734 APPENDIX. 



guishable from the Coma of Cerebral oppression by a constant twinkling movement of the 

 eyelids. In this condition, severe surgical operations may be performed, without any con- 

 sciousness on the part of the patient ; and it is not unfrequently found that the state of tor- 

 por extends from the Cerebrum and Sensory Ganglia to the Medulla Oblongata, so that the 

 respiratory movements become seriously interfered with, and a state of partial asphyxia 

 supervenes. 



2. A state of Somnambulism or Sleep-waking, which may present all the varieties of the 

 natural Somnambulism, from a very limited awakening of the mental powers, to the state 

 of complete double Consciousness ( 500), in which the individual manifests all the ordi- 

 nary powers of his mind, but remembers nothing of what has passed when restored to bis 

 natural waking state. This state of Somnambulism, in the form which it commonly takes, 

 is characterized by the facility with which the thoughts are directed into any channel which 

 the observer may desire, by the principle of " suggestion ;" and by the want of power, on 

 the part of the Somnambulist, to apply the teachings of ordinary experience to the correction 

 of the erroneous ideas which are thus made to occupy the mind. In these particulars, this 

 condition closely corresponds with that of Dreaming; and differs from it chiefly in the 

 readiness with which ideas are excited through the ordinary channels of sensation, and with 

 which the bodily powers are called into action to give effect to the ideas thus aroused. The 

 emotional states are more easily brought into play, than the purely intellectual operations. 

 It is a peculiar characteristic of this condition, that the whole attention maybe so completely 

 fixed upon one object, that there is an insensibility to all impressions unconnected with it, 

 although every thing which bears upon it is fully appreciated. In this respect there is a 

 complete correspondence with the phenomena of ordinary somnambulism ; but there is this 

 difference, that, from the greater subjection of the mind to external influences, it may be 

 more readily played upon, (so to speak) by the observer, and may thus be exclusively fixed 

 upon any object which he may direct. In this manner, a state of insensibility to pain may 

 be brought about, nearly as complete as that which occurs in the comatose state, by causing 

 the mind to be strongly and exclusively directed towards another object. This condition 

 rinds its parallel in that of Reverie ; in which strong impressions upon the body may be 

 unfelt, so long as the mind is engrossed upon some different train of thought. 



3. A frequent phenomenon of this condition, and one which has its parallel in Natural 

 Somnambulism, is a remarkable exaltation of one or more of the Senses, so that the indi- 

 vidual becomes susceptible of influences, which, in his natural condition, would not be in 

 the least perceived. The Author has referred to a case ( 532, note) in which such an 

 exaltation of the sense of Smell was manifested ; and in the same case, as in many others, 

 there was a similar exaltation of the sense of Temperature. The exaltation of the Muscular 

 Sense, by which various actions that ordinarily require the guidance of vision, are directed 

 independently of it, is a common phenomenon of the Mesmeric or Artificial, as of the 

 Natural, Somnambulism. 



4. The Muscular system may also be excited to action in unusual modes, and with 

 unusual energy. Notwithstanding the fallacy of many of the cases of Cataleptic rigidity 

 which have been publicly exhibited, the Author is satisfied, from investigations privately 

 made, of the possibility of artificially inducing this condition. A slight irritation of the 

 muscles themselves, or of the skin which covers them, as by drawing the points of the 

 ringers over them, or even wafting currents of air over the surface, is sufficient to excite 

 the tonic muscular contraction, which may continue in sufficient force to suspend a con- 

 siderable weight, for a longer period than it could be kept up by any conceivable effort of 

 voluntary power. Further, by directing the attention exclusively to any sef *of muscles, and 

 by impressing the mind of the Somnambulist with the facility of the action to be performed, 

 a very extraordinary degree of muscular power may be called forth, even in very feeble 

 individuals. Thus the Author has seen a man of extremely low muscular development and 

 small stature, not only lift up a 28 Ib. weight upon his little finger, but even swing it round 

 his head with the greatest apparent facility, having been previously assured that it was as 

 light as a feather. Upon taking up the same weight upon their own little fingers, the 

 Author and his friends were very glad to lay it down after raising it a foot from the ground ; 

 and the subject of the experiment (a respectable middle-aged man, who was not a regular 

 "exhibitor," and upon whom no suspicion of any kind rested) declined, when in his waking 

 state, even attempting to lift the weight, on the ground that it would strain him too much. 



These are the principal phenomena of Artificial Somnambulism, in regard to which the 

 Author feels his mind made up. He does not see why any discredit should be attached to 

 them, since they correspond in all essential particulars with those of states, which naturally 

 or spontaneously occur in many individuals, and which he has had opportunities of per- 

 sonally observing, in cases in which the well-known characters of the parties placed them 

 above suspicion. When the facility with which the mind of the Somnambulist is played on 

 by suggestions conveyed either in language or by other sensations which excite associated 

 ideas, and the absence of the corrective power ordinarily supplied by past experience, are 



