798 OF THE FUNCTIONS OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. 



term Biological. The subject of it may be truly characterized as a thinking 

 automaton, the whole course of whose ideas may be determined by suggestions 

 operating from without; and his mind, having in itself no power of altering the 

 course of these in even the slightest degree, is cut off from all recourse to pre- 

 vious experience for the examination of their correctness or the determination 

 of their fallacy. The senses of the biologized subject are freely accessible to 

 external impressions ; but, as in the case of the " absent" man, his perception 

 of these is governed by the ideas which may be dominant in his mind at the 

 time ; and he may be consequently led to any kind of absurd misinterpretation 

 of them. Yet his state of mind is not so far removed from his ordinary condi- 

 tion as to prevent his usual habits of thought and feeling from displaying them- 

 selves ; and he has in most cases a perfect recollection of what has taken place, 

 when he returns to his usual condition of mental activity, though sometimes the 

 recollection does not extend to particulars. All the phenomena of the " biolo- 

 gized" state, when attentively examined, will be found to consist in the occupa- 

 tion of the mind by the ideas which have been suggested to it, and in the in- 

 fluence which these ideas exert upon the actions of the body. Thus the operator 

 asserts that the " subject" cannot rise from his chair, or open his eyes, or 

 continue to hold a stick ; and the " subject" thereby becomes so completely 

 possessed with the fixed belief of the impossibility of the act, that he is incapa- 

 citated from executing it, not because his will is controlled by that of another, 

 but because his will is in abeyance, and his muscles are entirely under the 

 guidance of the conviction which for the time possesses his mind. So, again, 

 when he is made to drink a glass of water, and is assured that it is coffee, or 

 wine, or milk, that assurance, delivered in a decided tone, makes a stronger 

 impression on his mind than that which he receives through his taste, smell, or 

 sight; and not being able to judge and compare, he yields himself up to the 

 " dominant idea." 1 Here, again, we perceive that it is not really the will of 

 the operator which controls the sensations of the subject; but the suggestion of 

 the operator which excites a corresponding idea, the falsity of which is not 

 corrected, simply because the mind of the subject, being completely engrossed 

 by it, cannot apprehend the truth less forcibly impressed on it through his own 

 senses. The same general statement applies to what has been designated as 

 "control over the memory." The subject is assured that he cannot remember 

 the most familiar thing, his own name for example ; and he is prevented from 

 doing so, not by the will of the operator, but by the conviction of the impossi- 

 bility of the mental act, which engrosses his own mind, and by the want of that 



serves as a point cTappui for the fixed gaze, is equally efficacious. The Author has no 

 hesitation in avowing his belief in the reality of the phenomena, which are described as 

 occurring in this state; these having been presented to himself and to other scientific 

 inquirers, by numerous individuals, on whose honesty and freedom from all disposition to 

 deceive themselves or others, implicit reliance could be placed. All public exhibitions, the 

 performers in which are of questionable character, are of course open to the obvious fallacy 

 of intentional deceit. With regard to the interpretation of these phenomena, however, he 

 entirely dissents from the statements commonly made, to the effect that the Will of the 

 " biologized" subject is entirely under the control of that of the operator ; since he regards 

 the latter as having no other influence over the former than through the suggestions which 

 his language and manner convey. 



1 It is very curious to observe, in some instances, the perplexity arising from the contra- 

 riety between the opposing sensory impressions. The mind seems unable to reconcile this 

 contrariety, and yields itself up to the impression which is most strongly felt. Sometimes 

 it is convinced by the repeated assurances of the operator, so long as the taste alone is 

 opposed to them, but attaches a superior importance to the indications of sight; in other 

 individuals, again, the indications of sight maybe put aside, and yet the " subject" cannot 

 be made to believe what is in opposition to his sense of taste. There are some individuals 

 who can never be thus played upon, notwithstanding that their muscular movements and 

 their purely mental conceptions are completely amenable to this kind of direction. 



