SCIENCE. 



273 



nothing individually to do with the phenomenon. All 

 that takes place originates with the subject whose brain 

 is actually annihilated and brought to such a condition 

 that any dream can be provoked by suggestion. We 

 have in fact, an automaton similar to that which I called 

 your attention to in Natural Somnambulism, only while 

 the latter merely obeys the impulse of memory, the 

 former is subject to our will. 



Hypnotism can also be produced by simply placing 

 the thumbs gently upon the closed eyelids of the sub- 

 ject, allowing the hands in the meanwhile to rest upon 

 his temples and press upon the eye-balls. This 

 process is very effectual with some subjects. A person 

 accustomed to be hypnotized can be put into the condi- 

 tion by having some one shout suddenly and authorita- 

 tively in his ear, " Sleep !" A theatrical gesture accom- 

 panying the command makes it more effective. The 

 Abb6 Faria, a celebrated charlatan who completely mys- 

 tified the world about twenty years ago, always adopted 

 this method. The other ways, however, are preferred at 

 La Salpetriere, and also at Breslau by the well-known 

 Professor Heidenhaim. 



All that 1 have just said refers to the first experiments 

 made with subjects. After they have once been hypno- 

 tized, however, the state can be induced much more 

 easily. Here it is that Imagination steps in and mounte- 

 banks are allowed the utmost liberty of action. The 

 mere idea that he is about to be put to sleep causes the 

 subject to fall asleep almost immediately. If, in addition, 

 he is made to think that the operator possesses some 

 secret influence, or supernatural power, you will soon see 

 what may happen. 



A patient at La Salpetriere, who had firmly persuaded 

 herself that I had a peculiar influence upon her, fell into 

 a hypnotic condition every time she saw me, independ- 

 ent of the locality. She often became hypnotized upon 

 the staircase or in the middle of the courtyard. One day 

 some one said to her jokingly that she could be hypnot- 

 ized simply by the will in the midst of a public ceremony 

 which was to take place a few hours later, and she act- 

 ually refused to appear on this occasion so fully was she 

 convinced that what had been mentioned would really 

 occur. In such cases, the imagination is everyihing. 

 The subject alone is responsible for all that happens. A 

 few examples will make you thoroughly understand what 

 I mean. I have actually succeeded in persuading patients 

 that they could not leave the room because I had mag- 

 netized the door-knobs. They would hesitate for a long 

 time before approaching them, and ss soon as they 

 touched them they became hypnotized. Need I tell you 

 that nothing whatever had been magnetized ? This ex- 

 perience is important, for by means of it we can explain 

 cases in which the subjects fall into the condition while 

 drinking a glass of magnetized water, or while lying 

 down beneath a magnetized tree. 



Magnetic experiments made at a distance belong to the 

 same category. How often we have read of magnetizers 

 who have succeeded in putting subjects into a deep sleep 

 while the former is in one room and the latter in another. 

 Here again the subject alone is the agent, I have fre- 

 quently tried this experiment. A patient named P 



was told, " M. Regnard is in the next room and he is mag- 

 netizing you." She would instantly exhibit great uneasi- 

 ness and then fall into a deep sleep. This even happened 

 when I was not in the next room or even in France, and 

 when, I am free to confess, I was thinking of anything 

 rather than her. 



On another occasion I said to a patient that I would 

 magnetize her at three o'clock in the afternoon, and ten 

 minutes after making this remark I had forgotten all about 

 it. On the following day, however, I learned that she 

 had fallen asleep precisely at three o'clock. 



The immense number of absurdities which go to com- 

 pose magnetizers guide books can be explained in this 

 way. The imagination of the subject is vividly affected 



and sleep is produced subjectively and without the inter- 

 vention of any exterior influence. No matter what man- 

 ner of Magnetism is employed the result is always pre- 

 cisely the same — the subject remains inert. 



Different peculiarities are then observable, the most 

 important of which is hyper-muscular excitability. In a 

 normal condition our muscles are very susceptible. Any 

 violent check causes them to contract, and the same effect 

 is often produced by reflex action. 



In artificial Somnambulism, the action of the spinal cord 

 being no longer moderated by the brain which is annihi- 

 lated, the muscles contract by reflex action beneath the 

 very smallest influence. Pass your finger as lightly as 

 possible over the forearm of a sleeping hysterical woman 

 and you will immediately perceive muscular contraction. 

 Charlatans obtain this effect by gently touching the mus- 

 cles while apparently only making passes. By causing 

 the muscles of the back to contract subjects can be made 

 to assume positions which appear incompatible with the 

 equilibrium. Here are a couple of photographs taken of 

 two somnambulists. One of them, you see, has her head 

 thrown back until it nearly touches her waist, while the 

 other rests with her feet on the back of one chair and the 

 nape of her neck on the other, her body bent in the form 

 of an arch. I show you these two positions, so frequently 

 exhibited by would-be performers of miracles, simply that 

 I may explain to you how I obtained them. 



All the results reached so easily in magnetic sleep are 

 nothing more than hysterical muscular contraction. This 

 can be proved by the fact that if the patient is awakened 

 during this state, the contraction remains indefinitely, and 

 in order to remove it she must be put to sleep again, and 

 antagonistic muscles contracted. 



The study of this important branch of the subject led 

 M. Charcot and his students to the investigation of a 

 most curious thing, and one which has helped to calm the 

 fears of people, who, without witnessing the experiments 

 performed, denounced the whole affair as an imposition. 



Gentlemen, there are about two thousand persons in 

 this room. With the exception of a few physicians who 

 are present, it is probable that none of you know the action 

 of the muscles as described by Duchenne, of Boulogne, 

 nor yet the distribution of the nerves situated in the arm. 

 Do you believe that a girl who can neither read nor write, 

 and who comes from the most obscure portion of Brit- 

 tany, could be versed in the details of this delicate physiol- 

 ogy ? For my part, I do not believe it. If she is an im- 

 poster, we shall soon discover it. Here she is ; let us 

 hypnotize her, and then excite the cubital nerve at the 

 elbow, and see if she makes a wild gesture. Not at all ; 

 she merely bends her little finger, the third finger and 

 thumb. The cubital nerve therefore, only affects these 

 three fingers. Many medical students of my acquaintance 

 are ignorant of this fact. Let us now excite the sterno- 

 mastoid muscle, this diagonal cord which appears upon 

 the neck when the head is turned. You see, she turns her 

 head towards the opposite side. Better still, let us excite 

 the face muscles with this pencil, and you perceive the 

 same effects appear as were obtained by Duchenne with 

 electricity, such complex effects, too, that even physiolo- 

 gists have difficulty in remembering them. If this girl is 

 only pretending, she is exceedingly clever. I shall have 

 finished my remarks upon sleep, after having told you that 

 it is quite possible, at this period, to make the subject rise 

 and follow you, and utter loud cries, should any one come 

 between you and her. 



The second state which can be produced by Hypnotism 

 upon hysterical subjects, is Catalepsy. This bizarre con- 

 dition, of which I shall attempt to give you an idea, exists 

 normally in the patient, and the processes employed only 

 serve to develop it. Sometimes it appears without any 

 provocation whatever. Nothing is easier than to make 

 the subject pass from a sleeping state to a cataleptic one. 

 It is only necessary to open his eyes suddenly, and he will 

 then remain as though transfixed. His eyes assume a 



