2i 4 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



statement was only partially successful. In this state — that is, still somnambu- 

 listic — she stood up and moved from her place, the operator did the same, and, 

 being separated from her by some feet, he turned his back to her and held the 

 figure in such a position that she could not possibly see it. Then he pinched at 

 the back of the neck, and she felt it at the same moment, but at the wrong place. 

 The place where she did feel it caused her some embarrassment, though harmless 

 enough, as she informed him of the locality in a whisper, which I overheard. / 

 can answer for it that she felt something at the moment when he touched the 

 image, but that she could not see it and was not in contact with him, because I 

 was standing almost between them. But she felt it far more acutely when he 

 pinched his own wrist under the same circumstances. That brought the experi- 

 ments to a conclusion. They occupied at least half an hour, and included a num- 

 ber of interesting details which I have been obliged to omit. 



Thus his exhibition, which was " perfectly genuine," proved 

 that suggestions and impressions can be " conveyed across space." 

 The fact is that it did not prove the one any more than the other ; 

 and if the writer had instituted a few control experiments such as 

 those which I forthwith carried out on the same subject, he would 

 have saved himself from having been the medium of introducing 

 thus impressively to the English reading public, through the 

 pages of a great newspaper, a solemn description of what was 

 easily proved to be a common imposture of a vulgar kind, by 

 which the good faith and unquestionable sincerity and honor of 

 the amateur of whom he speaks, and of Dr. Luys, had been sur- 

 prised. There is no secret about the name of the amateur, for he 

 has published much about the matter in great detail, with an 

 abundance of highly technical and scientific nomenclature, and 

 the performances had already been described, under his name, in 

 the Pall Mall Gazette in this country, and in La Justice and 

 I/Echo de Paris, and other journals in France. Colonel de Rochas 

 d'Aiglun, who was the operator in this case in the ward of La 

 Charite", gave a similar demonstration for my benefit at the in- 

 vitation of Dr. Luys in the ward of La Charite in the presence of 

 several witnesses. Subsequently he gave me and Dr. Sajous a like 

 demonstration with fuller developments at the Ecole Polytech- 

 nique, of which he is the administrateur ; and I gave him a 

 counter-demonstration in the rooms of Dr. Sajous before leaving 

 Paris. To appreciate all the details of these performances one 

 should read his book, entitled Les Etats profonds de l'Hypnose.* 



To the subject, Madame Vix, being plunged into " profound 

 hypnosis," as it was alleged, was handed a glass of water. To 

 this she transferred by contact her sensitiveness ; the atmosphere 



* Les fitats profonds de l'Hypnose. Par le Lieutenant-Colonel de Rochas d'Aiglun, Ad- 

 ministrateur de l'Ecole Polytechnique. Paris : Chamuel, 29 Rue de Trevise ; and G. Carre, 

 58 Rue St. Andre-des-Arts, 1892. See also Les Limites de l'Inconnu, by Georges Vitoux. 

 Chamuel, 29 Rue de Trevise, Paris, 1892 ; and Le Figaro, January 10, 1893, p. 2. 



