Hypnotism: Its History, Practice and Theory

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sleepy condition in many persons (Purkinje, Spitta). An Englishman named Catlow magnetized by means of gentle stroking of the forehead (Baumler). I also know some persons who, in order to go to sleep more easily, cause other parts of the body to be gently stimulated—the head, or soles of the feet, for example. Eulenburg maintains that pressure on the cervical vertebrae induces hypnosis. Boyd asserts that he once saw hypnosis induced by the introduction of a catheter into the male urethra ; this was, of course, only a case of drowsiness in which sleep supervened later on. Herzog, commenting on Boyd's statement, has very properly pointed out that there could be no question of hypnosis in the case, which he explains as I have done. Petersen includes the ovaries in the hypnosigenetic zones.

Finally, I mention the action of the electric battery, whose influence, according to Weinhold, has the same effect as mesmeric passes ; but Weinhold, however, does not consider that mental influences are in this case excluded. Eulenburg obtained a lethargic condition by galvanizing the head ; but the person experimented on had already had attacks of lethargy, More recently Harrison Low states that he has seen hypnosis induced by the Rontgen rays. But we are justified in assuming that in all these cases in which hypnosis is supposed to have been caused by the means just mentioned, the hypnosis has only come on because the subject believed that the means employed induced hypnosis. Hirt often uses electricity in this way, but it is at the same time perfectly certain that it is not the electricity, but the subject's belief in its effect, that produces the hypnosis.

To conclude, I further mention stimulations of the muscular sense, such as the cradle-rocking used to send little children to sleep; I leave on one side the question as to whether hypnosis can be attained by this means. Similar states are said to be produced among uncivilized people by violent whirling or dancing movements : the movements are, however, accompanied by music and other mental excitations. The best known are the Aissaouas, in Algiers (Figuier, Bert, Delphin). "They carry on their business chiefly in the Algerian town of Constantine.

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