794 OF THE FUNCTIONS OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. 



his ordinary state, lift a 28-lb. upon his little finger alone, and swing it round 

 his head with the greatest facility, when in that state of artificial somnambulism 

 termed Hypnotism by Mr. Braid ( 827) ; his extraordinary command of muscular 

 power in this condition being simply due to the complete concentration of his 

 mental energy upon the one object, and to the dominance of the idea (with 

 which his mind was possessed by the confident assurances of Mr. Braid) that he 

 could attain it with the greatest facility that idea not being negatived by his 

 ordinary experience, for reasons hereafter to be stated ( 824). On the other 

 hand, the same individual (whilst in the hypnotic state) declared himself al- 

 together unable to raise a handkerchief from the table, after many apparently 

 strenuous efforts; his mind having been previously possessed by the assurance 

 that its weight was too great for him to move. 1 In that curious state of artifi- 

 cial Reverie, which has recently attracted much attention under the inappropri- 

 ate name of " Electro-Biology' ' ( 825), precisely the same phenomena may be 

 observed; the subjects of it being prevented from performing the commonest 

 voluntary movements, by the assurance that they cannot execute them, which 

 assurance takes full possession of their minds, in virtue of their .want of power 

 to bring their ordinary experience to bear upon the idea thus introduced; whilst 

 they may be compelled by the dominance of ideas, introduced in like manner 

 by external suggestion, to perform actions, which, if not physically impossible 

 to them in their ordinary state, they could not be induced to execute by any 

 conceivable motives. These facts are not so far removed from our ordinary 

 experience as might at first sight appear. For it must be within the know- 

 ledge of every one, that, when first attempting to perform some new kind of 

 action, the power we feel capable of exerting depends in great measure upon 

 the degree of our assurance of success. Of this we have a good example in the 

 process of learning to swim ; which is greatly facilitated, as Dr. Franklin pointed 

 out, by our first taking means to satisfy ourselves of the buoyancy of our bodies 

 in the water, by attempting to pick up an object from the bottom. And every 

 one is aware of the assistance derived from the encouragement of others, when 

 we are ourselves doubtful of our powers ; and of the detrimental influence of 

 discouragement or suggested doubt, even when we previously felt a considerable 

 confidence of success. 2 These familiar facts show us, therefore, that the pheno- 



1 The Author has every reason to believe that the personal character of this indivi- 

 dual placed him above the suspicion of deceit ; and it is obvious that, if he had practised 

 the first of the above performances (which very few, even of the strongest men, could 

 accomplish without practice), the effect would have been visible in his muscular develop- 

 ment. Of course, there was not an equal proof of the absence of deception in the second 

 case as in the first; but if the reality of the first, and the validity of the explanation 

 above given, be admitted, there need be no difficulty in the reception of the second, 

 since it is only another manifestation of the same mental condition. 



2 The Author well remembers, several years ago, being among those who tested the 

 validity of the statement put forth in Sir D. Brewster's "Natural Magic," that four per- 

 sons can lift a full-sized individual from the ground, high into the air, with the greatest 

 facility, if they all take in a full breath previously to the effort, the person lifted doing 

 the same. He could readily understand, upon physiological principles, that a full inspi- 

 ration on the part of the lifters would have a certain degree of efficacy in augmenting 

 their nervo-muscular power ; but he could not perceive how the performance of the same 

 act by the person lifted could have any appreciable effect; and while many of his acquaint- 

 ances assured him that, when all the conditions were duly observed, the body went 



, up "like a feather," and that they felt satisfied of being able to support it upon the 

 points of their fingers, he found his own experience quits different ; and came to the con- 

 clusion, after much observation, that the facility afforded by this method entirely de- 

 pended upon the degree in which it fulfilled the above-mentioned conditions, namely, the 

 fixation of the attention upon the effort, and the conviction of' the success of the method. 

 Whenever the attention was distracted and confidence weakened by skepticism as to the 

 result, the promised assistance was not experienced. The Author may also mention, as a 

 very characteristic illustration of the same principles, the following little circumstance 



