It has been alleged that suggestion and somnambulism may have considerable value in unmasking certain crimes to which the tribunals of justice have not hitherto been able to attribute their true character. This thesis has been. especially maintained by M. Liegeois 1 and by M. A. Voisin, 2 but with all his goodwill and with all his research M. Liegeois has not been able to bring forward one single example in which suggestion has been shown to play any part in the production of a crime brought before a court of law. I refer those who are interested to the excellent analysis of the work of M. Liegeois by Gilbert Ballet. 1

1 De la Suggestion et du Somnambulisme dans lews Rapports aveo la Jurisprudence et la Medecine Legale. Paris, 1889. Comptes Rendus du Congres de l'Hypnotisme, 1889.

2 Revue de l'Hypnotisme de Juin, 1891.

There is only one case on record in which a distinct declaration has been made by a medical man of evidence that crime has been committed by a hypnotised person under the influence of suggestion. It is the case which M. Voisin records in the ' Revue de l'Hypnotisme' here •cited, in which, as he reports, a woman accomplished numerous thefts at a large shop when in a state of automatism and under suggestion which had been imposed upon her when hypnotised. M. Voisin states that he demonstrated the complete irresponsibility of this woman, who was set at liberty, while the three actual authors of the crime were punished. Dr. Voisin referred also to this case, in my presence, at the Bournemouth meeting of the British Medical Association. If it be fully verified, it may claim to rank as a case in which the theory of post-hypnotic suggestion has been of use for justice. It would be the only case thus far noted. But where are the legal documents of this case, the magistrates' report, and the depositions?

1 Let Suggestions Hypnotiques au Point de Vue Medieolegale. Par Gilbert Ballet, Professor Agrege a la Faculte de Medecine, Medecin de l'Hopital St.-Antoine. Paris: G. Masson.

Until we have these before us we can decide nothing as to its authority. They have been pressingly asked for, but I am not aware that they have been produced. That hypnotism may and does lead to crime in respect to the abuse by hypnotic operators of the person of the hypnotised subject is beyond question, and possibly the cases may be more numerous than published records can prove; but to the question which we are now putting, of the influence of suggestion in producing crime as the automatic act of the subject, or as the result of deferred suggestion, there is no affirmative answer forthcoming upon evidence adduced. Still less is there any proof that the doctrine of hypnotic suggestion has in any case been of value for the purposes of justice.

Finally, I pass to the domain of surgery and obstetrics. Here we are on more positive ground, and I shall quote the words of Dr. Luys 1 - always disposed to give the largest interpretation to the evidence of the usefulness of hypnotism - as to its relative inutility in these positive departments of medical and surgical art.