Page:Mind (Old Series) Volume 12.djvu/425

412 E. GUENEY : rence of such unique effects in healthy persons. May not something be said for seeking the cause of the unusual effect, or some part of it, in that part of the prior conditions which was itself unusual that is to say, the continued physical con- tact of the ' subject ' with a person who was in a state of concentrated expectancy ? The cases are in one way more suggestive of specific influence than some of those of hypno- geny proper, just because the character of the attoucliements in their mechanical aspect was so entirely simple and wispeciaL When a person is seen pressing his ' subject's ' head or body at carefully-defined spots, 1 or making passes over him in a methodical or elaborate fashion which professors of the art get money for teaching to others, one naturally concludes, if remarkable results follow, that the special place or mode of the manipulation has something to do with it; but the casual mode and variable place of the touch in these amateur diversions would lead us to suppose that the contact, if specialised at all, is specialised by the will-force which accompanies it, and in something other than its mechanical aspect. But it is naturally in connexion with professedly hypnotic cases that the more conclusive proof of the inadequacy of the mechanical explanation must be sought and may, I believe, be found, though to find it may require a somewhat wider outlook over the hypnotic field than has been always easy or possible for persons who have been chiefly occupied with their own experiments. This at any rate applies to a general argument which I have used before (MiND ix. 505-6), but which is worth repeating, if only that it may, if possible, be refuted. There clearly could not be a better a fortiori proof of a specific influence pertaining to the human organism than if it were shown to be specific in the further sense of pertaining to some organisms and not others. Now the mechanical hypnotic processes, by which it is customary to supplement the effect of immobility and a fixed gaze, should apparently be equally effective whoever applies them ; whereas, as a matter of fact, different persons exhibit in this 1 There are, however, professedly hypnotic cases which may very likely be entirely parallel in character to those just cited. Such a case was sup- plied to me by Mr. James Gudgeon, of Stowmarket, and completely con- firmed in writing by two gentlemen who witnessed it. Mr. M., a tall and robust man, who had been ridiculing mesmerism and had defied Mr. Gudgeon to mesmerise him, in less than ten seconds after Mr. Gudgeon placed his hands on his head, " fell on the floor in a state of perfect and complete coma". This was followed by an attack of violent convulsions when water was thrown over him, and medical aid had to be sought.