594 PSYCHOLOGY. 



■which they are told has been * magnetized,' the drinking of 

 * magnetized ' water, the reception of a letter ordering them 

 to sleep, etc., are means which have been frequently em- 

 ployed. Recently M. Liegeois has hypnotized some of his 

 subjects at a distance of 1^ kilometres by giving them an 

 intimation to that effect through a telephone. With some 

 subjects, if you tell them in advance that at a certain hour 

 of a certain day they will become entranced, the jjrophecy 

 is fulfilled. Certain hysterical patients are immediately 

 thrown into hypnotic catalepsy by any violent sensation, 

 such as a blow on a gong or the flashing of an intense 

 light in their eyes. Pressure on certain parts of the body 

 (called zones hypnogenes by M. Pitres) rapidly produces 

 hypnotic sleep in some hysterics. These regions, which 

 differ in different subjects, are oftenest found on the fore- 

 head and about the root of the thumbs. Finally, persons 

 in ordinary sleep may be transferred into the hypnotic con- 

 dition by verbal intimation or contact, performed so gently 

 as not to wake them up. 



Some operators appear to be more successful than others 

 in getting control of their subjects. I am informed that Mr. 

 Gurney (who made valuable contributions to the theory of 

 hypnotism) was never able himself to hypnotize, and had to 

 use for his observations the subjects of others. On the other 

 hand, Dr. Liebeault claims that he hypnotizes 92^ of all 

 comers, and Wetterstrand in Stockholm says that amongst 

 718 persons there proved to be only 18 whom he failed to 

 influence. Some of this disparity is unquestionably due to 

 differences in the personal * authority ' of the operator, for 

 the prime condition of success is that the subject should 

 confidently expect to be entranced. Much also depends on 

 the operator's tact in interpreting the physiognomy of his 

 subjects, so as to give the right commands, and 'crowd it 

 on ' to the subject, at just the propitious moments. These 

 conditions account for the fact that operators grow more 



low the first trance or two, must be banished at the outset, by the operator 

 strongly assuring the subject that such things never come from hypnotism, 

 that the subject must not have them, etc. 



