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SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



[June 29, iS 



The somnambulist not only believes, but even sees' 

 hears, tastes and smells what the hypnotiser commands. 

 If presented with lamp of tallow and told it is a peach he 

 will eat it with relish. If told that he is cold he will shiver 

 on the hottest day in summer. If assured that he is in 

 utter darkness the pupils of his eyes will be widely expan- 

 ded though a lamp be held at a few inches from his face. 

 If told that a piece of blank paper is a photograph of the 

 operator, he recognises the likeness and will pick it out 

 from a number of other papers. Furthermore the patient 

 acquires, for the time being, an abnormal acuteness of 

 sight and hearing, and in like manner of the other senses. 

 He can see sights and hear sounds which in his ordinary 

 condition he would fail to recognise, owing to their 

 distance. It is even believed that the somnambulist can 

 read papers placed among the leaves of a book, or locked 

 up in tightly fitting boxes, see what is taking place in 

 distant towns, recognise objects placed behind his head, 

 etc. But on these points the evidence is by no means 

 complete, and it is therefore prudent, at any rate, to 

 suspend judgment. 



We must further note that the subject will perform, 

 or endeavour to perform actions, good or evil, suggested 

 by the operator. But in so doing he does not act automati- 

 cally, but uses, in the execution of the act suggested, the 

 resources of his own mind. There is, however, as yet 

 no instance of a crime having been committed by a som- 

 nambulist subject acting under orders from the operator. 

 It is even said that the suggestions instilled into the mind 

 of the patient are persistent, and may be carried out after a 

 fixed time. No record, however, exists of crimes of this 

 kind actually committed. It is of course open to believe 

 that the strange hallucinations, the " inward voices " 

 which urge a weak-minded person on to some evil deed, 

 may have here their origin. 



One crime, however, may be fairly charged against 

 hypnotism, but that is committed by the operator upon 

 the subject. 



" Suggestion " does not exclusively belong to the true 

 somnambulic state; it is probably not absent in the 

 lethargic condition. It is even certain that suggestion can 

 be convej'ed in catalepsy, though this question has been 

 but little studied. Some cataleptic subjects differ in this 

 respect but little from somnambulists. They are slower 

 in manifesting emotions and accept suggestions less 

 readily, but if such suggestions are once accepted they 

 are carried out more automatically and more inevitably. 

 In this state special suggestions of a very interesting 

 character. Thus there are suggestions by gesture. If the 

 patient is placed in the attitude naturally adopted by 

 persons under any particular condition or set of circum- 

 stances the whole frame conforms to the supposed situa- 

 tion. Thus if the arm of a motionless cataleptic is raised 

 so as to bring the fingers in front of the mouth, as if 

 wafting a kiss the countenance at once assumes a peculiar 

 smile and the body is inclined forwards. If the arms of 

 the passive patient are then placed in the position taken 

 by pugilists, the face and the whole body accommodate 

 themselves to this situation also. 



Dr. Ducherme, of Boulogne, as it is widely known, has 

 determined by local faradisation the functions of the 

 several muscles of the face which express feelings. Now 

 if such a muscle or group of muscles is excited electrically 

 the process is reversed ; instead of the feeling producing 

 the expression of the face, the expression calls up the 

 feeling. Thus let the pyramidal muscle of the nose, 

 which Ducherme names the muscle of aggression, be 



excited electrically in a cataleptic subjct, at once the 

 muscle contracts and the skin of the base of the nose is 

 wrinkled transversely. This is a local effect of the 

 electric action. But .whether it be from habit or from 

 an inherited association of certain cerebral functions with 

 the action of the muscles which they govern, the patient 

 exp'^rimented upon at once takes a special attitude cor- 

 responding to the facial expression and similar to that 

 prompted by aggressive feelings. The fists are clenched, 

 the body is inclined forwards, and the entire posture is 

 that of a man about to attack an enemy. By a very 

 complex operation the excitement of a single special 

 muscle is thus found to suggest a special correlated 

 thought, the thought of attack or defence, and the brain 

 completes the series of acts. In thi« instance the thought 

 of fighting arises, and is worked out in a reverse order to 

 that which naturally occurs. 



Hypnotism, or whatever name we may prefer to give 

 to the totality of phenomena in question, is thus seen to 

 be of great value in studying both certain difficult pro- 

 blems of physiology and the still more complex mecha- 

 nism — if we may use the expression — of thought. 



As a curative agent — when, and only when it is em- 

 ployed by competent and experienced medical men — 

 hypnotism is eminently valuable. For mere than ten 

 3'ears it has been observed at the Hospital of La Sal- 

 petriere that in hysterical patients hypnotisation, often 

 repeated and systematically managed, greatly diminishes 

 the frequency of the attacks. It is further found better 

 to throw the patient into the hypnotic state rather than 

 to allow an attack to come on. But this must be done in 

 good time, for if once the paroxysm has come on, the 

 patient is no longer susceptible of hypnotisation. When 

 the hysteric patient is awakened after a certain time, she 

 will have escaped the convulsions. 



It is further well known that after an hysteric seizure 

 has passed away, there sometimes remain certain com- 

 plications that may terminate in permanent contraction 

 or paralysis. But, leaving these considerations as too 

 purely medical for our columns, we must urge that hyp- 

 notism is no plaything, but must be emplo3'ed only with 

 the most scrupulous care. More than forty years ago 

 James Esdaile said, " Public opinion will suppress all 

 those who practice hypnotism for any other purpose than 

 medical utility or scientific research," To bring it for- 

 ward as a public entertainment, about on a level with 

 ventriloquism or legerdemain, is nothing short of a 

 crime. There have been, and doubtless still are, moun- 

 tebanks who, knowing nothing of medical science, and 

 employing the most violent methods, go about mag- 

 netising persons who are either reckless or ignorant of 

 the dangers which they run. Some of those who attend 

 such lectures begin to practise hypnotic manipulations at 

 home on those around them, and thus create foci of mis- 

 chief — physical, moral, and intellectual. It need scarcely 

 be said that these cautions apply v/ith double force when 

 the subject — we might fay the victim — is of the female 

 sex. Instances without number might be given to prove 

 the mischief wrought by these hypnotisers, be they ama- 

 teurs or charlatans. Even the " willing game " which 

 was fashionable not long ago, has given liie to serious 

 mischief 



It is, therefore, sad to see any person adventuring his 

 willingness to instruct applicants how to become public 

 demonstrators of animal magnetism. By what name the 

 operations are called is here a perfectly idle question, 

 nor does it matter whether hypnotism, mesmerism, 



