Chapter 8

It remains for us to ascertain to what degree of approximation we can determine _p_ and _q_. To find _q_ we must first construct a column of mercury of known dimensions; this problem was solved by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures for the construction of the legal ohm. The legal ohm is supposed to have a resistance equal to 106.00 times that of a cube of mercury of 0.01 meter, side measurement. The approximation obtained is comprised between 1/50000 and 1/200000. To obtain _p_, we must be able to construct a plane condenser of known capacity. The difficulty here consists in knowing with a sufficient approximation the thickness of the stratum of air. We may employ as armatures two surfaces of glass, ground optically, silvered to render them conductive, but so slightly as to obtain by transparence Fizeau's interference rings. Fizeau's method will then permit us to arrive at a close approximation. In fine, then, we may, _a priori_, hope to reach an approximation of one hundred-thousandth of the value of _pq_.

Independently of the use which may be made of it for measuring time in absolute value, the apparatus described possesses peculiar properties. It constitutes a kind of clock which indicates, registers, and, if needful, corrects automatically its own variations of speed. The apparatus being regulated so that the magnetic needle may be at zero, if the speed of the commutator is slightly increased, the equilibrium is disturbed and the magnetic needle deviates in the corresponding direction; if on the contrary the speed diminishes, the action of the antagonistic circuit predominates, and the needle deviates in the contrary direction. These deviations, when small, are proportional to the variations of speed. They may be, in the first place, observed. They may, further, be registered, either photographically or by employing a Redier apparatus, like that which M. Mascart has adapted to his quadrant electrometer; finally, we may arrange the Redier to react upon the speed so as to reduce its variations to zero. If these variations are not completely annulled, they will still be registered and can be taken into account.

As an indicator of variations this apparatus can be of remarkable sensitiveness, which may be increased indefinitely by enlarging its dimensions.

With a battery of 10 volts, a condenser of a microfarad, 10 discharges per second, and a Thomson's differential galvanometer sensitive to 10^{-10} amperes, we obtain already a sensitiveness of 1/1000000, i.e., a variation of 1/1000000 in the speed is shown after some seconds of a deviation of one millimeter. Even the stroboscopic method does not admit of such sensitiveness.

We may therefore find, with a very close approximation, a speed always the same on condition that the solid parts of the apparatus (the condenser and the resistance) are protected from causes of variation and used always at the same temperature. Doubtless, a well-constructed astronomical clock maintains a very uniform movement; but the electric clock is placed in better conditions for invariability, for all the parts are massive and immovable; they are merely required to remain unchanged, and there is no question of the wear and tear of wheel-work, the oxidation of oils, or the variations of weight. In other words, the system formed by a condenser and a resistance constitutes a standard of time easy of preservation.

* * * * *

NEW METHOD OF MAINTAINING THE VIBRATION OF A PENDULUM.

A recent number of the _Comptes Rendus_ contains a note by M.J. Carpentier describing a method of maintaining the vibrations of a pendulum by means of electricity, which differs from previous devices of the same character in that the impulse given to the pendulum at each vibration is independent of the strength of the current employed, and that the pendulum itself is entirely free, save at the point of suspension. The vibrations are maintained, not by direct impulsion, but by a slight horizontal displacement of the point of suspension in alternate directions.

This, as M. Carpentier observes, is the method which we naturally adopt in order to maintain the amplitude of swing of a heavy body suspended from a cord held in the hand. The required movement of the point of suspension is effected by means of a polarized relay, through the coils of which the current is periodically reversed by the action of the pendulum, in a manner which will presently be explained. The armature of the relay oscillates between two stops whose distance apart is capable of fine adjustment.

It is clear, therefore, that the impulse is independent of the strength of the current in the relay, provided that the armature is brought up to the stop on either side. The reversal of the current is effected by means of a small magnet carried by the bob of the pendulum, and which as it passes underneath the point of suspension is brought close to a soft iron armature, which has the form of an arc of a circle described about the point of suspension. This armature is pivoted at its center, and thus executes vibrations synchronously with those of the pendulum. These vibrations are adjusted to a very narrow range, but are sufficient to close the contacts of a commutator which reverses the current at each semi-vibration of the pendulum.

The beauty and ingenuity of this device will readily be appreciated.

* * * * *

DR. MORELL MACKENZIE.

The name of the great English laryngologist, which has long been honored by scientists of England and the Continent, has lately become familar to everyone, even in unprofessional circles, in Germany because of his operations on the Crown Prince's throat. If his wide experience and great skill enable him to permanently remove the growth from the throat of his royal patient, if his diagnosis and prognosis are confirmed, so that no fear need be entertained for the life and health of the Crown Prince, the English specialist will certainly deserve the most sincere thanks of the German nation. Every phase of this treatment, every new development, is watched with suspense and hope.

Many have been unable to suppress the expression of regret that this important case was not under the care of a German, and part of the press look upon it as unjust treatment of the German specialists. But science is international, it knows no political boundaries, and the choice of Dr. Mackenzie by the family of the Crown Prince, whose sympathy with England is natural, cannot be considered a slight to German physicians when it is taken into consideration that the German authorities pronounced the growth suspicious and advised a difficult and doubtful operation, and that Prof. v. Bergman recommended that a foreign authority be consulted. As Dr. Mackenzie removed the obstruction, which had already become threatening and, in fact, dangerous, causing a loss of voice, and promised to remove any new growth from the inside without danger to the patient, the Crown Prince naturally trusted him. Since Virchow has made a microscopic examination of the part which was cut away, and has declared the new growth to be benign, all Germans should watch the results of Dr. Mackenzie's operations with sympathy, trusting that all further growth will be prevented, and that the Crown Prince will be restored to the German people in his former state of health.

Dr. Morell Mackenzie has lately reached his fiftieth year, and has attained the height of his fame as an author and practitioner. He was born at Leytonston in 1837, and studied first in London. At the age of twenty-two he passed his examination, then practiced as physician in the London Hospital, and obtained his degree in 1862. A year later he received the Jackson prize from the Royal Society of Surgeons for his treatment of a laryngeal case.

He completed his studies in Paris, Vienna (with Siegmund), and Budapest. In the latter place he worked with Czermak, making a special study of the laryngoscope. Later he published an excellent work on "Diseases of the Throat and Nose," which was the fruit of twelve years' work. The evening before the day on which this work was to have been issued, the whole edition was destroyed by a fire which occurred in the printing establishment, and had to be reprinted from the proof sheets, which were saved. In 1870 his work "On Growths in the Throat" appeared, and he has also published many articles in the _British Medical Journal_, the _Lancet_, _Medical Times and Gazette_, etc., which have been translated into different languages, making his name renowned all over Europe.

Since he founded the first English hospital for diseases of the throat and chest, in London in 1863, and held the position of lecturer on diseases of the throat in the London Medical College, his career has been watched with interest by the public, and his practice in England is remarkable. Therefore it is no wonder that his lately published work "On the Hygiene of the Vocal Organs" has reached its fourth edition already. This work is read not only by physicians, but also by singers and lecturers.

As a learned man in his profession, as an experienced diagnostician, and as a skillful and fortunate practitioner, he is surpassed by none; and his ability will be well known far beyond the borders of Great Britain if fortune favors him and he restores the future Emperor of Germany to his former strength and vigor, without which we cannot imagine this knightly form. The certainty with which Dr. Mackenzie speaks of permanent cures which he has effected in similar cases, together with the clear and satisfactory report of the great pathologist Virchow, lead us to look to the future with confidence.--_Illustrirte Zeitung._

* * * * *

HYPNOTISM IN FRANCE.[1]

[Footnote 1: Translated for _Science_ from _Der Spinx_.]

The voluntary production of those abnormal conditions of the nerves which to-day are denoted by the term "hypnotic researches" has manifested itself in all ages and among most of the nations that are known to us. Within modern times these phenomena were first reduced to a system by Mesmer, and, on this account, for the future deserve the attention of the scientific world. The historical description of this department, if one intends to give a connected account of its development, and not a series of isolated facts, must begin with a notice of Mesmer's personality, and we must not confound the more recent development of our subject with its past history.

The period of mesmerism is sufficiently understood from the numerous writings on the subject, but it would be a mistake to suppose that in Braid's "Exposition of Hypnotism" the end of this subject had been reached. In a later work I hope to show that the fundamental ideas of biomagnetism have not only had in all periods of this century capable and enthusiastic advocates, but that even in our day they have been subjected to tests by French and English investigators from which they have issued triumphant.

The second division of this historical development is carried on by Braid, whose most important service was emphasizing the subjectivity of the phenomena. Without any connection with him, and yet by following out almost exactly the same experiments, Professor Heidenhain reached his physiological explanations. A third division is based upon the discovery of the hypnotic condition in animals, and connects itself to the _experimentum mirabile_. In 1872 the first writings on this subject appear from the pen of the physiologist Czermak; and since then the investigations have been continued, particularly by Professor Preyer.

While England and Germany were led quite independently to the study of the same phenomena, France experienced a strange development, which shows, as nothing else could, how truth everywhere comes to the surface, and from small beginnings swells to a flood which carries irresistibly all opposition with it. This fourth division of the history of hypnotism is the more important, because it forms the foundation of a transcendental psychology, and will exert a great influence upon our future culture; and it is this division to which we wish to turn our attention. We have intentionally limited ourselves to a chronological arrangement, since a systematic account would necessarily fall into the study of single phenomena, and would far exceed the space offered to us.

James Braid's writings, although they were discussed in detail in Littré and Robin's "Lexicon," were not at all the cause of Dr. Philips' first books, who therefore came more independently to the study of the same phenomena. Braid's theories became known to him later by the observations made upon them in Béraud's "Elements of Physiology" and in Littré's notes in the translation of Müller's "Handbook of Physiology;" and he then wrote a second brochure, in which he gave in his allegiance to braidism. His principal effort was directed to withdrawing the veil of mystery from the occurrences, and by a natural explanation relegating them to the realm of the known. The trance caused by regarding fixedly a gleaming point produces in the brain, in his opinion, an accumulation of a peculiar nervous power, which he calls "electrodynamism." If this is directed in a skillful manner by the operator upon certain points, it manifests itself in certain situations and actions that we call hypnotic. Beyond this somewhat questionable theory, both books contained a detailed description of some of the most important phenomena; but with the practical meaning of the phenomena, and especially with their therapeutic value, the author concerned himself but slightly. Just on account of this pathological side, however, a certain attention has been paid to hypnotism up to the present time.

In the year 1847 two surgeons in Poictiers, Drs. Ribaut and Kiaros, employed hypnotism with great success in order to make an operation painless. "This long and horrible work," says a journal of the day, "was much more like a demonstration in a dissecting room than an operation performed upon a living being." Although this operation produced such an excitement, yet it was twelve years later before decisive and positive official intelligence was given of these facts by Broca, Follin, Velpeau, and Guérinau. But these accounts, as well as the excellent little book by Dr. Azam, shared the fate of their predecessors. They were looked upon by students with distrust, and by the disciples of Mesmer with scornful contempt.

The work of Demarquay and Giraud Teulon showed considerable advance in this direction. The authors, indeed, fell back upon the theory of James Braid, which they called stillborn, and of which they said, "_Elle est restée accrochée en route_;" but they did not satisfy themselves with a simple statement of facts, as did Gigot Suard in his work that appeared about the same time. Through systematic experiments they tried to find out where the line of hypnotic phenomena intersected the line of the realm of the known. They justly recognized that hypnotism and hysteria have many points of likeness, and in this way were the precursors of the present Parisian school. They say that from magnetic sleep to the hypnotic condition an iron chain can be easily formed from the very same organic elements that we find in historical conditions.

At the same time, as if to bring an experimental proof of this assertion, Lasigue published a report on catalepsy in persons of hysterical tendencies, which be afterward incorporated into his larger work. Among his patients, those who were of a quiet and lethargic temperament, by simply pressing down the eyelids, were made to enter into a peculiar state of languor, in which cataleptic contractions were easily produced, and which forcibly recalled hypnotic phenomena. "One can scarcely imagine," says the author, "a more remarkable spectacle than that of a sick person sunk in deep sleep, and insensible to all efforts to arouse him, who retains every position in which he is placed, and in it preserves the immobility and rigidity of a statue." But this impulse also was in vain, and in only a few cases were the practical tests followed up with theoretical explanations.

Unbounded enthusiasm and unjust blame alike subsided into a silence that was not broken for ten years. Then Charles Richet, a renowned scientist, came forward in 1875, impelled by the duty he felt he owed as a priest of truth, and made some announcements concerning the phenomena of somnambulism; and in countless books, all of which are worthy of attention, he has since then considered the problem from its various sides.

He separates somnambulism into three periods. The word here is used for this whole class of subjects as Richet himself uses it, viz., _torpeur_, _excitation_, and _stupeur_. In the first, which is produced by the so-called magnetic passes and the fixing of the eyes, silence and languor come over the subject. The second period, usually produced by constant repetition of the experiment, is characterized chiefly by sensibility to hallucination and suggestion. The third period has as its principal characteristics supersensibility of the muscles and lack of sensation. Yet let it be noticed that these divisions were not expressed in their present clearness until 1880; while in the years between 1872 and 1880, from an entirely different quarter, a similar hypothesis was made out for hypnotic phenomena.

Jean Martin Charcot, the renowned neurologist of the Parisian Salpetriere, without exactly desiring it, was led into the study of artificial somnambulism by his careful experiments in reference to hysteria, and especially by the question of _metallotherapie_, and in the year 1879 had prepared suitable demonstrations, which were given in public lectures at the Salpetriere. In the following years he devoted himself to closer investigation of this subject, and was happily and skillfully assisted by Dr. Paul Richer, with whom were associated many other physicians, such as Bourneville, Regnard, Fere, and Binet. The investigations of these men present the peculiarity that they observe hypnotism from its clinical and nosographical side, which side had until now been entirely neglected, and that they observe patients of the strongest hysterical temperaments. "If we can reasonably assert that the hypnotic phenomena which depend upon the disturbance of a regular function of the organism demand for their development a peculiar temperament, then we shall find the most marked phenomena when we turn to an hysterical person."

The inferences of the Parisian school up to this time are somewhat the following, but their results, belonging almost entirely to the medical side of the question, can have no place in this discussion. They divide the phenomena of hystero-hypnotism, which they also call _grande hysterie_, into three plainly separable classes, which Charcot designates catalepsy, lethargy, and somnambulism.

Catalepsy is produced by a sudden sharp noise, or by the sight of a brightly gleaming object. It also produces itself in a person who is in a state of lethargy, and whose eyes are opened. The most striking characteristic of the cataleptic condition is immobility. The subject retains every position in which he is placed, even if it is an unnatural one, and is only aroused by the action of suggestion from the rigor of a statue to the half life of an automaton. The face is expressionless and the eyes wide open. If they are closed, the patient falls into a lethargy.

In this second condition, behind the tightly closed lids, the pupils of the eyes are convulsively turned upward. The body is almost entirely without sensation or power of thought. Especially characteristic of lethargy is the hyper-excitability of the nerves and muscles (_hyperexcitabilite neuromusculaire_), which manifests itself at the slightest touch of any object. For instance, if the extensor muscles of the arm are lightly touched, the arm stiffens immediately, and is only made flexible again by a hard rubbing of the same muscles. The nerves also react in a similar manner. The irritation of a nerve trunk not only contracts all the small nerves into which it branches, but also all those muscles through which it runs.

Finally, the somnambulistic condition proceeds from catalepsy or from lethargy by means of a slight pressure upon the _vertex_, and is particularly sensitive to every psychical influence. In some subjects the eyes are open, in others closed. Here, also, a slight irritation produces a certain amount of rigor in the muscle that has been touched, but it does not weaken the antagonistic muscle, as in lethargy, nor does it vanish under the influence of the same excitement that has produced it. In order to put an end to the somnambulistic condition, one must press softly upon the pupil of the eye, upon which the subject becomes lethargic, and is easily roused by breathing upon him. In this early stage, somnambulism appears very infrequently.

Charcot's school also recognize the existence of compound conditions, the history of whose symptoms we must not follow here. These slightly sketched results, as well as a number of other facts, were only obtained in the course of several years; yet in 1882 the fundamental investigations of this school were considered virtually concluded. Then Dumont-Pallier, the head of the Parisian Hospital Pitié, came forward with a number of observations, drawn also exclusively from the study of hystero-hypnotism, and yet differing widely from those reached by the physicians of the Salpetriere. In a long series of communications, he has given his views, which have in their turn been violently attacked, especially by Magnin and Bérillon. I give only the most important points.

According to these men, the hyper-excitability of the nerves and muscles is present not only in the lethargic condition, but in all three periods; and in order to prove this, we need only apply the suitable remedy, which must be changed for each period and every subject. Slight irritations of the skin prove this most powerfully. A drop of warm water or a ray of sunshine produces contractions of a muscle whose skin covering they touch.

Dumont-Pallier and Magnin accede to the theory of intermediate stages, and have tried to lay down rules for them with as great exactness as Charcot's school. They also are very decided about the three periods, whose succession does not appear to them as fixed; but they discovered a new fundamental law which regulates the production as well as the cessation of the condition--_La cause qui fait, defait_; that is, the stimulus which produces one of the three periods needs only to be repeated in order to do away with that condition. From this the following diagram of hypnotic conditions is evolved:

And, furthermore, Dumont-Pallier should be considered as the founder of a series of experiments, for he was the first one to show in a decisive manner that the duality of the cerebral system was proved by these hypnotic phenomena; and his works, as well as those of Messrs. Bérillon and Descourtis, have brought to light the following facts: Under hypnotic conditions, the psychical activity of a brain hemisphere may be suppressed without nullifying the intellectual activity or consciousness. Both hemispheres may be started at the same time in different degrees of activity; and also, when the grade is the same, they may be independently the seat of psychical manifestations which are in their natures entirely different. In close connection with this and with the whole doctrine of hemi-hypnotism, which is founded upon these facts, stand the phenomena of thought transference, which we must consider later.