806 Dynamic Theory. 



When it was at length discovered that the only principle involved in 

 the production of h}'pnotism is the concentration of the attention, it be- 

 came evident that the " subject " could induce it himself, and a second 

 party is not essential. Self-induced hypnotism is usually practiced for 

 a purpose, and the actions of the subject while in the artificial state, ac- 

 cord with this preconceived purpose, which acts as the dominant idea for 

 the time, being, and directs the course of the cerebral activities. A per- 

 son hypnotized has his powers much intensified and concentrated, and 

 as a speaker or writer can usually exceed his waking performances. 



The number of persons who are susceptible to the states of extra- 

 ordinary and induced abstraction is limited, not more than one m twenty 

 being a suitable biological subject; yet no doubt the faculty of abstrac- 

 tion may be cultivated to some extent by everyone. The essential part 

 of the process is simply the fixation of the attention upon some one 

 idea. In the biological experiments this is done in the following man- 

 ner: The operator gives the subject a coin or some other bright object 

 upon which to fix his steadfast gaze, at the same time assuring him that 

 after a certain length of time, he will become "magnetized," or "biol- 

 ogized," and will be under the entire control of the operator. The ob- 

 ject of concentrating the gaze upon the coin is to abstract the attention 

 from all other external impressions, and also by its monotony to put to 

 sleep the ordinary automatic activities of the cerebrum. Most of those 

 trying the experiment fall asleep all over in the natural way; but as 

 above stated, about one in twenty will remain awake as to one idea, that 

 idea being the one associated with the sensory act of gazing upon the coin. 

 If now the operator assures this subject that he is duly "magnetized" 

 and under his control, the assertion is to the subject of the same value 

 as if it were a conviction of his own intellect, arrived at in the natural 

 way. His will is not laid aside if it were he could not move a 

 muscle, but the elements which usually enter into the composition of 

 his will, are so far asleep that they do not take part in cerebral actions, 

 unless called up by the suggestions of the operator and this adventitious 

 conviction confirmed by the suggestions of the operator under it, consti- 

 tutes the principal element of the will and remains uncontradicted, un- 

 balanced and unlimited by the ordinary perceptions and ideas of the 

 subject, as it would be if they were awake. This sleep may be of dif- 

 ferent degrees of profoundness. The perceptions, for example, may or 

 may not be involved. If they are involved, their power of classifying 

 sensory impressions is in abeyance, and such classification is now in the 

 power of the suggestion of the operator. Thus, if he says vinegar is 

 water, or a man is a cow, it will appear as truth to the subject, the as- 

 surance by the operator, delivered in a positive manner, making a 

 stronger impression than that obtained through the senses. But it 



