THE CEREBRUM, AND ITS FUNCTIONS. 801 



ternal suggestions. The first of these phases, which is nearly akin to the state 

 of Abstraction, is frequently seen in natural Somnambulism ; in which a train 

 of reasoning is often carried out with remarkable clearness and correctness, and 

 its results expressed in appropriate language, or otherwise acted on. Thus, a 

 mathematician may work out a difficult problem, an orator make a speech ap- 

 propriate to the occasion on which he supposes himself to be called up, or an 

 author may compose and commit to writing poetry or prose, upon the subject 

 which occupies his thoughts. But it is a frequent defect of the intellectual 

 operations carried on in this condition, that, through the complete absorption of 

 the attention by one set of considerations, no account is taken of others which 

 ought to modify the conclusion ; and this, although it may be palpably incon- 

 sistent with the teachings of ordinary experience, is not felt to be so, unless the 

 latter should happen to present themselves unbidden to the thoughts. The se- 

 cond of the phases above mentioned, which is especially seen in the artificial 

 Somnambulism induced by the (so called) Mesmeric process, or by the fixed 

 gaze at a near object (as practised by Mr. Braid under the name of Hypnotism), 

 is essentially the same as that of the " biological" condition, save in the differ- 

 ent relation which they respectively bear to the waking state ; for there is the 

 same readiness to receive new impressions through the senses (the visual sense, 

 however, being generally in abeyance), and the same want of persistence in 

 any one train of ideas, the direction of the thoughts being entirely determined 

 by the suggestions which are introduced from without. In either of these ex- 

 treme forms of Somnambulism, and in the numerous intermediate phases which 

 connect the two, the consciousness seems entirely given up to the one impression 

 which is operating upon it at the time ; so that whilst the attention is exclu- 

 sively directed upon any object, whether actually perceived through the senses, 

 or brought suggestively before the mind by previous ideas, nothing else is felt. 

 Thus there may be complete insensibility to bodily pain, the somnambulist's 

 whole attention being given to what is passing in his mind ; yet in an instant, 

 by directing the attention to the organs of sense, the anaesthesia may be replaced 

 by ordinary sensibility ; or, by the fixation of the attention on any one class of 

 sensations, these shall be perceived with most extraordinary acuteness, whilst 

 there may be a state of complete insensibility as regards the rest. So, again, 

 when the attention of the somnambulist is fixed upon a certain train of thought, 

 whatever may be spoken in harmony with this is heard and appreciated, but 

 what has no relation to it, or is in discordance with it, is entirely disregarded. 

 It is among the most curious of the numerous facts which Mr. Braid's investi- 

 gations upon artificial Somnambulism have brought to light, that the sugges- 

 tions derived from the " muscular sense" have a peculiar potency in determin- 

 ing the current of thought. For if the face, body, or limbs be brought into an 

 attitude that is expressive of any particular emotion, or that corresponds with 

 that in which it would be placed for the performance of any voluntary action, 

 the corresponding mental state that is, either an emotional condition affecting 

 the general direction of the thoughts, or the idea of a particular action is 

 called up in respondence to it. Thus, if the hand be placed upon the vertex, 

 the Somnambulist will frequently of his own accord, draw his body up to its 

 fullest height, and throw his head slightly back ; his countenance then assumes 

 an expression of the most lofty pride, and the whole train of thought is obvi- 

 ously under the domination of this feeling, as is manifested by the replies 

 which the individual makes to interrogatories, and by the tone and manner in 

 which these are delivered. Where the first action does not of itself call forth 

 the rest, it is sufficient to straighten the legs and spine, and to throw" the head 

 somewhat back, to arouse the emotion, with its corresponding manifestation, in 

 its full intensity. If, during the most complete domination of this emotion, 

 the head be bent forwards and the body and limbs be gently flexed, the most 

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