928 The American Naturalist. [November, 
giving the correct pronounciation, adding, however, the word 
“amen.” This lady had never studied Latin and was not 
familiar with the quotation. Another patient, a young girl, 
who was psychopathic and neurothenie, could hypnotize her- 
self by gazing at the brass ring of a window curtain. Both she 
and I discovered this fact accidently, I, having discovered her, 
on one occasion, in a hypnotized state, intently gazing at the 
brass ring just mentioned. By a systematic course of fasting 
and mental abstraction, thus weaking active conciousness, 
the tchogis and fakeers of India are enabled to throw themselves 
into a hypnotic condition at will. I haveseen so-called spirit- 
mediums and clairvoyantes who could bring about hypnosis 
a dozen times daily if necessary. Surely no one will assert 
that these subjects are influenced by magnetism emanating 
from themselves or from outside objects. One might just as 
well accept the doctrines of Paracelsus and his disciples of the 
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. We have seen that the 
usual avenues to the hypnotic state lie through the senses of 
sight and hearing, yet the sense of touch affords another avenue. 
On the bodies of favorable subjects there are certain areas 
called hypnogenie zones. When these zones are rubbed or 
tickled the subject immediately passes into the hypnotic state. 
In conclusion let me state, that I am confident that hypnosis 
can be produced in the favorable subject, through many differ- 
ent avenues or agencies, and that every one of these agencies 
will be absolutely devoid of magnetism or any occult force. 
