BERNHEIM's

NEW STUDIES IN HYPNOTISM

Translated by
RICHARD S. SANDOR, M.D.

With a Foreword by
MILTON GREENBLATT, M.D.

Figure 1.

INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITIES PRESS, INC.

Hippolyte Bernheim (1840- 1914) in 1910, the y_earhe retired from pra ctice.
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CONTENTS
Translation, Copyright© 1980, International Universities Press, Inc.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced by any means, nor
translated into a machine language, without the written permission of the
publisher . Preface
Hippolyte Bernheim ....................... . ........... . ix
Hypnotisme, Suggestion, Psychoth,erapie: Etudes Nouvel/es, French edition
published in 1891 by Octave Doin, Editeur, Paris, France. Foreword
Milton Greenblatt .... . . ... .. ...... ....... ..... . ..... ... xi
Translator's Introduction
Richard S. Sandor .................................... xiii
All photographs are courtesy of the Faculte de Medicine de Nancy-
Laboratoire audio-visuel, France.
LESSONS
LESSON I ............ . ..................... . . .... ......... 1
Historical view of suggestion applied to the art of healing. - Egyptians
and Hebrews. - Medicine in the Greek temples. - Early Christianity.
-Healing by the French and English kings of the 11th century. -
Superstition during the Renaissance. -Witchcraf t trials in the 15th
and 16th centuries. -Paracelsus. -Animal Magnetism. -Mesmer.
-Somnambulism. -Abbe Faria. -Braid's hypnotism. - Dr. Lie-
beault's therapeutic suggestion. -Contemporary triumph of the sci-
entific doctrine of suggestion and the end of superstitious medicine.
LESSON II ............................................... 18
Definition of suggestion: an idea accepted by the brain. - Sensorial
origin of ideas. -Autosuggestion . - Direct suggestion. - Indirect
suggestion. -Role of psychic individuality in suggestion. -lnneite.
-Application to pedagogy . -Law of ideodynamism. - Transfor-
mation of the accepted idea into action, sensation, image, move-
ment. - Neutralization of action by an idea.
LESSON III .. ...... ........ ................ . ....... ...... 33
On therapeutic suggestion. - The subordination of various organs
and functions to the central nervous system. -Actions of the mind
upon the body. - Psychotherapy. - Credivite and cerebral automa-
tism are modified by the superior faculties of the brain. -Ways of
numbing the former and enhancing the latter. -Natural sleep . -
Faith. -Healing by religious suggestions. -Suggestion by electricity,
Manufactured in the United States of America
magnets, metals, empirical methods, Perkins' tractors, suspension.

V
vi HIPPOL YTE M. BERNHEIM NEW STUDIES IN HYPNOTISM vii

LESSON IV ...................... . .......................
On hypnotism . -Empirical procedures of the monks of Mt. Athos,
fakirs, Indian yogis, sorcerers of Egypt, the gzanes, the marabouts, the
Aiaoussas of Africa. -:Mesmer's practices. - The discovery of induced
somnambulism by the Marquis de Puysegur . -De La Suggestion by
Abbe Faria. -Hypnotism by Braid. -Hypnotism without sleep, with
actual sleep, with the illusion of sleep. -Sleep is only one of the
phenomena of hypnotism. - Hypnotism is only a psychic state of
heightened suggestibility. -Definition of the term animal magnetism.
LESSON V . .......... . ... .. . . .... .... .. ... ......
The process of hypnotization . - Methods of the magnetizers Deleuze
and Teste. -General Noizet's method. - The methods of the Indian
magnetizers. - The suggestive method of Abbe Faria . - Charles
Richet's procedure . -Method of the Salpetriere. -Lie beault's verbal
suggestion . - Everything is in suggestion.
47 on_the evolution of the crisis. -S ~ggestibility in hysterics. -O vary
pam and the so-called hysterogemc zones . - Suggestion as a means
of interrupting_t~e. crisis. -_Hysterical anesthesia and amblyopia . _
Pseu~otympamtis m hysterics: - The so-called characteristic pain of
gastric ulcer. -Pseudoneuralgias. -Pa inful areas in sciatica.
LESSON X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .... 151
On suggestive therapeutics. - Its mechanism in functional and or-
ganic illnesses. - The role of dynamics in organic illness. - Lesions
cur~d by functi~nal restoration. - On suggestion in hysteria, in-
...... ... 58 herited and acqmred neurasthenia, hypochondria, mental illnesses
epilepsy, chorea, tetany, tetanus, neuralgias, various neuroses'
paralysis agitans, morphomania, alcoholism, rheumatism. ~ O~
p~ych~therapy applied to organic illnesses of the brain, spinal cord,
digestive and respiratory tracts, pyrexias, etc. -Adju vant conditions
for suggestion .

LESSON VI ......... . ... ... ... : ... ........................ 70 LESSON XI ............................................. 176
Phenomena of the hypnotic state. - Liebeault's classification of General Summary.
stages. - The author's classification . -Consciousness in periods of
hypnotism. -Comparison with normal sleep. -Suggestion of move- CLINICAL OBSERVATIONS
ment. -Catalepsy. -Its varieties. -Its psychic nature. -Sensations Observations on Traumatic Neuroses ........ ... .. ..... ... .. ... . 183
of sensibility. - Spontaneous or suggested analgesia. - Surgical ap- Observations on Convulsive Hysteria .... .... .. . ... . . ..... . ... .. 225
plications. Various Hysterical Problems .. .. ... . .. ... ... . ...... . . . . . . . ... . 251
LESSON VII . .. .............. . ......... ........ ........... 86 Observations on Chorea ....... . ........ . .. ... .. .. ........ .. .. 264
Continuation of the account of hypnotic phenomena. -Sensorial il- Observations on Tetany .. . .... . ..... .... . . .... . .... .... . . .. . . 266
lusions. - Hallucinations. -Active and passive hallucinations. - Observations on Genital Neuroses ... ...... . ... . .. ...... . . ..... . 267
Suggestions for post-hypnotic actions and hallucinations . - Retro- Observations on Psychic Neuroses ........ .. . ... . . .. . .. .. .. . ... 270
active hallucinations. - Suggested false testimony. -Amnesia in Observations on Alcoholism ..... ... ... ................ . ...... 282
hypnotism. -Apparent amnesia for suggestion given a long time Neurasthenic Affections ...... . .......................... . . ... 284
previously. -Retroactive amnesia. -Awakening hypnotic memo- Observations on Neuroarthritis .......... .... . . .. .............. 316
Observations on Neurasthenic Problems
ries. -Awakening the memory of negative hallucinations.
Following Various Affections . .... . .. . ...... ... . ..... . .. .. . 329
LESSON VIII ............................................ 102 Observations on Neuralgias .. .. . . .. ........... . .. ... .......... 337
Criminal suggestions . - Various opinions. - Somnambules without Observations on Spinal Affections . ... .............. .. ... . ... . . 358
conviction. - Resistance to certain suggestions. - Somnambules Observations on Problems Related to
identified with their role. -Impulsive somnambules. -Criminal af- Various Organic Illnesses . . ... .. ...... .. ... .. ... .. .. . . . .. . 369
fairs. -Gabriel Fenayron and Gabriel Bompard. -False testimony Menstrual Problems ..... . ... .. . . .......... .. .. .. ........ .. .. . 381
given in good faith . -Cr iminal suggestions in an honest person. - Observations on Suggestion by Metallotherapy
The Chambige affair. - Second state or modified awareness. - The and Magnetotherapy .............. ... .... . ...... . ... . . . .. 382
role of suggestion in all of our actions and in moral honesty .
LESSON IX ..... . ....................................... 122
The relationshp of hypnotism to hysteria. - Influence of suggestion
46 HIPPOL YTE M. BERNHEIM
terics, in nocternal incontinence, in neuroses, and in various other
conditions . He has come to the conclusion that suggestion plays
the main role in cures obtained with the new method. In order to
eliminate the hypotheses of modified circulation or neural elonga-
tion, I have experimented with horizontal suspension. The subject
is held horizontally by a belt wrapped around his body, and his
head and feet are supported by armrests - thus, there is no conges-
tion or elongation. I have observed remarkable healings: an ataxic
who could no longer walk or stand up without being supported
began to walk fairly well after a few sessions. A sciatic who was
not helped by hypnotic suggestion was promptly cured in a few
sessions; a patient immobilized in his bed for several weeks was
able to get up again. A diffuse myelitis with absolute paraplegia
improved in 10 sessions; the patient was able to move her toes a
little and slide her legs on the bed, something she had been unable
to do previously . An hysterical hyperesthesia of the al;,domen with
vomiting was alleviated in a few sessions. Suggestion alone, em-
bodied in an impressive physical practice, brought about these
results. I have not said, as some have quoted me as saying, that
everything is suggestion - that electrotherapy, hydrotherapy,
massage, and the materia medica only act by suggestion, that
various therapeutic practices are nothing, and that the human
imagination is everything. That would be absurd. How strange! I
have strongly protested, at the Congress of Hypnotism, against
the systematic distortion of my teachings; the scientific, and even
the popular press have continued to misrepresent what I have said.
I have not said that everything is suggestion, but rather that sug-
gestion is in everything. Without doubt, hydrotherapy, electricity,
hea1th resorts, massage, perhaps even metallotherapy and suspen-
sion have some irrefutable action by themselves on the organism's
functions. But this action is poorly known; the assertions of
authors on the therapeutic value of these various methods are
vague, confused, and contradictory because they have not
thought about the element of suggestion beforehand.
LESSON IV
Among the means of augmenting credivite, for the purpose of im-
posing an idea on the brain and facilitating its transformation into
action, nothing is more useful than hypnotism. It is the most effec-
tive adjuvant, and frequently the only one which can be used for
suggestion. We have defined suggestion and we must now define
hypnotism. But, first, a brief historical outline is necessary in order
to reveal its origins. .
Like suggestion, hypnotism is as old as the world .
When the monks of Athos fixed their gaze on the umbilicus
and fell into a prolonged cataleptic ecstasy, they were hypnotizing
themselves. ·
Beginning 2,400 years ago, the fakirs and yogis of India have
been able to take on extraordinary cataleptiform postures. They
accomplished this by fixing the gaze on the tip of the nose for a
quarter of an hour, slowing their respirations, and concentrating
the attention until a bluish flame appeared at the tip of the nose.
Since time immemorial in Egypt, there has been, according to
Dr. Rossi (cited by Figuier), a class of people who make their pro-
fession that of the Mandeb. Generally , they use a perfectly white
earthenware plate; then , with pen and ink, they draw two crossed
triangles (one within the other), and fill the empty space of the
geometric figure with cabalistic words. The subject chosen for this
experiment then fixes his gaze at the center of the crossed triangles.
After four or five minutes, he sees a black point in the middle of
the plate. This black point enlarges, changes form, and is
transformed into various visions which fly about in front of the
subject. This hallucination frequently leads to an extraordinarily
lucid somnambulism .
Other sorcerer's simply fix the subject's gaze on a crystal ball.
In French Africa, according to M. de Pietra-Santa, the Ara-
bian gzanes, gypsies, witches, or fortune-tellers, draw a circle on
the palm of the hand with a blackish-colored material. At the
47
48 HIPPOL YTE M. BERNHEIM
center of the circle is a black point. By fixing the gaze attentively at
the circle for several minutes, the eye becomes fatigued and vision
is dimmed. Soon, sleep follows the fatigue, and next, there is a
kind of insensibility.
The marabouts of certain religious sects at the frontier of
Morocco place an ordinary bottle filled with water on a table
covered by a white cloth. Behind it burns a small lamp. The sub-
ject, sitting on a chair, gazes at the illuminated point in front of
him. After a few moments, he experiences heaviness of his eyelids.
Little by little they fall, and sleep comes.
The Aiasoussas, who gave a performance at the Exposition,
plunge into an extraordinary hypnosis and anesthesia by other
methods. Accompanied by the sound of Arabian drums and iron
castanets, intoxicated by aromatic perfumes released under their
noses, they are carried away by rhythmic movements of the head
and trunk, by the gutteral sounds modulated on the musical
rhythm, and by violent contortions. They then become insensible
and are able to swallow pounded glass, to pierce their cheeks with
sharp weapons, to walk on red-hot bars, etc.
Empiricism, in the hands of lay people, has made hypnotism
real- the analgesia, catalepsy, and hallucinations. Science leaves
these phenomena to the thaumaturgists and as a result
misunderstands them.
Mesmer's animal magnetism did not reveal the truth. The
bizarre manipulations, the fascination, the waving of the conical
wand, the wooden baquet-all acted (more or less) strongly on his
subject's imaginations and caused various nervous disorders such
as pandiculations [stretching], screams, spasms, yawns, tears,
hysterical seizures, catalepsy, somnolence - and sleep. It was a
mixture of hysteria and hypnotism. Hypnotism was hidden within
magnetism, just as chemistry was hidden in alchemy. Mesmer had
observed the sleep without attaching any importance to it. He was
much more interested in producing the convulsive crises, as they
were held to be necessary for the therapeutic goal. He produced
hysteria more than hypnosis.
It was one of Mesmer's students, the Marquis de Puysegur,
who, in 1773, revealed artificial somnambulism among the so-
called magnetic phenomena. He magnetized a peasant and observ-
ed the sleep without convulsions or pains. In May and June of
1784, he observed 10 cases of somnambulism on the grounds of
Buzancy. From then on, it was no longer a convulsive crisis that
NEW STUDIES IN HYPNOTISM 49
was produced by magnetic passes or by contact with the magnetic
tree; rather, it was a tranquil sleep with heightening of the intellec-
tual functions and with passive obedience. One step was taken
toward the truth. It was no longer believed that there was a
mysterious, universally distributed fluid, the means of the mutual
influence between celestial bodies, the earth, and animal bodies
(permeating into the nerve substance). It was still believed that
there wa s a nervous fluid, which, according to Puysegur,
emanated from the magnetizer's body and was projected by his
will. It was the will which magnetized - his formula was 'believe
and will."
It was really the abbot Faria, around 1814, who was the first
to give a clear and valid conception of the hypnotic phenomenon
which he called '1ucid sleep." The cause of this sleep, according to
Faria, was the subject's will. There was no magnetic fluid, or other
fluidic substance, passing from the magnetizer to the subject. The
cause of the change s produced in the organism resided totally
within the subject's brain, in his imagination. Alexander Bertrand
adopted Abbe Faria's theory. 5 8
It was then demonstrated that various practices - contact of
the hands and feet, massage, certain motions made a short
distance from the body (called passes), and the fixation of the gaze
alone - could act upon certain people, producing a more or less
deep stupor, drowsines s, somnolence, and, in a small number of
cases, somnambulism with analgesia, catalepsy, the capacity for
hallucinations, and amnesia upon awakening. The remarkable
report of Husson, read in 1831 at the Academy of Medicine, con-
firmed the reality of nearly all the phenomena that Abbe Faria had
attribut ed to the mere conviction of the subject.
The discovery of hypnotism does not belong to James Braid.
Only the word belongs to him. It is correct to say, however, that
his name deserves to remain attached to the history of the science
of hypnoti sm because of the importance of his extensive studies on
the question, because he established that his method was ap-
plicable to nearly all subjects and proceeded from a general law of
animal economy, and because of his discovery of its curative
power.
58 Alexandre Bertrand (1795-1 831). French physician and important figure in
the history of hypnosis; auth or of Traite du Somnambulisme (1823) and Du
Magnetisme Animal en France (1826).
50 HIPPOL YTE M. BERNHEIM
The memorable works of Braid did not succeed in calling the
attention of the official scientific world to the phenomena of hyp-
notism. Several pioneers of the science, like Durand (de Gros) and
Charpignon, continued on alone to brave the discredit attached to
their researches. In 1859, Dr. Azam (of Bordeaux) made his
discovery known. Braid had already been forgotten, and it was
not recognized that Braidism was a new anesthetic method.
Surgeons experimented for a few years and then abandoned hyp-
notism because of the inconsistency of their results .
It was Dr . Liebeault who brought the question back to its pro-
per area. Better than Braid, as we see it, he grasped the nature of
the phenomenon. Returning to the doctrine of Abbe Faria, he
showed that hypnosis was a purely psychologic fact, to which sug-
gestion was the key . He described the various stages of the hyp-
notic state in a more precise way and created suggestive psycho-
therapeutics (again wrongly interpreted by Braid).
But Liebeault's book, published in 1886 (Du Sommeil et des
Etats Analogues Consideres Surtout au Point de Vue de ['Action au
Moral sur ·ze Physique) and his practice remained absolutely
unknown to the medical world until 1883, when I published an ar-
ticle in the Revue Medicale de l'Est and my brochure, la Suggestion
dans l'Etat Hypnotique et dans l'Etat de Veille.
In this interval Charles Richet (1875) called attention to som-
nambulism induced by a method analogous to Braid's, without
deducing its therapeutic applications. Then, in 1878, Charcot and
his students, studying hypnotism in hysterics, believed they had
found a neurosis analogous to hysteria itself in these phenomena.
It was supposed to be superimposed on a hysterical foundation
and had three characteristic phases. It was no longer, as estab-
lished by Faria, Braid, and Liebeault, a physiologic or psycho-
physiologic state derived from a general law of animal economy.
Rather, it was a pathologic state capable of being induced in
hysterics, and was comparable to the hysterical crisis itself. No
one dreamed of any possible therapeutic applications. Experimen-
tation continued in this vein from 1878 until 1884, off the track, if I
may say so, in a direction that could only yield erroneous results.
The publication of my brochure and book, and the studies of the
School of Nancy, returned the question to its proper place. The
numerous efforts of our group, which confirmed our doctrine and
its therapeutic applications, owe their origin to our initiative,
enlightened by the practice of M. Liebeault.
NEW STUDIES IN HYPNOTISM 51
Let us return to Braid. He understood ·hypnotism to be a
nervous sleep (sommeil nerveux). He defined it as, "a particular
state of the nervous system caused by artificial maneuvers," or
again, "a particular state of the nervous system induced by fixed
concentration which is not by itself of a stimulating nature and
the abstraction of the mental and visual eye." Two elements
influenced the production of this state: a physical ele-
ment- prolonged fixation of the eyes, paralyzing the levator
muscles of the eyelids and impairing the equilibrium of the ner-
vous system; and a psychic element- the fixation of attention in
which the mind is absorbed by a single idea. "The patient
becomes indifferent; he is closed, so to speak, to all thought, to
all outside influences, the images of which his mind recalls. In
this state, his imagination becomes so active that every agreeable
idea, either spontaneous or suggested by a person to whom he
accords a particular attention and confidence, takes him with all
the force of actuality, of reality." Braid seems, however, as a
result of his experiences, to have attributed great importance to
the psychic element. 'Trained subjects become susceptible to be-
ing influenced entirely by the imagination. In very sensitive in-
dividuals, the simple assumption that several things are capable
of putting them to sleep is sufficient to produce the sleep." Hyp-
nosis was thus a nervous sleep produced by the mind concen-
trated on one idea.
This definition was still less than satisfactory. The state
brought about by the various procedures of hypnotization was not
always sleep. 'This is a more or less profound sluggishness, with
drowsiness, somnolence, and in a small number of cases, what the
magnetizers call somnambulism." 59
Braid himself established that hypnotism did not include only
one state. 'This is more a series of different states capable of in-
finite variation, from the lightest reverie with excitation or inhibi-
tion of functions to profound coma with complete absence of con-
sciousness and will."
'To speak rigorously," he adds, "the word 'hypnotic' should be
reserved only for those subjects who indeed fall into the sleep and
who, upon awakening, forget everything that has happened during
59
Henri Marie Husson et al. Report of the experiments on animal magnetism,
made by a Committee of the Medical Section of the French Royal Academy of
Sciences, 1831.
52 HIPPOLYTE M. BERNHEIM
this state. When this state is not present, it is only a question of
drowsiness or reverie." Appropriately, he then established ter-
minology consistent with these modifications. In effect, among
susceptible subjects cured by hypnotism, scarcely over 10 percent
come to the phase of unconscious sleep. The word hypnotism can
thus lead to errors and make some people believe that there is no
benefit from a procedure whose characteristic and usual effects do
not appear to be the ones by which it is defined. After considered
reflection, I estimate that this gap can be filled in the following
way:
'The name hypnotism will be given to the production of ar-
tificial sleep, when there is loss of memory of the type that, when
awakened, the patient has no memory of what happened during
the sleep."
Copying Braid, every author defines hypnotism as artificial
sleep, nervous or induced . This definition does not seem to me to
be comprehensive enough . It does not include a generalization of
the actions that produce hypnosis.
Among subjects exposed to this influence, only a certain
number appear to sleep profoundly and remember nothing on
awakening. Others are conscious of sleeping and of having slept,
but remember everything upon awakening. A third category only
experiences drowsiness and a more or less questionable som-
nolence. Finally, in the fourth category, are subjects who do not
sleep or at least have no awareness of sleep or having slept.
Will we conclude that only the first are in the state of hyp-
notism? For example, here is a subject to whom I say, "Sleep." His
eyes are closed, his limbs remain flaccid and immobile; he is re-
laxed and to all external appearances seems to be asleep. If I leave
him tranquil, he stays in this state until I awaken him or until he
awakens spontaneously. He will then have the idea that he has
slept and no one can differentiate the appearance of this sleep from
that of spontaneous sleep.
He sleeps. I raise his arm into the air; it remains there, frozen
in the suggested position. I make his arms tum round one another;
the movement continues (automatic rotation). I stick him with a
pin; he does not react (analgesia) . I say to him, "Rise." He gets up. I
say to him, 'Walk." He walks. ''You cannot go any further." His feet
are riveted to the ground (passive obedience). I say to him, "Here is
a glass of wine. Drink." He takes the fictitious glass and swallows
(hallucinated taste). I say to him, "Here is a dog who wants to bite
NEW STUDIES IN HYPNOTISM 53
you ." He jumps back, terrified (visual hallucination). I say to him,
"After awakening you will see and hea r military music in the
room ." I awaken him. He sees and hears the music (visual and
auditory post-hypnotic hallucination), but recalls nothing about
what happened during his hypnotic sleep. (This is a case of pro-
found hypnosis with catalepsy, analgesia, hypnotic and post-
hypnotic hallucinations, and amnesia upon awakening).
I resume with the same subject . I hypnotize him again, by a
gesture, without saying to him, "Sleep ." Or I only say to him, ''You
are magnetized. You will remember everything upon awakening;
you are not asleep." This stated, I reproduce the same phenomena
of catalepsy, analgesia, automatic obedience, and hypnotic and
post-hypnotic hallucinations in him. When everything is all over,
the subject remembers everything that happened, even when he
appeared to be inert and asleep . He does not have idea of having
slept. The phenomena which were demonstrated were exactly the
same, except for the amnesia upon awakening. Should it be said
that he was not hypnotized? Nol Sleep, or the idea of sleep, is not
necessary for the hypnotic influence. There is hypnosis without
sleep.
In order to demonstrate this, I resume with the same subject . I
begin the hypnosis, that is to say, suggestion, by movement or
sensation. I put the subject's arms in the air. They remain there and
he cannot change their position; this is catalepsy. I add analgesia
by saying, ''Your body is numb ." I stick him, but he shows no pain.
I say, ''You must get up and walk ." He walks without being able to
resist . "Here, take this apple." He eats the fictitious apple. All of
these suggestions are realized in a state of perfect wakefulness . The
subject is conscious, appears absolutely alert, and remembers
everything. Only then do I add, "Sleep." He closes his eyes and
sleeps . The sleep, or the appearance of sleep, is superimposed as a
result of a special suggestion which is not necessary for the success
of the former ones.
In the first experiment, I began the series of suggestions by
catalepsy, and then I continued with analgesia, actions, hallucina-
tions. I finished with the one for sleep. Have I not demonstrated
that sleep, or the idea of sleep, is itself only one of the phenomena
obtained by the hypnotic influence, just like catalepsy and
hallucinations, but that the phenomenon of sleep does not
necessarily precede or generate the others? It can be dissociated
from the others. There is hypnosis without sleep- all the pheno-
54 HIPPOL YTE M. BERNHEIM
mena of hypnosis can exist without sleep.
Besides, what is sleep? What are its criteria? We do not know
its essence, but only the apparent symptoms. After a day of being
awake, we sense a lassitude of body and mind. Our ideas become
dull, our intellectual initiative weakens; we no longer master the
coordination of our thoughts; a vagueness takes over our brain.
At the same time, our eyelids become heavy, we lose contact with
our limbs, and a need for sleep steals over us. We lie down, close
our eyes, r~main immobile, relax, and are isolated from the out-
side world; we close our sensorium to all external impressions, and
we suggest, or rather, our organism instinctively suggests to us,
the idea of sleep. Then our imagination turns upon itself; we enter
the world of dreams; we remain inert. This is sleep. When we are
awakened, we know that we have slept, whether because the ac-
companying dreams are remembered, or because a certain time
has elapsed without our having been aware of it going by.
Thus, sleep is diagnosed objectively by body immobility,
relaxation of the limbs, and closure of the eyes; subjectively, it is
diagnosed by the memory of dreams, or by apparent unconscious-
ness for a period of time which was preceded by a conscious period
of drowsiness. But these signs are far from being characteristic of
sleep. The apoplectic and the epileptic are inert and relaxed; never-
theless, their state is not one of simple sleep. Certain hypnotized
people remain inert and passive, without movement. They appear
to be asleep and when they return to their normal state, they can
remember everything and are not conscious of having slept.
Others, on the contrary (the best somnambulists are in this group),
keep their eyes open, speak, see, move, laugh, gesticulate, work,
have an active mind, and do not resemble sleepers at all. And yet,
when they come out of this state, they remember nothing and are
aware of having slept. Is this sleep?
A patient with typhoid fever delirium talks in his dreams and
when his illness is over, he may or may not remember his delirious
dreams. He believes he has come out of a long sleep.
One sees that neither the apparent symptoms, nor the im-
mobility and physical inertia, nor the subjective signs taken from
the subject's awareness, nor the amnesia and prolonged un-
consciousness are sufficient to characterize sleep.
As long as we do not know exactly what physiologic sleep is,
what its nature is, we are not entitled to say that the apparent sleep
of hypnosis is always real sleep.
NEW STUDIES IN HYPNOTISM 55
It is likely, it seems to me certain, that among hypnotized sub-
jects, there are those who obey the suggestion to sleep. Nothing
distinguishes them from ordinary sleepers - they are inert, they
snore, they have spontaneous dreams and they continue to sleep
when they are left alone. They awaken and rub their eyes,
acknowledge somnolence, and remember nothing or only their
dreams. Just as one can produce catalepsy, anesthesia, move-
ments, illusions, and diverse organic effects with a suggestion, so
can one produce the act of sleep.
Others, docile to the suggestions of mobility, sensibility, and
even hallucination, are rebellious against those of sleep. They are
unable to conceive of it, and psychically cannot realize this
phenomenon.
Others, misled by suggestion, appear to have only the illusion
of sleep. They believe they have slept, but nothing can prove that
they have really slept. Here is a woman to whom I suggest sleep. I
speak to her and she responds to me. I enter into conversation with
her, and she is fully aware and intelligent; even her initiative is
revealed by spontaneous and judicious observations. She says to
me, 'Don't forget to come to take tea with me next Monday. When
you leave, ask the housemaid to explain it to you." When I try to
make her hallucinate, she says, 'Doctor, you know that this one
doesn't work with me." She then rises, turns around, and shows
me where she was sick and consulted me, absolutely like an awake
person. She speaks to me again when I say to her abruptly, "I
awaken you." She opens her eyes and everything has evaporated.
She remembers absolutely nothing; she is convinced that she
has slept. Was it sleep? I believe that it was the illusion of sleep.
Here is. a man. I say to him, ''Look at me; you are
magnetized." His eyes remain fixed and amazed. I put his arms in
the air and he cannot lower them. I stick him with a needle and he
is analgesic. I say to him, "Are you asleep?" He replies, "No." Later
on, he remembers everything. I say to him, on the contrary, "You
sleep." He replies, ''Yes." Later, he doesn't remember anything and
believes that he has been asleep. I have given him the illusion of
sleep, but there is no apparent sign to demonstrate the reality of
the phenomenon.
In addition, I can give certain suggestible subjects the retro-
active illusion of sleep, that is, the fictitious memory of a sleep that
did not occur. I can make them believe that they have slept for two
hours, for example, and they are convinced that they have done it;
56 HIPPOL YTE M . BERNHEIM
they are even able (logically, because of their conception of sleep)
to forget everything that has happened during the two hours. Isn't
this the best demonstration of the fact that the subject's awareness
is not enough to establish the reality of the phenomenon of sleep?
The conception of the word hypnosis is singularly restrictive.
The real nature of the phenomenon, when defined as induced sleep
(as Braid and his successors have done) is misunderstood.
It is true that Braid established that suggestion can, in the
state of wakefulness in certain subjects, act upon the mind and
produce catalepsy, illusions, and hallucinations - exactly as in the
sleeping state . These "vigilant phenomena" were well known in
North America in 1848, under the name of "electrobiology ." Braid
proposed to call this particular state mono-ideism, that is, the
mind under the influence of a dominant impression. He called
mono-ide istic that state of a person who is in the phase of mono-
ideism; the physical and psychic changes which were developed
under the influence of mono-ideism were called mono-
ideodynamic. This state of mono-ideism could be developed in the
waking state, but chiefly during the abnormal state that followed
hypnotic procedures.
We have seen, however, that this abnormal state is not
always sleep; we have seen that sleep itself is only a phenomenon
of suggestion, in the same class as catalepsy, anesthesia, and
hallucinations . In my opinion, it would be best to completely
abolish the word "hypnotism" and replace it by "a state of sugges-
tion ." The procedures called "hypnotic" are reduced to
demonstrating or heightening various suggestibilities. All of the
dynamic activities of the body can be heightened, diminished, or
altered by suggestion - mobility, sensibility, sensation, imagina-
tion, etc. Each subject has his special suggestibilities. One is sug-
gestible only in that which concerns mobility- catalepsy,
paralysis, and automatic movements can be provoked in him. In
another, it is a question of sensitivity; pain can be reduced and the
subject can be anesthetized. In a third, certain sensorial images can
be developed - aud itory or gustatory hallucinations but not visual
ones . In a fourth subject, visual images can also be evoked. I
repeat, each subject has his various modes of suggestibility which
can be called into play simultaneously or separately. A certain
number realize the suggestion to sleep.
If one wishes to keep the words "hypnosis" and ''hypnotic
state," we will define them as follows: a particular psychic state,
NEW STUDIES IN HYPNOTISM 57
capable of being induced, which activates or heightens various
suggestibilities, that is, the capacity to be influenced by an idea ac-
cepted by the brain, and to realize it.
In reality, hypnotic phenomena are only phenomena of sug-
gestibility.
Although sleep is not necessary for suggestion, nevertheless,
it may be said to facilitate it. Whether it is natural or induced, it
suppresses or attenuates intellectual initiative and concentrates
cerebral activity on the phenomena of automatism. It frees the
imagination of the moderating brake of the faculties of reason.
Dreams are the hallucinatory autosuggestions of natural sleep.
During this sleep, as we have shown, one can place one's self in
rapport with the subject and realize all of the phenomena of the
hypnotic state.
Sleep augments suggestibility or credivite. Many subjects on-
ly become suggestible to a noticeable degree when one has suc-
cessfully induced the appearance of sleep. Also, one generally tries
in hypnosis to induce sleep, or a state as near to sleep as possible,
in order to render suggestion as intense as possible. But it is impor-
tant to recognize that these two phenomena are not absolutely cor-
related. As Braid previously indicated, this is shown in the fre-
quent therapeutic failures that accompany a rather profound
sleep .
The term "animal magnetism," considering its historic
significance, must retain a larger connotation than that of "hypno-
tism." It includes, beyond hypnotism, all the phenomena of so-
called fluidic influence (nearby or at a distance)-clairvoyance,
thought transmission, divination, etc. Hypnotism, up to this time,
constitutes the only really scientific branch of the older
magnetism.

LESSON V of the feet. Repeat this same process for most of the session. You also
We have defined hypnotism. How is it produced? How is this
special psychic state of augmented suggestibility artificially re-
alized? The methods employed vary infinitely with each
magnetizer or hypnotist, from Mesmer and the Marquis de
Puysegur to the Abbe Faria, Braid, and Liebeault. Each method
reveals the author's own doctrine and conception of the nature of
the phenomenon.
It is curious to see how the complex and bizarre manipula-
tions that were formerly believed necessary to obtain hypnosis
have been simplified little by little, ending in the suggestive process
of the Nancy school.
The old magnetizers, direct successors of Mesmer and
Puysegur, were convinced of the existence of a fluid and sought to
direct this fluid to travel through the organism by so-called
magnetic passes.
Here, for example, is the method of Deleuze (one of the most
intelligent magnetizers). 60
After you are mentally collected, take the subject's thumbs be-
tween your two fingers, so that the outside of your thumb touches the
inside ~f his and fix your eyes upon him. Remain in this situation for
from two to five minutes, until you feel that an equal warmth has been
established between his thumbs and yours. This done, remove your
hands by separating them to the right and to the left, and turning them
so that the inside surface is outside, you raise them to the height of the
head; then you position them on the subject's shoulders, and you leave
them there for about a minute. Then you lightly touch along the arm
from the shoulder to the fingertips. You repeat this pass five or six
times, while turning the hands away and averting them a little from
the body when bringing them up. Next you place your hands above his
head, keep them there for a moment, and then bring them down, pass-
ing in front of the face (at a distance of one or two inches ) to the pit of
the stomach. You stop there for about two minutes while positioning
60 Deleuze. Instruction Pratique sur le Magnetisme Animal, Paris, 1825 .
58
NEW STUDIES J.N HYPNOTISM 59
your thumbs on the pit of the stomach. Your other fingers are spread
along his sides. Then you slowly descend along the body to the knees,
or better, if you can do so without disturbing yourself, to the bottom
go behind the patient several times by placing your hands behind his
shoulders and descending slowly along the spine of the back to the
hips, and along the thighs to the knees or feet. After the first passes,
you can dispense with placing your hands upon the head and make the
next passes on the arms by starting at the shoulders, and on the body
by starting at the stomach.
Teste simplified the process in the following way: 61
He would stand a certain distance in front of the patient, col-
lect himself for several minutes, then raise his right hand to the
height of the forehead and slowly direct his passes from top to bot-
tom - in front of the face, the chest, and the abdomen. Each time
he brought his hand back up, he let his fingers fall in such a way
that their dorsal surfaces faced the magnetizer during the upward
movement and their palmar surfaces faced him during the passes.
'This process is very simple," added Teste, "too simple
perhaps; also, I advise using it only on subjects who are already
accustomed to magnetism and susceptible to being put to sleep
easily. The method of Deleuze, with the slight changes that I have
indicated, is by far to be preferred for the first try."
He also magnetized by the head. For this, he first made some
long passes from above to below, around the arms and in front of
the face, and then following the axis of the body. Then he extend-
ed his hands to several inches from the forehead and the parietal
regions for several minutes. He changed the position of the hands a
little, satisfied to carry them lightly from right to left, then to the
occiput, then to the forehead where they were kept until the pa-
tient had gone to sleep. Then he made passes on the legs and knees,
in order to draw the fluid lower, as the magnetizers put it.
Finally, he magnetized somnambules who were already used
to it by the gaze - by asking the subject to look at him with as
much concentration as possible, while from the side, he fixed his
eyes without interruption on the subject's eyes.
Teste gave the correct formula when he added, "But, definite-
ly, all methods are successful, when they inspire confidence in
61Teste. Le Magnetisme Animal Applique, Etc., Paris, 1845; Manuel de
Magnetisme Animal, Paris, 1853.
60 HIPPOL YTE M . BERNHEIM
those who employ them, and when they are imbued with your
authority." The truth had been stated, "when the subject is affected
by your authority."
General Noizet also used passes .62 He touched the thumbs of
the subject to his for some time to establish good communication
between the two fluids. Next, he placed his hands on the subject's
shoulders, left them there for a few minutes, and then lowered
them (at a slight distance from the arms and hips) to the knees. He
took the thumbs again and repeated the same maneuver several
times . He would then place them on the sides so that the two
thumbs joined at the pit of the stomach, or, better, he supported
them on the temples and then lowered them to begin again. He
continued in this way while varying the movements (always from
above to below) from time to time. Noizet added, "I am persuaded
that the only condition necessary to obtain these effects due to the
contact of the fluids is to act with a firm will and with confidence.
In my opinion, the nature of the movements with which one
operates makes no difference."
In 1846, Dr . Esdaile, of Calcutta, employed the following
methods of the Indian magnetizers:
The individual is extended on his back in a quiet room; the
magnetizer is seated at the head of the bed and leans over the patient,
so that their faces almost touch. One hand is applied to the pit of the
patient's stomach while the other makes passes on his face, especially
his eyes. Moreover, the magnetizer blows softly and frequently on the
nose, between the lips and on the ocular globes.
The passes and manipulations, more or less simplified and
variable with each operator, have persisted to our time. However,
the true formula for hypnosis was found in 1814 by Abbe Faria.
Convinced that the subject's imagination was everything and that
the fluid did not exist, the Abbe hypnotized by simple affirmation
and suggestion. He seated the subject comfortably, told him to
think of sleep and to look at him. With his large eyes on the sub-
ject, he fixed himself at a distance, showed the subject the back of
his raised hand, advanced several steps, and then abruptly
lowered his hand authoritatively, while commanding the subject
to sleep. Sometimes, but rarely, he walked right up to the patient,
62 Franc;ois Josephe Noizet. Memoire sur le Somnambulism et le Magnetisme
Animal, Paris, 1854.
NEW STUDIES IN HYPNOTISM 61
put a finger on the subject's forehead, and repeated the command,
"Sleep." 'Three times out of five," says General Noizet, "I have seen
it work in less than a minute."
The credit for having first established the doctrine and
method of hypnosis by suggestion, and of having clearly
delineated the odd and useless practices which hid the truth, un-
questionably belongs to Faria. However, the Abbe did not set a
fashion . The naked and simple truth could not assert itself. In our
time, he is still ridiculed as an imposter . Here is what Bourneville
and Regnard said about him in 1881: 63 'The Abbe Faria died with
the greatest reputation of a charlatan that a man has ever had. It
was certainly well-deserved, for to heighten the marvelous in his
experiments, and, in passing, to give more flash to his demonstra-
tions, he conceived a method which could not be imitated and
which was only successful in his hands."
How strange! Bourneville and Regnard themselves have im-
itated Faria's method. Here is the method that they use .
(1) Take the subject's thumbs in your fingers and maintain a fixed
gaze upon him. After 2 or 3 minutes, his eyes redden, tears bathe his
eyelids, and then he closes his eyes and slumps.
If this doesn't happen, then let go of the subject's hands and apply
your thumbs to the ocular globes while closing the subject's upper
eyelids again. Sleep is then immediate.
(2) The simple application of the thumbs on the eyeballs can
sometimes induce hypnotism without previous fixation.
(3) The two methods can be combined - fix the patient's eyes and
apply your thumbs on his eyebrows; your other fingers encompass the
temples .
(4) Place something (a pencil, a.silver penholder) between his eyes
and ask him to fix his gaze on it.
Isn't this a summary of Faria's method-fixation of the eyes
on those of the subject? The only difference is that Faria added the
word "sleep." The numbed will is useless, according to Bourneville
and Regnard, and passes are useless. When a patient has already
been hypnotized frequently, it can be done very quickly and easi-
ly . Simply the idea that he is going to go to sleep insures that he
will go to sleep almost immediately.
This process can be called hypnotization by simple suggestion.
63
D . M . Bourneville and P. Regnard. -Procedes employes pour determiner !es
phenomenes d'hypnotisme, Prog. Med ., 9:253- 258, 300-302, 1881.
62 HIPPOL YTE M. BERNHEIM
The idea of suggestion had certainly been better conceived by
Abbe Faria than by Braid. Here is the method of the English
surgeon.
Take a common bright object (a lancet case, for example) between
your thumbs, index and middle fingers of the left hand. Hold it at a
distance of 25 to 45 cm. from the subject's eyes, in a position above the
forehead, so that great effort on the part of the eyes and lids is required
for the subject to look fixedly at the object. It is necessary to have the
patient understand that he must keep his eyes constantly fixed on the
object, and his mind attached only to the idea of this object. First, the
pupils are contracted; a little later they begin to dilate, and when they
are considerably dilated and undergo oscillatory movements, the ex-
tended and slightly separated index and middle fingers are brought
from the object toward the eyes. Frequently, the eyes will then close
involuntarily with a vibratory movement. If this does not happen, or
if the patient moves his eyeballs, ask him to begin again, making him
understand that he must let his eyelids fall when you bring your fingers
toward his eyes again, that the eyeballs must be maintained in the
same position , and that the mind must be fixed solely to the idea of the
object above his eyes. In general, the eyes will close with a vibratory
movement.
For Braid, there .were two factors. The fixed gaze of the eye
led to a physical or physiologic phenomenon - "the paralysis of the
levator muscles of the upper eyelid, the paralysis of the nerve
centers of the eye and their subordinates." Also, there was the con-
centration of the mental eye with the attention on one object. This
was not as clear a conception of pure suggestion as Faria had for-
mulated or as Liebeault would rediscover.
Also, Braid's successors did not clarify the suggestive doctrine
of hypnotism, as they continued to proceed empirically, either by
eye fixation or by passes.
Here is the procedure of M. Charles Richet: 64
I take each of the subject's thumbs in one hand and I squeeze them
strongly but uniformly. I prolong this maneuver for three or four
minutes; in general, nervou s people quickly experience a certain
heaviness in the arms, elbows, and wrists. Then I make some passes by
carrying the extended hands over th e head, the forehead, the shoulders
and especially the eyelids. The passes consist of making uniform
64 Charles Richet. L'Homme et /'Intelligence, Paris, 1884.
NEW STUDIES IN HYPNOTISM 63
movements from above to below, in front of the eyes, as if in lowering
the hands one could make the eyelids close. At the beginning of my at-
tempts, I thought that it was necessary to have the patient stare at an
object, but it seemed to me that is was a useless complication. The fixa-
tion of the gaze has perhaps some influence, but it is not indispensable.
At the Salpetriere, the concept of hypnosis has been modified.
It is a neurosis that can only be produced in hysterics, a neurosis
with three pha ses-let hargy, catalepsy, and somnambulism.
These three different states, one or the other, can be obtained right
away, depending on the subject, by fixation of the gaze. Lethargy
is transformed into catalepsy by opening the subject's eyes;
catalepsy becomes lethargy by closing the eyes or covering them.
Both are transformed into somnambulism by lightly rubbing the
top of the subject's head, and somnambulism becomes lethargy by
lightly compressing the eyeballs. The state of lethargy is not con-
ducive to suggestio ns.
A sudden and intense sensory impression, such as the abrupt
and unexpected sound of a drum, or the explosion of a firecracker
by an electric spark, can also cause catalepsy.
In addition to a sudden and strong impression, hypnosis can
also be produced by a weak sensory impression - prolonged and
monotonous - such as the ticking of a clock. It can even be pro-
duced by touching certain parts of the body, called "hypnotic
zones."
All these processes, which are variable, bizarre, simple, and
complex, have absolutely nothing in common, like manipulation ·
or sensory excitation, for example. How peculiar! The very same
abrupt or slow and monotonous impression, or the same passes,
can strongly affect hypnotizable subjects, but without causing
hypnosis - they only produce it when they are especially aimed at
this goal. Everything can succeed in a subject, provided it has been
done previously. In reality, there is but one element at work in all
of these different processes - suggestion. The subject goes to sleep
(or is hypnotized) when he knows that he is supposed to sleep, or
when he has a sensation which invites him to sleep. It is his own
belief, his psychic impressionability, which makes him sleep. This
truth was clearly established by Abbe Faria, and later by Dr.
Liebeault.
The doctor of Nancy, rediscovering Faria's simple method,
hypnotizes by verbal suggestion . Here is how he describes his
64 HIPPOL YTE M. BERNHEIM
modus faciendi. 65
While the subject keeps his eyes on those of the operator, his
senses are isolated from external and internal impressions. You direct
him to simply imagine sleep and healing. You announce the initial
phenomena of sleep to him - heaviness of the body, the desire to sleep,
heaviness of the eyelids, and insensibility. When you perceive that the
eyelids are fluttering and becoming heavy, when the eye takes on a
surprised look, when the pupil oscillates or dilates, you say, "Sleep."
And if the eyelids don't close, you repeat the same series of affirma-
tions several times. Then your thumbs are placed on each lowered
eyelid while you continue the suggestion. If, at the end of a minute,
nothing has happened, you put it off until the next day.
M. Liebeault has the patient assist with previous hypnotiza-
tions in order to add the influence of imitation to his words. For
Liebeault, as for Faria, suggestion, that is, an idea introduced into
the brain, is the key to hypnosis.
Without doubt, Braid could influence subjects by eye fixation
upon a brilliant object, without having previously had them go to
sleep. But eyelid fatigue is a sensation which, in certain people,
gives the sensorium the idea of sleep. It is this sensation which sug-
gests hypnosis. Certain very impressionable subjects cannot stare
at any commonplace object without experiencing eye closure, and
in some of them it suffices to close the eyes and keep them closed
for a few moments in order to induce a deep sleep. Eye closure, the
absence of visual impressions, the darkness, the concentration of
the mind upon itself, the exclusion of distractions all create the im-
age of sleep. It is an invitation to sleep. It is a sensation which
reawakens all the other phenomena of sleep by habit or reflex ac-
tion.
But most people can stare indefinitely at a brilliant object and
hypnosis does not come. I have tried this procedure many times
with new subjects without obtaining anything after 10 minutes or
more. And then, in a few seconds, by verbal suggestion,
sometimes with the simple word "sleep!" a more or less deep hyp-
nosis is present.
I repeat, the passes, touching, and sensory excitations succed
only when they are associated with the idea, either given to or
guessed by the subject, that he must sleep. The imagined hypnotic
65 Liebeault. Le Sommeil Provoque, Paris, 1889.
NEW STUDIES IN HYPNOTISM 65
zones do not exist except by suggestion. One can artificially create
them in any subject accustomed to hypnosis. I touch any point on
the body, and the subject goes to sleep, or, better, I create certain
points which, when touched, will cause him either to sleep or to
awaken. Everything, I repeat, is in suggestion. The passes, the eye
fixation, a brilliant object, the touching - none of them are in any
way necessary. The word alone will suffice.
Gestures are only useful for reinforcing the suggestion if they
embody it in a physical practice which is appropriate for concen-
trating the subject's attention.
All of these processes really come back to a single thing - sug-
gestion. The problem is to impress the subject and to make the idea
of sleep penetrate his brain.
Experience teaches that the simplest and best method for im-
pressing the subject is by words. Certain subjects (not rare) are so
easy to impress that a single word suffices to bring forth each of
the hypnotic phenomena (with or without sleep). As we have said
before, without putting the subjects to sleep, by simple affirma-
tion, I produce catalepsy, analgesia, and hallucinations. These
subjects are suggestible and somnambulistic, and do not require
the artifice of preparation. In these subjects every idea deposited in
the brain is immediately translated into action. The assimilation of
an idea and its transformation into sensation, movement, images,
etc. are so instantaneous that cerebral initiative doesn't have time
to intervene to stop them.
In most people, impressionability is not so great. Hypnosis is
only obtained by reinforcing impressions with words, repeated
with insinuation or force and aided by certain means, to win over
the mind.
It is good to have the person who is going to be hypnotized
see others hypnotized first. It is good for him to have lived in a
suggestive atmosphere for several days, so that he becomes im-
bued with the idea that everyone is suggestible and so that he has
seen the phenomena of catalepsy, analgesia, passive obedience,
and healing. Those who are fearful should be spared the sight of
hallucinations or other emotional phenomena before being
operated on, for it is important in general to keep from the mind
everything that could frighten it, trouble it, or provoke resistance.
Subjects should only have seen the beneficial effects of hypnotism.
When I have to deal with a frightened person or a person prejudiced
against hypnotism, I generally wait without doing violence to him.
66 HIPPOL YTE M. BERNHEIM
I simply insinuate to hi~ that the suggestion will be useful to him.
I show him the good results and then wait until he asks me about
them himself. In the city, there are many people who have been
terrorized about the dangers of hypnotism by incompetent doc-
tors. In the hospital, there are defiant patients who imagine that
one wishes to experiment on them. One meets some resistance.
The person to be hypnotized should be, if possibl_e, in_a posit~ve
milieu and have confidence in the operator. Then, ma httle while,
the ground is prepared, and the subject applies himself without
afterthought.
Generally, hypnosis is easy. The subject is lying down or
comfortably seated in an armchair. I let him collect himself for a
few moments, while telling him that I am going to put him into a
gentle sleep, as calm as natural sleep. I bring a hand to. his eyes
gently, and say, "Sleep." A few patients close their eyes mstantly
and sleep. Others do not close their eyes but take on a fixed gaze,
and then all of the phenomena of hypnosis follow. Still others
show some quivering of the eyelids and their eyes alternately open
and close. If they do not close spontaneously, I keep them closed
for some time, and if I suspect some resistance, I add, "Let yourself
go; your eyelids are heavy, your limbs are limp; ~leep is comin~.
Sleep." It is rare for one or two minutes !o go bf withou_t hypn?sis
having come. Some subjects become immobile and mert nght
away; others try to reseat themselves and open their eyes again ,
waking up at each moment. I insist. I keep their eyes closed. I say,
"Continue to sleep."
In a hospital practice where imitation plays an important role,
where the doctor's authority is greatest, where the subjects are
more docile, less refined, and more easily impressed, it most often
happens as I have described. At least four-fifths of our subjects fall
into deep sleep with amnesia upon awakening.
Others, not as well prepared, not as docile, and especially
. subjects from the city, have more difficulty letting themselves go.
The hypnosis is not as deep, and they are not aware that they have
been influenced. The operator suspects a certain inquietude in the
subject's attitude. Sometimes the subject says that he is not sleep-
ing or that he is unable to sleep. I insist. I say to him, "I know that
you understand me. You must hear me. You can be hypnotized
just by hearing me. Complete sleep is ~?t necessary. D_on't_spe?k.
Keep your eyes closed. Listen well, etc. I try thus to wm his mmd
over by gentle insinuation, or by authority, according to the psy-
NEW STUDIES IN HYPNOTISM 67
chic individuality of the subject. I gently lift his arm into the air,
and frequently obtain, even when the subject does not believe he is
being influenced, a more or less irresistible catalepsy, and occa-
sionally automatic movements and contractures. I arrive at a
somewhat advanced degree of hypnosis, without what could
properly be called sleep or at least without the subject being aware
of sleeping. Sometimes, in the same session, I gradually lead the
subject through a whole series of phenomena. In certain subjects
who seem recalcitrant, it occurs to me to suggest amnesia on
awakening. Others don't go past the first stages in the initial ses-
sion; in subsequent sessions some (but not all) can attain complete
hypnosis.
The operator must have a calm and cool assurance. If he
hesitates or has the air of hesitation, the subject follows this hesita-
tion and it has a counter-suggestive influence. He will not go to
sleep or awaken. If the operator appears to be having much trou-
ble, if he works hard in order to put his subject to sleep, the subject
gets the idea that he is difficult to hypnotize; the more the operator
works away on him, the less the subject feels himself influenced.
Calmness, assurance, and simplicity of process are what succeed
best.
Some operators who don't have enough experience allow
themselves to be influenced by signs of consciousness appearing in
the subject, for example, laughter, gesturing, opening the eyes,
and spoken words. The operator believes the subject to be refrac-
tory because he laughs or moves. He forgets that the hypnotic sub-
ject is a conscious being who hears, is aware of, and takes in all of
the impressions of his surroundings. Every day I show my students
hypnotic subjects who laugh when someone says something in-
tended to make them laugh. There are some who mistake these
subjects for simulators, as nonexperimental observers misjudge
complacent subjects. Nevertheless, I demonstrate that these same
subjects are analgesic, hallucinating, and amnesic upon awaken-
ing. Most hypnotic subjects, however, when not brought out of
their torpor, remain inert, unmoved, with a serious face and
forehead creased with a characteristic expression. But con-
sciousness always survives under this inert mask. With those who,
from the beginning, do not take the matter seriously, I intervene
brusquely. I speak firmly and impress them with authority. I thus
repress their waggish whims and resistance, and frequently I ob-
tain the desired effect.
 HIPPOL YTE M. BERNHEIM
68
There are also those who, while letting go of everything, only
realize a questionable dullness which does not satisfy them. I
sometimes succeed in transforming this state into profound sleep
by saying to the subject, "I am letting you go to sleep again alone.
Keep your eyes closed . Sleep is going to come." I then leave them
alone. After a certain period of time, I return and say, "Continue
to sleep." Sometimes I then find that catalepsy is present and that
the hypnotic phenomena are quite accentuated, even, in some,
with amnesia upon awakening. In the next session, I generally ob-
tain profound hypnosis in a few seconds.
Here, in broad outline, are our methods of hypnosis. Each
operator, with practice, will change his methods and adapt them
to the psychic individuality of each patient . Gentle insinuation is
best suited for some, brusqueness for others. In the former, we use
occlusion of the eyes, some stroking of the eyeballs, and a pro-
longed, continuous, gradually intoxicating and soothing exhorta-
tion. In the latter, we use affirmation in an authoritative tone
(without retort), a physical suggestion such as warmth or numb-
ness which concentrates the attention on a sensation and cap-
tivates the sensorium (to prevent it from being diffused onto other
objects). All this cannot be put into fixed rules. Each operator,
with practice, comes to his own modus faciendi.
At Nancy, M. Liebeault, M. Beaunis, M. Liegois, and I have
each used suggestion in our own way. This is also a question of
personal experience and psychologic observation. Hypnotism is
learned, after a long time, under good direction, just like ausculta-
tion, laryngoscopy, and ophthalmoscopy. A person is not a hyp-
notist when he has hypnotized two or three subjects who hyp-
notize themselves without help . He is a hypnotist when, in a
hospital service where he has authority over the patients, he in-
fluences eight or nine subjects out of 10. So long as this result has
not been obtained, he should be reserved in his judgments and say
to himself that his education on the subject has not been com-
pleted. ' clearly why we have reason to say that everything is in suggestion .
A word on awakening hypnotic subjects: it is done most
simply by suggestion. I ordinarily say, '1t is all over. Wake up!"
Most are awakened . Some appear to have difficulty doing it, at
least in the first sessions. They seem not to hear. They don't have
enough initiative to spontaneously leave the hypnotic state. I em-
phasize. I say, "Your eyes are opening . You are awake!" Or,
strongly reinforcing the suggestion by a physical practice, I say to
NEW STUDIES IN HYPNOTISM 69
the assistants, while showing them an arbitrary point on the head
or the body, '1t is sufficient for me to touch this point to cause the
eyes to open immediately!" This method hardly ever fails. I touch
or press some small region and the awakening takes place. I never
employ any rubbing or blowing on the eyes. Awakening is never
easier than when one really understands the truth that everything
is in suggestion.
One day, Donato 66 recounted to me that he could not explain
this fact to himself. Some subjects hypnotized by him, in public,
were taken back under by certain people. And it sometimes hap-
pened that one of these subjects, after having been hypnotized
(with catalepsy and hallucinations of all kinds), couldn't be
awakened except with assistance. Blowing, slapping, throwing
cold water on them-nothing worked. Donato was called and
simply blew on the subject's face. Instantly they awakened! I ex-
plained the mechanism of the phenomenon to Donato, who
grasped it easily. The inexperienced subject wants to awaken the
subject, but the subject does not awaken right away. The operator
is disturbed and shows it. He rubs, blows, opens the subject's eyes,
and works away on him. The subject, deaf to the efforts and
disturbance of the entourage, is more and more confirmed in the
idea that his waking up is difficult. Then a man arrives in whom he
has confidence or who acts simply and with assurance.
At Nancy I saw a subject who had been hypnotized by a pass-
ing magnetizer and who occasionally experienced an attack of
spontaneous hypnotism. For hours he could not be awakened.
One day, one of our former clinic chiefs, expert in this matter, was
called to awaken him. He affirmed to the subject that he was going
to be awakened in a minute, by a touch on a certain spot on the
skull. At the end of this time, the subject's eyes opened.
The order to awaken is not always enough; it is calm affirma-
tion and self-confidence that the subject is going to awaken that is.
required. If I insist on this fact, it is for the purpose of showing
66
A Belgian stage hypnotist who toured France in the 1880's.