Krafft-Ebing draws conclusions as to the increase of intestinal secretions from one experiment. He suggested to his subject a profuse watery evacuation of the bowels, which followed. As the bladder had been emptied shortly before, and only a small quantity of water had been found in the urine, Krafft-Ebing thinks himself obliged to consider the fluid as an increase of the intestinal secretions.

Some investigations have been made as to how metabolism is affected during hypnosis, but we should certainly hesitate to draw any hasty conclusions from them. Brock finds that in a short hypnosis of twenty minutes' duration, with partial catalepsy of the extremities, the sum of the solid constituents, and also the phosphoric acid in the urine, decreases, as Striibing has described in catalepsy. But as Brock forgot to examine his patients under analogous circumstances - i.e., sitting quietly without hypnosis (Preyer), his experiments prove nothing. In any case, no conclusion as to the action of the brain must be drawn from them, though Brock concludes that the activity of the brain is lessened, because the quantity of phosphoric acid is decreased. Gurtler also found that the quantity of phosphoric acid varies, but as he did not make any comparative experiments with the same subject in analogous circumstances without hypnosis, he refrains from drawing final conclusions; because, to justify these the evacuations of the bowels and the respiration must be investigated also.

A. Voisin and Haraut conclude from their investigation of the urine of hypnotic subjects that assimilation is carried on better during hypnosis than in the waking condition, and that hypnosis is not a pathological condition. Gilles de la Tourette, who made similar experiments with the assistance of Chatelineau, holds the opposite opinion. According to him, the secretion of urine keeps on diminishing as the hypnotic sleep is prolonged. Both these investigators concluded from their experiments that hypnosis and hysteria are closely related, even as far as metabolism is concerned.

I now come to some phenomena which almost invariably awaken mistrust. I mean the anatomical changes effected by suggestion during hypnosis. No matter how sceptical we may be on this point, it would be perverse to deny the possibility of such phenomena. We certainly do know that organic changes can be brought about by mental processes. I need only recall the physiognomy of certain professions - for example, the type of the clergy shows how a spiritual and mental avocation gradually exercises an influence on the physiognomy. In the hypnotic experiments which I shall now proceed to describe the process is only somewhat more acute.

Among the experiments in this direction I will first of all mention the cases in which menstruation is affected, more especially those in which menorrhagia is induced or arrested by suggestion. It is not to be doubted that this is practicable in the case of certain persons. Forel has made a whole series of experiments on this point, and has also partly confirmed the accuracy and the effect of suggestion by personal investigation. Many other experimenters have also been able to confirm the effect of suggestion on menstruation (Liebault, Brunnberg, Sperling, A. Voisin, Gascard, Briand). The influence of suggestion in menorrhagia seems less wonderful when we reflect how very much psychical influences otherwise change it. It is well known that the periods often become irregular in women who are about to undergo a surgical operation.

I have mentioned the influence of suggestion on menstruation in this place in spite of the fact that these experiments do not, properly speaking, demonstrate an organic change.. We may be concerned here with a vaso-motor disturbance, which secondarily induces the organic changes. This appears to me probable.

I may further mention the experiments of Bourru, Burot, and Berjon, who induced bleeding by suggestion in the same subject as Mabille, Ramadier, and Jules Voisin. Puysegur had witnessed the same thing. Bleeding of the nose appeared at command in the above-mentioned subject, and later on bleeding from the skin at a time decided on beforehand.

When the skin had been rubbed with a blunt instrument in order to direct the suggestion, bleeding of the skin is said to have appeared at command, the traces of which were visible three months later. It is interesting that in the case of this person who was hemiplegic and anaesthetic on the right side, the suggestion would not take effect on that side. Mabille's observations of this subject are particularly interesting, because they show that a person in hypnosis can cause these bleedings by auto-suggestion.

Unfortunately, the accounts we possess of this case do not tell us whether contact induced bleeding under other circumstances (F. Myers). But any possible error is excluded by the fact that the bleeding did not follow closely on the contact, which would have been the case if the effect were mechanical. Berjon reminds us also that precautionary measures were taken to prevent the subject from touching his own arm and thereby accidentally causing a wound. Artigalas and Remond later on published the case of a woman of twenty-two in whom tears of blood appeared. By suggestion it was also possible to induce bloody sweat on her hand. Laguerre and Bardier have dealt with this woman's illness, but in the abbreviated report which alone I have seen, it is not stated whether the sweat was subjected to a microscopical and chemical analysis. Everybody will here call to mind the stigmatics of the Roman Catholic Church. Bleeding of the skin is said to occur in them, generally in spots which correspond to the wounds of Christ. I shall return to this question in a later chapter.

At the present moment I may just mention that Heboid once successfully treated a case of hysteria by suggestion, and that by the same means he caused red patches to disappear and a wart to fall off.