518 C. Professor Forel, in "Un cas d'Auto-hypnotisation" (Revue de l'Hypnotisme, March 1889), records that he has himself been several times in a cataleptoid state, which - in his own view - is clearly due to self-suggestion. He was able to open his eyes and to slightly move one arm or his head; but more extended movements remained for some time impossible in spite of all his efforts. He had the greatest difficulty in rousing himself from this state. There was no anaesthesia in it. Sometimes strange hallucinations occurred, and it was difficult to distinguish between reality and illusion, especially with regard to the sound of footsteps.

518 D. From a paper on " The Connection of Hypnotism with the Subjective Phenomena of Spiritualism," by Dr. Hugh Wingfield,'in the Proceedings S.P.R., vol. v. pp. 279 et seq.

The facts of self-suggestion adduced in this paper were not, I would expressly state, the subject of a series of experiments. The cases occurred quite unexpectedly during a series of experiments on other points; but owing to the possible danger of such phenomena if carried too far, I did not feel justified in attempting to work out the subject. Hence the chain of experiments is necessarily very incomplete. The experiments adduced were all made on subjects in the waking state. Muscular rigidity, though the most general form of phenomenon produced by self-suggestion, was not by any means the only one met with. Inhibition of voluntary movements, local anaesthesia, even delusions were produced by it in some cases. No subject however, in whom I could produce delusions was allowed to experiment on himself, as it was considered unsafe, so that the most interesting field of experiment in this direction had to be left untouched. All the subjects referred to were men between the ages of eighteen and twenty-four, and all healthy.

In no case, except when specially mentioned, had the hypnotic sleep ever been induced, but merely waking phenomena, e.g. susceptibility to inhibitory and imperative suggestions, muscular rigidity, and, in some cases, local anaesthesia.

We will first take the case of muscular rigidity and anaesthesia.

N., by means of stroking his arm and looking at it, could render it rigid. He could not do so, however, if unable to see his arm.

Fi. could make his arm rigid by stroking only; this he could do whether he could see his arm or not.

F. could also make his arm rigid by merely looking at it.

E. could make his arm rigid by an effort of mind without seeing it or stroking it.

In all cases they were able at once to remove the rigidity by reverse strokes. These instances serve to show how the degree in which subjects possess this power varies.

F. when he rendered his arm rigid also made it anaesthetic; the anaesthesia was removed at the same time as the rigidity.

In N. (who had afterwards been sent to sleep), I succeeded eventually in producing anaesthesia. He could then do it himself.

The case of E. was very striking: his power of producing muscular rigidity was astonishing. He was able by an effort of mind to throw his whole body into a state of cataleptic rigidity, so that he could rest with his heels on one chair and head on another, and remain supported in that condition. When he made his hand rigid and attempted to relax it again by an effort of will, he was unable to do so as long as he attempted to bend his hand. If, however, he did not attempt to bend it, he was able gradually to relax the muscles. Those who could produce rigidity of the arm and who tried to produce rigidity of the leg were, at any rate in most instances, successful. Unfortunately, the notes which were made at the time of the experiments on this point were mislaid, so I cannot give the percentage of successes.

Other phenomena of the waking state were also produced by self-suggestion. T. and L. could both close their own eyes so that they were unable to open them. T. used to shut his eyes and stroke the lids downwards. He was then unable to open them. Several other subjects showed the same phenomenon. T. could fix his hand to the table by a few passes; this also was done by several others.

Other subjects could fix their hands together. The following experiment was tried: Five subjects were taken, two of whom had been previously hypnotised; none had been sent to sleep. They were asked to put their hands together, and imagine that they could not part them. They closed their eyes, put their hands together, and tried. One could not part his hands, the others could. They were then told to shut their eyes and imagine the operator gazing at them, and saying, "You cannot part your hands." Not one was able to do so. They were able after this to produce the same phenomena in themselves, quite apart from the operator, in their own rooms. They found at first that they were obliged to imagine the operator giving the suggestion, but afterwards were able to do it without imagining him at all.

T., who was one of the five, presents one interesting feature. He gave up experimenting with himself very soon after this. I did not see him again for nearly three months, and then asked him to close his eyes as he used to. He tried, but could not. I then closed his eyes myself so that he could not open them. He then found that he could close them himself.

The case of G, who could fix his hands together, close his own eyes, etc, was also interesting, as showing that suggestions given to the subject by himself may act more powerfully than those given him by the operator. I could only fix his hands together with some difficulty, and then not for long. He could do so himself for a considerable time, and the muscular power exerted to keep them together, if an attempt was made by some one else to part them, was far greater if he fixed them together himself than if I did so for him, and certainly far greater than he could exert by his own will.

The case of P. will serve to show that it is not only the hypnotic subject who is susceptible to self-suggestion. P. had never been hypnotised, or even tried by any one. He was able to fix his hand on his knee by simply stroking it, and it took him about half a minute or so to get it off again if he simply tried to do so. if, however, he made upward strokes he was able at once to remove it. I afterwards tried to hypnotise him and failed. Doubtless had I gone on long enough I might have succeeded, but he was obviously not a good subject.

As regards delusions I can only give one instance. Doubtless many subjects could produce them in themselves if they tried, but I have never allowed them to do so. In the case of C, however, we have proof that they can be produced by self-suggestion. He could by a simple effort of mind make himself believe almost any delusion, e.g. that he was riding on horseback, that he was a dog, or anything else, or that he saw snakes, etc. If left to himself the delusion vanished slowly. Any one else could remove it at once by a counter-suggestion. He made these experiments without my consent, as I consider them unsafe.

[Further experiments recorded in the same paper demonstrate the influence of self-suggestion in automatic writing and trance-utterance].