80 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



this position as if they were pieces of wax. That is, however, a symp- 

 tom of a cataleptic condition, such as is seen in human beings under 

 pathological conditions of the nervous system. 



After I had discovered the events which I have just communicated 

 to you concerning the hens and pigeons, two things were clear to me ; 

 1. That the drawing of the chalk-line in Kircher's experiment was of 

 some significance. The hand which draws the line, and the line itself, 

 are transferred to an object in which the animal's look and attention 

 are placed, through which a marvelous condition of certain parts of its 

 nervous system is called forth, accompanied by cataleptic phenomena, 

 and which can change to sleep. 



2. That it produces soporific phenomena in animals, as has long 

 been conjectured, but, until now, never investigated or proved ; a pe- 

 culiar and mysterious state, resembling sleep, accompanied by cata- 

 leptic appearances and a change in the nervous system. This can 

 be produced in many men by a simple fixing of the look on some small 

 object, and through a concentration of the will. 



It is well known that, in the year 1851, Mr. Braid, a Scotch surgeon, 

 established in Manchester, who was present at the mesmeric exhibi- 

 tions of Lafontaine, was first struck with the idea that these phenom- 

 ena, proclaimed as the effect of a magnetic fluid, were only a natural 

 consequence of the fixed look and entire abstraction of the attention, 

 which present themselves under the monotonous manipulation of the 

 magnetizer. Mr. Braid proved in his experiments the entire dispensa- 

 bleness of a so-called magnetizer, and his supposed secret agents, or 

 fluids, produced through certain manipulations ; he taught the sub- 

 jects of the experiments to place themselves in this sleeping con- 

 dition, by simply making them gaze fixedly at some object for a long 

 time with strict attention and unmoved gaze. It is therefore clear 

 that this condition of the nerves, caused by the steady look and at- 

 traction of attention, in one part of the brain, brings the other parts 

 into action with it and changes the functions, to whose normal activity 

 the phenomena of the will are united. This is the actual, natural, 

 physiological connection of this mysterious appearance. It only re- 

 mains to us now to ascertain which portions of the brain first and 

 secondly become altered, and in what these changes consist. 



According to Braid, for example, on one occasion, in the presence of 

 800 persons, ten out of fourteen full-grown men were placed in a sleep- 

 ing condition in this way. All began the experiment at the same time ; 

 the former with their eyes fixed upon a projecting cork, placed secure- 

 ly on their foreheads ; the others, at their own will, gazed steadily at 

 certain points in the direction of the audience. In the course of ten 

 minutes the eyelids of these ten persons had involuntarily closed. 

 With some, consciousness remained ; others were in catalepsy, and 

 entirely insensible to being stuck with needles, and others, on awaken- 

 ing, knew absolutely nothing of what had taken place during their 



