Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 10.djvu/468

* HYPNOTISM. 4(10 HYPNOTISM. the subject gives him power. Tlic reason that the professional hypnotist and the physician are accredited with a special ability to induce hyp- nosis is, first, that they 'suggest' to the inquirer — whether consciously, by strongly worded ad- vertisement, or unconsciously, by the mere authority of position — that such ability resides in them; and, secondly, that they acquire, in the course of th'.ir experience, a tact or insight concerning the best means of bringing the in- quirer into the necessary attentive state. The subject comes to them i)repared for hypnotiza- tion; and they make conditions easy for its attainment. Kurther than this the ability of the o|M'rator does not extend. It i.s, indeed, entirely possible to hypnotize one's self. (See AuTOSLGGESTiox.) Most of US have, at times, 'let our.«elves go' mentally, until we were on the verge of what seemed to be a kind of fascination or trance, at the brink of which we aroused ourselves with a start. If now we place our- selves under circumstances favorable to sleep, cutting ofT, so far as may be, external impres- sions, and attend concentratedly to the idea of hypnosis, we presently drop into a similar state of 'fascination' which soon becomes hypnosis proper, and later passes off as ordinary sleep. Ve notice, secondly, as a corollary to what has just been said, that all persons of normal eonstitvition are liypntizal)le. Hypnosis is 'ab- normal' only in the sense in Wiich dreaming (q.v.) is abnormal: and as we are all liable, though in varying degree, to dreams, so are all normal minds liable to hypnotization. The strong-mindeil person who declares that So-andso tried to hypnotize him. but could not on account of his vigorous resistance, makes a ludicrous misstatement. It is not So-and-so wlio is to hy|)notize him, but he himself: and incapacity for hypnosis is not the mark of a strong, hut of a weak mind. Hypnosis (and this is a difTer- ence l)etwecn it and dreaming) is impossible in the case of idiots and of very yoimg children, because they are scatter-brained, unable to at- tend fixedly and continuously: the more 'power- ful the will.' the easier must hypnosis be. We t^ee this, indeed, in the tendency of vigorous minds to lirown study,' a state nearly related to hypnosis, and characterized by the same single- hearted absorption, and the same arrest of bodily movement. Vhcther or not animals can be hyp- notized is a disputed question. In the emotion of extreme fear (when, if ever, the animal mind must be dominated by one sole idea, and so ap- proach to the requisite degree of passive atjen- tion). we have a muscular rigidity, known as 'cataplexy' (cf. the popular word 'stroke'), which outwardly resembles the stage of catalepsy in man. Seize a frog firmly by a hind leg. and the animal will spread out, stiff and stark, mak- ing no effort to escape. Pigeons, fowls, guinea- pigs, etc., can all be readily 'hypnotized' by similar means. The trend of expert opinion seems, however, to be that the resemblance to hypnosis is rather external than real. We turn now to some special questions of hypnosis, and first ( 1 ) to that of the rapport. This is a supposed subjective link or bond whereby the experimenter, in virtue of his will- power or personal magnetism, attaches the sub- ject to himself. Xow it is true that there are cases in which a subject can be 'hypnotiz^ed' only if a certain operator or experimenter allows or commands it. But there is nothing mysterious, still less su]>ernornnil, in llie matter. The sub- ject in some way (perhaps by self-suggestion, perhaps at the explicit suggestion of a physician) acquires the insistent belief that hypnosis is impossible for him without the presence or assent of the experimenter; and the belief, once acquired, is cirective. It is thus the subject, again, whose 'will' is concerned, not the operator. The rnppurt is sometimes suggested by physician to patient, in order to prevent interference by outsiders with the conduct of a case ; and thus serves a useful purpose. (2) It may be sug- gested to a somnambulistic subject that at sucli- and-such a time i.fter waking from the hypnotic sleep he shall perform such-and-such an action. This is termed post-lii/pnotic or terminal sugges- tion. Its effectiveness depends upon the fact that the time idea is common both to the hypnotic and to the waking consciousnesses, and so forni.^ a bridge between the abnormal and the normal states. "You will go into the kitchen and drink a glass of water at five o'clock." The subject i« strongly impressed by the five-o'clock idea. When, therefore, five o'clock actually comes, its perception or idea is sulhcient to throw him into the first stage of hypnosis; the suggestion re- covers its hypnotic strength, and he goes, pas- sively, to e.wcute the prescribed act. (.3) .Al- though the somnambulist remembers nothing of the hypnotic state from which he is aroused, he may, if rchy|)notized. recall what took place during his previous sleep. Memory is thus con- tinued from one hypnotic consciousness to another, as it is from one waking conseiousnes>i to another; but there is no continuity of memory from sleep to waking, or vice versa. This fact has given occasion to various theories of double consciousness (q.v.) : quite unnecessarily — for it is adequately explained by the known laws of memory. We remember only when we liave a cue to memory, when our present circumstances 'suggest' the past. When eating a good dinner after a long walk we recall other good dinners eaten in like circumstances; we do not recall such dinners when there is nothing to remind us of them. But the waking state, with all the sudden inrush of stimulations that it involves, is entirely difTerent from the hypnotic state; there is nothing in the one (apart from the terminal suggestions just discussed) to leminrl us of the other: whereas there is everything in a present hypnotic state to revive our memories of foregone like states. Dreams, in the same way, are not seldom continued from night to night, though we forget all about them in the daytime. (4) Lastly, as regards the theraprutio raluc of hypnosis, we may say that as a 'sugges- tion,' in the waking life, may make us blush or crj-, so may the indefinitely stronger suggestions of the hypnotic state bring about circulatory or secretory changes that are of benefit to the organism. But no command to get well can ever mend a broken bone, or cure a typhoid patient. Moreover, there is always the danger of setting up an 'hypnotic habit,' or of breaking do^-n the subject's self-reliance: in which event the remedy is worse than the disease. Bini.iocRAPHY. For Charcot's standpoint, con- sult: Binet nnd Trrv. Animal Maflnctism (trans. New York, 1888) : .Janet. L'automali.ime psycho- lofjique (Paris, 188!)) ; Charcot, (Eutrres com- piites, vol. i.. (Paris, 1893); for the Nancy