Stout Lady (interposing). No, excuse me! I agree with Aleksyéy Vladímirovich. Here you have the best proof of all. When, after my illness, I lay senseless, I was overcome by a desire to talk. I am in general reserved, but suddenly the desire to talk developed in me, and they tell me I talked so that they all wondered. (To Sakhátov.) However, I think I interrupted you.
Sakhátov (with dignity). Not in the least. Proceed!
Doctor. The pulse is eighty-two, the temperature has risen by three-tenths.
Professor. So here you have the proof. That is what it ought to be. (Takes out a note-book and makes a memorandum.) Eighty-two, am I right? And thirty-seven and five? As soon as hypnosis is caused, there is at once an intensified action of the heart.
Doctor. I can testify, as a doctor, that your prediction has fully been realized.
Professor (to Sakhátov). And you said?—
Sakhátov. I wanted to say that Libot himself told me that hypnosis is only a special psychic condition which increases suggestion.
Professor. However, Libot is not an authority, while Charcot has made an all-around investigation of the subject and has proved that hypnosis produced by a blow, trauma—
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Sakhátov. I do not deny Charcot's labours. I know him, too. All I say is that Libot told me so. Grossman (hotly). In the Salpetrière there are three thousand patients, and I have taken a full course. Professor. Excuse me, gentlemen, that is not the point. |
All together. |
Stout Lady (interposing). I will explain it to you in two words. When my husband was ill, all the doctors refused—
