Hypnotism
A peculiar state of cerebral dissociation distinguished by certain marked symptoms, the most prominent and invariable of which is a highly-increased suggestibility in the subject. The hypnotic state may be induced in a very large percentage of normal individuals, or may occur spontaneously. It is recognised as having an affinity with normal sleep, and likewise with a variety of abnormal conditions, among which may be mentioned somnambulism, ecstasy, and the trances of Hindu fakirs and savage medicine-men. In fact, in one or other of their forms, hypnosis and its kindred have been known in practically all countries and all times.
Hypnotism is no longer classed with the occult sciences. It has gained, though only within comparatively recent years, a definite scientific status, and no mean place in legitimate medicine. Nevertheless its history is inextricably interwoven with occultism, and even to-day much hypnotic phenomena is classed as spiritualistic"; so that the consideration of hypnotism in this place is very necessary to a proper understanding of much of the occult science of our own and former times. 66
The Early Magnetists. So far back as the 16th century hypnotic phenomena were observed and studied by men of science, who attributed them to magnetism, an effluence radiating from every object in the universe, in a greater or less degree, and through which all objects might exercise a mutual influence one on another. From this doctrine was constructed the "sympathetic" system of medicine, by means of which the magnetic effluence of the planets, of the actual magnet, or of the physician, was brought to bear upon the patient. Paracelsus is generally supposed to be the originator of the sympathetic system, as he was its most powerful exponent. Of the magnet he says:- "The magnet has long lain before all eyes, and no one has ever thought whether it was of any further use, or whether it possessed any other property, than that of attracting iron. The sordid doctors throw it in my face that I will not follow the ancients; but in what should I follow them? All that they have said of the magnet amounts to nothing. Lay that which I have said of it in the balance, and judge. Had I blindly followed others, and had I not myself made experiments, I should in like manner know nothing more than what every peasant sees that it attracts iron. But a wise man must enquire for himself, and it is thus that I have discovered that the magnet, besides this obvious and to every man visible power, that of attracting iron, possesses another and concealed power." -That of healing the sick.
And there is no doubt that cures were actually effected by Paracelsus with the aid of the magnet, especially in cases of epilepsy and nervous affections. Yet the word "magnet" is most frequently used by Paracelsus and his followers in a figurative sense, to denote the magnes microcosmi, man himself, who was supposed to be a reproduction in miniature of the earth, having, like it, his poles and magnetic properties From the stars and planets, he taught, came a very subtle effluence which affected man's mind or intellect, while earthly substances radiated a grosser emanation which affected his body. The human mummy especially was a "magnet" well suited for remedial purposes, since it draws to itself the diseases and poisonous properties of other substances. The most Hypnotism "If effective mummy was that of a criminal who had been hanged, and it was applied in the following manner. a person suffer from disease, " says Paracelsus, " either دو local or general, experiment with the following remedy. Take a magnet impregnated with mummy, and combined with rich earth. In this earth sow some seeds that have a likeness to, or homogeneity with, the disease; then let this earth, well sifted and mixed with mummy, be laid in an earthen vessel, and let the seeds committed to it be watered daily with a lotion in which the diseased limb or body has been washed. Thus will the disease be transplanted from the human body to the seeds which are in the earth.
Having done this, transplant the seeds from the earthen vessel to the ground, and wait till they begin to flourish into herbs. As they increase, the disease will diminish, and when they have reached their mature growth, will altogether disappear." The quaint but not altogether illogical idea of "weapon-salve "-anointing the weapon instead of the wound-was also used by Paracelsus, his theory being that part of the vital spirits clung to the weapon and exercised an ill effect on the vital spirits in the wound, which would not heal until the ointment had first been applied to the weapon; this also was an outcome of the magnetic theory.
Towards the end of the 16th century Paracelsus was worthily succeeded by J. B. van Helmont, a scientist of distinction and an energetic protagonist of magnetism. "Material nature," he writes, "draws her forms through constant magnetism from above, and implores for them the favour of heaven; and as heaven, in like manner, draws something invisible from below, there is established a free and mutual intercourse, and the whole is contained in an individual." Van Helmont believed also in the power of the will to direct the subtle fluid. There was, he held, in all created things, a magic or celestial power through which they were allied to heaven. This power or strength is greatest in the soul of man, resides in a less degree in his body, and to some extent is present in the lower animals, plants, and inorganic matter. It is by reason of his superior endowment in this respect that man is enabled to rule the other creatures, and to make use of inanimate objects for his own purposes. The power is strongest when one is asleep, for then the body is quiescent, and the soul most active and dominant; and for this reason dreams and prophetic visions are more common in sleep. "The spirit," he says, " is everywhere diffused, and the spirit is the medium of magnetism; not the spirits of heaven and of hell, but the spirit of man, which is concealed in him as the fire is concealed in the flint. The human will makes itself master of a portion of its spirit of life, which becomes a connecting property between the corporeal and the incorporeal, and diffuses itself like the light." To this ethereal spirit he ascribes the visions seen by "the inner man" in ecstasy, and also those of the "outer man" and the lower animals. In proof of the mutual influence of living creatures he asserts that men may kill animals merely by staring hard at them for a quarter of an hour. That Van Helmont was not ignorant of the power of imagination is evident from many of his writings. A common needle, he declares, may by means of certain manipulations, and the will-power and imaginations of the operator, be made to possess magnetic properties. Herbs may become very powerful through the imagination of him who gathers them. And again :- " I have hitherto avoided revealing the great secret, that the strength lies concealed in man, merely through the suggestion and power of the imagination to work outwardly, of itself, and operates on the remotest objects. Through and to impress this strength on others, which then continues this secret alone will all receive its true illuminationall that has hitherto been brought together laboriously of the ideal being out of the spirit-all that has been said of the magnetism of all things of the strength of the human soul of the magic of man, and of his dominion over the physical world." Van Helmont also gave special importance to the stomach as the chief seat of the soul, and recounts an experience of his own in which, on touching some aconite with his tongue, he finds all his senses transferred to his stomach. In after years this was to be a favourite accomplishment of somnambules and cataleptic subjects. (See Stomach, Seeing with.)
A distinguished English magnetist was Robert Fludd, who wrote in the first part of the 17th century. Fludd was an exponent of the microcosmic theory, and a believer in the magnetic effluence from man. Not only were these emanations able to cure bodily diseases, but they also affected the moral sentiments; for if radiations from two individuals were, on meeting, flung back or distorted, negative magnetism, or antipathy resulted, whereas if the radiations from each person passed freely into those from the other, the result was positive magnetism, or sympathy. Examples of positive and negative magnetism were also to be found among the lower animals and among plants. Another magnetist of distinction was the Scottish physician, Maxwell, who is said to have anticipated much of Mesmer's doctrine. He declares that those who are familiar with the operation of the universal spirit can, through its agency cure all diseases, at no matter what distance. He also suggests that the practice of magnetism, though very valuable in the hand of a well-disposed physician, is not without its dangers, and is liable to many abuses.
While the theoretical branch of magnetism was thus receiving attention at the hands of the alchemical philosophers, the practical side was by no means neglected. There were in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries a number of "divine healers," whose magic cures were without doubt the result of hypnotic suggestion. Of these perhaps the best known and most successful were Valentine Greatrakes, an Irishman, and a Swabian priest named Gassner. Greatrakes was born in 1628, and on reaching manhood served for some time in the Irish army, thereafter settling down on his estate in Waterford. In 1662 he had a dream in which it was revealed to him that he possessed the gift of curing king's evil. The dream was repeated several times ere he paid heed to it, but at length he made the experiment, his own wife being the first to be healed by him. Many who came to him from the surrounding country were cured when he laid his hands upon them. Later the impression came upon him strongly that he could cure other diseases besides king's evil. News of his wonderful powers spread far and wide, and patients came in hundreds to seek his aid. Despite the fact that the Bishop of the Diocese forbade the exercise of these apparently magical powers, Greatrakes continued to heal the afflicted people who sought him. In 1666 he proceeded to London, and though not invariably successful, he seems to have performed there a surprising number of cures, which were testified to by Robert Boyle, Sir William Smith, Andrew Marvell, and many other eminent people. He himself describes them in a work entitled "Val. Greatrakes, Esq., of Waterford, in the kingdom of Ireland, famous for curing several diseases and distempers by the stroak of his hand only: London, 1660." His method of healing was to stroke the affected part with his hand, thus driving the disease into the limbs and so finally out of the body. Sometimes the treatment acted as though by magic, but if immediate relief was not obtained the rubbing was continued, and but few cases were dismissed as incurable. Even epidemic diseases he healed by a touch. It is said that during the treatment the patient's fingers and toes 66 Hypnotism remained insensible to external stimuli, and frequently he himself showed every symptom of such a magnetic crisis as was afterwards to become a special feature of mesmeric treatment. Personally Greatrakes was a simple and pious gentleman, persuaded that his marvellous powers were a divinely-bestowed gift, and most anxious to make the best use of them. The other healer mentioned, Gassner, belongs to a somewhat later period-about the middle of the eighteenth century. Gassner was a priest of Bludenz in Vorarlberg, where his many cures gained for him a wide celebrity. All diseases, according to him, were caused by evil spirits possessing the patient, and his mode of healing thus consisted of exorcising the demons. He too was a man of kindly disposition and piety, and made a large use of the Scriptures in his healing operations. The ceremony of exorcism was a rather impressive one. Gassner sat at a table, the patient and spectators in front of him, A blue red-flowered cloak hung from his shoulders; the rest of his clothing, we are told, was clean, simple, and modest." On his left was a window, on his right, the crucifix. His fine personality, deep learning, and noble character inspired the faith of the patient and his friends and doubtless played no small part in his curative feats. Sometimes he made use of magnetic manipulations, stroking or rubbing the affected part, and driving the disease, after the manner of Greatrakes, into the limbs of the patient. The formula of exorcism he generally pronounced in Latin, with which language the demons showed a perfect familiarity. Not only could he control sickness by these means, but the passions also were amenable to his treatment. anger is apparent, now patience, now joy, now sorrow, now hate, now love, now confusion, now reason, -each carried to the highest pitch. Now this one is blind, now he sees, and again is deprived of sight, etc." These curious results suggest the phreno-magnetism of later years, where equally sudden changes of mood were produced by touching with the finger-tips those parts of the subject's head which phrenology associated with the various emotions to be called forth. "Now Hitherto it will be seen that the rational and supernatural explanations of magnetism had run parallel with one another, the former most in favour with the philosophers, the latter with the populace. It was reserved for Emanuel Swedenborg (q.v.) (1688-1772), the Swedish philosopher and spiritualist, to unite the doctrine of magnetism with that of spiritualism-i.e., the belief in the action in the external world of the discarnate spirits of deceased human beings. That Swedenborg accepted some of the theories of the older magnetists is evident from his mystical writings, from which the following passage has been extracted. 66
In order to comprehend the origin and progress of this influence (i.e., God's influence over man), we must first know that that which proceeds from the Lord is the divine sphere which surrounds us, and fills the spiritual and natural world. All that proceeds from an object, and surrounds and clothes it, is called its sphere. "As all that is spiritual knows neither time nor space, it therefore follows that the general sphere or the divine one has extended itself from the first moment of creation to the last. This divine emanation, which passed over from the spiritual to the natural, penetrates actively and rapidly through the whole created world, to the last grade of it, where it is yet to be found, and produces and maintains all that is animal, vegetable, and mineral. Man is continually surrounded by a sphere of his favourite propensities; these unite themselves to the natural sphere of his body, so that together they form one. The natural sphere surrounds every body of nature, and all the objects of the three kingdoms. Thus it allies itself to the spiritual world. This is the foundation of sympathy and antipathy, of union and separation, according to which there are amongst spirits presence and absence. "
The angel said to me that the sphere surrounded man more lightly on the back than on the breast, where it was thicker and stronger. This sphere of influence peculiar to man operates also in general and in particular around him by means of the will, the understanding, and the practice. "
The sphere proceeding from God, which surrounds man and constitutes his strength, while it thereby operates on his neighbour and on the whole creation, is a sphere of peace, and innocence; for the Lord is peace and innocence. Then only is man consequently able to make his influence effectual on his fellow man, when peace and innocence rule in his heart, and he himself is in union with heaven. This spiritual union is connected with the natural by a benevolent man through the touch and the laying on of hands, by which the influence of the inner man is quickened, prepared, and imparted. The body communicates with others which are about it through the body, and the spiritual influence diffuses itself chiefly through the hands, because these are the most outward or ultimum of man; and through him, as in the whole of nature, the first is contained in the last, as the cause in the effect. The whole soul and the whole body are contained in the hands as a medium of influence."
Mesmerism or Animal Magnetism. - In the latter half of the eighteenth century a new era was inaugurated in connection with the doctrine of a magnetic fluid. The fresh impetus which the science of magnetism received at that period was due in a very large measure to the works of Franz Antoine Mesmer (q.v.), a physician from whose name the word "mesmerism" was taken. He was born at Wiel, near Lake Constance, in 1733, and studied medicine at the University of Vienna, taking his doctor's degree in 1766. In the same year he published his first work, De Planetarum Influxu ("De l'influence des Planettes sur le corps humain"). Though he claimed to have thereby discovered the existence of a universal fluid, to which he gave the name of magnétisme animal, there is no doubt that his doctrine was in many respects identical with that of the older magnetists mentioned above. The idea of the universal fluid was suggested to him in the first place by his observation of the stars, which led him to believe the celestial bodies exercised a mutual influence on each other and on the earth. This he identified with magnetism, and it was but a step and a step which had already been taken by the early magnetists-to extend this influence to the human body and all other objects, and to apply it to the science of medicine. In 1776 Mesmer met with Gassner, the Swabian priest whose miraculous cures have already been considered; and, setting aside the supernatural explanation offered by the healer himself, Mesmer declared that the cures and severe crises which followed on his manipulations were attributable to nothing but magnetism. Nevertheless this encounter gave a new trend to his ideas. Hitherto he himself had employed the magnet in order to cure the sick, but seeing that Gassner dispensed with that aid, he was led to consider whether the power might not reside in a still greater degree in the human body. Mesmer's first cure was performed on an epileptic patient, by means of magnets, but the honour of it was disputed by a Jesuit named Hell, who had supplied the magnetic plates, and who claimed to have discovered the principles on which the physician worked. Thereafter for a few years Mesmer practised in various European cities, and strove to obtain recognition for his theories, but without success. In 1778 however, he went to Paris, and there attained an immediate and triumphant success in the fashionable world, though the learned bodies still refused to have angthing to say to Hypnotism him. Aristocratic patients flocked in hundreds to Mesmer's consulting-rooms, which were hung with mirrors, it being one of the physicians' theories that mirrors augmented the magnetic fluid. He himself wore, it is said, a shirt of leather, lined with silk, to prevent the escape of the fluid, while magnets were hung about his person to increase his natural supply of magnetism. The patients were seated round a baguet or magnetic tub, of which the following description is given by Seifert, one of Mesmer's biographers. "This receptacle was a large pan, tub, or pool of water, filled with various magnetic substances, such as water, sand, stone, glass bottles (filled with magnetic water), etc. It was a focus within which the magnetism was concentrated, and out of which proceeded a number of conductors. These being bent pointed iron wands, one end was retained in the baguet, whilst the other was connected with the patient and applied to the seat of the disease. This arrangement might be made use of by any number of persons seated round the baguet, and thus a fountain, or any receptacle in a garden, as in a room, would answer for the purpose desired." For the establishment of a school of Animal Magnetism Mesmer was offered 20,000 livres by the French government, with an annual sum of 10,000 livres for its upkeep; but this he refused. Later, however, the sum of 340,000 livres was subscribed by prospective pupils, and handed over to him. One of Mesmer's earliest and most distiguished disciples was M. D'Eslon, a prominent physician, who laid the doctrines of animal magnatism before the Faculty of Medicine in 1780. Consideration of Mesmer's theories was, however, indignantly refused, and D'Eslon warned to rid himself of such dangerous doctrine. Another disciple of Mesmer who attained to distinction in magnetic practise was the Marquis de Puységur, who was the first to observe and describe the state of induced somnambulism now as well known as the hypnotic trance. It has been suggested, and seems not improbable, that Mesmer himself knew something of the induced trance, but believing it to be a state full of danger, steadfastly set his face against it. However that may be, Puységur's ideas on the subject began to supersede those of Mesmer, and he gathered about him a distinguished body of adherents, among whom was numbered the celebrated Lavater. Indeed, his recognition of the fact that the symptoms attending the "magnetic sleep were resultant from it, was a step of no small importance in the history of mesmerism. In 1784 a commission was appointed by the French government to enquire into the magnetic phenomena. For some reason or another its members chose to investigate the experiments of D'Eslon, rather than those of Mesmer himself. The commissioners, including among their number Benjamin Franklin, Lavoisier, and Bailly, observed the peculiar crises attending the treatment, and the rapport between patient and physician, but decided that imagination could produce all the effects, and that there was no evidence whatever for a magnetic fluid. The report, edited by M. Bailly, gives the following description of the crisis. وو "The sick persons, arranged in great numbers, and in several rows around the baquet (bath), received the magnetism by means of the iron rods, which conveyed it to them from the baquet by the cords wound round their bodies, by the thumb which connected them with their neighbours, and by the sounds of a pianoforte, or an agreeable voice, diffusing magnetism in the air. "The patients were also directly magnetised by means of the finger and wand of the magnetiser, moved slowly before their faces, above or behind their heads, or on the diseased parts. "The magnetiser acts also by fixing his eyes on the subjects; by the application of his hands on the region of 1 Hypnotism the solar plexus; an application which sometimes continues for hours. "
Meanwhile the patients present a very varied picture. "Some are calm, tranquil, and experience no effect.
Others cough and spit, feel pains, heat, or perspiration. Others, again, are convulsed. "As soon as one begins to be convulsed, it is remarkable that others are immediately affected. "The commissioners have observed some of these convulsions last more than three hours. They are often accompanied with expectorations of a violent character, often streaked with blood. The convulsions are marked with involuntary motions of the throat, limbs, and sometimes the whole body; by dimness of the eyes, shrieks, sobs, laughter, and the wildest hysteria. These states are often followed by languor and depression. The smallest noise appears to aggravate the symptoms, and often to occasion shudderings and terrible cries. It was noticeable that a sudden change in the air or time of the music had a great influence on the patients, and soothed or accelerated the convulsions, stimulating them to ecstasy, or moving them to floods of tears. 66
Nothing is more astonishing than the spectacle of these convulsions. "One who has not seen them can form no idea of them. The spectator is as much astonished at the profound repose of one portion of the patients as at the agitation of the rest. 66
Some of the patients may be seen rushing towards each other with open arms, and manifesting every symptom of attachment and affection. "All are under the power of the magnetizer; it matters not what state of drowsiness they may be in, the sound of his voice, a look, a motion of his hands, spasmodically affects them."
Though Mesmer, Puységur, and their followers continued to practise magnetic treatment, the report of the royal commission had the effect of quenching public interest in the subject, though from time to time a spasmodic interest in it was shown by scientists. M. de Jussieu, at about the time the commission presented its report, suggested that it would have done well to enquire into the reality of the alleged cures, and to endeavour to find a satisfactory explanation for the phenomena they had witnessed; while to remedy the deficiency he himself formulated a theory of "animal heat," an organic emanation which might be directed by the human will. Like Mesmer and the others, he believed in action at a distance. Mesmeric practitioners formed themselves into "Societies of Harmony," until the political situation in France rendered their existence impossible. Early in the nineteenth century Pététin and Delenze published works on magnetism. But a new era was inaugurated with the publication in 1823 of Alexandre Bertrand's Traité du Somnambulisme, followed three years later by a treatise Du Magnétisme Animal en France. Bertrand was a young physician of Paris, and to him belongs the honour of having discovered the important part played by suggestion in the phenomena of the induced trance. He had observed the connection between the magnetic sleep, epidemic ecstasy, and spontaneous sleep-walking, and declared that all the cures and strange symptoms which had formerly been attributed to "animal magnetism," "animal electricity," and the like, resulted from the suggestions of the operator acting on the imagination of a patient whose suggestibility was greatly increased. It is probable that had he lived longer-he died in 1831, at the age of thirtysix-Bertrand would have gained a definite scientific standing for the facts of the induced trance; but as it was the practitioners of animal magnetism still held to the Hypnotism theory of a fluid or force radiating from magnetizer to subject, while those who were unable to accept such a doctrine, ignored the matter altogether, or treated it as vulgar fraud and charlatanry. Nevertheless Bertrand's works and experiments revived the flagging interest of the public to such an extent that in 1831 a second French commission was appointed by the Royal Academy of Medicine. The report of this commission was not forthcoming till more than five years had elapsed, but when it was finally published it contained a definite testimony to the genuineness of the magnetic phenomena, and especially of the somnambulic state; and declared that the commission was satisfied of the therapeutic value of "animal magnetism." The report was certainly not of great scientific worth. The name of Bertrand is not even mentioned therein, nor his theory considered; on the other hand, a good deal of space is given to the more supernatural phenomena, clairvoyance, action at a distance, and the prediction by somnambulic patients of crises in their maladies. This is the more excusable, however, since these ideas were almost universally associated with somnambulism. Community of sensation (q.v.) was held to be a feature of the trance state, as was also the transference of the senses to the stomach-(See Stomach, seeing with), while thought-transference was suggested by some of these earlier investigators, notably by Deleuze, who suggested that thoughts were conveyed from the brain of the operator to that of the subject through the medium of the subtle magnetic fluid. Meanwhile the spiritualistic theory was becoming more and more frequently advanced to explain the "magnetic" phenomena, including both the legitimate trance phenomena and the multitude of supernormal phenomena which was supposed to follow the somnambulic state. This will doubtless account in part for the extraordinary animosity which the medical profession showed towards animal magnetism as a therapeutic agency. Its anæsthetic properties they ridiculed as fraud or imagination, notwithstanding that serious operations, even of the amputation of limbs, could be performed while the patient was in the magnetic sleep. Thus Dr. John Elliotson was forced to resign his professorship at the University College Hospital; Dr. James Esdaile, a surgeon who practised at a government hospital at Calcutta, had to contend with much ignorance and stupid conservatism in his professional brethren; and similar contemptuous treatment was dealt out to other medical men, against whom nothing could be urged but their defence of mesmerism. In 1841 James Braid, a Manchester surgeon, arrived independently at the conclusions which Bertrand had reached some eighteen years earlier. Once more the theory of abnormal suggestibility was offered to explain the various phenomena of the so-called "magnetic" sleep; and once more it was utterly ignored, alike by the world of science and by the public. Braid's explanation was essentially that which is offered now.
He placed the new science-hypnotism, he called it, on a level with other natural sciences, above the mass of mediæval magic and superstition in which he had found it. Yet even Braid does not seem to have entirely separated the chaff from the grain, for we find him countenancing the practice of phreno-magnetism (q.v.), a combination of mesmerism and phrenology wherein the entranced patient. whose head is touched by the operator's fingers, exhibits every sign of the emotion or quality associated with the phrenological organ touched. Braid asserts that a subject, entirely ignorant of the position of the phrenological organs, passed rapidly and accurately from one emotion to another, according to the portion of the scalp in contact with the hypnotist's fingers. His physiological explanation is a somewhat inadequate one, and we can only suppose that he was not fully appreciative of his own theory of suggestion. In 1843 two periodicals dealing with magnetism appeared the Zoist, edited by Dr. Elliotson and a colleague, and the Phreno-Magnet, edited by Spencer T. Hall. The first, adopting a scientific tone, treated the subject mainly from a therapeutic point of view, while the latter was of a more popular character. Many of the adherents of both papers, and notably Elliotson himself, afterwards became spiritualists. In 1845 an additional impetus was given to animal magnetism by the publication in that year of Baron von Reichenbach's researches. Reichenbach claimed to have discovered a new force, which he called odyle, od, or odylic force, and which could be seen in the form of flames by "sensitives." In the human being these emanations might be seen to radiate from the finger-tips, while they were also visible in animals and inanimate things. Different colours issued from the different poles of the magnet. Reichenbach experimented by putting his sensitives in a dark room with various objects-crystals, precious stones, magnets, minerals, plants, animals-when they could unerringly distinguish each object by the colour and size of the flame visible to their clairvoyant eye. These emanations were so invariable and so permanent that an artist might paint them, and this, indeed, was frequently done. Feelings of temperature, of heat or cold, were also experienced in connection with the odylic force. Baron von Reichenbach's experiments were spread over a number of years, and were made with every appearance of scientific care and precision, so that their effect on the mesmerists of the time was very considerable. But notwithstanding the mass of dubious phenomena which was associated with hypnotism at that time, there is no doubt but that the induced trance, with its therapeutic and anæsthetic value, would soon have come into its own had not two circumstances occurred to thrust it into the background. The first was the application of chloroform and ether to the purposes for which hypnotism had hitherto been used, a substitution which pleased the medical faculty greatly, and relieved its members from the necessity of studying hypnotism. The second circumstance was the introduction of the movement known as modern spiritualism, which so emphasised the occult side of the trance phenomena as to obscure for nearly half a century the true significance of induced somnambulism. Modern Views of Hypnotism. - But if the great body of medical and public opinion ignored the facts of hypnotism during the period following Braid's discovery, the subject did not fail to receive some attention from the more scientific portion of Europe, and from time to time investigators took upon themselves the task of enquiring into the phenomena. This was especially the case in France, where the science of mesmerism or hypnotism was most firmly entrenched, and where it met with least opposition. In 1858 Dr. Azam, of Bordeaux, investigated hypnotism from Braid's point of view, aided by a number of members of the Faculty of Paris. An account of his researches was published in 1860, but cast no new light on the matter. Later the same set of facts were examined by Mesnet, Duval, and others. In 1875 Professor Richet also studied the science of artificial somnambulism. It is, however, from Bernheim and the Nancy school that the generally accepted modern view of hypnotism is taken. Bernheim was himself a disciple of Liébeault, who, working on independent lines, had reached the conclusions of Bertrand and Braid and once more formulated the doctrine of suggestion. Bernheim's work De la Suggestion, published in 1884, embodied the theories of Liébeault and the result of Bernheim's own researches therein. According to this view, then, hypnotism is a purely psychological process, and is induced by mental influences. The "passes" of Mesmer and the magnetic philosophers, the elaborate preparations of the Hypnotism baquet, the strokings of Valentine Greatrakes, and all the multitudinous ceremonies with which the animal magnetists were wont to produce the artificial sleep, were only of service in inducing a state of expectation in the patient, or in providing a soothing and monotonous, or violent, sensory stimulus. And so also with the modern methods of inducing hypnosis; the fixation of the eyes, the contact of the operators hand, the sound of his voice, are only effective through the medium of the subject's mentality. Other investigators who played a large part in popularising hypnotism were Professor J. M. Charcot, of the Salpêtrière, Paris, a distinguished pathologist, and R. Heidenhain, professor of physiology at Breslau. The former taught that the hypnotic condition was essentially a morbid one, and allied to hysteria; a theory which, becoming widely circulated, exercised a somewhat detrimental effect on the practice of hypnotism for therapeutic purposes, till it was at length proved erroneous. Even now a prejudice lingers, particularly in this country, against the use of the induced hypnotic trance in medicine. Heidenhain, again, laid stress on the physical operations to induce somnambulism, believing that thereby a peculiar state of the nervous system was brought about, wherein the control of the higher nerve centres was temporarily removed, so that the suggestion of the operator was free to express itself automatically through the physical organism of the patient. The physiological theory also is somewhat misleading; nevertheless its exponents have done good work in bringing the undoubted facts of hypnosis into prominence. Besides these theories there is another which is to be met with chiefly in its native France-the old doctrine of a magnetic fluid. But it is rapidly dying out. Among the symptoms which may safely, and without reference to the supernatural, be regarded as attendant on hypnotism are the rapport between patient and operator, implicit obedience on the part of the former to the smallest suggestion, whether given verbally or by look, gesture, or any unconscious action, anæsthesia, positive and negative hallucinations, the fulfilment of post-hypnotic promises, control of organic processes and of muscles not ordinarily under voluntary control. Other phenomena which have been allied from time to time with magnetism, mesmerism, or hypnotism, and for which there is not the same scientific basis, are clairvoyance, telekinesia, transference of the senses from the ordinary sense-organs to some other parts of the body, usually the finger tips or the pit of the stomach, community of sensation, and the ability to commune with the dead. The majority of these, like the remarkable phenomena of phreno-magnetism, can be directly traced to the effect of suggestion on the imagination of the patient. Ignorant as were the protagonists of mesmerism with regard to the great suggestibility of the magnetised subject, it is hardly surprising that they saw new and supernormal faculties and agencies at work during the trance state. To the same ignorance of the possibilities of suggestion and hyperæsthesia may be referred the common belief that the hypnotizer can influence his subject by the power of his will alone, and secure obedience to commands which are only mentally expressed. At the same time it must be borne in mind that if the growing belief in telepathy be accepted, there is a possibility that the operation of thought transference may be more freely carried out during hypnosis, and it is notable, in this respect, that the most fruitful of the telepathic experiments conducted by psychical researchers and others have been made with hypnotized percipients. (See Telepathy.) Among numerous explanations of the physiological conditions accompanying the hypnotic state there is one, the theory of cerebral dissociation, which is now generally accepted of science, and which may be briefly outlined as follows. The brain is composed of innumerable groups of nerve cells, all more or less closely connected with each other by means of nervous links or paths of variable resistance. Excitement of any of these groups, whether by means of impressions received through the sense organs or by the communicated activity of other groups, will, if sufficiently intense, occasion the rise into consciousness of an idea. In the normal waking state the resistance of the nervous association-paths is fairly low, so that the activity is easily communicated from one neural group to another. Thus the main idea which reaches the upper stratum of consciousness is attended by a stream of other, subconscious ideas, which has the effect of checking the primary idea and preventing its complete dominance. Now the abnormal dominance of one particular system of ideasthat suggested by the operator-together with the complete suppression of all rival systems, is the principal fact to be explained in hypnosis. To some extent the physiological process conditioning hypnosis suggests an analogy with normal sleep. When one composes himself to sleep there is a lowering of cerebral excitement and a proportionate increase in the resistance of the neural links; and this is precisely what happens during hypnosis, the essential passivity of the subject raising the resistance of the association-paths. But in normal sleep, unless some exciting cause be present, all the neural dispositions are at rest, whereas in the latter case such a complete suspension of cerebral activities is not permitted, since the operator, by means of voice, gestures, and manipulations of the patient's limbs, keeps alive that set of impressions relating to himself. One neural disposition is thus isolated, so that any idea suggested by the operator is free to work itself out in action, without being submitted to the checks of the sub-activity of other ideas. The alienation is less or more complete according as the degree of hypnotism is light or heavy, but a comparatively slight raising of resistance in the neural links suffices to secure the dominance of ideas suggested by the hypnotizer. Hyperæsthesia, than which perhaps no phenomenon is more frequently mentioned in connection with the hypnotic state, really belongs to the doubtful class, since it has not yet been decided whether or no an actual sharpening or refining of the senses takes place. Alternatively it may be suggested that the accurate perception of very faint sense-impressions, which seems to furnish evidence for hyperæsthesia, merely recalls the fact that the excitement conveyed through the sensory nerve operates with extraordinary force, being freed from the restriction of sub-excitement in adjacent neural groups and systems. In accepting this view-point we concede that in normal life very feeble sensory stimuli must act on nerve and brain just as they do in hypnosis, save that in the former case they are so stifled amid a multitude of similar impressions that they fail to reach consciousness. In any case the occasional abnormal sensitiveness of the subject to very slight sensory stimuli is a fact of hypnotism as well authenticated as anæsthesia itself, and the term hyperæsthesia," if not entirely justified, may for want of a better be practically applied to the observed phenome-
The hypnotic state is not necessarily induced by a second person.
Spontaneous" hypnotism and "autohypnotisation " are well known to science. Certain Indian fakirs and the shamans of uncivilised races can produce in themselves a state closely approximating to hypnosis, by a prolonged fixation of the eyes, and by other
The mediumistic trance is also, as will be shown hereafter, a case in point. 66 non. means. 66 Hypnotism and Spiritualism. - Spiritualism is a legacy directly bequeathed by the magnetic philosophers of mediæval times, and through them, from the still older astrologers and magi. It has been shown that at a very دو a Hypnotism early date phenomena of a distinctly hypnotic character were ascribed to the workings of spiritual agencies, whether angelic or demoniac, by a certain percentage of the observers Thus Greatrakes and Gassner believed themselves to have been gifted with a divine power to heal diseases. Cases of ecstasy, catalepsy and other trance states were given a spiritual significance-i.e., demons, angels, elementals, and so on, were supposed to speak through the lips of the possessed. Witchcraft, in which the force of hypnotic suggestion seems to have operated in a very large degree, was thought to result from the witches' traffic with the Prince of Darkness and his legions. Even in some cases the souls of deceased men and women were identified with these intelligences, though not generally until the time of Swedenborg. Though the movement known as "modern spiritualism is usually dated from 1848, the year of the "Rochester Rappings," the real growth of spiritualism was much more gradual, and its roots were hidden in animal magnetism. Emanuel Swendenborg, whose affinities with the magnetists have already been referred to, exercised a remarkable influence on the spiritualistic thought of America and Europe, and was in a sense the founder of that faith. Automatic phenomena were even then a feature of the magnetic trance, and clairvoyance, community of sensation, and telepathy were believed in generally, and regarded by many as evidences of spiritual communication. In Germany Professor Jung-Stilling, Dr. C. Römer, Dr. Werner, and the poet and physician Justinus Kerner, were among those who held opinions on these lines, the latter pursuing his investigations with a somnambule who became famous as the "Seerers of Prevorst "-Frau Frederica Hauffe. Frau Hauffe could see and converse with the spirits of the deceased, and gave evidence of prophetic vision and clairvoyance. Physical phenomena were witnessed in her presence, knockings, rattling of chains, movement of objects without contact, and, in short, such manifestations as were characteristic of the poltergeist family. She was, moreover, the originator of a primeval" language, which she declared was that spoken by the patriarchs. Thus Frau Hauffe, though only a somnambule, or magnetic patient, possessed all the qualities of a successful spiritualistic medium. In England also there were many circumstances of a supernatural character associated with mesmerism. Dr. Elliotson, who, as has been indicated, was one of the best-known of English magnetists, became in time converted to a spiritualistic theory, as offering an explanation of the clairvoyance and similar phenomena which he thought to have observed in his patients. France, the headquarters of the rationalist school of magnetism, had, indeed, a good deal less to show of spiritualistic opinion. Nonetheless even in that country the latter doctrine made its appearance at intervals prior to 1848. J. P. F. Deleuze, a good scientist and an earnest Critique du Magnétisme Animal in 1813, was said to have protagonist of magnetism, who published his Histoire embraced the doctrines of spiritualism before he died. Dr. G. P. Billot was another believer in spirit communication, and one who succeeded in obtaining physical phenoena in the presence of his somnambules. It is, however, in the person of Alphonse Cahagnet, a man of humble origin who began to study induced somnambulism about the year 1845, and who thereafter experimented with somnambules, that we encounter the first French spiritualist of distinction. So good was the evidence for spirit communication furnished by Cahagnet and his subjects that it remains among the best which the annals of the movement can produce. In America, Laroy Sunderland, Andrew Jackson Davis, and others who became pillars of spiritualism in that country were first attracted to it through the study of magnetism. Everywhere we find 66 hypnotism and spiritualism identified with each other until in 1848 a definite split occurs, and the two go their separate ways. Even yet, however, the separation is not quite complete. In the first place, the mediumistic trance is obviously a variant of spontaneous or self-induced hypnotism, while in the second, many of the most striking phenomena of the séance-room have been matched time and again in the records of animal magnetism. For instance, the diagnosis of disease and prescription of remedies dictated by the control to the "healing medium have their prototype in the cures of Valentine Greatrakes, or of Mesmer and his disciples. Automatic phenomenaspeaking in "tongues" and so forth-early formed a characteristic feature of the induced trance and kindred states. While even the physical phenomena, movement without contact, apports, rappings, were witnessed in connection with magnetism long before the movement known as modern spiritualism was so much as thought of. In many instances, though not in all, we can trace the operation of hypnotic suggestion in the automatic phenomena, just as we can perceive the result of fraud in much of the physical manifestations. The question whether, after the factors of hypnotism and fraud have been removed, a section of the phenomena remains inexplicable say by the hypothesis of communication with the spirit-world is one which has been in the past, and is to-day, answered in the affirmative by many men of the highest distinction in their various walks of life, and one which we would do well to treat with due circumspection. This, however, is reserved for consideration elsewhere, the scope of the present article being to show how largely spiritualism has borrowed from the fact of hypnotism. (See Suggestion.) In M. Larelig's biography of the celebrated painter, Wiertz, and also in the introductory and biographical note affixed to the Catalogue Raisonné du Musée Wiertz, by Dr. S. Watteau, 1865, is to be found a detailed description of an extremely curious hypnotic experiment in which Wiertz was the hypnotic subject and a friend, a doctor, the hypnotiser. Wiertz had long been haunted by a desire to know whether thought persisted in a head severed from the trunk. His wish was the reason of the following experiment being undertaken, this being facilitated through his friendship with the prison doctor in Brussels, and another outside practitioner. The latter had been for many years a hypnotic operator, and had more than once put Wiertz into the hypnotic state, regarding him as an excellent subject. About this time a trial for murder in the Place Saint-Géry had been causing a great sensation in Belgium and the painter had been following the proceedings closely. The trial ended in the condemnation of the accused. A plan was arranged and Wiertz, with the consent of the prison doctor, obtained permission to hide with his friend, Dr. D., under the guillotine, close to where the head of the condemned would roll into the basket. In order to carry out the scheme he had determined upon more efficiently, the painter desired his hypnotiser to put him through a regular course of hypnotic suggestion, and when in the sleep state to command him to identify himself with various people and tell him to read their thoughts and penetrate into their psychical and mental states. The following is a resumé given in Le Progrès Spirite:-" On the day of execution, ten minutes before the arrival of the condemned man, Wiertz, accompanied by his friend the physician with two witnesses, ensconced themselves underneath the guillotine, where they were entirely hidden from sight. The painter was then put to sleep, and told to identify himself with the criminal. He was to follow his thoughts Hypocephalus and feel any sensations, which he was to express aloud. He was also 'suggested' to take special note of mental conditions during decapitation, so that when the head fell in the basket he could penetrate the brain and give an account of its last thoughts. Wiertz became entranced almost immediately, and the four friends soon understood by the sounds overhead that the executioner was conducting the condemned to the scaffold, and in another minute the guillotine would have done its work. The hypnotized Wiertz manifested extreme distress and begged to be demagnetised, as his sense of oppression was insupportable. It was too late, however the knife fell. 'What do you feel? What do you see?' asks the doctor. Wiertz writhes convulsively and replies, 'Lightning ! A thunderbolt falls! It thinks; it sees!' ' Who thinks and sees ?' 'The head. It suffers horribly. It thinks and feels but does not understand what has happened. It seeks its body and feels that the body must join it. It still waits for the supreme blow for death, but death does not come.' As Wiertz spoke the witnesses saw the head which had fallen into the basket and lay looking at them horribly; its arteries still palpitating. It was only after some moments of suffering that apparently the guillotined head at last became aware that is was separated from its body. Wiertz became calmer and seemed exhausted, while the doctor resumed his questions. The painter answered :-' I fly through space like a top spinning through fire. But am I dead? Is all over? If only they would let me join my body again! Have pity! give it back to me and I can live again. I remember all. There are the judges in red robes. I hear the sentence. Oh! my wretched wife and children. I am abandoned. If only you would put my body to me, I should be with you once more. You refuse ? All the same I love you, my poor babies. Miserable wretch that I am I have covered you with blood. When will this finish! or is not a murderer condemned to eternal punishment?' As Wiertz spoke these words the witnesses thought they detected the eyes of the decapitated head open wide with a look of unmistakable suffering and of beseeching. The painter continued his lamentations. 'No, such suffering cannot endure for ever; God is merciful. All that belongs to earth is fading away. I see in the distance a little light glittering like a diamond. I feel a calm stealing over me. What a good sleep I shall have! What joy!' These were the last words the painter spoke. He was still entranced, but no longer replied to the questions put by the doctor. They then approached the head and Dr. D. touched the forehead, the temples, and teeth and found they were cold. The head was dead."
In the Wiertz Gallery in Brussels are to be found three pictures of a guillotined head, presumably the outcome of this gruesome experiment.