HYPNOTISM : WHAT IT IS AND WHAT IT IS NOT. 755 



HYPNOTISM: WHAT IT IS AND WHAT IT IS NOT. 



Bt Dk. christian a. herter. 



IT has so long been the custom of the world, and of scientific 

 men, to look upon Mesmer as a charlatan, and upon mesmer- 

 ism as a delusion, that it is surprising to many persons to find 

 that men of ability and repute are now engaged in investigating 

 the phenomena which are still known under the vague title of 

 " animal magnetism." The fact is that the teachings of Mesmer 

 contained a certain element of truth, although it was seriously 

 obscured by self-deception and intentional fraud, and that this 

 kernel of truth has already been so far isolated as to show that it 

 is deserving of serious study. 



In the pages that follow I propose to give a concise account of 

 the present state of our knowledge about " animal magnetism," or, 

 as it is more properly termed, hypnotism, and shall endeavor to 

 present certain facts in their real light, which have long been 

 misunderstood in consequence of the teachings of Charcot and his 

 pupils. While it can not be said with certainty that there may not 

 exist some kind of " magnetic fluid " as the cause of the phenomena 

 I shall describe, it is certain that a large proportion of them can 

 be much more satisfactorily explained in other ways. Moreover, 

 there is not at present a single well-substantiated fact, so far as I 

 am aware, which requires the supposition of a magnetic fluid, or 

 other similar mysterious influence, as an explanation. There be- 

 ing, therefore, no actual evidence of the existence of any such force 

 as " animal magnetism," the expression may justly be objected to 

 as a misnomer, and we must seek to replace it by a more suitable 

 term. The word " hypnotism," proposed by Braid, of Manchester, 

 is a very good substitute, and has at least the merit of being non- 

 committal. 



It is not easy to define hypnotism sharply. It is probably 

 sufficiently accurate to say that it is a condition of induced sleep 

 almost identical with ordinary sleep, in which the brain is highly 

 and peculiarly receptive of impressions from the outer world. 

 Ordinary sleep is often disturbed by dreams. These dreams, as 

 every one knows, vary greatly in vividness and character. Not 

 infrequently the objects dreamed of are of the most fantastic and 

 unreal nature, but they are nevertheless accepted by the uncon- 

 scious individual as realities, and indeed have the subjective 

 psychological value of perceptions. The stimuli which give rise 

 to dreams arise as a rule within the brain of the sleeper ; they are 

 spontaneous. Let us now suppose that the stimuli come from the 

 outer world, instead of from the brain of the sleeper, and we have 



