HYPNOTISM. 699 



ence of the hypnotic state, in the sense of a peculiar trance- 

 like condition which deprives the patient of spontaneity 

 and makes him passive to suggestion from without. The 

 trance itself is only one of the suggestions, and many sub- 

 jects in fact can be made to exhibit the other hypnotic 

 phenomena without the preliminary induction of this one. 



The theory of suggestion may be said to be quite tri- 

 umphant at the present day over the neurosis-theory as held 

 at the Salpetriere, with its three states, and its definite 

 symptoms supposed to be produced by physical agents 

 apart from co-operation of the subject's mind. But it 

 is one thing to say this, and it is quite another thing to 

 say that there is no peculiar physiological condition what- 

 ever worthy of the name of hypnotic trance, no peculiar 

 state of nervous equilibrium, * hypotaxy,' ' dissociation,' or 

 whatever you please to call it, during which the subject's 

 susceptibility to outward suggestion is greater than at ordi- 

 nary times. All the facts seem to prove that, until this 

 trance-like state is assumed by the jDatient, suggestion pro- 

 duces very insignificant results, but that, when it is once 

 assumed, there are no limits to suggestion's power. The 

 state in question has many affinities with ordinary sleep. 

 It is probable, in fact, that we all pass through it tran- 

 siently whenever we fall asleep ; and one might most natu- 

 rally describe the usual relation of operator and subject by 

 saying that the former keeps the latter suspended between 

 waking and sleeping by talking to him enough to keep his 

 slumber from growing jDrofound, and yet not in such a way 

 as to wake him up. A hynotized patient, left to himself, will 

 either fall sound asleep or wake up entirely. The diffi- 

 culty in hypnotizing refractory persons is that of catching 

 them at the right moment of transition and making it per- 

 manent. Fixing the eyes and relaxing the muscles of the 

 body produce the hypnotic state just as they facilitate the 

 advent of sleep. The first stages of ordinary sleep are char- 

 acterized by a peculiar dispersed attitude of the attention. 

 Images come before consciousness which are entirely in- 

 congruous with our ordinary beliefs and habits of thought. 

 The latter either vanish altogether or withdraw, as it were, 



