544 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. IX., No. 226 



And, furthermore, Dumont-pallier should be con- 

 sidered as the founder of a series of experiments, 

 for he was the first one to sliow in a decisive man- 

 ner that the duality of the cerebral system was 

 proved by these hypnotic phenomena ; and his 

 vi^orks, as well as those of Messrs. Berillon and 

 Descourtis, have brought to light the following 

 facts : under hypnotic conditions, the psychical 

 activity of a brain-hemisphere may be suppressed, 

 without nullifying the intellectual activity or con- 

 sciousness ; both hemispheres may be started at 

 the same time in different degrees of activity ; 

 and also, when the grade is the same, they may 

 be independently the seat of psychical manifesta- 

 tions which are in their natures entirely different. 

 In close connection with this and with the whole 

 doctrine of hemi-hypnotism, which is founded 

 upon these facts, stands the phenomena of 

 thought-transferrence, which we must consider 

 later. 



As an addition to the investigations of Charcot 

 and Dumont-pallier, Dr. Bremaud, in 1884, made 

 the discovery that there was a fourth hypnotic 

 state, ' fascination,' which preceded the three 

 others, and manifested itself by a tendency to 

 muscular contractions, as well as through sensi- 

 tiveness to hallucination and suggestion, but at 

 the same time left to the subject a full conscious- 

 ness of his surroundings, and remembrance of 

 what had taken place. Descourtis, in addition, 

 perceived a similar condition in the transition 

 from hypnotic sleep to waking, which he called 

 delire posthypnotique, and, instead of using the 

 word ' fascination ' to express the opening stage, 

 he substituted 'captation.' Accoi'ding to him, 

 the diagram would be the following : — 



^ . i/ 



Veille. 



This whole movement, which I have tried to 

 sketch, and whose chief peculiarity is that it con- 

 siders hypnotism a nervous malady, and one that 

 must be treated clinically and nosographically, 

 was opposed in 1880 in two directions, — one 

 source of opposition producing great results, while 

 the other fell to the ground. The latter joined 



itself to the theory of the Mesmerists, and tried, 

 by means of exact experiments, to measure the 

 fluid emanating from the human body, — an 

 undertaking which gave slight promise of any 

 satisfactory result. 



Baillif in his thesis (1878), and Chevillard in his 

 (for spiritualists) very interesting books, tried, by 

 means of various arguments, to uphold the fluidic 

 explanation. Despine also thought that by its 

 help he had been able to explain the phenomena ; 

 but it was Barety who, in the year 1881, first 

 turned general attention in this direction. Ac- 

 cording to him, mankind possesses a nerve-force 

 which emanates from him in different kinds of 

 streams. Those coming from the eyes and fingers 

 produce insensibility to pain, while those gener- 

 ated by the breath cause hypnotic conditions. 

 This nerve-force goes out into the ether, and there 

 obejs the laws that govern light, being broken 

 into spectra, etc. 



Claude Perronnet has more lately advanced simi- 

 lar views, and his greatest work is now in press. 

 Frederick W. H. Myers and Edmund Gurney sym- 

 pathize with these views, and try to unite them 

 with the Mesmerist doctrine of personal influence, 

 and their theory of telepathy. The third cham- 

 pion in England of hypnotism. Prof. Hack Tuke, 

 on the contrary, sympathizes entirely with the 

 Parisian school, only differing from them in that 

 he has experimented with satisfactory results 

 upon healthy subjects. In France this view has 

 lately been accepted by Dr. Bottey, who recog- 

 nizes the three hypnotic stages in healthy persons, 

 but has observed other phenomena in them, and 

 vehemently opposes the conception of hypnotism 

 as a malady. His excellently written book is par- 

 ticularly commended to those who wish to ex- 

 periment in the same manner as the French in- 

 vestigator, without using hysterical subjects. 



The second counter- current that opposed itself 

 to the French neuropathologists, and produced the 

 most lasting impression, is expressed by the magic 

 word ' suggestion.' A generation ago. Dr. Li6- 

 bault, the patient investigator and skilful physi- 

 cian, had endeavored to make a remedial use of 

 suggestion in his clinic at Nancy. Charles Richet 

 and others have since referred to it, but Professor 

 Bernheim was the first one to demonstrate its full 

 significance in the realm of hypnotism. Accord- 

 ing to him, suggestion — that is, the influence of 

 any idea, whether received through the senses or 

 in a hypersensible manner (suggestion mentale) — 

 is the key to all hypnotic phenomena. He has 

 not been able in a single case to verify the bodily 

 phenomena of grandehypnotisme without finding 

 suggestion the primary cause, and on this account 

 denies the truth of the asserted physical causes. 



