394 MAUEY OX SLEEP AND DREAMS. 



with the natural phenomena of sleep and dreams, and 

 which is not explicable by the anomalous forms these 

 so often assume without any external influences. As 

 regards the simple effect in question, we believe we 

 might as well speak of sermon sleep, of rocking-cradle 

 sleep, of the sleep of an easy arm-chair, or of a dull 

 book, as of Mesmeric sleep. The experiments of Mr. 

 Braid, embodied under the name of Hypnotism, show 

 the effects even of posture or fixed direction of vision 

 in bringing on this state. So multiplied and various, 

 indeed, are the conditions, bodily and mental, tending 

 to it, that the marvel of being awake is almost as great 

 as that of sleep produced by the manipulations arid 

 other appliances which the mesmeriser brings to his 

 aid. Among these appliances we must especially 

 reckon the age, sex, and personal temperament of 

 those who are usually the subjects of these exhibitions. 

 Anyone who cares to examine the records of them 

 will see how important is the part these conditions 

 play in the drama of mesmerism. 



Granted that the facts are strange and difficult of 

 explanation. But so, and from the same causes, are 

 all the ordinary phenomena of sleep and dreams. 

 Their familiarity disguises what is equally wonderful in 

 them. It is well worthy of note in this, as in many 

 other questions of the kind, how much subordinate 

 objects usurp the place of those of higher import. In 

 the so-called mesmeric phenomena, as proffered to our 

 belief, the mesmeriser plays a far more important part 

 than the person acted upon. The facts presented pass 

 into utter insignificance, unless it can be shown that 



