76o THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



grave, and the patient may kneel as if to pray. Catalepsy may be 

 converted into lethargy by simply closing the patient's eyelids. 



The third stage of Charcot's hypnotic series is somnambulism. 

 Somnambulism can be primarily induced by fixation, or may be 

 developed out of the lethargic or cataleptic stages by light fric- 

 tion on the top of the subject's head. The sensitiveness of the 

 subject to suggestions is very greatly increased. The neuro-mus- 

 cular hyperexcitability is not present, and contractions can not 

 be produced by excitation of the nerves or muscles. Light breath- 

 ing upon the skin, however, gives rise to a special form of con- 

 traction which, it is said, can only be counteracted by similarly 

 stimulating antagonistic groups of muscles. These three phases 

 Charcot has been pleased to group under the title of the " grand 

 hypnose," for what reason it is difficult to say, unless, indeed, it is 

 because the description originated in Paris. 



Thus it happens that, at the present day, the Paris school and 

 the school of Lidbault are the principal exponents of hypnotism. 

 Upon many of the most essential questions these two schools 

 stand in opposition. According to Charcot, hypnotism is a patho- 

 logical condition observed chiefly in hysterical patients, which 

 can be divided into the three sharply defined phases just spoken 

 of. According to Bernheim, who is at present the chief repre- 

 sentative of the Nancy school, the hypnotic state is not a neuro- 

 sis, but a condition closely allied to ordinary sleep, which can be 

 brought about in a very large proportion of perfectly healthy 

 persons. The peculiar physical conditions described by Charcot 

 as invariable concomitants of hypnotism, Bernheim considers the 

 result of suggestion, and the three typical states he regards as the 

 artificial effects of similar influences. 



From a careful examination of a large number of hypnotized 

 persons, I am forced to the conclusion that these views of Bern- 

 heim^s are correct, and that the school of the Salpetriere is in seri- 

 ous error. Before reviewing the facts which have led me to this 

 conclusion, let us inquire a little more carefully into the nature of 

 the hypnotic phenomena manifested by healthy individuals. This 

 will greatly facilitate an understanding of the principal objections 

 to Charcot's views. 



First, as to the proper method of inducing the hypnosis or 

 artificial sleep. This is very simple, and it is always well to 

 assure the subject that you do not intend to make use of any 

 supernatural means, and that there is no magnetism of any kind 

 about your procedure. Where persons are very skeptical of your 

 ability to put them to sleep, it is a good plan to hypnotize a few 

 patients in their presence, as an evidence of what you are able to 

 do. Having thus obtained the subject's confidence, the physician 

 asks him to look him intently in the eye, and to think of nothing 



