sky than we can yet measure in our philosophy.1 Dreams have been a neglected study; nevertheless it is a study which is full of promise of abundant fruit when it shall be earnestly undertaken in a painstaking and methodical way by well-trained and competent observers. To physicians of all men is it likely that they will prove full of instruction.

1 How great is the effect upon some persons, both in the day and in the night, of that oppressive state of the atmosphere which precedes and accompanies a thunderstorm! I have thought sometimes that the brain of an aged person, who has led a life of great activity-perhaps never having had a day's illness, as it is said—has collapsed suddenly in such atmospheric conditions.

CHAPTER IL

HYPNOTISM, SOMNAMBULISM, AND ALLIED STATES.

UNDER such names as mesmerism, animal magnetism, electrobiology, hypnotism and braidism, have been described, and more or less carefully investigated, certain abnormal mental states, of a trance-like nature, which are induced artifically by suitable means. Too long they were rejected as sheer impostures, unworthy of serious study, partly because they undoubtedly yielded easy occasions to knaves to practise deceit for their pleasure or their profit, and partly because they seemed to be inconsistent with known physical laws. Had the interpretation given of them by those who were eager to discover something marvellous been the only possible one, there would certainly have been a blank contradiction of known physical laws. But it was not so: when close and critical attention was given to the phenomena it was soon perceived that they might be genuine, though they were interpreted wrongly; and the scientific study of them, imperfect as it yet is, has shown that they are consistent with certain other obscure nervous phenomena, and has been useful in throwing some light upon the manner of working of nervous functions. A good use of uncommon things is to force us to look more curiously at the meaning of common things which we overlook habitually. These abnormal phenomena have not yet, it is true, been brought under the domain of law, because we have not sufficient knowledge of the exact conditions of their occurrence to enable us to define the laws which govern them, and because their changeful, irregular, and seemingly capricious and lawless character puts great difficulties

in the way of systematic inquiries; but it is not seriously disputed now that they will ultimately have their proper place in an orderly and complete exposition of nervous functions.

When a person was thrown into this sort of abnormal mental state by the influence of another person upon him, the question was whether the effect was due to some subtle and unknown force that emanated from the nervous system of the operator and was transmitted to the person operated upon, or whether it was due to the excitement of the latter's imagination-in other words, to the condition of extraordinary activity into which his nervous system was brought. Those who were eager that strange and mysterious phenomena should have extraordinary and mysterious causes hastened forthwith to invent new forces which they called mesmeric, magnetic, odylic, and the like; they were loath to believe that they had to do only with phenomena which, though strange and aberrant, might yet be referred to the operation of known causes, and to search patiently whether there were not other phenomena, neglected because less striking, with which they might be compared and classified. The inquiry, had it been carefully and candidly made, would have shown that they were extreme instances of the operation of known laws.

Let us go on to consider then what these abnormal phenomena are and how they are produced. After being induced to look intently at the operator, or so-called magnetiser, who attracts his attention by making a few gentle passes with his hand, or by holding some bright object before his eyes at a little distance from them, or by merely looking fixedly at him, after a short time the person operated upon falls into a trance-like state, in which the ordinary functions of his mind are suspended, his reason, judgment, and will being in complete abeyance, and he is dominated by the suggestions which the operator makes to him. He feels, thinks, and does whatever he is told confidently that he shall feel, think and do, however absurd it may be. If he is assured that simple water is some bitter and nauseating mixture he spits it out with grimaces of disgust when he attempts to swallow it; if he is assured that what is offered to him is sweet and pleasant, though it is bitter as wormwood, he smacks his lips as if he had tasted something pleasant; if he is told

that he is taking a pinch of snuff when there is not the least particle of snuff on his finger, he sniffs it and instantly sneezes; if warned that a swarm of bees is attacking him he is in the greatest trepidation, and acts as if he were vigorously beating them off. The particular sense is dominated by the idea suggested to the mind, and he is very much in the position of an insane person who believes that he smells deleterious odours, tastes poison in his food, or is covered with vermin, when he has the delusion that he is afflicted in one or other of these ways; or in the position of the dreamer who is entirely under the dominion of the imaginary perception of the moment, however extraordinary, ludicrous, or distressing it may be. He will in vain make violent and grotesque exertions to lift his arm or his leg when he has been confidently told that he cannot do it. In no case could he do this if he had not the belief that he could do it, and he is impotent therefore to do it when he has the strong belief that he cannot do it: the growth of a child's doings is the growth of its beliefs that it can do. His own name he may know and tell correctly when asked to do so, but if it is affirmed positively to be some one else's name he believes the lie and acts accordingly; or he can be constrained to make the most absurd mistakes with regard to the identities of persons whom he knows quite well. There is scarcely an absurdity of belief or of deed to which he may not be compelled, since he is to all intents and purposes a machine moved by the suggestions of the operator. It is interesting to note, however, that he will not commonly do an indecent or a criminal act; the command to do it is too great a shock to the sensibilities of the brain, and accordingly arouses its suspended functions. The sensibilities of the different senses, or of one or more of them, may be exalted, but at other times they are abolished, the condition being very much that of complete trance, and the insensibility so great that the severest surgical operations have been performed without eliciting the least sign of feeling. When the person comes back to a state of normal consciousness the

In 1859 two eminent French surgeons, Velpeau and Broca, performed surgical operations upon twenty-four women who had been put in the hypnotic state by Braid's method, without pain.

illusions disappear instantly, his senses recover their natural sensibilities, and his mental faculties resume their suspended functions; but in some cases a little time must elapse before he regains his natural control over himself, and it will be more easy to throw him into the abnormal state on another occasion.

The conditions of the induction of the abnormal state of consciousness seem to be, first, a nervous system that is more than usually susceptible and unstable, and, secondly, the exercise of a fixed and strained attention for a short time. With regard to the first condition, Baron Reichenbach, who was a sincere believer in the action of a special force, which he called odic force, gives testimony which is the more instructive here because it comes from one who saw in the phenomena something more than natural nervous function. "I inquire," he says, "among all my acquaintances whether they know any one who is frequently troubled with periodical headaches, especially megrim, who complains of temporary oppression of the stomach, or who often sleeps badly without apparent cause, talks in the sleep, rises up or even gets out of bed, or is restless at night during the period of full moon, or to whom the moonlight in general is very disagreeable, or who is readily disordered in churches and theatres, or very sensitive to strong smells, grating or shrill noises, &c. All such persons, who may be otherwise healthy, I seek after and make a pass with my finger over the palm of their hands, and scarcely ever miss finding them sensitive." Nine out of ten of his "sensitives," he found to be females "or youths of the same nervous temperament," the majority of them under twenty-five years of age, and they all seemed to have inherited their sensitiveness from their parents. Obviously then a certain neurotic temperament is most propitious to the induction of the mesmeric or hypnotic state. The second condition is the fixation of the attention for a short time through sight. Mr Braid used to make the person look upon a disc or some bright object held in front of and a little above the level of the eyes but the operator commonly looks him in the face and makes a few gentle passes with his hand before his eyes; after a little while there is a tremor of the eyes, the pupils dilate, and he falls into the mesmeric state. All that the Abbé Faria, a