Chapter 9

As an addition to the investigations of Charcot and Dumont-Pallier, Brémaud, in 1884, made the discovery that there was a fourth hypnotic state, "fascination," which preceded the three others, and manifested itself by a tendency to muscular contractions, as well as through sensitiveness to hallucination and suggestion, but at the same time left to the subject a full consciousness of his surroundings and remembrance of what had taken place. Descourtis, in addition, perceived a similar condition in the transition from hypnotic sleep to waking, which he called _delire posthypnotique_, and, instead of using the word "fascination" to express the opening stage, he substituted "captation." According to him, the diagram would be the following:

This whole movement, which I have tried to sketch, and whose chief peculiarity is that it considers hypnotism a nervous malady, and one that must be treated clinically and nosographically, was opposed in 1880 in two directions--one source of opposition producing great results, while the other fell to the ground. The latter joined itself to the theory of the mesmerists, and tried, by means of exact experiments, to measure the fluid emanating from the human body--an undertaking which gave slight promise of any satisfactory result.

Baillif in his thesis (1878) and Chevillard in his (for spiritualists) very interesting books, tried, by means of various arguments, to uphold the fluidic explanation. Despine also thought that by its help he had been able to explain the phenomena; but it was Baréty who, in the year 1881, first turned general attention in this direction. According to him, mankind possesses a nerve force which emanates from him in different kinds of streams. Those coming from the eyes and fingers produce insensibility to pain, while those generated by the breath cause hypnotic conditions. This nerve force goes out into the ether, and there obeys the laws that govern light, being broken into spectra, etc.

Claude Perronnet has more lately advanced similar views, and his greatest work is now in press. Frederick W.H. Myers and Edmund Gurney sympathize with these views, and try to unite them with the mesmerist doctrine of personal influence and their theory of telepathy. The third champion in England of hypnotism, Prof. Hack Tuke, on the contrary, sympathizes entirely with the Parisian school, only differing from them in that he has experimented with satisfactory results upon healthy subjects. In France this view has lately been accepted by Dr. Bottey, who recognizes the three hypnotic stages in healthy persons, but has observed other phenomena in them, and vehemently opposes the conception of hypnotism as a malady. His excellently written book is particularly commended to those who wish to experiment in the same manner as the French investigator, without using hysterical subjects.

The second counter current that opposed itself to the French neuropathologists, and produced the most lasting impression, is expressed by the magic word "suggestion." A generation ago, Dr. Liebault, the patient investigator and skillful physician, had endeavored to make a remedial use of suggestion in his clinic at Nancy. Charles Richet and others have since referred to it, but Professor Bernheim was the first one to demonstrate its full significance in the realm of hypnotism. According to him, suggestion--that is, the influence of any idea, whether received through the senses or in a hypersensible manner (_suggestion mentale_)--is the key to all hypnotic phenomena. He has not been able in a single case to verify the bodily phenomena of _grandehypnotisme_ without finding suggestion the primary cause, and on this account denies the truth of the asserted physical causes. Bernheim says that when the intense expectance of the subject has produced a compliant condition, a peculiar capacity is developed to change the idea that has been received into an action as well as a great acuteness of acceptation, which together will produce all those phenomena that we should call by the name of "pathological sleep," since they are only separable in a gradual way from the ordinary sleep and dream conditions. Bernheim is particularly strenuous that psychology should appear in the foreground of hypnotism, and on this point has been strongly upheld by men like Professors Beaunis and Richet.

The possibility of suggestion in waking conditions, and also a long time after the sleep has passed off (_suggestions posthypnotiques ou suggestions a (longue) echeance_), as well as the remarkable capacity of subjects to change their personality (_changement de la personnalite objectivation des types_), have been made the subject of careful investigation. The voluntary production of bleeding and stigmata through spiritual influence has been asserted, particularly by Messrs. Tocachon, Bourru, and Burot. The judicial significance of suggestion has been discussed by Professor Liegeois and Dr. Ladame. Professor Pitres in Bordeaux is one of the suggestionists, though differing in many points from the Nancy school.

This whole tendency brings into prominence the psychical influence, while it denies the production of these results from purely physical phenomena, endeavoring to explain them in a different manner. These explanations carry us into two realms, the first of which has been lately opened, and at present seems to abound more in enigmas than in solutions.

_Metallotherapie_, which was called into existence by Dr. Burg, and further extended by Dr. Gellé, contains a special point of interest--the so-called transference in the case of hysterically or hypnotically affected persons. Transference is caused by electro-magnetism, which has this peculiarity--that in the case of specially sensitive persons it can transfer the bodily affection from left to right, and _vice versa_. The transference of paralysis, the cures attempted on this plan, and the so-called "psychical transference," which contains special interest for graphologists, are at the present time still open questions, as well as the closely connected theory of human polarity; and the odic experiments of Dr. Chazarain are yet waiting for their confirmation. At present the problem of the connection between magnetism and hypnotism is under investigation, and in such a manner that we may hope for a speedy solution.

Still stranger than these reports are the accounts of the distant operation of certain bodies; at least, they seem strange to those unacquainted with psychometry and the literature of the past century relating to this subject. Two physicians in Rochefort, Professors Bourru and Burot, in treating a hystero-epileptic person, found that gold, even when at a distance of fifteen centimeters, produced in him a feeling of unbearable heat. They continued these experiments with great care, and, after a number of trials, came to this conclusion--that in some persons certain substances, even when carefully separated from them by long distance, exercise exactly the same physiological influence as if introduced into their organism. In order to explain these phenomena, they refer to the radiating force of Baréty, an explanation neither satisfactory to themselves nor to others. Lately the distinguished Parisian physician, Dr. Luys, has confirmed by his experiments the existence of these phenomena, but he thinks the explanation referable to hyper-sensitiveness of the "_regions emotives et intellectuelles de l'encephale_" yet even he has not reached the kernel of the difficulty.

In close connection with action at a distance is the question of distant production of hypnotic sleep. For an answer to this problem, they are experimenting in both France and England; and Frederick W.H. Myers has thrown an entirely new light upon the subject by the investigations he is making upon a purely experimental basis. In Italy they have limited themselves to the study of isolated cases of hystero-hypnotism, except as the phenomena of magnetic fascination investigated by Donato have given rise to further research; but all the books I have seen upon this subject, as well as many by French authors, suffer from ignorance of the latest English discoveries.

With this I think that I have given a slight outline of the history of hypnotic investigation to the end of the year 1886. I shall attempt a criticism of this whole movement at some other time, as space is not afforded to me here; but I should like to make this statement now, that two of the characteristic indications of this period are of the gravest import--first the method ("Our work," says Richet, "is that of strictly scientific _testing_, _observation_, and _arrangement_"); and, secondly, the result. Hypnotism has been received into the realm of scientific investigation, and with this the foundation of a true experimental psychology has been laid.

MAX DESSOIR.

* * * * *

THE DUODENUM: A SIPHON TRAP.

By MAYO COLLIER, M.S. Lond., F.R.C.S. Eng.; Senior Assistant Surgeon, North-West London Hospital; Assistant Demonstrator of Anatomy, London Hospital Medical College.

We may take it for granted that all gases generated in the jejunum, ileum, and large intestines pass onward toward the anus, and there sooner or later escape. Fetid gases--except those generated in the stomach and duodenum--never pass upward, not even during vomiting due to hernia, obstruction, and other causes. Physiologists, it would appear, have never busied themselves to find an explanation for this apparent breach of the laws of gravity. The intestinal canal is a tube with various dilatations and constrictions, but at no spot except the pylorus does the constriction completely obliterate the lumen of the tube, and here only periodically. It is perfectly evident, then, that, unless some system of trap exists in the canal, gases are free to travel from below upward in obedience to the laws of gravity, and would, as a matter of fact, sooner or later do so. From the straight, course and vertical position of the oesophagus, a very slight pressure of gas in the stomach easily overcomes the closure of its cardiac sphincter and allows of escape. When the stomach has digested its contents and the pylorus is relaxed, gases generated in the duodenum can and do ascend into the stomach and so escape. Normally, no fetid gases are generated in the stomach or duodenum. If we follow the course of the intestines down, we find that the duodenum presents a remarkable curve.

Now, there are some points of great interest in connection with this remarkable, almost circular, curve of the duodenum. In the first place, this curve is a constant feature in all mammalians. Mr. Treves says it is one of the most constant features in the anatomy of the intestines in man, and, speaking of mammalians in general, that the curve of the duodenum varies in shape, but is never absent, becoming more complex in some of the higher primates, but seldom less distinct than in man. In birds the duodenum always forms a long loop embracing the pancreas.

A second point of great interest is the absolute constancy and fixation of its terminal portion at the point of junction with the jejunum, more correctly termed second ascending or fourth portion. Mr. Treves says that this fourth portion is never less than an inch, and is practically constant. It extends along the side of the left crus of the diaphragm opposite the second lumbar vertebra, and is there firmly fixed to the front of the aorta and crus of the diaphragm by a strong fibro-muscular band, slinging it up and absolutely retaining it in position. This band has been termed the "musculus suspensorius duodeni," but is chiefly composed of white fibrous tissue, and is more of the native of a ligament than a muscle. This ligament is always present, and its position is never altered. The curve of the duodenum may descend as far as the iliac fossa, but the terminal portion is always maintained by this band in its normal position.

Another point of great constancy is the position of the pancreas and its relation to the curve of the duodenum. The duodenum always curves round the head of the pancreas and is, as it were, moulded on it and retained in position by it. In birds the duodenum always forms a long loop embracing the pancreas. Further, the ducts of the liver and pancreas always open into the center Of the duodenum, either separately or by a common opening.

Now, the absolute constancy of the curve of the duodenum, the complete fixation of its fourth portion, the position of the pancreas, and the place of entry of the ducts of the pancreas and liver, are all component parts of a siphon trap, whereby gases generated below the duodenum are prevented from passing upward. A reference to the accompanying diagrams will make this quite clear. A is a diagram of a siphon trap copied from Parkes' hygiene. B is a very diagrammatic outline of the stomach and duodenum, _a_ is intended to mark the position of the fibrous band, or musculus suspensorius duodeni; and _b_ the position of entry of the ducts of the liver and pancreas. The duodenum, then, is a siphon trap, and a most efficient one. Now, the efficiency of a siphon trap depends not only on its shape, but what is absolutely essential is that the curve must be kept constantly full of fluid, without which it ceases to be a trap, and would allow gases to ascend freely. The position of the place of entry of the ducts of the pancreas and liver assures that this _sine qua non_ shall be present. The discharge of the secretions of the pancreas and liver, although more active during and after feeding, is practically constant, and so insures in an admirable manner that the curve on which the efficiency of the trap depends shall be constantly kept full not only with fluid, but, as I would suggest, antiseptic fluid. There is no other trap in the intestinal canal, but the peculiar position of the colon would no doubt have more or less effect in preventing gases ascending through the ileo-cæcal valve.--_Lancet._

* * * * *

WISCONSIN CRANBERRY CULTURE.

Among the many thousands of well informed persons with whom the cranberry is a staple article of food throughout the autumn and winter, and who especially derive from its pungent flavor sharp relish for their Thanksgiving and Christmas turkey, not one in ten has any definite idea as to where the delicious fruit comes from, or of the method of growing and harvesting it. Most people are, however, aware that it is raised on little "truck patches" somewhere down in New Jersey or about Cape Cod, and some have heard that it is gleaned from the swamps in the Far West by Indians and shipped to market by white traders. But to the great majority its real history is unknown.

Yet the cranberry culture is an industry in which millions of dollars are invested in this country, and it gives employment, for at least a portion of each year, to many thousands of people. In the East, where the value of an acre of even swamp land may run up into the thousands of dollars, a cranberry marsh of five or ten acres is considered a large one, and, cultivated in the careful, frugal style in vogue there, may yield its owner a handsome yearly income. But in the great, boundless West, where land, and more especially swamp land, may be had for from $1 to $5 an acre, we do these things differently, if not better.

The State of Wisconsin produces nearly one-half of the cranberries annually grown in the United States. There are marshes there covering thousands of acres, whereon this fruit grows wild, having done so even as far back as the oldest tradition of the native red man extends. In many cases the land on which the berries grow has been bought from the government by individuals or firms, in vast tracts, and the growth of the fruit promoted and encouraged by a system of dikes and dams whereby the effects of droughts, frost, and heavy rainfalls are counteracted to almost any extent desired. Some of these holdings aggregate many thousands of acres under a single ownership; and after a marsh of this vast extent has been thoroughly ditched and good buildings, water works, etc., are erected on it, its value may reach many thousands of dollars, while the original cost of the land may have been merely nominal.

Large portions of Jackson, Wood, Monroe, Marinette, Juneau, and Green counties are natural cranberry marshes. The Wisconsin Valley division of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway runs through a closely continuous marsh, forty miles long and nearly as wide, as level as a floor, which is an almost unbroken series of cranberry farms. The Indians, who inhabited this country before the white man came, used to congregate here every fall, many of them traveling several hundred miles, to lay in their winter supply of berries. Many thousands of barrels are now annually shipped from this region; and thus this vast area, which to the stranger looking upon it would appear utterly worthless, is as valuable as the richest farming lands in the State.

In a few instances, however, this fruit is cultivated in Wisconsin in a style similar to that practiced in the East; that is, by paring the natural sod from the bog, covering the earth to a depth of two or three inches with sand, and then transplanting the vines into soil thus prepared. The weeds are then kept down for a year or two, when the vines take full possession of the soil, and further attention is unnecessary. The natural "stand" of the vines in the sod is so productive, however, and the extent of country over which bountiful nature has distributed them so vast, that few operators have thought it necessary to incur the expense of special culture.

One of the best and most perfectly equipped marshes in Wisconsin is owned by Mr. G.B. Sackett, of Berlin. It is situated four miles north of that village, and comprises 1,600 acres, nearly all of which is a veritable bog, and is covered with a natural and luxuriant growth of cranberry vines. A canal has been cut from the Fox River to the southern limit of the marsh, a distance of 4,400 ft. It is 45 ft. wide, and the water stands in it to a depth of nine feet, sufficient to float fair sized steamboats. At the intersection of the canal with the marsh steam water works have been erected, with flood gates and dams by means of which the entire marsh may be flooded to a depth of a foot or more when desired. There are two engines of 150 horse power each, and two pumps that are capable of raising 80,000 gallons per minute.

When, in early autumn, the meteorological conditions indicate the approach of frost, the pumps may he put to work in the afternoon and the berries be effectually covered by water and thus protected before nightfall. At sunrise the gates are opened and the water allowed to run off again, so that the pickers may proceed with their work. The marsh is flooded to a depth of about two feet at the beginning of each winter and allowed to remain so until spring, the heavy body of ice that forms preventing the upheaval that would result from freezing and thawing--a natural process which, if permitted, works injury to the vines.

There is a three-story warehouse on the marsh, with a capacity of 20,000 barrels of berries, and four large two-story houses capable of furnishing shelter for 1,500 pickers. The superintendent's residence is a comfortable cottage house, surrounded by giant oaks and elms, and stands near the warehouse on an "island," or small tract of high, dry land near the center of the great marsh. The pickers' quarters stand on another island about 200 yards away.

A plank roadway, built on piles, about two feet above the level of the ground, leads from the mainland to the warehouse and other buildings, a distance of more than half a mile. Several wooden railways diverge from the warehouse to all parts of the marsh, and on them flat cars, propelled by hand, are sent out at intervals during the picking season to bring in the berries from the hands of the pickers. Each picker is provided with a crate, holding just a bushel, which is kept close at hand. The berries are first picked into tin pans and pails, and from these emptied into the crates, in which they are carried to the warehouse, where an empty crate is given the picker in exchange for a full one. Thus equipped and improved, the Sackett marsh is valued at $150,000. Thirteen thousand barrels have been harvested from this great farm in a single season. The selling price in the Chicago market varies, in different seasons, from $8 to $16 per barrel. There are several other marshes of various sizes in the vicinity.

The picking season usually begins about Sept. 1, and from that time until Oct. 1 the marshes swarm with men, women, and children, ranging in age from six to eight years, made up from almost every nationality under the sun. Bohemians and Poles furnish the majority of the working force, while Germans, Irish, Swedes, Norwegians, Danes, negroes, Indians, and Americans contribute to the motley contingent. They come from every direction and from various distances, some of them traveling a hundred miles or more to secure a few days' or weeks' work. Almost every farmer or woodsman living anywhere in the region of the marshes turns out with his entire family; and the families of all the laboring men and mechanics of the surrounding towns and cities join in the general hegira to the bogs, and help to harvest the fruit. Those living within a few miles go out in the morning and return home at night, taking their noon-day meal with them, while those from a distance take provisions and bedding with them and camp in the buildings provided for that purpose by the marsh owners, doing their own cooking on the stoves and with the fuel furnished them.

The wages vary from fifty cents to a dollar a bushel, owing to the abundance or scarcity of the fruit. A good picker will gather from three to four bushels a day where the yield is light, and five to six bushels where it is good. The most money is made by families numbering from half a dozen to a dozen members. Every chick and child in such families over six years old is required to turn out and help swell the revenue of the little household, and the frugal father often pockets ten to twenty dollars a day as the fruits of the combined labors. The pickers wade into the grass, weeds, and vines, however wet with dew or rain, or however deeply flooded underneath, making not the slightest effort to keep even their feet dry, and after an hour's work in the morning are almost as wet as if they had swum a river. Many of them wade in barefooted, others wearing low cowhide shoes, and their feet, at least, are necessarily wet all day long. In many cases their bodies are thinly clad, and they must inevitably suffer in frosty mornings and evenings and on the raw, cold, rainy days that are frequent in the autumn months in this latitude; yet they go about their work singing, shouting, and jabbering as merrily as a party of comfortably clad school children at play. How any of them avoid colds, rheumatism, and a dozen other diseases is a mystery; and yet it is rarely that one of them is ill from the effects of this exposure. As many as 3000 or 4000 pickers are sometimes employed on a single marsh when there is a heavy crop, and an army of such ragamuffins as get together for this purpose, scattered over a bog in confusion and disorder, presents a strange and picturesque appearance.