THE CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM 87; 



but instead of the activity of the whole brain or perhaps we should 

 rather say, the whole activity of the brain being in abeyance, the 

 susceptibility to external impressions remains as great as in waking 

 life, or may be even increased, while the critical faculty, which 

 normally sits in judgment on them, is lulled to sleep. The con- 

 dition can be induced in many ways by asking the subject to look 

 fixedly at a bright object, by closing his eyes, by occupying his 

 attention, by a sudden loud sound or a flash of light, etc. The 

 essential condition is that the person should have the idea of going 

 to sleep, and that he should surrender his will to the operator. In 

 the hypnotic condition the subject is extremely open to suggestions 

 made by the operator with whom he is en rapport. He adopts and 

 acts upon them without criticism. If, for example, the hypno- 

 tizer raises the subject's arm above his head, and suggests that he 

 cannot bring it down again, it stays fixed in that position for a long 

 time without any appearance of fatigue ; or the whole body may be 

 thrown, on a mere hint, into some unnatural pose, in which it remains 

 rigid as a statue. Suggested hemiplegia or hemiansesthesia, or 

 paralysis of motion and sensation together or apart in limited areas, 

 can also be realized ; and surgical operations have been actually " 

 performed on hypnotized persons without any appearance of 

 suffering. If, on the other hand, the operator suggests that the 

 subject is undergoing intense pain, he will instantly take his cue, 

 writhing his body, pressing his hands upon his head or breast, and 

 in all respects behaving as if the suggestion were in accord with the 

 facts. If he is told that he is blind or deaf, he will act as if this 

 were the case. If it is suggested that a person actually present is 

 in Timbuctoo, the subject will entirely ignore him, will leave him 

 out if told to count the persons in the room, or try to walk through 

 him if asked to move in that direction. What is even more curious 

 is that the organic functions of the body are also liable to be in- 

 fluenced by suggestion. A postage-stamp was placed on the skin 

 of a hypnotized person, and it was suggested that it would raise a 

 blister. Next day a blister was actually found beneath it. The 

 letter K, embroidered on a piece of cloth, was suggested to be red- 

 hot. The left shoulder was then ' branded ' with it, and on the 

 right shoulder appeared a facsimile of the K as if burnt with a hot 

 iron. The secretions can be increased or diminished, subcutaneous 

 haemorrhages, veritable stigmata,* can be caused, and many of the 

 ' miracles ' of Lourdes and other shrines, ancient and modern, 

 repeated or surpassed by the aid of hypnotic suggestion. Hyp- 

 notism has also been practically employed in the treatment of 

 various diseases, and particularly in functional derangements of 

 the nervous system. But care and judgment are necessary on the 

 part of the operator, and although as a rule there is no difficulty 

 in putting an end to the condition by a suitable suggestion, it is 

 said that in rare instances grave mischances have occurred. There 

 seems to be no ground for the opinion that women are more easily 

 hypnotized than men. Out of more than a thousand persons, 

 Liebault found only seventeen absolutely refractory. 



* I.e., bleeding spots on the skin generally corresponding to the wounds 

 of Christ. In the well-known case of Louise Latour, which excited great 

 interest in France in 1868, blisters first appeared ; they burst and then 

 there was bleeding from the true skin. The probable explanation is that 

 she concentrated her attention on these parts of her body and so influenced 

 them, perhaps by causing congestion through the vaso-motor centre. 



