The young men were of the junior City clerk class, and we found the most intelligent were the best subjects.

I am quite certain that the patient has in no way felt subsequently influenced by the operation, except in the direction suggested by me and wished for by himself. The Nancy treatment is essentially impersonal, and it is the patient who hypnotizes himself under the suggestion and guidance of the physician, and the curative effect gained is the result of concentration and direction of the patient's own faculties and functions. The somnambulist might, I believe, be made, by frequent induction of hypnosis, to do foolish and even criminal acts, but no suggestion made to an ordinary subject will be executed unless it be in accordance with his wish. For instance, it would be useless to suggest to a stanch teetotaler, in any stage of hypnosis short of somnambulism, that he should drink brandy. The suggestion would defeat its end by arousing indignation and disgust. Such a suggestion, opposed to his moral sense, made to a somnambulist, might be obeyed even the first time, but it would probably require frequent repetition to break down resistance and overcome his individuality.

The view is sometimes expressed by the public, and even by doctors, that as hypnotism is often so easily applied, and as the suggestions required are for the most part merely the contradiction of the morbid symptoms, therefore medical knowledge and training are not so much required in this branch of practice as in others. But this conception is entirely wrong, and no form of treatment calls for more careful medical education. The same may be said of nearly every kind of medical practice. For instance, it is easy for anyone to give relief to pain by a dose of opium, and to remove constipation by a purgative; but the wise patient prefers, when he is sick, to have his opiate or purge administered by a qualified doctor. And if this is the case with crude and material drugs, how much more should it be so when subtler remedies are required? I should certainly prefer taking a pill from a stranger to accepting his hypnotic suggestion !

If the method described for producing hypnosis fails, or loses its effect, I use a modification. Instead of the fingers the patient may be told to look at a bright metal-disc or coin, or the skin of the forehead may be gently rubbed while the gaze is fixed on a distant object. Sometimes verbal suggestion tends to keep a patient awake instead of inducing sleep, and in many instances methods will have to be devised to meet different idiosyncrasies.

The method of fascination is, I consider, inapplicable and objectionable in ordinary medical practice, as it introduces too much personal element into the operation, and induces a state of complete automatism, in which the subject's ego, or personality, is entirely suppressed (Binet and Fere). It is practised by looking fixedly and pertinaciously into the subject's eyes at the distance of a few inches, and at the same time holding the hands. In a few minutes all expression goes out of the face, and the subject sees nothing but the operator's eyes, which shine with intense brilliancy, and to which he is attracted as a needle to a magnet.

Auguste Voisin adopted this plan with insane patients, and sometimes succeeded when he had failed by all other methods. In such cases, of course, any means are permissible, as by hypnotism and suggestion he has succeeded in cutting short attacks of mania, and curing various intractable mental conditions.

There are objections to this method also from the operator's point of view. If the subject or patient is refractory and the operator tired, it may happen that the natural sequence of events is reversed, and the operator becomes hypnotized instead of the patient. Braid mentions several cases where this took place, and it has sometimes happened to Liebeault. On one of the few-occasions on which I employed this method I nearly succumbed to the continued strain, and became conscious of a curious inhibitory influence stealing over the muscles around my mouth. * Fortunately, the patient just then closed her eyes and passed into a profound sleep. The method by fascination is also extremely fatiguing, and where prolonged staring at an object is necessary, it is best to employ Luys's rotating mirror.

* The mouth is generally acknowledged to be the most expressive feature, and its movements are less under the control of the highest centres than those of other parts. The man who can face an enemy without flinching is often unable to control the twitching of his mouth under circumstances of emotion. It seems to be especially subject to inhibitory influence, and a drawing in the muscles about the mouth often precedes any other symptom in the coming on of hypnosis. A middle-aged physician consulted me for sleeplessness in 1889, and asked me to hypnotize him. I found him susceptible to about the second degree, and having made some suggestions, I left him alone for a quarter of an hour. On my return his eyes were open, and I spoke to him; but he made no reply, and pointed to his mouth. In a few moments I understood what he meant, and proceeded to apply friction to it and told him to open it. He then said that he had not lost consciousness, and had opened his eyes at the expiration of the ten minutes I had told him to keep them closed; but he found he could not open his mouth, and there he had to lie speechless until I appeared and unlocked it.

I had made no such suggestion, and can only explain the occurrence by supposing that I had unwittingly passed my fingers over his mouth in such a way as to suggest to him the idea that it was closed, which idea was carried into execution.