Mast amateurs, and some professional operators, frequently imagine that subjects are hypnotized when they are not. A patient under my care was possessed with the idea that hypnotism meant necessarily sleep. So she would close her eyes at command, and imagine that she was immediately going to sleep. But she did not do so. Others are seized with terror, and begin to tremble and shake violently as soon as any attempt is made to hypnotize them. Others again (especially profoundly hysterical persons') apparently for the sake of appearing remarkable in some way, will simulate the hypnotic state when in reality they are not hypnotized at all. The facial expression, the pulse-rate, and the actions, together with the temperament of the person, will enable the experienced operator to discriminate between them at once. These subjects are not insensible to pain, and while they may pretend that they do not feel the prick of a pin, or an electric brush, etc., their facial expression contradicts their words.

Minor degrees of hypnosis are sometimes very difficult to distinguish from simulation of the hypnotic state. However, it is impossible for any one simulating hypnotism to obey the different suggestions with that hearty co-operation with which the genuinely hypnotized person will. Hysterical persons simulating the hypnotic state will at times act very remarkably indeed; their facial contortions are painful; they will make hideous noises, and, for the sake of confounding the operator, will refuse to desist at his command.

At a public exhibition of hypnotism given recently, at which I was present, an operator called a number of subjects from the audience. A hysterical individual came up with the others, and before any attempt was made to hypnotize him at all he began the most dismal, hideous screeches ever heard, exceeding in wildness the yells of a maniac. He trembled, shook and wept profusely. The hypnotizer could do absolutely nothing with him, and he made so much noise and performed such peculiar antics, that he seriously disturbed the whole performance. Yet, to any one familiar with these conditions, it was apparent at once that he was seeking to draw attention to himself, and while he did succeed in producing upon himself the appearance of being in extreme distress, yet motives of vanity and egotism were apparent in all his actions. I subsequently found upon inquiry that he was addicted to these ludicrous performances, when he frequented gatherings where attempts were made to study hypnotism or other allied psychical phenomena.

History presents many of these cases. A good example is the story of the oracle of Delphi in which its votary had to lash herself to fury before making any prophecy.

One of the ancient Hebrew prophets gave evidence of this disturbed psychic state, by promenading the streets of Jerusalem, clothed only in madness, while he wildly exhorted the people, and predicted dire vengeance upon them.

There are, in all communities, certain neurotic individuals who have unbalanced nervous systems, and who seek distinction, especially in public gatherings, by manifestations similar to the case just described.

The people of the Orient seem much more susceptible to this form of hysteria (?), if indeed it may be called such, than do the nations of the West. Its manifestations are legion. One will laugh, another will cry and laugh, another will have what are termed "hystero-epileptic fits." Another will deliver a whole meaningless harangue, and perhaps attribute to himself supernatural abilities. My opportunities for studying this class of people have been very large indeed. They do not, as might have been expected, often become violently insane, neither are they good hypnotic subjects. They furnish, however, a greater majority of the victims of monomania. Their mental balance is so unstable that they are liable to he-come possessed with the wildest fancies. They make religious fanatics or would-be reformers, and imagine that they have some great and important mission to perform.

It is indeed a curious thing that society, which is so full of these people, should not have demanded of the scientific world some effort, either to prevent them from doing themselves or others harm, or find a cure, if possible, for this very sad weakness. These patients are not usually amenable to hypnotism. They constitute a class by themselves. They present at times marked evidences of nervous degeneration. They may have quick, restless eyes, retreating foreheads, with a large development of the occiput (the back of the head). On the other hand, they may have large stolid faces, dull heavy eyes, and may he slow of speech, with obtundity of all the mental faculties. I was once deceived by such a person. He was a house-carpenter by occupation, habitually phlegmatic, and exceedingly slow of perception, One day be attended a religious revival, suddenly imagined he "got religion" and evinced his great joy by squeezing to such an extent the bands of those around him that he inflicted serious injuries upon one man's hand, and injured several others in a lesser degree. He was a man of powerful physique, and, when some of the cooler brethren endeavored to restrain him, his religious enthusiasm overflowed all hounds, and he proceeded in his ardor to knock several of them down.

The condition ended in a severe fit of genuine epilepsy. This was the first fit which he ever had, and, as far as I know, the only one.

It has often been said that the border line between sanity and insanity is not sharply drawn, and persons studying this class of phenomena intelligently are soon made to realize the force of the saying, "The insane people are not in the mad-houses only." Men and women walk our streets with impulses of homicidal mania, with tendencies to suicide, and carry about with them all sorts of curious morbid ideas. In the study I have made of hypnotism, and the states simulating it, I have indeed been astonished to find how many strange impulses persons apparently sane carry about with them for years, scarcely daring to admit them to themselves, much less to confide them to their friends.

In the chapter treating of the dangers attending the practice of hypnotism, I shall discuss this subject to a greater extent.

Some persona, when the attempt is made to hypnotize them, gaze fixedly at a bright object held near their eyes, and while the eyes become set and there is more or less rigidity, will refuse to obey any suggestion. When the coin is withdrawn they will stare fixedly into vacancy for some minutes, and then have an attack of hysteria, and afterwards return to their normal state.

It is impossible for a person to simulate a deep hypnotic trance. I have seen it attempted many times. In one instance, an actress of no mean ability made an attempt, at my request, to do this, after seeing a number of persons deeply hypnotized. In her room she studied the condition, and tried it some half-dozen times in my presence, but while her face was a complete blank, while she succeeded in relaxing every muscle, her features would show by every movement that she perceived sudden noises, pin-pricks, etc.

States of narcotism from drugs, such as opium and chloral, sometimes resemble the hypnotic state. I once read of a man who took a dangerously large dose of morphine and attended immediately an exhibition of a public hypnotizer. He sat with others upon the stage, went into a profound sleep, and remained so for about six hours, to the consternation of the operator. A medical expert could probably have recognized the opium-poisoning by a careful examination of the eyes, or by the use of faradic electricity.

As has been previously mentioned, persons, from motives of vanity, or for other reasons, have at times pretended that they were hypnotized when they were not. Upon the subject of simulating the hypnotic state Dr. Moll says, in studying the hypnotic state, "It has been too much the habit to look for one physical symptom or another, and settle the question of fraud from its presence or absence. And yet this is exactly the opposite of what is generally done in judging of mental states; e.g., when we want to diagnose a case and decide whether it is insanity or not, no authority on mental disorders would suppose fraud simply because some bodily symptom wasahsent. He will consider and weigh the case as a whole. Even when each symptom taken separately might be fraudulent, they would be weighed against one another and a diagnosis formed from them. If the doctor finds, also, some symptom which cannot be simulated, he will weigh this, too, hut he will not conclude fraud from its absence."

Drs. Moll, Kron, and Sperling argue very wisely that only persons with a large experience in hypnotism can deterinine in a given case whether a person is simulating hypnosis or is really hypnotized. Drs. Moll,Krafft-Ebing, and others cite many phenomena which are common to the hypnotic state, and yet emphasize the fact that there are very great differences in the phe-uomena attending this wonderful condition. The school at Nancy claims that blisters can be produced upon the skin during a profound trance from hypnosis, also flushings of the skin, and other so-called vasomotor phenomena take place during the hypnotic state. But these phenomena may accompany other states as well as the one we are considering. Dr. Moll states again that there are persons who can cause a part of the body to flush or to turn pale by concentrating their minds upon it. He says then, "the most of the symptoms may, each separately or a number of them collectively, be simulated by the pretender." Bodily symptoms attending the hypnotic state were particularly emphasized by the great Charcot. The school of Nancy describes physical symptoms attending the hypnotic state, but many of them differed from those described by Charcot.

To exclude fraud was the effort of the two great French schools of hypnotism. Now there are phenomena which are produced by suggestion and which are independent of the subject's will. And in these, although they may be produced without the hypnotic state being induced, wilful deception is impossible; therefore they must be largely relied upon in making a definite decision.