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



was observed by Bernbeim bimself, and tbere are otbers of like 

 nature reported by equally competent observers.* 



I have tried to show bow essential a role suggestion plays in 

 determining tlie various phenomena of hypnotism. Let us em- 

 ploy the facts we have gathered as the basis of an examination 

 into the views which have emanated from the Salpetriere. 



As already stated, the experiments of Charcot have been made 

 chiefly upon persons suffering from hysteria, and it is well known 

 that those who suffer from this disease are more prone to every 

 form of deception and simulation than any other known class of 

 beings. Hence we may safely say that it was unfortunate to choose 

 such persons for the subjects of a physiological investigation, par- 

 ticularly as most of the hypnotic phenomena are of a subjective 

 and not of an objective character. 



The number of persons in whom the " grand hypnose " already 

 spoken of has been induced at the Salpetriere is very small, being 

 thirteen in ten years, according to Binet and Fer^. These sub- 

 jects have been regularly hypnotized and experimented upon for 

 a long period of time, and the process has become second nature 

 to them. They have been prepared, and phenomena which they 

 exhibit are in most instances the result of many years of a pecul- 

 iar kind of culture. They do many remarkable things at the 

 operator's will ; but these ought not to be considered as character- 

 istic hypnotic manifestations. It is much more correct to look 

 upon them as hypnotic tricks, if I may use the expression. A 

 patient is hypnotized and goes into the so-called state of lethargy. 

 A bright light is held before the eyes, the eyes are opened by the 

 operator, and the patient is cataleptic ; but no one can pretend to 

 say that the catalepsy thus induced is characteristic of hypnotism. 

 The subject has become cataleptic through a sensorial suggestion 

 — the bright light — simply because she has learned to do it, prob- 

 ably by seeing other patients similarly affected or by hearing the 

 operator speak of the effects he expects to get. Take a healthy 

 person and hypnotize him. When he is sound asleep, open his 

 eyes with a bright light before them and observe whether he be- 

 comes cataleptic or not. Either he simply wakes up, or his lids 

 close again and he relapses into sleep. It is possible that in very 

 rare instances spontaneous catalepsy may make its appearance, 

 but it is always difficult to surely exclude the influence of sugges- 

 tion by word, gesture, or imitation. Even in hysterical patients 

 the cataleptic state may be dissolved or prevented by the use of 

 suggestion. 



MM. Binet and F^r^, Prof. Charcot's assistants, imagine that 



* Although I have never seen the effects of suggestion carried to this point, I have sev- 

 eral times seen distinct localized erythema created through repeated and energetic sug- 

 gestion. 



