SCIENCE.-Supplement. 



FRIDAY, APRIL 2, 1886. 



INDUCED SOMNAMBULISM. 



The activity with which the study of mental 

 phenomena, and especially of hypnotism, is now 

 being pursued, is remarkable. Constantly publi- 

 cations are being brought to our notice, dealing 

 with these popular topics, either in a literary, an 

 empirical, or scientific way. Among the last to 

 claim attention is a little work 1 by Prof. H. 

 Beaunis of the faculty of medicine at Nancy, who 

 has attempted to apply to the study of induced 

 somnambulism scientific experimental methods. 

 His work deals with the question from both 

 physiological and psychological points of view, 

 and treats of both mental and physical conditions. 

 The substance of his more important observations 

 and deductions, in the concluding chapters, is here 

 presented. 



What is the mental state of the hypnotized per- 

 son during sleep ? Is the intelligence active, and 

 are the thoughts of the subject engaged? Ob- 

 servations seem to show that there is an absolute 

 repose of the thoughts, except when under the 

 influence of external impressions. When a hypno- 

 tized subject is asked of what he is thinking, the 

 response is nearly always, ' Of nothing.' There is 

 a state of intellectual inertia, or. better, of intel- 

 lectual repose, in accord with the physical aspect 

 of the hypnotized person : the body is immovable, 

 the features impassible, with a general expression 

 of calmness and tranquillity rarely attained in 

 ordinary sleep. There are evidently no dreams 

 nor thoughts of any kind ; for those subjects who 

 recollect very well whatever has transpired in 

 some previous like condition recall nothing of an 

 hypnotic sleep during which there have been 

 received no external impressions. 



Thus, contrary to the opinion of many physi- 

 cians, undisturbed hypnotic sleep may be regarded 

 as more recuperative ; and from the observations 

 made, both by the author and Dr. Liebeault, a 

 part of the therapeutic effects produced by hypno- 

 tism may be attributed to the beneficial character 

 of the induced sleep. It is often asked whether, 

 in ordinary sleep, the brain remains inactive, and 

 many reasons have been given to prove the con- 

 trary. Facts, however, seem to show, that, when 



1 Le somnambulisnie provoque, etudes physiologiques et 

 psychologiques. Paris, Bailliere, 18^6. 12°. 



it is profound, the brain is really as inactive as in 

 the induced sleep. 



This inertia of thought is, however, only a 

 conditional one in hypnotism : the merest sug- 

 gestion, a single word pronounced by the hypno- 

 tizer, suffices to produce an activity that may be 

 very highly developed, sometimes even more than 

 in the normal state. The judgment of the hypno- 

 tized person is good, and in general he reasons 

 correctly and logically. ' ' That which is the most 

 striking," says Dr. Liebeault, "is his power of 

 deduction : whatever may be the result of his 

 intellectual elaboration, his train of reasoning is 

 logical and rapid." It seems, then, incorrect to 

 consider the hypnotized person as an unconscious 

 machine, incapable of reasoning and of judgment, 

 as Pitres has done. It is true, he lacks the im- 

 pelling motive : but impulsion once given, the 

 intellectual machine is set in motion with more 

 regularity and precision than in the waking state 

 even. 



The author says, however, that he has never 

 observed the marvellous phenomena admitted by 

 certain magnetizers, such as mental divination, 

 second sight, prophetic powers, etc. The subjects 

 were never able to divine the nature of an object 

 enclosed in the hand, nor to tell one's thoughts, or 

 events that had transpired unknown to them. In 

 regard to predictions, the same was likewise true : 

 a subject was never able to announce any event 

 in advance in which the prediction was realized. 

 A fact which the author has tested many times, 

 and which seems to admit of no doubt, is that cer- 

 tain subjects are able to recognize by the touch, 

 or at least without the aid of sight or hearing, the 

 sex and approximate age of persons with whom 

 they come in contact ; and in many cases the sub- 

 ject was able to designate immediately, upon see- 

 ing persons unknown to them, the nature and 

 location of maladies under which they were suf- 

 fering. All such facts of hypnotism, however 

 strange they appear, may be explained by an 

 increased activity of the senses, by an excessive 

 sensorial sensitiveness, such as is known to occur 

 in the somnambulist. 



There is one point of special interest in the 

 mental state of the hypnotized person which the 

 author examined with care. Will the somnambu- 

 list prevaricate or lie while in that condition ? 

 According to Pitres, certain subjects during the 

 hypnotic state falsify voluntarily and knowingly ; 

 but such cases were never observed by the author. 



