1894.] The Psychology of Hypnotism. 925 
that a patient, whom he was treating for inflammation of the 
lungs, was thrown into a condition resembling sleep, yet, who 
retained conciousness, spoke aloud, and attended to his every 
day affairs. De Puységur discovered that, by suggestion, he 
could change the current of this patient’s thoughts and make 
him do his bidding, at one moment, weeping as if itin great 
sorrow, the next, laughing as if convulsed with joy. “In his 
waking state he was simple and foolish, but during the crisis his 
intelligence was remarkable.” From 1784 to 1882 the science 
of hypnotism and the treatment by suggestion was undergoing 
a slow evolution which finally culminated in the work of M. 
Charcot, who at last took this beneficial therapeutic agent 
from the hands of charlatans and quacks, and placed it where 
it belongs—among the remedial agents of reputable, scientific 
physicians. I have shown in this brief resumé of the history 
of hypnotism that certain classes of individuals were more 
susceptible to this influence than others, and that gender was 
a great and favorable factor. The words previously italicized 
show that women more frequently than men were influenced 
by hypnotic suggestion, and that these favorable subjects 
always gave evidences of hysteria or kindred neurotic lesions. 
The observations of Charcot and his pupils substantiate the 
experiences of the older scientists in this respect, and my own 
experience tallies with that of Charcot. I, therefore, deem it 
safe to advance the proposition, that the individuals who yield 
to the influence of hypnotism are always those who are neuro- 
pathic ; Prof. Charcot wrote me, a short while before his death, 
that “he had come to the conclusion that all hypnotic subjects 
were the victims of neurotic lesion in some form or other.” 
When we come to study the psychological phenomena accom- 
panying hypnotism, we at once discover that this is a perfectly 
natural and absolutely truthful conclusion. 
Man possesses two kinds of conciousness—an active, vigilant, 
co-ordinating conciousness, and a passive, pseudo-dormant, 
and, to a certain extent, incoherent and non-co-ordinating 
conciousness. We can readily prove the truth of this by ob- 
serving certain phenomena which are to be noticed daily 
among ourselves. A man falls into a “brown study,” and, if 
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