646 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. IV. No. 96. 



SECTION IV. 



Dr. E. Eoemer (Heidelberg) described 

 some experiments in progress on the rela- 

 tion between sleep and mental ability. The 

 observer's memory was tested, and the 

 accuracy and speed of work, the associa- 

 tion time and time of discrimination, were 

 taken at different times after awaking and 

 after different periods of sleep. 



Prof. J. M. Void (Christiania) reported 

 some experiments on visual images in 

 dreams. Objects were looked at just before 

 going to bed and dreams noted. It was 

 found that very seldom was the entire ap- 

 pearance of the object (if a dream happened 

 to be about it) changed, but that there 

 was usually a curious change in color. 



C. Lloyd Tuckey (London) gave the re- 

 sults of his use of hypnotism for the cure of 

 chronic alcoholism. Of the 65 cases he had 

 treated in eight years, 15 were permanently 

 cured, and 7 greatly benefited. 



Dr. Bonjour (Lausanne) gave an ac- 

 count of cases in which suggestion had been 

 used as a means of curing disease. He 

 used his illustrations to show the influence 

 of the psychic over the material part of our 

 nature, of the mind over the body. 



Mrs. Sidgwick (Cambridge, Eng.) made 

 a final report on ' the statistical enquiry 

 into sensory hallucinations experienced 

 while awake by persons in ordinary health.' 

 She referred to the Proceedings of the 

 Society for Psychical Eesearch for the full 

 report, but treated more fully of its bearing 

 on the evidence for telepathy. As there 

 were a number present who considered the 

 results could be explained in a different 

 manner, the paper received a full discus 

 sion. 



Prof. Sidgwick (Cambridge, Eng.) next 

 considered, in his paper entitled 'Experi- 

 ments in involuntary whispering and their 

 bearing on alleged cases of thought trans- 

 ference,' the work of Lehmann and Hansen 

 published in "Wundt's Philosophische Studien. 



As neither of the authors were present^ 

 however, the speaker did not go into details, 

 but showed briefly that, although the 

 Danish investigators might draw the con- 

 clusions they did for the experiments made 

 with the percipient and agent in the same 

 room, their explanation would be slightly 

 overdrawn for results obtained when the 

 percipient and agent were in different 

 rooms, and again when the matter com- 

 municated was not numbers but complex 

 drawings. 



Dr. T. Crocq (Brussels) discussed the 

 conditions of sensibility and of the intellec- 

 tual functions in hypnotized subjects. He 

 found that without suggestion there was in 

 general a diminution of sensibility to pain,, 

 and that the special senses — sight, smell, 

 taste, even hearing — lose their functions un- 

 less suggestions to the contrary are given. 

 Memory without suggestion is not exalted ; 

 with proper suggestion there may be amne- 

 sia, but this does not always occur. There 

 is also a rest in thought until some sugges- 

 tion comes to rouse the brain. 



Dr. J. M. Bramwell (London) gave an 

 account of experiments on the appreciation 

 of time by somnambules. Suggestions were 

 given for doing acts after lapses of varying 

 times. The results showed the three possi- 

 ble things that could have happened, viz.: 

 utter failure, partial success and total suc- 

 cess. The same speaker also discussed the 

 advantages and disadvantages of the use of 

 hypnotism in medical and surgical treat- 

 ment, mentioning cases in which it had 

 been used with success. 



Dr. H. Stadelmann (Saal a. Saale) told 

 of the value of suggestion in the cure of 

 disease, particularly with mental disorders. 



Dr. A. Voisin (Paris) also discussed the 

 the application of hypnotic suggestion to 

 the treatment of mental maladies. His 

 success in its use was great in those cases 

 characterized by fixed ideas, hallucinations, 

 perversions, and moral insanity. 



