HYPNOTISM AND ARTIFICIAL INSANITY.* IN this new volume of a

well-known but rather oddly named series of scientific handbooks, we have a clear and ample statement of the present condition of that branch of psycho- logical inquiry which Braid was the first to rescue from the charlatanry of mesmerists and magnetisers some fifty years ago. In 1878, the task of the Manchester surgeon, whose work up to that time had met with but scanty appreciation, was taken up with greatly extended means by Dr. Charcot, the well-known physician of the Salpetriere. The result of the labour of this distinguished medico-psychologist, and of the Salpetriere school, to which the authors of the present volume belong, working under his inspiration, has been twofold. The quasi-magic of the od-mongers and electro- biologists has been stripped of its mystery, and reduced to science and sense, and the apparent freaks of hysterical women have been made to throw a new and searching light upon some of the profoundest problems involved in the mental processes of man. Phenomena which to our remoter forefathers seemed so strange and terrible that they were constrained to seek their explanation in Satanic agencies, and which, with the discredit of these agencies, came to be regarded in later times with incredulity and contempt, have been, so to speak, rehabilitated, and brought under scientific observation and experiment. Not only has their reality been established, but their explanation has been attempted, in accordance with known psychological and physiological principles, with great if not yet complete success. Finally, hypnotism—to use Braid's own term, in favour of which the expression "animal magnetism," as involving an utterly false and even absurd theory, should be banished from scientific nomenclature has converted the higher psychology from a science of observa- tion and introspection into one of experiment, a change of which the far-reaching consequences can as yet be only dimly perceived.

The main physiological fact established by the Salpetriere and similar experiments, is the reflex action of the cerebral cortex, corresponding to that of the spinal cord and the cerebral ganglia. The psychological differentia of the hypnotic state in its completest form is the suspension of consciousness, will, and memory, thus giving full psychic play to the reflex action of the cortex excited by stimulus or suggestion. It is evident that where the different tracts of the cortex are in a condition of less stable equilibrium, hypnotic phenomena are more likely to occur naturally, and are more easy to produce artificially. This condition of mutable equilibrium seems to obtain most markedly in the victims of hysteria major,—that form of hysteria, much commoner apparently on the Continent than in this country, in which the epileptiform seizures are contemporaneous with the hysteric crises. It is, accordingly, • Animal Magnetism. WI. LX. of the "International Scientific Series." By Alfred Bunt and Charles Pere, Assistant-Physicians at the Salpetriere. Landon: Kogan Paul, Trench, and Co.

with the victims of this malady that the experiments of the Salpetriere school and of medico-psychologists generally, which amount to a kind of moral vivisection, have been con- ducted. Of the nature and results of these striking researches only a bare notion can be given here ; they must be studied in the book itself, every page of which will repay an attentive perusal.

Not the least surprising feature of hypnotic phenomena is the ease with which they can be induced and handled in proper subjects. The processes employed aim at exhausting, by sudden or prolonged energisation, as small an area as possible of the cerebral cortex, whereupon the remainder becomes more or less degraded, for a time, in function. Braid's method was to came the subject to concentrate vision and attention upon a bright point or disc (but any small object will do) for a minute or more, but at the Salpetriere a sudden flash of light, or a loud sound as of a gong unexpectedly struck, or—in educated cases—a mere command, is often suffi- cient. A sensitive subject may thus be hypnotised unawares, and independently of the will of the operator. The conse- quences of such an involuntary hypnosis are sometimes awk- ward, as the following story shows, communicated by Dr. Richer to Dr. Hack Puke, and related in the latter's very valuable and interesting book on somnambulism. A patient at the Salpetriere had been suspected of stealing photographs. She, of course, indignantly denied the charge. But on a certain occasion, being in a room adjoining the ward in which Dr. Richer was experimenting, she was detected with her hand in the drawer containing the photographs, some of which she was found to have already pocketed. On approaching her, Dr. Richer saw that she was in a state of rigid catalepsy, into which she had, in fact, been thrown in the very act of thieving, by the sound of the gong used in the experiments.

The Salpetriere investigators recognise three hypnotic states, markedly distinct from each other in typical cases, but generally more or less intermingled. The first result of the hypnotic process is, probably, always a condition of catalepsy ; but this is often of extremely short duration, passing at once into the second of the states, that of lethargy. By raising the eyelids, which are closed in lethargy, and so exposing the eyes to light, the cataleptic condition can be restored. During either the cataleptic or the lethargic state, the third, or somnambulistic stage, can be induced by slight pressure on the cranium, or friction of the scalp. Finally, the patient can usually be awakened at any stage by simply blowing -upon the face. Of the cataleptic condition, automatism is the dominant character. The subject's ego is gone, and the mind becomes as plastic to the will of the operator as the body. The whole gamut of the emotions may be played upon by inducing appropriate gestures or modes of facial expression. It is a sort of combined life and death rather fearful to witness ; body and mind are there, but volition, individuality, spon- taneity, are suspended or abolished. In lethargy, on the other hand, all the faculties are nearly or completely dormant ; neither spontaneous nor induced action is possible ; in a word, the state is one of psychic coma, the whole organism being in a condition of mere vegetable life. The stage of somnam- bulism presents very different characters. The ego is not lost, but is more or less perfectly replaced by a new ego. It is often as if one part of the cortex were in a condition enabling the subject to view, as a spectator, the operations of the remaining portion of the cortex,—the result being an extremely curious duplication of personality. The cases of somnambulism collected by Dr. Hack Tuke show that the somnambulistic life is that of an acted dream, which may or may not be remembered in the waking state; but in induced somnambulism the substance of the dream is suggested by the operator. The dream, how- ever—and this is perhaps one of the most startling of hypnotic phenomena—may be in part adjourned, even for many months, the unfinished portion remaining dormant in the cortex until the moment suggested for its completion arrives. Thus Bern- heim told a serjeant in a state of somnambulism to go to the house of a physician, Dr. Liebault, on a particular day, when he would see the President of the Republic, who would give him a medal and pension. The man remembered nothing of what had occurred when he awoke, but on the day named (more than two months afterwards), presented himself at the house, saluted Dr. Liebault, and on being asked to whom he was speaking, replied, "To the President of the Republic." In a somewhat similar way, an ordinary dream may postpone

its conclusion to another occasion, the first dream being lost to consciousness until recalled by the second. The following most curious experiment is no less instructive, as showing the strong subjective reality of an hallucination. It was devised by one of the present authors on the basis of Brewster's method of producing double vision by pressing upon one eyeball :—

" If, during the hypnotic sleep, it is suggested to the subject that a profile portrait is on a table of dark wood before him, he distinctly sees this portrait on awaking. If, without warning, a prism is placed before one eye, the subject is astonished to see two portraits, and the position of the false image is always in con- formity with the laws of physics. Two of our subjects answered correctly in the cataleptic state, though unacquainted with the properties of the prism."

The explanation given is probably the right one,—namely, that the hallucinatory image is associated with external and material marks the doubling of which by the prism induces an associated duplication of the image.

The good faith of the authors cannot be doubted, though some of the experiments they describe do not appear to have been conducted with all the rigour science requires. Against simulation medico-psychologists can easily protect themselves by methods based upon the measurement of bodily phenomena beyond the will of the patient, but errors of observation and interpretation are still possible, and, to the present writer at all events, the " Eesthesiogenie " agency of the magnet, despite the

special study Drs. Binet and Fere have made of this part of their subject, must still remain a matter of some doubt. They relate numerous instances of the power of a magnet, by touch or mere proximity, not only to modify or transfer from one side of the body to the other all sorts of sensory impressions and per- ceptions, but to modify or abolish a variety of purely mental

states as well. The experiments, however, do not seem to have been conducted with the care necessary to establish such extra- ordinary results, and the theory that the magnet operates as a faint electric current upon the nervous system is a mere guess.

No proofs are cited of the existence of any such current, or that such a current could produce the effects supposed to be produced by the magnet.

The conclusion to which these medico-psychological re- searches point is that volition, consciousness, and memory are either separate faculties, or act through distinct tracts of the cerebral cortex. The experiments show, too, how delicately responsive the human system may be to certain among sur- rounding influences, which nevertheless it can withstand with such wonderful power and endurance. The authors seem always to prefer a strongly materialistic explanation of the singular facts of hypnotism to any theory of a supernatural or even super-sensible character. Yet they do not reject the notion of thought-transfer or telepathy, which can hardly be regarded as consistent with materialistic views. After all, hypnosis is but a pathological form of sleep. We gradually fall into an ordinary slumber through an abstraction of ourselves from all bodily and mental activity, very similar to that involved in the process of Braid. Trances, dreams, somnambulism, and the hypnotic incidents of hysteria may be regarded as exag- gerations or morbid forms of sleep. The difference, which is mainly one of degree, is that in natural sleep the cerebral ganglia, as well as the cerebral cortex, are at rest, or at least no portion of the sensorium is awake enough to be responsive to stimulus or suggestion. In ordinary life, indeed, a sort of hypnosis is no uncommon incident. Under

a dominant impression, perhaps of no great moment, activity is often restricted to a confined area of the cortex, the

remainder of which is in a state of more or less complete slumber, resulting in various forms of absent-mindedness or forgetfulness. In other cases, as when the attention is riveted on some course of events, or upon the words of an orator or preacher, consciousness and volition may be in part suspended, and the reflex action of the cortex may then be easily excited by suggestion. Thus, the most trivial joke will sometimes cause laughter in the midst of a solemn trial, or an audience be moved to violence of expression or action such as no amount of mere persuasion would excite in fully conscious individuals possessed of unimpaired volition. It is not improbable that such forms of hypnosis have had a very considerable share in shaping human history, more often, it is to be feared, for evil than for good. The results may be permanent, though the crises were

transitory, and the reflex action of the cortex must henceforth engage the attention of the moralist as much as that of the

psychologist. The authors properly condemn hypnotic exhibitions, but defend experimentation in skilled hands, as necessary for the advancement of psychological science. It must not, however. be forgotten that many of the phenomena of the somnambu- listic stage of hypnotism, as of natural somnambulism, denote a state of temporary insanity, differing in the hypnotic form from true insanity only in being artificially induced, but induced, for the most part, in subjects in whom a tendency to some form of insanity has already declared itself.