Hypnotism: Its History, Practice and Theory

 

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subject and experimenter.
For the reasons above mentioned, I think we should call many of these states true hypnoses, not suggestions without hypnosis. The school of Nancy, and particularly Liegeoisand Beaunis, have only partially acknowledged this. They thought many of these states were intermediate forms between hypnosis and waking, which they identified with the veille somnambulique described above (p. 167).
It must not, of course, be concluded from what has been said that all these suggestions only succeed in hypnosis. I am far from saying that. My explanation aims only at pointing out that there may really be hypnosis in the so-called suggestions a veille, though none of the usual methods (e.g., those of the Nancy school) have been employed to bring it on. More-over, we should always endeavour to prevent suggestions in waking life, and especially to make delusions of the senses impossible.
It is often difficult to decide whether there is hypnosis or not, because the question is sometimes more one of subjective perception than of objective proof. I may refer here to a case of Carpenter's mentioned by Finlay. A gentleman placed his hands on the table, and for half a minute directed his attention to them. When the suggestion was made to him, in decided tones, that he could not remove his hands, he was in fact unable to do so. I have frequently observed the same thing, especially after hypnotic exhibitions. I have, for instance, seen inability to move a limb, to withdraw the outstretched tongue, or to close the mouth. New suggestions, however, only succeed after the attention has been drawn to them for some time.
There are even delusions of the senses without hypnosis, sleep, or mental disorder, when circumstances influence the mind in a particular way. The common hallucination of smell
COGNATE STATES. 199

is an example. People often imagine that they still smell things which have been removed. Delusions of sight are just as common. Many people have taken trees for men when walking through a wood in the twilight. Goethe's self-induced hallucinations of sight are well known. Delbceuf also describes a waking hallucination of sight; he thought he saw his dead mother, but corrected his impression by reason. If there are even delusions of the senses without hypnosis, it is evidently difficult to argue the presence of hypnosis from a single symptom.

The following are the chief points to be considered in settling the question whether a suggestion is made in hypnosis or not:—r. Of what kind are the suggestions? Are they of such a kind that they rarely occur normally? 2. After one suggestion has succeeded, can other suggestions be made as quickly as in

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