Page:Mind (Old Series) Volume 9.djvu/123

 THE STAGES OF HYPNOTISM. Ill he has passed out of his normal waking state and crossed the threshold of trance, then, before he reaches the profound sleep in which his mental condition is a mere blank, there he before him two and only two markedly distinct states or stages, each of which however may present within itself a very large amount of variety. We may conveniently designate them as the alert state or stage and the ilf-p state or stage. These states are, I believe, produced or producible in the case of every ' subject ' who is sufficiently susceptible to hypnotism to be able finally to be put to sleep by it ; but the question will very naturally occur how, if that is so, there can ever have been a doubt about it. How is it that the character, and even the very existence, of the two states has escaped general recognition? The answer is broadly this, that, in the first place, each state admits of many degrees, and the characteristics of either of them may be only very slightly or only very transiently presented ; and in the second place, unless special means are adopted, it is very easy to mistake the alert state for normal waking, and the deep state for sleep. This will become clearer when the states themselves have been further described. To begin, then, with the a/<-i1 state. This is the state in which a ' subject ' is when, after the usual preliminary period of gazing fixedly at some object held near the eye, or of having passes made over the upper part of his person, and after the usual involuntary closure of his eyes, the strain on his eyelids is released by a few touches and words, and he is restored to what may look quite like his natural waking condition. Sometimes, it is true, the difference is very marked, and he will sit with a vacant air, irresponsive to every voice except that of the operator, and clearly not in possession of his ordinary faculties. He may be made to perform imitative actions and to obey commands in a mechanical way ; but his consciousness may be at a very low ebb, or (as some have held) may have lapsed altogether. But even these cases will exhibit two characteristics of the alert stage which are also characteris- tics of nonnal waking : the ' subject's ' eyes will be open and capable of seeing ; and he will (almost invariably) prove sensitive to pain if he be pinched or pricked. Very often, however, the resemblance to normal wakefulness is far closer than tin's ; for the ' subject ' will be found to converse with perfect compre- hension, memory, and even humour. Where then does the essential distinction of his state lie ? The main point which can be observed at the moment is that though perfectly capable of sustaining a conversation, he does not originate remarks. If not spoken to he will sit quiet, and, if simply asked what he is thinking about, he will almost always answer ' Nothing '. Perhaps it may be said that even this condition of passive vacancy is after all not so very different from that in which a large number of our fellow-creatures spend a large portion of