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��Iccturei" on phjsiology at U'oatrainsler hospital. says of himself at tifst, " I was not iiiicon- Bcious, but I seemed U> exist in liiiplicate ; my iuiier Helf appeared to be tlioroiiglily alive to all that was going on, but made up its mind not to control or interferL' with the acts of the outer self:" and later. "I knew |)erfeclly well that I was playing the fool, i.e., that my onter self was doing so, the inner self looking on, too idle to interfei-e ; " and Inter still, " Here I appear to have been absolutely unconscious for some moments." Another subject saj-s, ■' Mr. Hansen told me that my hair was on fire. I touched roy head, and saw that he was wrong. He then told me to put my head into cold wator. diiecting ine at the same time to a gas-biiiner. I fi;lt it was not water : I felt the heat, but yet I could not refuse putting down my head and trying to wash it." Voluntary vontrol over thought and uclion is suspended ; reflex action of the cerebral cort«x, in response to suggestions from without, comes into play ; nnd. so long oa consciousness is retained, the perception of this automatic cei'ebral action conveys the impression of a dual existence. Dr. Tuke's theory of the liy|>Hottc state does not differ (Vom that of Haideuhain ; he holds that part of the cerebral cortex is exhausteil by prolonged and monotonous excitation of certain sensory nerves, and that other parts, unexhausted, respond all the more aoutelj' to stimulation. Whether hyjinotism is injurious to the subject, or whether it has any therapeu- tic action, are (juestions that remain undecided. Mr. North found, after the thiid and last ex- periment tried u|>on him, that any exercise of close attention tended to bring on the same sensations as those which ushered in the hyp- notic sleep.
From observations made upon patients nt the Salpetri^rc who were subject to hysteria major, Charcot and Richer were led to dislin- guish three distinct forms of iiypnotism, — the cataleptic, the lethargic, and the soinuambulis- tic. The last is the form which hears the closest resemblance to the ordinary mesmeric trance. In the cataleptic state, the limbs of the patient remain for a long time, and withotit eflbrt, in any position in which they may be placed ; in the lethargic the muscles are re- laxed, but they contract stiongly and <1efiDitcly under gentle mechanical stimulation (hyper- excitdbilil4 nenromuactdii[re dea hifpnotigueg, first observed by Mr. Charcot in 1878). The lethargic subject may be made cataleptic by simply pulling open the eyelids and exposing the eyes to a bright light : closing the eyes is sufficient to put him back into the condition of
��lethargy. But, wh.it is most remarkable, if on* eye is kept open and the other shut, the sin- gular phenomenon is witnessed of an individ- ual divided into two parts liy the median plane. One half of the bo<Iy, that which corresponds to the closed eye, presents the muscular aus- ceptiCiilit<i' characteristic of the lethargic state : the other, corresponding to the open eye, is in a condition of catalepsy. Mr. Charcot very"' proijerly says, that to suppose that an ignorant person. ex|>osed for the first time to this ex» pe'riment, should be able to invent such .111 extraordinarj- phenorueuon as this, would ba 'tnily childish.' But. besides Ihis presump- tion, he has an infallible method of detecting simulation. A very vigorous person, not hyp- notized, can keep his arm extended as long as the cataleptic : but it is useless for him to try to pretend that it does not fatigue him. The operator has only to attach a pneumograph to his chest. The tracing which rasters his respirations soon discloses great irregularity in their rhythm and their volume, and in this way his own muscles arc forced to write down the evidence of his attempted deception.
The experiments of Charcot and Richer (Archives de neurvlogie) are conducted with a carefulness and ingenuity which should recom- mend them as models to the American society for psychical rcsearcli.
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��In the study of Uomau law the institution of agnation is discovered. By it descent and inheritance are in the male Une. Among most of the tribes of North America, Moi^an has shown that uterine desceut and inheritance are established by law. In the study of these forms of descent among various peoples of the earth, Morgan came to the conclusion tluik. uterine descent is everywhere the charact«riatii of primiti\'e society ; that it is primordial ibJ savagery ; and he attempted to account for tbS'fl change fi»m female to male descent.
There ia yet another institution set IbrtU inl Roman law, called cognation, which is desoent-l and inheritance in the male and female linea, f and which is found more fidly developed in tha I institutions of modern civilisation. I
Since Morgan's writings were published, tli» I universality of uterine descent, or mother- rights (viuiterrecM). in primitive society, has been T afflrmed and denied bv various writers ; but J
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