274 



SCIENCE. 



set stare, and whatever attitude you cause him to take, he 

 will remain in indefinitely. He can be placed in the most 

 trying postures, and he will stay just as you have put him, 

 and as long as you choose. I have here some photo- 

 graphs of several people taken while they were in this 

 state. You can see how impossible and extraordinary the 

 postures appear, and how they can be maintained for a 

 great length of time. I may say, however, that nothing 

 can be easier than than this kind of photography. The 

 subjects never make the slightest movement, and it is 

 even pretended that the celebrated sculptors of antiquity 

 made use of cataleptics as their models. This may not 

 be true, but it is quite possible. 



There are other ways ot inducing Catalepsy. Do you 

 recollect the process generally employed to produce sleep ? 

 It was the sight of a brilliant object, or the prolonged 

 noise of a monotonous sound. The same means are 

 physically made use of to induce catalepsy. Let us sup- 

 pose, for instance, that a hysterical subject is made to 

 listen to the prolonged vibrations of a single octave 

 struck upon the piano. Nothing is more irritating than 

 this monotonous sound. The subject rapidly falls into a 

 cataleptic state, and singularly enough, remains in it as 

 long as the octave is struck. As soon as the sound 

 ceases however, the cataleosy disappears. 



What is thus produced by a sound can also be caused 

 by intense light. Here are a few subjects whom I will 

 place directly in front of this electric light. You see they 

 become cataleptic instantly. If the light is extinguished 

 you perceive they will fall backwards into a non-catalep- 

 tic sleep. A sudden noise or an instantaneous flash of 

 light can produce the phenomena equally well. I re- 

 member witnessing a curious scene one day at La Sal- 

 pe'riere. It was during some public ceremony, and a 

 military band was playing in the court yard of the estab- 

 lishment. One of the patients under the care of M. 

 Charcot listened to the music with the most intense 

 delight. Suddenly there came a clash from the brass 

 instruments which made us all tremble, but the patient 

 fell into a cataleptic state and had to be carried from the 

 room. A short time after another patient went during 

 a holiday to a concert. No doubt on that occasion the 

 musicians performed some " music of the future," for the 

 patient suddenly fell into a cataleptic condition, and had 

 to be removed. 



It is very easy to reproduce these phenomena. It can 

 be dene by beating a Chinese gong unexpectedly in the 

 subject's presence. You all know what a disagreeable 

 sound it is. The patient makes a gesture of fright and 

 remains rooted to the spot in a state of catalepsy. A 

 sudden explosion of gunpowder is equally effective. I 

 must tell you however, gentlemen, that this last experi- 

 ment has its disadvantages. Catalepsy produced in this 

 way otten terminates with an attack of hysteria. On 

 one occasion it was followed by a sort of frenzy which 

 "lasted five days and then stopped spontaneously. 



While in a state of catalepsy the subject is not cogni- 

 zant of his surroundings. He neither sees nor hears, 

 neither does he speak, differing in this latter respect 

 from the somnambulist or hypnotic subject. The mus- 

 cles, moreover, are not hyper-excitable. It is singular, 

 however, that while in this condition it is exceedingly 

 easy to provoke automatism by suggestion. Take for 

 instance a cataleptic subject. Place him in an attitude 

 expressive of anger, love, expectation or prayer. His 

 face will immediately assume the expression required to 

 complete the effect. 



The second degree of automatism is a little more com- 

 plicated, and will recall to your mind the effect obtained 

 with somnambulists when an idea suggested to them 

 produces others. Veritable hallucinations can be formed 

 in this way. 



To obtain this result, place yourself in front of a sub- 

 ject who is in a cataleptic state and endeavor to attract 



his attention. This is the difficult point inasmuch 

 as nearly all his senses are annulled. When you 

 have succeeded, however, make a motion for example, as 

 if you were trying to catch a bird. This gesture will im- 

 mediately suggest an idea to the subject and be followed 

 by a series of conceptions. The catalepsy ceases in- 

 stantly and is succeeded by automatism. The subject 

 rises, begins to run rapidly. His mind gradually wakens, 

 a dream commences and generally speaking nothing is 

 more curious than to watch its development. Sometimes 

 he appears to be fleeing from a serpent, at others from 

 an apparition, and so real do the hallucinations appear to 

 him, that he would dash through a glass door or out 

 of a window while attempting to escape from or follow 

 his illusion. I may add that if the act suggested be 

 quickly realized, the subject will repeat it indefinitely. If 

 1 place a cake of soap in his hands he will go through 

 the motion of washing them interminably. One patient 

 that I had continued for three hours and would have 

 gone on still longer had I not stopped him. 



I have shown you how you must proceed to induce the 

 condition. Now 1 must tell you how to dismiss it. It is 

 very simple. Magnetizers make passes, physicians 

 merely tap the subject's cheek lightly with their finger?, 

 or sprinkle a few drops of water upon the face. I must 

 also tell you that it is not desirable or prudent to allow 

 the state to continue for a long time. Two subjects I 

 have seen nearly died in consequence cf remaining in a 

 cataleptic condition twenty-four hours. Respiration 

 nearly ceased, the heart beat almost imperceptibly and 

 asphyxia followed. Death, undoubtedly was not far off. 



Gentlemen, I am done. I have told you all that I know, 

 all that I have seen in regard to this famous animal mag- 

 netism. I have said nothing, however, about reading 

 with bandaged eyes or by means of second sight, nor 

 have I spoken of divination or the art of curing disease 

 by magnetism. Such things have no place in Science. 

 They are not mentioned at Sorbonne. Our asylums of 

 Bicetre and Charenton, or our court-rooms seem to me 

 the only places where they may be discussed from time to 

 time. 



After all it is not, perhaps, astonishing that such 

 bizarres, physiological facts as those I have just demon- 

 strated, should have tempted charlatans and deceived 

 imbeciles. 



Before I leave you, gentlemen, let me tell you what I 

 fear and what I wish. 



I fear that while speaking to you so earnestly about 

 sleep I have performed my best experiment. Do you 

 recollect? — words succeeding words like the monotonous 

 tic-tac of a clock, and only when the sound ceases does 

 the audience awake with a start. 



But away with this fatal thought, and allow me to tell 

 you what I wish. I hope that I have succeeded in con- 

 vincing you that all the astounding facts connected with 

 Magnetism and Somnambulism are merely pathological 

 exaggerations, diseases of sleep. That they are absol- 

 utely determined, that they can be produced when and 

 how we choose upon particular subjects, without any 

 magnetic fluid and without the aid of superior or super- 

 natural forces. If I have persuaded you upon these 

 points, I have destroyed one of the most laughable su- 

 perstitions which still exist in the world, and this evening 

 cannot be considered as thrown away as concerns either 

 you or me. For my part, I shall always look upon it as 

 one of the happiest and most profitable of my life. 



Volta's Battery. — To render Volta's battery constant 

 and depolarized, Count Mocenigo fixes twelve couples with 

 their elements on a horizontal axis, a trough of acidulated 

 water having twelve compartments is then brought up by a 

 lever motion so as to cover a good third" of the surface of 

 the battery, and a rotatory movement is communicated to 

 the axis. 



