TELEPATHY AND THE SUBLIMINAL SELF/PART 3

CHAPTER III.

HYPNOTISM—PSYCHICAL ASPECT.

As before remarked the phenomena of hypnotism may be viewed from two distinct standpoints—one, that from which the physical and especially the therapeutic features are most prominent, the standpoint from which we have already viewed the subject; the other is the psychical or mental aspect, which presents phenomena no less striking, and is the one which is especially attractive to the most earnest students of psychology.

The hypnotic condition has been variously divided and subdivided by different students and different writers upon the subject; Charcot, for instance, makes three distinct states, which he designates (1) catalepsy, (2) lethargy, and (3) somnambulism, while Bernheim proposes five states, or, as he designates them, degrees of hypnotism, namely, (1) sleepiness, (2) light sleep, (3) deep sleep, (4) very deep sleep, (5) somnambulism.

All these divisions are arbitrary and unnatural; Bernheim’s five degrees have no definite limit or line of separation one from the other, and Charcot’s condition of catalepsy is only lethargy or sleep in which the subject may, to a greater or less degree, maintain the position in which he is placed by his hypnotizer.

There are, however, as already stated, two distinct and definite conditions, namely, (1) lethargy, or the inactive stage, and (2) somnambulism, or the alert stage, and if, in examining the subject, we make this simple division, we shall free it from much confusion and unnecessary verbiage.

When a subject is hypnotized by any soothing process, he first experiences a sensation of drowsiness, and then in a space of time, usually varying from two to twenty minutes, he falls into a more or less profound slumber. His breathing is full and quiet, his pulse normal; he is unconscious of his surroundings; or possibly he may be quiet, restful, indisposed to move, but having a consciousness, probably dim and imperfect, of what is going on about him.

This is the condition of lethargy, and in it most subjects, but not all, retain to a greater or less degree whatever position the hypnotizer imposes upon them; they sleep on, often maintaining what, under ordinary circumstances, would be a most uncomfortable position, for hours, motionless as a statue of bronze or stone.

If, now, he speaks of his own accord, or his magnetizer speaks to him and he replies, he is in the somnambulic or alert stage. He may open his eyes, talk in a clear and animated manner; he may walk about, and show even more intellectual acuteness and physical activity than when in his normal state, or he may merely nod assent or answer slowly to his hypnotizer’s questions; still, he is in the somnambulic or alert stage of hypnotism.

The following are some of the phenomena which have been observed in this stage. It is not necessary to rehearse the stock performances of lecture-room hypnotists. While under the influence of hypnotic suggestion a lad, for instance, is made to go through the pantomime of fishing in an imaginary brook, a dignified man to canter around the stage on all fours, under the impression that he is a pony, or watch an imaginary mouse-hole in the most alert and interested manner while believing himself a cat; or the subject is made to take castor oil with every expression of delight, or reject the choicest wines with disgust, believing them to be nauseous drugs, or stagger with drunkenness under the influence of a glass of pure water, supposed to be whisky.

All these things have been done over and over for the last forty years, and people have not known whether to consider them a species of necromancy or well-practiced tricks, in which the performers were accomplices, or, perhaps, a few more thoughtful and better-instructed people have looked upon them as involving psychological problems of the greatest interest, which might some day strongly influence all our systems of mental philosophy.

But whether done by the mesmerist of forty years ago or the hypnotist of the past decade, they were identical in character, and were simply genuine examples of the great power of suggestion when applied to persons under the mesmeric or hypnotic influence. Such exhibitions, however, are unnecessary and undignified, if not positively degrading, to both subject and operator, whether given by the self-styled professor of the town-hall platform or the aspiring clinical professor of nervous diseases before his packed amphitheatre of admiring students.

One of the most singular as well as important points in connection with hypnotism is the rapport or relationship which exists between the hypnotizer and the hypnotized subject. The manner in which the hypnotic sleep is induced is of little importance. The important thing, if results of any kind are to be obtained, is that rapport should be established.

This relationship is exhibited in various ways. Generally, while in the hypnotic state, the subject hears no voice but that of his hypnotizer; he does no bidding but his, he receives no suggestions but from him, and no one else can awaken him from his sleep.

If another person interferes, trying to impose his influence upon the sleeping subject, or attempts to waken him, distressing and even alarming results may appear. The degree to which this rapport exists varies greatly in different cases, but almost always, perhaps we should say always, the condition exists in some degree. In some rare cases this rapport is of a still higher and more startling character, exhibiting phenomena so contrary to, or rather, so far exceeding, our usual experience as to be a surprise to all and a puzzle to the wisest.

One of these curious phenomena is well exhibited in what is known as community of sensation, or the perception by the subject of sensations experienced by the operator. The following experiment, observed by Mr. Gurney and Dr. Myers of the Society for Psychical Research, will illustrate this phase of the subject.

The sensitive in this experiment is designated as Mr. C., and the operator as Mr. S. There was no contact or any communication whatsoever of the ordinary kind between them. C. was hypnotized, but was not informed of the nature of the experiment which was to be tried. The operator stood behind the hypnotized subject, and Mr. Gurney, standing behind the operator, handed him the different substances to be used in the experiment, and he, in turn, placed them in his own mouth.

Salt was first so tasted by the operator, whereupon the subject, C., instantly and loudly cried out: “What’s that salt stuff?” Sugar was given. C. replied, “Sweeter; not so bad as before.” Powdered ginger; reply, “Hot, dries up your mouth; reminds me of mustard.” Sugar given again; reply, “A little better—a sweetish taste.” Other substances were tried, with similar results, the last one tasted being vinegar, when it was found that C. had fallen into the deeper lethargic condition and made no reply.

Another experiment is reported by Dr. William A. Hammond of Washington. The doctor said:

“A most remarkable fact is, that some few subjects of hypnotism experience sensations from impressions made upon the hypnotizer. Thus, there is a subject upon whom I sometimes operate whom I can shut up in a room with an observer, while I go into another closed room at a distance of one hundred feet or more with another observer. This one, for instance, scratches my hand with a pin, and instantly the hypnotized subject rubs his corresponding hand, and says, ‘Don’t scratch my hand so;’ or my hair is pulled, and immediately he puts his hand to his head and says, ‘Don’t pull my hair;’ and so on, feeling every sensation that I experience.”

This experiment, it must be borne in mind, is conducted in closed rooms a hundred feet apart, and through at least two partitions or closed doors, and over that distance and through these intervening obstacles peculiar and definite sensations experienced by one person are perceived and definitely described by another person, no ordinary means of communication existing between them. This is an example of the rapport existing between the operator and hypnotized subject carried to an unusual degree.

The following experiments are examples of hypnotizing at a distance, or telepathic hypnotism, and while illustrating still further the rapport, or curious relationship, existing between hypnotizer and subject, are also illustrations of the rarer psychic phenomena of hypnotism.

The first series of experiments is given by Prof. Pierre Janet of Havre and Dr. Gibert, a prominent physician of the same city. The subject was Mme. B., a heavy, rather stolid, middle-aged peasant woman, without any ambition for notoriety, or to be known as a sensitive; on the contrary, she disliked it, and the experiments were disagreeable to her. She was, however an excellent example of close rapport with her hypnotizer.

While in the deep sleep, and perfectly insensible to ordinary stimuli, however violent, contact, or even the proximity of her hypnotizer’s hand, caused contractures, which a light touch from him would also remove. No one else could produce the slightest effect. After about ten minutes in this deep trance she usually passed into the alert, or somnambulic stage, from which also no one but the operator could arouse her. Hypnotization was difficult or impossible unless the operator concentrated his thoughts upon the desired result, but by simply willing, without passes or any physical means whatsoever, the hypnotic condition could be quickly induced.

Various experiments in simply willing post-hypnotic acts, without suggestion through any of the ordinary channels of communication, were also perfectly successful. Dr. Gibert then made three experiments in putting this subject to sleep when she was in another part of the town, a third of a mile away from the operator, and at a time fixed by a third person, the experiment also being wholly unexpected by the subject.

On two of these occasions Prof. Janet found the subject in a deep trance ten minutes after the willing to sleep, and no one but Dr. Gibert, who had put her to sleep, could rouse her. In the third experiment the subject experienced the hypnotic influence and desire to sleep, but resisted it and kept herself awake by washing her hands in cold water.

During a second series of experiments made with the same subject, several members of the Society for Psychical Research were present and took an active part in them. Apart from trials made in the same or an adjoining room, twenty-one experiments were made when the subject was at distances varying from one-half to three-fourths of a mile away from her hypnotizer. Of these, six were reckoned as failures, or only partial successes; there remained, then, fifteen perfect successes in which the subject, Mme. B., was found entranced fifteen minutes after the willing or mental suggestion. During one of these experiments, the subject was willed by Dr. Gibert to come through several intervening streets to him at his own house, which she accomplished in the somnambulic condition, and under the observation of Prof. Janet and several other physicians.

Another series of experiments was made with another subject by Dr. Héricourt, one of Prof. Richet’s coadjutors. The experiments included the gradual extension of the distance through which the willing power was successful, first to another room, then to another street, and a distant part of the city.

One day, while attempting to hypnotize her in another street, three hundred yards distant, at 3 o’clock p. m., he was suddenly called away to attend a patient, and forgot all about his hypnotic subject. Afterward he remembered that he was to meet her at 4:30, and went to keep his appointment. But not finding her, he thought possibly the experiment, which had been interrupted might, after all, have proved successful. Upon this supposition, at 5 o’clock he willed her to awake.

That evening, without being questioned at all, she gave the following account of herself: At 3 p. m. she was overcome by an irresistible desire to sleep, a most unusual thing for her at that hour. She went into an adjoining room, fell insensible upon a sofa, where she was afterward found by her servant, cold and motionless, as if dead.

Attempts on the part of the servant to rouse her proved ineffectual, but gave her great distress. She woke spontaneously and free from pain at 5 o’clock.

By no means the least interesting of the higher phenomena of hypnotism are post-hypnotic suggestions, or the fulfilment after waking of suggestions impressed upon the subject when asleep.

A few summers ago at a little gathering of intelligent people, much interest was manifested and a general desire to see some hypnotic experiments. Accordingly, one of the ladies whose good sense and good faith could not be doubted, was hypnotized and put into the condition of profound lethargy. After a few slight experiments, exhibiting anæsthesia, hallucinations of taste, plastic pose, and the like, I said to her in a decided manner:

“Now I am about to waken you. I will count five, and when I say the word ‘five’ you will promptly, but quietly and without any excitement, awake. Your mind will be perfectly clear, and you will feel rested and refreshed by your sleep. Presently you will approach Mrs. O., and will be attracted by the beautiful shell comb which she wears in her hair, and you will ask her to permit you to examine it.”

I then commenced counting slowly, and at the word “five” she awoke, opened her eyes promptly, looked bright and happy, and expressed herself as feeling comfortable and greatly rested, as though she had slept through a whole night. She rose from her chair, mingled with the company, and presently approaching Mrs. O., exclaimed:

“What a beautiful comb! Please allow me to examine it.”

And suiting the action to the word, she placed her hand lightly on the lady’s head, examined the comb, and expressed great admiration for it; in short, she fulfilled with great exactness the whole suggestion.

She was perfectly unconscious that any suggestion had been made to her; she was greatly surprised to see that she was the centre of observation, and especially at the ripple of laughter which greeted her admiration of the comb.

To another young lady, hypnotized in like manner, I suggested that on awaking she should approach the young daughter of our hostess, who was present, holding a favorite kitten in her arms, and should say to her, “What a pretty kitten you have! What is her name?”

The suggestion was fulfilled to the letter. It was only afterward that I learned that this young lady had a very decided aversion to cats, and always avoided them if possible.

Suggestions for post-hypnotic fulfilment are sometimes carried out after a considerable time has elapsed, and upon the precise day suggested.

Bernheim, in August, 1883, suggested to S., an old soldier, while in the hypnotic sleep, that upon the 3d of October following, sixty-three days after the suggestion, he should go to Dr. Liébeault’s house; that he would there see the President of the Republic, who would give to him a medal.

Promptly on the day designated he went. Dr. Liébeault states that S. came at 12:50 o’clock; he greeted M. F., who met him at the door as he came in, and then went to the left side of the office without paying any attention to any one. Dr. Liébeault continues:—

“I saw him bow respectfully and heard him speak the word ‘Excellence.’ Just then he held out his right hand, and said, ‘Thank your Excellence.’ Then I asked him to whom he was speaking. ‘Why, to the President of the Republic.’ He then bowed, and a few minutes later took his departure.”

A patient of my own, a young man with whom I occasionally experiment, exhibits some of the different phases and phenomena of hypnotism in a remarkable manner. He goes quickly into the stage of profound lethargy; after allowing him to sleep a few moments, I say to him: “Now you can open your eyes and you can see and talk with me, but you are still asleep, and you will remember nothing.”

He opens his eyes at once, smiles, gets up and walks, and chats in a lively manner. If I say: “Now you are in the deep sleep again,” and pass my hand downward before his eyes, immediately his eyes close and he is in a profound slumber. If five seconds later I again say, “Now you can open your eyes,” he is again immediately in the alert stage.

For experiment I then take half a dozen plain blank cards, exactly alike, and in one corner of one of the cards I put a minute dot, so that upon close inspection it can be recognized. Holding these in my hand, I say to him:

“Here are six cards; five of them are blank, but this one (the one I have marked, he only seeing the plain side) has a picture of myself upon it. It is a particularly good picture, and I have had it prepared specially for this occasion. Do you see the picture?”

“Of course I do,” he replies. “What do you think of it?” I ask him. He looks at me carefully and compares my face with the suggested picture on the card and replies, “It is excellent.”

“Very well, give me the cards.”

He hands them to me and I shuffle and disarrange them as much as possible. I then show them to him, holding them in my hand, and say:

“Now show me the card which has my picture upon it.”

He selects it at once. I only know it is correct by looking for the dot upon the back, which has all the while been kept carefully concealed from him.

I then say to him: “Now, I am going to awaken you, and when awake you will come to the desk, select from the cards which I now place there the one which has my picture, and show it to me.”

He awakes at my counting when I reach the word five, as I have suggested to him. He remembers nothing of what has passed since he was hypnotized, but thinks he has had a long and delightful sleep. I sit at my desk; he walks up to it, examines the six cards which are lying there, selects one, and showing it to me, remarks, “There is your picture.” It was the same marked card.

On another occasion, while he was asleep and in the alert stage, Mrs. M. was present. I introduced her, and he spoke to her with perfect propriety. Afterward I said: “Now, I will awake you, but you will only see me. Mrs. M. you will not see at all.”

I then awoke him, as usual. He commenced talking to me in a perfectly natural and unrestrained manner. Mrs. M. stood by my side between him and myself, but he paid not the slightest attention to her; she then withdrew, and I remarked indifferently:

“Wasn’t it a little peculiar of you not to speak to Mrs. M. before she went out?”

“Speak to Mrs. M!” he exclaimed, with evident surprise. “I did not know she had been in the room.”

One day when Drs. Liébeault and Bernheim were together at their clinic at the hospital, Dr. Liébeault suggested to a hypnotized patient that when she awoke she would no longer see Dr. Bernheim, but that she would recognize his hat, would put it on her head, and offer to take it to him.

When she awoke, Dr. Bernheim was standing in front of her. She was asked: “Where is Dr. Bernheim?” She replied: “He is gone, but here is his hat.”

Dr. Bernheim then said to her, “Here I am, madam; I am not gone, you recognize me, perfectly.”

She was silent, taking not the slightest notice of him. Some one else addressed her; she replied with perfect propriety. Finally, when about to go out she took up Dr. Bernheim’s hat, put it on her head, saying she would take it to him; but to her Dr. Bernheim was not present.

To the number of curious phenomena, both physical and mental, connected with hypnotism, it is difficult to find a limit; a few others seem too important in their bearing upon the subject to be omitted, even in this hasty survey.

Some curious experiments in the production of local anæsthesia were observed by the committee on mesmerism from the Society for Psychical Research.

The subject was in his normal condition and blindfolded; his arms were then passed through holes in a thick paper screen, extending in front of him and far above his head, and his ten fingers were spread out upon a table. Two of the fingers were then silently pointed out by a third person to Mr. S., the operator, who proceeded to make passes over the designated fingers.

Care was taken that such a distance was maintained between the fingers of the subject and operator that no contact was possible, and no currents of air or sensation of heat were produced by which the subject might possibly divine which of his fingers were the subject of experiment. In short, the strictest test conditions in every particular, were observed. After the passes had been continued for a minute, or even less time, the operator simply holding his own fingers pointed downward toward the designated fingers of the subject, the two fingers so treated were found to be perfectly stiff and insensible. A strong current of electricity, wounding with a pointed instrument, burning with a match—all failed to elicit the slightest sign of pain or discomfort, while the slightest injury to the unmagnetized fingers quickly elicited cries and protests. When told to double up his fist the two magnetized fingers remained rigid and immovable, and utterly refused to be folded up with the others.

A series of one hundred and sixty experiments of this character was made with five different subjects. Of these, only seven were failures. In another series of forty-one experiments this curious fact was observed. In all these experiments the operator, while making the passes in the same manner and under the same conditions as in the former series, silently willed that the effect should not follow; that is, that insensibility and rigidity should not occur. In thirty-six of these experiments insensibility did not occur; in five cases the insensibility and rigidity occurred—in two cases perfectly, in three imperfectly.

That some quality is imparted even to inanimate objects by some mesmerizers, by passes or handling, through which a sensitive or subject is able to recognize and select that object from among many others, seems to be a well-established fact. The following experiments are in point:—

A gentleman well known to the committee of investigation, and who was equally interested with it in securing reliable results, was selected as a subject. He was accustomed to be hypnotized by the operator, but in the present case he remained perfectly in his normal condition.

One member of the committee took the subject into a separate room on another floor and engaged him closely in conversation. The operator remained with other members of the committee. Ten small miscellaneous articles, such as a piece of sealing wax, a penknife, paperweight, card-case, pocketbook, and similar articles were scattered upon a table. One was designated by the committee, over which the mesmerist made passes, sometimes with light contact.

This was continued for one or two minutes, and when the process was completed the mesmerist was conducted out and to a third room. The articles were then rearranged in a manner quite different from that in which they had been left by the operator, and the subject from the floor above was brought into the room. The several objects were then examined by the sensitive, who upon taking the mesmerized object in his hand, immediately recognized it as the one treated by his mesmerizer.

The experiment was then varied by using ten small volumes exactly alike. One volume was selected by the committee, over which the operator simply made passes with out any contact whatsoever. Three or four other volumes of the set were also handled and passes made over them by a member of the committee.

The operator then being excluded, the sensitive was brought in and immediately selected the magnetized volume. This he did four times in succession. In reply to the question as to how he was able to distinguish the magnetized object from others, he said that when he took the right object in his hand he experienced a mild tingling sensation.

My own experiments with magnetized water have presented similar results. The water was treated by simply holding the fingers of both hands brought together in a clump, for about a minute just over the cup of water, but without any contact whatsoever. This water was then given to the subject without her knowing that she was taking part in an experiment; but alternating it or giving it irregularly with water which had not been so treated, and given by a third person, in every case the magnetized water was at once detected with great certainty. In describing the sensation produced by the magnetized water one patient said the sensation was an agreeable warmth and stimulation upon the tongue, another that it was a “sparkle” like aerated water; it sparkled in her mouth and all the way down into her stomach. Such are a few among the multitude of facts and phenomena relating to hypnotism. They suffice to settle and make sure some matters which until lately have been looked upon as questionable, and, on the other hand, they bring into prominence others of the greatest interest which demand further study.

Among the subjects which may be considered established may be placed,

(1) The reality of the hypnotic condition.

(2) The increased and unusual power of suggestion over the hypnotized subject.

(3) The usefulness of hypnotism as a therapeutic agent.

(4) The perfect reality and natural, as contrasted with supernatural, character of many wonderful phenomena, both physical and psychical, exhibited in the hypnotic state.

On the other hand, much remains for future study;

(1) The exact nature of the influence which produces the hypnotic condition is not known.

(2) Neither is the nature of the rapport or peculiar relationship which exists between the hypnotizer and the hypnotized subject—a relationship which is sometimes so close that the subject hears no voice but that of his hypnotizer, perceives and experiences the same sensations of taste, touch, and feeling generally as are experienced by him, and can be awakened only by him.

(3) Nor is it known by what peculiar process suggestion is rendered so potent, turning, for the time being, at least, water into wine, vulgar weeds into choicest flowers, a lady’s drawing-room into a fishpond, and clear skies and quiet waters into lightning-rent storm-clouds and tempest-tossed waves; turning laughter into sadness, and tears into mirth.

In dealing with the subject of hypnotism in this hasty and general way, only such facts and phenomena have been presented as are well known and accepted by well-informed students of the subjects. Others still more wonderful will later claim our attention.