesia.

^— (4) The habit is a common one: in one school 34 per cent
of the children bit their nails, and 36 per cent bit their pen-
holders; in another 20 per cent of the boys and 52 per cent of
the girls were nail-biters.

In 1887, Li^beault published 77 cases of enuresis noctuma,
of which 45 were boys and 32 girls; the average age was a little
over 7; the youngest being 3 years old, the eldest 18. With
all, except 9, the habit dated from birth.

Results.—56 recovered, 9 were improved, 8 showed no
improvement, while 4 were only seen once, and of these there
was no further news.

Cullerre has reported 24 cases of enuresis nocturna, with
21 recoveries.

Many other equally successful cases of the hypnotic treat-
ment of vicious and degenerate children have been published by
-^oisin, Li^beault, Bdrillon, Bourdon, E^gis, de Jong, Schrenck-
Notzing, Ladame, For el, Teuscher, BoufiK, Bechterew, Wetter-
strand, Cullerre, Bauer, Ringier, Lemoine, Joire, Farez, and others^

(7) Obsessions.

The following cases are from my own practice:—

No. 80. Mr. -, aged 24, consulted me in May 1889.

Some months previously he had had a number of diseased glands
removed from the face and neck, and went up the Mediterranean
to recruit. While crossing a plank he fell and injured his
perineum: an abscess formed, which burst externally and into
the urethra. When I saw him there was a large unhealthy
wound through which the urine escaped. I instructed him to
pass a soft catheter regularly, and the wound became more healthy.
One day he was impelled to empty his bladder before he could
pass the instrument, and-the water again escaped from the
wound. This happened more and more frequently; at last the
idea of passing water caused him at once to empty his bladder,HYPNOTISM IN MEDICINE

239

no matter where he was at the time. This appeared to be
entirely independent of the physical condition of the bladder,
which did not contract because it was full or uncomfortable, but
because the idea of urination presented itself to the patient's
mind, and was instantly translated into its physical equivalent.
He now thought constantly about his condition, which thus
became greatly aggravated. He began to sleep badly, and awoke
frequently during the night: the instant he did so he thought of
his bladder and was immediately compelled to empty it. Despite
treatment, these symptoms continued for several months, and
his state became a grave one. I had not previously employed
hypnotism, but the mental element in this case seemed so marked
that I determined, since other treatment had failed, to try what
this would do. After explaining to my patient, an educated
man, that I had no practical and only slight theoretical knowledge
of the subject, I proceeded to hypnotise him by Braid's method.
In a few minutes his eyeballs rolled upwards and inwards, and
he became lethargic. I repeated this the two following days;
then suggested during hypnosis that he should cease to think
about his bladder, should always be able to pass his catheter,
retain his urine eight hours, and sleep well. These suggestions
were immediately fulfilled; from that day there was no return of
his troublesome symptoms, and the wound healed without opera-
tion in about twelve months. At the present date (February,
1903) Mr.-is in good health.

No. 81. Mr. —-, aged 25, first consulted me March, 1890.

Formerly strong and athletic, distinguished football player, bicyclist,
etc. Two years previously, after the death of his mother from
cancer of the breast, he began to fear that he might contract the
same disease. This idea grew stronger and stronger; he became
neurasthenic, and suffered from insomnia, depression, dyspepsia,
etc. Finally the dread of cancer passed into the firm conviction
that his left breast was infected by it. He now remained nearly
always in one room, and would not go into another without
muffling himself up and putting on an overcoat. For some
months he complained of difficulty in moving the left arm, and
carried it in a sling. I found nothing to justify his fears, but
the muscles of the arm were distinctly wasted from disuse. He
was easily hypnotised at the first attempt, and this was repeated
nearly every day for a fortnight, when deep hypnosis with240

HYPNOTISM

somnambulism was obtained. His morbid ideas at once dis-
appeared ; his general health speedily improved, and, a few days
after the treatment was abandoned, I saw him driving a spirited
horse. A week afterwards he told me he felt perfectly well, and
was going to train a young horse to jump. Up to the last report
(1901) there had been no relapse.

The two cases given above were drawn from my general
practice at Goole.

No. 82. Mrs.--, aged 46, March, 1894. The following

notes of this case were supplied by Dr. -, the patient's

husband : " My wife suffered from myxcedema, following influenza;
she had low temperature, loss of hair, dulness of intellect,
slowness of movement, general irregular swelling of the body,
facial disfigurement, alteration of voice, and muscular pains. I
put her on thyroid extract in January, 1893, and although the
symptoms peculiar to myxoedema disappeared, she became utterly
sleepless, her limbs trembled after the least exertion and her
digestion became very bad. I brought her to you on March 1st,
1894, to see whether suggestion would procure sleep. At the
second attempt you succeeded in inducing very slight hypnosis,
and she began to sleep fairly well. For more than a year she
had never had more than three hours' unbroken sleep, and often far
less. She soon began to sleep thoroughly well and uninterruptedly,
and her indigestion, for which I had found drugs and careful
dieting ineffective, disappeared after a few suggestions. Her legs
became stronger, and her energies restored very much to what
they were twenty years ago, when she was renowned amongst
her acquaintances for her untiring energy. The fact, however,
that strikes me most forcibly is this—several members of her
family are sleep-walkers, and she also walked in her sleep in
childhood and once or twice as a young woman, while the habit
is transmitted to our youngest girl. When her first baby was
born, sixteen years ago, the thought crossed my wife's mind:
" What if I walk in my sleep and do an injury to my child ?"
I endeavoured to persuade her that she had grown out of the
habit, but the attempt was wholly fruitless. The idea grew until
it assumed the character of an id4e fixe, and she always tied her-
self to the bedpost at night. All attempts to break herself of
the habit were failures; and if she went to bed without fastening
herself she was never able to go to sleep until she did so. WhenHYPNOTISM IN MEDICINE

241

we moved into our present house, three and a half years ago, she
became alarmed at the great height of the bedroom windows from
the ground, and their lowness from the floor. She began to
suggest that possibly she might undo her own knots during her
sleep, and get out of the window. I pointed out how unlikely
it was that she should walk in her sleep after a score of years'
complete immunity. She granted my reasoning was just, but it
did not dispel her fear; and she insisted upon my tying her to
the bedpost each night in a very effective manner. In May,
1894, I told you of this persistent dread, and asked you to
suggest that she should neither walk in her sleep, nor be
apprehensive of so doing. During that sitting you repeated this
suggestion two or three times, but have not done so since. The
effect was magical. She has never asked me to tie her to her
bed from that day, and tells me she has never once thought
about it. To me it is all the more remarkable as the hypnosis
in her case is so slight, and appears to pass into natural sleep if
you leave her for a few seconds. She is of a nervous, excitable
temperament, but by no means greedy of the marvellous or ready
to accord belief to any doctrine. She had a healthy scepticism
of the possibility of any one hypnotising her, but was anxious for
the attempt to be made as she suffered so acutely." Recovery
confirmed by later reports.

No. 83. Mr.-, aged 28, first consulted me in April, 1894.

His father was very nervous and passionate, and had suffered
from " brain fever" and chorea. At the age of 14, the patient
had many religious doubts and fears, and believed he had com-
mitted the unpardonable sin. At 16, while working in a cocoa
manufactory, he began to fear that the red lead, which was used
in fastening certain hot pipes, might get into the tins containing
cocoa, and so poison people. This was the commencement of a
folie du doute and ddire du toucher, which had never since left
him. Instead of going on with his work he was irresistibly
impelled to clean and reclean the tins. The following is taken
from the letter of a friend to whom he confided his troubles:

"On October 1st, 1891, Mr. - told me that he had

attempted to commit suicide, as his life was so miserable (he had
taken poison). He had read of a case of poisoning through
eating chocolate, and connected himself with it, though it was

five years since he had helped to manufacture any. He now

R242

HYPNOTISM

believed he might have been careless with the moulds, and thus
have produced a poisoned chocolate, which years afterwards had
caused the child's death! The grotesque absurdity of the story,
as he related it to me, would have made me laugh, had I not felt
how terribly real it was to him. His vivid imagination had
pictured every incident of the tragedy: the child buying the
chocolate, running home full of happiness, then becoming ill and
gradually sickening in awful agony till released by death. The
keenness of mind with which he sought to prove the reasonableness
of his belief that he had poisoned the child was extraordinary.
He wrote: ' Yesterday I was unscrewing some gas burners in a
provision shop and got some white lead on my hands, and I have
been thinking that it may have got amongst the food/ I found
that brooding over this fancy had brought him to the verge of
despair, and for weeks his life was a perpetual agony. He
worries himself about his work of fixing advertisement-plates to
walls, and can never persuade himself that they are securely
fastened. He fancies the nails are bad, or the mortar loose, and
makes himself ill over it. I have pointed out to him that if a
plate fell it would almost invariably slide down the wall. This
has not prevented him from painting a most elaborate mental
picture of the decapitation of an unfortunate youngster, who
happened to be playing marbles with his head against the wall.
To enumerate all his troubles would take a small volume. I
have a great pile of his letters before me now, and I suppose
they constitute one of the most extraordinary analytical auto-
biographies it would be possible to find. In reading them I
cannot help marvelling at the strange unshapely wonder of such
an imagination. He makes every incident in his life the founda-
tion-stone of a castle of fancies; and of late years each castle
has become a prison—a torture chamber in which he has
dissected his motives and his actions, until he has ceased to
believe in himself at all."

When I first saw the patient the folie du doute and
dilire du' toucher were constant, and most varied in their
manifestations. If he accidentally touched persons in the street,
he began to fear that he might have injured them, and exaggerated
the touch into a more or less violent push. If the person
touched were a woman, he feared that she might have been
pregnant, and that he might have injured the child. If he sawHYPNOTISM IN MEDICINE

243

a piece of orange-peel on the pavement, he kicked it into the
road, but soon afterwards began to think that this was a more
dangerous place, as any one slipping on it might strike his head
against the curb-stone; and so he was irresistibly impelled to
return and put it in its former position. At one time he used to
bind himself to perform certain acts by vowing he would give
God his money if he did not do them. Then, sometimes, he was
uncertain whether he had vowed or not: owing to this, he gave
sums to religious objects which were quite disproportionate to
his income. Apart from his peculiar fancies, I found the patieut
perfectly rational and intelligent; and, though his dilire du
toucher hindered him greatly in his work, he generally managed
to execute it, but on some occasions he was compelled to
abandon the attempt. At that time I tried to hypnotise him on
twenty-four occasions, but apparently without success, and he
was then compelled to leave town. He returned on April 2nd,
1895, for a week's further treatment: he told me that since his
former visit his morbid ideas had neither been so frequent nor
marked, and were accompanied by less mental agony. From
that date, though the treatment was not again repeated, he rapidly
recovered, and six months later wrote to say he could laugh at
his former fears. His recovery was confirmed by a later report
in 1902.

No. 84. Mr. -, aged 33, tall, strong and athletic, was

sent to me on March 7th, 1894, by Dr. Boulting, of Hampstead.
The patient stated that he had always been of a sensitive dis-
position, and inclined to be morbidly self-conscious. Of late
years this had greatly developed, and made his life a burden to
him. He had the fixed idea that he was constantly making
mistakes in business, and that all those with whom he was
brought in contact considered him a fool. During a business
interview he was embarrassed and spoke with difficulty, and felt
that every one must notice this. He had the same feelings in
reference to society, and shunned it as much as possible. He
also had morbid and entirely unfounded fears about his physical
condition. He was hypnotised ten times to July 11th, 1894,
and his morbid ideas entirely disappeared. A year later he told
me there had not been the slightest relapse, and that he was now
fond of society and at his ease in it.

No. 85. Mr. -, aged 35, was sent by me to Dr. de244

HYPNOTISM

Watteville, on October 29tli, 1894. His illness had begun six
months previously after the sudden death of his brother-in-law.
From that time he slept badly, dreamt of his own death, and was
haunted by constant fears about himself and his family. He
developed agoraphobia, was unable to cross the road without
assistance, dreaded losing his employment, and feared he would
find his wife and children dead when he returned from work.
One day, when sitting alone, he believed he saw two men bring his
coffin into the room. He was utterly miserable and had strong
suicidal impulses. He also had frequent attacks of giddiness,
and felt he would fall unless he caught hold of something: on
one occasion he lost consciousness. He was hypnotised five
times up to November 12th: his morbid fears had then almost
entirely disappeared; but, as he still had attacks of giddiness,
the treatment was repeated occasionally up to April, 1895. His
recovery is confirmed by later reports. Case shown at Bethlem
Hospital and elsewhere.

No. 86. Mr.-, aged 32, April, 1895. Ten years pre-
viously this patient began to have peculiar doubts and fears.
He felt that if he did anything opposed to popular superstition
something dreadful would happen to the Almighty. He was
capable of recognising the absurdity of this when it was pointed
out to him ; but directly afterwards his morbid ideas returned and
governed his actions. Every fresh superstition he heard of was
added to his list; and so many unlucky days and places were
created by his doing, or failing to do, things against, or in con-
formity with, these superstitions, that his actions were seriously
interfered with. Thus months often passed before he could find
a propitious day for buying an article of clothing, and a still
longer time would elapse before he found a suitable occasion to
put it on. Sometimes there was nowhere for him to go, and
nothing he could do. He was utterly wretched, but had succeeded
in concealing his trouble from every one. After prolonged treat-
ment he improved greatly, but his recovery could not be said to
be complete.

I could cite many other and widely differing cases, but in all
the essential conditions were the same—the patients were obsessed
by ideas which interfered with their actions or happiness, and
rendered their lives more or less miserable.

Braid reported two interesting cases of obsession. In oneHYPNOTISM IN MEDICINE

245

the patient believed she was haunted by the spirit of a dead
relative, and had visual hallucinations. In the other, the patient
was unable to get rid of morbid ideas associated with death,
which had arisen after seeing a dead body, and in addition had
the fixed idea that she still smelt the corpse. Both patients
recovered after hypnotic treatment.

Many equally successful cases are reported by more recent
observers. Thus:—

No. 87 (Schrenck-Notzing). Mr. --; fixed idea regarding

catching cold kept this patient for six months in his room.
Hypnotised. Eecovered.

No. 88 (Schrenck-Notzing). Mr.-, aged 24, had periods

of terror and uncontrollable sensations and ideas, with the fixed
idea that his fiancee did not love him. Hypnotised. Recovered.

No. 89 (Hecker). Mrs. - was impelled to wash herself

continuously and unnecessarily; had morbid ideas that the doors
and windows were not properly fastened, and fancied that she
dressed herself untidily. On one occasion, after having spent two
hours trying to dress, she sent for Hecker, who found her in a
state of great anxiety, putting on and off her clothes until
exhausted. Hypnotised for a month. Eecovered.

No. 90 (Wetterstrand). Mrs.-, aged 42, for several years

had a morbid dread of thunderstorms; did not dare go into the
country in summer, and in winter dreaded what the summer
might bring. Constantly watched the appearance of the sky.
Hypnotised twenty times. Eecovered.

No. 91 (de Jong). Mr. -, agoraphobia of many years'

standing. Hypnotised ten times. Eecovered. No relapse after
a year and a half.

No. 92 (de Jong). Mrs.-, fear of storms and of travelling

by rail. Hypnotised. Eecovered.

No. 93 (van Eeden and van Eenterghem). Mr. -, ag&d

56. Psychical impotence for three years, with the fixed idea,
which he recognised to be false, that his wife was unfaithful to
him. Hypnotised eight times. Eecovered. No relapse after
twenty-two months.

This list might be largely extended, many other cases having
been reported by Bernheim, Delbceuf, Gorodichze, Eussell Sturgis,
Yoisin, Burot, Mavroukakis, Bourdon, etc.

Remarks.—Patients are generally ashamed to acknowledge246

HYPNOTISM

that they suffer from obsessions, and often conceal them from
every one, including their medical attendant. Thus, few people
have any idea how common the disease is, and it was only after
I commenced to practise suggestive therapeutics that I constantly
met with it. Fortunately hypnotic treatment frequently gives
brilliant results in such cases: the majority of those I have seen
recovered, and relapse has been rare. It is necessary to say
something as to the mental conditions involved in obsessions, as
these are very imperfectly understood, and English literature on
the subject is particularly scanty.

One of the most important contributions to the subject is to
be found in the late Dr. Hack Tuke's paper on " Imperative Ideas "
{Brain, 1894). He stated that the mental phenomena he described
had been more clearly defined by French and German than by
English writers. This is undoubtedly correct; but, although the
former have long recognised such conditions, it is only within
comparatively recent times that they, like ourselves, have ceased
to confound them with various forms of insanity. Ladame, of
Geneva, for example, in referring to the different opinions expressed
in reference to folie du doute and d&ire du toucher by Schiile,
Magnan, Krafft-Ebing, Marc6, Jules Falret, Morel, Lesfeque,
Ball, Meynert, Kraepelin, and Scholz, says folie du doute is
regarded by contemporary writers sometimes as a symptom of the
most varied mental affections, sometimes as a psychopathic episode
of hereditary degeneracy, sometimes as a special form of psychosis;
and sometimes as a simple elementary psychic trouble, dependent
on the general pathology of mental alienation. Thus " doubt," he
says, does not only exist among the patients: it has passed into
science, and could equally well be called folie du doute on account
of its uncertain place in the chart of mental maladies, as well as
for the strange symptoms which characterise it.

According to Ladame, Pinel, at the beginning of this century,
first commenced to recognise folie du doute, while Esquirol, in
1838, published the first detailed clinical observation of ddire
du toucher, and laid stress on the patient's constant fight against
obsessions and his recognition of their absurdity. Brierre de
Boismont, in 1853, also stated that the irresistible idea keenly
combated by the patient was characteristic of these cases. " The
following distinction must be made," he said, "namely, that ideas
may make one ill when they dominate the mind, but one is notHYPNOTISM IN MEDICINE

247

really mad except when the will has become powerless to control
the impulsions." That the patients fight against their obsessions,
without succeeding in getting rid of them, was particularly-
insisted upon in the discussion upon monomanias at the Medico-
Psychological Society of Paris on June 26th, 1854. Delasiauve, in
1859, made a first attempt to distinguish between pseudo-mono-
manias and recognised forms of insanity. After 1860, observations
on d&ire du toucher became more numerous, and Baillarger appears
to have been the first to notice that these conditions frequently
commenced at puberty. Marc£, in 1862, though he failed to
separate d&ire du toucher from insanity, clearly described the origin
of imperative ideas. " In a predisposed person," he says, " feeble
of character, endowed with keen sensibility, a word, an emotion,
a fear, a desire leaves one day a profound impression. The
thought, born in this manner, presents itself to the mind in an
importunate way, takes possession of it, does not leave it, dominates
all its conceptions; during this time the individual may have
consciousness of all the absurdity, unreasonableness, or criminality
of this idea; the acts themselves soon conform to these unhealthy
preoccupations, and become absurd and extravagant."

The term, folic du doute, occurred for the first time in
the celebrated discussion upon la manic raisonnante, at the
Medico-Psychological Society of Paris, March 26 th, 1866;
but from what was said by Jules Falret on that occasion, it
was evident that what he called folic du doute corresponded
to d&ire du toucher, and not to the form of mental trouble
described two years later by Griesinger as Grubelsucht and
Krankhafte Fragesucht. In this discussion Baillarger stated
that one of his patients never ceased to make suppositions and to
lose herself in " if" and " perhaps." A clear distinction between
these diseases and recognised forms of insanity was made for the
first time in 1886 by Morel, and he stated that patients suffering
from imperative ideas did not interpret their obsessions after the
manner of the insane; that they neither experienced hallucinations
nor illusions; nor did they undergo those transformations which
change the personality of the insane, and make them radically
different from what they were before. Heredity, including not only
hereditary insanity, but also other nervous conditions, such as
hysteria and hypochondria, he regarded as important exciting causes.

In 1868, Griesinger published cases which showed for the first248

HYPNOTISM

time that the entire malady might consist in insoluble questions,
which unceasingly pursued the patient, who could not escape from
"why" and "how," and he considered the condition might be
independent of emotional complications. In 1875, Legrand du
Saulle showed that the same patients could present successively
the symptoms of folie du doute and those of ddlire du toucher,
and he attempted, by joining these two conditions, to form a
special mental affection having a veritable morbid entity.

In 1877, Westphal published an important contribution to
this subject. According to him, the obsession never becomes a true
id6e fixe cUlircinte, but always remains a stranger to the patient's
ego, while the insane conform logically to the deductions of their
fixed ideas. This scientific distinction between the fixed ideas of
the insane, and mere obsessions, has long been recognised by the
Church, which has always made a difference between possession
and obsession, saying for example: " This man is not possessed,
he is only suffering from obsession." According to Westphal an
obsession is not an emotion, nor is it ever produced by one, and if
attacks of mental agony appear later, these are always secondary
and simply concomitant phenomena. This opinion is opposed to
the observations of Morel and the French savants. Wille holds
that obsessions can have an emotional base, and thinks that they
are sometimes followed by veritable mental alienation, while
Westphal affirms that cases of obsession never become insane.
Wille, as well as Legrand du Saulle, has noticed the frequent
suicidal ideas and even attempts at suicide, sometimes followed
by death, and considers folie du doute and its likes as an
intermediate condition between the nevroses and the psychoses,
and that obsession is always ready to pass into madness.

Westphal divides obsessions into three kinds:—(1) Those
which remain purely theoretical, as the folie du doute, when it
takes the form of questions. (2) Those which produce certain
actions, as the d&ire du toucher. (3) Impulsive obsessions,
which provoke immediate actions.

While other authors since Morel have emphasised heredity as
an essential factor in obsessions, Magnan, in 1885, appears to have
been the first to consider this mental trouble as a direct and
immediate sign of morbid heredity.

In opposition to Legrand du Saulle, Ladame demands the
separation of folie du doute and dtlire du toucher into twoHYPNOTISM IN MEDICINE

249

distinct clinical varieties. These, like pleuro-pneumonia, are
certainly often associated, he says, but more often exist isolated.
In illustration of this he cites the following cases:—

(a)	A young man, aged 28, suffered from fear of contamina-
tion and frequently washed his hands as a method of purification.
He never feared he would forget anything and never addressed
questions to himself. This, according to Ladame, was a case of
delire du toucher without folie du doute.

(b)	Miss-, aged 33, has had since childhood ideas which

she cannot get rid of. She asks herself all sorts of questions
and seeks in vain for their answers. These are particularly in
reference to the other world and the Creation. Did everything
make itself ? Has God created all things ? Did not the world
make itself ? Is there a God ? How can one divide objects into
infinitely little parts, when each little part can still be divided ?
How is it that an object infinitely divided can still be divided,
notwithstanding that one cannot divide it anymore? Is God
able to divide it still further ? God only can divide it and never-
theless this particle cannot be divided! How do you account for
that ? She has never suffered from ddire du toucher.

Van Eeden says that in four cases treated by him the con-
nection between folie du doute and dSlire du toucher could not
be mistaken, and that in all these cases the folie du doute was
evolved after the d&ire du toucher and was an evident con-
sequence of it. One case commenced with the fear of catching
syphilis. The patient avoided touching anything he suspected
of being contaminated, and, if this happened, scrupulously washed
his hands. His precautions became exaggerated, until he not
only doubted their efficacy, but also the clearness of his judg-
ment ; and then, despite the excessive attention given to these
washings, could not obtain a certainty of complete cleanliness.
A similar progressive evolution was observed, says van Eeden,
in another case, where the patient suffered from crainte de
souillure, then doubt and finally mistrust of herself. The
ddire du toucher began with fear of soiling her food, she
washed her hands incessantly, but afterwards the doubt returned.
Another patient, who was nursing a case of cancer, became afraid
of catching it. She washed her hands constantly, and avoided
coming in contact with suspected persons.

In agoraphobia, claustrophobia, etc., van Eeden says the idea250

HYPNOTISM

of fright arises suddenly from the impression of the surroundings,
and it is only after having this that the patient avoids open or
closed spaces. Here it is the fear which causes the obsession.
He classifies these and similar conditions as follows:—(1) Con-
ceptions obsidantes; here the obsession springs from a precise
and detailed conception of some act which acquires an impulsive
force. (2) Les Amotions obsMantes; chiefly terror, in which,,
a momentary emotion, an impression—which a normal man can
equally well experience, but which he quickly represses—domi-
nates the volition and the reason. The patients are not able to
say what they fear, or if they give a reason it is evidently
an invented one. (3) Impulsions obsMantes; the irresistible
tendency to commit strange or improper acts. (4) Les iddes
obsSdantes properly so-called; the intellectual obsessions of the
French, the Grubelsucht of Griesinger and Berger. The patient
is not able to escape from the obsession to think constantly about
a certain subject or question. Here it is neither a question of a
perception or emotion, nor of an impulse to commit an act; there
is only one isolated idea—a word, a phrase, incessantly pursues
the patient and continually occupies his thoughts.

Yan Eeden regards what he calls " manias of superstition " as
an interesting variety of obsessions. One of his patients, a man
aged 40, of healthy constitution, has since childhood attached
prophetic signification to puerile facts and events. To wear a
certain necktie promises him happiness or unhappiness. If he does
not touch, a certain boundary-stone he thinks evil will happen to
him. If he does not re-read a certain line, or make a certain
letter thicker when writing, something horrible will befall him.
At first his strange ideas were insignificant, or he was able to
resist them; but, as he grew older they filled his life and rendered
it intolerable. For twenty years he made a pilgrimage every
Sunday to the railway station in order to kick a certain post
three times with each foot. If he did not do this his father
would die; In order to rid himself of these obsessions he made
vows and associated threats with them. He said for example:
" If I yield to one of my caprices in the course of an hour I shall
have apoplexy before twenty-four hours have passed." At first
this succeeded, but soon the effect of the vows diminished, and he
was compelled to make them stronger. The unhappy man now
stands sometimes for a quarter of an hour muttering the mostHYPNOTISM IN MEDICINE

251

fearful imprecations, in order to get the strength to go an errand.
If he omits them he is forced to obey the most absurd impulses.
He must stop before a certain house, retrace his steps, touch
boundaries, stop passers-by or touch their clothes: in a word, he
is obliged to act like a maniac. His intellect is perfectly normal,
and he attends to his business as if nothing were the matter.

B&illon thinks the professional character of these nervous
troubles has not been sufficiently noticed, and he draws an
analogy between them and the different functional spasms
which show a tendency to professional localisation. In illus-
tration of this he cites the following cases:—A young priest,
not timid in the performance of his other religious duties, suffered
agony on entering the pulpit. Another suffered in the same
way when he received a confession. A medical student suffered
extreme agony at the sight of a few drops of blood. A chemist
made up a prescription which caused the death of a customer.
He was able to prove that it was dispensed exactly as ordered
by the doctor; but, as his existence became a veritable torture from
constant fear of making a mistake, he sold his business. A notary
had morbid fears only when he had to give a professional opinion
A hairdresser noticed that his hand trembled one day, and then
constantly dreaded that this would reappear when he shaved his
best customers. The same anxiety did not exist when he had to
shave a poor or unknown customer. Dr. Fr^mineau reports the
case of an actor who abandoned his profession on account of
extreme stage - fright. This condition only appeared after a
successful career. Dr. Berillon reports several similar cases.
Riegler has noticed a morbid fear amongst railway mechanics,
to which he has given the name of sidtrodromophobie; this
is characterised by an extraordinary aversion to their habitual
occupation, and the sight of a train or the whistle of an engine
is sufficient to revive their anxiety. Grasset mentions that a
distinguished Parisian surgeon commences to be anxious the
moment a patient leaves his consulting-room with a prescription.
He anxiously asks himself whether he could have written centi-
grammes instead of milligrammes; and only recovers his mental
calm when his servant, sent to seek the patient, brings back the
prescription, and he can see that it is all right. Another doctor,
he says, is rendered perfectly miserable by the fear of microbes.
Brochin reports the case of a doctor who fears no contagious252

HYPNOTISM

malady, except diphtheria, and who shows proof of veritable
heroism every time he sees a diphtheritic patient. A case has
recently been reported from abroad, where a medical man,
dreading that his fees might be the means of contagion, invented
elaborate methods of sterilising them; and I know of a similar
case in this country.

These morbid fears are awkward enough when they occur in
ordinary life, but, according to Berillon, they acquire graver im-
portance when the subjects of them are liable to enforced military
service, especially in the ranks. In Legrand du Saulle's classic
case of agoraphobia, a lieutenant of infantry experienced undefin-
able agony when obliged to cross an open space in civilian clothes,
but this never happened when he was in uniform. When an officer
suffers in this way he can escape from the intolerable situation
by getting leave of absence, but it is not so with the soldier.
Berillon gives amongst others the following examples:—

Paul C., aged 25, illness dates from military service. When
ordered to cross the horizontal bar at the gymnasium he was
seized with extreme apprehension, and afterwards the idea of this
exercise was always present. Again ordered to perform it he
became terrified, and asked to be excused, but from that time his
superiors insisted more and more upon the dreaded exercise.
One day in attempting to cross the bar he became giddy and fell
upon his head. A veritable agoraphobia developed; and since his
return from military service he has been unable to cross a road
by himself.

M., aged 37, commercial traveller, suffered from chronic
diarrhoea, which caused him to dread leaving home; after this
ceased he retained his nervous fears. Once, when a short dis-
tance from his house, the anxiety was so strong that he was
obliged to return, and since then, seven years ago, he has lived
in a circle having a diameter of about 200 metres, and nothing
will induce him to leave it. When, as a member of the Reserve,
he had to serve his first period of twenty-eight days, he was
able to perform his duties; but at the second period the agora-
phobia had developed, and by dint of diplomacy, ingenuity, and
bribery, he managed to be kept constantly employed in the
barracks.

According to Dr. Gelineau a crowd of sentiments of repug-
nance, etc., which the laity group as " aversions " closely resembleHYPNOTISM IN MEDICINE

253

the conditions we are discussing. Henry the Third, for example,
who showed his bravery at the Siege of La Rochelle and else-
where, could not bear the sight of a cat. The Duke of Epernon
fainted at the sight of a young donkey. Ladislas, King of Poland,
got frightened and ran away when he saw apples; and Favoriti,
a modern Italian poet, could not bear the smell of a rose. Dr.
Pierre d'Apono was so frightened at the sight of milk and cheese
that he fainted. Montaigne said: " I have seen more people
driven to flight by the smell of apples than by arquebuses, others
frightened at a mouse, made sick by the sight of cream, or by
seeing a feather-bed shaken."

Eibot applies the term " fixed ideas" to the states we are
discussing, and regards them as " chronic hypertrophy of the
attention " ; the " fixed ideas " being the absolute, " attention "1 the
temporary predominance of an intellectual state or group of states.
The fixed idea is attention in its highest degree and marks the
extreme limit of its power of inhibition. There exists, he says,
both in normal attention and in fixed ideas, predominance and
intensity of a state of consciousness: this is more marked, how-
ever, in the fixed idea, which is permanent and disposes of the
important psychical factor—time. In attention, this exceptional
state does not last long: consciousness reverts spontaneously to
its normal condition, which is a struggle for existence between
heterogeneous states. The fixed idea prevents all diffusion.
There is no antagonistic state that is able to overthrow it. Effort
is impossible or vain. Hence the agony of the patient who is
conscious of his own impoteney. The following is Ribot's con-
ception of the probable physiological condition associated with
fixed ideas :—In its normal state he says the entire brain works;
diffused activity is the rule. Discharges take place from one
group of cells into another, as the objective equivalent of
the perpetual alterations of consciousness. In the morbid state
only a few nervous elements are active; or, at least, their state of
tension is not transmitted to other groups. Whatever may be
their position in the cerebral organ, they are, as a matter of fact,
isolated; all disposable energy has been accumulated in them,
and they do not communicate it to other groups; whence their
supreme dominance and exaggerated activity. There is a lack of
physiological equilibrium, due probably to the state of nutrition
1 ordinary attention.254

HYPNOTISM

of the cerebral centres. Eibot refers to Westphal's recognition
of the difference between fixed ideas and insanity, and his state-
ment that " the fixed idea is a disturbance of the form of the
process of ideation, but not of its contents." The " formal" per-
turbation consists, says Eibot, in the inexorable necessity that
compels the association always to follow the same path. There
is derangement, not in the nature, the quality of the idea, which
is normal, but in its quantity, intensity, and degree. Thus it is
perfectly rational to reflect upon the usefulness of bank-notes, or
the origin of things, and this state differs widely from that of the
beggar who thinks himself a millionaire, or the man who believes
himself to be a woman.

As regards the connection between folie dw doute and
d&ire du toucher, it is interesting to note that the latter con-
dition occurred in No. 83 (pp. 241-3) as soon as the patient's
doubts took a material form, but was not associated with it
when his obsessions were purely intellectual. Does not this
show that the appearance of the dAlire du toucher simply
depends upon the nature of the folie du doute, and that the
incessant washings, etc., are the patient's natural physical efforts
to rid himself of his material fears, while the character of the
purely intellectual obsessions renders such relief impossible.

Mr.-(JSTo. 83) sought and found its nearest equivalent in

telling his religious troubles to an older friend, in whose opinions
he tried to find consolation. From this point of view, the second
of the cases quoted by Ladame shows folie du doute unassoci-
ated with d&ire du toucher. This separation is, I think, more
artificial than real. In his first case, that of the young man who
frequently washed his hands through fear of contamination, it is
by no means clear that this was a case of d&ire du toucher
without folie du doute. Surely the abnormal and incessant
washing must have been the result of doubts which he thus tried
to remove. The same objections might be raised to van Eeden's
cases, where folie du doute is said to have resulted from d&ire
du toucher.

Hack Tuke regarded imperative ideas, and the acts resulting
from them, as essentially automatic, and considered this their
fundamental characteristic. Are these acts automatic ? An
automatic act is simply an habitual voluntary one performed
inattentively or unconsciously; while the so-called automaticHYPNOTISM IN MEDICINE

255

acts of the sufferer from imperative ideas are carried out in
opposition to his volition, and frequently associated with intense
and painful consciousness. Possibly, with justice, they might be
called reflex, seeing that they are the " fatal, unchosen, response
to stimulation/'

The fact that an imperative idea remains a stranger to the
patient's ego distinguishes it, according to most authorities, from
an insane delusion. This rule has its exceptions. One of my
patients, as we have seen (No. 86, p. 244), commenced in 1885 to
be " inhibited" by various superstitions. At first this rarely
occurred; but later, owing to the number of his unlucky days,
etc., the performance of many acts was often interfered with.
Many people, by no means insane, actually believe in, and are
influenced by, identical superstitions. This patient, however,
did not believe in them, and keenly resented their interference
with his actions. The non-assimilation of the imperative idea
sometimes, then, constitutes the morbid element, and this appar-
ently depends more upon the individual than upon the idea
itself. The patient who made herself miserable about the
Creation might, under other times and circumstances, have taken
pleasure in discussing " the number of angels who could stand
on the point of a needle; or whether, in passing from point to
point, they had to traverse the intermediate space." Schliemann s
imperative idea to discover the site of ancient Troy only differed
from those we are discussing in the fact that it was assimilated
by its possessor; but this did not constitute insanity.

In nearly all my cases the condition appears to have had an
emotional origin. The shock of the sudden death of a relative
caused one patient to fear his wife would die; another dreaded
travelling after being frightened by a drunken man in a railway
carriage. Although, in some instances, the emotional element
changed its character, and in all became greatly intensified, it
was certainly often associated with the commencement of the
original trouble.

Imperative ideas are usually regarded as being typical of
degeneracy, and especially of hereditary degeneracy. Some of
my cases seem to confirm this: they were weak mentally and
physically, and had unsatisfactory hereditary antecedents. In
several instances their imperative ideas had become insane
delusions; many of them had suicidal impulses; one attempted256

HYPNOTISM

suicide, and another had hallucinations. On the other hand,
the transition from the normal state to imperative ideas is
almost insensible—the repetition of an insignificant saying being,
according to Eibot, the slightest form, and preoccupation, such as
anxiety about an examination, a degree higher. Most children,
too, have suffered at one time or another from imperative
ideas. This, as a popular writer has justly remarked,1 appears to
arise from an exaggerated sense of the importance of what they
say and do, and also from an exaggerated fear regarding the notice
taken of them by others. He says: " How miserable we some-
times make ourselves over some silly remark we have made.
Some of us even keep a little store of foolish things we have
said or done at various times—and take them out occasionally
and blush over them. As a child I blushed for years at the
thought of having piped out a response in church in the wrong
plafee, before the clergyman's turn was over. I felt as if the
whole congregation turned and gazed at me with scornful ridicule.
As I walked away every one who glanced at me I felt sure was
thinking, ' There goes the child who made that extraordinary
squeak in church.'"

Every one cannot have fixed ideas, as for example idiots, who
possess little spontaneous and no voluntary attention, while, as
Eibot says: "In every sound human being there is always a
dominant idea which regulates his conduct; such as pleasure,
money, ambition, or the soul's salvation." Some of my patients
. were physically far above the average, and many of them
possessed mental endowments of high quality, and their morbid
ideas did not prevent them doing valuable work. Most of them,
it is true, were of an emotional, nervous type, but is the sensitive,
mobile brain necessarily degenerate ? May not the accidents to
which it is liable be the result of its higher and more complex
- development 1.1 The thoroughbred is more emotional and nervous
than the cart-horse, but is this necessarily an evidence of its
hereditary degeneracy ? The term " degenerate" is applied so
freely and widely by some modern authors that one cannot help
concluding that they rank as such all who do not conform to
some primitive savage type, possessing an imperfectly developed
nervous system.

^ 1 "To inculcate contempt of others." Pall Mall Gazette, April 4th, 1895.HYPNOTISM IN MEDICINE

25 7

(8) Epilepsy.

My results in the treatment of epilepsy have been encouraging
but not conclusive. Out of ten cases, five were markedly im-
proved, but none recovered completely. This, however, does not
include two cases associated with dipsomania, which have remained
without relapse, the one for four and a half, the other for five
years. In the following examples the epilepsy was not com-
plicated by other diseases.

No. 94. Miss -, aged 19, January 5th, 1890. Good

health up to 15, when menstruation and attacks of petit mal
appeared simultaneously. A few months later grand mal com-
menced ; first at night only, but soon in the daytime also. The
convulsions were violent and generalised; and the patient bit
her tongue and passed urine involuntarily. After a fit, she
generally slept for several hours, and on awaking was either
stupid and listless, or abnormally excited and violent. On
several occasions she had been severely burnt and scalded; and
her face, limbs, and body were scarred and disfigured. The
memory and general mental condition began to deteriorate at
an early stage of the illness, and she soon became almost idiotic.
Despite treatment by bromides, etc., there had been a. progressive
increase in the number of seizures, which, when I first saw the
patient, averaged about twenty a week.

She was hypnotised fifteen times from January 5 th to the
end of February, 1890 ; although no drugs were given, the fits
ceased after the first induction of hypnosis. On March 7th, she
had a fright followed by an attack of grand mal, and was
hypnotised four times in the next fortnight; then, as there was
no relapse, treatment was abandoned. The patient rapidly im-
proved mentally and physically, and for the first time in her life
was able to take a situation. She remained well until November,
1891, when attacks of petit mal reappeared. These were followed
early in December by grand mal, there being ten fits up to
January 19th, 1892. At that time hypnotic treatment, which
had been delayed owing to my absence from home, was resumed
and continued until the end of February. She had two attacks
towards the end of January, after which the fits ceased. She re-
turned to her situation in March, and up to November, 1892, when
I left the neighbourhood, I was informed that she had only had

S258

HYPNOTISM

one or two very slight attacks of petit mal. During that time,
as the patient lived some distance from me, I could not repeat
the treatment, nor have I been able to get further news of the
case. This patient was drawn from my general practice at Goole.

No. 95. Miss->aged 17, November 23rd, 1897. Began to

have attacks of petit mal at the age of 2^ years. These occurred
frequently for several years, then disappeared under treatment.

In 1891, during convalescence from measles, she had her
first attack of grand mal, followed by another attack the same
year and one in 1892. No attacks in 1893. In 1894 she had
five attacks; in 1895 thirteen; in 1896 five; while in 1897
she had twenty-one. During all this time she had careful
medical treatment, and took bromides regularly in full doses.

The last of the attacks just referred to occurred on November
22nd, 1897, and hypnotic treatment was begun the following
day. The sittings were repeated thirty times up to the end of
1898, and during that time there were no attacks.

The sittings were then reduced to one a month, and she had
one attack in August, 1899. I saw her again in January, 1900,
after which the treatment was discontinued until November,
when she again had an attack. From that date, to April, 1901,
the patient was hypnotised three times, and there were no further
attacks. She then went abroad and treatment was discontinued.
The attacks recommenced, and she had six between June 1st and
October 19 th, 1901. Hypnotic treatment was then recommenced,
and she had twenty-nine sittings from October 21st, 1901, to
February 24th, 1903. During that time, a period of seventeen
months, there have been no attacks, and the patient has improved
greatly both mentally and physically.1

In this case, on the advice of Dr. de Watteville, who saw the
patient with me, medical treatment was also continued, and the
patient took bromides more or less regularly, although not nearly
to the same extent that she had done before hypnotic treatment
was begun. It is to be noted that the attacks ceased when the
patient was hypnotised regularly, and returned when hypnotic
treatment was neglected.

Elliotson, Esdaile, and Braid, as well as more recent observers,
have also reported cases, of which the following are examples:—
No. 96 (Elliotson). Mr.-, aged 17, had suffered for four

1 Up to the present date, May 28th, 1893, there has been no further relapse.HYPNOTISM IN MEDICINE

259

years from attacks of grand and petit mal. At first the con-
vulsions were rare, but soon became frequent and severe: the
tongue was often bitten, and the seizure always followed by
profound coma. In addition to perfect fits, there were often
fragmentary ones indicated by transitory deafness. There was
neither hysteria nor any other nervous symptom. As the disease
had resisted three years' medical treatment, drugs were abandoned
and the patient mesmerised regularly. He recovered rapidly,
and two years later there had been no relapse.

No. 97 (Esdaile). Mrs. Goodall, aged 33, epilepsy of nineteen
years' duration. The attacks, preceded by an aura and accom-
panied by violent convulsions with loss of consciousness, occurred
about twice a month. For six years she had also suffered from
severe abdominal pain, and was unable to sleep without Cannabis
Indica. She entered the Mesmeric Hospital on January 28 th,
1847, and was under treatment for two months. Eesult: the
fits ceased, she slept naturally without narcotics, and the abdominal
pain disappeared. Later reports confirmed her recovery.

Braid also recorded a case of grand mal treated hypnotically,
which had not relapsed eight years later.

No. 98 (Wetterstrand). Miss D. von B., aged 24, first seen
September, 1891. Epilepsy of ten years' duration. The attacks
became rarer under hypnotic treatment, and the last occurred on
Christmas Day, 1891. The patient then got the fixed idea that
the fits would return when she left Stockholm. Wetterstrand
was unable to remove this by suggestion; he therefore put her to
sleep on March 5th, 1892, and maintained the condition, with the
exception of a few hours, until April 8th, 1892. When aroused
she had lost her obsession, and there was no relapse.

From an early date in his hypnotic practice, Wetterstrand
reported cases of epilepsy successfully treated by suggestion, but
his results have been still more striking since he adopted the
method of prolonged sleep. In 1893, ten cases treated in the
latter way had already passed several years without relapse.

In 1897, Dr. Woods published fourteen cases, of which two
—aged 13 and 8^ years respectively—are stated to have re-
covered, and ten to have been much improved. In the successful
cases the duration of the disease had been two years in each
instance, while in one two years, and in the other sixteen months,
had passed without relapse.26o

HYPNOTISM

B&rillon has published twenty cases with four recoveries, and
Dr. Hilger, Magdeburg, seven, two of which were improved.
Voisin, Spehl, Stadelmann, de Jong, and others have also reported
successful cases.

Remarks.—No one has obtained results in epilepsy equal to
those of Wetterstrand; and his success appears to be due to the
employment of " prolonged sleep." His statistics are so startling
that Forel only accepted them after personal investigation. It
is possible that with the more general employment of " prolonged
sleep " others may obtain results equal to those of Wetterstrand;
but, to give hypnotism a fair trial, it should be commenced as
soon as the disease shows itself, and not, as is usually done, put
off until all other forms of treatment have failed.

It must be admitted, however, that some authorities cite
cases which cannot be regarded as conclusive, as patients were
stated to have been cured before sufficient time had elapsed to
warrant this. Further, the description of the case sometimes
casts doubt on the accuracy of the diagnosis, and it must not be
forgotten that hystero-epilepsy, a disease frequently cured by
hypnotic treatment, is common in France, and may be mistaken
for genuine epilepsy.

(9) Chorea.

The following cases are from my own practice:—

No. 99. Master-, aged 15, April 3rd, 1894, had good

health up to two years previously, when he had influenza followed
by chorea—the latter lasting four months. No history of fright
or rheumatism. Heart normal. The present attack began at
Christmas, 1893, and again after influenza. The right arm and
leg were first affected, then the left. The condition had been
growing steadily worse: the patient constantly dropped things,
was unable to write, could not dress himself, and walked with
difficulty. Treatment: iron, arsenic, cod-liver oil, change of air,
etc. No improvement.

The patient was then sent to me by Dr. de Watteville, and hyp-
notised thirteen times from April 3rd to May 23rd, 1894. Before
the termination of the treatment the spasms had entirely dis-
appeared. Eecovery confirmed by later reports.

In six other consecutive cases of chorea, recovery took place inHYPNOTISM IN MEDICINE

261

each instance, while in none did the duration of the treatment
exceed three weeks. One of these patients, a girl, aged 18, also
suffered from headache, and frequent attacks of giddiness and
drowsiness. These symptoms—suspiciously like those of the
minor forms of epilepsy—also entirely disappeared after hypnotic
treatment.

In another case, not included in the above list, the patient
had had chorea three years previously, but twitching movements
in the fingers had persisted after recovery. This patient was
deeply hypnotised at the first attempt, and the abnormal move-
ments entirely ceased after the second sitting.

Elliotson reported many successful cases, and asserted that
mesmerism yielded better results than iron or arsenic ; the latter
being the remedies he had formerly recommended in place of
purgatives, blisters, and the other debilitating measures with
which chorea used to be treated in his day.

Numerous cases are also recorded by modern observers, and
of these the following is an example:—

No. 100 (Dumontpallier). Miss-, aged 12, October, 1892,

had suffered from chorea since November, 1891. The spasms,
which were frequent, practically affected all the voluntary
muscles with the exception of the lower limbs. Heart normal.
No improvement after nearly twelve months' careful medical
treatment. Hypnosis was induced at the first attempt, and the
choreic movements ceased for two hours: at the end of a week's
treatment they had entirely disappeared.

(10) Stammering.

The following cases are from my own practice:—

No. 101. Dr. -, aged 28, November, 1892, had always

stammered, but was strong and healthy, and showed no other
nervous symptoms. Hypnotised forty-six times up to July 7th,
1893; this was followed by marked improvement. Two years
later the patient stated that he was practically well.

No. 102. Mr.-, aged 17, December, 1893, had stammered

badly since commencing to speak: at times he was quite inar-
ticulate and, in addition, there were many words he could never
pronounce at all. He was morbidly conscious of his infirmity,
and led a solitary, miserable life. He suffered greatly from262

HYPNOTISM

insomnia, and sometimes passed several consecutive nights with-
out sleep. Hypnotised seventy-two times from January to May,
1893. He soon slept well, but it was only towards the end of
the treatment that the stammering improved.

He again consulted me in September, 1898, and stated that
there had been hardly any return of the stammering. He con-
fessed, however, that he had long been addicted to excessive
masturbation, and that he had lost all power of mental work.
He suffered from various neurasthenic symptoms ; had recently
failed in an important examination, and was in despair about
himself. He recovered under further treatment. At the last
report (1902) he was practising as a barrister, and could speak
in public without difficulty.

Out of 48 cases of stammering treated by Wetterstrand 15
were cured, 19 improved, while in 14 there was no result.
Successful cases are also reported by Eingier, von Corval, Hamil-
ton Osgood, and others; but the results as a whole have not
been so satisfactory as those obtained in other functional disorders.
Most of the cases sent to me were severe and of long standing;
while the patients and their friends, discouraged by the failure of
other methods to which years had been devoted, seldom gave
hypnotic treatment a fair trial.

(11) Sea-Sickness.

The following cases are from my own practice:—

No. 103. Mrs. -, aged 41, March 20th, 1892. A full

account of this case is given on pp. 191-4, but, in addition to her
other symptoms, the patient invariably suffered from sea-sickness,
even on the shortest voyage, or in the calmest weather. This
had been a great disadvantage to her, as her husband was captain
of a merchant steamer, and often wished to take her with him.
In April, 1892, I suggested during hypnosis that she should be
free from sea-sickness. Before the end of the summer she
made eight voyages between the Humber and London: her
husband reported that on the first outward voyage there was a
strong north-east swell, while on returning the weather was
rough and the steamer, which was in ballast, rolled heavily;
rough weather was also encountered on some of the other trips.
But the patient had not even the slightest feeling of nausea andHYPNOTISM IN MEDICINE

263

ate hearty meals. Case shown at the International Congress of
Psychology, London, 1892, and elsewhere.

No. 104. Miss -, aged 19, September, 1891, had good

health, but the shortest voyage produced violent and even
dangerous sea-sickness. Profound hypnosis was easily induced
at the first attempt, and curative suggestions given. During the
following year, the patient crossed the Channel several times
without being sick. The treatment was then repeated, as she
wished to go to India. During the voyage a cyclone was
encountered, and she alone amongst the passengers remained well.
The return journey was equally successful, and further voyages
to and from India were also free from sickness.1

The following cases were published by Gorodichze, in 1896 :—

No. 105. Mrs.-, aged 36, was healthy, but of a nervous

temperament. She lived by the sea and often went out boating,
but was always sick, even when it was absolutely calm. After
hypnotic treatment she remained at sea for seven hours in a
small sailing boat in extremely rough weather, without feeling the
least inconvenience.

No. 106. Mr. -, aged 40, suffered from neurasthenia

with obsessions. His business took him frequently to London,
and every time he crossed the Channel he was sick. After
hypnotic treatment sea-sickness ceased, and during a particularly
rough voyage he was the only passenger who was not ill.

No. 107. Mr. --, aged 46, nervous and a bad sailor, was

cured by hypnotic treatment.

No. 108. Mrs. -, aged 37, suffered from neuralgia and

migraine. Formerly always sick at sea, but after treatment made
many voyages without inconvenience, despite bad weather.

An extremely successful case is also published by B^rillon,
while Farez cites instances of sickness caused by railway travelling
which were cured by suggestion.

(12) Skin Diseases.

No. 109. Pruritus vulvas and Eczema.—Mrs.-, aged 49,

August, 1889, had always been nervous and emotional. Three of
her children had died of infantile convulsions; one suffered from
epilepsy and two from hysteria. At an earlier date the patient
1 See also Case No. 31, pp..201-2.264

HYPNOTISM

had had several attacks of pelvic inflammation, associated with
endometritis and menorrhagia: the latter diseases, after lasting
five years, yielded to treatment in 1883. The menopause soon
followed, and the patient had good health for two years. In
1885, she began to suffer from pruritus vulvae, and eczema of the
hips and thighs. Irritation was always present, hut at night it
became intolerable and produced insomnia. She had long suffered
from constipation: the bowels never acted without medicine, and
rarely oftener than once a week. The uterus was retroflected,
and bound down by adhesions resulting from the former pelvic
inflammation.

For four years, I treated the patient by drugs and local
applications under the supervision of a skin specialist, but with-
out improvement. I then sent her to Mr. Mayo Eobson,
who thought the uterine displacement and chronic constipation
interfered with the rectal circulation, and played an important
part in the origin and maintenance of the disease. He stretched
the sphincter ani under ether, but this neither cured the constipa-
tion nor relieved the other symptoms.

In August, 1889, I tried to hypnotise the patient, other
treatment being abandoned. The attempt failed, and was repeated
unsuccessfully on sixty-six occasions during the next four months,
her condition meanwhile growing steadly worse. At the sixty-
eighth sitting somnambulism was induced. All irritation
vanished immediately, and she slept soundly on that and the
following nights. The bowels acted daily. In a fortnight all
trace of eczema disappeared, and treatment was abandoned. At
the last report, three years later, there had been no return of any
of the symptoms, and she had not required to take even a simple
aperient. Case seen after recovery by Dr. Churton, of Leeds,
and others.

. *

No. 110. Hyperhidrosis.—Miss--, aged 15, consulted me

in January, 1890, on account of frequent attacks of migraine,
accompanied by vomiting, from which she had suffered for three
years. Menstruation normal. I noticed that on the back of the
left forearm a patch of skin, about 2^ inches long by 1^ broad,
was the seat of constant perspiration. This condition, which
had existed from infancy, was always excessive, and invariably
rendered more so by emotion or exertion. The forearm was
always enveloped in bandages, but these rapidly became saturated,HYPNOTISM IN MEDICINE

265

and then the perspiration dripped upon the floor. The patient
was frequently punished at school because she soiled her needle-
work, and her condition distressed her greatly, as she wished to
become a dressmaker.

On January 10 th, the patient was hypnotised for the first
time, somnambulism induced, and suggestions given as to the
headaches and hyperhidrosis. The following day the perspiration
had markedly diminished, and it ceased entirely after the re-
induction of hypnosis. Treatment was then abandoned. The
case was shown at the International Congress of Experimental
Psychology, London, August, 1892, and neither up to that date,
nor since, as far as I have been able to learn, has there been any
return of either hyperhidrosis or migraine, and the patient now
follows the occupation of her choice.

Elliotson reported various successful cases, notably one of
eczema impetiginoides, of two years' duration and affecting the
whole scalp, and another of long-standing psoriasis.

Other cases are reported by modern writers:—-

No. Ill (Hamilton Osgood1). Eczema,,—Master ——, aged
11, had suffered from eczema since he was eighteen months old.
In October, 1893, just before hypnotic treatment was begun, this
extended from the umbilicus to the feet: the forearms were
covered with crusts and sores, there were deep inflamed fissures
on the wrists, and large sores in the armpits. The boy was
irritable and nervous, and slept badly, owing to the constant
irritation.

After the first sitting, the irritation ceased, and the child
slept soundly the whole night. At the end of a month's treat-
ment all trace of eczema had disappeared; and, although there
was some return of it within the year, this again yielded to
suggestion, and complete recovery took place.

No. 112 (Hamilton Osgood). Eczema,—Mrs. -, aged 68,

eczema of eight years' duration, which had resisted all treatment.
Much irritation, insomnia and mental depression. Complete
recovery after eighteen sittings, despite the fact that only slight
hypnosis was induced, and the patient retained full memory of
all that was said or done.

1 Dr. Hamilton Osgood, of Boston, after studying Hypnotism on the Continent,
lias practised it with much success. He has also, by lecturing and writing, done
much to call the attention of the profession in America to the subject.266

HYPNOTISM

No. 113 (Hamilton Osgood). Eczema rubrum-.—Miss -,

aged 28, suffered from eczema rubrum, affecting particularly the
scalp, face, hands, and feet: this had been unrelieved by
four years' careful treatment. The palms of the hands # were
enormously thickened and intersected by deep fissures—the con-
dition almost resembling elephantiasis; there was also insomnia
with much irritation. The patient commenced to sleep after the
first sitting, and at the end of the forty-seventh all trace of the
disease had disappeared.

No. 114 (Stadelmann). Eczema.—Miss-, aged 46, seam-
stress, eczema of the hands and feet of eight years' duration; the
feet were swollen, and so hot and painful that the patient was
unable to keep them covered. Irregular menstruation, insomnia,
uric acid and rheumatism. Complete recovery, without relapse,
after a week's hypnotic treatment.

No. 115 (Charpentier). Hyperhidrosis.—Mr.-, aged 22,

had suffered from hyperhidrosis of the palms of both hands for
seven years: this had come on suddenly after a fright, and had
been excessive ever since. If the patient wiped his hands drops
of sweat reappeared almost immediately, and dripped freely from
the fingers. The condition was neither affected by temperature
nor by the amount of liquid consumed, but was aggravated
by emotion and when the attention was drawn to it. Drugs,
external applications, and electricity had produced no effect; but
the patient recovered completely after four months' hypnotic
treatment.

Other successful cases, some as striking as those just quoted,
are reported by Farez, Bdrillon, Grossmann, Backman, etc.

Remarks. —That suggestion should influence perspiration
seems reasonable) when one considers how much that secretion
is influenced by emotion., Farez has noticed that hospital
patients frequently perspire from the axilla when undergoing
medical examination. B^rillon and Magnin, who have vaccinated
a large number of adults, observed that a certain proportion of
them were frightened and perspired freely. Nervous and self-
conscious persons frequently suffer from a temporary hyperhidrosis,
when they are compelled to shake hands with strangers.

It is now generally recognised that eczema is sometimes of
nervous origin, and in this is probably to be found the explanation
of its occasional cure by hypnotism.CHAPTER XI.

ON THE MANAGEMENT OF SUEGICAL AND MEDICAL OASES.

(I.) Surgical Cases.

As already pointed out, hypnotic anaesthesia is of more scientific
than practical interest. It can, however, be evoked by suggestion
in nearly all cases of profound hypnotic somnambulism. At first,
on testing with the faradic brush, one may only find a slight
amount of anaesthesia. If, however, appropriate suggestions are
made, the anaesthesia may ultimately become deep enough to
ensure absence of pain during surgical operation.

In cases of protracted operation it is sometimes necessary
that the suggestions should be repeated, both as to the maintenance
of the hypnosis and the presence of the anaesthesia. Before
arousing the patient, the operator should suggest post-hypnotic
anaesthesia, i.e. absence of pain on waking. Should the effect of
this suggestion wear off and pain reappear, it can often be again
arrested by rehypnotising the patient and repeating the sug-
gestions. In good hypnotic subjects it may be advisable only to
suggest analgesia, without loss of ordinary sensation, especially
for the condition after operation.

(II.) Medical Cases.

Medical practice and experiment should be kept absolutely
distinct; and no suggestions should ever be made to patients,
except those necessary for the induction of hypnosis, and the
relief or cure of disease. This rule does not apply after recovery,
when the individual has ceased to be a patient: a certain pro-
portion of my experimental work was conducted with former
patients who placed themselves at my disposal.

267268

HYPNOTISM

The selection of patients for hypnotic treatment, and the
hope of relief or cure held out to them, ought naturally to be
regulated by the same principles as those governing ordinary
medical practice. Thus, if the case is one of organic disease, it
ought to be clearly explained to the patient that cure is absolutely
out of the question. He should be told that at most there may
be a thin overlying stratum of functional nervous disturbance;
and that there is only a possibility, not a certainty, of this being
removed by hypnotic treatment.

In cases alleged to be functional, the operator ought to satisfy
himself that the symptoms, which he is about to attempt to
relieve by suggestion, are not in any way associated with organic
disease. Even then, he should never tell the patient that he is
sure of curing him, but only hold out such reasonable hope as
experience fully justifies.

Patients should always be given to understand that the
operator neither claims nor possesses any mysterious or occult
power, and that the phenomena of hypnosis are really dependent
upon changes which take place in the subject's own brain. If
the patient be intelligent, it may be advisable to tell him some-
thing about modern hypnotic theory, and to explain to him that
pftssibly the phenomena of hypnosis may be due to the arousing
of powers dormant in a secondary consciousness.

As a rule, the patients sen£ to me have exhausted all ordinary
methods of treatment before consulting me. Under these circum-
stances, they come for hypnotic treatment solely, and receive
that alone. If, however, other methods have not been exhausted,
and any of them appear likely to help the patient, these are
employed as well as hypnotism. Further, in certain cases—in-
somnia for example,—where the patients are more or less
dependent upon narcotic drugs, these are not stopped until the
curative effects of suggestion are able to replace them.

Patients treated by hypnotic methods may be divided into
three classes: (1) Those in whom deep hypnosis has been induced.
(2) Those slightly hypnotised. (3) Those in whom hypnosis has
either been doubtful or entirely absent.

(1) The first class, which numbers—according to statistics
already cited — about 13 per cent of those influenced, is
the easiest to deal with. Such patients can be hypnotised
or aroused at a word, and are generally markedly responsiveMANAGEMENT OF SURGICAL AND MEDICAL CASES 269

to curative suggestions. To take an illustrative case, let
us suppose that the patient is suffering from insomnia. He
is hypnotised and told that he is to sleep for half an hour.
During this time curative suggestions are given: e.g. that the
patient shall feel restful and drowsy at bedtime, fall asleep
as soon as he puts his head upon the pillow, sleep all night,
etc. These suggestions, if the case is one of deep hypnosis, are
likely to be responded to in whole or in part. If the success
has only been partial, the treatment is renewed on another day,
and the suggestions repeated. If this is not enough, the methods
may be varied with success. For example, if the patient suffers
from various symptoms, it is sometimes better only to suggest the
relief of one of these at a time: with other cases it is advantageous
to employ " prolonged sleep " in addition to suggestive treatment.
The latter method was largely used by Elliotson and Esdaile, and
possibly made up in a large measure for their ignorance of the
value of suggestion. According to Wetterstrand, too much
attention has been given to suggestion, while the curative value
of prolonged hypnotic sleep has been entirely forgotten. His
results, and those of Voisin, obtained in this way, are both striking
and valuable.

Patients treated by this method ought to be placed in charge
of a nurse who is put en rapport with them. At first, even in
cases where the patient has been deeply hypnotised, it is often
necessary that the suggestion to continue sleeping should be
repeated several times a day; for if this is not done, hypnosis
terminates spontaneously and the treatment is interrupted. The
action of the bladder and bowels should be regulated by suggestion,
and the patient fed at regular intervals without being aroused.

(2)	Cases of Slight Hypnosis.—Here, with the exception that
prolonged sleep cannot be employed, the treatment is practically
the same as under Class 1. The patients rest in a more or less
lethargic condition while curative suggestions are given; and
these are varied, or repeated, to meet the requirements of each
individual case.

(3)	Cases in which Hypnosis is either doubtful or absent—In
this class suggestion frequently yields results as striking as those
found in the two others, but it is often extremely difficult to
determine whether the patient has been hypnotised or not. This
point, which is of distinct theoretical as well as practical interest,270

HYPNOTISM

will be again referred to when discussing hypnotic theory. The
management of the cases in this group is more difficult than that
in the two preceding ones, and the following points are im-
portant :—

Patients, who do not pass into a condition followed by
amnesia on waking, generally believe that they have not been
hypnotised, and thus conclude that they cannot be influenced by
suggestion. The operator should, therefore, carefully explain
that genuine hypnotic conditions are not necessarily followed by
amnesia; and, further, that many patients, who present none of
the usual phenomena of hypnosis, are still remarkably responsive
to suggestion.

If possible, the patients belonging to this class should be
trained to concentrate their attention on some soothing mental
picture, while the operator makes his suggestions. In this way
a dreamy condition is often obtained, which may be one of slight
hypnosis or only the borderland of normal sleep. During this,
the operator ought to suggest the deepening of this drowsy or
quasi-hypnotic state, and also make appropriate curative sug-
gestions. He should also explain beforehand the uncertainty
which exists as to the fulfilment of the latter: they are made at
this early stage because some patients respond to curative sug-
gestions immediately, even when hypnosis is obviously absent,
while with others it is the repetition of the suggestion which
seems to bring about its fulfilment.

Another group, in this class, presents difficulties peculiarly
its own, Thus, in cases of muscular tremor, spasms, convulsions,
persistent hiccough, etc., it is often impossible for the patient to
maintain physical, or mental, quietude even for a few moments.
Despite this, many of them recover after a more or less prolonged
suggestive treatment. In some instances improvement does not
take place until hypnosis has been induced; in many others,
however, the patients recover without having passed into any
condition even remotely resembling the hypnotic. An example
of the first variety is cited p. 185: here the patient did not
improve until hypnosis was evoked, and it was interesting to
observe how at first the attacks of spasm appeared during that
condition and invariably terminated it. An example of the
second variety is cited pp. 178-80 : here the patient suffered con-
tinuously from either generalised convulsions or violent unilateralMANAGEMENT OF SURGICAL AND MEDICAL CASES 271

muscular spasms. Yet, under these unfavourable conditions,
curative suggestions—repeated daily for half an hour at a time—
were speedily responded to.

The nature of the curative suggestions made by the operator
is of extreme importance, particularly in cases of slight or doubt-
ful hypnosis. This statement requires further development.
Certainly, if the patient has been deeply hypnotised, he will
respond to any suggestion he understands, if this is neither
opposed by his will nor beyond the range of his hypnotic powers.
On the other hand, particularly where hypnosis is slight or
doubtful, it is often essential to make a careful study of the
patient and his surroundings; to gain his confidence, and to learn
his hopes, fears, and difficulties. Here, suggestion should not
only be employed in conditions obviously or possibly hypnotic,
but carried on also in the patient's waking life, and extended to
his friends and relatives. It is one thing to successfully suggest
relief from some slight functional disturbance to a deeply hypno-
tised patient, and another, and much more difficult one, to induce
the dipsomaniac to abstain from drinking. In the latter case,
the suggestions must be varied to meet the carefully studied
requirements of each individual, and everything done to incite
him loyally to co-operate in the experiment. Friends and rela-
tives, who possibly have given up in despair trying to help, must
also be urged to renewed and more earnest efforts. The same
rule applies to many forms of hysterical disease. In some cases,
it is true, the illness has come on suddenly as the result of shock
or over-strain, but in many others it is a culminating point in a life
which has been characterised by lack of discipline and self-control.
Convulsions or spasms, which the patients are incapable of in-
fluencing by their volition, have often had countless forerunners
in tricks of gesture, bursts of passion, petulance, emotion, or the
like. Such patients ought to be taught by friends, as well as
physician, to try to control every unnecessary expression of
emotion, and to make a voluntary effort in their waking life to
check defects which have certainly preceded, and may possibly
have provoked, their malady.

The central factor in all hypnotic treatment ought to be the
development of the patient's control of his own organism. He
should clearly understand that the operator exercises no mysterious
power over him, but simply arouses forces which are latent in272

HYPNOTISM

his—the patient's—own brain. It should be plainly pointed
out to him that his disease frequently demonstrates the feebleness
of his volition: he desires, for example, to resist drinking but
cannot; he wishes to escape from an obsession, but is unable to
do so. The hypnotic training, which enables him to carry his
wishes into effect, does so by increasing, not diminishing, his
voluntary control of his own organism. He should be taught to
apply this increased power for himself, not only in the immediate
instance for which he seeks relief, but also on other occasions,
for fresh troubles, should these arise.CHAPTEK XII.

hypnotic theories.

Before attempting to discuss hypnotic theories, it is necessary to
clearly define the phenomena themselves. To facilitate this the
latter may be divided into two groups: (1) Those observed in
subjects who exhibit the widest range of hypnotic phenomena,
and who are usually termed " somnambules." (2) Certain
therapeutic results which sometimes follow suggestion, but are
not associated with the usual phenomena of hypnosis.

Group 1.—Here in a typical case the following phenomena
are to be observed. The subject, after undergoing one or other
of the methods of hypnotisation, passes into a condition super-
ficially resembling sleep. This state is characterised by
" suggestibility," i.e. in it various phenomena can be excited by
the suggestions of the operator.

Further, as the result of training, the subject can be taught
to pass into the so-called hypnotic state in response to a given
signal. Henceforth, hypnosis can be evoked immediately, with-
out the subject closing his eyes or showing any symptoms
resembling sleep.

Again, this condition, like the former, is characterised by
" suggestibility," and in it the phenomena described in the
chapter on " Hypnotic Phenomena " can be evoked.

The operator apparently has obtained a power of controlling
the subject's organism, to an extent and in a manner which are
without parallel in waking life. He can excite by suggestion
physiological and psychological phenomena, which the subject
had never previously been able to elicit by the action of his own
volition.

Further, and the point is an all-important one in reference

t274

HYPNOTISM

to hypnotic theory, the subject can, and does, reject all suggestions
which would be opposed to the feelings or prejudices of his
normal state.

Finally, the subject can be trained to hypnotise frimself, and
can then evoke phenomena identical with those previously elicited
by the operator. In this condition, it is clearly to be seen that
it is the subject himself who has gained this new and far-reaching
power over his own organism. Thus, every theory which fails to
explain the phenomena of self-hypnosis must be rejected as
unsatisfactory.

Group 2.—In typical examples of this group curative results
are apparently obtained by suggestion, in cases where all the
other characteristic phenomena of hypnosis are absent. Thus, in
the caseof grandehysMrieQSo. 1,pp. 178-80),the patient's convulsive
movements only ceased during normal sleep. Here the only
method employed was "suggestion"; and, if the patient's recovery
resulted from it, the treatment was certainly carried out under
conditions the opposite of those usually regarded as hypnotic.

Between the extreme examples of the two groups just
referred to, many intermediate conditions are to be observed.
Thus, amongst experimental cases, there are many in which the
phenomena still demonstrate an increased control of the subject's
organism, although not such a far-reaching one as in profound
somnambulism. Again, many patients treated by suggestion pass
into a more or less marked lethargic condition, or show other
symptoms which may be claimed, with more or less reason, to be
hypnotic.

In discussing hypnotic theories in general it is impossible to
keep these two groups distinct, as many authorities, notably
Bernheim, regard increased suggestibility as the only distinction
between the hypnotic and the normal state. The existence,
however, of two widely differing groups of phenomena ought not
to be lost sight of, and I propose later to further contrast them;
and to discuss the question whether the phenomena of the second
group owe their origin to hypnotic influence, or to emotional
states similar to those observed in normal life.

In attempting to present a picture of hypnotic theories the
first difficulty encountered is due to their number and diversity.
Max Dessoir, as we have seen, cited 1182 works by 774 authors
in 1888-90; and it would be difficult to find two of themHYPNOTIC THEORIES

275

agreeing in every detail as to the theoretical explanation of all
hypnotic phenomena.

Apparently, little of value has been discovered which can
justly be considered as supplementary to Braid's later work,
while much has been lost through ignorance of his researches.
In the successful exposure of the errors of the Charcot school by
Bernheim and his colleagues is to be found a reproduction of
Braid's controversy with the mesmerists; while the Nancy
theories themselves are but an imperfect reproduction of Braid's
later ones.

THEORIES OF THE LATER MESMERISTS.

In order to understand the evolution of hypnotic theory it
is necessary to know something of the views of the mesmerists.

According to Elliotson and Esdaile, the phenomena of
mesmerism were entirely physical in origin. They were supposed
to be due to the action of a vital curative fluid, or peculiar
physical force, which, under certain circumstances, could be
transmitted from one human being to another. This was usually
termed the " od " or " odylic " force. Various inanimate objects,
such as metals, crystals, and magnets, were also supposed to
possess it; and to be capable of inducing and terminating the
mesmeric state, and of exciting, arresting, and modifying its
phenomena. One metal, for example, apparently produced
catalepsy, another changed this into paralysis; and even a glass
of water seemed to become charged with odylic force when
breathed upon by the mesmeriser. Every one was not susceptible
to these influences: those who were were termed " sensitives,"
and apparently developed many strange and new faculties. For
instance, if they looked at a magnet in the dark they saw streams
of light issuing from its poles, one colour from the negative
another from the positive.

Esdaile thus summarised his theory of the therapeutic action
of mesmerism :—" There is good reason to believe that the vital
fluid of one person can be poured into the system of another. A
merciful God has engrafted a communicable, life-giving, curative
power in the human body, in order that when two individuals are
found together, deprived of the aids of art, the one in health may
often be able to relieve his sick companion, by imparting to him276

HYPNOTISM

a portion of his vitality." The mesmeric influence, he said, was
a physical power which one animal exerted over another, under
certain circumstances and conditions of their respective systems:
irregularity in the distribution of nervous energy being the cause
of all mesmeric phenomena. He considered that there was a
resemblance between the action of mesmerism and the effects of
wine, opium, Indian hemp, etc. In the first stage there was
stimulation; in the second, confusion of the inind, with exaltation
of some organs and depression of others; while in the third stage,
coma, with complete extinction of sensibility, occurred.

Esdaile held that a drug, or method of treatment, in order to
be successful, should possess the power of producing such changes
in the organism as were opposed to diseased action. In his
opinion, no remedy rivalled mesmerism in its influence on the
nervous system, and was at the same time equally devoid of
danger. By its means, one could abolish pain and produce pro-
longed sleep, without the bad effects associated with narcotics;
and this in itself was sufficient to cure a great variety of diseases.

Esdaile observed that local inflammation and sympathetic
fever disappeared during mesmeric trance, and that the pulse and
temperature became normal. Later, he successfully treated many
different forms of inflammation by "prolonged sleep." His explana-
tion of these results is particularly interesting, as it forestalled
Delboeuf's ingenious theory as to the connection between pain
and irritation. According to Esdaile, pain and irritation were
the causes which maintained inflammation. If these were
removed for a length of time the circulation recovered its
equilibrium and the inflammation ceased, just as a fire expired
for want of fuel.

It did not seem possible to Esdaile that suggestion, expecta-
tion, and imagination, alone, could explain what he had seen and
done: he insisted that he had often operated on patients who
had never heard of mesmerism, and to whom he had given no
preliminary explanation. He could not, he said, have taught his
patients the different phenomena they exhibited, as he himself was
unacquainted with them when he commenced his experiments : he
knew nothing of mesmerism, and concluded that the peasants and
coolies of Bengal were equally ignorant.

Esdaile believed in clairvoyance, and held that the mesmeric
influence could be exercised at a distance and conveyed by meansHYPNOTIC THEORIES

2 77

of inanimate objects. He thought that a mesmerised subject
acquired the power of understanding and prescribing for his own
complaints: this he regarded as an exaltation of the natural
medical instincts of animals. It was this secret monitor, he said,
that prompted the dog to eat grass when sick, and the chick to
peck gravel the moment it broke the shell. The same power
enabled animals to choose wholesome plants and to reject poisonous
ones. The medical instinct of somnambules was thus only a
revival of ancient knowledge.

Esdaile asserted that mesmerism had long been known in
India; but believed that its secrets, which had descended from
remote antiquity, were confined to certain castes and families.
Thus, when Dr. Davidson, late Eesident of Jeypore, in Upper
India, visited the Mesmeric Hospital in Calcutta, and saw the
Native assistants stroking and breathing upon their patients, he
said that he now understood what the Jar-phoonk of Upper India
was: it was nothing but mesmerism. Many of his patients, after he
had vainly tried to cure them of different complaints, used to ask
leave of absence in order to be treated by the Jadoowalla, and to
his great surprise, they often returned cured shortly afterwards.
In reply to his inquiries, they all said they had gone through a
process called Jar-phoonk, the meaning of which he could never
make out. He now saw it before him in the continuous stroking
and breathing of Esdaile's mesmerisers. Jama meant in Hindoo-
stanee to stroke, and phoonka to breathe, which very exactly
described the mesmeric processes.

Dr. Thorburn wrote to Esdaile from Arracan, to tell him that
mesmerism had been used from time immemorial amongst some
of the rudest hill tribes in Assam, particularly the Mivis. Amongst
the Assamese, the passes received different names, according to the
sites over which they were made: thus, those used to relieve
headache were called Matapon, while the long passes were known
by the same name as in Upper India, namely Jar-phoonk.

Colonel Bagnold, of the Bombay Army, described the same
practices as prevalent in Bombay; and related the case of a
woman who was treated by a mendicant devotee, by means of
what was evidently mesmerism, mixed up with incantations and
religious ceremonies. The operator caused the patient to look at
a string of sandal-wood beads, which he held before her eyes;
then made passes with it from her head downwards, occasionally278

HYPNOTISM

stopping to breathe upon, or lay his hands on, her chest. Under
this treatment she soon became drowsy and went to sleep.

BRAID'S THEORIES.

As already mentioned, Braid first regarded mesmeric pheno-
mena as the outcome of self-deception or trickery; later he
became convinced that a large proportion of them were genuine,
but all wrongly interpreted. Careful examination satisfied him
that such physical phenomena as cataleptic rigidity of the muscles,
and such psychic ones as inhibition of pain during operation,
were genuine. Further, other phenomena, which sceptics gener-
ally regarded as affording strong evidence of the falsity of
mesmerism, contained, according to Braid, a certain amount of
truth, although that was lamentably misrepresented. For example,
certain mesmeric subjects saw streams of light issuing from the
poles of magnets, others were supposed to possess the power of
clairvoyance. Braid was able to demonstrate that the first
phenomenon was a visual hallucination created by unconscious
suggestion; while the latter illustrated the hyperesthesia of the
special senses that occurred during the mesmeric or hypnotic
state; and owing to this, the subjects received hints from the
operator and spectators, which they could not have obtained
in the normal state. These points, to which I will again refer,
are now mentioned to draw attention once more to the fact that
Braid's opposition to mesmerism was mainly from the theoretical
side. The cardinal point—on which all his theories were based
—was his discovery that the phenomena were subjective in origin,
and not due to any mysterious " force " or " fluid " possessed by
the operator. Braid's own theories differed widely: his earlier
ones were physical, his later more purely psychical; and I now
propose to give an outline of all of them.

At the stance of Lafontaine's, already referred to,1 Braid had
observed that the mesmeric condition was induced by fixed
staring; and concluded that the inability to open the eyes arose
from paralysis of certain nerve-centres and exhaustion of the
levator muscles. He expressed his conviction that the phenomena
of mesmerism were due to functional changes in the nervous,
circulatory, respiratory, and muscular systems, induced by
1 See p. 22, and also Appendix.HYPNOTIC THEORIES

279

staring, physical repose, fixed attention, and suppressed respiration.
He boldly asserted that all the phenomena depended on these
physical and psychical conditions: they were neither due to the
volition of the operator, nor to the power of his passes to throw
out a magnetic fluid, or to excite the activity of some mystical
universal fluid or medium. As we have already seen, he sub-
stituted the word " Hypnotism" for that of " Mesmerism," and
invented the terminology we now use.

At first, Braid induced hypnosis by making the subject look
at a bright object, held in such a position above the forehead as
was calculated to produce the greatest possible strain upon the
eyes and eyelids; while at the same time he told him to rivet his
mind on the idea of that one object. Braid not only maintained
that the condition was a purely subjective one, produced in this
mechanical way, but also claimed to have successfully demonstrated
that it could be thus induced in persons who had never heard of
mesmerism or hypnotism, and who were ignorant of what was
expected of them. In illustration of this, he asserted that he had
hypnotised one of his servants, who knew nothing of mesmerism,
by giving him such directions as impressed him with the idea that
his fixed attention was merely required for the purpose of watching
a chemical experiment with which he was already familiar.1

The following is a summary of Braid's earlier conclusions:—

(1)	Continued mental and visual concentration threw the
nervous system into a new condition—that of hypnosis. In it
phenomena could be excited, which differed from those observed
in ordinary sleeping or waking life, and varied according to the
methods employed.

(2)	At first, during hypnosis, there was excited action of all
the organs of special sense, sight excepted, together with a great
increase of muscular power. Afterwards the senses became more
torpid than during natural sleep.

(3)	During hypnosis the operator could control the subject's
nervous energy; and was able to excite or depress it, either
locally or generally.

(4)	In the same way he could also alter the force and
frequency of the subject's pulse, and modify his circulation.

(5)	A similar influence could be exerted over the muscular
system.

1 Braid entirely abandoned this view at a later date. See p. 282.28o

HYPNOTISM

(6)	Eapid and important changes could be produced in the
capillary circulation, and in all the secretions and excretions of
the body.

(7)	By means of hypnotism many diseases might be cured,
even some that had resisted ordinary treatment.

(8)	The same agency could sometimes prevent the pain of
surgical operations.

(9)	During hypnosis, by manipulating the cranium and face,
the operator could excite certain mental and physical phenomena:
these varied according to the parts touched.

At first, after inducing hypnosis, Braid resorted to various
physical methods in order to produce changes in the muscular
and circulatory systems; he believed this excited the different
hypnotic phenomena, and played an important part in the cure
of disease. He also held that cures could sometimes be effected
by similar methods in the waking condition. From the descrip-
tion of his manner of inducing hypnosis it is evident that he
employed verbal suggestion; but, at that time, this was certainly
done unconsciously, and in ignorance of its value.

Amongst other interesting observations, Braid found that he
could terminate the hypnotic condition by means of a current of
cold air. He also noticed that he could make a rigid limb
flexible by blowing on it; that he could restore the sight to one
eye by the same means and leave the other insensible. Further,
he could excite one-half of the body to action, while the other
remained rigid and torpid; or make the subject pass from a
general state of inactivity of the organs of special sense and tonic
muscular rigidity, to the opposite condition of extreme mobility
and excited sensibility. He acknowledged that he was unable to
explain these extraordinary phenomena, but stated that he had
no difficulty in reproducing them: that they were independent
of any rapport between operator and subject; and invariably
appeared, no, matter whether the current of air came from the
lips, the motion of the hand, a pair of bellows, or any other
inanimate object.

The subjective explanation of the origin of hypnotic pheno-
mena was not a new one, and had already been given both by
the Abb£ Faria and Bertrand. Their views, however, if not
entirely forgotten, had exercised no practical influence on
mesmeric theory; and Braid was evidently unacquainted withHYPNOTIC THEORIES

281

them when he commenced his mesmeric researches. Thus, his
conclusions were arrived at independently, and successfully sub-
stituted for those universally held in his day. At a later date,
when his opponents pointed out the similarity between the
theories, Braid asserted that this was more apparent than real,
as Faria had attributed everything to the effect of the imagina-
tion. On this point they certainly differed; although they were
alike in asserting that neither contact nor magnetic fluid was
necessary.

Braid did not believe that the phenomena of hypnotism were
the result of the subject's attention to his own symptoms.
Eeferring to some articles on Animal Magnetism which had
appeared in the Medical Gazette in 1833, he said that in the
writer's opinion the phenomena were the result of attention
strongly directed to different parts of the body; whereas, by his
method, the attention was riveted to something outside the body.

In opposition to the theory that hypnotism resembled reverie,
Braid stated that reverie proceeded from an unusual quiescence
of the brain, and the inability of the mind to direct itself strongly
to any one point. There was a defect in the attention, which,
instead of being fixed on one subject, wandered over a thousand,
and was even feebly and ineffectually directed to these. That,
he said, was the very reverse of what was induced by his method;
because he riveted the attention to one idea and the eyes to one
point, as the primary and imperative condition.

At first Braid was inclined to believe in phrenology; and
considered it possible that the passions, emotions, and intellectual
faculties could be excited during hypnosis, by touching or rubbing
certain parts of the head and face. He cited twelve cases in
which he thought he had observed these phenomena in subjects
who were ignorant of phrenology, uninfluenced by previous
training, or by leading questions and suggestions on the part of
the operator. He admitted, however, that it was probable that
errors might have arisen through the remarkable docility of
hypnotic subjects, which made them anxious to comply with
every suggestion or indication given by the operator. This, and
other reasons, caused him to regard his results with distrust;
and he stated that it was his intention to conduct a new series of
experiments on fresh subjects, in order to ascertain to what
extent it might be practicable, by arbitrary associations, to excite282

HYPNOTISM

opposite phenomena by touching identical parts of the head. He
hoped these would enable him to determine whether there was
any necessary connection between the parts touched and the
phenomena evoked; or whether they depended entirely upon
associations, which had originated from some partial knowledge
of phrenology, arbitrary arrangement, or accidental circumstances
which had been overlooked or forgotten. In the latter case, the
repetition of a definite sensation would be followed by a revival
of the feelings with which it had been formerly associated.

Some experiments which Braid made in order to determine
whether hypnosis could be induced by methods other than the
stereotyped ones, appear to have first suggested alterations in his
hypnotic theory, and shaken his faith in the purely physical
explanation of hypnotic phenomena. At first, as already stated,
he required his patients to look for a considerable time at some
inanimate object, until the eyelids closed involuntarily. He
frequently found, however, that this was followed by pain and
slight conjunctivitis, and, in order to avoid this, he closed the
patient's eyes at a much earlier stage. Despite this, he was able
to hypnotise as easily as before, and without subsequent un-
pleasant symptoms. This led to further experiment, when he
found he could induce hypnosis as readily in the dark as in the
light, if the eyes were kept fixed, and the body and mind at
absolute rest. Despite much perseverance, Braid never succeeded
in hypnotising idiots: he always failed also with young children,
and with persons of weak intellect, or of restless and excitable
minds, who were unable to comply with his simple rules. As
he succeeded with the blind, Braid concluded that the impression
was made through the mind and not through the optic nerves.
He observed also that the oftener subjects were hypnotised, the
more susceptible they became; and thus, from association of
ideas, the- condition might ultimately be evoked entirely
through the action of the imagination. If a subject believed
something was being done which ought to hypnotise him,
although he did not see what this was, hypnosis would probably
be induced. On the other hand, the most expert operator in the
world would exercise his influence in vain, if the patient were
ignorant of his efforts.HYPNOTIC THEORIES

283

Hypnotism; A Condition of Mental Concentration or
Monoideism.

In opposition to his former physical theory, Braid attempted,
in 1847, to explain all hypnotic phenomena by mental concen-
tration or monoideism; whether the phenomena appeared in deep
stages resembling sleep, or in " alert" ones, differing only in their
suggestibility from the normal state.

After explaining what induced him to adopt the term
u hypnotism," he now confessed that grave objections might be
urged against it. Thus, under it had been grouped many con-
ditions which varied widely, whereas only those subjects who
passed into a state resembling sleep, and followed by amnesia on
awaking, could be said to be really " hypnotised." Of those who
were relieved or cured by hypnotic treatment not more than one
in ten reached this stage. The word hypnotism, therefore, led
them to think that they could not be benefited by methods that
failed to produce the condition implied by the term. Braid,
therefore, proposed that the term "hypnotic" should be restricted
to cases of artificial sleep followed by amnesia on awaking, but in
which the lost memory could be revived in subsequent hypnoses.

Further, Braid even proposed to abolish his old terminology
altogether, and to substitute a fresh one, which he believed to be
more in keeping with his advancing knowledge. He had become
convinced that all the conditions which he had formerly grouped
as hypnotic phenomena were really the result of mental con-
centration. Fixed gazing, concentration of the attention on a
real or imaginary object—:the usual hypnotic methods—all tended,
he said, to produce monoideism. As the result of impressions
received from without, either in the form of verbal suggestions or
physical sensations, an individual in the normal state might have
his attention fixed on one part or function of his body, and with-
drawn from others. Such suggestions acted more powerfully
during hypnosis; because, in that condition, the attention was
more concentrated and the suggestions were aided by the subject's
imagination, faith, and expectation. In this way dominant ideas
were created—these .reacted on the body and produced their
physical equivalent.

To meet the requirements of his new theory, Braid invented
the following terminology :—284

HYPNOTISM

Mono-ideology: the doctrine of the influence of dominant
ideas upon mental and physical states.

Monoideism: the condition resulting from the mind being
possessed by dominant ideas.

To Monoideise: to practise the method by which monoideism
is induced.

Monoideiser: the person who monoideises.

Monoideised: the condition of the person who is in a state of
monoideism.

Monoideo-Dynamics: the mental and physical changes which
result from monoideism.

Psycho-Physiology: a generic term, comprising the whole of
the phenomena which result from the reciprocal actions of mind
and matter.

According to Braid, the fascination of birds by serpents, the
phenomena of " electro-biology," of table-turning, the divining-rod,
the gyrations of the odometer of Dr. Mayo, the movements of the
magnetometer of Mr. Eutter, etc., were all examples of un-
consciousness or involuntary muscular action resulting from
dominant ideas. When the attention was absorbed by an idea
associated with movement, a current of nervous force was sent
into the muscles and a corresponding motion produced, not only
without conscious effort, but even in many instances in opposition
to volition. The subject lost the power of neutralising the
dominant idea, and was irresistibly drawn or spellbound according
to the nature of the impression produced; and might, in this way,
be brought under the control of others, by means of audible,
visible, and tangible suggestions.

The mental and physical phenomena, no matter what processes
were employed to induce hypnosis, resulted entirely from dominant
ideas : it mattered little whether these had existed in the subject's
mind previously, or were afterwards verbally suggested by the
operator. The latter acted like an engineer and called into action
the forces in the subject's own organism, controlling and directing
them in accordance with the laws which governed the action of
the mind upon the body.

Braid thoroughly recognised that all the phenomena most
characteristic of hypnosis could be induced without the subject
having passed through any condition resembling sleep. He ex-
plained this by his "mental-concentration" theory. The condition,HYPNOTIC THEORIES

285

he said, was essentially a subjective one, due to the distribution
of nervous energy within the subject's own body, which arose
from the influence of his own mind upon his physical organism.
While all was absolutely independent of the transmission of any
occult influence from one person to another, both direct and
indirect suggestions played an important part. Their influence
depended, however, on the ideas aroused in the mind of the
subject, and this involved no loss of " magnetic power" in the
operator. If the mesmeric theory were true, a preacher or author
would lose " vital fluid" in exact proportion to the numbers
influenced by his spoken or printed ideas. This, of course, was
absurd—a posthumous work might be quite as telling as one
printed during the life of the author: the suggestion of new ideas
to the mind of the reader, through the printed symbols of thought,
being the only cause of whatever effect the book produced.

In Murypnology Braid stated that he was unable to
account for the fact that a current of air aroused hypnotised
subjects from their trance; but, later, he thought he had found
an explanation for this in monoideism. The particular function
called into action, he said, occupied the whole attention of the
person hypnotised, while others passed into a state of torpor:
thus, only one function was active at any one time, and was
hence intensely so. The arousing of any dormant function was
equivalent to superseding the one in action. In this way, a state
of muscular rigidity ceased when a current of cold air was
directed to the skin, because this called the attention to the skin,
and withdrew it from the muscular sense.

According to Braid, there was a difference between spontaneous
and induced somnambulism; in the former the subjects were
impelled to certain trains of action by internal impulses, while in
the latter they tended to remain at absolute rest, and to pass into
a state of profound sleep, unless excited by some impression from
without.

Natural and artificial sleep were not regarded by Braid as
identical: the principal difference between the two was to be
found in their respective mental conditions. In passing into
ordinary sleep the mind was diffusive and passive—flitting from
one idea to another indifferently. Thus, the subject was unable
to fix his attention on any regular train of thought, or to perform
any act requiring much effort of will. This passiveness was286

HYPNOTISM

continued during sleep; and audible suggestions and sensible
impressions, if not intense enough to terminate it, only aroused
dreams, wherein ideas passed through the sleeper's mind without
exciting definite physical acts. On the other hand, an active and
concentrated state of mind was produced by the methods for
inducing hypnosis. This condition was favourable to suggestion;
the various impressions conveyed to the subject's mind, either
indirectly or by the verbal suggestions of the operator, were
quickly seized and responded to. Finally, hypnosis had cured
many diseases, which had resisted natural sleep and every other
known remedial agency for years. For instance, a few hypnotic
sittings of ten minutes each had cured a patient, who must have
had at least eight years' sleep during his long illness.

Magnets, etc.

In Braid's time the mesmerists held that magnets, certain
metals, crystals, etc., possessed a peculiar power over sensitive
subjects. In their presence, some experienced an unpleasant
sensation like an aura, others got headache, or attacks of fainting
or catalepsy, with spasms so violent that they apparently
endangered life. Frequently/ there was hyperesthesia of the
special senses; while many fancied they saw brilliant streams of
light flow from the poles of the magnet. Braid investigated the
matter with the following results:—The phenomena appeared
either when the subjects knew beforehand what was expected of
them, or received the necessary information from the suggestions
or leading questions of the operator. Apart from these conditions,
the phenomena never appeared; but imitation magnets produced
them when the subjects believed real ones were being used.

Eeichenbach asserted that when a sensitive plate was placed
in a box with a magnet, it received an impression just as if it
had been exposed to the full influence of the light. Braid
repeated the experiment, and also had similar ones performed for
him by an expert photographer; but, when all sources of fallacy
were eliminated, the results were invariably negative.

Braid constantly insisted that the effects attributed to mag-
netic or " odylic " force were entirely due to the action of suggested
ideas. The following experiment, he said, illustrated this, andHYPNOTIC THEORIES

287

also showed how, despite supposed rapport, a subject responded
to suggestions, even when these were not given by the original
operator.

One day Braid called on a London physician who used
mesmerism in his practice. The latter told him that he had been
obtaining wonderful results from the use of magnets, and offered
to demonstrate this on a subject who was at that moment in a
state of mesmeric trance. He asserted, for example, that when
he touched the subject's limbs with the magnet, this produced
catalepsy; and, certainly, what he had predicted happened.
Braid, in his turn, stated that he had an instrument in his pocket
which was quite as powerful, and offered to prove this by operat-
ing on the same subject. He then informed the doctor, in the
subject's presence, that when he put the instrument into her
hands it would produce catalepsy; and it at once did so, just as
in the former instance. Having terminated the catalepsy by
means of passes, Braid placed the instrument in another position,
and stated that it would now have the very reverse effect—that
the subject would not be able to hold it, owing to paralysis of
her muscles: this, as well as many other experiments, was
successful. Braid then privately explained to the doctor the
real nature and powers of his apparently magical instrument.
It was nothing more than his portmanteau-key and ring, and its
varied powers were merely the result of the predictions which
the subject had heard Braid make. The experiments, he said,
simply illustrated the power of suggestion during hypnosis:
neither magnet nor portmanteau-key played any real part in
them.

In 1843, Braid referred to Elliotson's belief in the mesmeric
powers of certain metals and to Wakley's test experiments. The
latter, operating with a non-mesmerising metal, made the subject
believe he was using a mesmerising one, whereupon she fell
asleep: from this he concluded that all the subjects were im-
postors. Braid, on the contrary, asserted that the artificial sleep
was genuine, but had been induced solely by suggestion: the
metals were neither mesmeric nor non-mesmeric. In the same
way, Braid explained the action of the " wooden tractors," which
Dr. Haygarth, in 1799, substituted for the "metallic ones" of Mr.
Perkins, with equally successful results. The latter consisted of
two pieces of metal, one of iron and the other of brass, about288

HYPNOTISM

three inches long, blunt at one end and pointed at the other.
They were invented by Dr. Elisha Perkins, of Norwich, Connecti-
cut, who in 1796 took out a patent for them. They were used
for the relief of headache, and other nervous pains, and were
applied by drawing them lightly over the part affected for about
twenty minutes. This method of treatment, which was very
fashionable at one time, was termed Perkinism in honour of its
inventor.

According to Braid, it had long been recognised that various
anomalous sensations followed the prolonged direction of the
attention to any part of the body; but, notwithstanding the fact
that remarkable cures had occasionally been caused by mental
excitement, and severe illness and even death had resulted from
fear, it was usually supposed that these sensations were unaccom-
panied by physical change. With the exception of Dr. (afterwards
Sir Henry) Holland, who wrote on the influence of attention on
the bodily organs in his Medical Notes and Reflections, Braid said
no one believed that definite physical changes could be excited,
regulated, and controlled by the voluntary mental efforts of a
healthy individual; or that the same results might be produced
involuntarily, by the direct or indirect suggestions of another
person.

Braid cited the following cases as illustrating the power of
suggestion to cause alterations in bodily functions:—

(1)	Increased secretion of milk (case reported p. 88).

(2)	Cures of long-standing hysterical paralysis without organic
lesion. Here, if confident verbal suggestions were made to the
patient during hypnosis, the results were sometimes instantaneous;
and the paralysis disappeared as if by the action of a magical
spell.

(3)	Activity of drugs in sealed tubes: Braid had heard of the
discovery of certain drugs in America which were said to exercise
their influence through glass : i.e. if the patient held the bottle con-
taining the medicine in his hand, it produced the same effect as
if he took the medicine by the mouth. To those who laughed at
the idea Braid retorted that imagination, attention, and expectation
were capable of producing the effects attributed to the drug. He
was soon able to prove this experimentally. Having described
to a friend the wonderful properties of this American emetic,
which was capable of acting through glass, he placed a phialHYPNOTIC THEORIES

289

containing coloured water in her hand. She immediately began
to be sick, but this ceased when she was given another phial,
which she was told was the antidote.

Braid believed that these and similar facts enabled us to
understand how hypnotism cured or relieved disease. Suggestion,
either verbal or indirect, aroused certain ideas in the mind of
the patient. According to their nature, these acted as stimulants
or sedatives, and either directed attention to, or withdrew it
from, particular organs or functions. In ordinary practice, similar
results were produced by prescribing medicines which acted as
general or local stimulants or sedatives.

If blushing, a phenomenon due to altered capillary circulation,
appeared immediately as the result of a mental impression,
dominant ideas might equally well produce powerful effects on
other parts of the body. According to Braid, homoeopathy, as
well as hypnotism, illustrated the action of suggestion. Sir J. Y.
Simpson had proved that one homoeopathic dilution was so weak
that a patient would have to take a dose every second of time,
night and day, for thirty thousand years, before he consumed one
grain of the original drug; while another was so attenuated that
it would require a mass of the dilution, equal to sixty-one times
the bulk of the earth, to contain a single grain of medicine!

Further, Braid held that the mental element associated with
the administration of drugs in general had been far too much
ignored. It was worth finding out, he said, how much of the
benefit derived from ordinary treatment was due to the effects of
medicine, and how much to suggestion. A mental impression
was produced whenever a drug was consciously taken; and this
might account for the remarkable changes of opinion as to the
value of particular medicines. At one time a universal favourite
appeared to possess every valuable quality, then was discarded
as worthless, while later it regained its former position. All this
arose naturally: a sanguine doctor prescribed the remedy with
confidence, and his patients caught the inspiration. Every
successful result increased the faith of both physician and patient.
Thus the medicine acquired curative powers in excess of its
physical properties. Later, when the same remedy was prescribed
doubtfully by others, the mental influence on the patients was
unfavourable; and so the drug was robbed of some of the value
that naturally belonged to it.

u290

HYPNOTISM

Braid's views as to clairvoyance, telepathy, etc., have already
been referred to, as also his rules for the avoidance of experi-
mental error.

Phrenology.

Braid's increased knowledge of the power of mental influences
over hypnotic phenomena soon led him to discard even the
slightest belief in phrenology. He complained, however, that the
author of an article in the North British Review, for November
1854, confounded him with the " Phreno - Mesmerists," and
attributed to him the belief that touching particular parts of the
head would make a hypnotised subject laugh, pray, sing, steal,
fight, etc. In reply, Braid stated that his earlier experiments had
neither proved nor disproved the doctrine of phrenology; but left
that precisely where they found it. The phenomena might arise
in various ways : (1) From a previous knowledge of phrenology.
(2) From training during hypnosis, so that when points were
touched, with which particular ideas had been associated by
verbal suggestion, the phenomena appeared. This arbitrary
association, however, could be equally readily established by
touching parts of the body other than the head. The touch
simply called into action the " muscles of expression," and thus
excited in the mind of the subject the ideas with which these
were usually associated in the waking condition. This latter
method was the natural one, and was simply an inversion of the
usual sequence subsisting between mental and muscular excitation.
Thus, first, the touch called into play the muscles constituting the
" anatomy of expression " of any given passion or emotion; and,
secondly, this physical expression suggested to the mind of the
subject the corresponding passion or emotion, with which it had
been associated in the waking condition. Under ordinary circum-
stances, the mental impression would have come first and excited
its corresponding physical manifestation; but here the physical
condition preceded the mental one and acted as its exciting
cause.

This theory was published by Braid in 1843 ; and, in 1844,
he practically demonstrated that he could induce all the so-called
phrenological phenomena by verbal suggestion, no matter what
part of the body was touched.HYPNOTIC THEORIES

291

Suggestion, Passes, etc.

At first Braid employed mechanical methods for the induction
of hypnosis and its phenomena. Later, he stated that these
acted mainly as indirect suggestions, and that direct verbal
suggestion was best for all hypnotic purposes. After hypnotising
his subjects, he stated in a confident manner the results he wished
to obtain, and often found that these could be varied by simple
change of voice. Thus, if he made a subject see an imaginary
sheep, and then asked him in a cheerful manner what colour it
was, this tone usually elicited the reply " White/' or some light
colour. If he then asked : " What colour is it now ? " giving a sad
intonation to the word now, the reply would usually be " Black."

Braid explained the action of passes and other physical
methods in the following manner:—Every fresh impression
modified existing functions, whether the newr impression was a
mental or a physical one. The brain received many impressions
which subsequently influenced the mind, although they were not
all perceived when conveyed to it by the organs of sense; while
others, too slight ever to become conscious, might nevertheless be
sufficient to produce a local influence on the nerves and capillaries.
Thus, a person might be so absorbed in a book as not to notice
he was sitting in a draught, and yet this might cause rheumatism.
In like manner, passes, which the subject was hardly conscious
of, might produce a physical effect either through pressure, agitation
of the air, changes in temperature, or electrical states. They
were most powerful, however, when they directly excited mental
action, either by fixing the attention on one part or function of
the body and withdrawing it from others; or by arousing ideas
previously associated with the physical impression. All these
effects, however, could be neutralised by direct suggestion; and
thus by training it was quite possible to make passes produce
results opposite to those formerly evoked by them. If, on making
the passes, the operator verbally stated what would happen, this
did happen instead of the usual result. From that time, " through
the double conscious memory."—to use Braid's own words—a
like impression would recall the idea that had been arbitrarily
associated with it.292

HYPNOTISM

Dangers.

Some of the opponents of hypnotism asserted that it could be
used to excite the animal passions: thus, they said, virtuous
women might become the victims of unprincipled men, and after-
wards retain 110 consciousness of what had taken place. This
charge, Braid stated, was not in keeping with observed facts. In
replying to it he cited many reasons for his belief that the
practice of hypnotism was devoid of danger, and amongst these
the following are the more important:—

(1)	He had successfully demonstrated that hypnosis could
never be induced without the subject's knowledge and consent.

(2)	Perception and judgment were not abolished in hypnosis;
this was not only true of the " alert" condition, but extended
also to the " deep." Even when the subjects were in the latter
state, if anything were done which was opposed to their moral
sense, they at once passed into the "alert" stage, and were
then as capable of defending themselves as when in the
waking condition.

(3)	Hypnosis undoubtedly increased the moral sense, and
rendered subjects more fastidious as to conduct than when
awake.

(4)	Even supposing, for the sake of argument, that it were
possible for an unprincipled person to commit an immoral act
upon a deeply hypnotised subject, the latter's loss of memory on
awaking would not protect the criminal. Consciousness was
never abolished during hypnosis; and everything which had
taken place during it could be recalled by the subject in sub-
sequent hypnoses.

Further, Braid objected that, while hypnotism had been
credited with dangers which it did not possess, those who attacked
it raised no objections to the use of chloroform or ether.
Although in no way an opponent of the latter, he drew attention
to the following facts :—

(a)	On several occasions he had witnessed the most intense
manifestations of erotism arise spontaneously during the earlier
stages of etherisation.

(b)	Ether, chloroform, and other narcotic drugs had frequently
been administered for criminal purposes. Sometimes this hadHYPNOTIC THEORIES

293

been done without the subject's knowledge, and various crimes
had been perpetrated during the unconsciousness of the victim.

Analogous States.

Braid thought that the voluntarily suspended animation of
Colonel Townsend, and the prolonged trance of the fakirs, might
be explained by hypnotism. Some instances of the latter were
remarkably well authenticated by the evidence of English officers
of position. On one occasion, a fakir was buried at a depth of
four feet; it was arranged that the experiment should last nine
days; and an English officer had the grave constantly watched
by sentinels. At the end of the third day, the officer, fearing the
fakir might be dead, and that this might be the cause of trouble
to himself, insisted on the termination of the experiment. When
the man was dug up, he was as cold and stiff as a mummy and
apparently lifeless; he revived, however, after being manipulated
for about a quarter of an hour.

Braid also found a resemblance between the condition
produced by hashish and certain hypnotic states; and, in support
of this, quoted the experiments made by Dr. O'Shaughnessy at
Calcutta, and already cited, p. 45.

In discussing other theories, Braid's will be again referred
to; meanwhile I wish to draw attention shortly to the
following points. Braid's theories changed as his knowledge
increased, and he held in all three distinct and widely differing
ones. In the first, he explained hypnosis from an almost purely
physical standpoint; in his second, he considered it to be a con-
dition of involuntary monoideism and concentration of the
attention. His third theory differed from both of these. In it
he recognised that reason and volition were unimpaired, and that
the attention could be simultaneously directed to more points
than one. The condition, therefore, was not one of involuntary
monoideism. Further, he recognised more and more clearly that
the state was essentially a conscious one, and that the losses of
memory which followed on awaking could always be restored in
subsequent hypnoses. Finally, he described as "double con-
sciousness " the condition which he had first termed " hypnotic,"
then " monoideistic" As already noted, few students of
hypnotism are acquainted with any of Braid's theories except the294

HYPNOTISM

earliest; and his third and latest one, which he promised to put
before the public in a more complete form, never saw the light
in the manner he intended. My account is drawn from little-
known pamphlets, unpublished MS., etc.

The following is a summary of Braid's latest theories:—

(1)	Hypnosis could not be induced by physical means alone.

(2)	Hypnotic and so-called mesmeric phenomena were subjective
in origin, and both were excited by direct or by indirect sugges-
tion. (3) Hypnosis was characterised by physical as well as by
psychical changes. (4) The simultaneous appearance of several
phenomena was recognised, and much importance was attached
to the intelligent action of a secondary consciousness. (5) Voli-
tion was unimpaired, moral sense increased, and suggested crime
impossible. (6) Bajpport was a purely artificial condition created
by suggestion. (7) The importance of direct verbal suggestion
was fully recognised, as also the mental influence of physical
methods. (8) Suggestion was regarded as the device used for
exciting the phenomena, and not considered as sufficient to
explain them. (9) Important differences existed between
hypnosis and normal sleep. (10) Hypnotic phenomena might
be induced without the subject having passed through any con-
dition resembling sleep. (11) The mentally healthy were the
easiest, the hysterical the most difficult, to influence.

In this country, during Braid's lifetime, his earlier views
were largely adopted by certain well-known men of science,
particularly Professors W. B. Carpenter and J. Hughes Bennett,
but they appear to have known little or nothing of his latest
theories. Bennett's description of the probable mental and
physical conditions, involved in the state Braid described as
" monoideism," is specially worthy of note. Not only is it inter-
esting in itself, but it serves also as a standard of comparison
with which to measure the theories of later observers, who have
attempted to explain hypnosis by cerebral inhibition, psychical
automatism, or both these conditions combined.

BENNETT'S THEORIES.

(A) Physiological.

According to Bennett, hypnosis was characterised by altera-
tions in the functional activity of the nerve tubes of the whiteHYPNOTIC THEORIES

295

matter of the cerebral lobes. He suggested that a certain pro-
portion of these became paralysed through continued monotonous
stimulation; while the action of others was consequently exalted.
As these tubes connected the cerebral ganglion-cells, suspension
of their functions was assumed to bring with it interruption of
the connection between the ganglion-cells.

(B) Psychical.

From the psychical side, he explained the phenomena of
hypnosis by the action of predominant and unchecked ideas.
These were able to obtain prominence from the fact that other
ideas, which, under ordinary circumstances, would have controlled
their development, did not arise; because the portion of the brain
with which the latter were associated had its action temporarily
suspended, i.e. the connection between the ganglion-cells was
broken, owing to the interrupted connection between the " fibres of
association." Thus, he said, the remembrance of a sensation
could always be called up by the brain; but, under ordinary
circumstances, from the exercise of judgment, comparison, and
other mental faculties, we knew it was only a remembrance.
When these faculties were exhausted, the suggested idea pre-
dominated, and the individual believed in its reality. Thus, he
attributed to the faculties of the mind, as a whole, a certain
power of correcting the fallacies which each one of them was likely
to fall into; just as the illusions of one sense were capable of
being detected by the healthy use of the other senses. There
were illusions mental and sensorial: the former caused by pre-
dominant ideas, and corrected by proper reasoning; the latter
caused by perversion of one sense, and corrected by the right
application of the others.

In hypnosis, then, according to this theory, a suggested idea
obtained prominence and caused mental and sensorial illusions,
because the check action—the inhibitory power—of certain
higher centres had been temporarily suspended. These theories
were first published by Professor Bennett in 1851.

Remarks.—In many respects the theories of modern observers
resemble those we have been discussing. The Salpetri&re school
has revived many of the errors of the mesmerists. Heidenhain
reproduced the physical side of Braid's theories as to monoideism,296

HYPNOTISM

while Bernheim did the same thing for the psychical side. Other
observers, instead of regarding the phenomena of hypnosis entirely
from a physical, or entirely from a psychical, point of view, have
recognised, like Braid and Bennett, that the mental changes were
of necessity associated with physical ones, and vice versd.

In the latest of modern theories is to be found a reproduction
and development of Braid's views as to double consciousness.
This theory stands apart. In all others, the phenomena of
h}'pnosis are supposed to depend on some inhibitory action, in
some limitation or arrest of the functious that subserve normal
life. In the " double " or " secondary consciousness " theory, on
the other hand, the subject is credited with an augmented power
of controlling his own organism; his volition is supposed to be
increased, and his consciousness unimpaired.

MODERN HYPNOTIC THEOEIES.

CHARCOT'S THEORY, OR THAT OF THE
SALPETRIERE SCHOOL.

The theories of this school are now almost universally
discredited by those practically engaged in hypnotic work. Even
as far back as the Second International Congress of Psychology
(London, 1892) they had almost ceased to attract attention; and
it was obvious that the views of the Nancy school had almost
entirely supplanted them.

On the other hand, they cannot be passed by without
examination, for many in this country, who have not studied
hypnotism practically, still regard them as affording a satisfactory
explanation of hypnotic phenomena. The following is a summary
of the principal points in the theories of this school:—

(1)	It was asserted that hypnosis was an artificially induced
morbid condition; a neurosis only to be found in the hysterical.
Women were more easily influenced than men, children and old
people were almost entirely insusceptible.

(2)	Hypnosis could be produced by purely physical means;
and a person could be hypnotised, as it were, unknown to himself.

(3)	Hypnotic phenomena were divided into three stages,
lethargy, catalepsy, and somnambulism, which were induced and
terminated by definite physical stimuli.HYPNOTIC THEORIES

297

(4)	Hypnotism, so far, had not proved of much therapeutic
value.

(5)	While there did not exist a single case in which a
hypnotic somnambule had acted criminally under the influence
of suggestion, hypnotism was not without its dangers. Hysteria
might be evoked in trying to induce hypnosis.

(6)	Certain hypnotic phenomena could be induced, transferred,
or terminated, by means of magnets, metals, etc.

(7)	There was a difference between suggestion in normal life
and in hypnosis. The former was a physiological phenomenon,
the latter a pathological one. Suggestibility did not constitute
hypnosis, it was only one of its symptoms.

The above theory has been strongly attacked, chiefly by the
so-called Nancy school. Before referring in detail to the objec-
tions they raised to it, I wish to draw attention to the fact that
they pointed out the insufficiency of the data upon which it had
been founded, and cited the confession of one of its own sup-
porters that only a dozen cases of true hypnosis had occurred in
the Salpetriere in ten years, and that a very large proportion of
the experiments had been made upon one subject, who had long
been an inmate of that hospital. On the other hand, the Nancy
school called attention to the extended nature of their own
observations, and to the fact that their conclusions had been
drawn from the study of many thousands of cases.

(la) Is Hypnosis a Morbid Condition which can only be
induced in the Hysterical ?

This question must, I think, be answered in the negative.
Charcot argued that hypnotism and hysteria were identical,
because in both the urine presented similar characteristics. In
reply to this, Moll pointed out that all Charcot's subjects suffered
from hysteria; and, as the phenomena which characterise waking
life are readily induced in hypnosis, Charcot easily created a
complete type of hysteria by suggestion.

If the hysterical alone can be hypnotised, we must conclude
from the statistics already cited (pp. 57-67) that at least 80
per cent of mankind suffer from hysteria.

Further, the highest percentage of successes was obtained
amongst those classes most likely to be free from hysteria. Thus,298

HYPNOTISM

the majority of the 152 undergraduates hypnotised by Wingfield
at Cambridge would be drawn from our public schools; and, if
these do not always turn out good scholars, they cannot at all
events be accused of producing hysterical invalids. Li^beault
found soldiers and sailors particularly easy to influence, while
Grossmann, of Berlin, recently asserted that hard-headed North-
Germans were very susceptible. Professor Eorel, of Zurich, told
me that he had hypnotised nearly all his asylum warders; that
he selected these himself, and certainly did not choose them from
the ranks of the hysterical. Most of Esdaile's patient's were
males, and he drew particular attention to the fact that they were
free from hysteria.

These and similar facts apparently justify the statements of
Forel and Moll, that it is not the healthy, but the hysterical, who
are the most difficult to influence. Forel, as we have seen, considers
that every mentally healthy man is naturally hypnotisable; while
Moll says, if we take a pathological condition of the organism as
necessary for hypnosis, we shall be obliged to conclude that
nearly everybody is not quite right in the head. The mentally
unsound, particularly idiots, are much more difficult to hypnotise
than the healthy. Intelligent people and those with strong wills
are more easily hypnotisable than the dull, the stupid, or the
weak-willed. Forel says that the most difficult to influence are
without doubt the insane; while the number of mentally healthy
persons hypnotised by Li^beault and Bernheim alone amounts to
many thousands. My personal experience accords with these views.
I formerly found no difficulty, for example, in hypnotising healthy
Yorkshire peasants for operative purposes, and amongst that class
obtained 100 per cent of successes. Now, when my patients are
usually chronic nervous invalids, I find the difficulty of inducing
hypnosis greatly increased. This experience is not alone a personal
one; for, on visiting hypnotic cliniques in France, Switzerland,
Holland, and Sweden, I invariably found that others encountered
similar difficulties.

(16) Are Women more Susceptible than Men ?

All observers, with the exception of the Salpetriere school,
agree in stating that sex has little or no influence upon suscepti-
bility. According to Li^beault, the difference between the twoHYPNOTIC THEORIES

299

sexes is rather less than 1 per cent. All Wingfield's, and the
majority of Esdaile's, subjects were men.

(1 c) Are Children and Old People Insusceptible ?

As we have already seen, Wetterstrand found that children
from 3 or 4 to 15 years of age could be influenced without
exception. B^rillon, out of 250 cases in children, hypnotised
80 per cent at the first attempt. Li^beault also found children
peculiarly susceptible; and one of his statistical tables records
100 per cent of successes up to the age of 14. In adult life
age apparently makes little difference. In the same table we
find that from the ages of 14 to 21 the failures were about 10
per cent, and from 63 years and upwards about 13 per cent.

(2)	Can Hypnosis be induced by Mechanical Means alone ?

This question is answered by the Nancy school in the negative,
and my own experience agrees with this. I know of no single
instance where hypnosis has followed the employment of mechanical
means, when mental influences have been carefully excluded, and
the subjects have been absolutely ignorant of what was expected
of them. No one was ever hypnotised by looking at a lark-
mirror, until Luys borrowed that lure from the birdcatchers, and
invested it with hypnotic power. On the other hand, any
physical method will succeed with a susceptible subject who
knows what is expected of him.

(3)	Are Hypnotic Phenomena divided into Three Distinct

Stages ?

The production of the definite stages described by the Sal-
petrikre school as arising from their respective physical stimuli,
has never been noticed by other observers. Amongst the many
hundreds of hypnotised subjects I have seen, none have responded
to the manipulations which produced such striking phenomena at
the Salp^trifere. On the other hand, I and many others have
found that we could easily evoke these stages by verbal suggestion,
and train the subjects to manifest them at a given signal. The
condition, however, was always an artificial one.3°°

HYPNOTISM

Further, the Salp6tri&re stages cannot be accepted until it is
proved that suggestion was rigorously excluded. Instead of this,
we know that in many instances the experiments were discussed
before the subjects themselves. It is specially worthy of note
that Charcot's stages, as described by his followers, have lost
much of their original clearness and precision. Other phenomena,
in addition to the characteristic ones, have appeared; and the
latter have not been confined to their proper places, i.e. the stages
have become mixed. Again, the phenomena, instead of only
appearing in response to definite physical stimuli, have become
more capricious in their origin; and one method, instead of only
exciting its appropriate stage, sometimes produces all three.
This tends to show that the phenomena really result from varying
mental states, the outcome of direct or indirect suggestion and
not from definite and unvarying physical stimuli—a view further
strengthened by the fact that it is admitted that the physical
stimulus only acts when given by the person who is en rapport
with the subject.

(4) Is Hypnotism of little Therapeutic Value ?

On the one hand, we have the negative evidence of a few
cases observed at the Salp6tri£re, where experiment, not cure,
seemed the main end. On the other, we have the positive
evidence drawn from many thousands of cases, where hypnotism
has been successfully employed for the cure or relief of disease.

(6)1 Can various Physical and Mental Phenomena be excited
by the Application, or near Presence, of certain Metals,
Magnets, and other Inanimate Objects ?

Here, in the assertions of the Salp£tri£re school, and their
refutation by that of Nancy, we have an exact counterpart of
the controversy between Braid and the mesmerists. All the old
errors, the result of ignoring mental influences, are once more
revived. Medicines are again alleged to exercise an influence
from within sealed tubes. The physical and mental conditions
of one subject are stated to be transferable to another, or even to

1 No. (5) will be discussed later.HYPNOTIC THEORIES

301

an inanimate object. It is useless to enter into any arguments
to refute these statements; for this would be needlessly repeating
the work of Braid. Indeed, in many instances, their absurdity
renders argument unnecessary: for example, when a sealed tube
containing laurel-flower water was brought near a Jewish prosti-
tute, she adored the Virgin Mary! From this it might be
inferred that different religious beliefs were represented by different
nerve centres, and that these could be called into action by
appropriate physical stimuli. The chief apostle of these doctrines
was Luys; and considerable attention was drawn to them in this
country in 1893, by popular articles in the daily papers and
elsewhere. Indeed, the editor of a well-known medical journal
thought them of sufficient importance to demand his writing a
book in order to disprove them. He apparently was ignorant of
the fact that M. Dujardin-Beaumetz had, in 1888, reported to
the Acadtmie de MMecine that Luys* experiments were conducted
so carelessly as to rob them of all value, and that among students
of hypnotism they were entirely disregarded.

The Salpetri&re theory not only resembles that of the later
mesmerists, in attributing to magnets, metals, etc. the power of
exciting varied and wonderful phenomena, but also differs little,
if at all, from it in other respects. Thus, the mesmerists stated
that all were not susceptible to the influences just referred to,
and called those who were " sensitives." The Salpetri&re school
say the same thing, but call their sensitives " hysterical." Again
both schools regarded the influence as a purely physical one,
which could be exerted without the knowledge and against the
will of the subject. There was one important difference, however,
between the later mesmerists and the Charcot school. When
Elliotson commenced to investigate the subject, nothing was
known about its mental side or about the influence of suggestion.
Thus, his errors were excusable, and almost unavoidable. When
Charcot started his researches, not only had Braid already demon-
strated as fallacious all the errors Charcot and his followers
adopted later, but Li^beault also had pointed out the influence
of suggestion, and how, through ignorance of its powers, false
conclusions were sure to be drawn. Despite all this, Elliotson's
pioneer work brought upon him bitter attacks and threatened
ruin, while Charcot's fallacies did not injure the reputation he
had established in other departments of science.302

HYPNOTISM

The remaining points (Nos. 5 and 7), namely, the alleged
dangers of hypnotism and the nature of suggestion, will be
referred to in discussing the theories of the Nancy school, and in
the chapter on the " So-called Dangers of Hypnotism/'

HEIDENHAIN'S THEORY.

The Salpetrikre theory, which assumed that hypnosis could
only be induced in the hysterical, gave us an explanation of
hypnotic phenomena, which was at the same time both entirely
physical and pathological. Heidenhain's theory, on the other
hand, may be taken as a type of the purely physiological one.
According to him, the phenomena of hypnotism owed their origin
to arrested activity of the ganglion-cells of the cerebral cortex.
He held that these higher centres were inhibited by the mono-
tonous stimulation of other nerves, i.e. by fixed gazing, passes,
etc., and that sensory impressions, which usually produced move-
ments after passing to the higher centres and evoking conscious-
ness, now did so by passing directly to the motor centres. This
was essentially a "short-circuiting of nervous currents" theory.
Heidenhain regarded the hypnotised subject as a pure automaton,
who imitated movements made before him, but who was entirely
unconscious of what he did. To have caused him to move his arm,
he said, the image of a moving arm must have passed before his
retina, or an unconscious sensation of motion must have been
induced through passive movement of his arm. The subject had
no idea corresponding to the movements he made: the sensory
impression led to no conscious perception and to no voluntary move-
ment, but sufficed to set up unconscious imitation. In reference
to the playing of different parts by hypnotised subjects, Heidenhain
said that it was a mistake to suppose that the subjects realised
what they did: this was quite out of the question; the hypnotised
individual neither thought nor knew anything about himself.
Heidenhain held that the fact of the subject's forgetfulness of the
sensations he had experienced during hypnosis afforded satisfactory
evidence that these sensations had been unconscious ones. This
theory was first published in 1880, and attracted considerable
attention. It was accepted, for example, by Professor McKendrick,
of Glasgow, and restated by him in the ninth edition of theHYPNOTIC THEORIES

303

Encyclopaedia Britannica, as giving a true and scientific explana-
tion of the phenomena of so-called animal magnetism.

To this explanation many objections may be urged, thus:—

(1)	It is a mistake to call the hypnotic action on the cortical
functions inhibition, without stating explicitly that the normal
action of these functions in respect to motion is always to a large
extent inhibitory; and that the complete description of the
method by which the so-called automatic reflex responses are
brought about is thus " inhibition of the inhibitory functions."

(2)	While giving an elaborate exposition of the theory of
cerebral inhibition produced by peripheral stimulation, Heidenhain
omitted to take into consideration the resixlt of central stimulation by
means of an idea or emotion. As hypnosis can be equally well
induced in that way, Heidenhain's theory cannot be accepted, as
he wished it should, in substitution for that of " dominant ideas."
It cannot justly be considered as an alternative to it, as it is
simply the physiological statement of psychical facts.

(3)	The theory itself is not a new one; with the exception
of a few details, it is essentially an imperfect reproduction of that
of the late Professor John Hughes Bennett, of Edinburgh,
published in 1851. But Bennett, as we have seen, possessed a
clearer view of the whole problem, and did not fall into the
mistake of attempting to substitute the physiological statement of
psychical facts for the facts themselves.

(4)	Hypnosis can be induced, not only in the absence of
monotonous peripheral stimulation, but even without any peripheral
stimulation at all. At the present day, it is usually evoked by
central stimulation, which, in those who have been previously
hypnotised, need not be persistently monotonous ; the single word
" Sleep " being then sufficient to excite the condition. In such
cases, the factor which Heidenhain regarded as essential to the
production of hypnotic phenomena, i.e. monotonous peripheral
stimulation, is absent.

(5)	Instead of a hypnotised subject imitating a movement
which he sees, and failing to perform one which is verbally
suggested to him, the reverse is actually the case. As a rule the
slightest verbal suggestion is sufficient to induce the movements
described by Heidenhain; on the other hand, hypnotised subjects
never copy movements made before them unless they have been
trained to do so. The imitative movements only take place,304

HYPNOTISM

according to Moll, when the hypnotic subject is conscious of them,
and knows that he is intended to make them. If they were
unconscious reflexes, the subjects would imitate any person's
movements; but they only imitate the one person who exists for
them, i.e. the operator, and him only when they know he
wishes them to do so. When such experiments are often
repeated the imitation may become automatic in later hypnoses,
as is the case in waking life. At first, however, a clear idea of
the movements to be made is necessary ; and since we regard the
cerebral cortex as the seat of ideas, and as there is no reason for
shifting them to another part of the brain in hypnosis, there
can be no doubt of the activity of the cortex.

(6) Heidenhain's only argument is based upon the subject's
subsequent defect of memory; he thus assumes, as his sole test
for present consciousness, the subsequent remembrance of its
content. Yet, if the reality of that test be granted, the question
whether a man was conscious when he read an article in the
Times, may depend on whether or not he received a blow on the
head when he had finished it. Further, there is a more radical
objection to all these arguments founded on subsequent loss of
memory, the very fact, indeed, that memory is frequently present.
Braid, for example, found that only some 10 per cent of his
subjects were unable to recall the events of hypnosis, while
Schrenck-Notzing's International Statistics give 15 per cent.
Again, if on awaking the act performed during hypnosis is
forgotten, the lost memory can be revived in subsequent hypnoses;
and, finally, the amnesia which would otherwise follow deep
hypnosis can be entirely prevented by suggestion.

THEOEIES OF VINCENT AND SIDIS.

Various other modern theories are based more or less entirely
on a supposed cerebral inhibition. Thus, Bennett's theory crops
up again in Vincent's Hypnotism. Thirty-two pages are
devoted to "neurons" and "dendrons," "inaptic" and "aptic"
acts, and reasons for rejecting the term "reflex." Finally, we
arrive at Vincent's hypnotic theory, which is founded simply on
an inhibition of one set of functions—with an increased capacity
of action in the others—the inhibition and dynamogenia ofHYPNOTIC THEORIES

Brown-Sequard. " The stimulus," Yincent says, " instead of being
dissipated amongst an indefinite number of neuronic groups, is
confined to those whose function is the pure appreciation of the
stimulus; the other groups, whose function is the consideration
of the reasonableness of the suggestion and the development of
the stimulus in other conscious directions, are inhibited."

Sidis, in the Psychology of Suggestion, explains the pheno-
mena of hypnosis in exactly the same way. " There is," he says,
" a functional dissociation between the nerve-cells. The associa-
tion-fibres, that connect groups into systems, communities, clusters,
and constellations, contract. The fine processes of the nerve-cells,
the dendrons, or the terminal arborisation, or the collaterals
that touch these dendrons, thus forming the elementary group,
retract and cease to come into contact." He further discusses
which association-fibres give way first, and whether the neuraxon
is contracted as a whole, or whether the fibrillse alone contract,
and so withdraw the terminal arborisations for minute distances.
All this might be of interest if it were related in any way to
the subject in dispute. The phenomena to be explained, how-
ever—increased volition, memory, intelligence, etc.—are just the
exact opposite of those which have been assumed; and theories,
no matter how elaborate, nor how learned in terminology, are
valueless when founded upon imaginary mental states, the
existence of which is simply assumed by the operator. What
does it matter whether lack of consciousness or loss of memory
be produced by interruption of association-fibres, arrested action
of ganglionic cells of the cerebral cortex, retracted dendrons or
disconnected neurons, or even by an inhibition of the amoeboid
movements in the pseudopodic, protoplasmic prolongations of the neuro-
spoTigium,1 if the problems we are dealing with actually involve
an increase of intelligence, consciousness, volition, and memory ?

MR ERNEST HART'S THEORY.

Another physical theory was published by the late Mr.
Ernest Hart (" Hypnotism and Humbug," Nineteenth Century,
January 1902) in the following complicated and somewhat

1 Riickardt's theory, afterwards elaborated by Lupine, Golgi, Ramon y Cajal,
Duval, and Lugaro.

X3°6

HYPNOTISM

obscure sentence:—" Ideas arising in the mind of the subject1
are sufficient to influence the circulation in the brain of the
person operated on, and in such variations are adequate to produce
sleep in the natural state, or artificially by total deprivation, or
by excessive increase, or local aberration in the quantity or
quality of the blood to produce coma and prolonged insensibility
by pressure of the thumbs upon the carotid; or hallucinations,
dreams, and visions by drugs, or by external stimulation of the
nerves, or to leave the consciousness partially affected, and the
person in whom sleep, coma, or hallucinations is produced,
subject to the will of others and incapable of exercising his
own."

The existence, however, of cerebral anaemia in hypnosis is by
no means established. The belief in its existence is an old one,
which recent investigations have done much to discredit. Many
years ago Carpenter suggested it as a possible explanation of at
least some hypnotic phenomena, and Hack Tuke also considered
there was a partial spasm of the cerebral blood-vessels in
hypnosis. Heidenhain, too, at first supposed that anaemia of the
brain was the cause of hypnosis. He soon gave up this opinion
for several reasons, (a) He saw hypnosis appear in spite of the
inhalation of nitrite of amyl, which causes hyperaemia of the
brain. (<b) The investigations of Forster discovered no change
in the vessels at the back of the eye during hypnosis, (c)
Salvioli and Bouchut stated that they found cerebral hyperaemia
during hypnosis.

Mental activity varies in hypnosis just as it does in normal
life, and in both is doubtless associated with changes in the
blood supply; but, even granting that cerebral anaemia exists
in hypnosis, to assume that it explains its phenomena is un-
scientific. For, as Professor William James points out, the
change in the circulation is the result, not the cause, of the
altered activity of the nervous matter. Many popular writers,
he says, talk as if it were the other way about, and as if mental
activity were due to the afflux of blood: this belief has no
physiological foundation whatever; it is even directly opposed
to all that we know of cell life. The stomach does not digest

1 Here "subject" is an obvious misprint for "operator" ; while the description
of the wonderful feats performed by "ideas" miglit lead one to suppose that the
writer believed in spiritualistic materialisations and the like.HYPNOTIC THEORIES

because more blood flows into it, nor do the muscles of the arm
contract for a similar reason: on the contrary, their increased
blood supply follows their increased functional activity. If one
desired to be hypercritical, one might still further object that
when a correlation had been established between a physical
condition and a psychical state, the one did not in any true sense
explain the other. As Tyndall said : " There is no fusion possible
between the two classes of facts. The passage from the physics
of the brain to the corresponding facts of consciousness is
unthinkable."

THE THEORIES OF THE NANCY SCHOOL.

*

It is difficult to condense the views of the so-called Nancy
school, for not only do marked differences of opinion exist
between its various members, but the views held by some of the
more prominent among them have changed greatly of late years.
It must be noted too, in justice to them, that Li^beault and his
followers do not claim to have founded a school. As Professor
Beaunis said: "We hear frequently nowadays of the school
of Nancy, but there is something in this term which has been
applied to us which does not correspond with the reality. The
term ' school' implies a community of which all the members
hold the same ideas. This we are not; but the public quickly
accept ready-made labels without troubling themselves much
about the ideas underneath them. In our researches, undertaken
with mistrust and doubt, we have arrived at similar results upon
a certain number of points. Each observer, however, retains his
own ideas and individuality, and it is easy to note the profound
and even radical differences that separate us. These diversities
of opinion are easily explained, and their non-existence would be
impossible in a science still in its infancy. What is common to
all of us is the conviction of the importance of these questions,
and the belief in their future—the profound conviction that this
method so ridiculed constitutes one of the greatest advances of
the human mind, and one of its most precious possessions."

Taking Bernheim as the leading representative of the so-
called Nancy school, we find the essential part of his theory to
be a reproduction of the psychical half of Bennett's. InHYPNOTISM

hypnosis Bernheim recognises certain mental changes, not of a
pathological character; but to these he denies any physical
equivalent. Thus, if we join Heidenhain's purely physiological
theory and BernheimV purely psychical one, we obtain an
accurate reproduction of Bennett's two theories.

BERNHEIM'S THEORIES.

In hypnosis, according to Bernheim, the whole nervous force
of the subject is concentrated upon a single idea. This nervous
concentration may be changed from one point to another in
response to the suggestions of the operator; but, though the
focus shifts its place, the same concentration continues to exist.

In the normal state, he says, we are subject to errors
illusions, and hallucinations. Sometimes these are spontaneous,
or follow imperfect sensorial impressions; sometimes they are
suggested to us, and accepted without being challenged. In the
normal state there is a tendency to accept ideas suggested by
others, and to act upon them; but every formulated idea is
questioned, and, as the result of this, either accepted or rejected.
In the hypnotised subject, on the other hand, there exists a
peculiar aptitude for transforming the suggested idea into an act.
This is so quickly accomplished that the intellectual inhibition
has not time to prevent it; and, when it comes into play, it does
so too late, as the idea has been translated into its physical
equivalent. If consciousness follows the suggested act, it at all
events follows it too late to interfere with its fulfilment.

Bennett, as we have seen, regarded the phenomena of hypnosis
as the result of a definite physical change in the subject;
Bernheim, on the other hand, attempts to explain them (a) by
finding an analogy between them and the phenomena of the
normal state, and (b) by means of suggestion.

According to Bernheim, hypnotic phenomena are analogous to
many normal acts of an automatic, involuntary, and unconscious
nature; and nothing, absolutely nothing, differentiates natural
and artificial sleep. If any distinction at all exists between the
normal and the hypnotic state, this can be explained by means
of suggestion. Both the normal and the hypnotised subject can
be influenced by it; but, as it has been suggested to the latterHYPNOTIC THEORIES

that he should become more responsive, a peculiar aptitude for
transforming the idea into an act has in this way been artificially
developed. In other words, every one is suggestible, and if you take
some one and suggest to him to become more suggestible, that is
hypnotism! Thus, suggestion not only excites the phenomena
of hypnosis, but also explains them. Suggestion, i.e. the mental
impression, including the preliminary suggestion to become more
suggestible, conveyed from the operator to the subject, is the only
essential factor in the equation ; all else is practically unimportant.

This theory contains five distinct propositions, none of which
can be accepted without discussion:—

(1)	Nothing differentiates natural and artificial sleep.

(2)	Hypnotic phenomena are analogous to many normal acts
of an automatic, involuntary, and unconscious nature.

(3)	An idea has a tendency to generate its actuality.

(4)	In hypnosis the tendency to accept suggestions is some-
what increased by the action of suggestion itself. Such increased
suggestibility, one of degree, not of kind, alone marks any differ-
ence between the hypnotic and the normal state.

(5)	The result of suggestion in hypnosis is analogous to the
result of suggestion in the normal state.

It is also asserted that in the five preceding propositions is
to be found a complete explanation of hypnosis and its phenomena.

(1 and 2) Explanation of Hypnosis by Means of a Supposed
General Analogy between it and the Normal Sleeping
and Waking States.

My chief objections to this are:—

(1st) That an analogy, no matter how successfully established
between two sets of phenomena, by no means explains either
of them.

(2ndly) That many important points of difference exist
between hypnosis and ordinary sleep.

(3rdly) That the automatic, involuntary, and unconscious acts,
in which Bernheim seeks to find his analogy, rarely, if ever,
occur in hypnosis, and are certainly by no means characteristic
of it.HYPNOTISM

(1) The Supposed Identity of Hypnosis and Ordinary Sleep.

Braid considered that marked differences existed between
hypnosis on the one hand, and natural somnambulism and the
normal sleeping state on the other. These, he thought, consisted
mainly in the increased mental and physical powers of the
hypnotised subject. Many other authorities agree with Braid.
Thus, Moll says, the memory is not at all affected in slight
hypnosis; we always presuppose, however, a great decrease of
self-consciousness in sleep, and it is just this self-consciousness
which remains intact in slight hypnosis.

According to Max Hirsch and Spitta—whose views are
shared by Lehmann, the distinguished Danish psychologist—
hypnosis and sleep are far from being identical. In reply to
Liebeault's assertion that the latter condition results from the
concentration of the subject's attention upon the idea of sleep,
Hirsch points out that little children fall asleep easily, simply
because they do not concentrate their attention; and they, at
the same time, are quite unacquainted with the idea of sleep.

Sully finds the following differences between sleep and
hypnosis: (a) The greater part of our dream material in nightly
sleep comes from within the organism, and not from without, as
in hypnosis, (b) The natural dream is more complex and varied
than the hypnotic, (c) The hypnotised subject tries to translate
his hallucinations into actions in a manner that finds no
parallel in ordinary sleep.

Pelbceuf said: " I put the subjects to sleep; or more
correctly speaking, they believe that they have been asleep." This
conception of the condition is, I think, the true one. In deep
hypnosis the subjects believe that they have been asleep, because
on awaking they are unable to recall what has happened.
The condition, however, may have been characterised by great
mental and physical activity, presenting in subsequent amnesia
its solitary point of resemblance to normal sleep. Finally, this
amnesia itself is not a necessary concomitant of the state, and
can be easily prevented by suggestion.HYPNOTIC THEORIES

3"

(2) The supposed Analogy between Hypnotic Phenomena, and
the Automatic, Involuntary, and Unconscious Acts of
Normal Life.

According to Braid's conception of hypnosis, the state was
characterised by mental and physical phenomena, which were not
to be found in other conditions. The hypnotised subject had
acquired new and varied powers, but had not at the same time
lost his volition or moral sense. He asserted that he had proved
that no one could be affected by hypnotism at any stage of the
process, unless by voluntary compliance. The subjects were
docile and obliging; but, despite this, they refused all criminal
suggestions, and even developed a higher sense of propriety than
characterised their normal condition.

Totally different views were formerly held by Bernheim and
certain other members of the Nancy school. They believed that
the subject's volition was weakened or destroyed, and considered
this condition to be one of automatism. To both these points I
wish to draw attention.

The hypnotic state was described as one of cerebral automatism;
and, according to Bernheim, its phenomena found their analogy
in various automatic movements of normal life, such as walking.
Suggested crimes, which would really seem to differ essentially
from acts like these, were, however, described as illustrating
" automatism" in its highest form. It is with this illustration
that I desire to deal at present. Let us take a typical case. It
is suggested to a high-principled girl in the somnambulistic state
that she shall take a piece of sugar from the basin and put it
into her mother's tea-cup, after having been informed that this
is really a lump of arsenic, certain to cause death. Let us now
attempt to understand the supposed mental condition with regard
to consciousness and volition, and then compare it with the usual
scientific conception of automatism. It is, I think, generally
conceded by the Nancy school that hypnotic acts are conscious
ones; and that, if amnesia follows on awaking, the lost memory
can be restored in subsequent hypnoses. Indeed, Professor
Bernheim, when discussing the Salpetri&re experiments, insists
upon the fact that the hypnotised subject is conscious in all
stages. Therefore, the alleged criminal act was a conscious act.312

HYPNOTISM

Again, we are told that somnambules, before accepting criminal
suggestions, frequently struggle against them. This would
indicate that, in some instances at all events, they are carried
out in opposition to volition as it exists in hypnosis. Further, it
must be conceded that a criminal act would not be performed
voluntarily by a virtuous person in the normal state. The sug-
gested act, then, is one which would have been opposed by volition
in the waking state.

Now let us turn to " automatism," as defined by Professor
Waller, the well-known physiologist. " The word," he says, " has
received two diametrically opposed meanings, viz. (1) self-
moving, self-rising, spontaneous; (2) automaton-like, that is to
say, like a mechanism, that appears to be self-moving, but that
we know to be moved by secret springs and hidden keys." The
second sense is the one in which he employs it, and is also, I
think, the one now generally adopted by science. As the supposed
essential characteristic of the suggested crime is the fact that it
arose not spontaneously, but in response to the desires of the
operator, it is obvious that if it is automatic at all, it must accord
with the second conception of automatism. Now let us follow
Dr. Waller in his further definition of the second condition, and
then see how this agrees with the so-called "hypnotic automatism."
According to him, the automatic action is essentially a reflex
action, and differs from it only in that it is, as a rule, the habitual
or serial effect of habitual or serial stimuli. An automatic act is
the repeated or rhythmic motor response to a repeated or con-
tinuous excitation. Usually it is carried on unconsciously.
Automatic actions may be divided into two sub-groups : (1)
primary or inherited, of which the act of sucking is an example;
(2) secondary or acquired, as, for example, walking. In this
discussion I think we may disregard primary or inherited automatic
acts. Obviously, to kill one's mother cannot be regarded as an
inherited automatism; and if such a crime be automatic at all,
it must fall under the group of secondary ones. Of this form of
automatic act the winding of one's watch may be taken as a
typical example. This is first performed consciously and volun-
tarily. After a time consciousness sometimes ceases to participate
in the action. On attempting to wind our watch many of us
must have occasionally found that we had already done so,
although quite incapable of recalling the fact. Now, thisHYPNOTIC THEORIES

313

automatic act is simply a voluntary one, performed inattentively
or' unconsciously—one that has previously been frequently per-
formed, and follows well-worn nerve-channels. It has commenced
as a conscious, voluntary act. It has become unconscious by
repetition, but still remains voluntary, in the sense that it is an
act which the consciousness would generally approve of, did it
happen to participate in it.

Let us consider the so-called automatic crime of the hypnotised
subject, and see how it agrees with this conception of automatism.
{a) The crime has not been & habitual one. In the present
instance the very nature of the act renders this impossible.
Obviously, the subject could not have habitually killed her mother.
The alleged automatic act must, then, in this instance, have been
performed for the first time. Now the essential character of the
secondary or acquired automatic act is that it has been frequently,
consciously, and voluntarily performed previously to becoming
automatic, and follows in consequence well-worn nerve tracts
which offer no obstacle to its fulfilment, (b) The hypnotic act,
on the contrary, is performed consciously; and the attention,
instead of being directed in other channels, as in genuine auto-
matism, is supposed to be intensely concentrated on the operator,
or on the signal given by him—a signal sometimes so faint that
the subject is only enabled to recognise it by means of the hyper-
esthesia of his special senses, (c) The hypnotic crime is some-
times supposed to be performed in opposition to volition as it
exists in hypnosis, and is always supposed to be in opposition to
the normal volition. The genuine automatic act, on the other
hand, has only been enabled to become automatic owing to the
fact that it has previously been frequently performed as a volun-
tary one; and now, when performed unconsciously, it still
remains such an act as the volition, as a general rule, would
approve of. The so-called " automatic crime " of the hypnotised
subject not only differs, then, from the general scientific con-
ception of automatism, but is its exact opposite in every detail.

While holding, and holding strongly, that the hypnotic crimes
we are discussing cannot in any sense be termed automatic, I do
not deny that the hypnotic subject can be trained to perform
automatic acts. If I suggest some simple movement to a subject,
which his volition does not disapprove of, doubtless after a time
it may be performed automatically, i.e. after having been fre-314

HYPNOTISM

quently, voluntarily, and consciously performed, it may at length
be executed unconsciously as a genuine automatic act, in response
to the habitual stimulus which has excited it.

Putting aside the question whether the so-called hypnotic
crimes are executed automatically, there remains another and
very important one, whether hypnotic subjects are more or less
under the control of the operator, and thus can be compelled to
perform criminal or other acts, which would be opposed by their
normal volition. Formerly the writings of the Nancy school
indicated a belief that the hypnotic state was essentially char-
acterised by the obedience of the subject to the operator. Some
years ago most stress was laid upon complete obedience, and
Li^beault said: " We may postulate, as a first principle, that a
subject, during the state of hypnotic sleep, is at the mercy of the
operator, and carries out suggestions with the fatality of a falling
stone." Bernheim says: "In profound somnambulism, or the
sixth degree, the subject remains asleep, becoming a perfect
automaton, obeying all the commands of the operator " (Suggestive
Therapeutics, p. 8). . . . Again, "the subjects more deeply
influenced by hypnotism pass into a condition known as
somnambulism. Then new phenomena appear. The automatism
is complete. The human organism has become almost a machine,
obedient to the operator's will" (p. 29). . . . "The most striking
feature in a hypnotised subject is his automatism " (p. 125). Now,
possibly as the result of the influence of the late Professor Delbceuf,
a greater power of resistance is conceded. In a more recent
article Li^beault admits that he has only encountered 4 to 5
per cent of hypnotised subjects to whom one could with absolute
certainty successfully suggest crime. This admission is an
important one; but despite it, the so-called automatism is still
regarded as the essential characteristic of the hypnotic state. At
the Moscow Congress in 1897, Bernheim veered round from his
previous automatic theory, and admitted that many subjects
resisted suggestions. They also retained, he said, sufficient
volition for some things, and only carried out suggestions which
were agreeable or indifferent to them. Certain subjects also
realised the experimental nature of the crimes it was suggested
they should commit. He still believed, however, that a certain
small proportion could be induced to commit real crimes.

If only four or five out of a hundred subjects evince the so-HYPNOTIC THEORIES

315

called automatism, surely one is not justified in describing this
phenomenon as the essential characteristic of the whole group. If
five out of a hundred unhypnotised individuals presented certain
phenomena which were absent in the remainder, one would surely
not choose these rarely occurring phenomena as the descriptive
characteristics of the class, and those upon which the belief in
other, and more frequently observed phenomena, should depend.
Yet, strange as it may seem, this was the position assumed by
Durand de Gros, who assured Delboeuf that if he succeeded in
proving that the suggested crimes of the Nancy school were
recognised by the subject as experimental ones, he would destroy
hypnotism entirely. The existence, then, of many undisputed
phenomena, which are common to all hypnotic subjects, is to
depend upon the acceptance of others, which it is alleged occur
in 4 or 5 per cent alone out of the same number.

Putting aside the question of the average number of subjects
in whom it is alleged crime can be successfully suggested, I
desire first to refer to some of my own observations, and after-
wards to consider them in conjunction with the so-called suggested
crimes of Bernheim and others, in order to gain, or at all events
to strive after, a clearer conception of the mental states involved.

When I commenced hypnotic work some twelve years ago,
I, as Delboeuf at first did, believed that the hypnotic subject was
entirely at the mercy of the operator. I was soon awakened
from this dream, however, not by the result of experiments made
to test the condition, but from constantly recurring facts which
spontaneously arose in opposition to my preconceived theories.
Of these facts the following cases are illustrations:—

Miss C., aged 19, an uneducated girl, had been frequently
hypnotised, and was a good somnambule. She had had sixteen
teeth extracted at Leeds during hypnotic anaesthesia (p. 165).
At a later date, having examined her mouth and found that
a fragment of one of the stumps remained, I asked her to
come to my house to have it removed. She mentioned this to
one of her neighbours, an old woman, who advised her to have
no more teeth extracted, as this would cause her mouth to fall in.
The following day she presented herself, and was at once
hypnotised; but refused to open her mouth, or to permit me to
extract the tooth. Emphatic suggestion continued for half an
hour produced no result. This was the first occasion on which316

HYPNOTISM

she had rejected a suggestion. I then awoke her, and asked why
she refused to have the tooth extracted. She told me what her
neighbour had said, and expressed her determination to have
nothing more done. I explained the absurdity of this, and
pointed out that, as she had only the fragment of one tooth
remaining, its removal could not affect the appearance of her
face. As she was still obstinate I said: " Unless this fragment
is removed you cannot have your artificial teeth fitted." This
argument was sufficient. She gave her consent in the waking
state, was at once hypnotised, and operated on without pain.

Sarah L., aged 20, was a good somnambule, who had been the
subject of two painless operations (Case No. 6, pp. 161-2). At a
later date I wished to satisfy myself of the depth of the hypnotic
anaesthesia, as another and more serious operation was contem-
plated. Having obtained her consent to test the condition, I
hypnotised her and pricked the pulp of her thumb deeply with a
needle, and also pinched her arm severely. She showed no sign
of pain, and afterwards remembered nothing of what had
occurred. A few days later, I wished to repeat the process.
She again permitted me to prick her thumb, but when I attempted
to pinch her arm she drew it away, and refused to let me touch
it. Her mother, who was present, gave the following explana-
tion. After the first experiment, her daughter noticed that her
arm was blackened in several places, and asked the cause. When
told what I had done, the girl said: " I don't object to being
pricked with a needle; but I won't allow Dr. Bramwell to pinch
my arm again, because the neighbours might notice the marks."
On both occasions her arm was covered, and I did not know it
had been marked. I awoke the patient. She had no recollection
of what she had said or done. I told her she had refused to let
me pinch her arm, and asked the reason. She laughed, and
gave the same explanation as her mother. One day, when I had
hypnotised the patient, her mother said to me: " Ask her what
she did on a certain occasion." I questioned her, but could
obtain no response. I afterwards learnt what she had done. It
was something which her mother regarded as a joke, but which
was slightly indelicate. Many persons, even fairly refined ones,
would have told this without blushing; and I have little doubt
the patient would have done so when awake.

Miss P. had been frequently hypnotised and was a goodHYPNOTIC THEORIES

3*7

somnambule, in whom anaesthesia could be easily induced. She
was maid to one of my patients, a chronic invalid, whose house
was managed by a sister of uncertain temper. On one occasion,
when I had hypnotised P., her mistress requested that I would
ask her what had been said to her by this sister. A quarrel had
taken place, of a somewhat amusing nature, and her mistress
wished to hear P.'s account of it in hypnosis ; but, despite
energetic suggestion, she absolutely refused to say a word on the
subject.

Miss S., aged 19, in good health, intelligent and well-
educated. This subject was a good somnambule, in whom
anaesthesia and other phenomena of deepest hypnosis could be
easily induced. She had a bad memory for words, and was
extremely shy in reading, singing, or playing before others. I
suggested to her that she should, on awaking, recite some verses
with which she was previously unacquainted, and which I had
read twice to her when asleep. Shortly after awaking, she
repeated them with very few mistakes, and without apparent
embarrassment. Her mother assured me that, under ordinary
circumstances, this feat of memory would have been entirely
beyond her power, and that nothing would have induced her to
read or recite before me. On another occasion, her mother asked
me to suggest during hypnosis, that on awaking, she should go to
the sideboard in my room, pour out a glass of water, and drink
it. This suggestion was not carried out, and was the first which
had not been fulfilled. In a later hypnosis she explained the
reason for her refusal—she did not know me well enough to
help Herself to a glass of water in my house without being
asked.

Mr. E., aged 25, a shopkeeper, had been frequently hypnotised
for medical and surgical purposes, and was a good somnambule
On one occasion I showed him at the York Medical Society. At
the close of my lecture I was requested to give an example of
changed personality, by making this subject believe he was a
dissenting minister preaching a sermon. He refused to do this,
and I was then asked to make him believe he was a hawker
selling fish. This was also rejected; but he accepted the
suggestion that he was Barnum, and that the medical men were
wild beasts, and proceeded to describe them in a highly amusing
manner. I afterwards tried to make him accept the first two318

HYPNOTISM

suggestions, but invariably failed. On one occasion, however, he
accepted Jbhe suggestion that he should poison a personal friend.
The subject, at that time, was in the " alert" stage of hypnosis,
with his eyes open. I took a lump of sugar from the basin, and
assured him that it was a piece of arsenic sufficient to kill a
dozen persons. I then put it in a cup of tea, and told him to
give it to his friend to drink. He did so at once. I asked him
why he had poisoned his friend, and he replied laughingly, but
in an unnaturally gruff voice, " Oh, he has lived long enough."
Another young man who was present, also a good somnambule,
would carry out suggestions like those rejected by E., but refused
to execute the fictitious murder.

The last two subjects, S. and E., accepted suggestions which
were apparently in opposition to their normal character. I made
no attempt to ascertain E.'s mental condition in reference to the
supposed crime, but I think one can without much difficulty
imagine it. E. was a respectable tradesman, and a somewhat
devout Dissenter; and it was not unnatural to suppose that he
refused the part of fish-hawker as this was not in keeping with
his social position, and that of minister as it offended his religious
susceptibilities, but accepted that of showman because it con-
tained nothing objectionable to him. Would it be reasonable to
suppose that he should at the same time be capable of weighing
fine distinctions between suggested alterations in personality,
and be unable to understand the experimental nature of the
crime ? He, by the way, affords the only instance in which an
imaginary crime has been carried out by one of my own
subjects. All others, without exception, have absolutely refused
such suggestions.

Why should S. have recited the poem and refused to take a
glass of water from my sideboard ? The answer to the first
question is obvious. She was extremely anxious to get rid of the
nervous embarrassment from which she suffered, and thus the
suggestion contained nothing opposed to her volition. She
herself explained the second.

In the cases above recorded, although a certain amount of
evidence was obtained from the patients themselves in reference
to their mental condition, no systematic attempt was made to
investigate this. I am well aware that this admission is a
startling one, and can only say in self-excuse that this all-HYPNOTIC THEORIES

319

important point has been equally neglected by others. I have
since attempted to repair the mistake, and with interesting
results. For example, Miss D., who was the subject of the most
striking series of "time appreciation" experiments I have
recorded, also refused certain suggestions. These I will now
relate, as well as her own description of her mental and physical
condition during hypnosis. On one occasion during hypnosis, I
asked her to put her fingers to her nose at Mr. Barkworth, a
member of the Society for Psychical Research, who assisted at
the experiments. She laughed, and, despite repeated suggestions,
absolutely refused to do so. At a later date, in hypnosis, I asked
her for an explanation. She told me she did not want to, and
would give no other reason. On another occasion, during
hypnosis, I suggested that she should steal Mr. Barkworth's
watch. The watch was placed upon the table, and Mr. Barkworth
hid behind a screen. I told the subject that Mr. Barkworth had
gone and had left his watch, that he was very absent-minded,
would never remember where he had left it, would never miss it,
etc.; suggested that she should take it, that no one would ever
know, etc. I awoke Miss D.: she took no notice of the watch.
I asked her, " Where is Mr. Barkworth ? " " Gone away." " He
has left his watch; would you not like to take it ?" She laughed
and said, " No, of course not." I rehypnotised her and asked,
" What did I suggest to you a little while ago when you were
asleep ?" " That I should steal Mr. Barkworth's watch, that he
was absent-minded, would never miss it, etc." " Then why did
you not do so?" "Because I did not want to." "Was it
because you were afraid of being found out ?" " No, not at all,
but because I knew it would be wrong."

On another occasion I again questioned her in hypnosis in
reference to this suggested theft. I said, "Did you recognise
that it was an experiment ?" " Yes, perfectly." " How did you
know it was ?" "I can't tell you; I only felt sure it was." On
being questioned further, she said, " Well, I knew you would not
ask me to do anything really wrong." " Well, then, if you were
quite certain in your own mind that it was only an experiment,
why did you not carry it out ?" " Because I did not wish to do
what was wrong, even in jest." She admitted, however, that she
would put a lump of sugar into her mother's tea-cup, even if I
said it were arsenic. When asked why she would do this, and320

HYPNOTISM

yet would not take the watch, she replied as follows: " I
would not take a watch, even if I knew the suggestion were
made as an experiment, because this would be pretending to
commit a crime. I would, however, put a piece of sugar into
my mother's tea-cup if I were sure it was sugar, even though
some one said it was arsenic, because then I should not be the
one who was pretending to commit the crime. I should only
have put sugar into the tea." So subtle a distinction would not,
I think, have occurred to the subject in the waking condition.

In reply to further questions in hypnosis, she said she felt
sure she could refuse any suggestion; that she felt she was
herself; that she knew where she was and what she was doing.
" Are you the same person asleep as awake ? " I asked. " Yes,"
she replied, with a laugh. She described the condition as a sort
of losing herself and yet not losing herself. She knew and heard
all that was going on, and yet seemed to take no notice of it.
When Mr. Barkworth was put en rapport with her, she
remembered his voice, and recalled the fact that she had heard
it on a previous occasion, when not en rapport with him. She
said she was resting all the time, and that nothing she did or
thought tired her. I asked her what it felt like to have her arm
made cataleptic by suggestion. She replied, "I did not feel
frightened, but I felt startled. I think it would surprise any one."
" When you awake and find your arm still rigid, what do you
feel then ?" "I feel amused." "When you are sleeping here,
and no one is talking to you, do you ever think of anything ?"
" Yes. One day I was troubled about my dressmaking. My
employer was ill, and I had more responsibility than usual. I
had a difficult piece of work to do, and could not understand how
it was to be done. When asleep here I planned how I would do
it, and carried this out successfully when I returned home.
When I awoke I did not know that I had done this. The way
out of the difficulty suddenly came into my head on my way
home, and I thought I had found it out at that moment. I now
remember planning while asleep what I afterwards carried out."

On one occasion after being hypnotised, and when she was
apparently in the lethargic condition, she suddenly volunteered
the statement that her mother wished to speak to me. Shortly
afterwards the latter entered the room. The subject was still
asleep, and no suggestions of rapport were made. Mrs. D. com-HYPNOTIC THEORIES

321

menced to tell me about a friend in whom she was interested,
with a view to finding out whether I thought hypnotic treatment
would be of benefit in his case. The subject suddenly joined in
the conversation, and added some important details which Mrs. D.
had forgotten. On awaking she remembered nothing in reference
to this.

On another occasion, under similar circumstances, Mrs. D.
questioned me in reference to a trivial indisposition from which
her daughter was suffering, and asked me whether I thought she
might give her a certain simple remedy. Upon this the subject
commenced to laugh, and recounted in a highly amused manner
an experiment of her mother's in domestic medicine, of which she
had been the unfortunate victim.

One day, I successfully suggested a visual hallucination of her
own photograph to Miss D., when she described her appearance,
dress, etc. A further suggestion that she should see a dkolleUt
photograph of herself was not realised. Questioned regarding
this in a subsequent hypnosis, she replied as follows : " I never
should have had my photograph taken in such a low-necked
dress; and did not wish to see it or describe it to you, as the
idea offended me."

I obtained the following account of the hypnotic condition
from another subject, an educated, intelligent woman. She said:
" When asleep I still feel that I am myself, and can think and
reason just as well as when I am awake. I could resist any
suggestion if I wanted to do so. The sensation is a pleasant one,
as if I were getting rested all over. I am conscious of no other
sounds, except your voice. When you are not talking to me, the
condition is generally a blank. At such times I occasionally,
but rarely, think, or spontaneously recall the events of past
hypnoses."

Another educated subject, a very good somnambule, described
her state in similar terms. She said: " I feel a kind of restfulness
which I do not get in any other condition in life. I feel no
fatigue. External sounds, other than your voice, I hear vaguely
as if in a dream, but pay no attention to them. I still feel that
I am myself and can reason just as well as if I were awake."
She also said that she felt certain that she could refuse any
suggestion which she disapproved of, and would not carry out an
imaginary crime, even if she knew it was only an experiment.

Y322

HYPNOTISM

This subject readily accepted suggestions of anaesthesia and
analgesia, and was unable to remember in the waking state
either painful sensations or tactile impressions. On being re-
hypnotised, however, though she could not recall any sensation
of pain, she was able, in response to suggestion, to state where
she had been pinched or pricked, and to describe the tactile
impressions associated with these operations.

Further experiments with Miss D. were made in conjunction
with Dr. Hyslop, of Bethlem, and of some of these he gives the
following account in his work entitled Mental Physiology, pp. 423-
424. " In the state of artificially induced hypnosis, the will
power is sometimes retained intact. Bramwell has demonstrated
that although there is an extreme readiness to react to suggestion
from without, yet there still remains a higher controlling influence
or auto-suggestion, which enables the hypnotised person to
deliberate, choose, and inhibit at will.

" During the waking state of one of Dr. Bramwell's subjects
we made the suggestion to her that she ought to resist a certain
movement during her hypnotised state. Dr. Bramwell was not
present at the time the suggestion was made, and was quite
unaware of the restriction imposed upon the subject. On testing
the movements suggested during the hypnotic state, he found that
the subject absolutely refused to carry out his suggestion with
regard to this particular movement. The auto-suggestion proved
as efficacious during the artificial state as during the normal state.
How we are to explain this retention of the individuality of the
subject we do not know. The facts alone would appear to
warrant the conclusion that the memory image of the special act
to be restrained was present during the artificial state, and that
there existed a certain degree of continuity between the primary
mental conception and the secondary inhibition. On again
awaking this subject remembered our suggestion, but had not the
faintest recollection as to what had happened during hypnosis.

" This question becomes one of extreme importance from a
medico-legal point of view. Dr. Bramwell believes that subjects
in the hypnotic state invariably refuse to perform acts which
would be criminal or even indecent. Whether the refusal is only
a manifestation of an acquired tendency to resist or to act in
certain directions, or whether there is some mentalisation possible
apart from true consciousness, we cannot attempt to decide. InHYPNOTIC THEORIES

323

the present instance the refusal to perform the movement (to
make her arm stiff) was evidently the result of the ante-hypnotic
suggestion. We have yet to learn how far an individual is truly
responsible for his actions during certain mental states; and, as
the student may gather from such instances, the mere absence of
memory of the events which have taken place during those states
need not entirely negative the possibility of there having been
some freedom of choice and the power of restraining certain
actions."

In most of the cases referred to the subjects refused to carry
out suggestions in hypnosis, which they would have rejected in
the waking state. Sometimes, however, in hypnosis they refused
things they would readily have done or submitted to when awake.
For instance, Dr. Allden, when Eesident Physician at the
Brompton Hospital, hypnotised a girl, suffering from chronic
pulmonary disease, to relieve insomnia. She rapidly became a
good somnambule. On one occasion, after he had hypnotised her,
the nurse reminded him that it was his day for examining the
patient's chest; but, to his astonishment, she, although naturally
docile and obliging, refused to allow it to be bared. She had
previously been examined dozens of times by himself and others,
and had never made the slightest objection. He insisted upon
her submitting, but was unable to overcome her resistance. He
asked her why she objected now, when she had never done so
previously. She replied: "You never tried before to examine
my chest when I was asleep." On awaking she remembered
nothing of what had occurred, and he said nothing to her about
it, but examined her chest as usual. Afterwards the nurse told
her what she had said, whereupon she was greatly distressed, and
wondered how she could possibly have been so rude to her
doctor.

These, and many similar facts, have forced me to abandon all
belief in the so-called " automatism," or better termed " helpless
obedience," of the subject: still I must refer to some of the
arguments in support of it, before attempting to analyse further
the mental condition in hypnosis. Of these arguments the
following are examples:—

(a) When subjects successfully resist suggestion, it is usual
to explain this by assuming that they have not been so deeply
hypnotised as those in whom no resistance has manifested itself.324

HYPNOTISM

I cannot admit the correctness of this in my cases. During the
last twelve years, I have had frequent opportunities of examining
hypnotic subjects at home and abroad, and have nowhere observed
more profound somnambules than amongst my own subjects—
rarely, in fact, seeing cases to equal some of them. Not only did
all the subjects to whom I have referred exhibit the phenomena
of profoundest somnambulism, but nearly all had undergone
painless hypnotic operations.

(b)	The personality of the operator, and his method of
training his subjects, have been supposed to play an important
part in the acceptance or rejection of suggestions. Granting that
this be true, it does not explain the resistance which I encountered.
I commenced by believing that the subjects were entirely under
my control, and did my best to develop their supposed obedience.

(c)	The existence of one class of phenomena is considered as
necessarily implying the existence of another, and a totally
differing class. Durand de Gros asked: " Is it possible that
suggestion should have the power of producing extraordinary
physical changes, and yet be without this particular effect upon
the moral state ?" The facts I have already cited answer this
question in the affirmative. Putting these aside, the assumption
that the physical phenomena necessarily imply certain moral ones
is unreasonable. What inevitable connection exists, for example,
between an alteration in the pulse-rate and the murder of one's
mother ? Should I not be equally logically justified in assuming
that the subject in the normal state who, in response to suggestion,
would play the violin or paint a picture, would be equally willing
to rob a church ?

((d) Evidence in favour of obedience afforded by cases in
which the subjects are alleged to have accepted criminal and
analogous suggestions. This is important. The fact that the
phenomenon of helpless obedience was invariably absent in my
subjects, does not justify me in concluding that it did not some-
times occur in those of others. These cases of so-called automatism
fall into two classes: (1st) Where an imaginary crime has been
suggested; (2ndly) where a real act has been performed, which it
is assumed the subject would not have submitted to in the normal
state.

(1st) First, as regards imaginary crime: here, as Professor
Delboeuf has pointed out, it is supposed that the subject passesHYPNOTIC THEORIES

325

through a mental state similar to that of the operator. Assump-
tion, without experimental proof, is a frail and unsatisfactory
basis on which to erect a theory. Let us first examine the facts.
A somnambule puts a piece of sugar into her mother's tea-cup,
while her medical attendant makes various absurd and un-
truthful assertions as to its composition. Bernheim and Liegeois
believe that the subject accepted these absurd statements as true,
because, being hypnotised, she was unable to distinguish between
truth and falsehood. Delboeuf claimed that she had sufficient
sense left to know exactly what she was doing. To neither did it
occur to ash the subject during hypnosis what she thought about the
matter herself \ If they had done so, she would have promptly
solved the difficulty, and told them that, while they were
discussing probabilities, she was quietly laughing in her sleeve at
the grotesque absurdity of the whole performance. It may be
noticed in passing that while Bernheim considered the Salp§tri&re
subjects so abnormally acute that they could catch the slightest
indication of the thoughts of the operator, and so destroy the
supposed value of the phenomena alleged to be induced by metals,
magnets, drugs in sealed tubes, etc.; he, on the other hand,
supposes the Nancy subjects to be so abnormally devoid of all
intelligence as to be unable to understand when a palpable farce
is played before them.

™^(2ndly) When a real act has been performed which it is
assumed the subject would not have submitted to in the normal
state. Of this Bernheim cites an example. He states that he
uncovered a young woman, presumably a hospital patient, in the
presence of his assistants, and that she appeared perfectly calm
and indifferent. Bernheim also quotes a case in which he
entirely failed in persuading another young woman, also a good
somnambule, to allow him to uncover her or to accept the
suggestion that she should commit an imaginary crime, despite
the fact that he varied his suggestions in every conceivable way.
To another subject he suggested profound sleep and insensibility
to all sensations coming from him. She remained insensible
when he plunged a pin deeply into her nose and touched the
mucous membrane of her eyes. "When, however, he attempted
to disarrange her clothes, she immediately blushed, resisted, and
spontaneously passed into the waking state. Let us take the
case of supposed helpless obedience. The mere fact that a326

HYPNOTISM

woman permitted herself to be uncovered does not necessarily
imply that she was incapable of resisting. Before this can be
used as an argument in favour of the helpless obedience of the
hypnotised subject, one is justified in demanding that it should
be clearly proved that, under similar circumstances, the subject
would have objected to being uncovered in the waking condition.
Medical men are frequently obliged to uncover their female
patients for examination, and rarely encounter resistance. The
first time I visited Professor Bernheim's wards I was struck by
the fact that, in order to show some hysterical muscular move-
ments in the abdomen of a non-hypnotised subject, he threw off
the bed-clothes, drew the patient's nightgown up to her neck:
and left her in that condition while we examined other cases.
Though such treatment is opposed to the practice of English
hospitals, I do not propose to criticise it. I only desire to draw
attention to the fact that a patient was stripped in the waking
state, from my point of view unnecessarily so; and that she and
every one else apparently regarded this as devoid of importance.
The particular hypnotised subject referred to above did not
object to be stripped: why should she ? She must have been
accustomed to see other hospital patients examined; and, appar-
ently, there was no special reason why she should have objected
to the ordinary routine. Cases such as these appear to me
absolutely valueless, since the subject's supposed obedience
remains so easily accounted for in other ways. To render such
a case worthy of serious consideration, it would be absolutely
necessary to eliminate many important factors, such as {a) the
fact that the subject was ill; (b) that she was in a hospital
where patients were stripped as part of the ordinary routine;
(c) that the examination was made by a medical man. /

Strangely enough, the most marked case of resistance to
suggestion that I have observed was shown by Li^beault's
celebrated somnambule, Camille. When I first visited Nancy
in 1889, Liebeault showed me this subject, who had been
frequently hypnotised, and whom he regarded as a typical
specimen of profound somnambulism illustrating hypnotic
automatism in its highest degree. He assured me that the
suggestions he made to her were carried out with the fatality of
a falling stone. He hypnotised her, and suggested that on
awaking she should find, on opening the outer door, that thereHYPNOTIC THEORIES

327

was a violent snow-storm; that she should at once return,
complain of this, and proceed to the stove to warm herself.
While doing so one of her hands would touch the stove, and she
would believe that she had burnt it. It was a warm summer's
day, and, of course, the stove had not been lighted. The subject
refused to accept the suggestion. Liebeault insisted for some
time, and then gave up the attempt, saying that she sometimes
refused suggestions. He then asked her: " Will you do this
another time if you will not do it to-day ? " She replied: " Yes,
to-morrow." On the following day the suggestion was repeated
and carried out in all its details. In this instance, then, the
" classic " hypnotic automaton, the one who was supposed to carry
out a suggestion with the fatality of a falling stone, refused one,
not on moral grounds, but apparently from pure caprice.

The difference between the hypnotised and the normal
subject is to be found not so much in conduct, as in the
increased mental and physical powers of the former. Any
changes in the moral sense that I have noticed have invariably
been in favour of the hypnotised subject. As regards obedience
to suggestion, there is apparently little to choose between the
two. A hypnotised subject, who has acquired the power of
manifesting various physical and mental phenomena, will do so
in response to suggestion for much the same reasons as one in
the normal condition. In the normal state we are usually
pleased to show off our various gifts and attainments, more
especially if we think they are superior to those of others; and
in this respect the hypnotised subject does not differ from the
normal. Both will refuse what is disagreeable: in both this
refusal may be modified or overcome by appeals to the reason, or
to the usual motives which influence conduct. When the act
demanded is contrary to the moral sense, it is usually refused
by the normal subject, and invariably by the hypnotised one.
I have never observed any decrease of intelligence in hypnosis.
In the alert stage it is often conspicuously increased, while in
the lethargic it is only apparently, not really, suspended. Forel's
warders, who could sleep by the bedside of suicidal maniacs, and
awake immediately at a given signal, or who could inhibit their
own hearing of the purposeless noises of the insane, and acutely
hear everything which demanded their attention, did not in so
doing show any loss of intelligence. The power of concentration328

HYPNOTISM

in the normal state, witli its accompanying inhibition of undesirable
impressions, is a well-known and somewhat analogous condition,
but one which is not usually regarded as indicative of mental
degeneration.

When one turns to the later works of Braid, and sees how
clear was his experimental proof that the hypnotised subject not
only had the power of choosing between suggestions, but invariably
refused those repugnant to his moral nature, one cannot help
feeling surprised at the revival of theories in reference to so-called
automatism or obedience, which are identical with the views of
the mesmerists. This is the more astonishing when one considers
that Bernheim, who holds these views, also boldly asserts that
there is nothing in hypnotism but the name; that it does not
create a new condition, and that hypnotic acts are only exaggerated
normal ones. According to Bernheim, however, the moral state
in hypnosis differs widely from the normal: which is in obvious
contradiction with his own conception of hypnotism. One can
understand, for example, how a prolonged muscular rigidity may
be a hypnotic exaggeration of a somewhat shorter normal one;
but it is difficult to comprehend how a hypnotic willingness to
murder one's mother can be an exaggeration of the refusal to hurt
a fly when awake. Bernheim's view of the moral state does not
follow logically from the supposed resemblance between the
hypnotic and normal condition, but apparently has its origin in
an erroneous estimate of the nature and the power of suggestion.
On the one hand, he tells us that the hypnotic and normal
conditions are practically identical, and their only distinction a
slight difference in suggestibility. On the other hand, we are
informed that a virtuous individual will sometimes commit
crime in response to hypnotic suggestion. If this were correct,
we should be justified in describing the origin of hypnotic crime
thus:—

(a)	A virtuous girl in the normal state has a natural tendency
to accept the suggestion that she should murder her mother.

(b)	In hypnosis suggestibility is slightly increased, and thus,
when it is suggested to her to murder her mother, she does so.

The views which I have long held regarding the hypnotised
subject's power of rejecting disagreeable or criminal suggestions
are now shared, more or less completely, by a good many other
observers. These, however, as far as I have been able to learn,HYPNOTIC THEORIES

329

have based their statements solely on cases where suggestions
have been rejected, and have not attempted to ascertain the
subjects' mental state by questioning them in hypnosis.

Thus, Professor Beaunis says hypnotised subjects usually
reason very logically and evince striking powers of deduction;
they are certainly not unconscious machines incapable of judg-
ment. He frequently observed that subjects refused suggestions
which were disagreeable to them.

Dr. Crocq, of Brussels, also admits that subjects frequently
reject distasteful suggestions.

Eichter believes that a somnambule may entirely refuse to
perform certain acts, and oppose no resistance to others.

According to Gilles de la Tourette, the hypnotic somnambule
is not a pure automaton, a simple machine that one can turn at
will. He possesses a personality, sometimes, it is true, subdued
or weakened, but which in certain cases persists in its entirety,
and shows itself clearly by the resistance it -opposes to suggested
ideas. The hypnotised subject always retains his individuality,
and can manifest his will by resisting suggestions.

Brouardel says that, if agreeable or indifferent suggestions are
made to a somnambule by a person whom he likes and trusts, he
will accept them; but, if they are contrary to his personal
affections or his natural instincts, he opposes an almost invincible
resistance to them. He cites the case of a Jewess supposed to be
the absolute machine (" chose ") of the operator, but who refused
to empty the ink-bottle on her best dress.

Pitres mentions a case of a somnambule who refused to awake
whenever a disagreeable post4-hypnotic suggestion was made
to him.

According to Dr. Gharpignon, it is much easier to restore
moral rectitude, by means of hypnotic suggestion, to a somnam-
bule who has lost it, than to pervert, by the same means, a
person of high moral character.

Dr. de Jong cites many cases of resistance to suggestion.
One of his subjects, a profound somnambule, apparently accepted
criminal suggestions as readily as she did innocent ones. She
refused, however, to undress before another person, and would not
tell an insignificant secret she had promised not to reveal.
Another subject refused to tell Dr. de Jong something of an in-
delicate nature which she had seen, and which she had already330

HYPNOTISM

confided to a friend of her own sex. These subjects, according to
de Jong, refused certain suggestions, because they involved real
facts which were disagreeable to them; while they executed
others alleged to be criminal, because they recognised that these
were laboratory experiments devoid of danger either to themselves
or others.

Delbceuf relates an experiment with J., the somnambule
already referred to (p. 84). She was a courageous young
woman, and sometimes took care of Delboeuf's country-house in his
absence. She was armed with a revolver, owing to the serious
strikes and riots existing at that time. One night a man tried to
force the door. The barking of the dogs awakened J.; she
opened the window, saw the man, took out her revolver, went into
the hall and watched for his entry in order to fire at him. The
man, possibly frightened by the noise, disappeared. On a subse-
quent occasion, Delboeuf secretly discharged the revolver; then
hypnotised J., and suggested that two persons in another
room were robbers, and insisted that she should fire at them. In
obedience to his suggestions she fetched the revolver, but, despite
his reiterated and emphatic commands, absolutely refused to fire;
on the contrary, she stepped backwards and placed the revolver
cautiously on the floor.

Suggested Crimes.—Summary.

(a)	I have never seen a suggestion accepted in hypnosis which
would have been refused in the normal state.

(b)	I have observed that suggestions could be resisted as
easily in the lethargic as in the alert stage.

(c)	I have frequently noticed increased refinement in hypnosis :
subjects have refused suggestions which they would have accepted
in the normal condition.

(d)	I saw Camille refuse a suggestion from mere caprice.

(e)	Examination of the mental condition in hypnosis revealed
the fact that it was unimpaired.

(/) The arguments of Bernheim are devoid of value, as they
are founded exclusively on cases where (1) a simple and harmless
act has been assumed to be thought criminal by the subject, because
the operator has stated it to be so; and (2) where the subjectHYPNOTIC THEORIES

331

has permitted something in hypnosis, which he would probably
have submitted to in the normal state.

(3) An Idea has a Tendency to generate its Actuality.

According to Bernlieim, the suggestive phenomena of hypnosis
depend upon the fact that, in the normal subject, an idea has a
tendency to generate its actuality: and this power is supposed to
be artificially increased by suggestion. But it is not the hypnotised
subject alone who receives suggestions, as these are often made
even more forcibly in normal life.

Now, if we confined our attention to the hypnotic state, and
considered how frequently a suggested idea, unassociated with
violent emotional conditions, produced a rapid and definite
response, we should be inclined to admit that in hypnosis an idea
not only had a tendency to generate its actuality, but almost
invariably did so.

A similar statement, however, in reference to normal life,
cannot be accepted without question. If an extended statistical
inquiry were made as to the results of suggestion without
hypnosis, we should find that these would fall under three
classes

(A)	Where the suggested idea had produced no result.

(B)	Where the result was different, or even opposite, from
that intended.

(C)	Where the suggestion had been responded to with more
or less exactitude.

(A) Where the Suggested Idea had produced no Eesult.

A very casual glance at the events of everyday life would
compel us to conclude that this class is the commonest of the
three. This is evident, if we think of the numberless things
ineffectually suggested in the family circle to domestics, workmen,
tradespeople, friends, acquaintances, etc.

(B) Where the Besult produced was opposite to, or, at all

events, different from that intended.

Numerous examples of this class could easily be cited. Thus,
if a thief snatches my watch and runs away, and I suggest to him332

HYPNOTISM

to stop, he, on the contrary, runs the faster. If a street arab is
making a noise under my window, and I tell him to cease and go
away, he not only persists, but incites others to join him. If I
hold up a good boy as a pattern to a naughty one, the latter,
instead of imitating the former, kicks him !

(C) Where the Suggestion has been responded to with

more or less exactitude.

When we compare the results of this class, with those obtained
in the others, they must, I am afraid, sink into insignificance.
Eor one suggestion which has generated its actuality, we must
count at least a hundred which have produced nothing, and
possibly ten where the result has been an unexpected or disagree-
able one. I would, therefore, re-state the proposition as
follows:—

(1)	A suggested idea has generally a tendency to generate
nothing.

(2)	A suggested idea has frequently a tendency to generate
its opposite.

(3)	A suggested idea rarely tends to generate its actuality.

When the theory first crept into psychology that a suggested

idea had a greater tendency to evoke its actuality than to produce
other or negative results, I do not know, but certainly it is now
frequently quoted as an accepted truth. The production of the
flow of saliva by the sight of food is the stock illustration of the
alleged phenomenon. The most important factor in the equation—
hunger in the subject of the experiment—is apt to be lost sight
of. It is quite possible that the sight of a couple of pounds of
raw beefsteak might produce a flow of saliva in a very hungry
man. But, after these had been cooked and eaten, if he were
shown a similar piece of raw steak, its sight, instead of inducing
a flow of saliva, would in all probability simply evoke feelings of
disgust.

To this point, namely, that the result of an idea does not
depend so much upon the fact that it has been suggested, as upon
the nature of the idea itself, and its relationship to the character
of its recipient, I will again refer when discussing " Suggestion."
Meanwhile, I wish to emphasise the fact that " tendency " implies
numerical proportion. For example, if I fire a dozen times at aHYPNOTIC THEORIES

333

target, and if on five occasions the bullet strikes it, and on seven
misses and passes to the right, the teridency must be in favour of the
results which are numerically the greater of the two. In the same
way, before concluding that an idea has a tendency to generate its
actuality, one must be able to prove that out of a given number
of cases this result follows more frequently than others.

(4) In Hypnosis the Tendency to accept Suggestions is
somewhat increased by the Action of Suggestion itself:
this alone distinguishes the Hypnotic from the Normal
State.

Granting for the moment that the normal and hypnotic
states are practically identical; that both are characterised by
susceptibility to suggestion; how far are we justified in con-
cluding that the increased suggestibility of the hypnotic subject
is due to " Suggestion " alone—without the previous production
of mental or physical change ? Let us consider the means by
which the alteration has been stated—by Bernheim and others—
to have been brought about. The phrase, " You are to become
more suggestible," or the like, is supposed to have artificially
created it. JSTow, if we admit that this or a similar formula is
sufficient to change a normal into a hypnotic subject, and to
account for his increased suggestibility, we must be prepared to
show, in order to maintain the distinction between the two, that
the individual who is still regarded as normal, i.e. less suggestible,
has escaped similar influences. Suggestions in normal life, how-
ever, are frequently associated with those of increased suggesti-
bility. A beggar, in appealing for alms, not only asks that they
should be given him, but also suggests in various ways, directly or
indirectly, according to his skill and ingenuity, that the object of
his petition should become more responsive to his prayer, i.e. more
suggestible. There is an important difference between the two.
In hypnosis, to gain increased suggestibility it is often only
necessary to repeat quietly some recognised formula once or
twice; while in normal life we frequently attempt to obtain a
like result in a much more forcible and varied manner. We must
conclude, then, that if, as assumed by Bernheim, the hypnotic and
normal states are practically identical, and suggestion a factor334

HYPNOTISM

common to both, suggestibility, as the result of the methods
employed to develop it, ought to be more markedly characteristic
of the normal than of the hypnotic condition.

(5) The Result of Suggestion in Hypnosis is Analogous to
the Result of Suggestion in the Normal State.

If we confine ourselves to cases in which suggestion in the
normal subject has been employed in the same manner as it is
used in hypnosis, the analogy is at once seen to be an extremely
imperfect one. The results of the workings of the mind acting,
so to say, in cold blood upon the body, are extremely rare and
generally unimportant. On the other hand, if we turn to the
effects of strong emotional states, we find many phenomena
which more or less closely resemble those of hypnosis. Similarity
of result, however, does not necessarily imply identity of cause;
and an attempted analogy which is based solely on the former
and ignores the latter must ever be an imperfect one. Fear,
hope, faith, religious excitement, and the like, are almost invariably
present in cases which are cited as analogous to hypnotic ones.
Not only are these conditions unnecessary for the induction of
hypnosis, but some of them, such as fear, absolutely preclude its
production: thus, hypnotic phenomena can be evoked in the
absence of all those conditions that are essential for the production
of similar phenomena in the normal state; and, further, the
presence of some of these conditions, instead of favouring
hypnosis, prevents or hinders it. Putting aside this important
objection—the difference between the conditions associated with
the development of the phenomena—there still remain certain
points of contrast between the phenomena themselves. These I
now enumerate:—

(A) Suggestion in Hypnosis.

(1)	Once deep hypnosis has been induced, a wide range of
phenomena, both mental and physical, can be evoked at any
time, and, with the consent of the subject, by any one. Further,
a considerable number of phenomena can be simultaneously
produced in the same subject.

(2)	One phenomenon can be immediately changed into itsHYPNOTIC THEORIES

335

opposite, i.e. muscular rigidity into paralysis, anaesthesia into
hyperesthesia, etc.

(3)	Hypnotic phenomena can be terminated at will.

(4)	The date of the appearance of the phenomenon can be
delayed, e.g. it can be suggested during hypnosis that it shall not
appear till twelve months afterwards.

(5)	With two important limitations, the suggestion will
invariably be responded to, i.e. it must contain nothing in
opposition to the subject's moral sense: it must not be beyond
the range of his hypnotic powers.

(6)	Under the conditions just mentioned, the exact nature of
the response can be predicted, i.e. similar stimuli will produce
identical results.

(7)	Subjects who readily respond to suggestions when
hypnotised, are frequently the very ones who have for years
resisted suggestion in the waking condition, even when this has
been associated with emotional states. For example, a patient
who had long suffered from dipsomania had received many and
varied suggestions in the waking state. The grief of his friends
and relatives, and their repeated remonstrances, were powerful
suggestions. So, too, were the loss of fortune and self-respect;
and the physical sufferings, associated with keen remorse, which
followed his drinking-bouts. Twelve months passed in a home
for inebriates must also have been full of suggestions of many
kinds. All these, however, produced no result; and yet, after a
few weeks' hypnotic treatment, the patient abandoned the
alcoholic habit, and still, after a lapse of eight years, remained
an abstainer.

(8)	Hypnotic suggestion tends to gain strength by repetition.

(B) Suggestion by Means of Emotional States.

(1)	The resultant phenomena are usually isolated ones, or,
at all events, much more limited in number than those which
can be simultaneously evoked in the hypnotised subject. Further,
they cannot be produced by any one. Thus, the subject who had
been influenced by the " touch" of a king, would probably be
unresponsive to that of a peasant.

(2)	One phenomenon cannot be immediately changed into336

HYPNOTISM

its opposite without an alteration in the emotional state which
had produced it.

(3)	Emotional phenomena cannot be terminated at will.

(4)	The date of the appearance of the phenomena can rarely
be delayed or fixed.

(5)	The phenomena are evoked with less certainty than in
hypnosis: an emotional state which will produce a physical
effect in one subject may produce nothing in another.

(6)	Identical emotional states do not always produce similar
physical phenomena. On the contrary, opposite conditions are
frequently evoked in different subjects by identical emotions, e.g.
fear will paralyse one, and excite violent muscular movements
in another.

(7)	Subjects who are unable to respond to certain suggestions
in the normal state often readily carry out similar ones when
hypnotised.

(8)	An emotional suggestion frequently loses strength by
repetition, i.e. a subject may quickly come to disregard former fears.

So far we have been occupied in discussing the facts upon
which Bernheim's theoretical explanation of hypnosis is founded.
To these exception has been taken on every point, viz.:—

(I.) To the supposed identity of normal and hypnotic sleep.

(II.) To the supposed analogy between the phenomena of
hypnosis, and the automatic, involuntary and unconscious acts of
normal life.

(III.) To the general principle that, in normal life, an idea
has a tendency to generate its actuality.

(IY.) To the statement that suggestion—regarding this as a
thing apart, unassociated by mental or physical change—increases
suggestibility in the hypnotised subject; and that this alone
forms the sole distinction between hypnosis and normal life.

(Y.) To the supposed general analogy between the result of
suggestion in the normal state and in hypnosis.

In all these statements there is only one I am prepared to
accept, namely, that suggestion plays an important part in
evoking hypnotic phenomena. There remains for our considera-
tion the question how far suggestion explains the phenomena of
hypnosis.HYPNOTIC THEORIES

337

Does Suggestion explain Hypnosis and its Phenomena?

The answer to this question must, I think, be a distinctly-
negative one. The success of suggestion depends not so much
on the suggestion itself as on the conditions inherent in the
subject. These are: (1) willingness to accept and carry out the
suggestion, and (2) the power to do so. In the hypnotised
subject, except in reference to criminal or improper suggestions,
the first condition is generally present. The second varies accord-
ing to the depth of the hypnosis, and the personality of the
subject. For instance, I might suggest analgesia, in precisely
similar terms, to three subjects, and yet obtain quite different
results. One might become profoundly analgesic, the second
slightly so, and the third not at all. Just in the same way, if
three jockeys attempt to make their horses gallop a certain
distance in a given time, the suggestions conveyed by voice, spur,
and whip may be similar, and yet the results quite different.
One horse, in response to suggestion, may easily cover the required
distance in the allotted time; it was both able and willing to
perform the feat. The second, in response to somewhat increased
suggestion, may nearly do so; it was willing, but had not sufficient
staying power. The third, able, but unwilling, not only refuses
to begin the race, but bolts off in the opposite direction. With
this horse we have the exact opposite of the result obtained in
the first instance; and yet possibly the amount of suggestion it
received largely exceeded that administered to the others. As
Myers has pointed out, the operator directs the condition upon
which hypnotic phenomena depend, but does not create it.
" Bernheim's command,4 Feel pain no more,' is no more a scientific
instruction how not to feel pain, than the prophet's 'Wash in
Jordan and be clean' was a pharmacopoeial prescription for
leprosy." In hypnosis, the essential condition is not the means
used to excite the phenomena, but the peculiar state which
enables them to be evoked. Suggestion no more explains the
phenomena of hypnotism than the crack of a pistol explains a
boat-race. Both are simply signals—mere points of departure,
and nothing more. In Bernheim's hands the word " suggestion "
has acquired an entirely new signification, and differs only in
name from the " odylic " force of the mesmerists. It has become

Z338

HYPNOTISM

mysterious and all-powerful, and is supposed to be capable, not
only of evoking and explaining all the phenomena of hypnotism,
but also of originating—nay, even of being—the condition itself.
According to this view, suggestion not only starts the race, but
also creates the rowers and builds the boat!

Braid's later Views regarding Suggestion, etc.

(1) Origin of the Suggested Idea.

While Braid held that hypnotic phenomena resulted from
dominant ideas in the mind of the subject, he, at the same time,
stated that it was a matter of indifference whether these had
existed previously, or were afterwards audibly suggested by the
operator, or indirectly created by the sensory impressions resulting
from his manipulations.

(2) Self-suggestion.

Braid cited many instances in which hypnosis and its
phenomena were entirely the result of self-suggestion, although
they were supposed to be due to other causes.

(3) Passes and other Manipulations.

Braid's views, as to the influence of passes and other manipu-
lations being mainly mental, has already been given (see
p. 291).

Points of Difference between Braid and the Nancy School
as to Suggestion.

The difference between Braid and the Nancy school, with
regard to suggestion, is entirely one of theory, not of practice.
Braid employed verbal suggestion in hypnosis just as intelligently
as any member of the Nancy school. This fact is denied by
Bernheim, who says: " It is strange that Braid did not think of
applying suggestion in its most natural form—suggestion by
speech—to bring about hypnosis and its therapeutic effects. He
did not dream of explaining the curative effects of hypnotism by
means of the psychical influence of suggestion, but made use ofHYPNOTIC THEORIES

339

suggestion without knowing it." This statement has its sole
origin in ignorance of Braid's later works. In these his references
to the use of verbal suggestion in therapeutics are both clear and
numerous, and various examples have already been given. Braid,
however, while anticipating Bernheim as to the practical use of
suggestion, differed entirely from him in his theoretical conception
of it. He did not regard suggestion as explanatory of hypnotic
phenomena; but, like Myers at a later date, looked upon it
simply as an artifice used in order to excite them. He considered
that the mental phenomena were only rendered possible by
previous physical changes; and, as the result of these, the operator
was enabled to act like an engineer, and to direct the forces
which existed in the subject's own person.

The Views of Braid and of Forel as regards Passes.

While Braid believed that the mental effect resulting from
the indirect physical action of mechanical means could be checked
or reversed by stronger and more direct verbal suggestion, he
still held, and I think justly, that physical impressions were
capable of producing both physical and mental results. Forel,
on the other hand, denies the physical influence of mechanical
processes, on the ground that suggestion is capable of altering
their supposed action. He says: " Blowing on the face no longer
awakens my subjects, because I have suggested that this would
remove pain instead of arousing them." From this he concludes
that the act of blowing produces no result, and considers this a
powerful argument against the Somatic school. Would it not be
equally logical to contend that the prick of a pin produced no
physical effect because the subject, when rendered insensible to
pain by suggestion, had been taught to regard the pin-prick as
a signal to evoke some other condition ?

Attention in Hypnosis.

While Braid and Bernheim differ as to the physical changes
which precede or accompany hypnosis, they both attach much
importance to the question of attention in reference to the in-
duction of hypnosis and its phenomena.34°

HYPNOTISM

Attention in the Induction of Hypnosis.

According to Braid, the induction of hypnosis is facilitated
either by: (1) the concentration of the attention on some
external object, or (2) concentration of the attention on some
idea connected with hypnotism.

Li^beault and Bernheim consider that ordinary and hypnotic
sleep are both due to the fixation of the attention and the
nervous force upon the idea of sleep. The individual, they say,
who desires to go to sleep chooses a quiet spot, meditates, and
keeps still. His nervous force is concentrated upon a single idea,
and deserts the nerves of sensation, emotion, and special sense.
The conditions that induce the hypnotic state are identical: the
subject is told to concentrate his mind upon the idea of sleep;
and, to aid himself in doing so, is directed to look fixedly at
some object. Bodily repose results from this; the senses become
less acute and more and more isolated from the external world,
and finally thought is arrested.

A connection undoubtedly exists between the subject's power
of attention, and the facility with which hypnosis can be induced.
For example, idiots, who possess little spontaneous and no volun-
tary attention, cannot be hypnotised at all; and others, such as
those suffering from mania, hysteria, etc., whose attention is
actively turned into other channels, are extremely difficult to
influence.

In reference to the connection between the attention and
the induction of hypnosis, the following points seem worthy of
notice:—

(a) It is not necessary that the attention should be con-
centrated on the idea of sleep. Braid, as we have seen, easily
induced hypnosis when the patient gazed steadily at an external
object, and concentrated his attention on the idea of that object.
Moreover, primary hypnosis need not resemble sleep, and the
subject may at once pass into the alert stage, without having
even closed his eyes.

(&) Primary hypnosis has sometimes been induced in cases
where it would be difficult to prove that any concentration of
attention had existed, either upon any external object or upon
the idea of sleep. In these cases, the subject, after having givenHYPNOTIC THEORIES

341

his consent to the experiment, has rested quietly, and voluntarily
reduced his mental activity. He has, as nearly as possible,
emptied his mind of all thought, and produced, not a condition
of concentration, but its opposite—abstraction.

(c)	The phenomena of natural somnambulism, which, as
Gurney pointed out, in respect to the absorption of the mind in
one direction, present the closest analogy to those of hypnotism,
demand no previous concentration of attention at all.

(d)	Once hypnosis has been induced, the condition can be
evoked at any time, and practically instantaneously, in response
to a previously arranged signal. Here, then, although the
attention of the subject has been momentarily directed to the
signal, prolonged concentration of attention has been absent.

Does Concentration of Attention cause Hypnosis ?

As Gurney said, even if we confine ourselves to cases where
attention is actually present during the production of hypnosis,
what ground is there for describing it as the cause of that
state ? The general effects of a one-sided strain of mind or body
are pretty well known, and " tonic cramp of the attention " may
be a very satisfactory description of the one-sided absorption in
a particular direction which characterises many isolated, stages
of hypnotic trance. But what tendency should the cramp of an
attention, which is directed to a button held in the hand, have
to produce, or to facilitate, a fresh cramp or series of cramps,
when the attention is diverted to quite fresh objects. He had,
he said, again and again found the complete change to a new
genus of ideas to be absolutely effortless and instantaneous—
found, that is, that the attention, which had as usual been fixed
during the process of hypnotisation, became quite abnormally
mobile afterwards. This great mobility of attention seems an
odd result of previous rigid attention to a button. If I am told,
he said, that a particular mental attitude—that of fixed or one-
sided attention—is the cause of certain mental phenomena which
are new to me, I am surely justified in demanding that the order
of events shall present some perceptible coherence—shall at least
not run directly counter to what my general experience has led
me to expect.

Again, taking the case where the attention is concentrated342

HYPNOTISM

during the production of the state, how does this explain the
fact that, when a subject is left to himself in hypnosis, his
condition is usually one of abstraction ? Here, then, as a
supposed result of a previous concentration of attention, we have
the spontaneous development of its opposite.

Thus, preliminary fixation of attention cannot be accepted as
an explanation of subsequent mobility. All that we can concede
so far is: (1) That fixation of the attention frequently precedes,
and usually facilitates, the induction of hypnosis. (2) That the
attention in hypnosis can easily be rendered excessively mobile.

Rapport and Attention.

The following is Liebeault's view :—" It is observed," he says,
" that nearly all artificial somnambules are in relation by their
senses with those who put them to sleep, but only with them.
The subject hears everything the operator says to him, but hears
him alone, provided the sleep is sufficiently deep. He only hears
the operator when he is addressed directly by him, and not when
a third person is spoken to. This rapport extends to the other
senses." According to Li^beault, the subject remains en rapport
with the hypnotiser because he goes to sleep while thinking of
him, and this does not differ from what sometimes happens in
ordinary sleep. A mother who goes to sleep close to the cradle
of her child does not cease to watch over him during her sleep,
but, while she hears his slightest cry, is insensible to other
louder sounds. The concentration of the subject's attention upon
the operator, and his mental retention of the idea of the one who
put him to sleep, is the cause of the rapport.

In rapport, Bernheim, on the contrary, finds his solitary point
of difference between normal and hypnotic sleep. He says:
" In ordinary sleep, as soon as consciousness is lost, the subject
is only in relationship with himself. In induced sleep his mind
retains the memory of the person who put him to sleep, hence
the hypnotiser's power of playing upon his imagination, of
suggesting dreams, and of directing the acts which are no longer
controlled by the weakened or absent will."

The following was Braid's view of the condition of the
attention in hypnosis :—

The principal difference between hypnotic and normal sleepHYPNOTIC THEORIES

343

is to be found in the mental condition. When falling into
ordinary sleep the mind passes from one idea to another in-
differently, and the subject is unable to fix his attention on any
regular train of thought, or to perform any act requiring much
voluntary effort. As the result of this, audible suggestions and
sensory impressions received by the sleeper, if not intense
enough to entirely awaken him, seldom do more than arouse
dreams, in which ideas pass through his mind without exciting
definite physical acts. On the other hand, the concentration of
attention, which is the result of the means employed for inducing
hypnosis, is continued into the state itself; and verbal suggestions
or sensory impressions excite definite trains of thought or physical
movements, instead of dreams.

Certain points of difference and resemblance are to be noticed
between these views.

According to Braid, the condition of the attention in hypnosis
favoured response to external suggestion, but not to suggestion
conveyed by any particular person, such as the hypnotiser. It
was possible by suggestion to create an artificial state in which
the subject seemed only to be en rapport with the operator, but
this condition was only an apparent, not a real one. The subjects
really heard the suggestions of others, though special artifices
might be necessary in order to make them respond to them. In
illustration of this, Braid cited a case in which he made a
somnambule respond to his indirect suggestions, conveyed in the
form of confident predictions of what was going to happen,
though the subject was asleep when he entered the room, and
apparently only en rapport with the original operator (see p.
287). Carpenter drew attention to the fact that rapport was
unknown to Mesmer and his immediate disciples, and was not
discovered until long after the practice of mesmerism had come
into vogue. The phenomena of rapport only acquired constancy
and fixity in proportion as its laws were announced and received.
Mesmerists ignorant of rapport produced a great variety of
remarkable phenomena, but did not discover this one until the
idea had been put into their minds, and thence transferred to
their subjects.

Bernheim and Li^beault believe that a real rapport exists
between the subject and the operator, and that this follows as
a natural consequence from the methods employed in inducing344

HYPNOTISM

hypnosis. Not only does it exist, but, according to Bernheim,
the operator's power of evoking hypnotic phenomena depends on
it. While Bernheim and Li^beault agree on this point, they
differ, as we have seen, on another. For Bernheim finds in
rapport the sole difference between hypnotic and ordinary sleep;
while Li^beault, on the contrary, tries by means of it to establish
an analogy between them.

My own observations in reference to rapport have led me to
conclusions similar to those of Braid, viz.: (1) That rapport does
not appear unless it has been directly or indirectly suggested.
(2) That the condition is always an apparent—never a real—
one. Thus, it could always be experimentally proved that the
subjects actually had been cognisant of what had been said and
done by others who had not been placed en rapport with them.
In those who did not know what was expected of them, and to
whom neither direct nor indirect suggestions of rapport were
made, this condition did not appear. On the contrary, they
heard and obeyed any one who might address them.

Moll, in Der Eapport in der Hypnose, published in 1892, comes
practically to the same conclusion as Braid in regard to rapport,
viz., that it is caused by direct or indirect suggestions of the
operator, or by self-suggestions which result from the subject's
conception of the nature of the hypnotic state.

It is true, as Liebeault has pointed out, that rapport fre-
quently exists between the sleeping mother and her child, and
that she will hear its slightest cry and yet be unconscious of
louder sounds. This, however, has no analogy in the hypnotic
state. The untrained somnambule responds with equal readiness
to the voice of any one, and, if he has been taught only to respond
to one voice, he still hears others. Again, the difference between
hypnotic and normal sleep is not, as Bernheim says, that rapport
exists only in the former. On the contrary, we might with
justice establish a distinction between hypnotic and normal sleep,
on the ground that rapport is absent from the former and is a
frequently recurring phenomenon in the latter.

Bernheim's Explanation of Hypnotic Amnesia.

According to Bernheim, every one possesses a certain definite
amount of nervous force or cerebral activity. During the wakingHYPNOTIC THEORIES

345

state this is concentrated in the higher nervous centres—the
reasoning part of the brain—while in hypnosis it is concentrated
in the lower centres—the imaginative or automatic part. All
the impressions received during hypnosis, all the phenomena
induced—conceptions, movements, sensations, images—owe their
origin to this concentrated and accumulated nervous force.
When the subject awakes and resumes his self-control, however,
the nervous activity is again diffused through the higher
centres of the brain and to the periphery. The impressions
received during hypnotic sleep fade, because, having been per-
ceived, as it were, if the simile may be permitted, by a quantity
of nervous light, they are no longer bright enough to be conscious
when this light ceases to be concentrated upon them. When
hypnosis is again induced, the former state of concentration
reappears, and, at the same time, the lost memories are revived.

This explanation is ingenious, but unfortunately not in
accordance with observed facts. If I suggest to a subject that
on awaking he will remember the events of hypnosis, he invari-
ably does so. Yet, in accordance with this theory, the redistri-
bution of nervous force to the higher centres should have
inevitably prevented this. Again, suggestion may rob the
hypnotised subject of the power of recalling the events of
previous hypnoses. But, if Bernheim's explanation were correct,
the lost memories could not escape revival, seeing that they must
have reappeared when the nervous force was again concentrated
in the lower centres.

The Influence of the Operator in inducing the so-called
Automatism.

In the estimation of the part played by the operator, Braid
differed from certain members of the Nancy school. According
to the former, the operator merely acted as an engineer who
directed the forces in the subject's own body; and the phenomena
of hypnosis could also be evoked by ideas previously existing in
the subject's mind. The latter regard the operator's rdle as a
much more important one: not only are his suggestions a mighty
force in themselves, but their power is increased by a constant
undermining of the volition.

For the successful manifestation of hypnotic phenomena,346

HYPNOTISM

Forel considers it essential that the subject should be under the
dominion of the operator, and have lost his own power of con-
centration and attention. He regards the condition as a battle
between operator and subject, in which the former, after capturing
outpost upon outpost, at last reigns supreme in the central citadel
itself. " The mind of a man, Aimposes itself," he says, " upon
the mind of another man, B., takes possession of it by entering
through some crevice in its armour, and finishes by reigning
there more or less as master, and by employing the brain of B.
as its docile instrument."

According to Bernheim, the natural tendency that exists in
every one to accept suggestions is gradually and skilfully developed
by the operator.

In opposition to the views of Bernheim, etc., I would insist
on two classes of cases:—

(1) Instances where the operator has deliberately tried to minimise
his own importance in reference to the induction of hypnotic
phenomena.

Although I soon ceased to believe that the subject's volition
was dominated by that of the operator, I still found, as the
result of sensational writings on the question, that a considerable
number of my patients objected to be hypnotised, on the ground
that it would interfere with their volition. To obviate this
difficulty, I changed my method of inducing and managing the
hypnotic state. I commenced by informing every new patient
that I did not believe it possible for the operator to dominate the
volition of the subject, and that, even if such a thing were
possible, it could certainly be prevented by suggestion. I ex-
plained to my patients that nothing would be suggested without
their consent having been previously obtained in the normal state.
Under these circumstances, if the suggestions were successful,
this would not imply any interference with volition, seeing that
their consent had already been obtained. I pointed out that the
fulfilment of a hypnotic suggestion frequently demonstrated an
increased, not diminished, power of volition. For example, a
patient who desired to resist a morbid impulse, but was unable
to do so by the exercise of his normal volition, might gain this
power by hypnotic suggestion. Thus, the suggestion did not
suspend the volition of the subject, but removed the obstacleHYPNOTIC THEORIES

347

which prevented the wish from being carried into action.
Further, as resistance was manifested despite suggested obedience,
it was reasonable to expect that this might be enormously
increased by training. I suggested, therefore, to all patients
during hypnosis, that they should invariably possess this power
of resistance, and also, that neither I nor any one else should ever
be able to reinduce hypnosis without their express consent. This
change of method did not affect the results. Notwithstanding
the fact that the patients were convinced, and justly so, that
they possessed complete control of the whole condition, hypnosis
was evoked as easily as formerly, and as wide a range of
phenomena was induced.

(2 a) Cases where an attempt has been made to teach the subject to
evoke hypnosis and its phenomena without the intervention of
the operator.

As already stated (pp. 52 and 53), I have frequently instructed
patients to hypnotise themselves, and to evoke the phenomena of
hypnosis by self-suggestion.

(2 b) Cases where, after very slight hypnosis, the patient has taught
himself to evoke hypnosis and its phenomena.

An account of a case of this kind is given pp. 201-2.

In such cases it would be difficult, I think, to explain hypnotic
phenomena as the result of arrested or weakened volition, and of
outside interference by the operator. It might be objected,
perhaps, that the influence of the operator had not been entirely
eliminated, on the ground that he had been associated with the
induction of the primary hypnosis. The conditions, however,
that are more or less frequently associated with the origin of a
particular state are by no means essential for its after-manifesta-
tion. For instance, the art of swimming is usually taught either
by means of a life-belt, or by attaching the pupil to a cord which
the teacher holds and guides by means of a rod. These artificial
aids, however, are not essential to the art of swimming: they are
only useful in its acquirement. It would be illogical to ascribe
a champion?s power of winning a race to the life-belt he dis-
carded years before. In the same way, it would be unjustifiable
to attribute a subject's power of influencing forces within his own
body by suggestions arising in his own mind, to the influence of34§

HYPNOTISM

the operator who had formerly instructed him how to evoke and
direct this power. And the objection applies with additional
force where the subject, having been hypnotised (slightly, if at
all), without any instruction in self-suggestion by the operator
has taught himself the practice from books.

Monoideism.

Bernheim, as we have already seen, still holds the theory of
monoideism, which Braid originated, but afterwards discarded.
In hypnosis, according to the former, the mind of the subject is
concentrated on a single idea. Impressions which under ordinary
circumstances would reach consciousness now cease to do so, not
only because they do not happen to be attended to, but also
because the subject has no faculty left wherewith to attend to
them. Thus, this is not only a " concentration of attention " theory,
but a " concentration and limited quantity of attention " theory.

Beaunis, while admitting the influence of attention in the
production of the phenomena of hypnotism, does not believe that
all the facts can be explained by the " concentration of attention "
theory. " If," he says, " a hallucination is suggested to a subject
and realised on awaking immediately afterwards, it may be
possible to explain this on the assumption that the attention was
still concentrated upon the suggested idea." He does not believe,
however, that, when the appearance of the phenomenon has been
delayed for a lengthened period, it can be explained in the same
way; for he does not consider it possible that the subject's
attention can have been concentrated on the suggested idea all
the time.

Gurney, wTho also rejected the " concentration of attention "
theory, said the energy of attention was not a fixed quantity,
bound to be always in operation in one direction or another;
nor did the human mind, any more than Nature, abhor a vacuum.
What did we gain, then, by employing a general term to describe
such special effects ? When once the (gas) chandelier metaphor
was abandoned—when once it was recognised that in a multitude
of cases the quantity of attention turned on in one direction was
in no way connected with its withdrawal from any other—the
idea of a common psychic factor seemed out of place and mis-
leading.HYPNOTIC THEORIES

349

This theoretical objection is in accordance with observed
facts. Doubtless certain hypnotic states exist in which all the
attention, so far as it is called into action, is concentrated upon
one idea. In order to prove, however, that directing the attention
upon a new point necessarily withdraws it entirely from the old
one, it must be shown that the phenomenon which resulted from
the former concentration inevitably ceased when the latter one
arose. A cutaneous analgesia of the arm might, with some show
of reason, be said to result from attention directed to the muscles
during suggested catalepsy: on the ground that no attention was
left wherewith to attend to painful sensations. But while the
catalepsy still exists, how, by this theory, can one explain, for
example, a cutaneous tactile hypersesthesia of the same limb, by
means of which the subject can distinguish the two points of the
compass at half the normal distance ? If the subject is un-
conscious of painful sensations because his attention is entirely
concentrated on his muscular condition, this same lack of atten-
tion to the skin ought not only to have prevented abnormal
distinctness of tactile impressions, but even to have inhibited the
usual ones. The experiment can be still further complicated;
for, while still permitting the catalepsy to persist, the cutaneous
tactile hyperaesthesia can be associated by suggestion with a
cutaneous analgesia over the same area. Now the subject's whole
attention cannot be directed to maintaining a condition of
muscular rigidity, if he still has enough of it left to suffice, not
only for the increased perception of certain tactile sensations, but
also for the selection1 and inhibition of other painful ones.
Further, the opposite of these phenomena can be simultaneously
evoked on the other side of the body; the subject's muscles can
be paralysed by suggestion, his tactile sensibility abolished, and
his sensibility to pain increased. The attention is now directed
upon six different points, and could, with equal ease, be simultane-
ously directed on many others. A psychic blindness, for example,
could be suggested on one side, a psychic deafness on the other;
hyperaesthesia of the sense of smell and taste on the one side, and
diminished or abolished sensibility on the other, etc., etc. But
this is not all; for while the attention is presumably turned in all
these different directions, the subject may be engaged in the

1 Before the painful sensations can be inhibited they must be sorted out, as it
were, from the other sensations the subject is experiencing.35°

HYPNOTISM

successful solution of some intellectual problem. A still further
complication is possible. Let us suppose, as in the case of one of
my own subjects, that at an earlier date, in a previous hypnosis,
a suggestion to record the time at the expiration of 40,845
minutes, or some such complicated number, had been made; this
may be carried out, despite the existence of the various muscular
and sensorial conditions already referred to, and the fact that, at
the moment of its fulfilment, the subject is engaged in some
other mental effort.

This picture of the hypnotic state is neither fanciful, nor
dependent solely on my own personal observation. The fact that
numerous and varied hypnotic phenomena can be simultaneously
evoked in the same subject has been repeatedly observed and
recorded by others, and, strange to say, even by those who
attempt to explain hypnosis by the concentration of the attention
upon a single point. It is solely the important bearing of
these facts upon this particular theory which has hitherto been
so largely overlooked.

Granting that hypnotic phenomena are the result of changes
in the attention, one is forced to conclude that these are the
exact reverse of those stated by Bernheim as explanatory of the
hypnotic state: the simultaneous presence of many phenomena
clearly shows that hypnosis cannot be explained by the concen-
tration of the attention on any one given point. Again, the fact
that the multiple phenomena are sometimes similar in character
to the isolated ones, indicates that the explanation of hypnotic
phenomena by means of the amount of the attention concentrated
is also fallacious. If all the attention is requisite for the
production of one phenomenon, and, while this one still lasts,
many other hypnotic phenomena are simultaneously induced,
whence do the secondary ones derive that excessive amount of
attention which is said to be necessary for the induction of the
primary one? The hypnotic condition differs, then, from the
normal, not because only one phenomenon can be manifested in
it at once, but because it may present simultaneously many and
more varied phenomena than can be induced in the normal state
at any one time. In a word, hypnosis is frequently a state of
poly-ideism, not one of mono-ideism.HYPNOTIC THEORIES

351

MOLL'S THEORY.

Dr. Albert Moll, of Berlin, attempts to explain the phenomena
of hypnosis by seeking, like Bernheim, an analogy between them
and those of normal life. There are, he says, two cardinal facts
that we ought to keep in mind: (1) We are liable to be in-
fluenced by the ideas of others, and to accept as true statements
which we ourselves have not investigated. (2) When a physio-
logical or psychological effect is expected it has a tendency to
appear.

The two facts just cited are sufficient, Moll thinks, to explain
many of the phenomena of slight hypnosis. The increased
susceptibility to suggestion evinced in this state, as the result of
the subject's weakened volition, alone separates it from the
ordinary waking condition. Moll does not believe that any
analogy exists between slight hypnosis and sleep, for in the
former there is neither loss of memory nor alteration in
consciousness.

In order to explain the phenomena of deep hypnosis, in
addition to the factors just referred to, Moll introduces a third,
i.e. a dream consciousness similar to that which exists in natural
sleep. He thinks the positive hallucinations of deep hypnosis are
similar to those that occur in dreams, and that they are caused
in the same manner by peripheral or central stimuli. The
character of the dream aroused, the nature of the mental picture
excited, by the peripheral stimulus, depends, in sleep as well as
in hypnosis, upon the personality of the subject. The dividing
line between sleep and hypnosis is merely a quantitative
difference in the movements occurring in both: in hypnosis these
are easily induced; in sleep they are duller, slower, and rarer.

For the production of negative hallucinations, Moll considers
that the three following factors are necessary:—

(a) The subject's conviction of the absence of an object or
sensory impression.

According to Moll, if, in the waking state, we are convinced
of the absence of something actually present, this belief tends to
prevent our perceiving it. Thus, he says, if a man is working in
some place which is generally quiet, and where he does not
expect to hear a noise, he would not notice if one were made!!352

HYPNOTISM

In Moll's opinion, the hypnotised subject's conviction of the
non-existence of an object or sensory impression arises in the
following manner. The suggested idea cannot be supplanted by
a voluntary one, for, owing to the alterations in the attention
which result from the methods of the operator, the subject is
unable to control the ideas conveyed to him or to put forward
his own. External ideas dominate his consciousness. The
conviction of the non-existence of an object arises from the
subject's weakened will, and his dependence on the operator.
The fact that many motor suggestions have already been made,
which the subject has been unable to resist, renders further
suggestions easy.

(&) Diversion of attention.

The diversion of the subject's attention follows the conviction
of the non-existence of the object: he believes that no object is
present, and, therefore, ceases to direct his attention to it.

(c) Dream consciousness.

Moll considers that the existence of a " dream consciousness "
is also necessary for the explanation of negative hallucinations.
In it not only do former memory-pictures reappear as hallucina-
tions, but sensory impressions no longer, as in normal life, induce
feelings or perceptions.

Moll explains the sudden and often nearly systematic forget-
fulness, in reference to hypnotic states, by means of Max
Dessoir's theory of the " Doppel-Ich" He also considers that
the punctual execution of post-hypnotic commands is only com-
prehensible if, in addition to the primary consciousness, a
secondary one works intelligently in us.

To this theory the following objections might, I think, with
justice be raised:—

(1)	According to Moll, in light hypnosis there is a slight
inhibition of the will, which becomes more profound in deep
hypnosis. This point has already been referred to in discussing
the so-called automatism and the influence of the operator; and I
have endeavoured to show that this inhibition of the will was
not present in cases which I have personally observed. Further,
in self-hypnosis, where the influence of the operator has been
entirely eliminated, hypnotic phenomena can be readily induced.

(2)	The objections which have already been raised to the
supposed identity of normal and hypnotic sleep are equallyHYPNOTIC THEORIES

353

applicable to Moll's " dream-consciousness " theory. Sully's views
as to the difference between the movements occurring in these
conditions have already been referred to (p. 310).

(3)	I know of no instance in which a dream has spontane-
ously arisen in the hypnotised subject as the result of a peripheral
stimulus. It is true that subjects can be taught to exhibit
various hypnotic phenomena in response to peripheral stimuli;
but, as Moll himse]f has pointed out regarding the movements
occurring in Heidenhain's cases, the subjects must first have a
clear idea of what is expected of them.

(4)	Moll assumes a loss of consciousness in deep hypnosis,
on which he largely bases the supposed resemblance between
that condition and normal sleep. Various objections to this view
have been raised in discussing Heidenhain's theory : the hypnotic
state is almost invariably a conscious one; and, though amnesia
usually follows on awaking, it can be prevented by suggestion.

(5)	The supposed analogy drawn from normal life, which
Moll selects as an illustration of the way in which negative
hallucinations arise—from the conviction of the absence of an
object or sensory impression—is a peculiarly unfortunate one.
A noise is not the less likely to be heard because of previous
quietness: on the contrary, a particular noise would be less
likely to be detected if it followed numerous others. Again,
the cessation of a habitual noise, which we expect to be con-
tinued, does not on that account escape notice. When the
screw of a steam-boat stops, this almost invariably arouses the
attention of the passengers; and, even if they are asleep, it
usually awakes them immediately.

(6)	Moll's analogies drawn from normal life to explain
hypnotic memory are somewhat strained. For example, in
reference to the recollection in hypnosis of the events of previous
hypnoses, he cites Max Dessoir's statement that he had heard of
one person who once during sleep took up a dream at the point
where he had left it off on the former night. Surely this is
attempting to explain the little-known in terms of the less-known.

(7)	To Moll's explanation of certain hypnotic phenomena by
means of the " intelligent action of a secondary consciousness " I
shall again refer. Meanwhile, I would point out that this does
not agree with the " involuntary dream-consciousness theory " \
the two explanations contradict each other.

2 A354

HYPNOTISM

Before describing this latest hypnotic theory—that which
attempts to explain hypnotic phenomena by the intelligent
action of a secondary consciousness—I wish to draw attention
to the analogy which is supposed to exist between hypnosis and
certain, and often widely differing, pathological conditions.

The Supposed Analogy between Hypnosis and certain, and
often widely differing, Pathological Conditions.

As we shall presently see, Moll drew attention to the con-
tradictory nature of these supposed analogies; but, nevertheless,
a further illustration of them is to be found in " Hypnotism in
Court/' and " Hypnotism," two articles which appeared in the July
and October numbers of the Journal of Mental Science for 1898.
Both are apparently from the same pen, and as they are unsigned,
I will, for convenience' sake, call the writer X.

According to X, hypnotism is related to hysteria, stupor,
" latah," etc.

(I.) Hysteria.—As we have seen, the supposed connection
between hypnotism and hysteria, disputed by Esdaile and Braid
more than fifty years ago, was restated by the Salpetrikre school,
and successfully disproved by that of Nancy. X's attempt to
revive an ancient fallacy is not likely to be successful, especially
as he does not support it by a single observed fact.

At the International Congress of Experimental Psychology,
London, 1892, it was generally recognised that susceptibility to
hypnosis did not indicate the existence of hysteria or any other
morbid condition. Hypnotism was found to increase the patient's
volition: thus hypnotic cure was due to the intensification of an
entirely normal moral process, and was not essentially dependent
upon assistance from without.

According to X, self-control is weakened in hypnosis. This
view is an old mesmeric fallacy which was successfully exploded
by Braid over fifty years ago. My subjects, no matter how
deeply hypnotised, could always choose between suggestions, and
invariably rejected what was distasteful.

X asserts that therapeusis admits the principle that a lower
tissue may be sacrificed to save a higher, but that it is distinctly
bad practice " to harm the higher organ to release the lower, as
hypnotism does." This, however, concerns ordinary rather thanHYPNOTIC THEORIES

355

hypnotic practice. Most of the diseases which are treated hypnotic-
ally are central in their origin, as, for example, dipsomania,
hysteria, obsessions, etc. In such cases it is the cure or relief
of the higher organ which is at stake, and no sacrifice of any kind,
either higher or lower, is involved. Lost or weakened self-control
is at the root of the diseases just referred to ; and, when hypnotism
cures them, it does so by developing the patient's own volition.

If, however, we judge ordinary practice by X's standards,
the administration of narcotics and anaesthetics must be condemned,
and their employment for the relief of pain considered bad practice.
His opinion, I think, is not now generally held by the profession,
although, as we have seen, in 1842, Dr. Copland asserted, at the
Eoyal Medical and Chirurgical Society, that "pain was a wise
provision of nature, and patients ought to suffer pain while their
surgeons were operating; they were all the better for it, and
recovered better."

(II.) Stupor.—Stupor has been divided into two forms—(1)
Anergic : (2) Delusional,

(1)	Anergic.—In typical cases there is blueness and swelling
of the hands and feet, slow and feeble circulation, vacant expression,
retention (or in some cases incontinence) of urine and feces;
complete absence of mental function in the region of will, per-
ception, memory, and often even of consciousness.

(2)	Delusional. — This form is the outcome of profound
melancholia, in which the mental activity is terminated by a
melancholic delusion.

Stupor is supposed to be due to pathological changes in the
brain and its blood-vessels: it is generally associated with grave
disease, and frequently has a fatal termination (Dictionary of
Psychological Medicine, Hack Tuke).

Here, again, X contents himself with simple assertion, and omits
to adduce a single fact in support of the supposed connection
between stupor and hypnosis. Hypnotised persons do not turn
blue, nor do their hands and feet swell; they do not lose control
over the bladder or bowels. Their volition is unimpaired, their
perception and memory are often abnormally acute, and conscious-
ness is rarely, if ever, lost. Hypnosis is not associated with
profound melancholia, nor does it end in a cessation of mental
activity. On the contrary, the hypnotised person may be able
to solve mental problems of great difficulty which are beyond the356

HYPNOTISM

range of his normal powers. Again, stupor, unlike hypnosis,
cannot be originated, guided, or terminated at will. Further,
hypnosis does not arise from pathological changes in the brain and
its blood-vessels, nor has it a fatal termination.

(III.) L&tah. —X talks of latah as if it were a disease, though,
as Moll has pointed out, the word " l&tah " designates the sufferers
from the complaint, not the disease itself; but this is a minor
matter. The disease, according to Gilles de la Tourette, is a
"tic" characterised by certain abnormalities of movement, par-
ticularly by the imitation of gestures, and of certain anomalies of
speech, such as the use of bad language and the repetition of the
last words uttered in the patient's presence. Bamberger states
that violent contractions of the flexors and extensors of the
muscles of the leg take place when the patient attempts to stand,
and thus a jumping movement is produced.

According to Clifford and Talcott Williams, the condition is
latent in the Malay race, and can be produced by startling them
and making them jump. They will then imitate actions which
are painful, dangerous, or obscene. The Malays are a race par-
ticular to a fault about all matters of personal modesty; but a
latah Malay woman will strip naked in a public place at the
casual invitation of a passing stranger.

In attempting to establish an analogy between hypnotism
and "latah," X, as usual, states an old fallacy without adducing
a single fact in support of it. His theory is apparently a repro-
duction of that of Dr. Gillmore Ellis (The Journal of Mental
Science, January, 1897, p. 32). Neither writer seems to be
aware of the fact that similar views were expressed at an earlier
date by several Continental observers, and their unsoundness
demonstrated by Moll and others.

The fallacy appears to have arisen from untrained and super-
ficial observation. Thus, it has been noticed that both the latah
Malay and the hypnotised person imitate gestures; the conditions,
therefore, are assumed to be similar. The circumstances, how-
ever, under which they do so are widely different. The moment
a " latah " is startled he will at once imitate any gesture made
before him by any one. He will also mimic the swaying motion
of wind-shaken boughs as readily as the actions of a human
being (Clifford). No verbal suggestion is necessary. On the
other hand, hypnotised subjects never copy movements madeHYPNOTIC THEORIES

357

before them unless they have been trained to do so, and then
only the movements of the hypnotiser. Again, hypnotised
persons, even despite energetic suggestions, will not imitate
actions which involve real danger, actual indelicacy, or obscenity,
nor do they make use of bad language. Further, the hypnotic
subject, unlike the latah, does not hop about like a kangaroo the
moment you startle him. Finally, hypnosis can be terminated
at will, but the disease from which the latah suffers is uncon-
trollable and frequently incurable.

Other writers besides X have attempted to establish a con-
nection between hypnosis and many and widely differing diseased
conditions. In every instance the fallacy has been due to the
imperfect observation of some isolated hypnotic phenomenon.
Benedikt's theory is fairly characteristic of this class. In his
view of hypnosis, its numerous, varied, and complex mental and
physical conditions are ignored, and it is simply classified as an
artificially induced catalepsy; because in hypnosis the muscles
can be rendered rigid by suggestion.-

Such theories have the merit of simplicity, and possess the
additional advantage that they can be made without careful
observation or prolonged study. What should we think, however,
of the observer who described normal human life as simply an
artificially induced sneeze, because the act of sneezing could be
readily evoked by the presentation of a pinch of snuff!

We can produce paralysis, stammering, or pain by suggestion,
but hypnosis itself is none of these things. Moll points out that
it is illogical to call hypnosis a disease because morbid imitations
of it are to be found. Yawning itself is not a disease, although
attacks of it occur which are morbid in character. Thus, we are
no more justified in inferring that the hypnotised subject suffers
from hysteria because he can imitate its symptoms, than in con-
cluding that an actor is mad when he portrays insanity. Further,
hypnosis—subject to the limitations already referred to—is
entirely under the control of the operator, or of the subject him-
self; but there is no disease which can be originated, guided,
and terminated at a moment's notice.

Moll also draws attention to the fact that these physiological
theories frequently contradict each other. Thus, Rieger and
Conrad regard hypnosis as an artificial mania, while Meynert
maintains that it is an experimentally produced imbecility—two353

HYPNOTISM

forms of mental disease which are utterly dissimilar. Semal and
Hack Tuke also called hypnosis an artificially induced insanity.
We might, says Moll, call hypnosis an insane condition, if we
also regarded sleep and dreams as such. When psychologists
wish to discover analogies to mental disorders they always have
recourse to dreams; but no one maintains that in order to lose
our sanity it is only necessary to go to sleep. Two conspicuous
characteristics of hypnosis are suggestibility and the fact that the
state can be terminated at will; but we do not find these united
in mental disorders or in neuroses. While physiologists fail to
consider what an enormous influence an idea, aroused, for
example, by the word " Awake!" exercises, their theories will
ever remain unsatisfactory. We ought, Moll continues, to set our
faces decidedly against the way in which certain physiologists
juggle with words, as if the enigmas of consciousness were child's
play to them. When Mendel, speaking of the phenomena of
hypnosis, explains that we have to do with a strong stimulation
of the cerebral cortex, and Ziemssen declares the exact contrary,
i.e. that the cerebral cortex is too little stimulated, and the sub-
cortical centres too much, we are startled at such contradictions,
and can only hope that in the future less will be asserted and
more proved. .

THE SECONDARY OR SUBLIMINAL CONSCIOUSNESS

THEORY.

Within recent times another theory has arisen. This, instead
of attempting to explain hypnotism by the arrested action of
some of the brain centres which subserve normal life, would do
so through the arousing of certain powers over which we normally
have little or no control. This theory appears under different
names, " Double Consciousness," " Das JDoppel-Ich," etc., and the
principle on which it depends is largely admitted by science.
William James, for example, says: " In certain persons, at least,
the total possible consciousness may be split into parts which
coexist, but mutually ignore each other."

The clearest statement of this view was given by the late
F. W. H. Myers ; he suggested that the stream of consciousness
in which we habitually lived was not our only one. Possibly
our habitual consciousness might be a mere selection from aHYPNOTIC THEORIES

359

multitude of thoughts and sensations—some at least equally
conscious with those we empirically knew. No primacy was
granted by this theory to the ordinary waking self, except that
among potential selves it appeared the fittest to meet the needs
of common life. As a rule, the waking life was remembered in
hypnosis, and the hypnotic life forgotten in the waking state:
this destroyed any claim of the primary memory to be the sole
memory. The self below the threshold of ordinary consciousness
Myers termed the " subliminal consciousness/' and the empirical
self of common experience the " supraliminal." He held that to
the subliminal consciousness and memory a far wider range, both
of physiological and of psychical activity, was open than to the
supraliminal. The latter was inevitably limited by the need of
concentration upon recollections useful in the struggle for exist-
ence ; while the former included much that was too rudimentary
to be retained in the supraliminal memory of an organism so
advanced as that of man. The recollection of processes now
performed automatically, and needing no supervision, passed out
of the supraliminal memory, but might be retained by the
subliminal. The subliminal, or hypnotic, self could exercise over
the nervous, vaso-motor, and circulatory systems a degree of
control unparalleled in waking life.

He suggested that the spectrum of consciousness, as he called
it, was indefinitely extended at both ends in the subliminal self.
Beyond its supraliminal physiological limit lay a vast number
of complex processes belonging to the body's nutrition and well-
being. These our remote ancestors1 might possibly have been
able to modify at will, but to us they seemed entirely withdrawn
from our sphere of volition. If we wished to alter them we
must do so by drugs and medicaments, whether the body to be
treated was our own or another's.

At the superior or psychical end the subliminal memory
included an unknown category of impressions, which the supra-
liminal consciousness was incapable of receiving in any direct
fashion, and which it must cognise, if at all, in the shape of
messages from the subliminal consciousness. Myers arranged
hypnotic phenomena into three divisions:—

1 It is to be noted that Myers used the term "ancestors" somewhat loosely. It
is not clear in the present instance whether he meant remote human ancestors, or
some lower form of animal life.360

HYPNOTISM

(1) The Great Dissociative Triumph of Hypnotism, namely,
the inhibition of pain under conditions of nerve and
tissue with which it was usually inevitably connected.

Here, psychologically, the whole interest lay in the question
whether pain was suppressed together with sensations of every
kind, or whether other sensations persisted, pain alone being
inhibited. Our ancestors,1 Myers suggested, had already attained
to a rough practical knowledge of this distinction. They knew
that if you stunned a man by a blow he would not feel the pain
for some time. Also, that if you ran pins into particular parts
of a witch's body she, although perfectly awake and conscious of
other sensations, would feel no smart.

The second of these discoveries was the more important.
By stunning your enemy you only proved that vital functions
could continue unimpaired, notwithstanding that the brain's
action was so far disturbed that all consciousness was temporarily
abolished. By pricking the witch in her " marks "—now called
hysterical analgesic zones or patches—you proved that pain was
a dissociable accident of organic injury; that other sensations
might persist, and that of pain alone be in some way inhibited.
The insensitiveness to pain which ran wild in hysteria was now
being directed into useful channels by "hypnotic suggestion."
Some intelligence was involved in a suppression thus achieved;
for this was obtained, not, as with narcotics, by a general loss of
consciousness, but by the selection and inhibition, from amongst
all the percipient's possible sensations, of disagreeable ones alone.
This was not a mere ansesthetisation of some particular group of
nerve-endings, such as cocaine produced: it involved the removal
also of a number of concomitant feelings of nausea, exhaustion,
and anxiety, which were not always directly dependent on the
principal pain, but needed, as it were, to be first subjectively
distinguished as disagreeable before they were picked out for
inhibition. This freedom from pain was obtained without either
deadening or dislocating the general nervous system, with no
approach either to coma or to hysteria. The so-called hypnotic
trance was not necessary: sometimes the pain could be prevented
by " post-hypnotic" suggestion destined to fulfil itself after the
1 I.e. Comparatively recent human ancestors.HYPNOTIC THEORIES

3^1

awakening; and, if there were trance, this was often no mere
lethargy, but a state fully as alert and vivid as ordinary waking
life.

Myers argued from this that it was plain that hypnotic
analgesia thus induced was by no means a mere ordinary narcotic
—not a fresh specimen of familiar methods for checking pain,
by arresting all conscious cerebration. It was a new departure;
the first successful attempt at dissociating forms of sensation
which, throughout the known history of the human organism,
had almost invariably been found to exist together.

(2) The Associative or Synthetic Triumphs of Hypnotism,
namely, the production and control of organic processes
which no effort of the ordinary man could set going or
in any way influence.

Hypnotic analgesia, Myers said, might be classed with equal
justice as a dissociative or as an associative act. The sensations
were severed from the main supraliminal current, and thus far
the act was dissociative. The group itself, however, had to be
formed, and the more complex it was the more this involved
some associative act. Inhibition of all the pain consequent on an
operation was in reality a complicated associative process. It
involved (a) the singling out and fitting together of a great
number of sensations which had the one subjective bond of being
disagreeable; and (b) the inhibition of all of them, which thus
left the supraliminal consciousness in perfect ease.

In further illustration of the associative powers of hypnotism,
Myers referred to alterations in the pulse, the secretions, excretions,
etc.; he also cited Delboeuf's case of two symmetrical burns
on the same subject, one of which ran the ordinary course of
inflammation, while in the other the morbid action was arrested
by suggestion (p. 84).

(3) The Intellectual or Moral Achievements of Hypnotism.

These, like the others, were based upon physiological changes,
but presented problems still more profound. The removal of
the craving for alcohol and morphia, the cure of kleptomania,
bad temper, excessive indolence, etc., were all cited by Myers as362

HYPNOTISM

illustrating the moral and psychological changes which suggestion
could effect.

Volition, etc.—According to Myers, the hypnotic subject was
not a maimed and stunted normal individual, but one who, while
he had gained increased power over his own organism, had not
at the same time lost his volition, or the mental and moral
qualities which had formerly distinguished him. He admitted
. that there was some difficulty in explaining hypnotic obedience;
H but held—justly, as we have seen—that this would be refused
when the act suggested was contrary to the subject's moral nature.
He believed that a complete comprehension of the suggested act
existed in the subliminal strata, and that, when great need arose,
the subliminal self would generally avoid compliance, not necessarily
by awakening the organism into ordinary life, but by plunging it
into a hysterical access or into a trance so deep that the unwelcome
order lost its agitating power. The moral tone of the somnambule
was, in Myers' opinion, the precise opposite of the drunken
condition. Alcohol, by paralysing first the higher inhibitory
centres, made men boastful, impure, and quarrelsome. Hypnotisa-
tion, apparently by a tendency to paralyse lower appetitive centres,
produced the contrary effect. The increased refinement and
J cheerfulness of the developed somnambule were constantly noticed.

The Possible Source or Origin of Hypnotic Control over
Intimate Organic Processes.

Myers asked whether we could find anything in our ancestry
which suggested to us these internal powers of modifying circula-
tion, quickening cell-proliferation, and altering trophic processes
in unknown ways. He admitted that the analogies to which we
could appeal were vague and remote, yet he said we could point
to the general fact that, in man and the higher animals, an
increase in the power of modifying the action of the organism, as
a whole, had evidently been purchased by a decrease in the
power of modifying its internal parts or constituent elements.
The self-shaping powers of the amoeba, the self-regenerating
powers of the worm or crab, died gradually away into the
comparative fixity of the organism of the higher mammalia.

It was possible, he thought, that this fixity was more apparent
than real. "We may," he said, "regard the human organism asHYPNOTIC THEORIES

363

an aggregation of primitive, unicellular organisms, which have
divided their functions and complicated their union in response
to the demands of the environment, and along such lines
of evolution as were possible to the original germ. It is
possible, too, that all these processes—beginning with the
amoeboid movements of the primitive cell—were accompanied
by a capacity of retaining the impress of previous excitations, a
rudimentary memory which at first constituted all the conscious-
ness which our lowly ancestors1 possessed. And further, as
evolution went on, and more complex operations were developed,
while the primitive processes of cell-change became stereotyped
by long heredity, the memory which represented these earlier
changes sank to a low psychical depth, became subliminal, and
could no longer be summoned by voluntary effort into the
supraliminal sequence of conscious states. How do we know
that any psychical acquisition is ever wholly lost ? or even that
a memory is the weaker because it has sunk out of voluntary
control ? It may be possible, by appropriate artifices, to recall
primeval memories, and to set in motion any physiological process
which could at any. moment of our ancestral history have been
purposely, however blindly, performed."

In justice to Myers, however, it must be admitted that he
was doubtful whether all hypnotic phenomena could be explained
by the above theory. Thus, he asked: Do not the moral and
psychological achievements of hypnosis represent a point leyond
that to which such analogies can carry us ? These changes must,
he said, of course, rest on a physiological basis; but that basis
implies a well-developed human brain. The knowledge of
cortical centres, which must somewhere exist to make such
changes possible, can scarcely have been inherited from pre-
human ancestors. Nothing, perhaps, in the whole inquiry is of
deeper interest than the possibilities thus dawning upon us of
disentangling, from the cerebral labyrinth which represents a
man's tastes and character, the special brain processes which
stand for some special temptation—say, those which represent
the reaction of his organism to alcohol. What is the hidden
process that to one patient makes brandy as nauseating as it is
to a cat—that in another patient makes the morphia craving as
impossible as it is to a rabbit ?

1 I.e. the original germs of evolution.3^4

HYPNOTISM

Hysteria, a Disease of the Subliminal Self.

Myers did not consider the subliminal self free from disturb-
ance and disease any more than the supraliminal. Subliminal
disturbances, he said, were likely to arise and make themselves
felt in the supraliminal being. " How shall we distinguish," he
asked, " these subterranean from the superficial storms ? How
shall we recognise, for instance, a disturbance of the 'hypnotic
stratum'—as we may style, for convenience' sake, that group
of potential perceptions and reactions which are readily evoked in
a suitable subject by the hypnotic trance ? It would be absurd
to attempt to explain ignotum per ignotius, the aetiology of
disease by its relation to hypothetical strata of the subliminal
self. But one remark I must make, since, crude as it may be,
it offers at least a chance of light upon a subject at present
hopelessly confused.

" I say, then, that our most plausible conception of a morbid
disturbance of the hypnotic self is a derangement of functions or
capacities which are habitually observed in the hypnotic state,
and in that alone. I should say that the reason for so referring
the source of such derangement would be increased if the subject
were, when hypnotised, aware of the exciting external cause of
such derangements, and capable of modifying them in a way
impossible to him in waking life.

" Now it is a striking characteristic of the hypnotic self that
it can exercise over the nervous, the vaso-motor, the circulatory
systems a degree of control unparalleled in waking life. . . .
Are we aware in practice of any malady or group of maladies
in which these functions, these capacities, are the subject of
special disturbances ? Are there ansesthesiae appearing, shifting,
and disappearing as rapidly as the suggested anaesthesia of
hypnotism? Are there anomalous vaso-motor disturbances
which seem to follow the patient's mere caprice ?

"The reader will answer with the word hysteria. And,
meaningless or misleading though that term be, it is in fact our
first and obvious reply. Not indeed all, but almost all, the
phenomena which can be induced by suggestion in the hypnotic
state occur spontaneously in hysterical patients.

" But this will not complete our answer. From the pointHYPNOTIC THEORIES

365

of view of our present analogy, the differentia of hysteria will be
simply an irrational self-suggestion in regions beyond the power
of the waking will—a morbid or uncontrolled functioning of
powers over the organism which affect profounder modifications
than the empirical self can parallel. Thus the production of
patches of anaesthesia or analgesia is a characteristically hysterical
symptom, and it implies a power of modifying the sensibility
to touch or pain which we cannot imitate under ordinary
conditions.,,

" But when hysteria is thus regarded, it is seen that several
other maladies fall under the same category ; ' attaques de sommeil,'
4 association - neuroses,' ' Zwangsvorstellungenj and a host of
monomanias, show a similarly morbid functioning of precisely
that class of powers which hypnotism exhibits to us in harmless
or beneficent operation. They are self-suggestions of an irrational
and hurtful kind. They are diseases of the hypnotic stratum.
Hypnotism is not a morbid state; it is the manifestation of a
group of perfectly normal, but habitually subjacent powers
whose beneficent operation we see in cures by therapeutic
suggestion, whose neutral operation we see in ordinary hypnotic
experiment, and whose diseased operation we see in the vast
variety of self-suggestive maladies.

" I would offer this view to the consideration of those who
justly realise the close connection between hypnotism and
hysterical phenomena, but mistakenly endeavour to force all the
hypnotic phenomena into the hysterical category.

" M. Babinski, for instance, argues as follows on behalf of the
Salpetriere view that all hypnotic subjects are hysterical. The
Nancy subjects, he says, although asserted by Nancy doctors to
be non-hysterical, yet show in the hypnotic trance phenomena
which we observe elsewhere in hysteria alone. For that reason
they must, in effect, be hysterical. This, surely, is to reason in a
somewhat obvious circle; and those who, with the great majority
of competent judges, are convinced that non-hysterical persons
may most assuredly be nevertheless hypnotisable, must seek
some other explanation for the similarity of phenomena in the
two states. That explanation I have here attempted to give by
suggesting that hysteria (and many cognate troubles) should
rather be said to fall under hypnotism, than hypnotism under
hysteria. Those self-suggestive troubles exhibit the disordered366

HYPNOTISM

working of a stratum of the self which is per se as normal and
as essential to man's completeness as any other, and which
surpasses the superficial stratum in the degree of power which
the will informing it can exercise over the organism."

To those who, without stigmatising either hypnotism or
subliminal manifestations in general as necessarily morbid, are
yet disposed to style them abnormal, and to regard them as a
mere curiosity, which can never be closely inwrought with
human progress, Myers had a further word to say.

The "normal" man was likely, he thought, to become as
question-begging an individual in physiological as the " natural
man" in theological treatises. What is man's nature and what
is man's " norm" ? If the question were asked in regard to
some lower animal type the answer would be a comparatively
easy one. But man's end and aim are not so simple as a
rabbit's; he must choose between ideals; he must pursue the
higher objects, even to some sacrifice of the lower. Thus we
should hesitate to assume that Brigham Young had fulfilled
man's end and aim more successfully than Sir Isaac Newton.

Myers suggested that psychological experiment was still at
much the same point as was medical experiment in the days of
Hippocrates; that though we attempted to describe and analyse
the psychical nature with which we had to deal, we had scarcely
yet invented any instruments for probing or artifices for
modifying it. Not only so, but the very idea of trying to
modify our psychical selves by deliberate scientific experiment
was as foreign and unacceptable to most men, as the idea of
modifying his death-rate by sanitation was to the African
savage.

Just as the scientific discoveries of such men as Pasteur and
Lister had increased our power of checking or curing disease
from the physical side, in a manner and to an extent which was
not dreamt of by the earlier physicians, so Myers thought it was
possible that in hypnotism we might find a somewhat similar
power of influencing psychical conditions.

After criticising adversely the theories of Mesmer, Heidenhain,
Charcot, Bernheim, and others, Myers said :—" It is, therefore, as
it seems to me, in a field almost clear of hypothesis that I
suggest my view that a stream of consciousness flows on
within us, at a level beneath the threshold of ordinary wakingHYPNOTIC THEORIES

367

life, and that this consciousness embraces unknown powers, of
which these hypnotic phenomena give us the first sample."

THEORY OF THE LATE PROFESSOR DELBCEUF.

In many respects Delbceuf s views closely resembled those of
Myers. Thus, Delboeuf believed that suggestion was not only
capable of inhibiting sensations of pain intimately associated with
organic injury, and of modifying or arresting various morbid
nervous conditions which arose more or less directly from it; but
was also capable of influencing the organic changes which, under
ordinary circumstances, would have resulted from the injury
itself. In support of this theory, he cited numerous interesting
cases, of which the following are examples:—

One of his subjects had her fingers accidentally severely crushed;
suggestion at once stopped the pain, and the healing process was
exceptionally rapid. Another subject had a considerable portion
of her thumb cut off. The following day, after a sleepless and
painful night, she was unable to use her hand. Suggestion
entirely removed the pain, and the wound healed with unusual
rapidity.

On June 15th, 1886, a strong young peasant woman was shot
in the back with a revolver. All attempts to extract the bullet
failed; and during several days her recovery seemed more than
doubtful. When Delbceuf saw her, on June 26th, all immediate
danger had disappeared; but she was extremely feeble, and could
hardly sit up for half an hour a day in an arm-chair. She had
frequent attacks of shivering, followed by profuse perspiration.
She could only take liquid nourishment, and this was rarely
retained. She also suffered greatly from insomnia, and from
persistent pain in the abdomen. The bowels were constipated,
and defecation and micturition were painful. The wound was
kept open with antiseptic dressings. She was hypnotised on
June 26 th, and the process was repeated the following day. Im-
provement was immediate and marked: she was able to retain
solid food, pain disappeared, and the action of the bladder and
bowels became normal. By June 30 th, she was able to stand and
walk, and to do light work, such as sewing or knitting. A few
days later, she was again hypnotised, and at once recommenced368

HYPNOTISM

her ordinary domestic occupations. The wound healed rapidly
and she shortly afterwards took another situation. There was no
relapse.

Delboeufs most striking case, that of the two symmetrical
burns, has already been described (p. 84).

In Delboeufs opinion, the persistent belief that one was
suffering from disease might sometimes ultimately cause disease;
and, in the same way, the conviction that a morbid condition did
not exist might contribute to its disappearance. He considered
that the organic changes that followed such an injury as we
have described in the case of J. (p. 84) were not alone due to
the injury itself, but were also partly caused by the subject's
consciousness of pain. The absence or presence of pain might, to a
greater or lesser extent, influence vaso-motor conditions. On the
one hand, organic injury, unassociated with pain, might not be
followed by congestion, inflammation, or suppuration; while in an
identical injury, accompanied by pain, these conditions might be
present. The consciousness of pain, in addition to being some-
times responsible for morbid changes at the site of injury, might
also help to spread them to other parts more or less remote; and
thus, when pain was removed or relieved, this really meant the
disappearance or decrease of one of the factors in the organic
malady.

According to Delboeuf, experiments like these led us to sup-
pose that the action of the moral on the physical might be almost,
if not quite, equal to that of the physical on the moral. Hence
it followed that the idea of absence of mischief might bring
about, or at least favour, a cure. How, asked Delboeuf, are we to
explain the mechanism of this inverse action of the moral on the
physical ? The action of organs which are dependent upon the
sympathetic system cannot be modified voluntarily by the will;
the unstriped muscles, the vaso-motors, the glands, act without
the intervention of the cerebral hemispheres.

The following was his explanation: In the lower forms of life
the animal was just as conscious of what was taking place in its
interior as it was of what was happening at its periphery. With
the progress of development, however, its attention would be
directed more or less exclusively, on the one hand, to the organs
which placed it in direct relationship with the external world,
and warned it of the passing of outside events of importance toHYPNOTIC THEORIES

369

its existence and well-being; on the other, to the means of
attack or defence, which it learnt to use from day to day with
greater certainty and vigour. At the same time, the cares of the
interior would be got rid of more and more completely, and would
be confided to a servant who had been trained to look after them,
and whose zeal could be depended upon. In a highly developed
animal such as man, the importance of conscious life distracted
the attention from the phenomena of vegetative life : the con-
tinual obligation to provide for the necessities of existence
absorbed the will, while the mechanical regularity with which
internal organs acted rendered conscious attention regarding them
unnecessary. In ordinary life our attention was mainly con-
centrated on the external world, the principal source of our
pleasures and our pains; and our will was devoted to perfecting
our means of attack and defence. The rapid changes of external
phenomena masked the regularity of internal phenomena, which
took place habitually without our knowledge. The care of the
vegetative life had been handed over by the will to nervous
mechanisms which had learnt to regulate themselves, and which
in general fulfilled their task to perfection. Sometimes the
machine went wrong, and intervention became desirable. The
power which formerly voluntarily regulated it had, however,
dropped out of the normal consciousness; and, if we desired to
find a substitute for it, we must turn to hypnotism. In the
hypnotic state the mind was in part drawn aside from the life of
relation, while at the same time it preserved its activity and
power. Voluntary attention could be abstracted from the outer
world, and directed with full force upon a single point; and thus
the hypnotic subconsciousness was able to put in movement
machinery which the normal consciousness had lost sight of and
ceased to regulate. It might then be able to act, not only on the
reflexes, but on the vaso-motor system, on the unstriped muscles,
on the apparatus of secretion, etc. If a contrary opinion had till
now prevailed, this was because observation had been exclusively
directed to the normal exercise of the will. The will could, how-
ever, in the hypnotic state, regulate movements which had become
irregular, and assist in the repair of organic injury. In a word,
hypnotism did not depress, but exalted the will, by permitting it
to concentrate itself upon the point where disorder was threatened.

2 B37o

HYPNOTISM

THEORY OF PEOFESSOE BEAUNIS.

Somewhat similar views are also expressed by Professor
Beaunis. The cerebral activity, at a given instant, he says,
represents a collection of sensations, ideas, and memories. Of
those some alone become sufficiently conscious to enable us to
perceive them clearly and precisely, while the remainder pass
without leaving durable traces. In a series of cerebral acts a
certain number of intermediate links frequently escape us, and it is
probable that the greater number of mental phenomena take place
without our knowledge. Sensations to which we do not pay any
attention may nevertheless excite cerebral action, and originate,
without our knowledge, ideas and movements of which we after-
wards become conscious. Our brain acts without our knowledge,
with an activity of which we are unable to form an idea ; and the
facts of consciousness are only feeble fugitives from this mysterious
work. Hypnotic phenomena, Beaunis thinks, afford examples of
this subconscious cerebration.

Beaunis' description of subconscious mental activity so closely
resembles the theories of the late Professor W. B. Carpenter that
I now give an account of these, in justice to the earlier writer.

CAEPENTEE'S UNCONSCIOUS CEEEBEATION.

According to Carpenter, much of our intellectual activity—
both reasoning and imaginative—was essentially automatic, and
might be described physiologically as the reflex action of the
Cerebrum. There was, he said, a further question, namely,
whether this action might not take place uncomciously, The view
had been held by German metaphysicians, from Leibnitz onwards,
that the mind might undergo modifications, without being itself
conscious of the process until the results presented themselves to
the consciousness, in the new ideas, or new combinations of ideas,
which the process had evolved. This " Unconscious Cere-
bration," taking place in the higher sphere of cerebral activity,
had its exact parallel in such automatic acts as those of walking,
when the latter occurred while the attention was uninterruptedly
diverted from them.HYPNOTIC THEORIES

Each of the nervous centres had an independent "reflex"
activity of its own, sometimes "primary" or "original" some-
times " secondary " or " acquired " ; while our consciousness of its
exercise depended upon the impression which it made upon the
Sensorium, which was the instrument alike of the external and of
the internal senses. Regarding, therefore, all the automatic
operations of the mind as " reflex actions " of the Cerebrum, there
was no more difficulty in comprehending that such reflex actions
might proceed without our knowledge—their results being evolved
as intellectual products, when we became conscious of the impres-
sions transmitted along the " nerves of the internal senses " from
the Cerebrum to the Sensorium—than there was in understanding
that impressions might excite muscular movements through the
" reflex " power of the Spinal Cord, without the necessary inter-
vention of sensation. " In both instances," Carpenter said, " the
condition of this mode of unconscious operation was that the
receptivity of the Sensorium should be suspended quoad the
changes in question, either by its own functional inactivity, or
through its temporary engrossment by other impressions."

As an example of this form of unconscious mental activity,
Carpenter cited the spontaneous remembrance of some name,
phrase, occurrence, etc., which we had been previously vainly
trying to recollect. It was important to note, he said, that the
lost name suddenly flashed into our consciousness, either when
we were thinking of something altogether different, or when we
had just awakened out of profound sleep. In the first case the
mind might have been entirely engrossed in the meantime by
some quite different subject of contemplation, and we could not
detect any link of association whereby the result had been
obtained, notwithstanding that the whole "train of thought"
which had passed through the mind in the interval might be
most distinctly remembered. In the second case, the missing
idea seemed more likely to present itself when the sleep had
been profound than when it had been disturbed.

Carpenter cited various authorities and examples in illustra-
tion of the above phenomenon. Of these the following are the
more interesting: Miss Cobbe said we often " ransack our
brains " to find some lost name, etc., and, failing to do so, we at
last turn our attention to other matters. By and by, when, so
far as consciousness goes, our whole minds are absorbed in a37 2

HYPNOTISM

different topic, we exclaim, " Eureka ! the word was so and so."
So familiar is this phenomenon, that we are accustomed in
similar straits to say, " Never mind; I shall think of the missing
word by and by, when I am attending to something else "; and
we deliberately turn away, just as if we possessed an obedient
secretary whom we could order to hunt up the missing word
while we occupied ourselves with something else. The more
this common phenomenon is studied, the more the observer of
his own mental processes will be obliged to concede, that, so
far as his own conscious self is concerned, the research is
made absolutely without him. He has neither pain, pleasure,
nor sense of labour in the task, and his conscious self is
all the time suffering, enjoying, or labouring on totally different
ground.

In speaking of the same phenomenon, the late Dr. Oliver
Wendell Holmes said the idea we were seeking comes all at once
into the mind, delivered like a prepaid parcel laid at the door of
consciousness, like a foundling in a basket. How it came there,
we do not know. The mind must have been at work, groping
and feeling for it in the dark; it cannot have come by itself.
Yet, all the while, our consciousness, so far as we were conscious of
our consciousness, was busy with other thoughts.

Carpenter said that he was in the habit of trusting to this
method of recollection. He found he was much more likely to
recover lost memories in this way, by withdrawing his mind from
the search when it was not quickly successful. It was better to
give himself up to some other occupation, rather than to induce
mental fatigue by continued unsuccessful efforts.

In further confirmation of the above theory, Carpenter cited
the phenomena observed with " talking tables " and " planchettes."
Here, ideas which had passed out of the conscious memory some-
times expressed themselves in involuntary muscular movements, to
the great surprise of the individuals executing them. Generally
the answers given in this way only expressed the ideas consciously
present to the minds of the operators. True answers were, how-
ever, sometimes given to questions as to matters of fact, notwith-
standing that there might be entire ignorance (proceeding from
complete forgetfulness) of those facts, or absolute disbelief in the
statement of them. These results, which were falsely attributed
to "spiritual" agency, were really due to the revival of lostHYPNOTIC THEORIES

373

impressions, which now disclosed their existence through the
automatic motor apparatus.

Carpenter also asserted that there were cases in which two
distinct trains of mental action were carried on simultaneously—
one consciously, the other unconsciously; the latter guided the
movements, which might express something quite unrelated to
the subject that was entirely and continuously engrossing the
attention. In support of this he quoted the following passage
from Miss Cobbe :—

" Music-playing is of all others the most extraordinary
manifestation of the powers of unconscious cerebration. Here
we seem not to have one slave, but a dozen. Two different lines
of hieroglyphics have to be read at once, and the right hand has
to be guided to attend to one of them, the left to another. All
the ten fingers have their work assigned as quickly as they can
move. The mind, or something which does duty as mind,
interprets scores of A sharps and B flats and C naturals into
black ivory keys and white ones, crotchets and quavers and demi-
semiquavers, rests, and all the other mysteries of music. The
feet are not idle, but have something to do with the pedals, and,
if the instrument be a double-action harp (or an organ), a task of
pushings and pullings more difficult than that of the hands.
And all this time the performer, the conscious performer, is in a
seventh heaven of artistic rapture at the results of all this
tremendous business, or perchance lost in a flirtation with the
individual who turns the leaves of the music-book."

Carpenter also received from a distinguished prelate the
following account of his own frequently repeated experience of
another form of unconscious cerebration :—

" I have for years been accustomed to act upon your principle
of ' Unconscious Cerebration/ with very satisfactory results. I
am frequently asked, as you may suppose, to preach occasional
sermons; and when I have undertaken any such duty, I am in
the habit of setting down and thinking over the topics I wish to
introduce, without in the first instance endeavouring to frame
them into any consistent scheme. I then put aside my sketch
for a time, and give my mind to some altogether different subject;
and when I come to write my sermon, perhaps a week or
two afterwards, I very commonly find that the topics I set
down have arranged themselves, so that I can at once apply374

HYPNOTISM

myself to develop them on the plan in which they present them-
selves before me,"

In the following example, given by Wendell Holmes, the
individual was conscious of the flow of an undercurrent of mental
action, although this did not rise to the level of distinct ideation :—
A business man, who had an important question under considera-
tion, gave it up for the time as too much for him. Immediately
after having done so he was conscious of an action going on in his
brain, which was so unusual and painful as to excite his appre-
hensions that he was threatened with paralysis, or something of
that sort. After some hours of this uneasiness, his perplexity
was all at once cleared up by the solution of his doubts coming
to him—worked out, as he believed, in that obscure and
troubled interval.

According to Wendell Holmes, it is doubtful whether the
persons who think most—that is, have most conscious thought
pass through their minds—do most mental work. The tree you
plant, he said, grows while you are sleeping. So with every new
idea that is planted in a real thinker's brain: it will be growing
when he is least conscious of it. An idea in the brain is not a
legend carved on a marble slab: it is an impression made on a
living tissue, which is the seat of active nutritive processes.
Shall the initials I carved in bark increase from year to year
with the tree, he asked, and shall not my recorded thought
develop into new forms and relations with my growing brain ?

Carpenter believed that the same mode of unconscious action
had a large share in the process of invention, whether artistic or
poetical, scientific or mechanical. When inventors were brought
to a stand by some difficulty, the tangle was more likely to
unravel itself if the attention was completely withdrawn from it,
than by any amount of continued effort. They kept the desired
result strongly before their attention in the first instance, just as
we did when we tried to recollect something we had forgotten,
by thinking of everything likely to lead to it; but, if they did
not succeed, they then put the problem aside for a time, and gave
their minds to something else. Later, just what they wanted
" came into their heads."

Remarks.—The " subliminal" or " secondary consciousness "
theory presents many points for consideration; of these the
following are the more important:—HYPNOTIC THEORIES

375

(I.) The Hypnotic Powers and the Conditions more imme-
diately associated with them.

The special point of interest in the cases cited as illustrating
the powers of the hypnotic state is the supposed mental condition
of the subject. The immediate origin of hypnotic phenomena
depended, according to Myers, upon a voluntary alteration in the
arrangements of ideas. The introduction of the term voluntary,
with, at the same time, the recognition that all the subject's
attention was not requisite for the production of any solitary
hypnotic phenomenon, formed an important distinction between
this theory and some of those we have already considered.

With regard to Bernheim's theory, when discussing those
of the Nancy school, I raised the following, amongst other,
objections:—

(a)	The hypnotic condition cannot be called one of mono-
ideism, because many phenomena can be evoked at the same time.

(b)	It cannot be explained by the concentration of the
attention upon a single point, because, again, many phenomena
can be evoked simultaneously.

(c)	It is not due to arrested or impaired volition, as we have
shown (1) that the subject can resist the suggestions of the
operator; and (2) he can in cases of self-hypnosis voluntarily
create the phenomena for himself.

(d)	It cannot be explained by " suggestion" alone, as this
was merely the artifice used to excite the phenomena.

Despite these objections, one must admit that certain of the
phenomena described by Myers, which are also cited by others as
illustrating the theory of monoideism, possess one important
point in common, namely, a change in the arrangement of ideas.
If, for example, a hypnotised subject, supposed to be under the
influence of his operator, sees a hallucinatory cat, and a self-
hypnotised subject successfully suggests one to himself, the
phenomenon is practically identical in both instances. The only
difference is the explanation of its origin. Bennett believed that
the hypnotised subject saw a hallucinatory cat because the
genesis of his ideas was not interfered with, but only their
voluntary synthesis. Thus, the operator was able to suggest the
remembrance of a cat; but the subject, owing to the involuntary376

HYPNOTISM

arrest of certain mental powers, failed to understand that it was
only a remembrance, and believed in its reality. In Myers'
opinion, the subject, instead of having lost the power of voluntary
synthesis of ideas, had acquired an increased power of voluntary
association and dissociation of ideas. The remembrance of the
image of a cat had received hallucinatory vividness, not because
the subject was unable to check it from lack of voluntary
synthesis of ideas, but because he had elected to allow it to
become vivid by voluntarily inhibiting the appearance of all ideas
which would have interfered with its clearness, while, at the
same time, he had associated with it ideas connected with the
remembrance of formerly seen cats.

Bernheim, as we have seen, attempted to explain the
phenomena of hypnosis by the involuntary concentration of the
attention on one point. According to Myers, the mental changes
which took place were not only voluntary but varied ones; and
thus, if the phenomena were due to the subject's attention, he
must have acquired the power not only of turning it upon one
point, but upon several points simultaneously.

The inhibition of sensory impressions in hypnosis presents a
certain analogy to what is found in the normal state. The student
at his books, who wishes to carry on his work without disturbance,
may gradually train himself to be unconscious of external sounds.
He teaches his attention to concentrate itself upon the problem
before him, and to disregard more and more the noises which
might distract him. So also, in looking into a microscope with
one eye, he may train himself to keep the other eye open, and
at the same time to become unconscious of the objects within its
field of vision. Here, both the hypnotised and non-hypnotised
subject are producing voluntary changes in their attention.
Important points of difference, however, exist between the two.

(1)	The student does not disregard auditory or visual im-
pressions the first time he tries to do so. On the contrary,
prolonged training is often necessary for him to obtain this
power; and frequently he is unable to acquire it. In the deeply
hypnotised subject, on the other hand, the power can be developed
by a single suggestion, and with almost absolute certainty.

(2)	In the normal subject the inhibition of the sensory im-
pressions is associated with concentration of the attention upon
something else. The moment the student closes his books heHYPNOTIC THEORIES

377

becomes conscious, for example, of the organ-grinder under his
window, of whose presence he was ignorant a moment before.
The instant the attention ceases to be directed to the object under
the microscope, the brain becomes conscious of the impressions
received through the other eye. With the hypnotised subject
the condition of the attention is extremely variable. You may
find absence of painful sensations at the very moment that you
direct the subject's attention to the fact that you are piercing his
flesh deeply with a needle. Again, you may find increased
sensory perceptions of the two points of a compass, when you
have engaged his attention in the attempted solution of a mental
problem. This inhibition of sensory impressions by the normal
subject might, perhaps, be justly regarded as an acquired automatic
act, but it is an automatism which only acts properly when the
attention is voluntarily concentrated on something else. At first
the student's attention must have been consciously divided between
the problem contained in his book, and the process of inhibiting
the sensory impressions. In the hypnotised subject, the inhibitory
act, seeing that it has been performed without previous training,
cannot be regarded as completely analogous to the acquired
automatic inhibitory act of the normal subject. It can also be
performed without conscious concentration of all the attention in
another direction. "We must not conclude, however, that the
hypnotic act is not associated with a concentration of some of
the attention, merely because (a) the subject is attending to
something else at the same time, and (b) because he is not
conscious of attending to the particular act itself. It is possible
that the hypnotic act may have been performed by means of a
subconscious concentration of attention, which existed in some
lower hypnotic substratum of the personality.

(II.) Moral and Volitional Conditions.

The views of Myers practically agree with those I have
expressed in discussing the question of so-called automatism. I
have rarely, however, myself seen subjects try to escape objection-
able commands in the manner in which he described it, although
several instances of this kind have been recorded by Professor
Beaunis and others. In one of these cases the subject refused to378

HYPNOTISM

awake after a disagreeable post-hypnotic suggestion had been
given. Another, under similar circumstances, rather than fulfil
the suggestion, passed from the "alert" to the "deep" stage of
hypnosis.

(III.) Hysteria.

Myers' theory that hysteria is a disease of the hypnotic sub-
stratum is an extremely ingenious one, and is the only reasonable
explanation of the resemblance between certain hypnotic and
hysterical phenomena with which I am acquainted. As we have
seen, those who believed that hypnosis and hysteria were identical
stated that the hysterical alone could be hypnotised. On the
other hand, those with wider experience have successfully demon-
strated that the hysterical are generally, if not invariably, the
most difficult to influence. Of this fact Myers' theory possibly
affords an explanation. May not the difficulty of inducing
hypnosis in the hysterical—of making one's suggestions find a
resting-place in them—be due to the fact that the hypnotic sub-
stratum of their personality is already occupied by irrational self-
suggestions which their waking will cannot control ?

(IV.) The Evidence for the Existence of a Subliminal
Consciousness.

The subliminal consciousness theory is so interesting and
important that I propose to refer at some length to the phenomena
that might be cited as evidence in its favour; and also to
discuss the attempts to explain these phenomena in other ways.
Before doing so, however, I wish to draw particular attention
to one extremely important point—namely, the varying signifi-
cance given to the term " secondary consciousness " by different
authorities. Thus, some regard the condition simply as a sub-
stratum of the personality; while others consider the phenomena
to be so striking and distinct as to entitle them to be considered
as forming a secondary 'personality. The former view is the one
I hold, and I propose later to give my reasons for adopting it.

The facts in favour of the existence of a secondary conscious-
ness may be divided into three groups:—(a) Those arising from,HYPNOTIC THEORIES

379

or more or less closely associated with, morbid states. (6) Those
occurring in normal waking or sleeping life, (c) Those arising
spontaneously, or as the result of suggestion, in the hypnotic
condition.

(a) Phenomena arising from, or more or less closely

ASSOCIATED WITH, MORBID STATES.

To those who have not studied hypnotic phenomena this
group is practically the only one that is recognised. The cases
comprised under it differ widely. At its lower end, so to speak,
are included those in which the patients, after a seizure of some
sort, perform certain acts of which their ordinary consciousness
is ignorant. These vary from purposeless automatic acts to
thefts committed with more or less skill or cunning, and, ap-
parently, are neither recalled in the normal state nor in sub-
sequent attacks. At the highest end of the group we find
Felida X,1 whose case differs in many respects from these.
Indeed, it is doubtful whether many of the former can be justly
cited as cases of double consciousness, and this point will be
again referred to, when summarising and contrasting the different
groups.

The following are illustrative cases:—

(1)	Louis Y.—This young man presented two distinct states,
differing from each other mentally, morally, and physically. In
the primary state he was docile and intelligent, while sensibility
and movement were normal. In the secondary he was violent,
vicious, and less intelligent; and presented hysterical contractures.
Each state was completely independent of the other, and possessed
absolutely distinct memories. (" The Life History of a Case of
Double or Multiple Personality," by A. T. Myers, M.D., Journal
of Mental Science, January, 1886; "Les Variations de la
Personnalite," par MM. Bourru et Burot, Revue de VHypnotisme,
1887, p. 193.)

(2)	Dr. Eieger (Der Hyjpnotismus, 1884, pp. 109-115) cites a
case of frequently recurring attacks of secondary consciousness in
an epileptic. In the normal condition his character was orderly;
but this state alternated with others during which he would leave
his house for weeks at a time, and lead the life of a thief and

1 Pp. 385-6.38o

HYPNOTISM

vagabond; sometimes being sent to prison, sometimes to asylums.
In his primary condition he had no memory of the acts for which
he had been punished.

(3)	Dr. Lewis C. Bruce (Brain, 1895, vol. xviii. p. 54) gives
an account of an asylum patient who not only showed two separate
and distinct states of consciousness, but in whom also the right
and left brain alternately exerted a preponderating influence over
the motor functions. At one time he was ambidextrous and
only understood English, at another he was left-handed and
spoke Welsh.

The account of the following case is condensed from the
notes supplied me by Dr. Albert Wilson, of Leytonstone, who
also kindly permitted me to see the patient:—

(4)	Mary W., born October, 1882, had, in April, 1895, an
attack of meningitis associated with influenza. During the third
and fourth weeks of the illness there was high temperature with
delirium bordering on mania; and she called people snakes and
did not recognise her friends. In the fifth week, during con-
valescence, her character changed; and she began to give those
around her names which were not their own: thus, her father
was " Tom " ; her mother," Mary Ann," etc. About the sixth week
attacks of secondary consciousness appeared; the patient would
suddenly turn a somersault on the bed, and then assume a new
character—returning suddenly to the normal and resuming what
she had been occupied with before the attack. At first the
seizures lasted from ten to fifty minutes, but increased to hours,
days, and weeks as the time went on. The secondary self knew
nothing of the primary one, and vice versd ; further, the secondary
self had apparently lost much of the knowledge the primary self
had acquired. Thus, in the second state the patient did not
know what her legs and arms were, and was childish in her talk.
She could write her name, however, but this she did backwards,
beginning at the tail of the last letter and writing quickly from
right to left—not mirror-writing.

After a few months the periods of normal life became shorter,
and in place of one secondary stage various others showed them-
selves from time to time. Of these there were sixteen in all,
termed by Dr. Wilson stages a, b} c, d, etc. In each stage the
patient remembered what had happened during previous attacks
of the same stage, but knew nothing of what had occurred in anyHYPNOTIC THEORIES

of the other stages; while the primary consciousness remembered
events in the normal life alone, and knew nothing regarding the
incidents which happened in any of the numerous other stages.

At the end of a year the normal condition rarely appeared,
and then only as a flash—sometimes coming to the surface for
five or ten minutes, sometimes only for a few seconds.

The following states were noted, most of them being named
by the patient herself:—

(a) The patient called herself "Thing"; she was vacant,
knew nothing of her past life, and could not stand.

(&) Called herself " Old Nick," and was passionate and mis-
chievous.

(c)	Here there was catalepsy with deaf-mutism, but the
patient wrote down all she wanted.

(d)	In this stage the patient had forgotten not only the
incidents of normal life, but apparently also much of the general
knowledge acquired during it. In writing, she spelt backwards
in the manner already described.

(e)	A stage characterised by terror.

(/) Here the patient called herself "Good thing," and was
docile, but usually without power in her feet or hands; this
stage, however, was quite distinct from (a).

(g)	The patient now called herself " Pretty dear," was sweet
and amiable, but could not write or spell.

(h)	Called herself " Mamie Wud " ; in this state she recalled
the events of childhood better than when awake, but was unable
to remember anything about her illness.

(i)	This stage was somewhat like (d); when in it the patient
knew nothing, and thought she was just born.

(k) Here, the patient called herself "Old Persuader," and
asked for a stick to strike people with, if they would not do what
she wished.

(I) She called herself " Tom's darling," and was apparently
a nice child.

(m) In this stage she asserted that she had " no name," and
was violent and unkind.

(n) She called herself " The dreadful wicked thing," threw
her slippers into the fire in a temper, etc.

(io) In this stage she called herself "Tommy's lamb," and
was blind and idiotic.382

HYPNOTISM

(p) In December, 1896, a further stage developed, which
lasted till February, 1897. In it the patient constantly repeated
the word " picters," and drew beautifully; she even did so when
she was prevented from seeing the paper on which she was
drawing. The original self was unable to draw. During this
stage the pupils were dilated and reacted feebly to light, while
the patient was apparently insensible to sound.

As time went on, the patient, when in abnormal stages,
began to have some idea of what had taken place in her ordinary
life; when in the latter condition, however, she still had no
recollection of anything that had happened in any of the abnormal
stages. In July, 1898, she passed into a condition more closely
resembling the normal one; she was still, however, childish, and
called herself " Critter Wood."

In the spring of 1900, five years after the commencement of
her illness, she had apparently settled down into stage (g), but
had been taught that Mary W., not " Pretty dear," was her name.
She was a fine, healthy, well-developed girl, who helped in the
house and was anxious to learn typewriting in order to keep herself.
Her character, however, differed slightly from her original one, and
she was still somewhat childish at times.

In another group of cases the secondary state, while markedly
inferior to that particular individual's primary one, finds its
counterpart in degenerate states which are not necessarily insane.

(5) Of this the following case, recorded by " Dagonet" (G. E.
Sims) in the Referee, January 31st, 1897, is an example:—One
night Mr. Sims received a message from the master of a work-
house, to the effect that the police had brought a man to the
Infirmary whom they had found insensible in the street, apparently
suffering from drink. A letter, signed by Mr. Sims, was in his
pocket. Mr. Sims knew him as a professional man in a good
position. Next day he was conscious, but absolutely denied his
identity. He said he was a street musician, and that his cornet
had been stolen during a row in a public-house where he was
playing. He returned to his lodgings as soon as he was dis-
charged from the Infirmary, and told his landlady he thought he
must have had a fit and fallen down in the street, for he was
bruised and ached all over, but did not remember anything about
it. Exclusive of the time passed in the Infirmary, he had been
absent from his lodgings for a week, but maintained that he hadHYPNOTIC THEORIES

383

only left the house that morning. A few days later he fulfilled
an important professional engagement. All went well for some
time; then he again suddenly disappeared. Search was made for
him, and he was eventually found playing a cornet outside a
public-house in Camden Town. Addressed by his proper name,
he made no sign, and when questioned asserted that he had been

an itinerant musician for the last fifteen years. To-day Mr.-

is again living an ordinary respectable professional life, and has not
the slightest knowledge of his periodical lapses into another person-
ality—that of a street musician. His name is well known to all
who are familiar with music and the drama.

In another group, the secondary state, instead of being one of
obvious mental disorder, differs little in intelligence and volition
from the primary one. The following are examples^—

(6)	Ansel Bourne, an itinerant preacher aged 61, residing at
Greene, Ehode Island, suddenly disappeared. In spite of the
publicity which the newspapers gave to the fact and the efforts of
the police to find him, he remained undiscovered for two months.
He then found himself at Norristown, Pennsylvania, where for the
previous six weeks he had been keeping a small variety store
under the name of A. J. Brown, appearing to his neighbours and
customers as a normal person. When his normal consciousness
returned, he was extremely alarmed to find himself in an unknown
situation, with absolutely no memory of his surroundings or of the
incidents which had taken place from the date of his disappearance.
(.Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research, 1891, p. 22.)

(7)	Emile X., barrister, sometimes passed without loss of con-
sciousness into a secondary condition which lasted from a few
minutes to several days. During it he led an active life which
apparently did not differ from his normal one. The state always
terminated suddenly, and the ordinary consciousness retained no
recollection of what had just passed. After one attack, which
lasted three weeks, he came to himself a hundred miles from
home. (Dr. Proust, Professor of Hygiene at the Hotel Dieu, Paris,
Revue de VHypnotisme, March, 1890.)

(8)	Mr. K, aged 32, educated, consulted Forel, and told him
the following story. He stated that he had been living for some
weeks in Zurich and had vague recollections of arriving there
after a long voyage. Eecently he had read two newspaper articles
describing the sudden disappearance from Australia of a Mr. K,3^4

HYPNOTISM

and he felt that he was the person referred to, although at the
same time it seemed impossible that this could be true. N.
entered the Burgholzli Asylum for treatment and was hypnotised
by Forel, who succeeded in restoring his lost memory by suggestion,
and thus obtained an account of his doings from the time he had
left Australia. There was no reason, pecuniary or moral, for his
disappearance. He recovered under Forel's treatment. [" Ein Fall
von temporaner, totaler, theilweisse retrograder Amnesie (durch
Suggestion geheilt)" von M. Naef, Voluntararzt an der Heilan-
stalt Burgholzli," Zeitschrift fur Hypnotismus, 1897, p. 321.]

(9)	The following1 is the most recent example I have been able
to trace of the group we are considering :—On April 16th, 1900,
George Kidderband, aged 19, a law student and the son of a well-
known lawyer, suddenly disappeared from his home in New York.
No reason, except that he had been studying hard for an examina-
tion, was discovered for this either at the time or afterwards.
His parents put the matter in the hands of the police. On April
21st, the lad walked into a police station and told the following
story. Five days previously he suddenly found himself walking
in the street, but neither knew who nor where he was, nor could
he recall anything as to his past life. Since then he had been
wandering about, struggling in vain to revive his lost memories,
keeping meanwhile a diary of his proceedings. He asked if any
one corresponding to him had been advertised for as missing, and
the sergeant recognised him as the lost George Eidderband. He
was taken home and placed under medical care. At first he did
not recognise any of his relatives, but a week later his memory
commenced to return; he was still, however, unable to account
in any way for his disappearance.

In another section of this group, the secondary state, from a
physical, moral, and intellectual point of view, is superior to the
primary one. The following are examples :—

(10)	A girl, aged 18, healthy, but quiet and somewhat stupid
in character, swallowed some Unguentum Lyttce. After the acute
symptoms of poisoning passed off, a cutaneous hyperassthesia of
the head and morbid sensitiveness to sound remained. She
had frequent attacks of temporary insensibility, and passed
alternately from her ordinary mental condition to a secondary one,
and from this in its turn back again to the normal one. In the

1 From the New York Herald,HYPNOTIC THEORIES

385

secondary state she was excitable: her conversation was lively
and spirited, and she was intellectually superior to what she was
in the primary condition. The memories of the two states were
absolutely distinct: the primary self knew nothing of the second-
ary one, the secondary self nothing of the primary one. (" Case
of Double Consciousness," by Thomas Mayo, M.D., F.K.C.S.,
London Medical Gazette, New Series, vol. i. 1845, p. 1202.)

(11)	Mary Eeynolds, a dull and melancholy young woman,
was found one morning in a profound sleep, from which it was
impossible to arouse her. After twenty hours she awoke, but her
disposition was absolutely changed, and she had no memory of
her past. She was now cheerful, buoyant, sociable, and merry;
but did not recognise her friends, and had lost the power of
reading and writing. Five weeks later, she passed into the
primary state; again became dull and melancholy, and remembered
nothing of her secondary condition. After the lapse of a few
more weeks, she again passed into the secondary state following a
profound sleep, and took up her new life precisely where she had
left it. The memories of the two states were absolutely distinct:
in the first she remembered former primary states, but these alone;
in the second she only remembered former secondary states.
These alterations of consciousness continued for fifteen years,
then finally ceased, leaving her permanently in the second state.
In this she remained without change for the last twenty-five
years of her life. (" Case of Mary Eeynolds," by Dr. Weir Mitchell,
Trans, of the College of Physicians of Philadeljphiay April 4th, 1888.)

(12)	F&ida X, aged 14^-, without known cause, though some-
times under the influence of emotion, had attacks of sharp
pain in both temples, followed by a state of profound stupor,
which lasted ten minutes. She then spontaneously opened her
eyes and appeared to awake, but in reality passed into ai condition
of secondary consciousness. This lasted for an hour or two, then
the stupor and sleep reappeared, and she passed into her ordinary
state. The secondary state differed markedly from the primary
one. In the latter she was a miserable, querulous, hysterical
invalid; and remembered nothing of her secondary life, which
was superior, both intellectually and physically, to the primary
one. Here she was gay, active, and intelligent; and remembered
not only all the events which had taken place in former attacks
of secondary consciousness, but also those of normal life. As

2 c386

HYPNOTISM

time went on, the frequency of the secondary attacks became
greater and their duration longer, till, at the age of 24, they
commenced to exceed the periods of normal life. But from 24 to
27 years of age she remained in the normal state. After this
the secondary attacks became more and more frequent, and
finally almost completely occupied her entire existence. In
1875, F&ida, who was then 32 years of age, told Azam that she
still suffered from attacks associated with loss of memory. These
so-called " attacks," however, were simply lapses from her secondary
consciousness into her ordinary primary one. Thus, once when
returning from a funeral, she felt her attack, i.e. her normal state,
come on. She became unconscious for a few seconds without
her companions noticing it; then awoke in the primary state,
absolutely ignorant of the reason for which she was in a mourning
coach. Accustomed to these accidents, she waited till, by skilful
questions, she was able to grasp the situation, and thus none of
those present knew what had happened. Later she lost her
sister-in-law after a long illness, and, during a relapse into the
normal state, knew nothing about the death, and only guessed at
it from the fact that she was in mourning. In the earlier
periods the transition from one state to another was marked by
a stage of more or less prolonged unconsciousness. As time
went on this diminished, and, finally, the loss of consciousness
became so brief that Felida was able to disguise it. In 1887,
when Azam published the account of the case, F&ida was 44
years of age, and her lapses into normal life had become more
and more rare. (.Hypnotisme, double, conscience, et alterations de la
personnalite, par le Dr. Azam. Paris, 1887. J. B. Balliere
et Fils.)

In 1888, Dr. Ladame, of Geneva, communicated a somewhat
analogous case to the SocUU Mtdico-Psychologique, which had
been cured by suggestion.

Spontaneous somnambulism affords another example of Group
(a). In volition and consciousness are to be found the main
differences between it and induced somnambulism. The hypnotic
subject knows what he is doing and why he does it, and can
reject disagreeable suggestions. Unless specially trained, he
usually only acts in response to influence from without—influence
more or less directly transmitted to him by the suggestions of
others. The spontaneous somnambule, on the contrary, acts hisHYPNOTIC THEORIES

3 37

own dreams. His hallucinations sometimes excite criminal acts;
and authentic cases are recorded in which spontaneous somnambules
have committed murder, under the delusion that the person
attacked was a wild beast or a burglar. Spontaneous somnam-
bulism, properly speaking, is a neurosis; and, as Hack Tuke
pointed out, in its severest forms it approaches perilously near
epilepsy, while the condition of mental automatism which some-
times succeeds epileptic fits closely resembles that of the sleep-
walker. Yellowlees looks upon spontaneous somnambulism as a
form of insanity, and terms it somnomania. He holds that the
sole difference between it and insanity or epileptic violence is
that it occurs during sleep, and involves only a temporary arrest
of volition, instead of the more prolonged loss of control which
results from organic mischief.

(b) Facts in support of a Secondary Consciousness drawn
from Normal Waking or Sleeping Life,

Here the evidence is not so clear as in the preceding section,
but, without the hypothesis of a secondary consciousness, it is
difficult to explain phenomena such as the following:—

(i) Time appreciation in cases such as those about to be cited.

Dr. George Savage possesses the power of awaking at a given
hour, and has tested it on several occasions. The following is
an example:—One day, having to catch an early train, he
determined to awake at 6 a.m., and slept soundly without awaking
until the exact time. The seven following mornings he awoke
exactly at 6 a.m., notwithstanding that he went to bed at different
hours and there was no necessity for early rising. This involuntary
repetition of self-waking at unusual times also occurred when he
was roused by others at abnormally early hours. Thus, when in
the Alps, if he were called at 2 or 3 a.m., he would certainly
awake spontaneously at the same hour next morning, even if he
had been much fatigued by climbing. Dr. Savage states that
the accuracy of the time of awaking in these instances has puzzled
him greatly.

The following is Professor Marcus Hartog's own account of
his case:—388

HYPNOTISM

"When I was a student, under 17, I found I could,
sleeping soundly, awake at any given hour I had set myself
overnight. The peculiarity of such awaking was that it was
always sudden and complete, not preceded by a period of broken
sleep, nor accompanied by the drowsiness of an ordinary unpre-
pared awaking. If I found that it was needless to get up I soon
fell asleep again, and then had the ordinary drowsy awaking,
often oversleeping myself. This faculty has persisted with me.

" Again, without previous training, between the ages of 20 and
25, on three distinct occasions I had to nurse friends, when
I had to administer food and medicines at regular intervals,
attending also to their necessities as they arose. The last
occasion extended over, I think, three weeks. On each occasion
the facility and manner of awaking completely and suddenly was
exactly the same as for early rising, whether at the stated hour
or at the least stir of the patient. On lying down to rest again
and closing my eyes, I seemed to see a gradually widening vista,
and as my eyes diverged I fell asleep; the time occupied could
not have been more than a quarter of a minute, though I felt
wide awake at the moment of closing my eyes. My sleep on
these occasions was singularly, if not absolutely, dreamless,
though I was under the greatest mental anxiety while awake."

In Professor Hartog's case the awaking at fixed hours was
never involuntarily repeated, i.e. as regards the awaking at
repeated intervals. Sometimes, however, when he set himself to
awake at a fixed time in the morning, this was repeated for
several days, as in Dr. Savage's case.

Here no ordinary physiological explanation is possible; and,
while the ordinary consciousness was asleep, an intelligence of
some kind must have watched the passage of time.

(2) The recollection of forgotten facts without the association of
ideas connected with normal memory.

Every one, I think, must recall instances similar to those
described by Carpenter, in which he has tried to remember a
forgotten name, and, after having failed to recall it by every
device imaginable, has at last put the problem on one side in
disgust and turned his attention to other things. Later, the
forgotten name rises into consciousness with a suddenness whichHYPNOTIC THEORIES

389

is startling, and no association of ideas can be discovered to
account for its appearance.

(3) The execution of mental work, which the ordinary consciousness
had failed, or neglected, to perform.

My personal experiences afford examples of this quite as
striking as those cited by Carpenter. Thus, when I began to
speak in public, I wrote my lectures beforehand and committed
them to memory. Later, I confined myself to jotting down the
various headings, and to recalling mentally the different facts I
wished to group around them. I then dismissed the subject from
my mind. As soon as I began to speak, the lecture unrolled
itself, as it were: sentences appeared to spring unbidden to my
lips, and were uttered with greater ease and fluency than those
which had formerly been carefully committed to memory. If the
lectures had to be published, they were written after delivery;
and though I was able to reproduce their substance, I was always
conscious that I failed to do so as to their exact form.

Further, after a time, either from increased confidence in my
own powers or from the fact that I was overworked, the ordinary
waking-self kicked more and more at the task demanded of it.
In consequence of this, the secondary self received less carefully
prepared information ; but, despite this, it continued to do its work
equally well.

Since I left college I had done no literary work of any kind
until I began to write on hypnotism, and my earlier efforts were
difficult and painful. In every instance I began by collecting an
over-abundant supply of information, and then had difficulty both
in grouping and expressing it. I frequently spent hours in pain-
ful thought, with no more apparent result than the writing of a
few lines; and even these often failed to satisfy me. Gradually,
however, I came to rely more and more on the secondary self.
When I encountered a difficulty, I recalled as clearly as I could
the facts I wished to express, then put the matter on one side.
A day or two later, I often was able to dictate to my secretary
for hours at a stretch. Not only so, but the work was character-
ised by marked absence of effort, and accompanied by a distinct
feeling of detachment, and even of surprise. The moment before
a sentence was uttered, I could not have told what it was likely39°

HYPNOTISM

to be. Further, the memory of what I dictated in this way soon
sank below the level of ordinary consciousness. If I read it a
few weeks later, it appeared to be the work of some one else, and
I could not trace the association of ideas which must necessarily
have been connected with its execution.

Where the aid of the secondary self had not been evoked, and
the work had been done at the first attempt, consciously and
laboriously, I could always afterwards recall, more or less per-
fectly, the steps of reasoning, association, etc., which had been
connected with my work.

(4) The so-called inspirations of genius.

According to *Myers, works of genius, instead of being the
result of an " infinite capacity for taking trouble," were due to the
intelligent action of a secondary consciousness. The labour was
performed in a " subterranean workshop," as it were, and then
presented in completed form to the normal consciousness. The
latter not only believed that it had done the work itself, but
thought that this had been performed instantaneously.

This view practically reproduced that of Carpenter as to the
origin of what he termed invention. The invasion of the inspira-
tion into the normal consciousness is often sudden and startling.
While the subject of it undoubtedly believes that he, i.e. his
ordinary waking self, originated it, he, at the same time, often
acts as if it were something unconnected with his usual stream of
consciousness. He feels that the inspiration may escape him,
and with feverish haste tries to record it with pen, pencil, or
brush.

(c) Hypnotic Phenomena which apparently support the

theory of a secondary consciousness.

These are too numerous to be recounted in detail, and it might
even be claimed that every deeply hypnotised subject shows evi-
dence—if in memory-changes alone—of the existenceof a secondary
consciousness. In the waking state he can recall nothing of
what has happened in profound hypnosis; but when hypnotised
he not only remembers the events of previous hypnoses, but also
all that his ordinary memory can recall of waking life, and even,
in addition, much that it has forgotten.HYPNOTIC THEORIES

39i

The time appreciation experiments already reported (pp. 119-
133) furnish one of the most striking instances of double
consciousness with which I am acquainted. Further, the fact
that nothing could be recalled by the ordinary hypnotic self
regarding calculations which must inevitably have been made in
some form of hypnosis, apparently showed that the subject
possessed a third substratum of the personality. This view is
also held by William James, who wrote me as follows :—

" Miss D.'s case is most extraordinary. I agree entirely with
you that a 'third self' must be involved, but what such a third
self in its totality may signify, I haven't the least idea."

The dressmaking problem, with its solution in the hypnotic
state (p. 320), is also an interesting example of the spontaneous
action of the hypnotic self. Further, it illustrates experimentally
the probable origin of the inspirations of genius, and the way in
which they reach the normal consciousness. Miss D. in her
waking state was striving after a result which she could not
obtain, just as an inventor or artist might have done. Later,
when she was again in the waking state and thinking of some-
thing else, the solution of the problem came suddenly into her
mind. She thought she had solved it there and then. Question-
ing in a subsequent hypnosis, however, quite accidentally revealed
the following facts :—

First, she had worked out the problem when profoundly
hypnotised, her condition at the time resembling deep sleep.

Secondly, on awaking she knew nothing of what she had
done, and it was only after the lapse of some hours that the
uprush into the ordinary consciousness occurred.

Thirdly, this uprush brought with it no knowledge of its
origin, i.e. her waking self neither knew then nor afterwards
whence the inspiration had been derived.

Fourthly, when again hypnotised she recalled that the problem
had been present in her mind during hypnosis. She also
remembered having solved it, and that her primary consciousness
was ignorant of the fact. Further, she also knew the exact moment
at which the uprush had taken place, and was evidently amused
by the primary consciousness having claimed as its own the work
done by the secondary one.

The phenomena of automatic writing, of which examples have
already^been cited (pp. 139-141), show not only that a secondary392

HYPNOTISM

consciousness exists, but also that it may be in action simul-
taneously with the normal one.

The following cases also apparently afford evidence of the
existence of two or more sub-conscious states.

(1) Sarah L. was the first person in whom I found any evidence
of so-called multiple personality; and, when she came under my
notice over twelve years ago, I knew nothing of the literature of
the subject. In the normal state she was quiet, respectful, and
somewhat shy, and retained this character when I hypnotised
her. She was a profound somnambule; in waking life she knew
nothing of the events of hypnosis, but in hypnosis could recall all
the memories of the normal state as well as the incidents of
hypnotic life. Her surgical and medical history has already been
given (No. 6, pp. 161-2, and No. 25, pp. 197-8), and the reader
is now referred to it in order to show the genuine and profound
character of the hypnosis.

Before coming under my care, Sarah L. had been hypnotised
and exhibited by a stage performer; and, some time after the
events just recorded, her mother told me that Sarah occasionally
hypnotised herself, and that the condition then differed markedly
from the one I induced. After some coaxing, the girl consented
to hypnotise herself, and went through the following perform-
ance :—First, she closed her eyes and appeared to pass into a
lethargic state; then a few minutes later awoke with a changed
expression: instead of having a shy and modest air, her eyes
sparkled and she looked full of mischief. In place of addressing
me as " Sir "—she had formerly been a servant of mine, and an
extremely respectful one—she put her hand on my arm and said
in a familiar way, " I say." She then began to ask me imperti-
nent questions about the persons she had seen at my house, and
to criticise them in a particularly free and sarcastic fashion.
The performance was so interesting and amusing that I got her
to hypnotise herself on a good many occasions. The same
phenomena always appeared; she invariably became familiar,
inquisitive, and sarcastic; while her highest praise for any one she
approved of was conveyed in the words, " She'll do." Other facts
were noticed and reported to me by her mother. Thus, some-
times when Sarah hypnotised herself, she would remember that
her mother owed her a few coppers and insist upon having them
at once. If they were refused, she would take them by force:HYPNOTIC THEORIES

393

to this, however, her mother lent herself. The girl would then
generally go out and buy oranges, and, on her return, eat them
all herself: this selfishness was quite out of keeping with her
normal character. Sometimes when her mother asked her to do
work that was distasteful to her, such as blacking the grate, she
would induce self-hypnosis with profound lethargy, and remain
apparently deeply asleep for hours. I had never taught her to
hypnotise herself, nor, so far as I could learn, had this been done
by any one else. During this third stage—which was one of self-
hypnosis— she remembered everything that had happened in
previous conditions of this kind, and also the events of the
normal state and those of ordinary hypnosis; but the waking
consciousness and the ordinary hypnotic one knew nothing of the
events of this third state. After I had observed the condition
for some time, I concluded that it was not likely to be beneficial
to the subject, and suggested during ordinary hypnosis that she
should lose the power of creating it. The suggestion was success-
ful and the condition never reappeared.

(2) Pierre Janet has been fortunate in finding several subjects
who apparently possess so-called multiplex personalities, and has
published full and interesting accounts of their cases. Amongst

these that of L^onie-, is, I think, one of the most striking.

This subject, Madame B., aged 45, possessed, according to Pierre
Janet, three distinct and well-marked personalities, viz.: Leonie
I.; the Leonie of normal life, a serious and sad peasant woman,
calm, slow, gentle, and timid. Leonie II.; Leonie in the ordinary
hypnotic state, a gay, noisy, restless being, given to irony and
bitter jesting: who describes her visitors in an impertinent
fashion, and apes their airs and graces. Leonie II. refuses to
identify herself with Leonie I., and calls the latter a stupid
woman.

Madame B., i.e. Leonie I., has had attacks of spontaneous
somnambulism since she was three years old, and from sixteen
upwards has been frequently hypnotised by various people.
Now, when Leonie II. is called to the front, she knits together
the events of her spontaneous and induced somnambulistic states,
and forms the history of her life from them; the memories of
waking life are not forgotten, but these are ascribed to Leonie I.

When Leonie II. is hypnotised more deeply, a third person-
ality appears, Leonie III., who is grave, serious, slow in speech394

HYPNOTISM

and movement. This L^onie separates herself both from L^onie
I. of waking life, and the L^onie II of the ordinary hypnotic
state. The former she describes as a good, but rather stupid
woman, and the latter as crazy. " Fortunately," she says, ' there
is nothing of me in either of them." L^onie I. knows herself
alone; L^onie II. knows herself and L^onie I., while L^onie III.
not only knows herself, but also the two others. L^onie I. is
embarrassed and ashamed when Leonie II/s friends, who are
strangers to her, speak to her in the street. Leonie II. spontane-
ously writes letters, which Leonie I. finds and destroys, as she
does not understand them. Afterwards Leonie II. hides her
letters where she knows Leonie I. will never look for them.
Leonie II. visits places where Leonie I. has never been, then dis-
appears and pushes Leonie I. to the front, leaving her frightened
by her strange surroundings, etc.

(3) In "An Experimental Study of Visions" {Brain, 1898)
Dr. Morton Prince records some interesting experiments which he
made with Miss X, a patient who suffered from hysterical
neurasthenia. Miss X was easily hypnotised and at first passed
into the ordinary " deep " stage, then, when ordered to sleep more
profoundly, a fresh condition developed, which differed both from
that of waking life and from ordinary hypnosis. According to
Dr. Prince, these stages formed three distinct personalities, viz :—

X, I. The Miss X of ordinary waking life, who is reserved,
morbidly conscious, self-contained, serious, deferential, and
dignified.

X, II. The Miss X of the primary hypnotic condition, who
is sad, serious, and apparently weak and suffering.

X, III. The Miss X of the secondary or deeper hypnotic
state, who is flippant and jovial, free from all physical infirmities,
full of fun and reckless.

X, I, remembers the events of waking life alone and knows
nothing of X, II. and X, III.: while X, II. remembers all that has
passed in previous primary hypnotic states, also all that X, I. can
recall, and in addition some other events of waking life which X,
I. has forgotten.

X, III. remembers all the events of the secondary or deeper
hypnotic stages, as well as everything X, I. and X, II. can recall.
In addition, she can describe incidents in the past life of X, I.
that are lost to the memory of the latter, and can thus explainHYPNOTIC THEORIES

395

much that the waking personality is at a loss to account for.
She knows all about many of the little absent-minded doings of
X, I.; and does not hesitate to voluntarily tell of them, although
X, I. is morbidly and unnecessarily reserved about her whole life.

Dr. Prince made this tripartite personage look into a globe,
which took the place of the ordinary glass ball used in crystal
gazing, and describes the visions which the different personages
saw. The following is one of the most interesting of these:—

X, III. was the personality in action and voluntarily related
the following incident, telling it with much gusto as a joke
against Miss X (X, I.), whom she talked of as " She " :—"' She'
received a letter from a photographer yesterday. ' She' put it
into her pocket, where 'She* had some bank-notes. Then, as
' She' walked along, ' She' took out the money and tore it to
pieces, thinking it was the letter. ' She' threw the money into
the street." In response to questioning, X, III. repeated the
words of the photographer's note and counted mentally, with
some difficulty and concentration of thought, the amount of
money. X, III. said " She " was absent-minded, and thinking of
something else when " She " tore up the money. Hypnosis was
now terminated and the ordinary personality X, I. appeared, who,
in reply to questions, stated that she had received a letter from
her photographer which she had torn up, and that she had the
bank-notes in her pocket. She was asked to show them, and
produced the letter. This surprised her, but she thought she
must have left the bank-notes at home and could not believe she
had destroyed them. The notes were undoubtedly lost, and an
account of the occurrence, similar to that given by X, III., was
obtained by making Miss X (X, I.) look into the globe and
suggesting that she should see what had really happened. Here,
apparently, the ordinary hypnotic state, namely X, II., was
induced by indirect suggestion and fixed gazing; and the vision
appeared in response to the suggestions of the operator.

" Crystal gazing," the method employed by Dr. Prince, is not
really necessary for the production of hypnotic visions; it simply
acts by presenting a point upon which the suggested memories
are concentrated and rendered, as it were, objective. Any
memory which exists in the hypnotic consciousness can be evoked
by suggestion without the crystal. Under ordinary circumstances
the hypnotic subject rarely visualises his memories, but when he396

HYPNOTISM

looks into the crystal, this acts as a suggestion that he should see
with his eyes what has happened. I have frequently made
similar experiments with hypnotic subjects, and in place of the
crystal made them look at the top of my stethoscope, which
answered equally well.

Gurney stated that he had experimentally demonstrated the
existence of positive and distinct stages of memory within the
conscious portion of the hypnotic trance. The subjects of these
experiments were first hypnotised lightly, and something was
told them which they were asked to remember. Deeper hypnosis
was then induced, when the subject was asked what it was that
he had just been told; it was then found that he neither re-
membered what had been related to him, nor even the fact that
he had been told anything at all. While in this deep stage,
which Gurney termed B, some new incident was related to the
subject which he was again asked to remember. He was then
recalled to the lighter stage, termed A by Gurney, and asked to
repeat what he had been told: he had forgotten what he had
heard a few minutes before in stage B} but repeated instead what
had been told him in the earlier stage A, in which he now again
found himself. Brought once more to B, he similarly remembered
what he had been told in that state, while he was again com-
pletely oblivious of what had been impressed upon him in A.
On awaking, he retained no memory of anything that had been
told him in either stage.

Many cases, of which the following is an example, were cited
by Gurney to illustrate these alterations in hypnotic memory:—

(4) S., a young man living at Brighton, was told in state A, the
lighter stage of hypnotic trance, that the pier-head had been
washed away, and in state B, the deeper stage of trance, that an
engine boiler had burst at Brighton station and killed several
people. He was then brought from stage B back again to A,
when he recalled all that had been told him about the accident
to the pier. Hypnosis was again deepened; stage B appeared,
and the following conversation took place between the operator
and the subject

Operator. " But I suppose they will soon be able to build a
new one."

Had the pier been present in S.'s mind, this remark, sajid .
Gurney, would naturally have been taken to refer to it, as it hadHYPNOTIC THEORIES

397

formed the subject of conversation only a few seconds before.
S., however, at once replied: " Oh, there are plenty on the line"
—meaning, plenty of engines.

Operator. " The pile-driving takes time, though."

8. " Pile-driving ? Well, I don't know anything about
engines myself."

The subject was now brought back to stage A and the con-
versation continued:—

Operator. " If they have plenty more, it does not matter
much."

S. " Oh, they can't put it on in a day; it was a splendid
place."

Operator. " Why, I am talking about the engine."

S. " Engine! What, on the pier ? I never noticed one
there."

Here the subject's mind had obviously again reverted to what
had been told him in stage A.

In the above case, as in all others of a like nature cited by
Gurney, the normal self knew nothing of stages A and B, and
these knew nothing of each other.

Bemarlcs.—The importance of memory in relation to sub-
conscious states is insisted on both by William James and Myers.
According to the former, the theory of " double consciousness"
is only, after all, a development of what is found in Locke's famous
chapter on " Identity and Diversity:" namely, that personality
extended no further than consciousness, and that there would be
two different persons in one man, if the experiences undergone by
that man fell into two groups, each gathered into a distinct focus
of recollection. Further, says James, " it must be admitted that,
in certain persons at least, the total possible consciousness may
be split into parts which coexist, but mutually ignore each other
and share the objects of knowledge between them, and—more
remarkable still—are complementary."

Myers held that the formation of a secondary chain of
memory was the fundamental point in hypnosis. This chain of
memory was essential to the grouping of the various acts which
manifested the secondary consciousness. This classification
excludes, and I think justly so, some of the cases cited by some
authorities as examples of double consciousness. Amnesia, even
when associated with alterations in character, does not constitute398

HYPNOTISM

double consciousness. If it did, the bather who had forgotten
the number of his machine and lost his temper might be described
as a case of secondary personality.

It must be admitted, however, that the phenomena just cited
as affording evidence for the existence of a secondary conscious-
ness are explained in other and even widely differing ways.
Most of the discussion has centred round the phenomenon of time
appreciation, with its attendant calculations, and to this I now
propose to refer.

THEORETICAL EXPLANATIONS OF TIME APPRECIATION
IN HYPNOSIS.

Delboeuf, as we have seen, pointed out that the terminal days
in Beaunis and Li^geois' experiments fell on easily recognised
dates, with which the subjects were acquainted. These experi-
ments, he said, did not show, as they were supposed to do, that
somnambules possessed the power of counting days, but only
that they were able to retain a given date. To remove this
objection, his suggestions were made in minutes, and the majority
of mine were given in a similar, but even more complicated,
form. In explaining the phenomenon, therefore, we must take
into account not only the appreciation of the passage of time,
but also the feats of memory and arithmetical calculation which
sometimes exceeded the subject's normal powers.

Bernheim's Theory.

This is mainly based upon the supposed occurrence of self-
hypnosis in somnambules and the existence during that condition
of a peculiar mental concentration, with subsequent revival of
hypnotic memories. According to Bernheim, conscious mental
activity exists both in sleep and in hypnosis. During sleep we
are conscious that our mind thinks and works, just as the
hypnotic somnambulist knows what he is doing; but the form
of consciousness differs from that of waking life. In both sleep
and hypnosis concentration of the nervous force upon the sug-
gested idea is the characteristic phenomenon. This continues
to exist, although dream succeeds dream in sleep, and varyingHYPNOTIC THEORIES

399

suggestions are instantly executed in hypnosis : the nervous
concentration has only changed its object, the focus shifted its
place.

According to Bernheim, if an individual goes to sleep deter-
mined to awake at a given hour, his attention is fixed upon this
idea, and he thinks about it voluntarily and consciously all night.
When he awakes, he believes he does so spontaneously, since the
conscious thoughts of sleep are forgotten. Finally, he says, the
lost memories of hypnosis may be revived by chance association
of ideas, like forgotten impressions of the waking state, and also
in other ways, and therefore the memory of the suggestion has
not been latent all the time. In support of this he cites:—

First/ Experiments.—Two subjects, who had received deferred
suggestions, when hypnotised and questioned in the interval,
stated that during natural sleep they had once dreamt of what
had been suggested during hypnosis.

Secondly: Gertain general observations as to the mental condition
in somnambules.—The memory, he says, of what has taken place
during hypnosis depends upon the psychical concentration already
referred to; every time this is reproduced, the lost memory is
revived. Somnambules pass easily and spontaneously from the
normal to the hypnotic state; they then become self-absorbed
and concentrated, and recall the operator's suggestions. They
know when these should be executed, and take their measures
accordingly. They reinforce the idea of not forgetting them,
just as a person in natural sleep determines not to miss the hour
set for awaking. Although the suggestion may have been present
in their minds the greater part of the day, they forget it if we
divert their attention from themselves by speaking to them. By
doing this we have disturbed their psychical concentration-—
drawn their cerebral activity from the inside to the outside—and
produced another state of consciousness in which the memory of
the suggestion is lost, the memories of the second or hypnotic
state being effaced in the first or normal one.

In consequence of this, when the somnambule carries out a
suggestion, he believes that the idea has newly and spontaneously
dawned in his mind—" He no longer remembers that it is a
memory" Thus, in Bernheim's opinion, a deferred suggestion is
no more difficult to explain than one executed immediately on
awaking.4oo

HYPNOTISM

Three points are involved in Bernheim's theory:—

(1)	Nervous concentration and its relationship to hypnotic memory.

Bernheim's theories as to nervous concentration, etc., have
already been discussed (pp. 339-45), and their fallacies pointed
out.

(2)	Admitting that hypnotic memory is associated with this

;'psychical concentration, the evidence in favour of the
frequent and spontaneous occurrence of the latter is far
from convincing.

Granting that two subjects had once dreamt of a suggestion
during natural sleep, this does not justify the conclusion that
somnambules pass easily and spontaneously from the normal to
the hypnotic state. Further, although the memories of hypnosis
whether self-induced or not, are lost on awaking, these can be
easily evoked by questioning in subsequent hypnoses. If, there-
fore, subjects passed spontaneously into the hypnotic state, and
thought about the suggestions, they could be made to recall the
fact that they had done so. Despite this, Bernheim's generalisa-
tions are founded on the two dreams just cited; and he has
apparently made no attempt to discover the actual mental
conditions involved, although he might easily have done this by
means of the simple method of interrogation in subsequent
hypnoses.

(3)	Granting both the points in dispute, i.e. the psychical concentra-

tion and its spontaneous occurrence, the difficulty is still
unsolved.

If no trace of the hypnotic memory remains in the normal
state, what advantage does the normal consciousness obtain from
the unknown or forgotten fact that the hypnotic consciousness
recalled the suggestion at some time before the date fixed for its
fulfilment ?

Beaunis' Objections.

Beaunis also raises many objections to Bernheim's views.
Thus, while admitting the influence of attention and concentration
upon the production of certain hypnotic phenomena, he holdsHYPNOTIC THEORIES

401

that these are insufficient to explain deferred suggestions. They
may account for a hallucination realised immediately on awaking,
but not for one that has been retarded for several days. Here
the subject was unconscious of the suggestion until the hallucina-
tion appeared at the hour fixed, and it is absurd to suppose that
all this time he was under the influence of a dominant idea.
Bernheim's experiments, therefore, do not settle the question.
Granting that the subject dreamt of the suggestion in normal
sleep two days before it fell due, it is still necessary to explain
how it was carried out at the time fixed. The suggestion, it is
true, now involves a shorter period of time, i.e. two days instead
of the original number; but this, while reducing the extent of
the problem, still leaves it unsolved.

Beaunis disputes Bernheim's assertion that those who wish
to awake at a given hour think of this all night, for, he says, if
this were true, they would afterwards remember having done so.
Dreams which have passed rapidly through the brain can often
be recalled in every detail: we should, therefore, be able to
remember still more vividly the ideas upon which our attention
has been constantly fixed. Further, he states that some people
always know what o'clock it is, and, if suddenly asked, are able
to give an exact reply, no matter how much their attention may
have been concentrated on other things. Had they consciously
noted the passage of time, they would aft er war as be able to recall
-having done so. This, however, is not the case, and they are
unable to explain how the feat was performed.

Finally, in contradistinction to Bernheim, Beaunis justly
points out that important differences exist between the modes in
which the lost memories of the waking state, and those of hypnosis,
are revived. The former may be recalled at any time by a
chance association of ideas: for example, things long forgotten
may be remembered on hearing the name of some one we knew
in childhood. The lost memories of hypnosis, however, possess
the distinctive and essential characteristic that they cannot be
revived by a chance association of ideas, and are, therefore,
fundamentally different from those of the waking state. The
hypnotic suggestion is only realised at the hour fixed, and cannot
take place before, even when associations occur which would have
restored lost normal memory. Thus, if it is suggested to A that
he is to do something at the expiration of ten days, when he

2 D402

HYPNOTISM

hears B cough three times; Bs signals, if given at any time
before the day fixed, produce no response, although they inevit-
ably do so when the appropriate time arrives.

Beaunis' Theory.

Beaunis attempts to explain the phenomenon of time apprecia-
tion by the existence in the human organism of a subconscious
physiological power of time measurement. The phenomenon of
deferred suggestion, he says, is analogous to that of awaking .at
a fixed hour from normal sleep; and both may be explained by
the existence of a sort of mental mechanism, arranged like an
alarm-clock, to produce a movement at a fixed hour. The brain,
as already stated, is a machine which acts without our knowledge,
with an activity we are unable to estimate; and the things of
which we are conscious only feebly represent this mysterious
work. The power of appreciating time, rudimentary (or, rather,
atrophied) in the civilised man, is well developed in the savage
and lower animals. Thus a dog, accustomed to go out with his
master at a certain hour, will show that the time has arrived by
expressive pantomime, should his master delay a little in getting
ready for his walk. In Beaunis' opinion, the measurement of
time by somnambules is an act of subconscious cerebration.

Paul Janet's Objections.

Janet grants that an image of which one is unconscious may
exist in the memory; and, further, that it can be revived, even
at a fixed date, if the operator associates the suggestion with
some definite sensation, as, for example, the sight of a particular
person. He cannot, however, understand the return of the lost
memory at a fixed day without other association than the numera-
tion of time. Thirteen days, for example, do not represent a
sensation, but form an abstraction. The carrying out of a
suggestion, therefore, at the expiration of such a period pre-
supposes the existence of a subconscious power of measuring
time—an entirely unknown faculty. Up to this everything
could be explained by the law of association of ideas; but here
we make a sudden jump, and the thread of analogy is completely
broken. No association can explain the subconscious counting of
thirteen days, and the " suggestion theory " breaks down here.HYPNOTIC THEORIES

403

Beaunis' Reply.

A day is not an abstraction. The idea of a day represents a
series of definite impressions, the result of external agencies, such
as light, temperature, etc., which produce in our organism different
kinds of reactions. Animals know exactly the hour at which
they are habitually fed, and an attack of fever returns at the
same hour each day, or every other day, for weeks; this indicates
that the measurement of time is not an abstraction, but has its
roots in the very life of the organism. The periodicity of days,
weeks, months, and seasons corresponds to periodic organic
variations, which under certain circumstances may acquire
sufficient intensity to constitute a sort of " subconscious faculty
for measuring time," although the word " faculty " is a little too
philosophic a term for an organic aptitude of this kind.

Remarks.—Beaunis'explanation assumes (1) the existence of
a subconscious faculty for measuring time, and (2) its applica-
bility to the cases in question.

(1) The Subconscious Measurement of Time.—According to
Beaunis, time appreciation is highly developed in savages, while
certain civilised persons can awake at a given hour, and others
always know what o'clock it is. In support of this, however, he
does not cite a single example or experiment. Let us take the
simplest case, i.e. awaking at a given hour. Many persons, it is
true, believe that they can do this: usually, however, the self-
waker only shows the power of giving himself a lighter sleep
than usual; he awakes several times during the night, and in
the end does not always hit the exact hour. On behalf of the
Society for Psychical Eesearch, several persons, who believed
they possessed this power of self-waking, tested it in a rigorously
scientific manner. The results were disappointing. One experi-
menter only succeeded on 2 occasions out of 17, and one of
these was his usual hour of awaking; another was successful in
5 times out of 2 9, but on 3 of these he awoke at other hours as
well; while the third was right 2 out of 13 times; and the
fourth only succeeded in 4 instances out of 46.

Since I became interested in time appreciation, many people
have assured me that they could awake at any given hour. None
of them, however, were able to experimentally reproduce the alleged
phenomenon, while the cases of Savage and Hartog, already4°4

HYPNOTISM

referred to, are the only genuine ones I know of. If, however,
the faculty were as universal as Beaunis asserts, there would be
no employment for the professional "knockers up" of manu-
facturing districts.

The " fever" argument is also fallacious; it is the parasitic
malarial micro-organisms which manifest periodicity, not their
human hosts.

(2) The Applicability of Beaunis' Theory to the particular Cases
in question.—The experiences of Savage and Hartog1 undoubtedly
show that certain persons can awake at a given hour. The exist-
ence of such a faculty as a rare occurrence in the normal state,
does not, however, explain why it is almost universal among
hypnotic somnambules: to invoke it is an attempt to explain the
little-known in terms of the less-known; and the analogy, even
if successfully established, does not solve the problem, but adds
another to it. Granting that the uncivilised man possesses some
natural power of marking the passage of time, it would be of
little use to him in cases such as those described by Delboeuf and
myself. If he cannot count above five, how is he to bring his
powers to bear on a suggestion which starts from, say, 3.15 p.m.
yesterday, and is to terminate in 40,845 minutes ?

Delboeufs Theory.

Delboeuf first pointed out that his subjects in the normal
state were unable to make the necessary calculations involved in
his time experiments. As the latter were successful, this showed,
he said, that the subjects when hypnotised had an idea of the
passage of time, and subconsciously calculated when the sugges-
tions fell due. Apparently they possessed a sort of mechanism
like an alarm-clock, which they set to go off at a fixed time.

Edmund Gurney's Objections to the Theories of Delboeuf
and Beaunis.

According to Gurney, commands to be fulfilled at a particular
date involved the reckoning of time. This was usually assumed
to be physiological. Thus, Delboeuf believed that the subject
calculated when the order fell due, and said to himself: " I shall
fall into a trance at such and such a moment, and then perform
the act." The subject set his organism like an alarm-clock for a

1 Pp. 387-8.HYPNOTIC THEORIES

given time ahead: his mind, relieved of responsibility, then went
off duty till the suggestion fell due, when it was aroused by its
own automatic machinery, the action resembling the running
down of an alarm-clock. Gurney asserted that hypnotic subjects
never formulated their orders in this way, and that Delbceufs
explanation was pure guesswork, unsupported by fact.

Further, he said, even if we granted the purely physiological
hypothesis for cases of short duration—where the idea of the
time fixed could be easily grasped, and thus the setter of the
alarm-clock knew exactly what he was about—it would be a
very different thing to extend it to others where the command
had been executed after the lapse of months.

Gurney, like Delboeuf, drew a distinction between commands
to be carried out at a specific date, such as New Year's Day, and
those where a length of time alone was named, as in the direction
to do something "on the sixty-ninth day from this." In the
former instance, the brain might at once register the date along
with the order, and the arrival of the former would thus suffice
to arouse the latter. A length of time could not be registered
in this way. Its termination, till reckoned by the calendar, was
quite indefinite; and when the particular day arrived it conveyed
nothing likely to revive the suggestion—it carried no more sixty-
ninthness about it than any other day.

Gurney considered that Beaunis' explanation did not fully
meet Janet's objection that such a length of time—i.e. sixty-nine
days—was simply an abstraction. Admitting that " a day " was
a sufficiently familiar and definite unit to present a concrete
character—that it represented a series of conscious reactions—
and further, that there were periodic organic changes which
extended over weeks and months, this did not prove that " the
measurement of time was not an abstraction, but had its roots
and conditions in the very life of the organism." It did not
follow that " sixty-nine days " were concrete in character because
this was the case with " one day," and, further, the organic con-
ditions associated with established physiological periods were
absent from these other periods, suddenly and arbitrarily fixed
by human volition. The vital processes were as unable to make
a time calculation of this hind as a school-boy's digestion to work
out a proposition of Euclid. Such time measurement was not a
function of animal life; its result was not an inevitable bodily406

HYPNOTISM

state, but a needless act. It depended—not on progressive
changes in the stomach or blood—but on an original course of
cerebration taking place in the higher tracts of the brain, initiated
by an impression, that of the command, which had a distinct
psychical side.

According to Gurney, the passage of time must be registered,
looking at it from the brain side alone, not by general gradual
change, but by a series of specific changes corresponding to the
days and units of measurement; and this was the only kind of
cerebral process capable of clearly differentiating the case from
that of ordinary physiological time reckoning. Further, unless
cerebral events such as were normally correlated with the ideas
" sixty," " sixty-one," " sixty-two," etc., really took place, how
could the gulf be spanned with precision ? Any other kind of
change would not know when to stop, or how to associate a point
it had reached with the order given long before. Granting that
these specific brain-changes took place, was it not reasonable to
suppose that their mental correlate existed; and that, hidden
from our view, there was an actual watching of the course of
time ? This hypothesis, he said, went a long way towards
removing Paul Janet's difficulty—from this point of view his
" unknown faculty " resolved itself into a known one, working in
the normal way, but below the surface of ordinary consciousness.

Gurney's Theory.

As we have seen, the carrying out of n post-hypnotic command
several thousand minutes after awaking can neither be explained
by any ordinary physiological power of appreciating time, nor by
a supposed spontaneous rehypnosis with temporary revival of
memory. The feat, according to Gurney, could only be performed
as the result of the intelligent action of a secondary consciousness,
which watched the time as it passed just as the ordinary one did;
and, when the correct time arrived, pushed the ordinary con-
sciousness on one side, took its place, and carried out the
command. In Gurney's opinion, the mental conditions involved
in the execution of post-hypnotic commands varied widely in
different cases. Of these the following are examples:—

(1) A subject was told to do something ten minutes after she
awoke. On awaking, she looked at the clock until the expirationHYPNOTIC THEORIES

467

of the time, then executed the order. In this case the subject
was conscious of having consulted the clock, and afterwards—
apart from any question of the revival of hypnotic memory in
post-hypnotic states—remembered having done so.

(2)	A subject was told to do something five minutes after he
awoke. Immediately on awaking, he looked at the clock, and
continued to do so at intervals, talking naturally meanwhile to
those present. At the end of five minutes he executed the order.
Afterwards, he neither recollected looking at the clock, nor
carrying out the command.

This case appeared to occupy an intermediate position
between No. 1 and the others about to be cited.

(3)	A subject was told that on the thirty-ninth day from
then he was to execute a post-hypnotic suggestion. He had no
memory of the command when awake, and no reference was
made to it until March 19th, when he was suddenly asked,
during hypnosis, how many days had elapsed since it was given.
He instantly replied," Sixteen," and added that there were twenty-
three more to run. Both statements were correct.

(4)	Another subject was told on March 26th, that he was to
do something on the 123rd day from then. On April 18th, he
was rehypnotised and asked if he remembered the order. He at
once replied, "Yes, this is the twenty-third day; a hundred
more." Further questioning made it clear that every few days
the command occurred to his mind, and that he calculated how
many days had passed and how many more had to elapse. His
waking memory retained no recollection of the original suggestion,
nor was it aware of the memories and calculations which he had
described when hypnotised.

In the two last cases the watching was undoubtedly wholly
of an internal kind, and although obviously accompanied by
consciousness, was afterwards entirely forgotten.

Remarks.—The experiments — as also those described in
Groups 3 and 4, Automatic Writing, pp. 139-141—showed,
according to Gurney, that the hypnotic substrata included higher
psychical functions than mere random spurts of memory—to wit,
processes of deliberate reckoning and reflection, which it would
be almost impossible to conceive as having only a physiological
existence. In No. 4,1 the order itself was remembered and
1 I.e. in No. (4) just cited, not Group 4.408

HYPNOTISM

realised by the secondary consciousness, while the primary
consciousness was wholly without knowledge of it. In Gurney's
opinion, these so-called automatic writings, in most cases at
all events, were intelligent, and involved mentation. When a
statement was made which the subject was told he was after-
wards to record in writing, the performance might possibly
be regarded as an exclusively automatic one, due to a " setting of
the organism" Sometimes, however, the impression was made
without a hint as to the future—without the faintest suggestion
that it would afterwards produce any result whatever. Yet, in
the midst of quite irrelevant surroundings and experiences, the
phenomenon appeared, as soon as the opportunity of " automatic "
representation arose. Here the organism could not have been speci-
ally set for the effect. Further, if we regarded the action as purely
automatic, we should be compelled to concede a singular power
to hypnotic impressions, viz. that of storing up energy in the brain
which would work mechanically outwards along the motor nerves,
as soon as the act of writing was sufficiently easy for the muscles.
Moreover, memory on rehypnotisation afforded strong evidence of
mentation. Not only did the subject remember the original
idea conveyed to him, and the fact that he had written some-
thing, but also the exact words he had used to convey his con-
ception of the impression. Surely this indicated an intelligent
apprehension of the words. We have seen that the memory of
these so-called automatic acts could be recalled in hypnosis, while
others, in addition, indicated the existence of a hypnotic memory
superior to the normal one, since the facts recorded had occurred
at an early period of the subject's life and had long been forgotten.

Granting the existence of a secondary consciousness, how far does
this explain all the phenomena we have been considering ?

The facts just cited—and these might be supplemented by
many more—apparently indicate not only that a secondary
consciousness exists, but also that it can act simultaneously with,
and independently of, the primary one. Even, however, if we
grant the existence of a secondary consciousness, this does not
explain all the phenomena of time appreciation and arithmetical
calculation that we have been considering.

Obviously, if the intelligence of the secondary consciousness
were at all comparable to that of the primary one, it would not
be difficult for it to calculate the arrival of the 39 th or theHYPNOTIC THEORIES	409

123rd day from any given date. In Gurney's cases, it apparently
performed this feat with ease, and the subject when hypnotised
could recall the manner in which it had been accomplished.

Here the secondary consciousness apparently acted in just
the same way as the primary one might have done under
similar circumstances; having to execute an order on the 39th
day from a given date, it recalled the fact from time to time, and
noted how many days had passed and how many had to come.
Many of the experiments I have cited, notably the more com-
plicated ones executed by Miss D., present more difficult
problems; and by none of the theories already considered can
these be properly solved. Bernheim's explanation, as we have
seen, is in opposition to observed facts, while Gurney's objections
to that of Beaunis apply with even greater force to my cases.
Thus, if there is little analogy between ordinary physiological
periods of time, and, for example, 39 days chosen suddenly and
arbitrarily by human volition, the analogy is still less between
the former and, say, 40,845 minutes.

Further, the secondary consciousness theory, while it affords
a reasonable explanation of the way in which Gurney's subjects
carried out their suggestions, fails to account for much that is
important in the cases of time appreciation I have cited. The
following are the principal points which demand explanation:—
(1) The want of hypnotic memory as to the manner in which the
suggestions were carried out. (2) The fact that the suggestions
not only involved feats of arithmetical calculation and memory far
beyond the subjects' normal powers, but also in some cases beyond
their ordinary hypnotic ones. (3) The difference in the nature
of the time appreciation required in Gurney's cases and in those
cited by me.

(1) The icant of hypnotic memory as to the manner in which
the suggestions were carried out

According to Bernheim, the hypnotic subject is conscious in
all stages; and all the memories of hypnotic life, which are lost
on awaking, can be restored by suggestion or other means. This
statement is not absolutely correct. Hypnotic life, it is true, is
more conscious than the normal one, and lacks the prolonged and
regularly recurring periods of unconsciousness represented in the
latter by sleep. Sometimes, however, deeply hypnotised subjectsHYPNOTISM

receive impressions and even perform acts of which they are
unconscious:—

{a) Thus, where anaesthesia has been induced for surgical
purposes, the subjects can recall nothing of the operations, either
when awake or in subsequent hypnoses. Generally speaking,
however, present forgetfulness does not prove past unconscious-
ness. When we find, however—in the instances where analgesia
and hyperesthesia have been simultaneously excited—amnesia as
to certain sensations, associated with hyperaesthesia as to others,
we have reasonable grounds for inferring that the sensations
which cannot be recalled never occurred, and thus could not be
present to consciousness. This view is further strengthened by
the fact that the operations were characterised by absence of
shock, persistence of analgesia after awaking, and unusual rapidity
of healing.

(b)	If a subject is told to be unconscious of everything until
aroused by the operator, he will, if neither questioned nor
touched, take no notice of what is said or done around him, while
suggestion, in subsequent hypnoses, often fails to revive any
memory of what has taken place.

(c)	If a simple movement is suggested, of which volition
does not disapprove, it may after a time become automatic: i.e.
after having been frequently consciously and voluntarily per-
formed, it may be executed unconsciously, as a genuine automatic
act, in response to the habitual stimulus which has excited it.
Here, again, the lost memory cannot be recalled by suggestion in
subsequent hypnoses.

With the exception of examples of the three classes just
cited, the acts of hypnotic life are performed consciously, and
can be recalled by suggestion in subsequent hypnoses. Further,
since the hypnotic memory is more exact and far-reaching than the
normal one, the absence of memory as to given circumstances of
hypnotic life other than those just cited is markedly suspicious.
These suspicions are deepened when the forgotten act is analogous
to those invariably remembered by the hypnotised subject.
Gurney's subjects easily remembered their calculations as to the
days that had passed, those that had to come, and the terminal
time of the experiment. In some instances, when the arithmetical
problems involved were simple, Miss O.1 recalled in subsequent

1 See pp. 134-9.HYPNOTIC THEORIES

411

hypnoses the fact that she had calculated the terminal time
of the suggestion, and had set herself to carry it out at the
appointed hour. This, by the way, Gurney asserted hypnotised
subjects never did. When the experiments became more com-
plicated, Miss 0. ceased to do this, and then, like Miss D.,1 was
unable to revive in hypnosis the slightest trace of memory as to
the manner in which the suggestions had been carried out:
they could then recall no calculations and no time-watching, no
foretelling of the terminal time, and no recognition of it when it
arrived. Yet, from what we know of hypnotic memory, it is
impossible to doubt that, if calculations and observations of this
kind had been made by the subjects, they would have been able
to have remembered them when again hypnotised.

(2) The fact that the suggestions not only involved feats of arithmeti-
cal calculation and memory beyond the subjects' normal powers,
but also in some cases beyond their ordinary hypnotic ones.

Delboeuf pointed out that his subjects in the normal state
were unable to make the necessary calculations involved in his
time experiments; therefore, the success of these experiments, he
said, demonstrated that the subjects when hypnotised had an idea
of the passage of time, and subconsciously calculated when the
suggestions fell due. Experiments made in hypnosis, however,
showed that the subject was quite incapable of calculating even
much simpler problems than those involved; and, although this
fact was recorded by Delboeuf himself, he apparently entirely
missed its significance.

When my subject, Miss D., was asked to calculate in
hypnosis the time that the suggestions would fall due, she was
wrong in the first nine instances, her errors frequently being
extremely gross ones. Again, unless specially asked to do so, the
secondary consciousness, apparently, made no calculations at all.
The time appreciation, however, could not be carried out in-
dependently of such calculations—obviously the subject could
not perform an act at the expiration of 40,845 minutes unless
she—or some " self " or " consciousness " within her-—knew the
terminal time this represented.

Further, in Miss D.'s case, the hypnotic memory was
apparently incapable of retaining the complicated series of figures

1 See pp. 119-39.412

HYPNOTISM

which were read to her. When she was questioned about them
in subsequent hypnosis, but before the fulfilment of the sugges-
tions, she always recalled that the latter had been made, but
rarely correctly remembered their details—her recollection being
less and less distinct in proportion to the time which had elapsed
since they had been received.

(3) The difference in the nature of the time-appreciation required
in Gurney's case and in those cited by me.

There is a marked difference between the recognition of a
particular day on its arrival, and the last minute in such a series
as 40,845. A secondary self or intelligence, which can count
the days that have passed and those that have to come, and
refreshes its memory by doing this every night, could have no
difficulty in recognising the terminal day. The varying impres-
sions from the external world, which tell us that a new day has
dawned, would be received as freely by the secondary as by the
primary consciousness; and all that the former would have to do
would be to associate them with the calculation it had made the
previous night that the next day would be the suggested one. In
my cases the problem was a widely different one. Granting that
some intelligence worked out the arithmetical portion and
determined that the suggestion fell due, for example, at 3.25 p.m.,
a fortnight later, the determination of the arrival of that particular
moment differs widely from the recognition of the dawning of a
given day. Admitting that some intelligence, equal to the
primary one, tried to determine when this moment arrived,
circumstances, often specially arranged, added to the difficulties of
the task. In some instances, for example, Miss D. was in a
darkened room for several hours before the suggestion was
executed, and absolutely without any of the ordinary methods of
determining the time. Even if she knew what o'clock it was
when she entered the room at tioon, how could she determine
when it was 3.25 ?

The general conditions of memory, then, in reference to the
experiments I have cited, apparently show that the ordinary
secondary consciousness of hypnosis—or at all events such mani-
festations of it as Gurney describes-—did not participate in them at
all. Further, the feats in calculation and memory were beyond the
power of that consciousness; we have no evidence of the secondaryHYPNOTIC THEORIES

413

consciousness carrying out time appreciations comparable to those
involved in these particular cases. Some intelligence, however,
must have made the arithmetical calculations, and, further, corrected
them when they were erroneously worked out by the secondary
consciousness, as revealed by my questions in hypnosis. " Some-
thing " also must have remembered the complicated series of
figures and the varying results of the calculations, and also, in
some fashion, noticed the time as it passed, and connected this
with the date given as the result of the calculations involved in
the suggestions. Could the problems have been worked out by a
third consciousness acting independently of the other two ? The
theory that a multiple as well as a secondary consciousness exists
is not a new one, although, as far as I know, it has not yet done
duty in explaining the phenomenon of time appreciation.

Multiple Personalities in Relation to Time Appreciation
and Calculation.

Miss D., as we have seen, wrongly calculated in hypnosis
when a complicated time suggestion would fall due; notwith-
standing this, the suggestion was carried out correctly in the
waking state. The subject, however, was unable to recall, when
again hypnotised, that she had corrected the original erroneous
calculation; while at the same time no recollection either of the
original suggestion, or of the erroneous calculation and its subse-
quent correction, existed in the normal waking consciousness.
The results of the time appreciation and calculation, presumably
due to a third consciousness, appeared as a sudden uprush into
whatever personality—waking, sleeping, or ordinary hypnotic—
happened to be present at the moment. When the ordinary
hypnotic consciousness had been asked to make the necessary
calculations, and did so erroneously, the third consciousness ignored
these mistakes and did its work correctly. Further, the passage
of the message from the third to the second consciousness seemed
to make a particularly strong impression upon the latter, or to
leave, for some time at all events, the door of communication
open between the two. Thus, the second consciousness, which
had forgotten the details of the suggestion before these were
carried out, could recall them accurately for some time after
they had been executed.1

1 See p. 138.414

HYPNOTISM

Further, in the experiments cited, we notice (1) that the
ordinary hypnotic consciousness possessed no recollection of having
made the calculations necessary for finding out the terminal time,
and (2) could not recall any form of time-watching. Further,
the ordinary hypnotic memory was incapable of retaining the
complicated series of suggestions: it remembered they had been
made, but could not recall their details. Thus, hypnotic forgetfulness
was not ouly manifested in reference to acts which might possibly
be regarded as automatic ones inherited from some ancestral type,
but was also shown in regard to others of an entirely different
nature, and which cannot possibly have arisen in this way.
Obviously some of these phenomena cannot be regarded as heredi-
tary automatic acts of the hypnotic state; nor as analogous to
normal automatic ones, seeing that they had not been previously
performed in the hypnotic condition. The simultaneous appear-
ance in hypnosis of a greater number of phenomena (regarding
them from their physical side only) than can be manifested in
waking life, may possibly be explained by the existence of several
subconscious states. The normal attention, apparently, cannot
attend to so many things at once as the hypnotic. Now, as we
have seen, certain of these hypnotic acts, seemingly performed
unconsciously, really demand intelligent attention: not only did
they require it in the past, but, as they are neither inherited nor
acquired automatic acts, they obviously require it in the present.
The evidence in favour of several subconscious states is further
strengthened by the fact that these intelligent hypnotic acts to
which we have just referred are sometimes performed without any
feeling of effort. But, as Eibot says: " Every one knows by
experience that voluntary attention is always accompanied by a
feeling of effort, which bears a direct proportion to the duration
of the state and the difficulty of maintaining it."

Granting that one or more subconscious states exist in the
human personality, and that hypnotic phenomena owe their
origin to the fact that we have by some means or other succeeded
in tapping them, two questions still remain:—

First, let it be supposed that I possess a friend called "Brown,"
who is usually, physically and mentally, an ordinary individual;
from time to time, however, he manifests an extraordinary increase
of physical powers. Still more rarely, again, he displays a range
of mental powers of which he had formerly given no indication.HYPNOTIC THEORIES

415

I ask for an explanation : I am told that " Brown," as I know him
best, is indeed " Brown "; but that his increased physical powers
are due to the fact that when he shows them he is " Jones," and
his increased mental ones to the further fact that he is then
" Kobinson." Granting that the phenomena afford evidence of three
separate personalities, I cannot accept this explanation as a solu-
tion of the problem in its entirety. I want to know, first, how
" Jones" and "Kobinson" acquired their powers, and, secondly, what
has been done to or by "Brown" to enable their powers to be evoked.

Myers' explanation, or at all events part of it, was that these
powers were a revival of those formerly possessed by some lower
ancestral type. He frankly admitted, however, that the analogies
to which we could appeal were certainly vague and remote, and
that to find them we must leave the higher mammalia and descend
to the crab, worm, or amoeba. As we have seen, Delboeufs theory
was practically a similar one.

Is it reasonable, however, to suppose that the hypnotic powers,
regarded as a whole, existed in some lower ancestral type ?

Granting that a limited analogy exists between lower animal
types and hypnotised subjects, as to their power of influencing
certain physical conditions, it would, I think, be impossible to
establish an analogy between the mental and moral powers of the
latter and those of the savage or lower animal. For example, the
subject who suddenly developed increased arithmetical powers
was not likely to have derived them from some savage ancestor
who was unable to count beyond five, or from some lower animal,
presumably ignorant of arithmetic. Again, the same subject
when hypnotised spontaneously solved a difficult problem in
dressmaking. The power of correctly designing a garment, in
accordance with the passing fashion of the present day, could
hardly have been derived from some woad-stained ancestor, or
lower animal form. Further, the increased modesty of the
hypnotised subject, his greater power of controlling or checking
morbid passions or cravings, does not find its counterpart in the
savage or the ape.

Myers admitted that the argument from analogy was weakest
when we considered the mental and moral powers of hypnosis.
But if it is the essential characteristic of the subliminal state that
the "spectrum of consciousness" is extended at both its physiological
and its psychological ends, surely an explanation is equally416

HYPNOTISM

necessary of both these extensions. A theory in itself imperfect
becomes still more so, when every fact that is supposed to
establish the extension of one end of the spectrum renders the
extension of the other still more difficult to explain.

If we admit that hypnotic powers are derived from some lowly
non-human type, is their easy recovery probable ?

I have seen cases in which all the phenomena characteristic
of deepest hypnosis could be readily evoked, absolutely without
training, within a couple of minutes of the commencement of the
process employed for the induction of the primary hypnosis. If
any of these were derived from amoeba, worm, or crab, the
rapidity with which they were aroused was surely surprising.

Is it likely that the hypnotic powers should have been lost in
development t .

Some of the powers of the hypnotic state are said to have
dropped out of the supraliminal consciousness in the process of
evolution, as their association with it had become unnecessary in
the struggle for existence. It must be noticed, however, that
many of these powers have not only ceased to be employed
automatically or unconsciously, but also have sometimes appar-
ently disappeared altogether; and, until hypnosis was induced, no
means existed by which the supraliminal consciousness could
evoke them. Now, the powers which the hypnotic self possesses
are so numerous, varied, and frequently so essential for the com-
fort or well-being of the individual, that it is difficult to
conclude that development is responsible for their loss! Take,
for example, the power of inhibiting pain. Granting that some
lower type possessed it—a fact difficult to prove—when and
why was this important power dropped ? In this over-civilised
age, we appear to have abandoned some of the powers of the
subliminal self just at the very moment when we most require
them; as is shown by the complaints about street noises and the
manners of children. In many instances, at all events, the
supraliminal self is sadly embarrassed by the fact that it cannot
perform that feat, so easy to the subliminal one, of shutting out
undesired sensations of sound; and can, in consequence, neither
work by day nor sleep by night.

What is the connection between hypnotic methods and the
production of hypnotic phenomena ?

To this I think no reasonable answer has been given.HYPNOTIC THEORIES

417

Personally, I can see no logical connection between the acts of
fixed gazing, of concentration of attention, or of suggested ideas of
drowsy states, and the wide and varied phenomena of hypnosis.
Hypnotic phenomena do not appear spontaneously, and some of
the methods described must have been employed in each case
before primary hypnosis was induced. But I cannot conceive the
idea that such methods explain the phenomena.

Shock, hysteria, etc., are said to be the origin of the phenomena
of multiple personalities in cases unassociated with hypnotism, but
these terms explain nothing. We know little of the essential
conditions associated with these morbid states, nor why they
should produce an apparent severing of the personality in some
instances and not in others.

Pierre Janet's Theory.

According to Pierre Janet, the presence of the secondary self
is always a symptom of hysteria ; the essential fact about hysteria
being its lack of synthetising power, and the consequent dis-
integration of the field of consciousness into mutually exclusive
parts. Further, the primary and secondary consciousnesses added
together never exceed the normal total consciousness of the
individual.

Here the generalisation is certainly far too wide. Doubtless
many cases of secondary consciousness correspond with Janet's
description; others, however, present conditions which are its
exact opposite. Thus, while hysteria is a prominent symptom in
cases of spontaneous " secondary consciousness," it is, on the other
hand, not necessarily connected in any way with its " hypnotic "
forms. Thousands of healthy men, absolutely devoid of any trace
of hysteria, have been hypnotised; while hysteria itself, instead
of favouring the induction of hypnosis, renders it more difficult.

Further, on the relation between the severed personalities and
the normal total consciousness, William James justly points out that
many instances have been noted in which the secondary self is more
highly developed than the primary, one—it knows, for example,
all that the ordinary self ever knew, and also much that it
had either forgotten or never known. Dr. Prince's case1 is a
typical example of this. Here, the third personality not only
knew all about her own life and that of the secondary personality,

1 Pp. 394-5.

2 E4iS

HYPNOTISM

but also could recall (a) all that the normal personality could
remember, and, further, (&) many things that the primary person-
ality had known, but forgotten, as well as («c) acts which the
normal self had performed automatically or absent-mindedly, and
which had only aroused normal consciousness partially, if at all.
(d) Finally, the third personality recalled events which had
occurred in the delirium of fever—things which the primary
self was absolutely ignorant of, and indeed had never known.1

Remarks.—None of the theories we have been examining can
be considered satisfactory. No revival of powers supposed to be
possessed by lower animal forms can possibly explain the entire
range of hypnotic phenomena; neither, again, can they be
accounted for by an interrupted connection between the nerve-
cells, nor by that elastic term " hysteria." Gurney's theory—that
the secondary consciousness calculates and watches the time just
as the primary one might do—is satisfactory for those instances
in which it has been proved that this has occurred. It fails,
however, when we attempt to apply it to those instances in which
the proof was absent, and in which the feats in calculation and
time appreciation were beyond the powers of the secondary self.

As the secondary self is often intellectually superior to the
primary one, though we do not know why, we might be inclined
to admit, although equally without reason for it, that the third
self transcends the second one. As all the selves inhabit one
body, and as the secondary and tertiary ones have presumably
access to all the information which reaches the primary, are we
to suppose that they have proved the apter scholars ? It seems
more than fanciful to imagine that while the school-boy's ordinary
self was learning his lessons, a second boy was peering over his
shoulder, as it were, and doing the work still better. What must
we say, however, to the idea of a third boy learning along with
TSTos. 1 and 2, and surpassing both of them ?

Even granting that a third self exists, and that it possesses
powers superior to those of the second one, we are not yet at the
end of our difficulties, for the examples of time appreciation we
have been discussing present problems still more complex than
those with which Gurney had to deal. As we have seen, there is
a marked difference between knowing a particular day on its

1 In F61ida X's case, the secondary personality, which arose spontaneously, was
markedly superior to the primary one (pp. 385-6).HYPNOTIC THEORIES

419

arrival, and recognising which is the terminal one amongst a long
series of minutes. For example, suppose that a suggestion to be
fulfilled in 40,845 minutes fell due at 3.15 this afternoon, and
that—from 12.20 P.m. of the same day—the subject of it
remained in a room where she was deprived of all ordinary means
of determining the passage of time. We have seen that the
ordinary hypnotic self was frequently unable to make the
necessary calculations involved in the problem. Now, granting
that the subject's third personality was able to do so, and had
actually calculated 3.15 as the terminal time, and further, that
this self had noted the time on entering the room and calculated
that 2 hours and 55 minutes had to expire before the suggestion
fell due, and even admitting that this third self was able to
impart this information to the primary consciousness and to enlist
its aid in the attempt to hit upon the exact moment, viz. 3.15,
the question still remains, how was this done ?

According to William James, our usual time appreciations—
minutes, hours, and days—have to be conceived symbolically and
constructed by successive mental additions. To realise an hour,
we must count " now !" " now !" " now !" indefinitely. Each
" now " is the feeling of a separate bit of time, and the exact sum
of the bits never makes a very clear impression on our minds.
We have no sense for " empty time," and have to subdivide the
time by noticing the sensations; after we have received a certain
number, our impression of the amount told off becomes quite
vague, and our only way of knowing it accurately is by counting,
noticing the clock, or some other symbolic conception. Our
estimation of the length of time varies from many causes. A
time full of interesting experiences seems short in passing, but
long when looked back upon; time empty of incident is long in
passing, but seems short in retrospect. Time passes quickly
when we are so occupied with what is happening as not to notice
the time itself. When we do nothing and feel but little we grow
more and more attentive to the passage of time. The length of
a watched minute seems incredible because the attention is
devoted to the feeling of the time itself, such attention being
capable of extremely fine subdivision. In conclusion, James
says, "We are constantly conscious of a certain duration—the.
specious present—varying in length from a few seconds to prob-
ably not more than a minute, and that this duration (with its420

HYPNOTISM

content perceived as having one part earlier and the other later)
is the original intuition of time. Longer times are conceived by
adding, shorter ones by dividing, portions of the vaguely bounded
unit, and are habitually thought by us symbolically. Kant's
notion of intuition of objective time as an 'infinite necessary
continuum ' has nothing to support it. The cause of the intuition
which we really have cannot be the duration of our brain pro-
cesses or our mental changes. That duration is rather the object
of the intuition which, being realised at every moment of such
duration, must be due to a permanently present cause. This
cause—probably the simultaneous presence of brain processes of
different phase—fluctuates; and hence a certain range of variation
in the amount of the intuition, and its subdivisibility, accrues/'

Further, " the direct intuition of time is limited to intervals
of considerably less than a minute. Beyond its borders extends
the immense region of conceived time, past and future, into one
direction or another of which we mentally project all the events
which we think of as real, and form a systematic order of them
by giving to each a date."

If we accept James' explanation as to the methods by which
time appreciations are carried out—and I know of no other more
plausible—the time appreciations of Miss D. seem still more
remarkable and inexplicable.

While I have endeavoured to show that the theories as to the
origin of so-called secondary and multiple personalities are
entirely inadequate, both as to the states themselves and to their
phenomena, I have no theory of my own to bring forward in
substitution for these. The fresh facts I have cited, although
interesting, only add to the complexity of the problems we have
to solve. As William James truly says, these manifestations of
the " hidden self" are immensely complex and fluctuating things,
which we have hardly begun to understand, and concerning which
sweeping generalisation is sure to be premature. Meanwhile, he
adds, a comparative study of subconscious states is of the most
urgent importance for the comprehension of our nature.

At the beginning of this chapter I drew attention to the fact
that so-called hypnotic phenomena might be divided into two
apparently well-defined groups. I now propose to discuss the
second of these:—HYPNOTIC THEORIES

421

GKOUP II.

Therapeutic Results, when these occur in conditions unassoci-
ated with clear and unmistakable Symptoms of Hypnosis.1

As already stated, many intermediate stages are to be observed
between the second group, and that which we have recently been
discussing, i.e. hypnotic somnambulism. For the sake of conveni-
ence and clearness, I propose to disregard the links which connect
the two groups, and to limit myself to the consideration of the
therapeutic phenomena which have apparently been produced by
" suggestion " alone.

The cases drawn from my own practice, cited in the chapters
on " Hypnotism in Surgery " and " Hypnotism in Medicine," were
selected for the following reasons :—

(1)	As I wished to give striking examples of the therapeutic
powers of hypnotism, I practically cited successful cases alone.

(2)	As I desired to show that the curative results of hypnotic
treatment were often lasting, I selected those cases in which I
had been able to trace the after-history.

(3)	For the sake of increased evidential value, I confined
myself to instances where the patients had been seen by other
medical men, both before and after hypnotic treatment.

The question of the depth of the hypnosis, or even whether
hypnosis had been induced at all, was not taken into considera-
tion. I now propose to repair this omission, and to divide all
the cases cited into two classes

(a)	Those in which genuine hypnosis was induced.

(b)	Those in which the characteristic phenomena of hypnosis
were absent.

After having made this division, I will discuss the mental
and physical conditions which were apparently present in the
second class.

I. Surgical Cases.

Profound hypnosis was induced in all the surgical cases
reported from my own practice, the only apparent exception
being that of Mrs.-(No. 8). In this instance it is true that

1 It is to be noted that this Group is invariably included in all general statistics
as to "Suggestibility," i.e. all patients who have responded to curative suggestions
are therein assumed to have been hypnotised.422

HYPNOTISM

the patient appeared to be awake. She had, however, been
deeply hypnotised on former occasions, and her condition during
operation was really one of hypnosis, although this had been so
modified by training as to make it resemble the waking state.

II. Medical Oases.

1 A. Grande HysMrie.—In Case Wo. 1, the only one fully
recorded, there were no symptoms of hypnosis.

1 B. Monosymptomatic Hysteria.—In Nos. 6, 7, 8, and 9
hypnosis was induced, while in Nos. 5 and 10 it was apparently
absent.

1 C. Ordinary Hysteria.—In Nos. 20, 21, 22, 24, 25, and
29 hypnosis was induced, while in Nos. 23, 26, 30, and 31 it
was absent.

1 D. Mental Troubles of a Hysterical Nature.—None of my
cases in this group, i.e. Nos. 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, as well as
the unnumbered case following No. 37, presented symptoms of
hypnosis.

2.	Neurasthenia.—In Case No. 40 hypnosis was induced; in
Case No. 41 hypnosis was apparently absent.

3.	Insanity.—In No. 46 hypnosis was induced.

4.	Dipsomania.—In Nos. 56 and 61 hypnosis was induced,
while in Nos. 57, 58, 59, 60, 62, and 63 it was apparently absent.

5.	Morphinomania.—In No. 65 hypnosis was induced, while
in No. 64 it was apparently absent.

6.	Vicious and Degenerate Children,—In Nos. 68, 69, 71, and
72 hypnosis was induced ; in Nos. 70 and 73 it was apparently
absent.

7.	Obsessions.—In Nos. 80, 81, and 85 hypnosis was induced;
in Nos. 82, 83, 84, and 86 it was absent.

8.	Epilepsy.—In No. 94 hypnosis was induced; in No. 95
it was absent.

9.	Chorea.—In No. 99 hypnosis was induced.

10.	Stammering.—In Nos. 101 and 102 hypnosis was
apparently absent.

11.	Seasickness.—In Nos. 103 and 104 hypnosis was induced.

12.	Skin Diseases.—In Nos. 109 and 110 hypnosis was
induced.

Thus out of the above fifty-nine illustrative medical casesHYPNOTIC THEORIES

twenty-eight were hypnotised, and thirty-one presented no symptoms
of hypnosis.1 Further, though many of the latter were cases of
grave and long-standing illness, yet in some instances the recovery
was extremely rapid. Was their recovery due to hypnotic in-
fluence or simply to " suggestion," more or less closely associated
with emotional conditions ? This question is an extremely
difficult one to answer. On the one hand, the conditions
regarded as characteristic of hypnosis were wanting. Thus :—

(1)	In most instartfces, owing to muscular spasm or mental
unrest, concentration of attention was absent, and there was
repose of neither mind nor body.

(2)	There was no involuntary closure of the eyes.

(3)	In a few instances the patients became drowsy, but this
resembled the drowsiness of normal life, and was not followed by
amnesia.

On the other hand, the evidence as to the results being due
to " suggestion " alone is by no means convincing. Thus :—

(1)	The patients were actually subjected to one or other of
the usual methods of inducing hypnosis. Fixed gazing (except
in cases of convulsions and the like), monotonous passes, and
suggestion were all employed.

(2)	Suggestion in ordinary life, apart from profound emotional
states, rarely produces curative results such as those described.

(3)	Many of the patients were absolutely incredulous as to
their receiving benefit from the treatment.

(4)	Others approached the subject with an open mind, but
few, if any, had profound faith in it.

(5)	In most instances, suggestion had already been unsuc-
cessfully employed, and sometimes so even when associated with
profound emotional states.

While I am quite willing to admit that I cannot demonstrate
that the cases in question were hypnotised, I find it equally
difficult to believe that their recovery was due to suggestion alone.
For, as just stated, suggestion had already played an important
part in their treatment, and entirely with negative results.

Thus, for example, in Case No. 1, the blisters which were
applied to the limbs to render muscular movement painful were
so many indirect suggestions.

1 I.e. despite the fact that these patients all underwent hypnotic treatment,
none of them presented unmistakable symptoms of hypnosis.424

HYPNOTISM

In No. 10, the patient had firmly believed that a certain doctor
could cure him, but this self-suggestion had produced no result.

In No. 23, the patient had received varied and forcible
suggestions; for instance, she was told that the application of
Pacquelin's cautery was certain to cure her. Despite this, it had
no effect; but suggestions, when associated with hypnotic methods,
were at once responded to.

No. 31 is particularly interesting. The patient, a well-known
scientific man, had systematically tried to influence himself by
suggestion, but without success. After three hypnotic sittings,
he not only recovered from his insomnia, but also acquired the
power of self-suggestion. He could prevent sea-sickness and arrest
the pain of organic disease, even although this power had not
been suggested to him by me.

In Nos. 58 and 59, two typical cases of dipsomania, the
patients had undoubtedly received frequent and forcible sugges-
tions from their friends and relatives, but, despite this, suggestion
produced no result until associated with hypnotic methods.

In most of the other cases cited suggestion had already
played a part, but in none had it produced the slightest effect.

Taking all the above facts into consideration, while I am not
prepared to assert that the cases in question were genuinely
hypnotised, I find it equally difficult to believe that the curative
results were due to suggestion alone. It is possible that, owing
to the methods employed, some change was produced in the
patients' organism which rendered them more susceptible to the
influence of suggestion than they had previously been in the
normal state. Further than that I have nothing to say, for I am
ignorant both as to the exact nature of the change in question,
and of the reason why hypnotic methods should have evoked it.CHAPTER XIII.

the so-called dangers of hypnotism.

I have purposely refrained from discussing the risks of
hypnotic practice until theory had been dealt with. Tor the
question whether danger exists depends mainly upon the evidence
which can be adduced in favour of hypnotic automatism. As we
have %een, however, automatism cannot be regarded as the
essential characteristic of the hypnotic state.

Braid did not believe that hypnotic practice was dangerous,
and his views have already been stated (pp. 292-3).

Personally, I have never seen a single hypnotic somnambule
who did not both possess and exercise the power of resisting
suggestions contrary to his moral sense.1 Despite this, I can- -
conceive the possibility that, under certain circumstances, hurtful
suggestions might be made with success. If a subject believed
that hypnosis was a condition of helpless automatism, and that
the operator could make him do whatever he liked, harm [might ;
result, not through the operator's power, but in consequence of
the subject's self-suggestions.

The cases in which it has been "clearly proved " that hypnotism
has done undoubted harm are neither numerous nor important.
Charcot, and other members of the Salpetri&re school, asserted
that hysterical symptoms sometimes appeared after the attempted
induction of hypnosis. That such phenomena occurred with them
is not surprising, when one considers the nature of the patients
and their surroundings, and the violent and startling methods
sometimes resorted to. Charcot also recorded one or two
instances where the employment of hypnotism for stage purposes
had produced bad effects.

It is to be noted that Bernheim, who still believes in the

1 This statement includes also all the slighter forms of hypnosis, r
425426

HYPNOTISM

possibility of suggested crime, admits that no single instance of
genuine hypnotic crime has yet been proved, and asserts that in
the "classical" cases, copied from one author to another, the
subjects had really not been hypnotised at all. Even if one
admitted that hypnotism was not free from danger, the same
u thing could be said of other methods of treatment.1 The points
to be considered are the nature of the risks, and whether these
are capable of being minimised or eliminated. The opponents of
hypnotism, however, instead of discussing these points calmly,
have sometimes attacked hypnotism on account of its alleged
dangers in a manner which they themselves would be the first to
recognise as unfair if applied to any other branch of science.

Tor example, in the Bevue MMicale de VEst, February 1st, 18 9 5,
Bernheim records the only case, as far as I know, in which death
followed hypnosis induced by a medical man. The patient
suffered from phlebitis, accompanied by severe pain; and to
relieve this, Bernheim hypnotised him. He died two hours after-
wards, and post-mortem examination showed that death was due
to embolism of the pulmonary artery. The case is referred to in
the British Medical Journal, and though it is admitted that the
occurrence was nothing more than an " unlucky coincidence," it is
stated, at the same time, that " it is at least arguable that the
psychical excitement induced by the hypnotising process may
have caused a disturbance in the circulatory system, which had a
share in bringing about the catastrophe.,, Bernheim has hypno-
tised over 10,000 hospital patients; sometimes this would be
done for the relief of pain associated with inevitably fatal maladies,
and, therefore, the matter for surprise is that death has not more
frequently occurred during, or shortly after, the induction of
hypnosis. The majority of fatal illnesses receive medical treat-
ment: it would, then, according to the theory of the British
Medical Journal, be justifiable to argue that the administration
of drugs " may have had a share in bringing about the catastrophe."
Certainly their use is likely to be attended with more physical
and psychical excitement than is involved in the hypnotising
processes in vogue at Nancy.

Such arguments against hypnotism are dangerous and apt to
provoke unpleasant replies. For example, Moll, in speaking of

1 A medicine given to relieve insomnia sometimes produces a " drug -habit";
treatment by suggestion, however, does not give rise to a " hypnotic-habit."THE SO-CALLED DANGERS OF HYPNOTISM

427

certain hostile criticisms, said: " If Professor-had shown

the same scepticism when the tnberculin craze excited all Germany,
much injury to science and to his patients would have been
prevented. The wantonness with which at that time the lives of
many were staked will remain as a lasting blemish upon science;
and it cannot be denied that the excessive use of tuberculin was
the cause of the untimely death of many human beings. In
ordinary life, one would describe such a proceeding as an offence
against the person, of which the issue was death. I cannot
admit that there is a special law for clinical professors, and
that when they have, in such a manner, hastened the death of a
human being, another expression should be used."

Articles upon hypnotism by X, which appeared in the
Journal of Mental Science, have already been referred to. His
statements as to its dangers show evidence, I am afraid, of too
hasty generalisation, as well as of misquotation. Thus, in re-
ferring to my address to the Psychological Section of the British
Medical Association at Edinburgh,1 he says : " The bold attempt of
Dr. Milne Bramwell to prove that there are no drawbacks to the
therapeutic use of hypnotism is, however, a challenge which
should be promptly met." Now I have never, either in writing
or speaking, asserted that there were no drawbacks to the ^
therapeutic use of hypnotism, but, on the contrary, have constantly
pointed out that such existed. For example, in this country
hypnotism is rarely resorted to until other remedial measures
have failed, and this greatly decreases its chance of success.
Further, I have never denied that hypnotism, through ignorance
or malice on the part of the operator, might be so misused as to
do harm; this risk, however, is not only grossly exaggerated,
but falls far short of that associated with ordinary medical \
treatment.

What I really said was totally different, namely, that, as far ^
as my experience went, the employment of hypnotism by medical
men acquainted with the subject was devoid of danger. In
support of this, I cited Forel's assertion that he, as well as
Li^beault, Bernheim, Wetterstrand, van Eeden, de Jong, Moll, *
and the other followers of the Nancy school, had never seen a-
single instance in which mental or physical harm had been

1 Sixty-sixth Annual Meeting of the British Medical Association. See the
British Medical Journal, September 10th, 1898, pp. 669-678.428

HYPNOTISM

caused by hypnotism. No complete record of their cases has been
published, but the number certainly exceeds fifty thousand. On
October 15th, 1898, Forel informed me that he still held this
opinion, and had never observed even the slightest inconvenience
from hypnotic practice. Farther, I have watched the work of
nearly all those cited by Forel, and have seen nothing opposed to
his statement.

I could add many names to Forel's list, but will content
myself by quoting two in this country, choosing them for their
connection with asylum practice.

In 1890, Dr. Percy Smith and the late Dr. A. T. Myers
published an account of the hypnotic treatment of twenty-one
insane patients in Bethlem Hospital. I am authorised by the
former to state that no harm was done.

I have also Dr. Outterson Wood's permission to state that,
/while he acted as Honorary Secretary to the British Medical
Association Committee for the Investigation of Hypnotism, he
performed many experiments, and arrived at the following con-
clusions with regard to hypnotism:—(1) Its phenomena were
, genuine. (2) It was of distinct therapeutic value. (3) Its use
in skilled hands was absolutely devoid of danger.

My position might be attacked in two ways: (A) by
attempting to prove mal-observation; (B) the facts being
granted, by showing that they did not warrant the conclusions
drawn from them. These, the only two points at issue, X
entirely ignores. He says: "Very many observers have seen
cases in which hypnotism has been followed by very definite and
distinctly evil results. Many instances of this kind have been
recorded, and good service would be done by their collection and
tabulation, as a check to future assertions of this kind." Granting
that this be true, what connection has it with the point in
dispute ? If a group of surgeons performed a certain operation
fifty thousand times without a death, would they not be justified
in inferring that in their hands, at all events, it was devoid of
danger ? Would their position be weakened by the " collection
and tabulation " of the failures of others ?

Still there remain for discussion the hypnotic dangers referred
to by X, namely (1) evil results recorded by other observers, and
(2) those occurring in his own practice.THE SO-CALLED DANGERS OF HYPNOTISM

429

(1) Harm reported by Others.

As regards this group, X does not cite a single authority or
case; surely the " collection and tabulation " to which he refers
should have been done beforehand, and the results presented in
such a way as to enable one to judge of their value as evidence.

I have investigated every case brought to my notice where
hypnotism was stated to have done harm, and in none has the
charge been proven. The two following may serve as a com-
mencement of the " collection " X is desirous of making:—

(A)	A patient, suffering from torticollis, who had been under
my care for a few weeks, shortly afterwards underwent a surgical
operation; an important blood-vessel was accidentally cut, and
about ten days later she died from secondary haemorrhage. I
was informed that the surgeon asserted the haemorrhage and
death were due to the fact that the patient's constitution had
been weakened by hypnotism. If this were true, the relatives
felt that they had contributed to the death by permitting the
patient to try hypnotic treatment, and I was asked whether I
could in any way reassure them. This I had little difficulty in
doing. I informed them (a) that hypnotism did not weaken the
constitution; under its influence Esdaile had reduced the
mortality in the removal of the tumours of elephantiasis from 50
to 5 per cent, and my own operative cases had all done well.
(&) Even granting that hypnotism could weaken the constitution,
it was unreasonable to suppose that its influence had spread from
the patient to the surgeon, and thereby caused him to accidentally
cut a blood-vessel. (c) I mentioned the not unimportant fact
that I had absolutely failed to hypnotise the patient.

(B)	In April, 1897, a medical acquaintance told me I must
alter my views as to the dangers of hypnotism, because by its
means, M., a Swiss medical man, had seduced eleven young female
patients, and had in consequence been condemned to five years'
imprisonment. One of the victims, I was told, had committed
suicide, and before doing so, had left a written statement of the
fact that she had been seduced through hypnotism. Further, I
was informed that these statements were confirmed by ample
official evidence. This I asked to see, and received what was
described as "the official testimony from Dr. Calonder, of the
Advohaturbureau in Chur, where the case was tried, stating that43°

HYPNOTISM

hypnotism had been abused in this shocking betrayal." My
colleague continued, " I could also forward you the four German
newspapers sent me ; but as they contain no details which I have
not already given you, you probably would not care to have them."

The following is a translation of the document in question :—
"In reply to your favour of the 26th inst., I hasten to inform
you that, at the trial of Dr. M., no support was found for the assertion
that he had employed hypnotism in the treatment of his patients,
—(Signed) Dr. Calonder."

I asked for the German newspapers, and found that in the
account of the trial hypnotism was not even mentioned. I then
laid the matter before Professor Forel, of Zurich, who replied as
follows :—" Dr. M. has never hypnotised a patient. The question
was not raised at the trial, and no one suggested that he had
employed hypnotism. The entire history is an English invention.
In Zurich no one has spoken or written of hypnotism in con-
nection with Dr. M. He is a throat specialist—an ordinary
erotic pig, and has long been known as such. I have written to
the Judge of the Supreme Court who tried Dr. M., and he has
sent me a written statement which confirms mine; this I now
enclose so that you may have a trustworthy document." Pro-
fessor Forel's letter and that of the Judge are still in my
possession. They describe Dr. M.'s methods of seduction, but as
these have nothing to do with hypnotism, and are not particularly
suitable for publication, I refrain from quoting them.

(2) X's Cases

X says that in his special department, presumably asylum
practice, the evils consequent on hypnotic influence are grave, and
that the few cases in which it seemed desirable to induce hypnosis
were, in the end, apparently deteriorated in mental condition, and
that the conservation of mental power, so urgently indicated, was,
in fact, endangered. From this he concludes that hypnosis
involves a weakening of the power of self-control, and " is, indeed,
a shunting on one of those side tracks of disordered mental
function of which insanity is the terminus." Here I may point
out:—

(1) No figures are given, and the word "few" is an in-
definite one.THE SO-CALLED DANGERS OF HYPNOTISM

43i

(2)	The disease from which the patients suffered is not
stated, nor the absolutely essential information given whether it
was one likely to end in mental deterioration apart from the
treatment.

(3)	If X found that hypnotic treatment produced grave evils
in every instance in which he employed it, the fact that he con-
tinued to use it in other cases, besides the first one in which it
had done harm, certainly demands explanation.

(4)	X gives no detailed account of his cases, and thus the
dangers to which he refers are based more upon assertion than
upon evidence which might be examined and judged.

(5)	It is to be noted, too, that X regards hypnosis as a con-
dition analogous to hysteria, stupor, and latah. As already
pointed out, this view is an entirely erroneous one. Thus, if X
evoked these conditions in his patients by artificial means, the idea
that these states had anything to do with hypnosis cannot be
entertained for a moment. At the same time, if he actually
succeeded in producing the symptoms of hysteria, stupor, and
latah in patients who were already suffering from some other
form of mental disorder, I can readily believe that this " involved
a weakening of their powers of self-control, and was, indeed, a
shunting on one of those side tracks of disordered mental function
of which insanity is the terminus."

Granting even that mental deterioration actually resulted
from X's so-called hypnotic practice, one cannot help feeling that
his personal and limited experiments do not warrant the con-
clusions he draws from them. Fortunately, it is not a recognised
principle in medicine that those who fail have the right to cry
" Halt!" to the successful!

The commonest examples of the alleged evil results of hypnotic
practice are found on examination to be nothing but cases of
delusional insanity. A sensational instance of this kind recently
went the round of the Continental press. It was asserted that a
University professor had hypnotised one of his students and made
him the subject of many disagreeable experiments. It was even
stated that the former had only escaped conviction by exercising
his hypnotic influence over the witnesses, and compelling them to
give false evidence. This story was not devoid of foundation.
A student had actually brought an action against a professor on
the grounds just stated. It was proved in court, however, that432

HYPNOTISM

the professor had never hypnotised any one, and that the student
was suffering from delusional insanity.

From time to time charges of a like nature are made in the
police courts, and are the subject of sensational paragraphs in the
daily press: sometimes, improbable as it may seem, they are even
gravely reproduced in medical journals.

In the insane mind, hypnotism and telepathy are gradually
taking the place of electricity, and I frequently receive letters
from persons who complain that they are the victims of telepathic
persecution. In every instance, however, the writers are obviously
insane.CHAPTER XH.

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION.

Historical.—Looking back on the revival of mesmerism, and on
the origin and earlier development of hypnotism, one must admit
that these movements were almost entirely due to Elliotson and
Esdaile, Braid and Li^beault, all of whom were more or less
martyrs to what they believed to be the truth.

Elliotson's researches cost him official position, reputation,
fortune, and friends. He never entered University College after
the practice of mesmerism had been forbidden within its walls;
and from that time (1838) forward, until the Second Inter-
national Congress of Experimental Psychology was held there in
1892, neither hypnotism nor mesmerism received the slightest
recognition by the College. At the latter date, at the request of
the late Dr. A. T. Myers, I brought to the Congress several
patients who had undergone painless hypnotic operations. When
I showed these at two of the meetings, reinducing analgesia and
other hypnotic phenomena, history repeated itself. Just as
Elliotson's demonstrations excited so much interest that he
found he had to move from a smaller to a larger lecture room,
so the same thing occurred in my case.

Esdaile's earlier mesmeric work was ignored by the medical
authorities, while his later efforts were bitterly opposed. In his
case; however, opposition only acted as a stimulus. It impelled
him to do more than he had ever intended, and thus brought
about his appeal to the Government, which resulted in the
establishment of the official mesmeric hospital at Calcutta.

Esdaile was more a surgeon than a man of science, and could
not understand why Professor Bennett supported 'hypnotism'
at the very time ' mesmerism' was so fiercely attacked. Esdaile
had evidently failed to grasp the importance of Braid's views as

2 F434

HYPNOTISM

to the subjective nature of hypnotic phenomena, and said he
would willingly have called his operations ' hypnotic/ if he had
known that a change of title was all that was necessary in order
to insure their recognition.

Esdaile's later days were certainly saddened by the treat-
ment he received, and he naturally asked what he had done to
deserve it. He pointed out that he had remained poor for the
sake of mesmerism, and had also saved thousands of human
beings the pain which, until then, had invariably been associated
with surgical operations. This, in itself, surely did not justify
his being considered as an outcast from his profession.

Braid, who was essentially open-minded, and inspired with
the truest scientific spirit, eagerly seized upon all fresh facts, and
altered his theories in accordance with them. He not only
invented the terminology we still use, but even, at a later date,
rejected it as misleading.

Although Braid believed that hypnotic suggestion was a
valuable remedy in functional nervous disorders, he did not
regard it as a rival to other forms of treatment, nor wish in any
way to separate its practice from that of medicine in general.
He held that whoever talked of a " universal remedy" was
either a fool or a knave: similar diseases often arose from
opposite pathological conditions, and their treatment ought to
be varied accordingly. He objected to being called a hypno-
tist ; he was, he said, no more a ' hypnotic' than a € castor-oil1
doctor.

Li^beault was rather neglected than abused. Although
Elliotson had many followers, and Braid obtained a certain
amount of scientific recognition, Li^beault, like Esdaile, worked
alone. If he were mentioned at all, a thing which rarely
happened, it was only as a fanatic or a madman.

Methods of inducing Hypnosis, Susceptibility, etc.—The
various methods of inducing the hypnotic state, as well as the
causes which apparently influence susceptibility to hypnosis,
have already been discussed in detail. The principal points
which ought to be kept in mind are:—

(1)	That there is as yet no satisfactory explanation why
hypnosis should be evoked by the methods employed.

(2)	That the varying susceptibility to hypnosis is equally
difficult to understand. We do not yet know why identicalSUMMARY AND CONCLUSION

435

methods should produce hypnosis in one instance, and have
apparently no effect in another.

(3) That it is equally unexplained why susceptibility to
curative suggestions should obviously be developed in patients
who have undergone hypnotic methods of treatment, but in whom
hypnosis has not manifestly been evoked.

The Experimental Phenomena of Hypnosis.—Many of the
phenomena which are stated to occur in the hypnotic condition
are undoubtedly genuine, and their existence has been confirmed
by careful and repeated experiment. Others, such as the pro-
duction of blisters and changes of temperature by suggestion,
must be rejected: there is, as far as I am aware, no trustworthy
evidence as to their occurrence.

Hypnotism in Medicine.—It is difficult to estimate the
exact value of hypnotism in comparison with other forms of treat-
ment. There are, however, one or two broad facts which ought
to be kept in mind:—

(1)	Hypnotism, as already pointed out, is not a universal
remedy. It is simply a branch of medicine, and those who practise
it sometimes combine it with other forms of treatment. Thus, in
some instances it is difficult to say what proportion of the cura-
tive results were due to hypnotism, and what to other remedies.

(2)	On the other hand, many cases of functional nervous
disorder have recovered under hypnotic treatment after the con-
tinued failure of other methods. The cases already cited
illustrate this. Many of the patients had long suffered from
serious illness, while in most instances several years have now
passed without relapse.

Further, the diseases which frequently respond to hypnotic
treatment are often those in which drugs are of little or no
avail. For example, what medicine would one prescribe for a
man who, in the midst of mental and physical health, had
suddenly become the prey of an obsession ? Such patients are
rarely insane: they recognise that the idea which torments them
is morbid; they can trace its origin and development, but yet
are powerless to get rid of it. In a recent case, the patient1 gave
the following account of his illness. He was upset, he said, by
some trouble of a sentimental nature, and went to Paris for a
day or two's change. There he saw a play in which insanity

1 This patient recovered after a week's hypnotic treatment.436

HYPNOTISM

was skilfully portrayed by one of the actors. Immediately
afterwards the laughter and gestures of his friends appeared
insane in character, and he awoke the next night with the feel-
ing that he himself was going mad. From the intellectual side
he knew his friends were not insane, and did not believe that he
was likely to become so; but the obsession was ever present.
In cases of this kind hypnotism frequently yields good results;
and, until I began hypnotic practice, I had no conception of the
number of people whose lives were made miserable by morbid
ideas. Sometimes these take the form of undefined dreads, and
are associated with neurasthenia; at other times some particular
obsession dominates the patient's whole life.

(3)	In estimating hypnotic results, it must not be forgotten,
too, that the majority of cases treated in this way are extremely
unfavourable ones. Since I came to London, patients have
rarely been sent to me when they first fell ill, and with most of
them every other form of treatment had been tried before
hypnotism was resorted to. As the value of hypnotic treatment
and its freedom from danger become more fully recognised, it
will doubtless be employed in earlier stages of disease. "When
that day comes the results ought to be still more striking.

(4)	Above all else, it should be clearly understood that the
object of all hypnotic treatment ought to be the development of
the patient's control of his own organism. As already pointed
out, many illnesses represent the culminating point in a life
which has been characterised by lack of discipline and self-
control. While attention is given to physical culture, the
emotional side is too often neglected; but much disease would
be prevented if we could develop and control moral states just as
an athlete does physical ones.

The so-called Dangers of Hypnotism.—I have little to
add to what has already been said as to the dangers of hypnotism.
Although I am willing to admit that it is possible that harm
may be done through the mismanagement of hypnotic cases, I
have personally seen no evidence of this either in my own
practice or in that of others. Further, I have never seen even
the slightest bad effect follow carefully conducted hypnotic
experiments. For several years Sidgwick, Gurney, Myers, and
others experimented regularly on the same group of male subjects,
and the latter suffered neither at the time nor afterwards.SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION

437

There remains the further question as to the risks which
may be encountered by those who embark on hypnotic practice.
These have practically ceased to exist. It is true that an attempt
was made in 1893 to discredit hypnotism by drawing attention
to the fallacious nature of Luys' experiments and theories, but,
as already stated, his experiments had long ceased to interest
real students of hypnotism. At the present day the treatment
of hypnotism by the profession is not only fair but generous.

Hypnotic Theories.—The views of the mesmerists and those
of the Salpetriere school have ceased to interest scientific men.
All theories which attempt to find a general explanation of
hypnotic phenomena in a physiological or a psychological
inhibition, or in a combination of the two, will doubtless suffer a
similar fate. The increased volition and intelligence, which are
frequently observed in the " alert" stage of hypnosis, can be ex-
plained neither by an arrested action of the higher nervous centres
nor by a hypothetical automatism. Further, subjects can be
taught to hypnotise themselves, and can then induce the state
and its phenomena at will. In such cases it is absolutely
impossible that the phenomena can be due to the suspension of
the subject's volition, or to the operator's supposed power of
controlling him.

If the subliminal consciousness theory does not satisfactorily
explain all the problems of hypnosis, we are at all events
indebted to it for a clearer conception, not only of the condition
as a whole, but also of many of its component parts.

The following points in this theory seem most worthy of
notice:—

(1)	That the essential characteristic of the hypnotic state is
the subject's far-reaching power over his own organism.

(2)	That volition is increased and the moral standard raised.

(3)	That the phenomena of hypnosis arise from, or at all
events are intimately connected with, voluntary alterations in
the association and dissociation of ideas.

(4)	Subliminal or subconscious states are more clearly
defined than in previous theories.

(5)	Myers' theory1 closely resembles Braid's latest one. The

1 At the Meeting of the British Medical Association, Edinburgh, 1898, Myers
by special request, gave an account of his hypnotic theories to the Psychological
Section. See British Medical Journal, Sept. 10th, 1898, p. 674.438

HYPNOTISM

existence of alternating consciousnesses was not only recognised
by Braid, but was also regarded by him as explanatory of certain
hypnotic phenomena.

The appreciation of time, with its accompanying necessary
calculations, and the solution in hypnosis of the 'dressmaking
problem' (p. 320), are phenomena which have an important
bearing on hypnotic theory. Doubtless Carpenter would have
regarded the latter as a case of " unconscious cerebration." The
so-called secondary self, however, was quite conscious that it had
solved the problem; and, when hypnosis was again induced, was
able to give an account of the occurrence, and to tell when the
knowledge it had elaborated was received by the ordinary self.

While the phenomena of hypnosis show that consciousness
can be split up into two or more well-defined parts, this does not
justify us in concluding that distinct personalities may exist in
the same human being. To the physiologist, at all events,
something more is necessary than evidence of alternating groups
of memories and changes of temper. To put the matter
crudely, the phenomena we term mental are dependent on the
life and activity of the organ which we call the brain. All the
physical part of the mechanism is enclosed in one skull, and the
varying psychical manifestations are associated with the changes
that take place therein. It is doubtless true that an individual
may receive impressions which do not arouse consciousness at
the time, and that these may be the starting-point of mental
processes of which he only afterwards becomes conscious through
their results. In hypnosis, too, he may do mental work of which
he is conscious in that condition, and of which he may yet know
nothing in the normal state. Through accident or disease he
may become amnesic, aphasic, or both; or he may revive
memories long lost to his normal consciousness. All these
varying psychical conditions, however, have their physical
correlative; they correspond to changes which have taken place
in that particular individual's brain. However great may be the
alterations in consciousness, however marked the changes in
character, we cannot get away from the fact that these are
dependent on the one brain the individual was born with, and
the changes that one brain has undergone in subsequent life.
'John Smith' does not cease to be 'John Smith* when he is
hypnotised, nor when he becomes insane.SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION

439

If Braid and Myers have done much towards giving us a
clearer idea of the hypnotic state, they have also added to the
difficulties of explaining it. A conception of hypnosis which
limited its manifestations to simple automatic movements was
comparatively easy to explain. The hypnotic subject who, while
he has not lost the physical and mental powers of his waking
condition, has acquired new and far-reaching ones, presents a
very different problem. But normal life contains many problems,
both physiological and psychological, which are yet unsolved,
and some—such as the causal connection between mental and
physical states—which are apparently insoluble; and while this
is so, it would be unreasonable to expect a complete explanation
of that still more complex state—the hypnotic. Further ob-
servation, however, is always giving us clearer insight, if not
into the central problem itself, at all events into the phenomena
that characterise it. What increased practical advantage this
may give us in curing and preventing disease, alleviating pain,
giving sleep, and improving moral states, time alone will show.CHAPTER XV

REFERENCES.

FRENCH.

From thi| Revue be l'Hypnotisme, vol. i. 1887-88 to vol. xv. 1900-01.

Artigalas et Esmond, Drs. Yol. vi. p. 250. " Note sur un cas d'h^morrhagies
auriculaires, oculaires et palmaires provoquees par la suggestion."

Bechterew, Dr. (St. Petersburg). Vol. xiv. p. 89. "La suggestion
hypnotique et le traitement de l'onanisme." " Sur les obsessions et
les illusions importunes."

Vol. xiv. p. 155. " L'importance de l'hypnotisme et de la suggestion
dans le traitement de l'alcoolisme."

B^rillon, Dr. Edgar. Yol. i. p. 218. "Gu&ison par suggestion post-
hypnotique d'une habitude vicieuse datant de dix ans."

Vol. ii. p. 59. "Les applications de l'hypnotisme au traitement des
enfants vieieux,"

Yol. ii. p. 169. " De la suggestion et de ses applications k la p^dagogie."

Yol. ii. p. 176. "Tics nerveux traitds par suggestion."

Yol. iv. p. 35. " Valeur de la suggestion hypnotique dans le traite-
ment de l'hyst^rie."

Yol. iv. p. 153. " Les applications de la suggestion k la p^diatrie et a
l^ducation mentale des enfants vieieux ou d£g&i£r£s."

Yol. iv. p. 336. " Neurasth&iie grave trait^e avec succks par la
suggestion hypnotique."

Yol. v. p. 97. "Les indications formelles de la suggestion hypnotique
en psychiatrie et en neuropathologies

Yol. vi. p. 165. " Ataxie locomotrice traitde avec succ&s par la sugges-
tion hypnotique."

Yol. vi. p. 269. "Mechanisme des ph&iom&nes hypnotiques provoqu^s
chez des sujets hyst^riques."

Yol. vii. p. 129. " Le traitement psychoth^rapeutique de la morphino-
manie."

Yol. vii. p. 177. " Yomissements incoercibles de la grossesse trails avec
succes par la suggestion."

Yol. viii. p. 15. " Onychophagie. Hyst^ro - epilepsie. Gu^rison
rapide par la suggestion."

Yol. viii. p. 90. " Habitudes vicieuses associ^es chez une petite fille.—
Onanisme et onychophagie, trails avec succes par la suggestion."

440REFERENCES

441

Vol. viii. p. 241. "Les phobies neurasth£niques envisages an point
de vue du service militaire."

Yol. viii. p. 359. "Le traitement psychique de 1'incontinence nocturne
d'urine."

Vol. ix. p. 28. "Le traitement de la morphinomanie." (Discussion
by Tanzi, etc.)

Vol. ix. p. 33. " Phobies neurasth£niques envisages au point de vue
professionel."

Vol. ix. p. 90. "Cri hyst£rique datant de trois mois gu£ri en une
seule stance par la suggestion."

Vol. xii. p. 167. "Les principes de la p&Iagogie suggestive." (Giving
list of his articles.)

Yol. xiii. p. 102. "De Temploi de la suggestion hypnotique dans
l^ducation des epileptiques."

Yol. xiii. p. 245. " Mai de mer et vertiges de la locomotion."

Vol. xv. p. 84. "M&ancholie trait^e avec succ&s par la suggestion
hypnotique."

B^rillon et Darier, Drs. Vol. xiii. p. 179. "Strabisme avec diplopie
gueri par la suggestion hypnotique."

Bernheim, Prof. Vol. i. p. 129. "De la suggestion envisagde au point
de vue p£dagogique."

Vol. ii. p. 138. "Sur un cas de regularisation des regies par sugges-
tion."

VoL xii. p. 137. "A propos de lMtude sur James Braid par le Dr.
Milne Bramwell et de son rapport lu au Congres de Bruxelles."

Besse, Dr. Vol. iii. p. 213. "Troubles hyst£riques trails par l'hypnotisine."

Bezanqon, Dr. (Paris). Vol. i. p. 150. " Diarrhde provoqu^e par suggestion
chez une hyst^rique hypnotisable." (Also three teeth extracted during
hypnotic anaesthesia.)

Bouff^, Dr. Vol. xiii. p. 76. "La suggestion hypnotique comme traite-
ment de l'onychophagie. Quelques reflexions sur ce syndrome
consid6r£ comme tare de d6g£n£rescence."

Bourdon, Dr. Vol. iii. p. 141. "Jalousie morbide compromettant la vie,
gudrie par la suggestion."

Vol. vi. p. 358. "Applications varices de la suggestion chez une
hyst6ro-£pileptique."

Vol. viii. p. 59. " Anesth^sie chirurgicale par suggestion."

Vol. x. p. 27. " La psychothdrapie envisag^e comme complement de la
th^rapeutique g^nerale."

Vol. x. p. 134. " Onychophagie et habitudes automatiques, onanisme,
etc., chez les enfants vicieux ou deg£n£r£s.

Vol. xiii. p. 146. "La psychothdrapie envisag^e comme complement
de la th^rapeutique g&n6rale.

Vol. xiv. p. 145. " L'alcoolisme et le tabagisme traites avec succes par
la suggestion hypnotique."

Vol. xiv. p. 176. " Accouchements sans douleurs par la mdthode du
Dr. Joire. Anesth^sie suggestive."

Vol. xv. p. 365. " Applications de la psychothdrapie aux neurasth^nies
graves et anciennes avec complications diverses : phobies, obsessions
liypocondriaque, polysarcie, etc."442

HYPNOTISM

Bourgon, Dr. Vol. xi. p. 259. "Deux cas de blepharospasms tonique
bilateral douloureux d'origine hysterique, gu^ris par la suggestion
hypnotique."

Bourru et Burot, Drs. Vol. i. pp. 192, 236, 261. "Les variations de
la personnalite."

Bramwell, J. Milne, M.B. Vol. ix. p. 373. "Un cas d'hyperhydrose
localis^e traite avec succks par la suggestion hypnotique."

Vol. xi. p. 49. "La guerison des obsessions par la suggestion."

Vol. xi. pp. 269, 309, 340, 372. VoL xii. pp. 27, 60, 87. "James
Braid : son ceuvre et ses Merits."

Vol. xii. p. 129. "La valeur th^rapeutique de l'hypnotisme et de la
suggestion."

Vol. xii. p. 353. "James Braid et la suggestion."

Br^maujd, Dr. Vol. ii. p. 16. " Guerison par l'hypnotisme d'une rnanie
des nouvelles accouch^es.

Vol. vii. p. 289. " Observation d'un hysterique."

Brown-S^quard, Dr. Yol. ii. p. 158. "La dualite du cerveau et de la
moelle ^piniere."

Bugney, Dr. Yol. v. p. 179. " Metrorrhagies cons^cutives & des fibromes-
uterins. Guerison par l'hypnotisme."

Burckhardt, Dr. Vol. iii. p. 56. "Application de l'hypnotisme au
traitement des maladies mentales."

Burot, Dr. Yol. i. p. 355. " Grande hysterie gu£rie par l'emploi de la
suggestion et de l'auto-suggestion."

Yol. ii p. 330. "Sur un cas de tics convulsifs avec echolalie et
coprolalie."

Yol. iii. p. 169. "N^vropathie avec acrinie salivaire et constipation
datant de 35 ans, gu£rie par la suggestion."

Yol. iii. p. 251. "Surdity double datant de dix jours gu6rie en une
seule stance par la suggestion."

Yol. iii. p. 336. "Manie hysterique avec impulsions et hallucinations
gu£rie par la suggestion."

Yol. iv. p. 55. "Hoquet datant de six mois, gu£ri en deux seances
par la suggestion."

Burot et Bourru, Drs. See Bourru.

Charpentier, Dr. Yol. xiv. p. 204. " Hyperhydrose abondante des
mains guerie par l'hypnotisme."

Chazarain, Dr. See D^cle, Ch.

Choteau, Dr. Yol. viii. p. 248. " Yomissements incoercibles cliez une
femme enceinte de 4 mois traites par suggestion. Guerison."

Claus et Jacobs, Drs. Yol. x. p. 312. "Un cas d'hysterie chez une
fillette de 8 ans, guerison par suggestion."

Darier, A., et B^rillon, Drs. See B^rillon.

David, Dr. Yol. vi. p. 57. " Nevropathie characterisee par des crises de
pleurs, datant de dix ans : guerison."

Yol. vi. p. 236. " Hysterie convulsive; id£es de persecution et de
suicide ; guerison. Somnambulisme hystdrique et somnambulisme
hypnotique."

Yol. ix. p. 243. "Un cas de neurasthenic sypliilitique, guerison par
suggestion."REFERENCES

443

Vol. xi. p. 268. " Contracture spasmodique de psoas iliaque gauche
datant de 4 ans. Guerison en une seule seance."

D£cle, Gh., et Chazarain, Dr. Yol. ii. p. 144. "Les courants de la
polarite dans l'aimant et dans le corps humain."

Dega, Mile, (docteur en rn£decine, Bordeaux). Vol. xiii. p. 373. "Un
cas de spasmes rythmiques hyst£riques. Guerison rapide par la
suggestion hypnotique."

Delbceuf, Professeur. Yol. vii. p. 200. "Quelques considerations sur
la psycliologie de l'hypnotisme k propos d'un cas de manie homicide
gu£rie par suggestion."

Yol. ix. pp. 225, 260. "L'hypnose et les suggestions criminelles."

Delbceuf et Fraipont, Profs. Yol. v. p. 289. "Accouchement dans
Thypnotisme."

Diaz, Dr. A. M. Yol. vi. p. 309. "Quelques faits d'anesth£sie chirurgicale
sous l'influence de la suggestion."

Dobrovolsky, Mile. Yol. v. pp. 274, 310. "Huit observations d'accouche-
ment sans douleur sous l'influence de Thypnotisme."

Domingos, Dr. Jaquaribe (Brazil). Yol. xv. p. 266. "Note sur la
guerison d'un cas d'hyperhydrose des mains."

Dumontfallier, Dr. Yol. i. p. 257. "De l'analg£sie hypnotique dans le
travail de raccouchement."

Yol. vi. p. 175. "De Taction de la suggestion pendant le travail de
Taccouchement."

VoL vii. p. 173. "Observation de choree gu£rie par la th^rapeutique
suggestive."

Yol. x. p. 21. " Yomissements incoercibles depuis 10 mois, chez une
jeune fille de 14 ans. Hysterie. Guerison rapide des vomissements
apr&s suggestion hypnotique."

Durand, Dr. (de Gros). Yol. x. p. 8. " Suggestions criminelles hypnotiques."

Yol. x. p. 161. "L'hypnotisme et la morale."

Eeden, Dr. van. Yol. vi. p. 5. " Les obsessions."

et van Renterghem. Yol. ix. p. 161. "Le traitement psychothera-
peutique de neurasth£nie."

Fanton, Dr. Vol. v. p. 150. "Un accouchement sans douleur sous
l'influence de l'hypnotisation."

Farez, Dr. Paul. Vol. xiii. p. 136. "Traitement psychologique du mal
de mer et des vertiges de la locomotion (chemin de fer, omnibus,
tramway, etc.)."

Vol. xiii. p. 336. "Hypnotisme et sommeil prolong^ dans un cas
de delire alcoolique."

Vol. xiii. p. 371. "Contre la morphinomanie."

Vol. xiv. p. 53. " Incontinence d'urine et suggestion pendant le
sommeil naturel."

Vol. xiv. p. 206. " Hyperhydrose palmaire."

Vol. xiv. p. 296. "Idees d&irantes de persecution avec hallucinations
auditives et visuelles consecutives h un traumatisme psychique chez
un glycosurique. Traitement hypnotique et guerison des troubles
mentaux, malgr£ la persistance de la glycosurie."

Forel, Prof. August. Vol. iii. p. 277. "Un cas d'auto-hypnotisation."

Fraipont et Delbceuf, Profs. See Delbceuf444

HYPNOTISM

G&lineau, Dr. Vol. viii. p. 353. "Les pseudo-phobies."

Goix, Dr. Yol. vi. p. 245. "Anorexie hysterique trait^e avec succ&s par
la suggestion hypnotique."

Gorodiche, Dr. Yol. viii. p. 53. "Un cas de claustrophobie gu£ri par la
suggestion hypnotique."

Yol. xi. p. 124. "Le mal de mer et le moyen de le pr&venir par la
suggestion hypnotique."

Gros, Dr. (Apt). Yol. ii. p. 245. "Impossibility de marcher datant de
3 ann^es. Hypnotisme et suggestion. Gu£rison."

Herrero, Dr. A. S. Yol. iv. p. 193. " L'hypnotisation forc£e et contre
la volont£ arrkt^e du sujet."

Jacobs. See Claus.

Janet, Dr. Jules. Yol. iii. p. 339. "Un cas d'hystdrie grave."

Joire, Dr. Yol. xiii. p. 39. "De l'emploi de l'analg^sie hypnotique
dans les accouchements."

Joire et Lemoine, Drs. Yol. vii. p. 68. "De l'hypnotisme par les miroirs
rotatifs dans le traitement de l'hyst£rie."

Yol. ix. p. 52. "Application de la psychoth£rapie k la consultation
m^dicale de l'hopital de la Charit£ de Lille."

Jong, Dr. de. Yol. vi. p. 78. "Quelques observations sur la valeur
medicale de la psychotlierapie."

Journ^e, Dr. Yol. v. p. 18. "Petite hyst^rie et troubles dysmenor-
rheas trails par suggestion hypnotique."

Kingsbury, Dr. Yol. v. p. 298. "Accouchement pendant le sommeil
hypnotique."

Knory, Dr. Yol. ix. p. 337. " Gu&rison d'un cas d'alcoolisme chronique
par la suggestion. Annulation de la suggestion par un reve."

Krafft-Ebing, Dr. R. de. Yol. vii. p. 262. " Hyst^rie grave. Gudrison
par la suggestion hypnotique."

Ladame, Dr. (Geneva). Yol. ii. pp. 129, 165. "Le traitement des
buveurs et des dipsomanes par l'hypnotisme."

Yol. ii. p. 257. "Observation de somnambulisme hysterique avec
d^doublement de personnalit^ gu^ri par la suggestion hypnotique."

Yol. iv. p. 67. " Inversion sexuelle chez un d6g£ner£."

Yol. v. p. 130. "La folie du doute et le d^lire du toucher."

Lagrave, Dr, Coste de. Yol. iv. p. 161. "Quelques experiences d'auto-
hypnotisme et d'auto-suggestion."

Lemoine et Joire, Drs. See Joire.

Levillain, Dr. Yol. iv. p. 353. " CEdkme bleu des hyst^riques reproduit
experimentalement par la suggestion hypnotique."

Li^beault, Dr. A. A. Yol. i. p. 71. "Traitement par suggestion hypno-
tique de l'incontinence d'urine chez les adultes et les enfants au
dessus de trois ans."

Yol. iii. p. 195. " Emploi de la suggestion hypnotique pour l'Mucation
des enfants et des adolescents."

Yol. ix. pp. 97, 134. "Yeille—Sommeil—Hypnotisme."

Yol. ix. pp. 289, 330. "Suggestions criminelles hypnotiques."

Lombroso, Prof. Yol. i. p. 245. "Diagnostic et gu^rison des paralysies
hyst^riques."

Mabille et Ramadier,. Drs. Yol. ii. p. 42. "D^roulement spontan£ ouREFERENCES

445

provoqu^ des £tats successifs de personnalit^ chez un hyst^ro-
6pileptique."

Marandon de Monthyel, Dr. E. Vol. xi. p. 289. "Deux cas de fausse
grossesse par crainte de la maternity avec rappel imm^diat de la
menstruation par suggestion k l'6tat de veille."

Marinesco, Dr. (Bucharest). Yol. xiv. p. 214. "Un cas d'hemiplegie
hyst&ique gu£ri par la suggestion hypnotique et 6tudi6 k l'aide de
la chronophotographie."

Marot, Dr. Yol. vii. p. 233. "Morphinomanie et suggestion: gu&ison
datant de trois ans et demi."

Mavroukakis, Dr. Antoine. Yol. ii. p. 374. "Les neurasth&iiques et
la suggestion. Agoraphobie trait^e avec succes par la suggestion."

Yol. vii. p. 374. "Les neurasth^niques et la suggestion."

Mesnet, Dr. Yol. ii. p. 33. "Un accouchement dans le somnambulisme
provoque."

Yol. iv. p. 321. " Autographisme et stigmates."

et Roux, Drs. Yol. iii. p. 119. "Spasmes de l'urkthre et troubles
nerveux."

Neilson, Dr. Hubert (Canada). Yol. vi. p. 14. "Le traitement hypno-
tique de la dipsomanie."

Osgood, Dr. Hamilton (America). Vol. ix. p. 300. " Quatre cas d'eczema
et un de dermatite trails par suggestion."

Pau de Saint-Martin, Dr. Vol. xv. p. 17. " Thanatophobie, agoraphobie
et divers troubles nerveux trails avec succes par la suggestion."

Vol. xv. p. 52. "Orthop^die mentale et morale par suggestion
pendant le sommeil naturel."

Pritzl, Dr. Vol. i. p. 157. "Accouchement d'une primipare pendant
l'hypnotisme."

Proust, Prof. Yol. iv. p. 267. " Automatisme ambulatoire chez un
hyst&rique."

Ramey, Dr. Vol. i. p. 60. " R^trecissement spasmodique du canal de
Turethre trait6 sans succes par l'urkthrotomie interne et gu£ri par la
suggestion hypnotique."

R^gis, Dr. Vol. x. p. 321. "Kleptomanie et hypnoth&rapie."

Esmond et Artigalas, Drs. See Artigalas.

Renterghem, Dr. van. Vol. vii. p. 215. "Rupture du p£rin£e complete
datant de quelques annees. Maladie organique du cceur defendant
Temploi du chloroforme pour provoquer l'anesthesie. Operation
radicale et sans douleurs notables, sous l'influence de la suggestion
sans sommeil."

et van Eeden, Drs. See Van Eeden.

Ribokoff, Dr. Vol. xiii. p. 127. "Du traitement de l'alcoolisme par la
suggestion."

Richet, Prof. Charles. Vol. i. pp. 170, 209. "Les mouvements in
conscients."

Yol. ii. p. 208. " Hypnotisme k distance."

Yol. ii. p. 225. "Experiences sur le sommeil k distance."

Rifat, Dr. Vol. ii. p. 297. " Etude sur l'hypnotisme et la suggestion."

Roubinovitch, Dr. Vol. ii. p. 364. " Le traitement des habitudes
vicieuses par la suggestion."446

HYPNOTISM

Rybalkin, Dr. T. Vol. iv. p. 361. "Brfilure du second degre provoquee
par suggestion."

Sandberg, G. (Sweden). Yol. vi. p. 331. "Applications de l'hypnotisme k
l'art dentaire."

Schmeltz, Dr. (Nice). Yol. ix. p. 47. "Operations chirurgicales faites
pendant le sommeil hypnotique."

Yol. x. p. 120. "Sarcome du testicle gauche op£r6 pendant le
sommeil hypnotique."

Schrenck-Notzing, Dr. von. Yol. iv. p. 172. "Un cas d'inversion
sexuelle am£lior£ par la suggestion hypnotique."

Yol. v. p. 15. "Remarques sur le traitement de l'inversion sexuelle
par la suggestion hypnotique."

Spehl, Prof. (Brussels). Yol. xi. p. 265. "Epilepsie Jacksonnienne.
Traitement par la suggestion indirecte. Guerison."

Stadelmann, Dr. Yol. xiv. p. 330. "Traitement psychique d'un cas de
folie d&irante (Zwangsirresin)."

Tillaux, Dr. Yol. iv. p. 26. " Une application chirurgicale, k l'Hotel-Dieu,
de l'anesth^sie somnambulique."

Tuckey, Dr. C. Lloyd (London). Yol. xv. p. 80. "Les indications de
l'hypnotisme et de la suggestion dans le traitement de l'alcoolisme."

Yalentin, Dr. Yol. xi. p. 116. "Du traitement des neurasth&iies graves
par la psychoth^rapie."

Ylavianos, Dr. Yol. xiii. p. 296. " Du traitement des phobies en g£n£ral
et de l'agoraphobie en particulier."

Yol. xiii. p. 361. "Le traitement de l'alcoolisme par l'hypnotisme."

Yol. xiv. p. 11. " Agoraphobie traitde par la suggestion hypnotique."

Yol. xiv. p. 72. "Tic convulsif du cou et de la tete gu6ri par la
suggestion hypnotique."

Voisin, Dr. Auguste. Yol. i. p. 4. " De l'hypnotisme et de la suggestion
hypnotique dans leurs applications au traitement des maladies
nerveuses et mentales."

Yol. i. p. 44. Observation F. " Hyst^rie, folie hyst^rique. Hallucina-
tions de la vue et de Fouie. Id£es de suicide. H£mianesth£sie et
h£mi - dyschromatopsie. Traitement par la suggestion hypnotique.
Gu&rison."

Yol. i. p. 161. " Morphinomanie gu^rie par suggestion hypnotique."

Yol. ii. p. 151. "Observations d'onanisme gu£ri par la suggestion
hypnotique."

Yol. ii. p. 364. " Le traitement des habitudes vicieuses par la suggestion."

Yol. iii. pp. 48, 65. "De la dipsomanie et des habitudes alcooliques
et de leur traitement par la suggestion hypnotique."

Vol. iii. p. 130. "Un cas de perversite morale gueri par la suggestion
hypnotique."

Vol. iii. p. 353. "Folie lyp^maniaque avec id^es de suicide datant de
8 ans. Phenomenes chor^iques hysteriques. Gu^rison par la
suggestion hypnotique."

Vol. ix. p. 22. "Attaques convulsives hyst£ro-£pileptiques. Yertiges
suivis de delire et d'hallucinations. Hypnotisme obtenu par le
miroir rotatif. Gu^rison."

Yol. ix. p. 245. "Nicotisme gueri par suggestion."REFERENCES

447

Vol. x. p. 27. " Hystero-catalepsie. Difficult^ de la suggestion
hypnotique tenant k l'absence de l'ouie et de la vue pendant
l'hypnose. Proced^ suivi de succks. Guerison de la catalepsie."

Yol. x. p. 341. "Folie lyp^maniaque avec hallucinations et id^es
de persecution, traitee avec succes par la suggestion."

Vol. x. p. 360. " Un accouchement dans l'etat d'hypnotisme."

Voisin, Dr. Jules. Yol. ii. p. 242. " Guerison par la suggestion hypnotique
d'idees deiirantes et de melancholie avec conscience."

Yol. xy. p. 15. " Orthopedie morale et hypnotisme."

Wetterstrand, Dr. Otto G. (Stockholm). Vol. v. p. 141. "Sur le traite-
ment de la morphinomanie par la suggestion hypnotique."

Wood, Dr. Edward. Vol. iv. p. 246. " Operation chirurgicale pratiqu^e
dans l'etat d'hypnotisme."

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Ami, Dr. " De la valeur therapeutique de l'entrainement suggestif k l'etat
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Azam, Dr. "Note sur le sommeil nerveux ou hypnotisme." Archives
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"Hypnotisme, double conscience et alterations de la personnalite."
Paris, 1887.

Babinski, Dr. J. " Hypnotisme et hysterie. Du r61e de l'hypnotisme en
therapeutique." Paris, 1891.

Beaunis, Prof. H. "Le somnambulisme provoque." Paris, 1887.

B^rillon, Dr. Edgar. "Hypnotisme et suggestion. Th^orie et applica-
tions pratiques." Paris, 1891.

" Premier Congres International de l'hypnotisme experimental et
therapeutique." Comptes rendus. Publics sous la direction du Dr.
Edgar Berillon. Paris, 1889.

" Les indications formelles de la suggestion hypnotique en psychiatrie et
en neuropathologies Paris, 1891.

Bernheim, Prof. " Hypnotisme, suggestion, psychoth^rapie. Etudes nou-
velles." Paris, 1891.

"L'hypnotisme et la suggestion dans leurs rapports avec la m^decine
legale." XII6. Congrfa International de M4decine. Moscou, 1897.

Bertrand, Alexandre. " Traite du somnambulisme." Paris, 1823.

"Du magnetisme animal en France." Paris, 1826.

Bon jean, Albert. "L'hypnotisme." Paris, 1890.

Bramwell, J. Milne, M.B. " La valeur therapeutique de l'hypnotisme et de
la suggestion." Congrfa International de Neurologie. Bruxelles, 1897.

Briand, Dr. " Notes pour servir k l'histoire de la therapeutique par sug-
gestion hypnotique." Premier Congres International de VHypnotisme.
Paris, 1889.

Bourru et Burot, Drs. "Action k distance des substances toxiques et
medicamenteuses." Paris, 1886.

" La suggestion mentale." Paris, 1887.

Charcot, Dr. J. M. "CEuvres Completes. Tome IX. Metallo-therapie
et Hypnotisme." Paris, 1890.448

HYPNOTISM

Charpignon, Dr. J. " Physiologie, m^decine et m^taphysique du mag-
n^tisme." Paris, 1848.

CiiOCQj fils, Dr. " L'hypnotisme et le crime." Bruxelles, 1894.

Delbceuf, Prof. J. " Uiie visite & la Salpetri&re." Bruxelles, 1886.

" De l'origine des effets curatifs de l'hypnotisme. ^tude de psychologie
exp^rimentale." Paris, 1887.

" Le magnetisme animal. A propos d'une visite k l'^cole de Nancy."
Paris, 1889.

"De l^tendue de Taction curative de l'hypnotisme. L'hypnotisme
appliqu6 aux alterations de l'organe visuel." Paris, 1890.

" De Tappr^ciation du temps par les somnambules." Proceedings of the
Society for Psychical Research, vol. viii. p. 414.

Dumontpallier, Dr. "De Taction vaso-motrice de la suggestion chez les
hysteriques hypnotisables." Gazette des Hdpitaux, 1885, p. 619.

Dupotet, M. "Journal du Magnetisme R£dig6 par une Society de Magn^ti-
seurs et de M6decins, sous la direction de M. le Baron Dupotet."
Yol. iv. 1847, p. 209 ; vol. viii. 1849, p. 66; vol. x. 1851, p. 510 ;
vol. xiv. 1855, p. 400; vol. xix. 1860, pp. 62, 105.

Durand, Dr. (de Gros). "Cours th^orique et pratique de braidisme ou
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Eeden, Drs. A. W. van Kenterghem et F. van. "Clinique de psycho-
thdrapie suggestive." 1887-1889. Bruxelles, 1889.

" Psycho-th6rapie. Compte rendu des r£sultats obtenus dans la clinique
de psycbo-th^rapie suggestive d'Amsterdam pendant la deuxieme
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Fisr^, Prof. Charles. "Sensation et mouvement." Paris, 1887.

Gascard, Dr. "Influence de la suggestion sur certains troubles de la
menstruation." Premier Gonqres International de VHypnotisme. p. 182.
Paris, 1889.

Janet, Prof. Pierre. "Les actes inconscientes dans le somnambulisme."
Bevue Philosophique, Mars, 1888.

" L'automatisme psychologique." Paris, 1889.

" 6tat mentale des hyst^riques." Paris, 1894.

"Nevroses et id£es fixes." Paris, 1898.

Joire, Dr. " De Temploi de l'analg^sie hypnotique dans les accouchements."
1898.

Jong, Dr. A. de. "Yaleur therapeutique de la suggestion dans quelques
psychoses." Gomptes rendus du premier Congrhs International de
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"Sur les obsessions." Deuxihme Congrhs International de VHypnotisme
experimental et therapeutique. Moscou, 1897.

" La suggestion hypnotique dans le traitement de l'alcoolisme et de la
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Krafft-Ebing, Dr. R. von. " Psychopathia sexualis, avec recherclies
sp^ciales sur l'inversion sexuelle." Traduit sur la huiti&me Edition
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Lafontaine, Ch. " Memoires d'un Magn^tiseur." Paris, 1860.

Li^beault, Dr. A. A. " Ebaucbe de psychologie." Paris et Nancy,
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"Le sommeil provoqud et les 6tats analogues." Paris, 1889.

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Liegeois, Prof. Jules. "De la suggestion et du somnambulisme dans leurs
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Luys, Dr. J. " Hypnotisrne experimental. Les emotions dans l'6tat
d'liypnotisme." Paris, 1890.

Magnin, Dr. Paul. " Etude clinique et exp^rimentale sur l'hypnotisme."
Paris, 1884.

Perronnet, Dr. Claude. " Force psychique et suggestion mentale."
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Pitres, Dr. A. "Des suggestions hypnotiques." Bordeaux, 1884.

Renterghem, Dr. van. " Un cas de tic rotatoire (spasmes cloniques
idiopathiques des muscles cervicaux), rebelle & toutes les medications
institutes—y compris le traitement chirurgical—gueri par la psycho-
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et van Eeden. See Van Eeden.

Richer, Prof. Paul. "Etudes cliniques sur la grande hysterie." Paris,
1885.

Richet, Prof. Charles. " L'homme et l'intelligence," Paris, 1884.

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Tarchanoff, Prof. Jean de. "Lecture des pensees." Paris, 1891.

Tourette, Dr. Gilles de la. "L'hypnotisme et les etats analogues au
point de vue m£dico-16gal." Paris, 1887.

"Maladie des tics," p. 585. Traite pratique des maladies du systems
nerveux, par T. Grasset and G. Rauzier : 4me edition, vol. ii. 1894.

Velander, Dr. " Un cas de mutisme melancliolique gu&ri par suggestion."
Premier Congres International de VHypnotisme, 1889, p. 323.

Velsen, Dr. P. van. "X propos d'hypnotisme." 1895.

" L'hypnotisme et la psycho-therapie."

Voisin, Dr. Auguste. " Etude sur l'hypnotisme et sur les suggestions chez
les ali£n£s." Paris, 1884.

"De la therapeutique suggestive chez les alients." Paris, 1886.

" Du traitement de l'amenorrhte par la suggestion hypnotique." Paris,
1887.

"Traitement et gu^rison d'une morphinomane par la suggestion
hypnotique." Paris, 1887.

"Traitement des maladies mentales et nerveuses par la suggestion
hypnotique." Paris, 1888.

"Les indications de l'hypnotisme et de la suggestion hypnotique dans
le traitement des maladies mentales et des ttats connexes." Premier
Gongrls International de VHypnotisme, 1889, p. 147. (Discussion
by Forel, R^poud, and others.) Paris, 1889.

" Traitement de certaines formes d'ali&iation mentale par la suggestion
hypnotique." Dritter International Congress fur Psychologie in
Milnchen, 1896, p. 380.45°

HYPNOTISM

Wundt, Prof. W. " Hypnotisme et suggestion." Traduit de l'allemand.
Paris, 1893.

Congrh International de Psychologie physiologique. Premiere Session.
Paris, 1890. Compte rendu pres^nte par la Society de Psychologie
Physiologique de Paris. Paris, 1890.

Congrh International de Neurologie, de Psychiatrie, d'Electricite mMicale et
d'Hypnologie. Premiere Session. Bruxelles, Septembre, 1897.
Communications. Paris, 1898.

Deuxibme Gongrbs International de VHypnotisme experimental et thera-
peutique. Paris, 1900.

GERMAN.

From the Zeitschrift fUr Hypnotismus, vol. i. 1892 to vol. x. 1900.

Bauer, Dr. C. Yol. v. p. 31. "Aus der hypnotischen Poliklinik des
Herrn Prof. Forel in Zurich."

Bergmann, Dr. Yol. ii. p. 50. " Ein Fall von Magensaftfluss, geheilt
durch hypnotische Suggestion."

Bertschinger, Dr. Yol. vi. p. 355. " Ein Fall von Scorbut und ein Fall
von Anamie durch Hypnotismus geheilt."

Vol. viii. p. 164. " Psychische Zwangszustande. (U4sum4 of German,
French, and English literature on the subject.)

Bonjour, Dr. Yol. vi. p. 146. "Neue Experimente uber den Einfluss
der Psyche auf den Korper." (Also in the Revue de VHypnotisme,
vol. xii. p. 79.)

Brugelmann, Dr. Wilhelm. Yol. ii. p. 84. " Psychotherapie und Asthma."

Yol. ii. p. 300. " Casuistisches." (Asthma.)

Yol. v. p. 256. "Suggestive Erfahrungen und Beobachtungen.,,

Yol. x. p. 13. "Zur Lehre von perversen Sexualismus."

Brunnberg, Dr. Tyko. Yol. i. p. 434. "Den Hypnotiska suggestionen
och dess Anwandung vid Menstruations Rubbningar."

Cullerre, Dr. Yol. iv. p. 377. " L'incontinence d'urine et son traite-
ment par la suggestion."

Delbceuf, Prof. YoL i. p. 46. " Einige psychologische Betrachtungen
tiber den Hypnotismus gelegentlich eines durch Suggestion geheilten
Falles von Mordmanie."

Delius, Dr. Yol. v. p. 219. "Erfolge der hypnotischen Suggestiv-
Behandlung in der Praxis. I."

Yol. vii. p. 36. " Erfolge der hypnotischen Suggestiv-Behandlung in
der Praxis. II."

Dollkin, Dr. Yol. iv. p. 65. "Beitrage zur Physiologie der Hypnose."

Forel, Prof. August. Yol. ii. p. 55. "Die Heilung der Stuhlverstopfung
durch Suggestion."

Yol. iii. p. 229. " Durch Spiritismus erkrankt und durch Hypnotismus
geheilt."

Yol. iii. p. 269. "Behandlung eines Falles von Paranoia incipiens (?)."REFERENCES

45i

Vol. iii. p. 270. "2 Falle von Enuresis, 1 diurna, 1 nocturna."

Vol. x. p. 1. " Beraerkungen zu der Behandlung der Nervenkranken
durch Arbeit und zur allgemeinen Psychotherapie."

Freud, Dr. Sigm. Yol. i. p. 102. "Ein Fall von hypnotischer Heilung
nebst Bemerkungen iiber die Entstehung hysterischer Symptome
durch den Gegenwillen."

Friedlander, Dr. Yol. x. p. 17. "Zur kritischen Stellung der so-
genannten Erythrophobie und ihrer Bebandlung durch Hypnose."

Fuchs, Dr. Yol. viii. p. 373. "Therapie der anomalen Yita sexualis bei
Mannern mit Beriicksichtigung der Suggestiv-Behandlung."

Fulda, Dr. Yol. ii. p. 404. " Morphinismus geheilt durch Hypnose."

Gerster, Dr. Karl. Yol. i. p. 319. " Beitrage zur suggestiven Psycho-
therapie."

Yol. iii. p. 206. " Ein Fall von hysterischer Kontraktur."

Graeter, Dr. Yol. viii. p. 129. "Ein Fall von epileptischer Amnesie
durch hypnotische Hypermnesie beseitigt."

Grossmann, Dr. Yol. i. p. 71. " Suggestion und Milchsecretion, vorlaufige
Mittheilung."

Yol. i. pp. 355, 398. "Die Suggestion, speciell die hypnotische
Suggestion, ihr Wesen und ihr Heilwerth."

Yol. ii. p. 198. "Die hypnotische Suggestion bei der Reposition und
Nachbehandlung von Knochenbrtichen und Verrenkungen."

Vol. iii. p. 76. "Die Erfolge der Suggestionstherapie (Hypnose) bei
organischen Lahmungen und Paralysen."

Yol. iii. p. 245. " Zur suggestiven Behandlung der Gelenkkrankheiten
mit besonderer Beriicksichtigung des chronischen Gelenkrheumatismus
und der Gicht."

Hassenstein, Dr. W. Yol. ii. p. 116. "Die Hypnose im Dienste der
Sauglingsernahrung."

Herzberg, Dr. Yol. ii. p. 297. "Suggestionstherapie in der Gynakologie."

Hilger, Dr. Yol. viii. p. 17. "Zur Kasuistik der hypnotischen Behandlung
der Epilepsie."

Yol. x. p. 190. "Beitrag zur Frage der Hypnotisirbarkeit."

Hilger und Sanger, Drs. Yol. x. p. 223. "Ein Fall von Aphonie nach
Laryngofissur geheilt durch systematische Sprachiibungen unter
Anwendung der Hypnose."

Hirt, Dr. Yol. ii. p. 287. " Ueber die Bedeutung der Yerbalsuggestion
fur die Neurotherapie."

Inhelder, Dr. Walter. Yol. vii. p. 201. " Ueber die Bedeutung der
Hypnose fur die Naclitwachen des Wartpersonals."

Jong, Dr. de. Vol. i. p. 178. "Die Suggestibility bei Melancholie."

Krafft-Ebing, Dr. R. von. Vol. iv. p. 27. "Zur Suggestivbehandlung
der Hysteria gravis."

Vol. ix. p. 249. " Ueber Ecmnesie."

Landgren, Dr. S. Yol. ii. p. 23. "Offener Brief an Herrn Dr. med.
Bingswanger in Kreuzlingen - Konstanz von Dr. S. Landgren,
Provinzialarzt in Leksand, Dalekarlien, Schweden."

Marcinowski, Dr. Vol. ix. p. 5. " Selbstbeobachtung in der Hypnose."

Moll, Dr. Albert. Vol. i. p. 107. " Literaturbericht."

Muralt, Dr. Vol. x. p. 75. "Zur Frage der epileptischen Amnesie."452

HYPNOTISM

Naef, Dr. Vol. vi. p. 321. "Ein Fall von temporaner, totaler, theilweise
retrograder Anmesie (durch Suggestion geheilt)."

Ranschenburg, Dr. Vol. iv. p. 269. "Beitrage zur Frage der hypnotisch-.
suggestiven Therapie."

Rente rghem, Dr. van. Vol. iv. p. 333. " Li^beault et son £cole." (Con-
tinued, vols, v., vi., and vii.)

Vol. vi. p. 259. "Ein Fall von Muskelkrampf (Tic rotatoire)."

Vol. vii. p. 329. "Ein interessanter Fall von spontanem Somnam-
bulismus."

Vol. viii. p. 1. " Dritter Bericht iiber die in der psycho-therapeutischen
Clinik in Amsterdam erhaltenen Resultate wahrend den Jahren
1893-1897."

Ringier, Dr. Georg. Vol. ii. p. 143. "Ein Fall von hysterischen
Mutismus."

YoL ii. p. 317. " Zur Behandlung der Bleichsucht."

Yol. vi. p. 150. " Zur Redaction der Suggestion bei Enuresis nocturna."

Sanger und Hilger. See Hilger.

Schmidt, Dr. Curt. Yol. ii. p. 285. "Suggestion und Magenerkrankungen."

Scholz, Dr. Yol. i. pp. 172, 187. " Casuistische Mittheilungen iiber
Suggestions-Therapie."

Schrenck-Notzing, Dr. von. Yol. i. p. 49. "Eine Geburt in der Hypnose."

Yol. i. p. 351. "Ueber Suggestion und suggestive Zustande."

Yol. ii. p. 1. " Ein Beitrag zur psychischen und suggestiven Behand-
lung der Neurasthenie.,,

Yol. ii. p. 30. " Die Suggestionstherapie bei krankliaften Erscbeinungen
des Geschlechtssinnes."

Yol. ii. pp. 356, 398. "Suggestion, Suggestivtherapie, psycliische
Behandlung. Ein kritischer Rtickblick auf die neuere Literatur."

YoL iv. p. 209. "Ein experimenteller -und kritischer Beitrag zur
Frage des suggestiven Hervorrufung circumscripter vasomotorischer
Yeranderungen auf der ausseren Haut."

Schupp, Falk. Yol. iii. p. 46. " Hypnose und hypnotische Suggestion in
der Zahnheilkunde."

Seif, Dr. Yol. ix. pp. 275, 371. " Casuistische Beitrage zur Psychotherapie."

Sjostrom, Dr. Axel. Yol. vii. p. 263. " Ein Fall von spontanem
Somnambulismus auf hysterischer Grundlage mit schnellster Heilung
durch hypnotische Suggestion."

Stadelmann, Dr. Vol. iii. p. 19. "Zwei Falle von Muskelziickungen bei
Anamischen geheilt durch Suggestion nach einmaliger Behandlung.,>

Stembo, Dr. Vol. ii. p. 302. " Casuistisches."

Tatzel, Dr. Vol. i. p. 245. "Eine Geburt in der Hypnose."

Vol. ii. p. 19. "Drei Falle von nichthysterischen Lahmungen und
deren Heilung mittelst Suggestion."

Vol. iii. pp. 260-268. " Fall von hysterischen Anfallen." " Hysterische
Krampfe." " Clonischer Krampf der rechten Armmuskulatur."
"Clonischer Krampf der Accessoriusmuskulatur." " Traumatische
Neurose." " Dipsomanie." " Rheumatismus." " Symptomatische
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Vol. vii. p. 249. " Die suggestive Behandlung einzelner Formen der
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Vol. vii. p. 257. "Hysterie und Suggestion."

Vol. ix. p. 231. "Eine hypnotische Entfettungskur."

Teuscher, Dr. Vol. iii. p. 321. "Ueber suggestiven Behandlung der
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Yogt, Dr. Oskar. Vol. vii. p. 285. " Spontane Somnambulic in der
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Vol. viii. p. 65. "Zur Methodik der atiologischen Erforschung der
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Wetterstrand, Dr. Otto G. Vol. i. p. 17. "Ueber den kiinstlich
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Vol. ii. pp. 306-312. " Casuistisches."

VoL iv. p. 8. " Die Heilung des chronischen Morphinismus, Opium-
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Books and Pamphlets.

Baierlaoher, Dr. Eduard. " Die Suggestionstherapie und ihre Technik."
Stuttgart, 1889.

Benedikt, Dr. Moriz. " Hypnotismus und Suggestion." Leipzig and Vienna,
1894.

Bingsw anger, Dr. Otto. " Die Pathologie und Therapie der Neurasthenie."
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Brugelmann, Dr. W. " Ueber den Hypnotismus und seine Verwerthung in
der Praxis." Berlin, 1889.

Dessoir, Dr. Max. " Bibliograpbie des Modernen Hypnotismus." Berlin, 1888.

" Das Doppel-Ich." Berlin, 1889.

" Erster Nachtrag zur Bibliograpbie des modernen Hypnotismus."
Berlin, 1890.

Dubois, Dr. " Correspondenz-Blatt fiir Seliweizer Aerzte." Nos. 10 and 11,
1893.

Forel, Dr. August. " Zu dem Gefabren -und dem Nutzen des Hypnotismus."
Munchener Med. Wochenschrift. No. 38, 1889.

" Der Hypnotismus, seine psycho-physiologische, mediciniscbe strafrecht-
liche Bedeutung und seine Handhabung." Stuttgart, 1891.

Hecker, Dr. Ewald. " Hypnose und Suggestion im Dienste der Heilkunde."
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Huckel, Dr. Armand. "Die Rolle der Suggestion bei gewissen Erschei-
nungen der Hysterie und des Hypnotismus." Jena, 1888.

Krafft-Ebing, Dr. R. von. " Eine experimented Studie auf dem Gebiete des
Hypnotismus nebst Bemerkungen uber Suggestion und Suggestions-
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Lehmann, Dr. Alfeed. " Die Hypnose und die damit verwandten normalen
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Moll, Dr. Albert. "Der Hypnotismus." Berlin, 1889.

"Der Rapport in der Hypnose." Leipzig, 1892.

Preyer, Dr. W. " Die Entdeckung des Hypnotismus." Berlin, 1881.

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" Der Hypnotismus." Vorlesungen gehalten an der K. Friedrich-
"Wilhelms-Universitat zu Berlin. Vienna and Leipzig, 1890.

Rieger, Dr. Conrad. " Der Hypnotismus." Jena, 1884.

Ringier, Dr. Georg. "Erfolge des therapeutischen Hypnotismus in der
Land praxis." Munich, 1891.

Schrenck-Notzing, Dr. von. "Suggestion, Suggestivtherapie, Psychische
Behandlung." Real-Encyclopedia.

" Ein Beitrag zur therapeutischen Verwerthung des Hypnotismus."
Leipzig, 1888.

"Ueber Hypnotismus und Suggestion." Munich, 1889.

"Die gerichtliche Bedeutung und missbrauchliche Anwendung des
Hypnotismus." Munich, 1889.

u Die Bedeutung narcotischer Mittel fur den Hypnotismus." Schriften
der Gesellschaft fur psychologische Forschung. Leipzig, 1891.

"Die Suggestions - Therapie bei krankhaften Erscheinungen des Ge-
schlechtsinnes." Stuttgart, 1892.

"Uber Suggestion und suggestive Zustande." Munich, 1893.

Stadelmann, Dr. " Der Psychotherapeut." Wurzburg, 1896.

Verworn, Dr. Max. " Erregung und Lahmung." Leipzig, 1896.

"Die sogenannte Hypnose der Thiere." Jena, 1898.

Wetterstrand, Dr. Otto G. " Der Hypnotismus und seine Anwendung
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" Ueber den kiinstlich verlangerten Schlaf, besonders bei der Behand-
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F^r^ and Binet, Profs. See Binet.

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"Peculiarities of Certain Post-Hypnotic States." Ibid. vol. iv. 1887,
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"Recent Experiments in Hypnotism." Ibid. vol. v. 1888, p. 3.

^-^Hypnotism and Telepathy." Ibid. vol. v. p. 216.

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^Critical Notices." Ibid. vol. v. pp. 260, 263.

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International Congress of Experimental Psychology. Second session, London,
1892.

' The Zoist. A Journal of Cerebral Physiology and Mesmerism." Thirteen
volumes published from 1844 to 1856.

JAMES BRAID.

The following are all the books and articles by Braid I have been able
to trace:—

1.	" Satanic Agency and Mesmerism reviewed, in a letter to the Rev.

H. M'Neile, M.A., in Reply to a Sermon preached by him"
(1842, 12mo).

2.	" Neurypnology, or the Rationale of Nervous Sleep, considered in

Relation to Animal Magnetism, illustrated by numerous cases of
successful application in the Relief and Cure of Disease" (1843,
12mo, p. 381).

3.	" The Power of the Mind over the Body: an Experimental Inquiry

into the Nature and Cause of the Phenomena attributed by Baron
Reichenbach and others to a 'New Imponderable1" (1846).

4.	"Observations on Trance or Human Hybernation" (1850).

5.	" Electro - Biological Phenomena, considered physiologically and

psychologically," from the Monthly Journal of Medical Science for
June, 1851, with Appendix.

6.	"Magic, Witchcraft, Animal Magnetism, Hypnotism and Electro-

Biology : being a Digest of the latest Views of the Author on
these Subjects." Third edition, greatly enlarged, embracing
observations on J. C. Colquhoun's History of Magnetism (1852).

7.	u Hypnotic Therapeutics, illustrated by Cases, with an Appendix on

Table-turning and Spirit-rapping." Reprinted from the Monthly
Journal of Medical Science for July, 1853.REFERENCES

8.	"The Physiology of Fascination and the Critics criticised" (1855).

The second part is a reply to the attacks made in The Zoist.

9.	"Observations on the Nature and Treatment of Certain Forms of

Paralysis (1855).

Articles in the Medical Times:—

10.	"Animal Magnetism" Yol. v. 1841-42, p. 283.

11.	"Animal Magnetism." Vol. v. p. 308.

12.	" Neuro-Hypnotism." Yol. vi. 1842, p. 230.

13.	" Phreno-Mesmerism." Yol. ix. 1843-44, p. 74.

14.	"Mr. Braid on Mesmerism." Yol. ix. p. 203.

15.	"Observations on some Mesmeric Phenomena." Yol. ix. p. 225.

16.	"Observations on Mesmeric and Hypnotic Phenomena." Yol. x.

1844, pp. 31 and 47.

17.	"Cases of Natural Somnambulism and Catalepsy, treated by

Hypnotism : with Remarks on the Phenomena presented during
Spontaneous Somnambulism, as well as that produced by various
Artificial Processes." Yol. xi. 1844-45, pp. 77, 95, and 134.

18.	"Experimental Inquiry whether Hypnotic and Mesmeric Mani-

festations can be adduced in Proof of Phrenology." Yol. xi. p. 181.

19.	" Magic, Mesmerism, Hypnotism, etc., historically and physiologically

considered." Yol. xi. pp. 201, 224, 270, 296, 399, and 439.

20.	"Case of Natural Somnambulism, etc." Yol. xii. 1845, p. 117

(article giving further history of case already reported).

21.	"The Fakirs of India." YoL xii. 1845, p. 437.

22.	"Dr. Elliotson and Mr. Braid." Yol. xiii. 1845-46, pp. 99, 120,

and 141.

23.	" On the Power of the Mind over the Body : an Experimental

Inquiry into the Nature and Cause of the Phenomena attri-
buted by Baron Reichenbach and others to a 'New Imponder-
able.' " Yol. xiv. 1846, pp. 214, 252, and 273.

24.	"Facts and Observations as to the Relative Yalue of Mesmeric and

Hypnotic Coma and Ethereal Narcotism, for the Mitigation or
entire Prevention of Pain during Surgical Operations." YoL xv.
1846-47, p. 381; continued, vol. xvi. 1847, p. 10.

25.	"Observations on the Use of Ether for preventing Pain during

Surgical Operations, and the Moral Abuse it is capable of being
converted to." Yol. xvi. p. 130.

26.	"Mr. Braid and Dr. Elliotson." Vol. xvii. 1847-48, p. 106.

27.	"Mr. Braid and Mr. Wakley." Yol. xvii. p. 163.

28.	" Observations on Trance or Human Hybernation." Yol. xxi. 1850,

pp. 351, 401, and 416.

In The Lancet:—

29.	"Queries respecting the alleged Voluntary Trance of Fakirs in

India." Yol. ii. 1845, p. 325.

In the Monthly Journal of Medical Science :—

30.	"Hypnotic Therapeutics, illustrated by Cases." Vol. viii. Third

Series, 1853, p. 14.462

HYPNOTISM

In the Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal:—

31.	" The Power of the Mind over the Body: an Experimental Inquiry

into the Nature and Cause of the Phenomena attributed by
Baron Eeichenbach and others to a ' New Imponderable.'"
Vol. lxvi. 1846, p. 286.

32.	" Facts and Observations as to the Relative Value of Mesmeric and

Hypnotic Coma, and Ethereal Narcotism, for the Mitigation or
entire Prevention of Pain during Surgical Operations." Vol. lxvii.
1847, p. 588.

33.	"On the Use and Abuse of Anaesthetic Agents, and the best Modes

of rousing Patients who have been too intensely affected by
them." Yol. lxx. 1848, p. 486.

34.	" On the Distinctive Conditions of Natural and Nervous Sleep."

Manchester, December 17th, 1845. A manuscript first published
in a German translation in Preyer's book, Der Hypnotismus, 1890.

35.	Manchester Times, September 1st, 1842. Account of case of total

deafness successfully treated by hypnotism.

36.	"Abstract Report of a Course of Six Lectures on the Physiology of

the Nervous System—with particular reference to the States of
Sleep, Somnambulism (natural and induced), and other conditions
allied to these—delivered at the Royal Manchester Institution,
in March and April, 1853, by William B. Carpenter." Manchester
Examiner and Times of April 30th, 1853. By James Braid.

37.	"On Table-moving: a Letter to the Editor of the Manchester

Examiner and Times" This letter appeared on June 22nd, 1853,
and was afterwards published as a pamphlet.

38.	A Manuscript on Hypnotism by James Braid. January, 1860.

Translated into French by Dr. Jules Simon as an appendix to
Neurypnologie, and into German by Preyer in Die Entdeckung
des Hypnotismus.

39.	"Talipes." The Lancet, vol. i. 1841-42, p. 202.

40.	" Entire Absence of Vagina, with Rudimentary State of Uterus, and

Remarkable Displacement of Rudimentary Ovaries and their
Appendages, in a married female, 74 years of age." Monthly
Journal of Medical Science, vol. xvi. (Third Series, vol. vii.)
1853, p. 230.

41.	"Observations on Talipes, Strabismus, Stammering, and Spinal

Contortion, and the best Methods of removing them." Edinburgh
Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. lvi. 1841, p. 338.

In the London Medical Gazette, New Series:—

42.	"Lateral Curvature of the Spine—Strabismus." Vol. i. 1840-41,

p. 445.

43.	"Stammering." Vol. i. p. 445.

44.	"Cure of Stammering." Vol. ii. 1840-41, p. 116.

45.	" On the Operation of Talipes." Vol. ii. p. 186.

46.	" Case of Congenital Talipes varus of a Foot with Ten Toes." With

illustration. 1848.

47.	"Arsenic as a Remedy for the Bite of the Tsetse, etc." British

Medical Journal, March 13th, 1858.REFERENCES

463

48.	The Manchester and Salford Sanitary Association. A letter (on

the means of improving the air of Manchester and upon the
connection between cholera and sewers) of November 15th, 1853,
in the Examiner and Times.

49.	The Manchester Geological and Natural History Societies. A

controversial letter in the Manchester Courier of November 26th,
1859.

The following are the principal references to Braid's work that I have
been able to trace :—

In the Medical Times:—

1.	"The New Theory of Animal Magnetism." Vol. v. 1841-42,

p. 175. Editorial account of a lecture given by Mr. Duncan on
Animal Magnetism, at the Hanover Square Rooms, on December
31st, 1841. The lecturer, who had adopted Braid's views, ex-
plained them.

2.	"Animal Magnetism." Yol. v. 1841-42, p. 283. Editorial

account of two lectures by Braid, one on March 1st, 1842, at
Hanover Square, and the other next day at the London Tavern.

3.	"On Mr. Braid's Experiments." By Dr. Herbert Mayo. Yol. vi.

1842, p. 11.

4.	"Mesmerism." Yol. vi. 1842, p. 47. Editorial account of two

lectures delivered by Braid.

5.	"Hypnotism, or Mr. Braid's Mesmerism." YoL x. 1844, p. 98.

Letter to Editor from " S." in praise of Braid's researches and of
the open-mindedness of the Medical Times.

6.	"Conversazione on Hypnotism." Yol. x. 1844, p. 137. Editorial

account of the Conversazione held by James Braid, at the Royal
Manchester Institution, on April 22nd, 1844, by invitation of
the Committee.

7.	"Jenny Lind and Hypnotism." Yol. xvi. 1847, p. 602. An

interesting account of Braid's experiments to show the power of
somnambulists in imitating languages and song.

8.	"Operations under Hypnotism in Paris." Yol. xix. 1859, p. 646.

Account of Azam, with reference to Braid.

9.	"Mr. Braid of Manchester." Yol. i. 1860 (new series), p. 355.

Obituary notice.

10.	"The Late Mr. Braid." Yol. i. 1860 (new series), p. 396. Letter

to Editor from A. W. Close, F.R.C.S., exposing the absurdity of
certain statements in the above account of Mr. Braid's death.

In The Lancet:—

11.	"Mr. Braid's new Operation for Club Foot." Yol. i. 1841-42,

p. 326.

12.	"Hypnotism in Paris." Yol. ii. 1859, p. 650. Article referring

to Azam, Yelpeau, Broca, etc., and stating that they had copied
the methods of Braid and Esdaile.

13.	"Sudden Death of Mr. James Braid, Surgeon, of Manchester."

Yol. i. 1860, p. 335.4^4

HYPNOTISM

In the Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal:—

14.	Critical article on Braid's "Observations on Trance or Human

Hybernation." Vol. lxxiv. 1850, p. 421.

15.	"Abstract of a Lecture on Electro-Biology," delivered at the

Royal Institution, Manchester, on March 26th, 1851, by James
Braid. Vol. lxxvi. 1851, p. 239.

16.	"Death of Mr. James Braid, Surgeon, of Manchester." Vol. v.

1859-60, p. 1068.

17.	"Case of Contracted Foot with Severe Pain, cured by Mesmerism."

The Zoist, vol. iii. 1845-46, p. 339. Article by Elliotson,
referring to Braid.

18.	" Researches in Magnetism, Electricity, Heat, Light, Crystallisation,

and Chemical Attraction in their Relations to Vital Force,"
By Karl, Baron von Reichenbach, Ph.D. Translated by
"William Gregory, M.D. London, 1850.

19.	Article V. The British and Foreign Medico - Ghirurgical Review,

vol. viii., July to October, 1851, p. 378. An article on
Mesmerism, Magnetism, and Hypnotism, with favourable
reference to Braid and his views.

20.	" Death of Mr. Braid, Surgeon." The Manchester Courier, Saturday

March 31st, 1860, This article gives an account of Braid's life
and writings.

21.	"Observations on Animal Magnetism." By M. AndraL London

Medical Gazette, voL i. 1832-33, p. 792.

22.	" Electrical Psychology; or the Electrical Philosophy of Mental

Impressions, including a New Philosophy of Sleep and of Con-
sciousness." From the works of the Rev. John Bovee Dods and
Prof. J. S. Grimes. Revised and edited by H. G. Darling, etc.
London, Glasgow. Printed 1851.

23.	"Spirit Manifestations examined and explained: Judge Edwards
, refuted ; or an Exposition of the Involuntary Powers and In-
stincts of the Human Mind." By J. B. Dods. New York, 1854.

24.	"The Philosophy of Mesmerism and Electrical Psychology . . .
" comprised in two Courses of Lectures, by J. B. Dods." Edited

by J. Burns. London, 1876.

25.	" Mysteres des sciences occultes." Par un Initio. Paris (no date).

A short account of Braid is given, pp. 296-300, and at p. 289
is to be found a portrait of Braid. (Facsimile d'une lithographie
d'apr&s nature, imprim^e & Liverpool, en 1854.)

26.	"Ephem^rides de l'hypnotisme." This contains an account of

Braid, without reference to his later works. Eevue de VHyp-
notisme, vol. ii. 1888, p. 276.

27.	" Neurypnology, or The Rationale of Nervous Sleep." By James

Braid, M.R.C.S., etc. A New Edition, edited, with an Intro-
duction, Biographical and Bibliographical, embodying the
Author's Views, and further Evidence on the Subject, by
Arthur Edward Waite. London, 1899.

Note.—Numerous other works and articles containing accounts of Braid are
included in the general references.APPENDIX.

(A) JAMES BRAID.

Since writing the historical chapter of this book, my attention has
been drawn to the following independent account of the origin of
Braid's researches, from the pen of the late Dr. Williamson, formerly
Professor of Natural History at Owens College, Manchester. This I
think of sufficient interest to quote in detail:—

" During the fourth decade of this century the subject of clairvoy-
ance had been much discussed in social circles, and in the early days
of my professional life two men who lectured on the subject visited
Manchester. The first of these was a Frenchman, who illustrated his
lecture by experiments on a young woman. At one of his lectures the
girl was declared to be in a state of sound sleep. A considerable number
of medical men were present, including our leading ophthalmist, Mr.
Wilson, and one Mr. Braid. The latter gentleman was loud in his
denunciation of the whole affair. The audience then called upon Mr.
Wilson for his opinion of the exhibition. Of course the question was,
' Is this exhibition an honest one or is it a sham 17 ' Is the girl really
asleep, or is she only pretending to be so ]' In reply to the call of
the audience, Mr. Wilson stood up and said: 1 The whole affair is as
complete a piece of humbug as I ever witnessed.' The indignant
lecturer, not familiar with English slang phrases, excitedly replied:
'The gentleman says it is all Bog; I say it is not Bog; there is no
Bog in it at all/ By this time several of us, including Mr. Wilson, had
gone upon the platform to examine the girl. I at once raised her
eyelids, and found the pupils contracted to two small points. I called
Wilson's attention to this evidence of sound sleep, and he at once gave
me a look and a low whistle, conscious that he was in a mess. Braid
then tested the girl by forcing a pin between one of her nails and the
end of her finger. She did not exhibit the slightest indication of
feeling pain, and Braid soon arrived at the conclusion that it was not
all 4 Bog.'

"He subsequently commenced a long series of elaborate experi-
ments, which ended in his placing the subject on a more philosophical
basis than had been done by any of his predecessors. For the term

2 h466

HYPNOTISM

1 Animal Magnetism' and other popular phrases, Braid substituted
'Hypnotism' and 4Monoideism.'

" The hypothesis which he adopted was that the subjects of these
experiments required to have their mental faculties concentrated upon
one idea; this accomplished, two effects will be produced in a few
moments. The first is a state of sound sleep, which he succeeded in
obtaining through either of the several senses, sight, hearing, or touch;
but his favourite plan was to seat the individual operated upon in an
arm-chair, whilst he held a bright silver object, usually his lancet case,
a few inches above the person's eyebrows, and required him to raise
his eyes upwards until he saw the shining metal, soon after doing
which, the patient went off into a sound sleep. But a still more re-
markable result followed, indicating a condition of mind not so easily
explained as illustrated.

" On one occasion I called Braid in to see a young lad who had
been suffering fearfully from a succession of epileptic attacks, which
had failed to yield to medical treatment. So far as the epilepsy was
concerned the hypnotic treatment was a perfect success; the boy, after
having long endured numerous daily attacks, was perfectly relieved
after the third day's hypnotic operation. For five subsequent years,
during which the youth remained under my observation, the epilepsy
did not return.

"Braid always awoke his subjects from their hypnotic condition by
sharply clapping his hands close to the sleepers' ears, which at once
aroused them. One day, before doing this, Braid said to me, 'I will now
show you another effect of hypnotism. Lend me your pocket-book and
pencil.' I did so. He then placed the book in the boy's left hand,
which he raised into a convenient position in front of the lad's breast.
My pencil was placed in his right hand, which was lifted into such a
position that the point of the pencil rested upon one of the pages of
the book. This attitude was rigidly maintained until Braid whispered
in his ear: 4Write your name and address.' The lad did so: 'John
Ellis, Lloyd Street, Manchester.' This done, the book and pencil were
restored to my pocket. Braid then awoke the boy and asked, 4 John,
what were you doing just now ?' He looked about rather wildly for
a moment, and persistently answered, 'Nothing.' Braid then sent him
off to sleep again. The question was again asked : ' John, what were
you doing just now 19 The lad answered promptly, but in a low voice :
' Writing my name and address.' A succession of similar experiments
clearly indicated two things : first, that a mesmerised individual would
do what he was told to do; second, that things done when in that
state were remembered only when the same condition was resumed;
otherwise they were forgotten, indicating a dual state of mind, which, so
far as I know, has not yet been satisfactorily explained. I cannot
learn that Braid's method of experimental inquiry and of philosophical
induction has been continued by any person since he died.APPENDIX

467

" The second visitor to Manchester was of a different type. He
appeared to be a man of some financial position in the world, since he
had a gentlemanly demeanour and kept a yacht, of which the lad whom
he brought with him to Manchester was said to be cabin-boy. It was
affirmed that this lad was a clairvoyant, who could see to read, however
much his eyes were plastered up. Some persons were invited out of
the audience to apply this plastering, and after they had done so, the
lad certainly read as easily as before. I at once expressed myself
dissatisfied with the test, and was requested by some of the audience
to undertake the closing of the eyes with these plasters. I tried to do
so, but careful watching convinced me that by vigorous movements of
the muscles acting upon the eyelids, the lad contrived to loosen a
minute fold of the plaster close to his eye; through this fold he
managed to read the books. I saw at once that this could be stopped
by cutting a long strip of plaster which should cover the eyebrows, and
at the same time binding down the edges of all the plasters with which
the eyes were closed. In order to prevent any muscular action from
disturbing this additional bandage, I stretched it tightly round the
temples and fastened the two ends firmly together at the back of his
head. I had no sooner done this with one of his eyes, than he pre-
vented me from adopting the same plan with the other; he began to
yell and declared I was killing him with pain. His master instantly
turned upon me, and affirmed that I had covered that part of the lad's
forehead with which he did see. Then the credulous fools in the
audience fell foul of me for being so cruel. Of course I threw the thing
up and resumed my seat. The next day a few medical friends met
the two fellows at their hotel and plugged each of the boy's eyes with
small balls of cobbler's wax; the clairvoyant's vision at once terminated,
they left, and no more was afterwards heard of them."

(B) SPIRITUALISM, CLAIRVOYANCE, TELEPATHY

>^A certain section of the general public believe that there is a
Connection between hypnotism and spiritualism, and that those who
^ practise the former must be in sympathy with the latter. Any
connection with the Society for Psychical Research is also regarded as
y affording still stronger evidence of spiritualistic belief. I wish, there-
fore, to supplement what I have already said as to spiritualistic and
other so-called occult phenomena. On pages 146-7, I called attention j
^ to some alleged spiritualistic manifestations which were said to have
occurred during hypnotic trance. In the case referred to, the
medium's condition was obviously not one of hypnosk^J^^

haye np.yer seen a single instance in which hypnotic phenomena could
"with justice be claimed to be of spiritualistic -originr - —*"""

Although undoubtedly certain members of the Society for468

HYPNOTISM

Psychical Besearch are believers in spiritualism, the main work of
that body has been destructive. Thus, the late Professor Henry
Sidgwick said: "We have continually combated and exposed the
frauds of professional mediums, and have never yet published in our
NProceedings any report in favour of any of them." The following are
examples of this destructive work:—

(1)	A report of an investigation by Sir William Crookes, Sir
Victor Horsley, and the late Dr. A. T. Myers, of an alleged super-
natural phenomenon to which the spiritualists attached great import-
ance, and the investigators none at all.

(2)	The complete destruction by Dr. Hodgson of the Theosophical
claim to miraculous powers, and of the existence of Mahatmas.

(3)	A series of experiments contrived to illustrate the "Possi-
bilities of Mal-observation and Lapse of Memory." These practically
refuted the assertions that certain phenomena must be due to spirits,
because they could not have been produced by mortals. Mr. S. J.
Davey, a member of the Society, since deceased, gave several years
to the assiduous practice of certain tricks of sleight of hand; these
he so successfully supplemented by ingenious psychological artifices
as to render them inexplicable. It would be difficult to find any
piece of laboratory work on attention comparable in subtlety and
skill with Mr. Davey's demonstrations; while, if we wish to protect
ourselves and our fellow-creatures against fraud and imposture, this
kind of reply is more effective (though more difficult to obtain) than
any mere denial or attempt at ridicule can be.

/SAlthough I have seen nothing to convince me of the genuineness
'of alleged spiritualistic phenomena, the subject is not without interest
s to the physician. From time to time I see patients whose health
has undoubtedly suffered from their taking part in spiritualistic
^sdances. One of these, a young lady now under my care, was supposed
to be what is termed a " sensitive," and underwent training with a
view of developing this quality. She informed me that during the
stances she was frequently conscious of the presence of a spirit. Her
hands then became lifeless and fell from the table, and she experienced
<^j>eculiar sensation of suffocation. She is now ill both mentally and
^^feysically, and fears that she is losing her reason.

Although I know of no genuine case of clairvoyance, many
persons believe in its existence. The latter may be divided into two
groups:—

(1) Those who are the victims of self-deception. I have been assured
by several persons, whose honesty and good faith were undoubted,
that they had succeeded in making hypnotic somnambules see what
was taking place at a distance. When the experiment was repeated
in my presence, the source of fallacy was at once obvious. The
operator gave the necessary information to the subject by leading
questions and the like.APPENDIX

469

some instances it is the ignorance of the spectators which
causes belief in the so-called occult powers. For example, an un-
v^ualified man, who practised "mesmeric healing," informed me that
he had a somnambule in his pay who possessed the power of clair-
voyance. She could, he said, diagnose in this way the diseases of
"TlETpatients, and also give important suggestions as to their treatment.
The man obviously believed his own statements. I pointed out to
him, however, that he took no steps to confirm his clairvoyant's
diagnosis, and that this might possibly be a wrong one. As he was
quite willing to put the matter to the test, I offered myself for
experiment. The clairvoyant, after holding my hand for some time,
informed me that I had disease of the liver. Although I doubtless
possess this organ, it has certainly never forced itself on my notice
through disordered function. I was, however, suffering from a
poisoned wound of the finger, and the axillary glands and lymphatics
of my arm were inflamed. My hand was swollen and enveloped in
a poultice, and my arm was in a sling. These obvious outward
indications of disease the clairvoyant failed to notice.

(2) Cases where the alleged clairvoyant power is assumed for purposes
of deception. Of this the following is a typical example :—

I was asked one day by a young woman to buy tickets for a
^lecture on clairvoyance. She assured me that not only could she see
what was taking place at a distance, but also that she was able to
foretell future events. She could, for example, predict the rise and
fall of stocks, or name the winner of the next Derby. I pointed out
that if this were true, she might easily have saved herself the trouble
of calling: her clairvoyant powers ought to have informed her that
had no intention of purchasing tickets for her lecture.

As already stated, although successful telepathic experiments
^rere formerly reported by several members of the Society for
^Psychical Kesearch, these have not been confirmed by later observers.
Despite this, the belief in telepathy is widespread. A typical
example is cited by William James, not, however, as evidence in
v favour of telepathy (The Varieties of Religious Experience, p. 125).
The patient sat quietly with a Christian Science healer for half an
hour each day, and attributed the result of the treatment to telepathy,
although he admitted that verbal suggestions were given. The
messages were received, he said, in a mental stratum quite below the
level of his immediate consciousness, and reached him from a corre-
sponding mental stratum of the healer's mind. As we have seen, many
, .,of the errors of the mesmerists and of the Salpetriere school arose
Cihrough unconscious suggestion. In the case just cited, suggestion
was obviously present, and in others, where the telepathic healing
was said to be done from a distance, suggestion was not excluded.
The patients knew that an attempt was being made to influence them,
and thus self-suggestion came into play.47°

HYPNOTISM

The idea that one may be influenced from a distance, against one's
will and without one's knowledge, is startling enough, even when the
—supposed influence is asserted to be for one's good. What must one
\think, however, of the mystic who was an anti-vivisectionist as well
^a&\a telepathist, and who claimed to have killed Pasteur by means
malign telepathic influences 1 With a few exceptions, i.e. the
more or less rigorously conducted experiments already referred to,
the so-called telepathy of the present day is simply an attempt to
represent in pseudo-scientific language the superstitions and practices
^of the dark ages. The occultist who claims to kill telepathically
differs little, if at all, from the witch who was willing to do an enemy
to death by the slow melting of his waxen counterfeit and the like.

(C) PSYCHICAL IMPOTENCE

Of late years a very important part of my practice has been the
treatment of psychical impotence by " suggestion"; quite recently I
had four such cases under my care at the same time.

Most of the patients were strong healthy men, and all were free
from any physical sexual defect. In all of them other methods of
treatment had been tried but without result.

These patients fall under three distinct classes:—

I.	Cases associated with homo-sexual instinct. Here the impotency
only existed in regard to the opposite sex.

II.	Cases in which sexual desire was feeble or non-existent.

III.	Cases in which sexual desire and activity existed, but whore,
despite this, there still was complete impotency.

Class I.—The following is a typical example of this group:—

The patient, aged 38, was sent to me by Sir Victor Horsley on
October 31, 1903. His sexual instincts from earliest boyhood had
been homo-sexual, and unnatural connection has frequently taken
place.

He married, hoping this would cure him, and that he would have
an heir to his title and estates, but when I saw him there had been
complete impotence as far as his wife, or any other woman, was con-
cerned during the whole of his life.

The attraction of his own sex was a veritable obsession, while the
idea of touching his wife was absolutely repugnant to him.

After prolonged treatment by suggestion he entirely got rid of his
morbid ideas and habits, and his sexual relations with his wife became
quite normal. At a later date he reported the birth of a child.

Cases belonging to this class I have always found difficult and
tedious, and failure has been frequent.APPENDIX

471

Class II.—The following is a typical example of this group :—

The patient, aged 40, had been' married seven years. He had
neither masturbated nor attempted connection before marriage, and
sexual desire had always been very feeble. On marriage he found
that he was quite impotent, and he remained so despite varied medical
and surgical treatment.

When he came to me he had long ceased to have any sexual feel-
ing, but he wished to be cured as his wife greatly desired a child.

After three weeks' treatment his sexual life became normal, and a
child was born eleven months later.

Class III.—The following is a typical example of this group :—

Mr.-, aged 38, was sent to me on March 26, 1908, by Dr.

Attlee and Mr. Pardoe. He had been continent before marriage, but
had masturbated a little in boyhood. He had nocturnal emissions and
strong sexual desire, but erection always ceased when he tried to
approach his wife.

He had been married six years, and during this time the impotence
had been complete, despite varied medical and surgical treatment.

He was treated by suggestion on seventeen occasions, and his
sexual life became normal. In February 1909 he wrote to confirm
his recovery, and to inform me that his wife was pregnant. He is now
the father of three children.

With the patients belonging to Class II, and Class III. I have had
about 90 per cent of successes, and in most instances prolonged treat-
ment has not been required.

Many of them suffered acute mental distress, and keenly felt what
they regarded as the shame of impotency. In fact it is almost
impossible to exaggerate the amount of family unhappiness dependent
upon sexual disabilities.

In some instances the wives had strong sexual feelings, while in
most there was an intense desire to have children. These wives were
not only unhappy themselves but often made the lives of their husbands
a burden to them by their reproaches.

In several of the successful cases the patients were men of title and
large landed estates, and naturally were very anxious to have heirs.

As far as I know, " suggestion" alone gives good results in cases
of psychical impotency.INDEX.

Age, as influencing susceptibility to hyp-
nosis, 62
Agoraphobia, 244-5, 249, 252
Alcoholism and dipsomania, 221-9

cases of, treated by suggestion,1 166,
221-6

Amenorrhoea, cases of, 198, 199
Amnesia during hypnosis, 106, 108, 109,
110, 396, 397
post-hypnotic, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108,
135, 136, 153
Anaemia, cerebral, 306-7
Anaesthesia and analgesia in hypnosis, 94,

95, 107, 322
Anaesthesia in hypnotic operations, 158-

176, 315-7
Anaesthetics in surgery, 355
Analgesia in hypnosis, 153, 169, 202, 322,
361

post-hypnotic, 159, 160, 162-175, 360
Animal magnetism, 305, 466
Animals, hypnosis in, chap, viii., 156-8
Aphonia, cases of, 181, 189
Appendix, 465-70
Further reference to Braid, 465-7
Spiritualism, clairvoyance, telepathy,
467-70

Appetites, hunger and thirst, as influenced

by suggestion, 92-5
Attention, 64, 67, 339-42

and rapport, 342-4
Automatism, and its supposed connection
with hypnosis, 143, 377, 408, 425, 309
discussion on, 311-30

Bleeding by suggestion, 82-3
Blepharospasm treated by suggestion, 189,
233

Blind, hypnotising the, 282
Blistering by suggestion, 83-4
prevented by suggestion, 84
Bowels, action of the, as affected by sug-
gestion, 87, 183, 193, 194, 196, 202,
203, 207, 208, 215, 232, 233, 237

1 In all instances where "cases" are cited, it
is to be understood that these have been treated
by suggestion, associated with hypnotic methods.

British Medical Association Committee and
hypnotism, 36-7
Mesmeric Institutions, 9

Cannabis Indica in the induction of hyp-
nosis, 44, 45, 69, 293
Cases, tables of, illustrating susceptibility

to hypnosis, 58, 59, 60, 62, 67
Catalepsy, experimentally induced by sug-
gestion, 75, 77, 78, 80, 151, 152, 153,
155, 357
in animals, 156, 157
cases treated by suggestion, 183-5, 187
Cerebration, unconscious, Carpenter's, 370-4
Children, and mesmerism, 11-12
their susceptibility to hypnosis, 62, 299
vicious and degenerate, hypnotic treat-
ment of, 232-8
Chloral in the induction of hypnosis, 47,
51

Chloroform, and mesmerism, 18
in the induction of hypnosis, 45-7, 51,
69, 185
Chorea, and mesmerism, 12

cases of, 260, 261, 422
Clairvoyance, 10, 141, 143, 145, 468-9
Claustrophobia, 249
cases of, 243, 244
Coma, hypnotic, 97, 108, 150
Confinements during hypnosis, 158, 169-
172, 175-6

Consciousness in hypnosis, 97, 98, 108, 311
Crimes, suggested, 143, 311, 313, 314,
318-22, 324, 325, 328, 330, 425, 426,
429, 430, 431
Criminal suggestions, 312, 324-7, 329, 330
Crystal-gazing, 395, 396
Cutaneous sensibility as influenced by

hypnosis, 91, 92
Cyst, removal of, during hypnosis, 166

Dangers, so-called, of hypnotism, 65, 66,

292, 293, 425-32, 436, 437
Deception and mal-observation in hypnotic

experiments, 135, 136, 141, 143-9
Dilire du toucher, 241, 247, 248, 249
Dentistry, painless, in hypnosis, 162-9

473474

HYPNOTISM

Dipsomania and alcoholism, 221-9

cases of, 221-6, 335, 422
Discromatopsia, 181

Divining rod, action of, Braid's explanation,
284

"Double consciousness," for experimental
evidence of the existence of, see
"Automatic Writing in Hypnosis,"
139-41

"Consciousness in Hypnosis," 97-8
" Hypnotic and Post-Hypnotic Apprecia-
tion of Time," 114-39
"Memory in Hypnosis," 100-14
"Spontaneity in Hypnosis," 98-100
Beaunis' theory of, 370
Braid's recognition of, 293, 294
Carpenter's theory of, 370-74
Dessoir's, Max, theory of, 358
James', William, theory of, 358
Moll's theory of, 352, 353
Myers' theory of, 358-67
"Evidence for the Existence of a Sub-
liminal Consciousness," 378-85
" Facts in support of a Secondary
Consciousness drawn from Normal
Waking and Sleeping Life," 387-90
" Hypnotic Phenomena which apparently
support the Theory of a Secondary
Consciousness," 390-98
Discussion on:—

Beaunis' theory of, 402-4
Paul Janet's theory, 402
Delbceuf s theory, 404
Gurney's theory, 404-7
and hysteria, 417-18
author's views of, 407-17 418-20.
summary, 437-9
Drug habits, 229-32
Dysmenorrhcea, cases of, 192, 194-9

Echolalia, 76
Eczema, cases of, 263-6
Elephantiasis, 15, 16, 158
Enuresis nocturna, cases of, 235, 238
Epilepsy, cases of, 257-60

" prolonged sleep " in, 259, 260
Error, sources of, in hypnotic experiment,
144-8

rules for avoiding in hypnotic experi-
ment, 149

Experiments, hypnotic, chapter on, 74-143
time appreciation, table of, 133.

Faith as influencing susceptibility to

hypnosis, 64
Fashion in medicine, 289
Flexibilitas cerea in hypnosis, 15, 75, 153
Folie du doute. See D&ire du toucher

Hallucinations in hypnosis, 93, 94, 104,
114, 115

Hallucinations, Moll's view of negative, 351-3
Harveian oration, Elliotson's, 7
Hashish. See Cannabis Indica
Health, as affected by hypnotic experiments,

138, 292, 293, 425-32, 436-7
Hearing, increased by suggestion, 89

arrested by suggestion, 89
Heat, minute variations in, detected in

hypnosis, 92
Hiccough, cases of, 182, 189

influence on susceptibility, 270
Historical, chap, ii., 3-39, 433
Homoeopathy and hypnotism, 289
Hospitals, mesmeric, 9
at Calcutta, 15, 16
Hyperesthesia of special senses in hypnosis,

78, 89-92, 146, 148, 209
Hyperhidrosis, cases of, 264, 265, 266
Hypnosis, susceptibility to, 57, 59, 61, 62,
63, 71, 72

methods of inducing and terminating

40, 44, 52, 53, 55, 59, 139, 434
self, 52, 392

the physiological phenomena of, 74-95
psychological phenomena of, 95-143
rapport in, 96
consciousness in, 97-8
spontaneity in, 98-100, 103, 105, 138
memory in, 100-14, 137, 140, 355, 388,

399, 400, 401, 408-12
automatic writing in, 139-41
volition in, 143, 292, 294, 295, 302, 303,
304, 305, 306, 308, 309, 311, 331,
345, 348, 351, 352, 354, 355, 377,
437

different stages of, chap, vii., 150-5
in animals, chap, viii., 156-7
and mechanical methods, 299
and sleep, 310

and attention, 64, 339, 340, 341, 342
and catalepsy, '75, 77, 78, 151, 156,
183, 357

and inhibition of pain, 158-76, 360,
367, 368

and insanity, 66, 210-21, 355, 357, 358,

422, 428, 430-2
phenomena of, chap, v., 74-143
Hypnotic experiments. See chap, v., 74-143

management of, chap, vi., 144-9
Hypnotism, origin of, 3
spread of, 30, 34, 35
phenomena of. See Hypnosis
and the British Medical Association,
36-7

and mesmerism, 25, 39
dangers of. See Dangers
and the medical profession, 24, 435, 437
its value in the treatment of disease.
See "Hypnotism in Surgery," chap,
ix., 158-76, and "Hypnotism in
Medicine," chap, x., 177-266
dissociative triumph of, 360INDEX

475

Hypnotism, associative triumph of, 361

intellectual achievements of, 361
Hysteria, cases of, 178-206
as influencing susceptibility, 31, 66, 297,
298

supposed connection with hypnosis, 296,

301, 302, 354-5
a disease of the subliminal self, 364-7,
378

and multiplex personality, 417

Idee fixe. See Obsessions
Idiots, want of attention in, 67, 298, 340
Imitation as influencing susceptibility, 64,
65

Impotence, psychical cases of, 209, 245,
470, 471

Inhibition of sensory impressions, 89, 107,

110, 376, 377
Insanity. See Hypnosis
Insomnia, 194, 200-3, 230
Intuitive powers of mesmeric subjects, 145
Involuntary muscular and vasomotor
systems, changes in, 81-9

Jar-phoonk, 277

Lachrymal secretion as influenced by

hypnosis, 87
Latah, 354, 356, 431
Lethargy, 177

Magnetism, animal, 303
Magnets, etc., 286, 300
Mal-observation. See Deception
Medical cases, management of, 267. See

" Hypnotism in Medicine "
Melancholia, cases of, 205, 214, 217, 219
Memory. See Hypnosis
Menstruation, disorders of, cases, 191, 196-
200

experimentally altered by suggestion, 87
Mental condition as influencing suscepti-
bility, 63, 65
Mesmeric trance, painless operations during,

8-10, 15,16, 18, 19, 54, 158
Mesmerism, 158, 211, 275, 277, 433
and the medical profession, 7, 8, 10, 24
the origin of hypnotism, 3
practised at University College, 6, 7
benefits of, 8, 13
and hysteria, 9, 17
and medical journals, 9
and chloroform, 18
and children, 11
in India, 14-17
Mesmerists, theories, etc., of the later, 6-21,
275-8

Methods of inducing hypnosis, chap, iii.,
41-53
classification of, 53
of terminating hypnosis, 53-5
discussion on, 55-6

Milk, secretion of, as influenced by hyp-
notism, 88

Monoideism, 283, 293, 294, 348, 375, 466
Moral sense, increased in hypnosis, 292, 322,

327, 328, 362
Morphinomania, 229-32, 422
Muscular sense. See "Experimental Phe-
nomena "

Nail-biting, cases of, 235, 237, 238
Nancy school of hypnotism, 152, 307-9

discussion on, 309-50
Narcotics, criminal use of, 292, 293
and operations, 18, 355
in the induction of hypnosis, 44-7, 51
and increased susceptibility, 69
Nationality and susceptibility to hypnosis, 63
Neurasthenia, cases of, 206-10, 422
Nymphomania, cases of, 210

Obsessions, cases of, and mental conditions

involved, 236-56, 422, 435
Onanism, 209, 233, 234
Operations, hypnotic. See ' i Hypnotism in
Surgery "

Pain, inhibition of. See "Experimental Phe-
nomena," and "Hypnotism in Surgery"
Paralysis, experimental induction of, 76, 77

cases of, 189
Paranoia, case of, 220
Passes. See "Methods of inducing Hyp-
nosis "

theories regarding action of, 291, 339
Patience necessary for hypnotic practice,

43, 71, 182, 229, 264
Perkinism, 288

Personality, double. See Secondary
consciousness
multiplex, 379-87, 392-8
Perspiration, altered by suggestion, 88

cases of excessive. See Hyperhidrosis
Phenomena of hypnosis. See Hypnosis

hypnotic. See Hypnotic
Phrenology, 281

discredited, 290
Planchette, 140-1

Psychical Research Society, 35, 148
Pulse as influenced by suggestion, 81-2

Rapport and attention. See Attention
Reasoning in hypnosis, 322, 329-30

beyond ordinary power, sometimes be-
yond ordinary hypnotic power, 118,
119, 123, 126, 127, 411
References, French, 440-50
German, 450-54
English, 454-64
to Braid and his works, 460-64
Respiration as affected by suggestion, 82

Salpetriere school of hypnotism, 153, 296,
298, 301476

HYPNOTISM

Satyriasis, case of, 210

Sea-sickness, 202, 262, 422

Secondary consciousness. See Double

consciousness
Self-control and hypnotism, 74, 157, 229,

271, 272, 355, 430, 431, 436
Self-suggestion and self-hypnosis, 52, 53
in the induction of hypnosis, 64,68,80,97,
145, 153, 201, 338, 344, 347
Sex and susceptibility to hypnosis, 61, 298
Sexual aberrations, 209
Sight, increased by suggestion, 89, 191-4
Skin, as affected by suggestion, 83
blistering of, 83, 84
Delbceuf s burning experiment, 84
susceptibility of, in hypnosis, 92
diseases of, 263-6
Sleep, "Hypnotic," an inaccurate term,
37, 41

natural, changed into hypnosis, 47, 68
not essential to hypnosis, 105
prolonged, 181,195, 212-4, 220, 231, 232,

259, 260, 269
hysterical attacks of, 191
hypnotic, different from natural, 310
and rapport, 324
Social position as influencing susceptibility,
62

Somnambules and somnambulism, 68, 72,
77, 97, 99, 103, 104, 106-8, 114,139,
145, 152, 154, 155, 173, 273, 312,
314, 341, 343, 399, 425
Somnambulism, waking, 112, 113

spontaneous, 386
Spectators, behaviour of, during hypnosis,
65

Spiritualism, 146, 147
and Society for Psychical Kesearch, 468
cause of ill-health, 468
Spontaneity in hypnosis, 98, 100, 103, 138
Stages of hypnosis, chap, vii., 150-5
Stammering, 261, 262, 422
Stethoscope, first used in England, 5
Stupor, 354, 355, 431
Subliminal or secondary consciousness. See

Double consciousness
Suggestion, 74, 80, 291, 309, 315, 331, 333,
334, 422

power of, during hypnosis, 287, 288,
289, 301

self, 52, 64, 68, 80, 97, 99, 145, 153,

201, 338, 344, 347
resistance to, 79, 98, 100, 101, 103, 107
verbal, 78, 86, 299
post-hypnotic, 95, 107, 111, 202
criminal, 312, 324
rejection of, 274, 311, 315-30, 377
and the phenomena of hypnosis, 337
by writing, and at a distance, 163, 165

Suggestion, sometimes apparently curative
without hypnosis, 274
Braid explained hypnotic phenomena
by, 288

inefficacy of ordinary, 333, 423-4
hypnotic, contrasted with ordinary, 334-6
does not explain hypnosis, 337-8
Summary and conclusion, chap, xiv.,
433-9

Superstition as an obsession, 244, 250
Surgery, hypnotism in, chap, ix., 158-76
Susceptibility to hypnosis. See Hypnosis,
susceptibility to

Table-turning, 284

Teeth - extraction. See " Hypnotism in

Surgery "

Telepathy, 136, 141-3, 467-70
Temperance societies, methods of, analogous

to hypnotic, 227
Temperature and suggestion, 84, 85
Terminology, Braid's earlier hypnotic, 23,
24

Braid's later, 283-4, 434
Theories, hypnotic, chap, xii., 273-424,

431, 437, 439
Therapeutic uses of hypnotism. See
"Hypnotism in Medicine," chap, x.,
177-266, 435, 436
Thermo-sensibility, as influenced by hyp-
nosis, 92

Time, appreciation of, 114-39, 387, 388,
391, 398

discussion on its theoretical explanations,
398-415, 418-20, 438
Tonsils, removal of, during hypnosis, 116
Torticollis, cases of, 190, 191
Trance of fakirs, 293
Colonel Townsend, 293

Unconscious cerebration, Carpenter's, 370-

374, 388, 390, 438
University College, Elliotson at, 6
mesmerism forbidden at, 7
Bramwell's demonstrations at, 433
Urine, as affected by suggestion, 87

Victoria disaster, victim of, 186-8
Volition and attention, as influencing
susceptibility, 64, 66
in hvpnosis, 143, 271, 311, 315, 322,
346, 354, 355, 357, 362, 377, 425, 437
Voluntary muscular system, changes in
the, 74, 81

Weight, perception of, in hypnosis, 90-1
Will. See Volition

Writing, automatic, in hypnosis, 139. See
also Time appreciationAUTHORS AND AUTHORITIES

REFERRED TO.

Albrecht, 86
Alcock, 81, 90, 92
Allbutt, Clifford, 164
Allden, 224
Arndt, 209
Artigalas, 82
Ashburner, 10
Audiffrent, 172
Avenbrugger, 5
Azam, 26, 29, 30, 386

Babinski, 365
Backman, 266
Bagnold, Col., 277
Baillarger, 247
Baillif, 48, 68
Balfour, A. J., 35
Balfour, G. W., 35
Ball, 246
Bamberger, 356
Barclay, 129, 135
Barkworth, 129, 135
Barrett, W. F., 35
Bartrum, 138
Bauer, 232, 238
Beach, Fletcher, 236
Beard, 209

Beaunis, 33, 34, 35, 42, 48,
55, 60, 68, 82, 83, 87, 89,
93, 105, 113, 115, 307,
329, 348, 370, 377, 398,
400, 402, 403, 409
Bechterew, 225, 238
Benedikt, 357
Bennett, John Hughes, 30,
38, 294, 303, 304, 307,
308, 375, 433
Berger, 48 68, 76
Bergson, 89

B6rillon, 57, 62, 181, 199,
207, 209, 232, 237, 238,
251, 252, 260, 263, 266,
299

Bertrand, 68, 280

Berry, Mrs. Dickinson, 197
Bernheim, 28, 31, 33, 34,
35, 42, 47, 48, 53, 55,
57, 62, 63, 65, 66, 68, 69,
70, 73, 75, 83, 94, 97,
104, 105, 106, 108, 153,
154, 181, 191, 198, 208,
225, 245, 274, 275, 296,
298, 307, 309, 311, 314,
325, 328, 330, 337, 338,
339, 340, 342, 343, 344,
345, 348, 350, 366, 376,
398, 401, 409, 425, 426,
427
Billinger, 86
Binet, 32, 75, 94
Bingswanger, 209
Boismont, Brierre de, 246
Bouchut, 306
Boufft, 238

Boulting, 195, 201, 203, 235,
243

Bourdon, 173, 207, 208, 225,

238, 245
Bourru, 82, 208
Bouveret, 209
Bowditch, 35

Braid, James, 1, 4, 21, 29,
30, 38, 39, 40, 45, 52, 55,
61, 64, 73, 75, 78, 79, 87,
88, 90, 91, 92, 97, 106,
107, 141, 144, 145, 148,
150, 152, 161, 198, 212,
244, 258, 275, 278, 283,
286, 287, 290, 293, 300,
301, 304, 310, 311, 328,
338, 340, 342, 344, 345,
348, 354, 425, 433, 437,
438, 465
Braithwaite, 164
Bramwell, J. P., 38
Brfonaud, 214
Briand, 199
Broca, 27

477

Brochin, 251
Brouardel, 329
Brown, W. H., 164
Brown-S6quard, 305
Bruce, Lewis C., 164, 380
Briigelmann, 207, 208
Brunnberg, Tyko, 199
Bugney, 199
Burckhardt, 208, 216
Burot, 82, 189, 199, 208*

215, 245
Bushnell, 225

Caddy, 164
Calonder, 429

Carpenter, W. B., 30, 75,
294, 306, 343, 370, 388,
390, 438
Carter, T., 164, 166
Chambers, 211
Charcot, 34, 39, 77, 85, 297,

300, 301, 366, 425
Charpentier, 266
Charpignon, 329
Chenevix, 6
Churton, 164, 264
Clausner, 86
Clifford, 356
Cobbe, 371, 373
Conrad, 358
Copland, 10, 355
Corval, von, 208, 262
Crawfurd, Raymond, 196,
209

Crocq, 55, 329
Crookes, Sir William, 468
Cruise, Sir Francis, 36
Cullerre, 238

" Dagonet," 382
Davidson, 277
Debove, 95
Decle, 199478

HYPNOTISM

Delasiauve, 247
Delbceuf, 84, 115, 116, 118,

152,	245, 276, 310, 314,
324, 325, 330, 361, 367,
398, 404, 411, 415

Delius, 199, 209

Dennison, 164

Dessoir, Max, 34, 35, 152,

153,	154, 155, 274
Diaz, 174
Dobrovolsky, 172
Dollken, 62
Drozdoivski, 208
Dujardin-Beaumetz, 301
Dumont, 83

Dumontpallier, 84, 181,191,
261
Dupotet, 6

Durand de Gros, 315, 324

Eeden, van, 43, 57, 60, 61,
65, 174, 209, 225, 245,
249, 250, 254, 427
Elliotson, 1, 4, 12, 13, 19,
39, 141, 158, 180, 211,
258, 261, 265, 269, 275,
287, 301, 433
Ellis, Gillmore, 356
Esdaile, 1, 4, 8, 14, 20, 21,
38, 39, 40, 44, 48, 53, 54,
56, 61, 62, 66, 69, 88,141,
158, 211, 217, 258, 269,
275, 276, 277, 298, 299,
354, 429, 433
Esquirol, 246

Falret, Jules, 246, 247
Fanton, 171, 175, 176
Farez, 225, 238, 263, 266
Faria, Abb£, 3, 280
Felkin, 36
Fere, 32, 35, 75, 94
Fillassier, 95
Flach, 86

Focachon, 83, 84, 85, 87
Forel, 48, 52, 55, 57, 62, 63,
64, 65, 66, 68, 69, 70, 71,
83, 87, 89, 107,110, 152,
153, 174, 208, 209, 218,
220, 225, 238, 260, 298,
327, 339, 346, 383, 427,
430
Forster, 306
Fournad, 172
Fraipont, 171
Fr6mineau, 251
Fulda, 231

Gascard, 199
Gelineau, 252
Gerhardt, 209

Gerster, Carl, 62, 63, 66, 68
Gilles de la Tourette, 329,

356
Goodeve, 17
Gorodichze, 245, 263
Gott, 164
Grasset, 251
Gregory, 38
Griesinger, 247, 250
Griffith, 164
Gros, A., 189

Grossmann, 61, 88,174, 266,
298

Gscheidlen, 48, 68
Gurney, Edmund, 35, 109,
140, 142, 152, 341, 348,
396, 404, 406, 409, 410,
418, 436

Hall, Marshall, 10
Hall, Stanley, 35
Hall, William, 164
Hamilton, 225, 262
Harrison, 205
Hart, Ernest, 96, 305
Hartley, 164
Hartog, Marcus, 387, 404
Harvey, 8
Hassenstein, 89
Haygarth, 287
Hecker, 245

Heidenhain, 34, 77,105, 295,

302, 306, 308, 366
Hellich, 84
Hellier, 164
Herrero, 45, 69
Heubel, 156

Hewetson, Bendelack, 161,

164, 166, 168, 192, 193
Hilger, 260
Hirchberger, 86
Hirsch, Max, 310
Hirt, 209, 225
Hodgson, 468
Hoffmeyer, 86
Holland, Sir Henry, 288
Holmes, O. W., 372, 374
Hoist, 209

Horsley, Sir Victor, 468
Hudson, 142
Hulst, 82, 83, 84, 85
Hyslop, 322

Inhelder, 89

Jackson, J., 15
Jacob, 164

James, William, 35, 235, 306,
358, 391, 397, 417, 419,
420, 469
Janet, Paul, 402

Janet, Pierre, 35, 393, 417
Jendrassik, 83, 84
Jessop, 164
Joire, 238
Jolly, 209

Jong, de, 216, 225, 238, 245,

260, 329, 427
Jourdan, 172
Journ^e, 199

Kant, 419
Keen, 212, 217
King, 164
Kingsbury, 36, 169
Kingston, 233
Kircher, 156
Knory, 225
Koch, 209
Kopp, 86
Kozuchoivski, 208
Kraepelin, 246
Krafft-Ebing, von, 63,64, 70,
83, 84, 85, 87, 103, 180,
181, 209, 225, 246

Ladame, 225, 227, 238, 246,

248, 254, 386
Laennec, 5
Lafontaine, 22
Lagrave, Coste de, 52
Landgren, 231
Laufenauer, 209
Legrand du Saulle, 248, 252
Lehmann, 84, 310
Lehr, 209
Lemoine, 190, 238
Leseque, 246
Levillain, 85

Liebeault, A. A., 30, 35, 41,
53, 57, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64,
83, 153, 215, 237, 238,
298, 299, 301, 307, 310,
314, 326, 340, 342, 343,
427, 433
Li^geois, 1, 34, 35, 64, 83,

93, 115, 325, 398
Lieutard, 172
Light, 164
Lister, 164
Littlewood, 164, 168
Lodge, Sir Oliver J., 35
Lojan, 172
Lombroso, 35
Lowenfeld, 86, 209
Luys, 43, 49, 53, 299, 301,
437

Maack, 209
Mabille, 82
Macalister, A., 35
Macdonald, Greville, 95AUTHORS AND AUTHORITIES REFERRED TO 479

Maddock, Sir Herbert, 14
Magnan, 246, 248
Magnin, 266

Marandon de Monthyel, 199
Marc£, 246, 247
Mares, 84
Marot, 232

Mavroukakis, 209, 245
Mayo, Thomas, 385
Mazail, 172
Mendel, 358

Mesmer, 1,3, 40,53, 343 366
Mesnet, 171
Meynert, 246, 358
M'Gill, 164
Minde, 86
Michael, 208
Mitchell, Weir, 385
M'Kendrick, 302
Moll, Albert, 1, 34, 48, 63,
64, 65, 66, 68, 70, 71, 75,
76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 82, 87,
93, 94, 98, 103, 105, 109,
111, 112, 153, 297, 304,
310, 344, 351, 354, 356,
357, 358, 426, 427
Morel, 246, 247, 248
Morier, 61, 224
Moritz, 86
Mouatt, P., 15
Moynihan, 164
Mueller, 86, 209
Myers, A. T., 142, 216, 428,

433, 468
Myers, F. W. H., 35, 142,
337, 339, 359, 361, 364,
366, 375, 376, 378, 390,
397, 415, 436, 437, 438

Naef, 384

Neilson, 208, 225

Nicol, Henderson, 164, 168

Offner, 86
Oliver, 200

O'Shaughnessy, 15, 45, 293
Osgood, Hamilton, 225, 262,

265
Ozanne, 205

Paget, Stephen, 182

Parish, 86

Parker, 9

Perkins, 287

Perronnet, Claude, 69

Pinel, 246

Pitres, 54, 329

Pourriere, 172

Preyer, W., 27, 157

Prince, Morton, 103,394,417

Pritchard, firic, 207

Pritzl, 170
Proust, 383

Ramsey, 35
Regis, 238
Reichenbach, 286
Remond, 82

Rentergliem, van, 43, 57, 60,
61, 65,174,190,208, 209,
210, 225, 245
Repoud, 216, 219
Ribokoff, 225

Ribot, Th., 35, 253, 256,
414

Richer, Paul, 76
Richet, Charles, 34, 35, 43
Richter, 329
Rieger, 358, 379
Riegler, 251
Rifat, 45, 69

Ringier, 61, 208, 238, 262
Ritzmann, 208
Robertson, George, 36, 37,

216, 217, 219
Robinson, Edmund, 164
Robson, H., 164
Robson, Mayo, 164, 166,

168, 264
Roe, 194, 207
Romberg, 209
Roome, 187
Rosenthal, 209
Rubino, 172
Rubinovitch, 216
Rudinger, 86
Rybalkin, 83

Sainsbury, 179, 205
Salvioli, 306
Sandberg, 174

Saulle, Legrand du, 248,252
Savage, 210, 211, 234, 387,
404

Scattergood, Thomas. 164,

167
Schmeltz, 173
Schmidt, 191
Scholz, 191, 246
Schrenck - Notzing, von, 35,
45, 47, 48, 57, 60, 61, 68,
69, 70, 73, 83, 85, 86, 170,
175, 207, 209, 225, 238,
245, 304
Schiile, 246
Sch venter, 156
Semal, 358
Seton, 204
Sherburn, 164
Shuldham, 205
Sidgwick, Henry, 35, 142,
436, 468

Sidis, 304
Simon, Jules, 27
Simpson, Sir J. Y., 20, 289
Sims, G. R., 382
Smith, Percy, 216, 428
Spehl, 260
Spencer, Herbert, 12
Spitta, 310

Stadelmann, 191, 208, 260,
266

Stembo, 181, 191
Stewart, 15, 183
Stewart, Balfour, 35
Sturgis, Russell, 245
Sully, 310
Swan, 198
Symes, 14

Tanzi, 232

Tatzel, 181, 190, 209, 225
Teale, Pridgin, 164, 167
Temoin, 173
Teuscher, 238
Thompson, Fraser, 20
Thompson, R., 15
Thomson, J. J., 35
Thorburn, 277
Tilleaux, 172
Tilley, Herbert, 200
Tourette, Gilles de la, 76, 329
Trevellyan, 164
Tuckey, Lloyd, 36, 71, 208
Tuke, Hack, 96, 234, 246,

254, 306, 358, 387
Turner, Arthur, 162, 166
Turner, 164

Valentin, 209
Yelander, 214
Yelpeau, 27, 30
Yenn, J., 35
Yerworn, 157
Vlavianos, 225
Yogt, Oscar, 72
Yoisin, 43, 82, 198,199, 205,
206, 208, 212, 217, 220,
225, 232, 236, 238, 245,
260, 269

Waite, 28

Waller, 82, 85, 312

Ware, 230

Wakley, 287

Walker, 223

Ward, Edward, 10 164

Watteville, de, 44, 119, 182,

183, 188, 243, 258, 260
Wayles, 164
Webb, 19

Westphal, 248, 253
Wetterstrand, 35, 42, 47, 53,
I 57, 61, 62, 65, 66, 68, 69,480

HYPNOTISM

71, 155, 170, 181, 199,
208, 209, 225, 229, 238,
245, 259, 260, 262, 269,
299, 427
Wille, 248
Williams, Bold, 185
Williams, Talcott, 356
Williamson, 456

Wilson, Albert, 380
Wilson, 465

Wingfield, Hugh, 61, 62, 96,

298, 299
Wonnacott, 204
Wood, 6, 164
Wood, Edward, 174
Wood, Outterson, 96, 428

Woods, 217, 259
Wundt, 156

"X," 354, 427, 428, 430
Yellowlees, 387
Ziemssen, 358

THE END

Printed by R. & R. Clark, Limited, Edinburgh,PRESS NOTICES

BRAIN: A JOURNAL OF NEUROLOGY, Part civ., Winter 1903.

Hypnotism ; its History, Practice, and Theory.

''The pages of Brain have been indebted to Dr. Brain well from time to time
for articles, reviews, and critical digests bearing on hypnotism, and his systematic
treatise is sure to find a large circle of readers.

4'The subject is mysterious, bordering on the occult, and many have been
deterred from giving it due consideration because, in the past, many of its
exponents have made extravagant claims as to its therapeutical value, and
because, in some cases, deception has played an important part in its supposed
manifestations.

" It is, therefore, a great advantage to have a treatise like the one under considera-
tion, which is written by one who has had long personal experience, and in which
the different sides of the question are treated with fulness and in a fair and
scientific spirit. . . . One-third of the book is taken up by a critical account of
the various theories which have been advanced to account for the phenomena of
hypnotism. They are given very fairly and fully. . . . The value of the work
is increased by an exhaustive bibliography and copious indices, and the printing
is excellent.

{' The book is thoroughly worthy of study as a fair and candid presentation of
the views of the author on a subject about which he is entitled to speak with
authority, both as an investigator and a practitioner."

THE PRACTITIONER, February 1904.

. , At the present day hypnotism has passed from the domain of an occult
science into the calmer air of scientific investigation, and has even won its way to
the position of a recognised means of medical treatment. Hence it is advisable for
medical men to make themselves acquainted with the outlines at least of the
subject. Indeed, we wish that there was more attention paid to the matter in our
schools of medicine, in order that members of the profession might be able to correct
the hazy views on the subject prevalent amongst the public generally, as well as to
avail themselves of the assistance of this remedial measure in suitable conditions.

"An interesting and important work dealing with hypnotism has recently
appeared, written by Dr. Milne Bramwell, to whose persevering advocacy of
hypnotic treatment the honourable position it now holds, as compared with its
former discredit, is very largely due.

"... Many medical ailments may be cured or relieved by suggestion. For a
complete account of these conditions, reference may be made to Dr. Bramwell's
book. . . . Two great prejudices have always acted as deterrents against submitting2

PRESS NOTICES

self or patients to hypnotic treatment. The first is the erroneous belief that a
capacity for being hypnotised is a sign of weakness of mind or even of actual mental
defect. The exact opposite appears to be the case. . . . The second great prejudice
lies in the fear that the subject may become so subservient to the will of the operator
that he or she will be placed wholly in the latter's power. ... It is clear from Dr.
Bramwell's book that in at least the great majority of instances the subject possesses,
while hypnotised, plenty of will power to resist unpleasant or immoral suggestions....

". . . In conclusion, we would cordially recommend Dr. Bramwell's book to
all who are interested in the subject of hypnotism either professionally or merely
scientifically. It is written in a strictly scientific spirit; no exaggerated claims are
made for his specialty, nor are facts put forward in a startling manner to attract the
curious reader. It constitutes a valuable account of a branch of psychology possess-
ing a distinct medical interest, apart from the light which it may one day shed
upon difficult problems in mental activity."

THE LIVERPOOL MEDICO-CHIRURGICAL JOURNAL, July 1903.

''The time has gone by when the phenomena of hypnotism can be dismissed as
partaking merely of quackery and deception, and the genuineness of many of its
manifestations is now generally recognised. ... A work on the subject, therefore,
from Dr. Milne Bramwell, whose name is well known in connection with the revived
interest in hypnotism which took place a few years ago, is to be welcomed, and the
more so since there is a deficiency of authoritative expositions on the subject in this
country."

THE LIVERPOOL MEDICO-CHIRURGICAL JOURNAL, January 1904.

"... Although we are far from looking on hypnotism as such a valuable
curative agent as it is represented to be by Dr. Bramwell, yet we can cordially
recommend his book to all those who take an interest in psychological subjects. It
is pleasantly and clearly written, contains the results of much research, and the
writer evidently endeavours to avoid exaggeration of every kind, and to put his
case forward as fairly as he can. ... We can only repeat, in conclusion, that,
while there is much in this book concerning which we have grave doubts, the work
is one of great merit and full of interest. ..."

MEDICAL CHRONICLE, December 1903.

*'. . . Dr. Milne Bramwell has produced in this interesting volume a valuable
-contribution to the English literature of the subject. Well written and clear in
style, moderate in tone, while not disguising the author's sincere conviction of the
therapeutic value of hypnotic suggestion, and presenting in moderate compass a
fairly complete account of the phenomena of the hypnotic state, this book will be
welcomed by many medical and scientific readers. . . . The extensive bibliography
and copious index largely increase its value for purposes of reference."

THE SCOTTISH MEDICAL AND SURGICAL JOURNAL.

"Dr. Bramwell's book ought to be welcomed by a great number of readers, for
it appeals to several different sections of the thinking public. Students of the
history of medicine, moralists, psychologists, physiologists, as well as physicians
and surgeons, may all learn much to their advantage from it, and we imagine aPjRESS notices

3

class of sensational novelists will seek for ideas and guidance in these pages. . . .
While we have here a handbook for those who desire to study or practise hypnotism,
no practitioner can peruse the work without learning much, were it only as a fresh
demonstration of the immense value of the force of the mind."

^ PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY FOR PSYCHICAL RESEARCH.

" This is a remarkable book—remarkable not only for what it says, but even
more for what it abstains from saying. Dr. Bramwell is best known perhaps as a
distinguished practitioner, who has had no small share in raising hypnotism to the
Recognised and almost orthodox position which, after many decades of calumny, is
C now accorded to it by the medical profession in Great Britain. This alone would
^entitle him to our attention. But he is more than this ; he is an active and acute
\^inquirer. He has made himself the historian of hypnotism, and has been the first
to bring fully to light the splendid work of his countryman and predecessor, James
Braid: work which has been too long ignored, and must now take its place among
the most original and illuminating contributions of Great Britain to mental and
medical science. And he is besides a keen and trenchant psychologist—not merely
'' a critic of the theories of others, but the author of a remarkable series of experi-
ments which have done much to throw fresh light on the theory of his craft. . . .
It is no small gain that the question should at length, and perhaps for the first
time in its history, be removed from the heated atmosphere of rash assertion, blind
prejudice, and more than theological persecution in which it has passed its stormy
and none too healthy infancy. It is one of the hardest of scientific lessons to learn
to state mere facts uncoloured by preconceived ideas, and it is at least a proof of
courage that Dr. Bramwell, in spite of all temptations, should have held fast to this
attitude of detachment. . . . The average medical man, no less than the average
patient, needs to have the whole subject stripped of the supernatural and abnormal,
and put before him in the driest light of dispassionate science ; and perhaps for the
benefit of sufferers at least, Bramwell's chief service is that he should so resolutely
have struck out of his book anything that has the least savour of the uncanny or
abnormal or sensational, and given us a treatise which offers little for the para-
graphist of the halfpenny press, but infinite interest, not only to the scientific
thinker, but to every one who desires to know more of the workings of that extra-
ordinary complex which we call Self."

REVUE PHILOSOPHIQUE.

" Ce volume constitue une monographe aussi complete que possible sur I'hypno-
tisme, d'une utility incontestable, aujourd'hui surtout, oil l'hypnotisme, apres avoir
subi tant d'attaques et avoir £t6 traits avec tant de mdpris, a fini par s'imposer par
l'6vidence de ses r6sultats et des services qu'il rend journellement, soit comme pro-
c6d6 th^rapeutique, soit comme moyen d'experimentation psychologique. Keunir
ces r&ultats, en discuter la valeur, analyser et comparer les differents proc&les
d'hypnotisation, employes par les experimentations, poser enfin autant que possible
des regies precises concernant les indications et les contre-indications de l'hypno-
tisme, et cela en se basant sur douze ann^es d'exp^rience personelle, tel a et£ le
but de M. Bramwell en 6crivant ce volume. ..."RIDER'S RECENT PUBLICATIONS.

ABNORMAL PSYCHOLOGY. By Isador H. Coriat, M.D., Second
Assistant Physician for Diseases of the Nervous System, Boston City
Hospital; Neurologist to the Mount Sinai Hospital. Crown 8vo,
cloth gilt, 340 pp. 5 s. net.

Contents.—I. The Exploration of the Subconscious.—What is the Sub-
conscious?—Automatic Writing—Testing the Emotions—Sleep—Dreams—What is
Hypnosis ?—Analysis of the Mental Life. II. Diseases of the Subconscious.-—-Losses
of Memory—Restoration of Lost Memories—Illusions of Memory—The Splitting of
a Personality—Hysteria—Psychasthenia—Neurasthenia—Psycho-Epileptic Attacks.

" The author has produced an eminently readable account of the nature and the applications of the
modern theory of the subconscious."—Westminster Gazette.

" This little volume, by an American physician of large experience, deserves a warm welcome. It
provides an introduction to and general survey of the field of psycho-therapeutics. It may be hoped
that it will do something to stimulate our medical men to rescue this neglected branch of their science
from the hands of quacks and charlatans."—Athenceum.

DEATH: Its Causes and Phenomena. By Hereward Carring-
ton and John R. Meader. Ornamental cloth, gilt. 8f in. x 5| in.
552 pp. Second and Cheaper Edition. 5s. net.

Summary of Contents.

Preface. Part I. Physiological. —The Scientific Aspect of Life and Death.
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Part II. Historical.—I. Man's Theories of Immortality. II. The Philo-
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Part III. Psychological.—Introductory. The Moment of Death. Visions of
the Dying. Death described from beyond the Veil. Experiments in Photographing
and Weighing the Soul. The Testimony of Science—On the Intra-Cosmic Diffi-
culties of Communication. Conclusions. Appendices. Bibliography. Index.

44 An extraordinarily interesting book."—Truth. _	#

" Proved evidence as to the persistence of individual consciousness and personal identity which
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" Our authors have maintained an admirably detached attitude. . . . Mr. Carrington s theory will
stand many tests of application in the light of our present knowledge."—Westminster Gazette.

RELIGION AND MODERN PSYCHOLOGY. A Study of present
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Belief in Survival ; with a Discussion on Mysticism. By J. Arthur
Hill, Author of " New Evidences in Psychical Research." Large
crown 8vo, 200 pp., cloth gilt. 3s. 6d. net.

"An interesting study of present tendencies by the author of ' New Evidences in Psychical
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is discussed with much shrewdness."—The Times.

HEALTH FOR YOUNG AND OLD: Its Principles and Prac-
tice. An Unconventional Manual. By A. T. Schofield, M.D.,
M.R.C.S., Author of "Elementary Hygiene," " Hygiene for Schools,"
" How to keep Fit," etc. Crown 8vo, cloth gilt, 272 pp. 3s. 6d.net.

Contents.

Part I. The Principles 01 Hygiene. Part II. The Practice of Hygiene. Index.

" Dr. Schofield has dealt learnedly and exhaustively with his subject, and his manual should be
welcomed by every household.The Academy.

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