364 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



tized i>reservcs the reflex irritability for whole days and weeks after he 

 has returned to the normal state. When this excitation is light, the 

 conti'action is limited to the superficial muscles. In this condition it 

 is easy to induce certain gToups of muscles to contract. By passing 

 the finger several times over the fleshy part of the thumb we may 

 cause it to bend toward the palm of the hand ; we may cause the head 

 to assume the position known as that of a wry neck by exciting the 

 skin over the sterno-cleido-mastoid muscle with a few light passes. 



We may act on more remote muscles by prolonging the excitation. 

 A light rubbing of the inside of the thumb only brings its adductor 

 and flexor muscles into play. A stronger excitation of the same sur- 

 face brings into action the muscles of the forearm and the flexors of 

 the other fingers, which bend strongly toward the hollow of the hand. 

 The muscles of the elbow and shoulder will be engaged in their turn, 

 and in a short time the upper limb will become motionless. Continuing 

 the passes, we may, in a few seconds, cause the contraction to extend 

 to the left shoulder ; the cramp will then descend along the arm, the 

 forearm, and the hand of the left side ; the left thigh and leg will 

 yield to the same influence ; then the right thigh and leg, the inasse- 

 ters and cranial muscles. It is time to pause. A slight shock on 

 the left arm will cause the contraction to disappear. We can also 

 cause it to cease by quickly opening the fingers of one of the closed 

 hands. 



Great prudence is necessary in these experiments lest they be car- 

 ried too far, and the respiratory muscles be affected. The rigidity of 

 the muscles may be made so great in robust persons that it becomes 

 extremely difticult to change the position of the limbs. Tbey are stiff 

 as a plank, and it is possible to rest an hypnotic by his head and feet 

 alone on two chairs, and carry him around without his body bending. 



The first objective sign of the approach of the hypnotic condition 

 is a rigidness of the accommodative apparatus of the eye. The assist- 

 ants are able to perceive this before the hypnotic can feel it subjec- 

 tively. The distance to which vision extends diminishes ; writing 

 which can be read from a distance can be distinguished only at close 

 sight. Remote points disappear from the field of vision. In a few 

 moments the pupil dilates, and the ball of the eye appears to project. 

 The complexity of these phenomena supposes an excitation of the sj'm- 

 pathetic nerve of the neck, which sets in motion the dilator muscle of 

 the pupil and the smooth muscles of the lids and the socket. The 

 initial point of the excitation must then be sought in the spinal mar- 

 row, where the sympathetic fibers originate. Other parts of the spinal 

 marrow are not long in being affected, as the respiratory nerves, and 

 the breathing is quickened. The aspirations increase from four to 

 twelve in a quarter of a minute, but the frequency of the pulse is not 

 increased. 



Some persons are disposed to hypnotism in consequence of their 



