Fig. 1. — Ulnar attitude. (From Charcot and Bicher.)
The hypnotic sleep, by whatever processes it may have been effected, is displayed under very different aspects: sometimes it is marked by distinct physical characteristics, and is then designated as profound hypnotism; at other times it does not differ from the natural sleep, and it is then termed slight hypnotism.
Between natural sleep and the most profound hypnosis it is possible to establish an unbroken chain of intermediate states, which it is somewhat difficult to distinguish from each other. The diversity of symptoms which marks the gradation of hypnotic states accounts for the disputes which are of daily occurrence, and which are far from being exhausted. Each observer, who conscientiously describes the subject before him, believes himself to be in possession of the whole truth, and allows himself to doubt the phenomena which he does not find in this instance. In many cases be even denies their existence, thus contributing to establish an absolute disbelief in those who do not observe for themselves.
Without attempting a critical study of these discrepancies, we believe that they may be ascribed to two chief causes: first, the different states of the patients on whom the experiments are tried; second, the variable
nature of the exciting causes of hypnotic phenomena in these patients. If the Salpêtrière school obtained results which do not only agree with each other, but with those obtained by other observers (Tamburini, Seppili, etc.), it is because they took care to define with the utmost accuracy the physical conditions of their subjects, and the nature of their experimental processes. These two points include the whole method summed up by Paul Richer * in the following propositions:—
1. To choose those subjects for experiment whose physiological and pathological conditions are well known to resemble each other.
2. To submit the different experimental conditions to a rigorous law.
3. To proceed from the simple to the compound, from the known to the unknown.
4. To guard carefully against simulation.
5. To be chiefly occupied with simple cases, that is, with those in which the different phenomena appear to be most distinct and isolated from each other.
6. To follow the method of nosologists in classing these different phenomena in natural series, so as to establish several subdivisions in the great group of facts collected under the name of hypnotism.
We shall in our description accord the first place to hysterical hypnosis, which is entitled to serve as an introduction to the general study of hypnotism, not only on account of its historic importance, but on account of its clearly marked divisions, and the intensity of its symptoms. We shall describe separately each of the hypnotic
symptoms, beginning with the neuro-muscular phenomena, which are manifested by more objective, and to some extent more palpable, signs than the others. We shall substitute synthesis for analysis, and give an account of the different nervous states designated by Charcot under the names of lethargy, catalepsy, and somnambulism. In order to do this, we must define the nature of these hypnotic states, which have been the subject of so much discussion.
Our study of profound hypnotism will be succeeded by that of its slighter forms; we shall endeavour to classify all these different states, and to connect them with each other, so as to show how the phenomena of hypnotism are allied with those of physiology. We hold that hypnotism should not be considered by itself, nor simply as a matter for curiosity; it is chiefly important as enabling us to study the physiological processes in man, and especially the cerebral functions, and it is adapted to play a considerable part in psychology.
We do not propose, however, like some German writers, to discuss theories on the mechanism of the nervous sleep, since these theories, whether physical, chemical, or physiological, are not founded on solid experience, and appear, at all events at present, to constitute the metaphysics of hypnosis. We shall aim at giving to the ensuing descriptions a purely symptomatic character.
Definition — Excitement of the Muscles. — Charcot and his school regard this important phenomenon as the dominant characteristic of lethargy.
The patient in a lethargic state appears to be in the deepest sleep; the eyes are closed, or half-closed, the eyelids quiver, the face is impassible and expressionless. The body is perfectly helpless; the head is thrown back; the limbs hang slackly down, and if they are raised and again dropped, they fall heavily back into the same position.
An examination of the muscles shows, however, that they have acquired the property of contracting under the influence of a direct mechanical excitement, and even, when thus contracted, of forming a contracture, that is, of remaining fixed in the acquired position. To this phenomenon Charcot gives the name of neuro-muscular hyperexcitability.* It may be produced by very simple treatment. For instance, on kneading the muscles on the front of the fore-arm, the limb becomes fixed in a bent position; if the thenar eminence is excited, the thumb turns inward on the palm of the hand. If the muscles of the face are excited, those, for instance, which connect the malar bones with the lips, the latter are raised upwards and outwards. It may be said that all the striated muscles respond to mechanical excitement, without excepting those which do not usually contract under the influence of the will, like the muscles of the pinna of the ear. The abdominal and thoracic muscles form no exception to this rule, so that it is imprudent to perform experiments of this kind on hypnotized patients without an accurate acquaintance with "anatomy and physiology. Some unskilful experimenters have produced unpleasant phenomena by
simply touching the larynx, and by manipulating the diaphragm.
In order to produce a lethargic contracture, a mechanical excitement is usually required, which goes beyond the limits of the skin, and either acts directly on the muscles, on the tendons, or on the nerves.
There are several ways of applying the excitement; in most cases friction, pressure, a shock, and massage are equally successful. The process may be carried out equally well with the hand and with an inert body. The application of a magnet, held at a little distance from a group of muscles, produces the same effect as direct mechanical excitement, but with more energy and diffusion.* Finally, the degree of excitement is important; a slight excitement produces a simple contraction, a stronger one produces a contracture.
Excitement of the facial muscles. — The facial muscles, during the lethargy accompanied by neuro-muscular hyperexcitability, are differently affected from the other muscles of the body. Contraction may be produced by mechanically exciting the nerve which animates them, for instance, the facial nerve as it issues from the parotid, or by exciting the body of the muscle itself; but this contraction does not become permanent contracture. It generally ceases with the pressure, and if the excitement is continued for some time, the effect is exhausted, and the muscle becomes relaxed. In order to fix the contraction of the facial muscles during the lethargy, it occurred to one of the present writers to uncover the subject's eyes at the moment when contraction had been effected. The subject at once became
cataleptic, and the contraction of the muscle which had been excited was maintained for some time.
It is possible to cause many of the muscles to contract singly, such as the frontalis, the depressor alae nasi, and the triangularis menti. Several muscles may also be contracted simultaneously, so as to produce what is termed by Duchenne combined, expressive contractions. With the finger, or with a slender stick, rounded at the end, all the electric experiments performed by Duchenne on subjects in the waking state, may be reproduced on the face of a subject in the lethargic state. These studies, carried on with the utmost care by Charcot and Richer, afford an experimental proof of the part taken by each muscle in the expression of the emotions. In fact, with some few exceptions, the muscular action due to hyperexcitability is strictly localized in the muscle which has been directly excited; and the action of this muscle does not induce that of the other muscles which are habitually associated with it, in order to produce an emotional expression. For instance, by pressing the finger, or the end of a blunt pencil on the zygomaticus major, an isolated contraction of this muscle may be effected, so as to give the expression of a forced laugh. In order to obtain the expression of spontaneous laughter, the inferior half of the orbicularis palpebrarum must be simultaneously excited. Lastly, the hyperexcitability of the muscles of the face make it possible to set in motion those muscles which are not usually subject to the will, such as those of the pinna of the ear.
The contraction of the muscles is not only produced by acting on their fleshy body; the mechanical excite-
ment of their tendons, or fibrous extremities, produces the same effect.
Excitement of the Tendons. — The effect of exciting the tendons of the knee is particularly marked. If, in the case of a normal individual, the ligamentum patellae is struck, a contraction of the quadriceps femoris takes place, and this induces a slight shock in the limb, together with an extension of the leg. Hysterical subjects frequently present in their waking state an exaggeration of this tendon reflex. But some fresh symptoms occur in the artificial lethargy: first, a diffusion of the reflex action which is displayed in the shock extending to all the corresponding half of the body; and next, by a marked tendency to contracture.
Excitement of the Nerves. — The mechanical excitement of the peripheral nerve-trunks is chiefly interesting from the fact that it produces the contracture of all the muscles to which the excited nerve is distributed. Hence it results that the limb subject to experiment assumes a characteristic attitude, which is determined by the special distribution of the branches of the excited nerve to the muscles of that region. It has been said that neuro-muscular hyperexcitability constitutes an anatomical demonstration of the reality of the nervous sleep; it is at any rate certain that this phenomenon cannot be simulated, even by those subjects who are thoroughly acquainted with anatomy.
The nerves of the arm, which are easily accessible to mechanical excitement, are generally chosen to demonstrate this neuro-muscular property of lethargy. The ulnar nerve may be easily reached, in the region of the elbow in the hollow between the olecranon and the internal
condyle. If mechanical pressure is exerted by the finger on this point, the subject's hand becomes contractured in the attitude represented in Fig. 1.
Fig. 1. — Ulnar attitude. (From Charcot and Bicher.)
The fundamental characteristics of this attitude, which presents some secondary variations in different subjects, are the flexion of the ring and little fingers, the adduction of the thumb, the extension and separation of the index and middle fingers. Analysis shows that this attitude is in complete accordance with our anatomical and physiological knowledge. On the one hand, anatomy teaches us the distribution of the ulnar nerve in the fore-arm and the hand; on the other, physiology shows the partial action of the muscles by means of the ulnar nerve. By combining both these data, we may rigorously infer what attitude the hand ought to take under the combined action of all the muscles brought into play. The attitude - deduced by reasoning precisely agrees with the attitude produced
during lethargy by excitement of the nerve. The attitude is controlled by the localized faradisation. In healthy individuals faradic excitement of the nervous trunks gives the same results as mechanical excitement in subjects in the lethargic state.
The median attitude, which is produced by exciting the median nerve, which extends along the inner edge of the biceps, consists in a contracture which causes the flexion of all the segments of the limb; the fore-arm is
Fig. 2.— Median attitude. Fig. 3.— Radial attitude.
(From Charcot and Richer.)
raised in a constrained position, the wrist is bent, and the hand closes (Fig. 2).
The radial attitude, which is in some sort the converse of the preceding one, consists in the supine position of the fore-arm, while the wrist and all the fingers are extended. This attitude is produced by exciting the radial nerve, where it issues from the spiral groove of the humerus (Fig. 3).
By the mechanical excitement of the spinal nerves, Berger and Heidenhain were able to produce movements in the limbs in correspondence with them.
We have one remark to make on the localization of the contracture which is produced by exciting the nerve. In the case of the ulnar position, the hand becomes stiffened into what may be termed a sacerdotal attitude. In fact, the muscles in connection with the ulnar nerve are not the only ones affected; their antagonists also are evidently in a state of tension, and it may be said that all the muscles of the hand are affected. Yet the ulnar attitude assumes a characteristic form which enables us to distinguish it from the median and radial attitudes which we have described. This is due to the fact that, in the collective action of the muscles of the hand, it is only the muscles connected with the ulnar nerve which give a characteristic attitude to the hand, and the other muscles only come into play in order to keep the hand immovable in that attitude; their contraction is perhaps due to the excitement which affects their fibres in consequence of their sudden extension.
Galvanic Excitement of the Scalp. — The phenomena produced by the galvanic excitement of the scalp of a subject in the state of lethargy must be referred to an hyperexcitability allied to that which is neuro-muscular. Charcot observed that the application of a galvanic current to the cranial arch during lethargy produced strong muscular shocks in the subject's body. The positive electrode is placed on the scalp, at a level with the motor regions, and the negative electrode is placed on the sternum, on the forepart of the head, or behind the ear; When the circuit is interrupted, at its open-
ing, and especially at its closure, a distinct shock is produced on the opposite side of the body, and of the face. In some patients the shock occurs on both sides of the body, with a marked predominance on the side to which the electrodes are applied. When the same experiment is performed on subjects in the waking state, variable results are obtained. In some, the galvanic excitement has no effect; in others, its effects are the same as in the lethargic state.*
Character of the Lethargic Contracture. — Lethargic contracture presents some characters which clearly distinguish it from a voluntary contraction, and make it easy to ascertain that there is no simulation on the part of the subject.
Experiments have been performed on strong and healthy subjects, who voluntarily assumed attitudes resembling those of lethargic contracture, and the comparison furnished the following results. Under the influence of a continuous traction, the contractured limb of a lethargic subject gradually relaxes, just like the limb which is voluntarily stifiened. So far the resemblance is complete, but the myographic and cardio- graphic tracings reveal curious differences. In the simulator, the trembling of the limb and the irregular breathing soon betray that the effort is voluntary; in the hypnotized subject the respiratory rhythm does not vary, and the contractured limb is slowly relaxed, without the slightest irregularity.
Charcot and Richer state that when, during lethargy, a group of muscles is excited, and at the same time the limb is not allowed to move in the direction of the
muscles under excitement, this excitement is transferred to the antagonist muscles. For instance, if while exciting the extensors of the fingers the hand is kept half bent, its flexion is accentuated by the contraction of the flexors, although the excitement was limited to the extensors. We remarked above on an analogous fact; the attitude due to a lethargic contracture depends not only upon the muscles which are excited, but also on the antagonistic muscles. It may be stated as a rule of motor- nerve power, that the antagonist shares in the excitement of any muscle whatever. In ordinary circumstances, this contraction of the antagonist has only a regulating function, but it may become preponderant if the eflect of the direct contraction is in any way arrested.*
If the contracture is left to itself, it will continue throughout the lethargy; in some subjects the transition to another phase of sleep, or the awakening, will put an end to the contracture; in others, it will remain for an indefinite time, even after they are awake. In order to put an end to it, the experimenter must in this case throw the subject into a fresh lethargy, and then proceed to excite the antagonistic muscles.
Friction and the kneading of the muscles will, in fact, soon relax lethargic contractures. When a contracture of the flexors has been produced, the excitement of the extensors on the back of the hand will soon cause it to disappear. If the sterno-mastoid muscle has been excited, so as to produce a rotation of the head in the opposite direction, the excitement of the opposite muscle will bring back the head to its original
position. This antagonistic action is one of the characteristics peculiar to contractures of the lethargic type.
There is another interesting phenomenon which should not be omitted in the history of neuro-muscular hyperexcitability. Under the name of "a paradoxical contraction," Westphal has described the following phenomenon: — When a sudden and energetic movement of dorsal flexion is, for instance, given to the foot, the anterior tibial muscle contracts so as to produce adduction and a certain degree of dorsal flexure of the foot, which remains fixed in this position. Charcot shows that this phenomenon is more marked in hyperexcitable patients. If, instead of abruptly bending the limb, it is gently placed in the same position, and the extensor muscles are mechanically excited, the limb remains fixed in the attitude of flexion. The excitement of the extensors has a reflex action on the flexors to which they respond by forming a contracture. Erlemeyer makes the reasonable suggestion that the term "contracture by antagonistic distension " should be substituted for that of " paradoxical contraction." This phenomenon, which is most marked in hysterical and hyperexcitable subjects in the state of lethargy, explains why some of these subjects retain the positions due to a sudden effort, as, for instance, when a subject who has thrown a stone, or given a blow, retains his arm in contracture in that position.*
The aesthesiogenic action on lethargic contracture must be briefly noticed. In subjects sensitive to the magnet, the transfer of unilateral contractures may be
effected by means of this agent; thus, when the ulnar attitude has been produced in the right hand, and a magnet is brought close to the subject's forearm when he is asleep, and even when he is awake, both his hands become agitated with slight, jerking movements; then the contracture of the right hand ceases, and is transferred to the left hand, without losing any of its characteristics or of its precise localization. Several other agents, such as a vibrating tuning-fork, metals, and electricity in all its forms, may be used to effect the transfer.*
Some interesting phenomena are allied with this last experiment. If the circulation is arrested by the circular compression of a limb in a centripetal direction, by means of one of Esmarch's elastic bandages, the mechanical excitement of the limb thus rendered anaemic does not produce contracture, or rather, it produces a latent contracture, of which there is no external sign, but which is manifested when the circulation returns. In fact, when the bandage is removed, the contracture of the limb takes place in proportion as its colour returns. + Again, the magnet applied to the anaemic member transfers the contracture to the sound member, in which it at once becomes visible (Charcot and Richer).
We have observed a phenomenon somewhat allied to the one just cited. When a lethargic subject is placed under the influence of a magnet, and the subject's hand or arm is mechanically excited, the contracture does not occur in the muscle which is directly excited, but in the corresponding muscle of the other arm.
When the magnet is applied to a bilateral and symmetrical contracture, such as two radial or ulnar attitudes, it does not produce a transfer, but another phenomenon, for which wa have suggested the term polarization.* Under the magnetizing influence, both the subject's hands, when in a state of contracture, display slight, irregular, and rapid oscillations, succeeded by more extensive movements, then by actual convulsions, and finally, the two contractures almost simultaneously disappear.
According to Tamburini and Seppili, the neuromuscular hyperexcitability of a limb may be destroyed by the application of cold water, or of ice.
Neuro-muscular hyperexcitability, like other pathological symptoms, is not equally developed in all subjects. In some we only find an exaggeration of the tendon reflex with no tendency to contracture; in others the contractures may be displayed, yet without any precise localization. Finally, — a singular fact, which shows that in some subjects the waking and hypnotic states are closely allied, and that there are symptoms common to hysteria and hypnosis, — contractures can be easily produced in many hysterical patients in their waking state, either by kneading the muscles, by pressure on the nerves, or by striking the tendons. These contractures in the waking state are, indeed, of the same nature as those which occur during lethargy, since they yield to the excitement of the antagonistic muscles, and. may be transferred by the magnet; they are occasionally as intense and as clearly defined. Several writers — Charcot and Richer, Heidenhain, Tamburini and Seppili, Brissaud
and Richet* — have observed that hyperexcitability may continue during the waking state. In many hysterical patients, digital pressure on the nerves will produce in the waking state median, radial, and ulnar attitudes, identical with those produced in the state of lethargy, with the exception that they are sometimes accompanied by pain. We may infer from these facts, at any rate in the case of some subjects, that an aptitude for contractures is not a symptom peculiar to lethargy, and cannot prove the reality of that state.
In reply to an inquiry into the nature of the contractures produced by muscular hyperexcitability, we should connect them with reflex phenomena, without, however, claiming to throw any vivid light upon the question. Even when the excitement is directly applied to the centre of a muscle, the contracture which ensues is due to a stimulus which has followed the diastallic arc formed by the afferent nerves, the nerve-centres, and the efferent nerves. This is proved by the inhibitory action exerted by the antagonist muscles on the contracture, even when they are, like the sterno-mastoid pair, placed on either side of the median line. This kind of interference can only be produced in the nerve centres, in the brain, or in the spinal cord. Some of the poisons which affect the central nervous system may, by suspending its action, serve to show the part taken by the nervous centres in neuro-muscular hyper-excitability. If an hypnotized subject is made to inhale ether or chloroform, the moment comes when all traces of hyper-excitability disappear, and the mechanical excitement of the muscles and the motor nerves ceases to take effect.
Finally, neuro-muscular hyperexcitability constitutes the most important objective characteristic of that hypnotic state which is termed lethargy; it is displayed by an exaggerated reaction to mechanical excitement applied to the muscles, the nerves, and even to the nerve centres. It cannot, however, be doubted that the same reactions may be produced on some subjects in the state of lethargy under the influence of superficial excitement of the skin, or of bones in the region of muscular insertions. It need not astonish us to find them occasionally in other hypnotic states. We have already observed that neuro-muscular hyperexcitability is displayed in some hysterical patients when not under the influence of hypnotism. In a slight degree, that is, when it is reduced to a simple exaggeration of normal reflex action, neuro-muscular hyperexcitability belongs to other pathological states of the nervous system, with which consequently it is necessary to be acquainted, in order that we may justly estimate the value of this phenomenon.
Immobility is the most striking feature of the cataleptic state. The subject maintains all the attitudes given to his limbs and his body. The arms can be raised or bent by the observer with great ease, since they offer no resistance. The eyes are wide open, the gaze is fixed, and the countenance is expressionless. These collective phenomena give to a cataleptic subject an appearance which cannot be forgotten when once it has been seen.
These attitudes cannot be maintained for an indefinite
time, as some authors have asserted. A cataleptic subject cannot remain in a constrained position for more than ten or fifteen minutes, and a strong man might do as much. The distinctive character of the cataleptic attitudes must be sought elsewhere.
If, in a case of true catalepsy, a tambour is applied to the extended arm to register its slightest oscillations, and a pneumatograph to the chest, to obtain the curve of the respiratory movements (Fig; 4), the following facts may
Fig. 4. — Plan of arrangements for experiments in cataleptic immobility.
R, Marey's tambour; P, Pneumatograph; C, Revolving cylinder; T T, Tambonrs with lever.
(Charcot, Lecons sur les maladies du, systeme nerveux, vol. iii.)
be ascertained: — the cataleptic limb does not tremble; it drops slowly and gently, and the style of Marey's apparatus traces on the cylinder a perfectly regular straight line (Fig. 5, II). At the same time the respira-
tory tracing maintains the same calm and normal character throughout the experiment (Fig. 5, I). On the
Fig. 5. — Plan of tracings obtained from an hystero-epileptic patient in a state of hypnotic catalepsy (Charcot).
I, Tracings of the respiration; II, Tracings of the oscillation of the limb.
other hand, an individual who voluntarily attempts to
maintain such an attitude soon becomes fatigued, his hand trembles (Fig. 6, II); his breathing, calm at
Fig. 6. Plan of tracings obtained from a man who attempted to maintain the cataleptic attitude (Charcot).
I, Tracings of the respiration; II, Tracings of the oscillations of the extended limb.
first, becomes hurried and irregular (Fig. 6, I). The
tracings show abrupt oscillations, which betray muscular fatigue, and the efforts intended to conceal it.
The Salpêtrière experimenters have endeavoured to define the characteristics of true catalepsy, in opposition to the false catalepsy, or catalepsoid states, which may be met with in other phases of hypnotism. If the limb of a patient in a state of lethargy or somnambulism is raised and held up for a few moments, it will remain in the position in which it has been placed. At first sight, this might be called catalepsy, but the truth is that the muscles of the arm were excited by this process, and they have formed a contracture in situ. The limb is contractured, not cataleptic; friction and massage will at once cause the muscles to relax. Besides, a certain resistance is offered to a change of attitude, and neither of these characteristics belong to true catalepsy.
We do not, in fact, in profound hypnotism, meet with contractures during catalepsy. If a prolonged pressure is exerted on the muscles, nerves, or tendons, only a relaxation of the muscles takes place, which is followed by paralysis. Richer has devoted himself to the study of cataleptic paralysis. He shows that the paralyzed muscle loses its elasticity and becomes elongated, and the influence of the opposing muscles becomes preponderant. For this reason, when the flexors are excited, the limb is extended. The cataleptic attitude is therefore the exact contrary of the lethargic attitude produced by the excitement of the same motor point. As, however, there is no contracture, the new attitude is not maintained with any rigidity. Localized faradization rapidly puts an end to cataleptic paralysis, if it should continue after sleep is over. It is modified with difficulty by excitement of the antagonists, and by suggestion.
The magnet and other aesthesiogenic agents may effect the transfer of cataleptic attitudes.* A subject is seated near a table on which a magnet is placed; the left elbow rests on the arm of the chair, the forearm and the hand are raised in a vertical position, the thumb and forefinger are extended, and the other fingers are half bent. The right forearm and hand are stretched upon the table; the magnet is placed at a distance of about five centimetres, covered by a cloth. At the end of two minutes, the right forefinger becomes tremulous and is raised, the extended fingers of the left hand become flaccid, and so likewise is the hand for an instant. The right hand and forearm are raised and assume the original position of the left hand, which is extended on the arm of the chair with the waxy softness peculiar to the cataleptic state.
It is possible to limit catalepsy to one half of the body, an experiment which it occurred to Descourtes to try at the Salpêtrière in 1878. + It is well known that during catalepsy the eyes are widely opened, and that the cataleptic subject falls into a lethargy if they are closed. If one eye, the right, for example, is closed while the other is kept open, a mixed state ensues; the right side continues to be affected by catalepsy, while the left acquires all the characteristics of lethargy. If the right arm is raised, it retains the position given to it, while the left arm falls heavily down again. Mechanical excitement on the right side fails to produce reflex action, or contracture, while excitement on the left side immediately produces an intense contracture.
Catalepsy may also be combined with somnambulism,
by first throwing the subject into a lethargy, and then acting on one side of the scalp, while opening the eye on the other side.*
The magnet produces the transfer of all these divided states. The transfer of hemi-catalepsy, associated with hemi-lethargy, presents a special feature: at the end of the experiment, the eye remains open on the side which has become lethargic, and conversely, the eye remains closed on the side which has become cataleptic. Thus, in the case of a typical subject, this mode of transfer enables us to obtain a hemi-catalepsy with the eye closed, and a hemi-lethargy with the eye open.+ Cataleptic attitudes display a certain number of characteristics to which we shall revert when we come to describe suggestions. Braid was the first to point out that there is a constant agreement between the attitude of the body and the expression of the countenance. The alternation which exists in catalepsy between the attitudes and the intellectual manifestations should also be noted. When, for instance, a cataleptic subject receives an hallucination, the fixed attitudes, artificially impressed on a limb, give place to complex and perfectly coordinated movements, corresponding with the object of the suggestion. The subject resembles a statue, endowed with animation; presently the suggestion is exhausted, the hallucination loses its force, and the subject, if left to himself, again becomes immovable in a cataleptic attitude. This sort of oscillation between psychical and motor disturbance is peculiar to catalepsy.
We have seen that during lethargy strong contractures may be produced by the mechanical excitement of the nerves, of the tendons, or of the bodies of the muscles themselves, and sometimes also by the excitement of the skin. In the state of somnambulism, as it is produced in hysterical subjects, we find a contracture which seems to be of a different kind; it differs both in the mode of excitement and in the mode of its relaxation.
The starting point for the contracture of somnambulism appears to be in the skin, which acquires an exquisite sensibility; it may be produced by making use of very slight superficial excitements, such as stroking, passing the hand over the hairs of the skin, breathing from the mouth, or moving the hand to and fro at a little distance, so as to induce a slight current of air, and perhaps also a psychical excitement. This is different from the contracture of lethargy, which is generally the result of a strong excitement. This first difference involves a second: produced by a diffused cutaneous excitement, the contracture of somnambulism is itself diffused, and although it may be limited to one segment of the limb, there is none of what may be called the anatomical localization of the contracture of lethargy. On the contrary, the observations of Heidenhain and Dumontpallier show that it gradually overspreads those parts which had not been subject to the excitement. But the mode of relaxation offers the best distinction between these two species of contracture, at any rate in the typical cases of profound hypnotism. The excitement of the opposing muscles, which at once puts an end to the contracture
of hypnotism, has no effect on that of somnambulism; it can only be relaxed by renewing for a few moments the cutaneous excitement which produced it. Other differences have been noted, but they are less constant than those given above. It has been asserted that it is only the contracture of lethargy which can be transferred by the magnet, but we have been equally successful in the transfer of the contracture of somnambulism.
The aptitude for contracture by means of cutaneous excitement is generally diffused over the whole surface of the body. But it is possible to limit it to a definite region by exciting the scalp in different ways.* We shall presently see, as we continue our description of the different states, that when a subject of profound hypnotism is in a lethargy or catalepsy, friction of the scalp will cause complete somnambulism, and all parts of his body acquire an aptitude for cutaneous contractures. A lateral friction, limited to one side of the head, will produce hemi-somnambulism; restricted to the corresponding side of the body, the state of the other half of the body remains unchanged. Thus we have a hemi-somnambulism, allied with hemi-lethargy, or hemi-catalepsy. If, again, instead of applying the friction to the whole of the scalp, a strong pressure is exerted with the finger, or some blunt instrument, on certain points of the hairy scalp which seem to correspond with the motor centres, it is possible to effect the partial somnambulism of the limb to which, the motor centre affected appears to belong. In this way it is possible to effect the isolated somnambulism of one half of the face, one arm, one leg, both arms, both legs, and of
the whole face. It is even possible to produce the isolated somnambulism of the upper part of the face, by exciting a point of the scalp situated above the horizontal line which would pass through the eyebrows, and behind a vertical line which would pass at the back of the mastoid process, etc. The isolated and successive excitement of these different points produces a generalized, partial state of somnambulism, in which the subject speaks, hears, and is receptive of hallucinations.
The rigorousness of these experiments secures them from fraud, for they involve the local disappearance of the phenomenon of neuro-muscular hyperexcitability which is peculiar to lethargy. This is not a phenomenon capable of imitation; the subject can neither produce nor suppress it at pleasure. We think it is impossible to explain these experiments, and to decide if they are a confirmation of cerebral localization, or if it is to be explained by the existence of reflexogenic zones. The latter inter pretation appears to us to be the most probable.
We find, in fact, that in hysterical hypnotized subjects there are several zones in which excitement produces reflex action: first, the hysterogenic zones, on which the pressure produces an attack of hysteria, which is arrested when that pressure is removed; * next, the hypnogenic zones, distinct from the former in their position and effects; the excitement of these produces, or in some cases modifies and even puts an end to, the hypnotic sleep. Then come the dynamogenic zones, pointed out for the first time by one of the present writers; + the excitement of these produces a momentary
exaggeration of muscular force, which may be measured by the dynamometer. There are also erogenic zones, of which we shall speak presently. Finally, Heidenhain, Born, Dumontpallier, and Magnin have described the reflexogenic zones, which, when excited in hypnotic subjects, produce motor phenomena, in places more or less distant from that point on the skin which has been excited. In some of Heidenhain's subjects, pulling the skin of the nape of the neck, in the region of the cervical vertebrae, produced by reflex action a sonorous respiration, or groan; in this way the celebrated experiment performed by Goltz on frogs is repeated on the human subject. Dumontpallier, by exciting the skin of the hairy scalp, produced direct or complex movements, in correspondence with the motor centres excited by him. All these experiments show that in the hypnotized subject many points of the body, and especially those of the hairy scalp, are in a state of hyperexcitability. It would be imprudent to go beyond this simple assertion.
When a subject is put to sleep by a slow and prolonged process, as for instance by fixity of gaze, it may be observed that after a while the breathing is quickened; then, at the moment when sleep comes on, a peculiar sound is often heard in the larynx. Tamburini and Seppili have applied the graphic methods of modern physiology to the study of the respiration and the circulation. * The results to which they have arrived by
these methods are in perfect agreement with those made at the Salpêtrière at about the same time.
During the state of lethargy, the respiratory curve is fairly regular; its movements are usually slow and deep; in short, the respiration does not essentially differ from what it is in the normal state. The same may be said of the state of somnambulism. The only characteristic peculiar to hypnotism appears to be a certain disconnection, or even a true antagonism between the thoracic and abdominal respiration.
In catalepsy, however, there is a considerable modifica-
Fig. 7. — Eespiratory tracing. L, during lethargy; G, during catalepsy. (Tamburini and Seppili.)
tion in the mode of breathing. The movements are infrequent, superficial, and extremely slow, and separated by a longer or shorter interval of complete immobility. In the subjoined figure (Fig. 7), the widely different tracings afforded by catalepsy and lethargy may be compared.
It has been observed that the application of a magnet to the subject's epigastrum produced profound modifica-
tions in the respiratory curve of lethargy; in catalepsy, on the contrary, the curve was scarcely affected by the magnet. The subjoined figure (Fig. 8), which we owe to Tamburini and Seppili, who performed the experiment, accurately represents these two contrary effects. The
Fig. 8 — Respiratory tracing.
L, curve of lethargy; M + , the magnet is approached to the thorax;
C, catalepsy is produced; L, lethargy is produced; M, the magnet is withdrawn.
subject is placed in the state of lethargy; after a few regular respirations the approach of the magnet induces a strong movement of expiration, then of inspiration;
catalepsy is then produced by opening the subject's eyes, and the shallow breathing peculiar to this state is at once displayed. Soon afterwards the eyes are again closed, and lethargy is produced; another deep expiration, followed by a deep inspiration, takes place, owing to the unchanged position of the magnet, and if this is removed, the curve of lethargy reverts to its normal type.
The researches made by Tamburini and Seppili on the circulation are no less interesting. By means of Mosso's plethysmograph, and the air-sphygmograph, they ascertained that in the state of lethargy the graphic tracing shows a constant tendency to rise, and that when catalepsy is produced, it again descends gradually. In other words, lethargy increases the volume of the forearm, that is, causes the vessels to dilate; catalepsy, on the other hand, diminishes the volume of the forearm, or causes the vessels to contract. Tamburini and Seppili's experiments were repeated by one of the present writers, and although the results obtained were not absolutely corroborative, yet they showed that modifications took place in the peripheral circulation which appeared to be wholly independent of the subject's will.
We have dwelt long upon the neuro-muscular properties of hypnotism, because the Salpêtrière school considers that these phenomena display physical signs which irresistibly prove the sincerity of the experiments. The precise localization of the lethargic contracture in the muscles supplied by the branches of the nerve which has been excited; the maintenance of the cataleptic attitudes without trembling or fatigue; the effects of a continuous traction on the contractures of lethargy and somnambulism; the limitation of each of these phe-
nomena to one half of the body; their mode of appearance and disappearance — all these signs serve as so many guarantees against simulation. On this point the demonstration is complete. It is almost certain that no individual in the waking state, unless affected by a nervous state allied to hypnotism, could imitate the distinctive physical signs by which profound hypnotism is manifested. The dread of simulation, which dominated the whole history of animal magnetism, has now become a completely imaginary danger, if the experimenter is adroit and cautious.
Up to this time the modifications produced by hypnotism in the condition of the senses, and of the intellectual functions, have not been the subject of accurate research. Some isolated observations have been made, which are not wholly in agreement with each other, and no general view can be deduced from them. In order to obtain a clue to the labyrinth, we should compare hypnotic sleep with natural sleep, and we shall see that the psychical manifestations of hypnosis present a strong analogy to the faculty of dreaming.
1. The state of the senses, in hypnotic subjects, ranges from anaesthesia to hyperaesthesia. During lethargy all the senses are suspended, with the occasional exception of the sense of hearing, which is sometimes retained, as it is in natural sleep. During catalepsy, the special senses are partially awake; the muscular sense, in particular, retains all its activity. Finally, in somnambulism the senses are not merely awake, but quickened
to an extraordinary degree. Subjects feel the cold produced by breathing from the mouth at a distance of several yards (Braid). Weber's compasses, applied to the skin, produce a twofold sensation, with a deviation of 3° in regions where, during the waking state, it would be necessary to give the instrument a deviation of 18° (Berger.) The activity of the sense of sight is sometimes so great that the range of sight may be doubled, as well as the sharpness of vision. The sense of smell may be developed so that the subject is able to discover by its aid the fragments of a visiting-card which had been given to him to smell before it was torn up (Taguet). The hearing is so acute that a conversation carried on in the floor below may be overheard (Azam). These are interesting but isolated facts. We are still without any collective work on the subject, of which it would be easy to make a regular study, with the methods of investigation we have at our disposal.
2. More careful observations of the state of the memory have been made, but this state has only been studied as it is found during somnambulism, when it generally displays the same hyperexcitability as the other organs of the senses.
The contrast between the memory on awaking and the memory during hypnotic sleep has been justly remarked. There is a difference between the two phases of memory; and this, indeed, is also the case with natural sleep. The hypnotized subject seldom remembers, on awaking, the events which occurred during his hypnotic sleep. On the other hand, when he is asleep his memory embraces all the facts of his sleep, of his waking state, and of previous hypnotic sleeps.
We will first consider the hyperexcitability of the memory which occurs in somnambulism. Eichet performed an experiment which throws a strong light on this strange phenomenon. "After hypnotizing V — I recited some verses to her, and then awoke her. She was unable to remember them. I hypnotized her again, and she remembered the lines perfectly. When I awoke her, she had again forgotten them."
The memory of a hypnotized subject has a wide range — much wider than it has at other times. Frequent instances of this extraordinary memory have been given, so surprising as sometimes to lead to the belief that the subjects were endowed with a mysterious lucidity. Richet remarks that somnambulists describe with minute details places which they have formerly visited, or facts which they have witnessed. In one instance, a hypnotized subject sang the air of the second act of l'Africaine, of which she could not remember a note after she awoke. Beaunis cites the case of a subject whom he induced during sleep to tell him all that she had eaten on the day, or two days before, without omitting a single item. When she awoke, he recounted the menu of her dinner, and she was astonished to find him so well informed. We have been able to make a hypnotized subject give the menus of dinners she had eaten a week before. Her normal memory did not extend beyond three or four days, and in order to cause her to exceed this limit, it was necessary to use the excitement of the magnet.
We give one more instance, well calculated to display the acute memory of somnambulists. A girl, in a state of somnambulism, was in Charcot's room at the Salpê-
trière when Parrot entered, the physician to the refuge for Enfants assistés. The subject was asked what was the stranger's name, and she replied, to the surprise of all present, and without hesitation, "M. Parrot." On awaking she declared that she did not know him; but, after looking at him for a long while, she finally said, "I think that he is a physician at the Enfants assistés." When about two years old she had been for some time in this refuge, and had long forgotten the physician, whom she now recognized with difficulty in her waking state, while she could, during somnambulism, give his name when ordered to do so.
The acuteness of the memory during somnambulism, without absolutely justifying those who assert that nothing is lost to memory, yet shows that its conservative power is much greater than is supposed, when measured by the capacity of reproduction or recollection. It proves that, in many cases in which we believe that a certain fact is completely effaced from the memory, this is by no means the case; the trace of it is there, but the power of recalling it is wanting; and it is probable that under the influence of hypnotism, or of some excitement to which we are sensitive, it would be possible to revive the apparently extinct memory of the fact in question.
It is therefore evident that hypnotism has a peculiar power of exciting the recollection. Our experiments, which are in accordance with those of other observers, tend to show that in the sleeping and waking states the conservative memory is about the same. After repeated attempts to make hypnotized subjects repeat a series of figures after only one reading, we could not discover that
they were able to retain a greater number of figures than in their waking state. But these are negative experiments, which must not be taken for more than they are worth.
The development of the memory under somnambulism may be compared with its development during natural sleep. There are numerous facts to show that in dreams we see people or hear names with which we were once acquainted, and which we believed we had completely forgotten. Maury, an author who may with advantage be consulted on the subject of sleep and dreams, gives several interesting examples of this revival of old memories in the sleeper. "Some years ago," he writes, "the word 'Mussidan' was recalled to my mind. I knew that it was the name of a town in France, but I had forgotten where it was. A few days later, I saw a person in my dreams who said that he came from Mussidan. I asked him where it was, and he told me that it was in the department of Dordogne." Maury verified the truth of this fact when he awoke. The same author gives another instance of the recall of forgotten facts in a dream. His youth was passed at Trilport, where his father built a bridge. He dreamed one night that he was a child at Trilport, and that he saw a man in uniform and asked his name. The man replied that his name was C —, that he was the bridge-ward, and then disappeared. When he awoke, Maury was haunted by C — 's name, and some time after he asked an old family-servant if she remembered any one of that name. She answered at once that a man named C — was bridge-ward when his father was at work on the bridge.*
The comparison we have just made between natural and artificial sleep may be extended to the phenomena which ensue on awaking. It is well known that the forgetting of dreams is an almost constant fact. At the moment of awakening we have a somewhat vivid sense of our dreams, which is effaced a few instants afterwards, unless we take the precaution of relating them to a third person, or of writing them down. So also in hypnosis; if the sleep has been at all profound, forgetfulness ensues on awaking, and this forgetfulness is even more absolute than after the natural sleep. This characteristic fact has been noted by all observers. Take a subject who has been caused to execute the most complex acts, and to display the most dramatic hallucinations: he has expressed astonishment, has laughed, wept, and been angry — passing through all the violent emotions; he may even have fallen down and injured his head in so doing, yet he remembers none of these things when he awakes. If left to himself, he will be unable to recall one of the scenes in which he has taken part either as witness or actor.
On a closer examination, however, we see that his forgetfulness is not absolute; a vague and confused memory remains, which may be revived by putting the subject on the right road, especially when he is aroused from somnambulism without allowing him to pass through its deepest phases. Heidenhain gives several instances of this recall of the memory, which is, indeed, equally possible in the case of ordinary dreams.
After hynotizing his brother, Heidenhain repeated to him the following quotation from Homer:—
He then awoke him, and in order to bring the line back
to his brother's mind, it was enough to say, "Homer, flight." The brother then accurately, but with extreme slowness, repeated the line in question. I take this instance from Richet, who cites another of the same nature: "On awakening F — , I can revive his recollection of what has occurred. He says at first that he remembers nothing, but if, for example, I indicate that he rose up in terror, he says, 'Ah yes, I remember that you made me see a serpent.'" Other experimenters — Beaunis, for example — have made use of a different method, suggestion. It was enough to suggest to some subjects that they would, on awaking, remember all that they had seen, heard, and done during sleep, and their recollection was accordingly complete. Delboeuf arrived at the same result without making any special suggestion; he ascertained that whenever the subject is awakened in the midst of an action, he is capable of remembering all that is connected with that action.* For instance, the experimenter smokes an imaginary cigar beside his hypnotized subject; he suddenly says that the burning ash has fallen from the cigar on to her neckerchief and has set it on fire. The subject rises at once, and places the neckerchief in a basin of water which stands on the table. This is the moment for waking her; she feels that her hands are wet, sees the neckerchief, and recalls the whole scene. In this experiment, the last act of the dream is the first act of awakening. Delboeuf insists on this condition, which he considers necessary to ensure the recollection. It is not enough that the suggestion made during somnambulism should leave a material
trace; it is also necessary to surprise the subject by awaking him in the midst of an action.
These experiments are the more interesting since they agree with other pathological facts. One of the present writers has shown that in the epileptic state, which has been compared to the so-called unconsciousness of somnambulism, the patient may have retained the memory of the act reputed to be automatic, and can, under the same conditions, even explain it.* "We should not, however, be too hasty in including all these modes of reviving the memory in a formula, since the result depends upon many causes — the constitution of the subject, the form of the suggestion, the hypnotic education, etc. It may be a matter of surprise to learn that it is sometimes possible to cause a subject to remember some act committed during somnambulism, without putting him on the right road as Richet does, or giving him a special suggestion like Beaunis, or awakening him in the midst of an act like Delboeuf; it may be done simply by firmness, and by fixing the subject's attention as steadily as possible on the memory which it is proposed to evoke. If at the same time an exciting cause, such as the magnet, is employed, it contributes to revive the memory by suggestion.
Whatever may be the expedients devised to excite the memory of an individual issuing from the hypnotic state, so as to form a kind of bridge between his sleep and his awaking, the truth remains that a profound hypnotic sleep is always followed by a suspension of the power of memory — a fact proved by the very efforts
which it is necessary to make to restore it. It is evident that hypnosis produces a lesion of the memory.
This lesion is, however, superficial rather than profound; it only affects one portion of the memory— that of the recollection; the memory of conservation remains almost intact, since a fresh sleep gives back to the subject the complete memory which he appeared to have lost in his waking state.
It may, therefore, be said that the disturbance of the memory which ensues from somnambulism is superficial, and only concerns one kind of memory — that of recollection; its power is exaggerated under somnambulism, and depressed on a return to the normal state, and we are still completely ignorant of the cause of such variations. We shall have to make many such confessions of ignorance in the course of this work.
It is difficult to define the intellectual condition of hypnotized subjects; we may estimate the keenness of their senses, and make an inventory of the contents of their memory, but it is not possible to appreciate with the same accuracy the state of their judgment and of their reason. All that can be done is to make the general remark that the intelligence of a hypnotic subject is developed in proportion to his sensitiveness.
What is called lethargy implies a deep and dreamless sleep, in which the psychical faculties are usually dormant. Those subjects who retain the sense of hearing are still capable of receiving some elementary suggestions: if pulled by the sleeve, they may be made to rise, and hallucinations of the hearing may also be produced; but this is all which can be effected. It is, however, possible that lethargy only suspends the power
SYMPTOMS OF HYPOSIS.
of reaction, and that behind the inert mask of lethargy a remnant of thought is still awake.
In the two other phases of catalepsy and somnambulism, the sleep is not nearly so profound; the subject's intelligence comes into play, and the hypnotic dream begins.
The automatism of catalepsy is its dominant character. This epithet has sometimes been used to define the intellectual character of hypnosis, but it is, in fact, only the cataleptic subject who can be termed an automaton. Catalepsy is sometimes allied with a partial wakefulness of the intelligence, which enables the experimenter to act on his subject by verbal suggestion. In all cases, catalepsy permits the mind to be handled with the same docility as the limbs; the subject's ideality may be said to be plastic. The suggestions offered to him are inevitably accepted, since he never resists them. It has been justly said that a cataleptic subject ceases to have a personality; that there is no cataleptic ego. An analogous state may be found in certain dreams to which we surrender ourselves without reflection and without resistance.
The condition of the somnambulist is very different; he is no automaton, but a person endowed with character, aversions, and preferences. For this reason the name of secondary condition, in opposition to the waking state, has been given to somnambulism. In this state there is certainly an ego. The somnambulist's intellectual condition may be compared to those dreams in which the sleeper actively intervenes, and displays judgment, critical sense, and sometimes even mind and will. There are, indeed, somnambulists who dream spontaneously, and then cease to be en rapport with the experimenter.
Setting aside what concerns lethargy and catalepsy, we propose to study some developments of the intellectual state of a somnambulist. Somnambulism is emphatically the medico-legal state, and it is the state in which the aptitude to receive suggestions is the most fully developed.
We have now under observation two subjects, representing the two opposite types of somnambulism — the active and the passive types. The latter remains motionless, with closed eyes, without speech or expression, and, if asked a question, she replies in a low voice. Yet we are confident that this repose of the intelligence is only apparent; the subject retains her consciousness of places and of persons, and hears all that is said in her presence. The other subject is a singular contrast to the one we have just described, since she is in a state of perpetual movement. As soon as she is thrown into a somnambulist condition, she rises from her chair, looks to the right and left, and will even go so far as to address the persons present with familiarity, whether she is acquainted with them or not. On one occasion the photograph of one of these persons was shown to her; she took it, looked for and found the original, and compared him with the photograph, in order to satisfy herself of the resemblance. At another time she spontaneously described some hypnotic experiments which another person had performed upon her a few days before. In short, this subject did not, like the other one, appear to be asleep. These are, however, only appearances, and we must endeavour to examine more closely the psychical state of somnambulism.
In the majority of subjects there is no marked
difference between their normal life and that of somnambulism. None of the intellectual faculties are absent during sleep. It only appears that the tone of the psychical life is exaggerated; excessive psychical excitement is nearly always present during somnambulism. This is clearly shown in the emotions. It is, in general, perfectly easy to make a subject shout with laughter, or shed tears. He is deeply moved by a dramatic tale, and even by words in which there is no sense, if they are uttered in a serious tone. It is curious to note the influence of music; the subject expresses in all his attitudes and gestures an emotion in accordance with the character of the piece.
In short, hypnotism does not appear to effect any radical change in the character of those subjects whom we have observed. The intellectual faculties are as active as before. The following is a convincing proof of the exercise of the mind. A patient who had been admitted to the Salpêtrière at an early age was in the habit of tutoying M. X — when she was alone with him, or in company with her acquaintance; she ceased to do so on the entrance of a stranger. Even under somnambulism this patient observed the laws of good breeding, addressing M. X — as tu when she was alone with him, and ceasing to do so as soon as a stranger came in. It is in somnambulists that we find the curious phenomenon of resistance, of which we shall speak further, when we come to consider suggestions. When an order is given to somnambulists, they will often dispute it, ask the reason, or refuse to obey. It is under the form of a refusal to obey a given order that resistance occurs; subjects more rarely resist hallucinations, since
these do not affect their personality. There are, however, instances of this latter form of resistance. When we proposed to transform one of our subjects into a priest, and to give him a cassock, he obstinately refused it. It was suggested to one of Richet's subjects that her arm was being amputated, and she screamed at the sight of the flowing blood, but almost at the same moment she discovered that it was a fiction, and she laughed through her tears. Facts of this kind have unjustly led to the suspicion of imposture. Richet's subject was really under an hallucination, and beheld a sensible image, but her reason was not completely paralyzed, and she was still able to defend herself against the false perception suggested to her.
If we study our own dreams, we may all become aware of these curious duplications of the consciousness; and this shows the connection between normal and hypnotic sleep. The dreamer is, in general, like the somnambulist to whom hallucinations are suggested; he is surprised by nothing, although the most absurd improbabilities are presented to his vision. Yet there is sometimes a remnant of critical sense which induces him to say, in the midst of some grotesque scene, " But this is impossible; I must be dreaming!"
Somnambulists cannot only resist, they can tell lies. Pitres states that he suggested to a somnambulist woman that she should murder one of her neighbours, and when she supposed that the crime was accomplished, he caused her, still in the somnambulist state, to appear before a magistrate. She declared her innocence of the crime, and it was only after a prolonged examination, when pressed with questions and overwhelmed by proof, that
she finally confessed that she had stabbed her neighbour with a knife. And even then the confession was made with some reserve.*
These facts show that a somnambulist is far from being, as some writers assert, an unconscious automaton, devoid of judgment, reason, and intellectual spontaneity. On the contrary, his memory is perfect, his intelligence is active, and his imagination is highly excited.
Instances have been given of subjects who could, during somnambulism, perform intellectual feats of which they were incapable in the waking state. We ourselves have ascertained nothing decisive on this point, except that we have sometimes observed hypnotized subjects, who could read printing in an inverted position more rapidly than when they were awake, and who could even supply the omitted letters of a double acrostic. There is, indeed, nothing improbable in this quickening of the intellect. There are several instances of a thinker having, when dreaming at night, resolved problems to which he had devoted the fruitless study of many days.
We must, finally, note a peculiar mental state which is only found in slight hypnotism. The subjects assert, on awaking, that they have never for a moment lost consciousness, and that they have in some sense been present as witnesses at the phenomena of suggestion developed by the magnetizer.
The very vague observations to which we have been obliged to restrict ourselves show the difficulty of stating the psychical formula of somnambulism. We are content to assert that the state is not accurately defined by applying to it the term of automatism.
Finally, their aptitude for suggestions is a feature of the intellectual state of hypnotic subjects, and this fact is so important that we propose to treat of it apart. The phenomena of elective sensibility, which we have already mentioned in speaking of the processes of hypnotization, are considerably developed during somnambulism. Somnambulist subjects often display a kind of attraction for the experimenter who has hypnotized them by touching the scalp. We shall see presently that friction of the scalp is the means most generally used in the secondary production of somnambulism. When pressure on the scalp is effected with an inert object, as, for instance, with a paper-cutter, a state of indifferent somnambulism is generally produced: the subject remains calm, and may be approached and even touched by any one without causing him to make any gesture of defence; the contractures proper to a state of somnambulism may be produced by any one, or produced by one person and destroyed by another; they do not depend on any individual influence, and suggestions may be given by any of those present.
It is quite otherwise in the case of elective somnambulism. As soon as the experimenter has pressed upon the scalp with his hand, or has breathed upon the subject with his mouth, the latter is attracted towards the experimenter; if the experimenter withdraws to a distance, the subject displays uneasiness and discomfort; he sometimes follows the experimenter with a sigh, and can only rest beside him. Any contact with a third person causes suffering.
Elective somnambulism is also produced when the subject is hypnotized by means of passes, which is the
practice of magnetizers, or by intimation or suggestion. It is a curious fact that if the subject is told that he will fall asleep at a given hour on the following day, the sleep which occurs at that hour in the operator's absence is elective, and the subject is only en rapport with the person by whom the suggestion was made (Beaunis). Finally, when the subject is in a state of indifferent somnambulism, and a person touches an exposed part of the body, such as the hands, the elective phenomena are displayed in his favour. All these processes display the common characteristic of bringing the personality of the experimenter into play, and if his importance was formerly exaggerated, it has been too much depreciated since Braid's time.
It has been ascertained that electivity is altogether absent in some subjects, while it is constant in others. And again, in addition to the artificial electivity developed by the experimenter, there is a natural or spontaneous electivity; for this reason one experimenter is more successful than another in hypnotizing or in giving suggestions to a given subject, and especially when he has often hypnotized that subject before.
This special influence of one individual on another, which is so strongly marked during somnambulism, is, in fact, only the exaggeration of a normal fact. It is not uncommon to find persons who feel a special attraction towards some others, and who have a sense of sympathy or antipathy without any sufficient motive. It cannot be disputed that these are real psychical states, although psychologists have for the most part abandoned their study to novel-writers.
It is probable that the phenomena of electivity have
their origin in the experimenter's contact with his subject. Bain, in his work on the Emotions, remarks that animal contact and the pleasure of an embrace are the beginning and end of all the tender emotions. We have seen, in fact, that electivity is displayed in a somnambulist after his scalp and bare hands have been touched by the experimenter; the action of the fingers, as they are used in making passes, seems also to be due to a like influence. The production of elective somnambulism by means of suggestion may also be explained by the fact mentioned above, that since suggestion consists in the recall of a sensation, it probably acts in the same way as a sensorial excitement.
An ingenious experiment made by Richer confirms this view, and shows that electivity has its source in an exaggeration of the sense of touch. When the subject is in a state of profound somnambulism, owing to friction of the scalp with some inert object, two observers come forward, and each takes hold of one of his hands, without meeting with any resistance on his part. Very soon the subject presses each observer's hand with his own, and will not leave go of them. The special state of attraction applies to both, and the subject is in some sort torn in two. Each observer only possesses the sympathy of one half of the subject, who offers the same resistance to the observer on the left, when he attempts to seize the right hand, as to the observer on the right, who would take the left hand." *
A variation on this experiment is also very instructive. The experimenter preferred by the subject may transmit this attraction to another person; the
second experimenter has only to slip his hand over that of the former one, so as gradually to lay hold of the subject's hand, and he, after one strong shock, presses up to him in the same way as to the first experimenter.
Elective sensibility is displayed by several phenomena, of which that which relates to contractures is the most important. Only the experimenter who is en rapport with the subject can produce and destroy the contractures of somnambulism. It is useless for another person to try to put an end to a contracture by a fresh excitement of the same nature, directed on the same point. His efforts are fruitless, even when the subject cannot see him. The hypersesthesia of the sense of touch enables the subject to recognize the contact of one operator in a thousand; he may even recognize it through his clothes.
Electivity is also found in suggestions. In the case of indifferent somnambulism, the subject complies with all suggestions, from whomsoever they come; an hallucination effected by the words of one person may be continued by another, and destroyed by a third. This also occurs in catalepsy. In elective somnambulism, the subject is often only able to hear the voice of his hypnotizer, and from him alone he can receive suggestions. We have also remarked that when two observers divide the subject's sympathy in half, the hallucination by the one en rapport with the right side only affects the right eye; it is unilateral, and the subject sees nothing with his left eye.
When the phenomena of elective sensibility are subjected to aesthesiogenic action, repulsion, by a singular transformation, succeeds to attraction. At the moment
when one of our somnambulist subjects was holding M. X — 's hands, we placed a small magnet close to his head. The subject at once withdrew from M. X —, uttering a cry; M. X — followed her; she still withdrew, groaning whenever he touched her. Shortly afterwards she came towards the experimenter of her own accord, and again drew back, so that it was impossible to touch her. When she approached for the third time, he took the opportunity of awaking her.*
We must here remind our readers that in the case of some hysterical subjects there are regions in certain parts of the body, termed by Chambard erogenic zones,+ which have some analogy with the hysterogenous zones, and simple contact with these, when the subject is in a state of somnambulism, produces genital sensations of such intensity as to cause an orgasm. These phenomena have often been displayed, unknown to the observer, who might be liable to the gravest imputations, unless he had taken the precaution, indispensable in such cases, of never being alone with his subject. When we add to this fact the possibility of suggesting to the somnambulist the hallucination that some given person is present, it is easy to see what culpable mystifications might occur.
The erogenic zone only becomes sensitive when somnambulism is absolute. In partial somnambulism, produced by artificial excitement in the region of the motor centres of the limbs, the erogenic zone is inactive; it becomes active when the occipital region of the brain is excited.
The erogenic zone may be transferred by the magnet. This transfer is followed by consecutive oscillations, which produce an intense genital agitation. Finally, the excitement of the erogenic zone has no effect unless it is made by a person of the opposite sex; if the pressure is made by another woman, or with an inert object, it merely produces an unpleasant impression.