696 



SLEEP 



that the patien* has a disposition to retain 

 them in the situation in which they have been 

 placed, if he is intensely affected. If this is 

 not the case, in a soft tone of voice desire 

 him to retain the limbs in the extended posi- 

 tion, and thus the pulse will speedily become 

 greatly accelerated, and the limbs, in process 

 of time, will become quite rigid and involun- 

 tarily fixed. It will also be found that all the 

 organs of special sense, excepting sight, in- 

 cluding heat and cold, and muscular motion 

 or resistance, and certain mental faculties, are 

 at first prodigiously exalted ; such as happens 

 with regard to the primary effects of opium, 

 wine, and spirits. After a certain point, 

 however, this exaltation of function is fol- 

 lowed by a state of depression, far greater 

 than the torpor of natural sleep. From the 

 state of the most profound torpor of the 

 organs of special sense, and tonic rigidity of 

 the. muscles, they may at this stage be in- 

 stantly restored to the opposite condition of 

 extreme mobility and exalted sensibility, by 

 directing a current of air against the organ 

 or organs we wish to excite to action, or the 

 muscles we wish to render limber, and which 

 had been in the cataleptiform state. By mere 

 repose the senses will speedily merge into the 

 original condition again." We have our- 

 selves frequently witnessed the induction of 

 somnambulism after this method ; and whilst 

 fully admitting its potency, we are bound to 

 say that the almost invariable success which 

 it has in the hands of Mr. Braid himself, 

 appears partly due to the mental condition of 

 the patient, who is usually predisposed to 

 the " hypnotic " state by the expectation of 

 its certain production, and by the assurance 

 of a man of determined will that it cannot be 

 resisted. When the hypnotic state, however, 

 has been induced a few times in the manner 

 just described, the subject can usually send 

 himself to sleep very readily by looking at 

 his own finger, brought sufficiently near the 

 eyes to occasion a sensible convergence of 

 their axes ; or even by simply standing still, 

 and fixing the eyes on a distant point. In all 

 cases, the fixation of the eyes is the circum- 

 stance of most importance; although the 

 withdrawal of other stimuli has a decided 

 influence in favouring the production of the 

 effect. The peculiar condition of the muscular 

 sense, as felt through the ophthalmic branch of 

 the fifth pair, seems to have a closer relation 

 with the subsequent state than has the con- 

 dition of the visual sense; for the same 

 effect may be produced at night, or in blind 

 persons, if the eyes can be kept in a fixed 

 position, especially in one that produces a 

 feeling of muscular tension. And it seems to 

 be in facilitating this, that the sense of sight 

 comes into play in the operation just de- 

 scribed. How far the mode in which the 

 somnambulism is produced has an influence 

 upon its phenomena, it may not be very easy 

 to determine. For an account of these pe- 

 culiarities, we must refer to Mr. Braid's 

 treatise already quoted ; but we may cite 

 the following, as having ourselves repeatedly 



witnessed it and satisfied ourselves of its 

 reality. " The remarkable fact that the whole 

 senses may have been in a state of profound 

 torpor, and the body in a state of rigidity, 

 and yet by very gentle pressure over the 

 eye-balls the patient shall be instantly roused 

 to the waking condition, as regards all the 

 senses and mobility of the head and neck, 

 in short, to all parts supplied with nerves 

 originating above the origin of the fifth pair, 

 and those inosculating with them, whilst 

 they will not be affected by simple mecha- 

 nical appliance to other organs of sense, 

 is a striking proof that there exists some 

 remarkable connection between the state of 

 the eyes, and condition of the brain and spinal 

 cord, during the hypnotic state. Another 

 remarkable proof to the same effect is this ^ 

 Supposing the same state of torpor of all the 

 senses, and rigidity of the body and limbs, to 

 exist, a puff of air or a gentle pressure against 

 one eye will restore sight to that eye, and 

 sense and mobility to one half of the body 

 the same side as the eye operated on ; but 

 will leave the other eye insensible, and the 

 other half of the body rigid and torpid as 

 before."* 



We consider that the experimental re- 

 searches of Mr. Braid throw more light than 

 has been derived from any other source upon 

 the phenomena of Mesmerism. That there is 

 much of reality mixed up with much impos- 

 ture in these phenomena, is a conclusion at 

 which most candid persons have arrived who 

 have given their attention to them ; and we 

 have little doubt that a searching investiga- 

 tion, carried on under the guidance of his 

 results, would lead to something like a correct 

 discrimination between the two. The induc- 

 tion of mesmeric somnambulism appears to 

 us to be fully explicable by the facts we have 

 previously stated, as to the influence of the 

 mental condition of the patient, namely, 

 the state of expectation, and the additional 

 confidence derived from the mental impres- 

 sion produced by the operator, and as to 

 the effect of the fixation of vision. The ordi- 

 nary phenomena of the mesmeric somnam- 

 bulism itself are in most respects identical 

 with those of hypnotism, except in this parti- 

 cular, that there seems to be a peculiar 

 relation between the somnambulist and the 

 mesmeriser, which does not exist between 

 the somnambulist and any other individual, 

 excepting one who is en rapport with the 

 mesmeriser. This relationship may perhaps 

 be not unreasonably regarded as the result of 

 a dominant idea, which possessed the mind at 

 the moment of falling asleep, and which con- 

 tinued to influence it so long as the somnam- 

 bulism lasts. We have examined into the 

 history of many cases, in which it was affirmed 

 that mesmeric sleep was induced without any 

 consciousness on the part of the subject of it 

 that any influence was being exercised ; but 

 we have never been able to satisfy ourselves 

 that such was unequivocally the case. When 

 the patient was expecting the performance } 

 * Op. cit. p. 64. note. 



