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®n Certain ipbenomena of Ib^pnotiem. 



By Mrs. Alice Bodington. 



'^TP^HE study of the phenomena, collectively known as 

 X hypnotism, is passing through the usual stages which 

 attend the establishment of a science. It has passed 

 through the first or empirical stage — a stage so degraded by 

 charlatanism that its original names have been discarded by 

 scientific workers. Mesmerism, odic force, clairvoyance, and 

 spiritualism have been relegated to the same limbo as astrology 

 and alchemy. iVU this stumbling along false paths has had its 

 use ; the constant search leads at last to the high-road. Alchemy 

 led the way to the experiments which formed the foundations of 

 modern chemistry, and mesmerism directed attention to a class of 

 natural phenomena governed by laws of which we are daily 

 obtaining clearer knowledge. 



In the scientific experiments now being carried out on so vast 

 a scale by Dr. Charcot and his assistants at the Salpetriere, three 

 facts stand out more prominently than others. One is that the 

 quickest and most efficacious mode of breaking off all connection 

 between the highest and all other centres of the brain is by means 

 of fatiguing the sense of vision, by causing the subject to gaze 

 fixedly at a bright light. Another is the curious effect of an unseen 

 magnet upon a hypnotised person. The third is the extraordinary 

 influence of mere suggestion. 



It is not undesignedly that I speak of the influence of an 

 UNSEEN magnet, since, if the subject had any idea that a magnet 

 was being used, or of what effects it was intended to produce, the 

 experiments would be vitiated. Hysterical patients will see and 

 feel anything they think they are intended to see or feel. Pieces 

 of metal applied to patients appeared to have curative effects of a 

 marvellous character, till it was found that pieces of wood had 

 precisely the same effect. 



It may be as well, before giving a brief account of some of the 

 most curious of Charcot's experiments, to go back to the empirical 

 days of our science. In its early days, as might be expected, the 



Journal of Microscopy and Natural Science. 



New Series. Vol. III. 1890. h 



