Page:Mind (Old Series) Volume 12.djvu/430

FUETHEB PEOBLEMS OF HYPNOTISM. (II.) 417 crucial cases known to me have been of the local sort specific effects produced, without entrancement, in special parts of the body, which the ' subject ' did not know was going to be operated on. I will give a brief outline of these experi- ments, which have been carried out with three ' subjects,' the hypnotiser in every case being a gentleman who has for some years been acting as my secretary and has my complete confidence Mr. G. A. Smith. 1 The ' subject ' was made to put his arm through a thick screen, extending high above his head, and to spread his ten fingers on a table in front of him. The fingers were thus completely concealed from his view, and exceedingly quiet passes were made (or the operator's fingers were simply held) an inch or two over one and another of them, according to my selection with the result that in a very large majority of cases the finger so treated, and that finger alone, became rigid, and insensible to extremely severe treatment in the way of stabs, burns, and electric shocks. From my know- ledge of the ' subjects,' and of the circumstances, I regard simulation as practically out of the question. But this is not really important, for the hypothesis of simulation has no application to the frequent cases where the rigidity was tested before the anaesthesia. The ' subject ' was told to double his fist ; and no desire to deceive could have taught him which particular one of his ten digits was to remain recalcitrant. There seem to be only two possible ways in which the ' subject's ' finger could have felt the proximity of Mr. Smith's hand (1) by currents of air due to the passes ; and (2) by a sense of warmth Mr. Smith's hand being warmer than the surrounding air. Such perception would have involved very decided hypersesthesia in persons with tolerably pachydermatous hands, who (it must be remembered) were in a normal not a hypnotic state. I made trials once with three co-experimenters and none of us could in the slightest degree detect similar passes made over our own fingers ; and the ' subjects ' professed a similar ignorance. Still, the possibility of hyperaesthesia needed to be faced. In many of the earlier trials, to prevent the detection of Mr. have been confirmed by other observers. Berger's account of the stiffening of a sleeping person's arm by passes closely resembles a case which I have observed (Proceedings of the S.P.R., vol. i., pp. 259-60 ; but in Berger's case the effect was produced through the clothes). 1 For a fuller account of the earlier trials, see Proceedings of the S.P.R., vol. i., pp. 257-60 ; vol. ii., pp. 201-5 ; vol. iii., pp. 543-9. The later cases are described here for the first time. 27