THE PHYSIOLOGICAL ASPECT OF MESMERISM. 807 



very hot. The idea I had given him was remembered, the evidence 

 of his sense of touch was disregarded. 



There are certain attitudes which we usually assume under the in- 

 fluence of certain moods or ideas ; from each of the muscles concerned 

 in bringing about any one attitude, impulses travel up to the brain, 

 and give rise to a definite muscular sensation which comes, therefore, 

 to be associated with a particular mental mood. In mesmerized people 

 the production of a definite muscular sensation not infrequently pro- 

 duces in the mind the mood with which it is, in the wakeful state, as- 

 sociated. At the same time ideas may be produced corresponding to 

 the mood, and the ideas may give rise to particular actions, such as 

 laughing, crying, fighting. 



If the head is pushed back and the shoulders opened out, the face 

 assumes a look full of pride or haughtiness, and, if the subject be asked 

 what he is thinking about, he will give some answer indicating what a 

 fine fellow he fancies himself to be. If, then, the head is bowed and 

 the shoulders contracted, the aspect of the face changes to one of hu- 

 mility and pity. Occasionally it happens that a slight pressure on a 

 single muscle, which causes it to contract, will by an irradiation of 

 nerve-impulses produce the muscular sensations proper to a group of 

 muscles, and this will give rise to the associated frame of mind. Thus 

 very difi^erent feelings may be made to rapidly succeed one another in 

 the mind of the subject by simply pressing on various muscles of the 

 head and neck. At first sight such an experiment looks like a revival 

 of the now happily forgotten phrenology. 



I have said that, in a frog which remains mesmerized for any time, 

 there is a considerable reflex depression — i. e., inhibition of the whole 

 of the central nervous system ; that there is an irradiation of inhibitory 

 impulses. In man a similar irradiation of inhibitory impulses appears 

 to take place : usually a mesmerized person if left alone passes gradu- 

 ally, but often rapidly, into a state of torpor ; consciousness disappears, 

 memory is lost, reflex action becomes difficult to obtain ; finally, it may 

 be, there is complete anaesthesia, a limb may be cut off without pro- 

 ducing any movement or any pain. Since this torpor comes on with- 

 out anything further being done to the subject, we may conclude that 

 here, as in the frog, but to a much more marked degree, there is an 

 irradiation of inhibitory impulses. The primarily inhibited centers 

 send out inhibitory impulses to all other nerve-centers. Up to a cer- 

 tain stage, possibly throughout, any one or more centers may be brought 

 back to a condition of activity by certain exciting stimuli, but when 

 these cease the inexcitable condition is soon brought back by the in- 

 hibitory impulses streaming to them from other nerve-centers. 



The extent to which the torpid condition develops itself varies in 

 different individuals. It depends upon the condition of the nervous 

 system, upon the relative intensities of the inhibitory and exciting im- 

 pulses. As far as our present knowledge goes, it would appear that a 



