At about the same time I became no longer able to detect the smell of a medicament which permeated the room. Finally the noise in the street appeared less loud." Dollken also investigated the phenomena of deep hypnosis; but he was unable to discover any law connecting the depth of the hypnosis with any particular phenomenon produced. The only thing he could establish was that the deeper the hypnosis in one and the same case, the greater also the diminution in the perceptive faculty. This condition, however, often improved if the experiments were continued for some time. Dollken believes that he excluded all disturbing influences of the nature of suggestion. With regard to the eye, all degrees of amblyopia were met with, even to deep amaurosis. In one case he found the vision 6/24 on one occasion, but 6/18 on another, whereas it was normally 6/6 In another case he found that in several experiments vision was first of 6/12 and then 6/6. With regard to the sense of hearing, as the hypnosis proceeds the noises in the street appear more distant and at last inaudible, then the sounds in the room die away - for example, the ticking of the clock. Finally, the experimenter's voice becomes less audible to the subject, even if he raises his voice.

More detailed investigation showed that whispering which could be heard at a distance of 6 metres in the non-hypnotic state, was inaudible at 3 metres or less. The ticking of a watch, which can normally be heard at 1.8 metres, was inaudible when placed close to the subject's ear. Dollken also tested the sense of smell, using for that purpose soap, ether, roses, cloves, and violets. The most frequent phenomenon here noticed was failure to distinguish accurately between the perfumes of the flowers. In some cases no notice whatever was taken of the proximity of the object. Dollken did not examine the sense of taste, but his investigations of that of touch were very thorough. In the first place, he found a diminution just to the extent that greater pressure is required to produce the sensation of touch in hypnosis than in the waking state. This implies a diminution in the sense of pressure. The power of localization is also less than in the waking state. If a patient was asked to state at once the spot on which he was touched, the error was from i to 5 cm. more than under normal conditions; for example, 5 cm. on the forearm and 3 cm. on the back of the hand of one subject While the error in the case of the cheek was less than 1 cm. under normal conditions, it increased to 2-3 cm. when the subject was hypnotized.

Certainly Dollken thinks that the source of error is increased in hypnotics, because hypnosis renders their movements somewhat slower. The "compass test" also showed variation. The two points of a compass were recognized as two tactual impressions on the back of the hand at 45 mm. (normal, 30-35 mm.); on the forearm, 60 mm. (normal,' 36-39 mm.); on the chin, 15 mm. (normal, 8-11 mm.); on the cheek, 15 mm. (normal, 10-13 mm.). After a series of experiments the above values underwent a change and rapidly approached the normal. Dollken was unable to discover any essential difference between the impressions of "pointed" and "blunt," but he certainly occasionally found a decrease in the perception of temperature.

Differences of opinion also have been expressed as to whether the sensation of pain can diminish, or disappear, without suggestion. Berger found an increased sensitiveness to pain in some cases. Still, in the present day, we are certainly justified in assuming that the Breslau investigator could not possibly have known at the time he made his experiments how carefully the influence of suggestion must be excluded. Dollken never observed a complete analgesia without suggestion, but he assuredly did see some cases in which the prick of a needle either produced no pain, or the sensitiveness to pain was diminished.

Up to this point I have discussed the condition of the sense-perceptions when the influence of suggestion is excluded, and 1 have already mentioned that some investigators only admit changes in sense-impression in those cases in which suggestion plays a part. On the other hand, as I pointed out very many years ago, we possess many data which show that where variations in sense-perception occur during hypnosis, sufficient attention is not paid to the difference in the way the hypnotic behaves in respect to different objects and people. For example, it often happens that the hypnotic hears the voice, and feels the touch, of the person who has sent him to sleep, but not of any one else. Marot has observed - and this observation has been made by many other investigators - that if any one runs a needle into a hypnotic the latter first of all feels it, but ceases to do so as soon as it is suggested to him that the person who pricked him has gone away. This selective factor has great influence on the perceptions of a hypnotic. Certainly it may be objected that this selective factor is only a product of suggestion. We shall come across it again, and in its most conspicuous form, when dealing with rapport.

In fact, we should here bear in mind that suggestion, with its many forms, may act without our intending it to do so, or observing its effects. We must also take into consideration the great part played by auto-suggestion; and we must bear firmly in mind, that it is just in auto-suggestion that many factors exert their influence when the subject is on the borderland of consciousness, so that the hypnotic does not always clearly understand the connection between the idea produced by suggestion and the way in which suggestion itself works. But even if we admit this, we must bear in mind that we are not justified in attempting to explain all the processes con-cerned by merely using the word "suggestion"; we should then have to attribute to that word a wider meaning than we ever think of doing in the present day. It is quite possible that when any one is in a state of deep hypnosis, analgesia or some other diminution of sense-perception may occur spontaneously, without the influence of suggestion. This symptom would then have to be considered an essential factor in hypnosis, and not the result of a specially suggested idea.