Is described as a different form of natural sleep, and all the causes
which bring on fatigue are capable of bringing on hypnotism in
suitable subjects. Two of the leading hypnotic states are lethargy and
catalepsy, the former being analogous to deep sleep, and the latter to
a light slumber. In lethargy the respiratory movements are slow and
deep; in catalepsy slight, shallow, very slow, and separated by a long
interval. In lethargy the application of a magnet over the region of
the stomach causes profound modifications in the breathing and
circulation, while there is no such effect in catalepsy. This shows
the connection of hypnotism with magnetism, and various other
experiments with magnets have produced some remarkable results. Here
it may be added that Dr. Gessmann, a Vienna scientist who has made a
specialty of hypnotic studies, has invented and successfully applied
an instrument called a hypnoscope, consisting of an arrangement of
magnets for the purpose of ascertaining whether any person is a good
hypnotic subject.
The experiments demonstrate that sensation in the hypnotic states
varies between the two opposite poles of hyperaesthesia and
anaeesthesia; in other words, the senses may be extraordinarily
exalted, as in somnambulism, or, as in lethargy, they may be extinct,
except sometimes hearing. In somnambulism the field of vision and
acuteness of sight are about doubled, hearing is made very acute, and
smell is so intensely developed that a subject can find by scent the
fragment of a card, previously given him to feel, and then torn up and
hidden. The memory in somnambulism is similarly exalted. When awakened
the subject does not, as a rule, remember anything that occurred while
he was entranced, but, when again hypnotized, his memory includes all
the facts of his sleep, his life when awake and his former sleeps.
Richet attests how somnambules recall with a luxury of detail scenes
in which they have taken part and places they have visited long ago.
M----, one of his somnambules, sings the air of the second act of the
opera "L'Africaine" when she is asleep, but can not remember a note of
it when awake.
There is a theory that no experience whatever of any person is lost to
the memory; it is only the power to recall it that is defective. The
authors of this work say that, while the exaltation of the memory
during somnambulism does not give absolute proof to the theory that
nothing is lost, it proves at any rate that the memory of preservation
is much greater than is generally imagined, in comparison with the
memory of reproduction, or recollection. "It is evident," they say,
"that in a great number of cases, where we believe the memory is
completely blotted out, it is nothing of the kind. The trace is always
there, but what is lacking is the power to evoke it; and it is highly
probable that if we were subjected to hypnotism, or the action of
suitable excitants, memories to all appearance dead might be revived."
A comparison between the phenomena of awakening from natural and
artificial sleep is instituted. In the case of dreams, recollection
more or less vivid persists for a few seconds, then becomes effaced.
This forgetfulness is even more marked in the case of hypnosis. On
returning to natural consciousness, the subject cannot recompose a
single one of the scenes in which he has played his part as witness or
actor. The loss, however, is not complete, for often a word or two is
sufficient to bring back a whole scene, though this word or two coming
from operator to subject, partakes more or less of the nature of a
suggestion.