I have myself often produced hypnotic phenomena with post-hypnotic suggestions by the use of chloral hydrate.

Stoll has given detailed accounts of the connection between drugs and suggestion as used by uncivilized peoples. It is not my intention here to deal with the part played by suggestion in the therapeutic action of drugs, but I must certainly refer to the hallucinations and conditions resembling hypnosis which are set up by certain vegetable substances. Stoll, in the course of his dispute with Dunschmann, has proved conclusively that such vegetable substances do not necessarily cause a state of intoxication, but frequently induce a condition resembling hypnosis by an action which can only be described as purely suggestive. Stoll's authority, the botanist Schinz, told him, amongst other things, that when he smoked Indian hemp in quantities not employed by the natives, he did not experience any toxic effects. On the other hand, a puff of a pipe filled with hemp invariably produced such effects on the Bushmen, driving them at times to distraction. Stoll gives an even more convincing proof of his contention: "Schinz tells me that when the supply of hemp runs short the Bushmen smoke the dung of elephants and antelopes, substances to which even Diinschmann will hardly ascribe a toxic action; and yet the smokers pass through the same phases of intoxication as when smoking hemp.

My friend Schinz is therefore equally convinced with me that suggestion plays the chief part in producing the symptoms mentioned above, and that tradition and a greedy anticipation of enjoying the hemp are the active factors in inducing the hypnosis." But the question still remains, are we justified in referring to hypnosis all those cases in which we find toxic symptoms accompanied by the phenomena usually met with in hypnosis? Somewhat analogous to the instances mentioned by Schinz and Stoll, are those cases in which patients who are about to be chloroformed fall asleep before they have hardly inspired one breath of the anaesthetic.

According to Landouzy, Proust, and Benedikt, the magnet also has a hypnotizing action; but my own numerous experiments in this direction have been altogether unsuccessful. Ranschburg, nevertheless, opines that the magnet is frequently of value for inducing hypnosis by suggestion; in fact, he regards it as a thoroughly reliable implement when used in this respect. From time to time new methods of hypnotizing have sprung up, in which some artifice is employed which seems to facilitate the induction of hypnosis in some cases. Many of these artificial means have been already described in the older literature of animal magnetism, a study of which teaches us that many of the so-called modern discoveries were well known more than a hundred years ago. To this class belongs, for instance, the method of hypnotizing described by Moutin, who seizes the finger of the subject seated opposite to him, then presses the knees close together, etc., a method often used by the mesmerists of former times.

The waking 1 from hypnosis (dehypnotization) can also occur in two ways - through immediate action on the imagination, or through sense-stimulation. It is nearly always possible to put an end to the hypnosis by mental means - that is, by the command to wake up at once, or to wake up at a particular signal. It is hardly ever necessary to use other means, such as forcibly opening the eyes, fanning, sprinkling with water, excitation by means of the faradic current, loud calls, etc. Just as the mesmerizing passes induce hypnosis, so the de-mesmerizing passes - as I used them in the second experiment described above-cause it to disappear. Even if the cool current of air, which is nearly always thereby generated, expedites the awakening, the belief of the subject that he must wake is the most important factor in the process. Other processes which have been given, and which were supposed to induce awakening by physical means, such as bringing charcoal near the patient, have only a mental effect, as they are understood as a command to awake. In rare cases these artificial means of awakening do not succeed quickly; a feeling of fatigue then continues, as we occasionally experience when waking out of a natural sleep.

After deep and long hypnosis a temporary state of drowsiness often supervenes, in which certain hypnotic phenomena continue. The latter condition, however, occurs exclusively, or almost exclusively, in the case of hysterical patients (cf. p. 37).

If the awakening is not brought about by artificial means, persons in a light hypnotic state such as is described in the first two experiments, habitually wake of their own accord after a few minutes, or even seconds; this especially happens when the continuance of the state has not been expressly ordered. Some people wake directly the experimenter leaves them, as they then no longer think themselves under his influence. Others wake of their own accord even out of deep hypnosis if they hear an unexpected and loud noise, or have exciting dreams. Thus, I once saw a grown-up person wake herself by screaming, because in the hypnotic state she had believed herself to be a little child, and in that character had begun to cry. The awakening which comes about without any apparent cause is remarkable (mouvement psychique)* The same thing is sometimes observed in natural sleep, especially at the beginning; O. Rosen bach traces it to increase of the reflexes. Generally, however, the deep hypnoses continue for some time when they are not artificially terminated.

Sometimes many hours pass before the subject wakes.

1 I shall adhere throughout to the terms waking, awakening, and the waking state. They have not yet been superseded by any better expressions. It should not, however, be forgotten that hypnosis is not invariably a state of sleep. Consequently, when I speak of a person waking from hypnosis, it must be understood that I imply that an end has been brought to a state in which a possibly conscious person was unable to perform certain actions.