768 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



they have eliminated the effects of suggestion because they make 

 their experiments in their so-called cataleptic and lethargic stages. 

 They say, " These (stages) are unconscious stages of the ' grand 

 hypnose/ stages in which the condition of the senses and intelli- 

 gence renders the subject a perfect stranger to what is going on 

 around him." Nothing could better illustrate the imperfection of 

 their method of research, for, as we have seen, some knowledge 

 of what is going on is retained in all but the most exceptional 

 cases. 



The number of non-hysterical persons hypnotized by Lidbault, 

 Bernheim, and Forel is very great. Yet not one of these observ- 

 ers has ever been able to obtain the results of the Paris school ex- 

 cept through the use of suggestion. 



The use of a bright light or the simple opening of the lids to 

 produce catalepsy, and the friction of the head to produce somnam- 

 bulism, have been found absolutely unnecessary by these observ- 

 ers, no matter whether the patient has been hypnotized by Braid's 

 method or by the suggestive method. As we have already seen, 

 all that is necessary to produce catalepsy is to lift the arm or affirm 

 the existence of rigidity. If the sleep be profound enough, the 

 automatic movements which usually occur in somnambulism can 

 be provoked by simple suggestion, and, if the slee]) he not suffi- 

 ciently deep, 710 amount of friction of the head unaided by sugges- 

 tion ivill produce somnambidism. 



We may safely conclude, therefore, that in reality the '" grades 

 of the hypnotic series " do not exist as such. There is no sharp 

 line of demarkation between the so-called lethargic, cataleptic, 

 and somnambulistic stages. The existence of catalepsy and som- 

 nambulism is dependent entirely upon the degree of sleep and 

 the nature of the suggestion. I do not mean to say that the Char- 

 cot school have described what they have not seen, but it seems 

 probable that they have misinterpreted what they have observed, 

 and have not taken into account the influence of suggestion in 

 producing the conditions which they hold to be spontaneous. 

 That they have succeeded by repeated hypnotization and either 

 intentional or unintentional suggestion in reproducing a condition 

 in their subject close akin to a neurosis I am fully convinced ; but 

 I hold that a state obtained in this way should not be taken as a 

 basis for a description of hypnotism. 



If the thirteen cases of the " grand hypnose " at the Salpetri^re 

 were the only examples known of the effects of hypnotism, there 

 might be some justification for looking upon them as typical ex- 

 amples; but to do this in the face of many thousand cases of hyp- 

 notism induced in non-hysterical persons and presenting uniform 

 characteristics of a widely different nature, seems to be a one- 

 sided position to say the least. I have no desire to detract from 



