ON CERTAIN PHENOMENA OF HYPNOTISM. 97 



with food. This imaginary hunger was satisfied by an equally 

 imaginary meal. The patient was told there was a plate of cakes 

 on a corner of the table, of which she might partake, and in five 

 minutes her hunger was appeased. 



I was acquainted with a girl who was, at the time I knew her, 

 apparently in excellent health. I discovered accidently that V. S. 

 showed signs of acting anything I chose to tell her whilst she was 

 asleep. If I told her she was going out for a walk she would go 

 through all the motions of putting on a bonnet, buttoning a 

 jacket, drawing on boots, etc., and would get out of bed and walk 

 across the floor. If I told her she was ill, she groaned and 

 sighed ; if I told her of pleasant things, her countenance showed 

 every sign of joy. I was deeply disconcerted on one occasion, 

 when, having told V. S. she was thirsty, she asked for, and I gave 

 her a glass of water, which she lifted to her lips, and, in attempting 

 to drink, spilled the whole contents of the tumbler over her dress. 

 My experiments for that night ended by a good scolding, of which 

 I became the "subject." This girl in after years became markedly 

 neurotic, and would, no doubt, have responded readily to every 

 species of suggestion. I had never heard of mesmerism at that 

 time, and only recalled these girlish experiences upon reading of 

 the Salpetriere experiments. 



A very curious instance of the effect of suggestion was the 

 experiment tried by Focachon, a chemist, at Charmes, on a 

 hypnotised subject. Focachon applied some postage-stamps to 

 the patient's left shoulder, kept them in place with some strips of 

 plaster and a compress, and suggested that he had applied a 

 blister. The man was watched, and when twenty hours had 

 elapsed the dressing, which had remained untouched, was 

 removed. The epidermis beneath was thickened, dead, and of a 

 yellowish white hue, and this region of the skin was puffy and 

 surrounded by an intensely red zone. Several physicians con- 

 firmed this observation, of whom one, named Beaunis, made 

 photographs of the blister, which he presented to the Society of 

 Physiological Psychology, June 29th, 1885. 



Bourru and Burot, professors at Rochefort, published records 

 which throw light upon the so-called " stigmata," or areas which 

 undoubtedly bleed periodically in neurotic subjects, such as Louise 



