posture of his body. Dr. Wilkinson gives very remarkable evidence on
this point. 'Double his fist and pull up his arm, if you dare,' he
says, of the subject, 'for you will have the strength of your ribs
rudely tested. Put him on his knees and clasp his hands, and the
saints and devotees of the artists will pale before the trueness of his
devout actings. Raise his head while in prayer, and his lips pour forth
exulting glorifications, as he sees heaven opened, and the majesty of
God raising him to his place; then in a moment depress the head, and he
is in dust and ashes, an unworthy sinner, with the pit of hell yawning
at his feet. Or compress the forehead, so as to wrinkle it vertically,
and thorny-toothed clouds contract in from the very horizon' (in the
subject's imagination, it will be understood); 'and what is remarkable,
the smallest pinch and wrinkle, such as will lie between your nipping
nails, is sufficient nucleus to crystallise the man into that shape,
and to make him all foreboding, as, again, the smallest expansion in a
moment brings the opposite state, with a full breathing of delight.'
Some will perhaps think the next instance the most remarkable of all,
perfectly natural though one half of the performance may have been. The
subject being a young lady, the operator asks whether she or another
is the prettier, raising her head as he puts the question. 'Observe,'
says Dr. Wilkinson, 'the inexpressible hauteur, and the puff sneers let
off from the lips' (see Darwin's treatise on the 'Expression of the
Emotions,' plate IV. i, and plate V. i) 'which indicate a conclusion
too certain to need utterance. Depress the head, and repeat the
question, and mark the self-abasement with which she now says "_She
is_," as hardly worthy to make the comparison.'
In this state, in fact, 'whatever posture of any passion is induced,
the passion comes into it at once, and dramatises the body accordingly.'
It might seem that there must of necessity be some degree of
exaggeration in this description, simply because the power of
adequately expressing any given emotion is not possessed by all. Some
can in a moment bring any expression into the face, or even simulate
at once the expression and the aspect of another person, while many
persons, probably most, possess scarcely any power of the sort, and
fail ridiculously even in attempting to reproduce the expressions
corresponding to the commonest emotions. But it is abundantly clear
that the hypnotised subject possesses for the time being abnormal
powers. No doubt this is due to the circumstance that for the time
being 'the whole man is given to each perception.' The stories
illustrative of this peculiarity of the hypnotised state are so
remarkable that they have been rejected as utterly incredible by many
who are not acquainted with the amount of evidence we have upon this
point.
The instances above cited by Dr. Garth Wilkinson, remarkable though
they may be, are surpassed altogether in interest by a case which
Dr. Carpenter mentions,--of a factory girl, whose musical powers had
received little cultivation, and who could scarcely speak her own
language correctly, who nevertheless exactly imitated both the words
and the music of vocal performances by Jenny Lind. Dr. Carpenter was
assured by witnesses in whom he could place implicit reliance, that
this girl, in the hypnotised state, followed the Swedish nightingale's
songs in different languages 'so instantaneously and correctly, as to
both words and music, that it was difficult to distinguish the two
voices. In order to test the powers of the somnambulist to the utmost,
Mademoiselle Lind extemporised a long and elaborate chromatic exercise,
which the girl imitated with no less precision, though in her waking
state she durst not even attempt anything of the sort.'
The exaltation of the senses of hypnotised subjects is an equally
wonderful phenomenon. Dr. Carpenter relates many very remarkable
instances as occurring within his own experience. He has 'known a
youth, in the hypnotised state,' he says, 'to find out, by the sense of
smell, the owner of a glove which was placed in his hand, from amongst
a party of more than sixty persons, scenting at each of them one after
the other until he came to the right individual. In another case, the
owner of a ring was unhesitatingly found out from amongst a company
of twelve, the ring having been withdrawn from the finger before the
somnambule was introduced.' The sense of touch has, in other cases,
been singularly intensified, insomuch that slight differences of heat,
which to ordinary feeling were quite inappreciable, would be at once
detected, while such differences as can be but just perceived in the
ordinary state would produce intense distress.
In some respects, the increase of muscular power, or rather of the
power of special muscles, is even more striking, because it is commonly
supposed by most persons that the muscular power depends entirely on
the size and quality of the muscles, the state of health, and like
conditions, not on the imagination. Of course every one knows that the
muscles are capable of greater efforts when the mind is much excited
by fear and other emotions. But the general idea is, I think, that
whatever the body is capable of doing under circumstances of great
excitement, it is in reality capable of doing at all times if only
a resolute effort is made. Nor is it commonly supposed that a very
wide difference exists between the greatest efforts of the body under
excitement and those of which it is ordinarily capable. Now, the
condition of the hypnotised subject is certainly not one of excitement.
The attempts which he is directed to make are influenced only by the
idea that he _can_ do what he is told, not that he _must_ do so. When a
man pursued by a bull leaps over a wall which under ordinary conditions
he would not even think of climbing, we can understand that he only
does, because he must, what if he liked he could do at any time. But
if a man who had been making his best efforts in jumping, cleared
only a height of four feet, and presently being told to jump over an
eight-feet wall, cleared that height with apparent ease, we should be
disposed to regard the feat as savouring of the miraculous.
Now Dr. Carpenter saw one of Mr. Braid's hypnotised subjects--a man so
remarkable for the poverty of his physical development that he had not
for many years ventured to lift up a weight of twenty pounds in his
ordinary state--take up a quarter of a hundredweight upon his little
finger, and swing it round his head with the utmost apparent ease, on
being told that it was as light as a feather. 'On another occasion
he lifted a half-hundredweight on the last joint of his forefinger
as high as his knee.' The personal character of the man placed him
above all suspicion of deceit, in the opinion of those who best knew
him; and as Dr. Carpenter acutely remarks, 'the impossibility of any
trickery in such a case would be evident to the educated eye, since,
if he had practised such feats (which very few, even of the strongest
men could accomplish without practice), the effect would have made
itself visible in his muscular development.' 'Consequently,' he adds,
'when the same individual afterwards declared himself unable, with the
greatest effort, to lift a handkerchief from the table, after having
been assured that he could not possibly move it, there was no reason
for questioning the truth of his conviction, based as this was upon
the same kind of suggestion as that by which he had been just before
prompted to what seemed an otherwise impossible action.'
The explanation of this and the preceding cases cannot be mistaken by
physiologists, and is very important in its bearing on the phenomena
of hypnotism generally, at once involving an interpretation of the
whole series of phenomena, and suggesting other relations not as yet
illustrated experimentally. It is well known that in our ordinary use
of any muscles we employ but a small part of the muscle at any given
moment. What the muscle is actually capable of is shown in convulsive
contractions, in which far more force is put forth than the strongest
effort of the will could call into play. We explain, then, the seeming
increase of strength in any set of muscles during the hypnotic state as
due to the concentration of the subject's will in an abnormal manner,
or to an abnormal degree, on that set of muscles. In a similar way,
the great increase of certain powers of perception may be explained
as due to the concentration of the will upon the corresponding parts
of the nervous system. In like manner, the will may be directed so
entirely to the operations necessary for the performances of difficult
feats, that the hypnotised or somnambulistic subject may be able to
accomplish what in his ordinary condition would be impossible or
even utterly appalling to him. Thus sleep-walkers (whose condition
precisely resembles that of the artificially hypnotised, except that
the suggestions they experience come from contact with inanimate
objects, instead of being aroused by the actions of another person)
'can clamber walls and roofs, traverse narrow planks, step firmly along
high parapets, and perform other feats which they would shrink from
attempting in their waking state.' This is simply, as Dr. Carpenter
points out, because they are _not distracted_ by the sense of danger
which their vision would call up, from concentrating their exclusive
attention on the guidance afforded by their muscular sense.'
But the most remarkable and suggestive of all the facts known
respecting hypnotism is the influence which can by its means be
brought to bear upon special parts or functions of the body. We know
that imagination will hasten or retard certain processes commonly
regarded as involuntary (indeed, the influence of imagination is itself
in great degree involuntary). We know further that in some cases
imagination will do much more than this, as in the familiar cases of
the disappearance of warts under the supposed influence of charms,
the cure of scrofula at a touch, and hundreds of well-attested cases
of so-called miraculous cures. But although the actual cases of the
curative influence obtained over hypnotised patients may not be in
reality more striking than some of these, yet they are more suggestive
at any rate to ordinary minds, because they are known not to be the
result of any charm or miraculous interference, but to be due to simply
natural processes initiated by natural though unfamiliar means.
Take, for instance, such a case as the following, related by Dr.
Carpenter (who has himself witnessed many remarkable cases of
hypnotic cure):--'A female relative of Mr. Braid's was the subject
of a severe rheumatic fever, during the course of which the left eye
became seriously implicated, so that after the inflammatory action
had passed away, there was an opacity over more than one half of the
cornea, which not only prevented distinct vision, but occasioned
an annoying disfigurement. Having placed herself under Mr. Braid's
hypnotic treatment for the relief of violent pain in her arm and
shoulder, she found, to the surprise alike of herself and Mr. Braid,
that her sight began to improve very perceptibly. The operation was
therefore continued daily; and in a very short time the cornea became
so transparent that close inspection was required to discover any
remains of the opacity.' On this, Carpenter remarks that he has known
other cases in which secretions that had been morbidly suspended have
been reinduced by this process; and is satisfied that, if applied
with skill and discrimination, it would take rank as one of the most
potent methods of treatment which the physician has at his command. He
adds that 'the channel of influence is obviously the system of nerves
which regulates the secretions--nerves which, though not under direct
subjection to the will, are peculiarly affected by emotional states.'
I may remark, in passing, that nerves which are not ordinarily under
the influence of the will, but whose office would be to direct muscular
movements if only the will could influence them, may by persistent
attention become obedient to the will. When I was last in New York,
I met a gentleman who gave me a long and most interesting account
of certain experiments which he had made on himself. The account
was not forced on me, the reader must understand, but was elicited
by questions suggested by one or two remarkable facts which he had
casually mentioned as falling within his experience. I had only his
own word for much that he told me, and some may perhaps consider that
there was very little truth in the narrative. I may pause here to make
some remarks by the way, on the traits of truthful and untruthful
persons. I believe very slight powers of observation are necessary to
detect want of veracity in any man, though absence of veracity in any
particular story may not be easily detected or established. I am not
one of those who believe every story they hear, and trust in every one
they meet. But I have noticed one or two features by which the habitual
teller of untruths may be detected very readily, as may also one who,
without telling actual falsehoods, tries to heighten the effect of
any story he may have to tell, by strengthening all the particulars.
My experience in this respect is unlike Dickens's, who believed, and
indeed found, that a man whom on first seeing he distrusted, and
justly, could explain away the unfavourable impression. 'My first
impression,' he says, 'about such people, founded on face and manner
alone, was invariably true; my mistake was in suffering them to come
nearer to me and explain themselves away.' I have found it otherwise;
though of course Dickens was right about his own experience: the matter
depends entirely on the idiosyncrasies of the observer. I have often
been deceived by face and expression: never, to the best of my belief
(and belief in this case is not mere opinion, but is based on results),
by manner of speaking. One peculiarity I have never found wanting in
habitually mendacious persons--a certain intonation which I cannot
describe, but recognise in a moment, suggestive of the weighing of each
sentence as it is being uttered, as though to consider how it would
tell. Another, is a peculiarity of manner, but it only shows itself
during speech; it is a sort of watchfulness often disguised under a
careless tone, but perfectly recognisable however disguised. Now, the
gentleman who gave me the experience I am about to relate, conveyed to
my mind, by every intonation of his voice and every peculiarity and
change of manner, the idea of truthfulness. I cannot convey to others
the impression thus conveyed to myself: nor do I expect that others
will share my own confidence: I simply state the case as I know it,
and as far as I know it. It will, however, be seen that a part of the
evidence was confirmed on the spot.
The conversation turned on the curability of consumption. My
informant, whom I will henceforth call A., said that, though he could
not assert from experience that consumption was curable, he believed
that in many cases where the tendency to consumption is inherited,
and the consumptive constitution indicated so manifestly that under
ordinary conditions the person would before long be hopelessly
consumptive, an entire change may be made in the condition of the body,
and the person become strong and healthy. He said: 'I belong myself
to a family many of whose members have died of consumption. My father
and mother both died of it, and all my brothers and sisters save one
brother; yet I do not look consumptive, do I?' and certainly he did
not. He then took from a pocket-book a portrait of his brother, showing
a young man manifestly in very bad health, looking worn, weary, and
emaciated. From the same pocket-book A. then took another portrait,
asking if I recognised it. I saw here again a worn and emaciated face
and figure. The picture was utterly unlike the hearty well-built man
before me, yet it manifestly represented no other. If I had been at all
doubtful, my doubts would have been removed by certain peculiarities
to which A. called my attention. I asked how the change in his health
had been brought about. He told me a very remarkable story of his
treatment of himself, part of which I omit because I am satisfied he
was mistaken in attributing to that portion of his self-treatment
any part of the good result which he had obtained, and that if many
consumptive patients adopted the remedy, a large proportion, if not
all, would inevitably succumb very quickly. The other portion of his
account is all that concerns us here, being all that illustrates our
present subject. He said: 'I determined to exercise every muscle of my
body; I set myself in front of a mirror and concentrated my attention
and all the power of my will on the muscle or set of muscles I proposed
to bring into action. Then I exercised those muscles in every way I
could think of, continuing the process till I had used in succession
every muscle over which the will has control. While carrying out this
system, I noticed that gradually the will acquired power over muscles
which before I had been quite unable to move. I may say, indeed, that
every set of muscles recognised by anatomists, except those belonging
to internal organs, gradually came under the control of my will.' Here
I interrupted, asking (not by any means as doubting his veracity, for
I did not): 'Can you do what Dundreary said he thought some fellow
might be able to do? can you waggle your left ear?' 'Why, certainly,'
he replied; and turning the left side of his head towards me, he moved
his left ear about; not, it is true, waggling it, but drawing it up and
down in a singular way, which was, he said, the only exercise he ever
gave it. He said, on this, that there are many other muscles over which
the will has ordinarily no control, but may be made to obtain control;
and forthwith, drawing the cloth of his trousers rather tight round
the right thigh (so that the movement he was about to show might be
discernible) he made in succession the three muscles of the front and
inner side of the thigh rise about half an inch along some nine or ten
inches of their length. Now, though these muscles are among those which
are governed by the will, for they are used in a variety of movements,
yet not one in ten thousand, perhaps in a million, can move them in the
way described.
How far A.'s system of exciting the muscles individually as well as in
groups may have operated in improving his health, as he supposed, I am
not now inquiring. What I wish specially to notice is the influence
which the will may be made to obtain over muscles ordinarily beyond
its control. It may be that under the exceptional influence of the
imagination, in the hypnotic condition, the will obtains a similar
control for a while over even those parts of the nervous system which
appertain to the so-called involuntary processes. In other words,
the case I have cited may be regarded as occupying a sort of middle
position between ordinary cases of muscular action and those perplexing
cases in which the hypnotic subject seems able to influence pulsation,
circulation, and processes of secretion in the various parts or organs
of his body.
It must be noted, however, that the phenomena of hypnotism are due
solely to the influence of the imagination. The quasi-scientific
explanations which attributed them to magnetism, electricity, some
subtle animal fluid, some occult force, and so forth, have been as
completely negatived as the supernatural explanation. We have seen that
painted wooden tractors were as effectual as the metal tractors of the
earlier mesmerists; a small disc of card or wood is as effective as
the disc of zinc and copper used by the electro-biologists; and now
it appears that the mystical influence, or what was thought such, of
the operator is no more essential to success than magnetic or electric
apparatus.
Dr. Noble of Manchester made several experiments to determine this
point. Some among them seem absolutely decisive.
Thus, a friend of Dr. Noble's had a female servant whom he had
frequently thrown into the hypnotic state, trying a variety of
experiments, many of which Dr. Noble had witnessed. Dr. Noble was at
length told that his friend had succeeded in magnetising her from
another room and without her knowledge, with some other stories even
more marvellous, circumstantially related by eye-witnesses, 'amongst
others by the medical attendant of the family, a most respectable and
intelligent friend' of Dr. Noble's own. As he remained unsatisfied, Dr.
Noble was invited to come and judge for himself, proposing whatever
test he pleased. 'Now had we visited the house,' he says, 'we should
have felt dissatisfied with any result,' knowing 'that the presence
of a visitor or the occurrence of anything unusual was sure to excite
expectation of some mesmeric process.' 'We therefore proposed,'
he proceeds, 'that the experiment should be carried on at our own
residence; and it was made under the following circumstances:--The
gentleman early one evening wrote a note as if on business,
directing it to ourselves. He thereupon summoned the female servant
(the mesmeric subject), requesting her to convey the note to its
destination, and to wait for an answer. The gentleman himself, in her
hearing, ordered a cab, stating that if anyone called he was going to
a place named, but was expected to return by a certain hour. Whilst
the female servant was dressing for her errand, the master placed
himself in the vehicle and rapidly arrived at our dwelling. In about
ten minutes after the note arrived, the gentleman in the meantime
being secreted in an adjoining apartment, we requested the young woman
who had been shown into our study, to take a seat whilst we wrote the
answer; at the same time placing the chair with its back to the door
leading into the next room which was left ajar. It had been agreed
that after the admission of the girl into the place where we were, the
magnetiser, approaching the door in silence on the other side, should
commence operations. There, then, was the patient or "subject" placed
within two feet of her magnetiser, a door only intervening, and that
but partially closed; but she, all the while, perfectly free from all
idea of what was going on. We were careful to avoid any unnecessary
conversation with the girl, or even to look towards her, lest we
should raise some suspicion in her own mind. We wrote our letter (as
if in answer) for nearly a quarter of an hour, once or twice only
making an indifferent remark, and on leaving the room for a light to
seal the supposed letter, we beckoned the operator away. No effect
whatever had been produced, although we had been told that two or three
minutes were sufficient, even when mesmerising from the drawing-room,
through walls and apartments, into the kitchen. In our own experiment
the intervening distance had been very much less, and only one solid
substance intervened, and that not completely; but here we suspect was
the difference--_the "subject" was unconscious of the magnetism and
expected nothing_.'