SUGGESTIBILITY AND KINDRED PHENOMENA. 525 



new point, but, once convinced, tliere is no length to wliich lie will 

 not go in its application. At any given time lie is a man of one 

 idea, given to a fad, and very apt to be zealous in reform move- 

 ments of all kinds. He can rarely discriminate the probable from 

 the possible, and consequently can never think of a disaster with- 

 out fearing it will come to pass. This is especially true of his 

 own health. If he reads a medical book or a patent-medicine 

 advertisement, he discovers in himself the symptoms of most of 

 the diseases of which he has been reading. In a person of this 

 temperament any great shock is apt to bring on a state of disor- 

 dination with concomitant derangement of the motor coordina- 

 tion what we vulgarly call a " fit of hysterics." 



In more serious cases the indisposition to notice things goes 

 further and often culminates in absolute inability to perceive 

 what a normal person would. Entire systems of sensations may 

 be wholly or partly lost. Touch is the sensation most frequently 

 lost in this way, although sight and hearing sometimes go too. 

 Yery frequently sensation is lost on one side of the body only. 

 The control exerted by the idea trains over the movements of the 

 body is also partially or wholly lost and the patient is paralyzed. 

 Hysterical losses of this kind are often cured by suggestion, or by 

 any means in which the i)atient has faith. In the most extreme 

 cases the patient passes hours, daj^s, months, or even years in a 

 state of apparent lethargy, which is probably a chronic disordi- 

 nation. 



With the retrenchment of the field of consciousness goes hand 

 in hand a corresponding increase in the subconscious field, and 

 the elements dissociated from the upper consciousness frequently 

 appear to become coordinated with one another, forming sub- 

 conscious systems analogous to the upper system. They are then 

 sometimes manifested to the patient himself by being obtruded 

 upon the upper consciousness in the form of inner voices, hallu- 

 cinations of sight or hearing, etc., or to other persons by means 

 of movements. Occasionally they go so far as to produce writing 

 in which the upper consciousness of the patient has no part. 

 Hence arises for outsiders the appearance of two minds existing 

 in one body, while to the patient his body seems to be running 

 like a machine, without his cooperation. All such phenomena 

 may be termed automatic, and upon them the popular belief in 

 " spirit control " and " demoniacal possession " undoubtedly large- 

 ly depends. When automatic phenomena are numerous and com- 

 plex, the upper consciousness of the patient is usually profoundly 

 affected. He sinks into a dreamy state, and often loses "con- 

 sciousness " i. e., memory altogether. " Mediumistic trance " 

 may then be regarded as a form of disordination analogous to 

 that of the hysterical crisis. 



