8o4 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



to 



HYPNOTIC STATES, TRANCE, AND ECSTASY. 



By Prof. WILLIAM EOMAINE NEWBOLD. 



I SHALL deal in this paper with abnormal states of several 

 types, all of which, in my opinion, may be grouped under the 

 one concept of disordination. The normal consciousness is in all 

 apparently destroyed or displaced, and very often memory of the 

 abnormal states is lacking. Hence we are often compelled to rely 

 upon ambiguous external indications for our knowledge of the 

 patient's condition during the abnormal state, and any attempt to 

 explain it from the psychological point of view is attended with 

 difficulty and open to attack. 



In the first place, I must clear away a prolific source of con- 

 fusion. All the states which I now have occasion to examine are 

 akin to sleep, and many have in addition a superficial resemblance 

 to sleep : the eyes are closed, the countenance is placid, the breath- 

 ing regular. In others it is less marked : the eyes may be open, 

 fixed, and staring, the body may be rigid and contorted, the face 

 may express intense emotion, movements may occur, and so on. 

 This distinction is purely accidental, and is of no importance 

 from the theoretical point of view. Yet it has become set in our 

 nomenclature, and we can not well get rid of it. For the first 

 group I shall therefore use the generic word "hypnotic," which 

 means simply "sleeplike." The chief characteristics of hypnotic 

 states are : (1) the closed eyes, expressionless face, and relaxed 

 muscles in general, absence of any spontaneous sign of mental 

 life; (2) the presence of heightened suggestibility. The chief 

 characteristics of the trance states are : (1) spontaneous evidences 

 of mental life, afforded in talking, writing, emotional expression 

 movements of other kinds, or by memory after the state is over 

 (2) the absence of suggestibility. But it is needless to say that 

 many states are found which can not be put into either of these 

 classes. 



There are many ways of inducing hypnotic states, but all 

 agree in involving an arrest of the flight of thought, concentration 

 of attention upon one element, restriction of the conscious field. 

 In some very susceptible patients any sudden arrest of attention, 

 such as that produced by an intense and unexpected stimulus, 

 may induce a hypnotic state or some other form of disordination. 

 A sudden flash of light, or the clang of a loud gong, has been 

 known to produce this effect. But generally the concentration of 

 attention must last some time, and it is usually necessary that the 

 patient should voluntarily co-operate with the hypnotizer. One 

 of the easiest methods of getting him to do this is to tell him to 

 go to sleep, for we all, in trying to go to sleep, do precisely what 



