Hypnotism. Trance-Umbra.—Mr. Braid’s discovery—Trance-faculties manifested in the waking state—Self-induced waking clairvoyance—Conclusion.

It is an advantage attending a long and patient analysis of, and cautious theorizing upon, a new subject of inquiry, that when fresh facts and principles emerge in it, instead of disturbing such solid work as I have supposed, they but enrich and strengthen it, and find, as it were, prepared for them appropriate niches. Something of this satisfaction I experience, when I have to render tardy justice to Mr. Braid’s discovery, and to give an account of the wonders realized by Dr. Darling, Mr. Lewis, and others.

Or, I have observed, that trance, considered in reference to its production, has a twofold character. It presents itself either as a spontaneous seizure brought on unexpectedly by a continuance of mental or physical excitement or exhaustion; or as intentionally induced through the systematic direction by some second person,249 more or less cognisant what definite effects he can produce, of certain moral and physical influences upon the party intended to be wrought on. Mr. Braid has added a third causal difference to the theory of trance. He has shown that trance can be induced by the subject of it himself voluntarily, by the use of certain means, which call into operation a special principle. The effects which he obtained by these means, but which he perhaps studied too much to separate from the effects of mesmerism—these and their principle he denominated Hypnotism.

Again, I have shown that all the forms of trance may be, and require to be, arranged under five types—viz., death-trance, trance-coma, initial trance, half-waking trance, full-waking trance. I mentioned, besides, that in the manifestation of Zschokke’s seer-gift, and in the accounts which we receive of the performances called second-sight, the extended exoneural perception was introduced by a brief period, in which the performer was in a degree absorbed and lost, yet did not pass on into a second and separate phase of consciousness. He was still always himself, and observed and remembered as parts of his natural order of recollections the impressions which then occurred to him. This same state must be that which I have seen described as one peculiarly suited to the exhibition of phreno-mesmerism. Mr. Braid appears likewise often to have brought it on in his curative applications of hypnotism. But now it has new importance and distinctness conferred upon it, as being the state in which the wonderful phenomena of “mental suggestion” are best displayed, and in which conscious clairvoyance is manifested. As this state does not amount to complete trance, but as it is a fore-shadowing of it, as it were, I venture to propose for it the name of trance-umbra.

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I. Hypnotism.—Mr. Braid discovered that if certain sensitive persons fix their sight steadily upon a small bright object, held near and above the forehead, or their sight becoming fatigued, and the eyelids fall, if they keep their attention strained as if they were still observing the same object, both in the upward direction of the eye and in their thought, they lose themselves and go off into a state which, in its full development, is, in fact, initial trance, bordering often on trance-coma. The party thus fixed sometimes exhibited many of the humbler performances of ordinarily mesmerised persons. But Mr. Braid shall speak for himself; I quote from his Neurhypnology, published in London in 1843. “I requested,” narrates Mr. Braid, “a young gentleman present to sit down, and maintain a fixed stare at the top of a wine-bottle, placed so much above him as to produce a considerable strain on the eyes and eyelids, to enable him to maintain a steady view of the object. In three minutes his eyelids closed, a gush of tears ran down his cheeks, his head drooped, his face was slightly convulsed, he gave a groan, and instantly fell into profound sleep—the respiration becoming slow, deep, and sibilant, the right hand and arm being agitated by slight convulsive movements,” (p. 17.) Again, (p. 18,) “I called up,” continues Mr. Braid,251 “one of my men-servants, who knew nothing of mesmerism, and gave him such directions as were calculated to impress his mind with the idea, that his fixed attention was merely for the purpose of watching a chemical experiment in the preparation of some medicine; and being familiar with such he could feel no alarm. In two minutes and a half his eyelids closed slowly with a vibrating motion, his chin fell on his breast, he gave a deep sigh, and instantly was in a deep sleep, breathing loudly. In about one minute after his profound sleep, I roused him, and pretended to chide him for being so careless, said he ought to be ashamed of himself for not being able to attend to my instructions for three minutes without falling asleep, and ordered him down stairs. In a short time I recalled this young man and desired him to sit down once more, but to be careful not to fall asleep again, as on the former occasion. He sat down with this intention; but at the expiration of two minutes and a half, his eyelids closed, and exactly the same phenomena as in the former experiment ensued.” Mr. Braid adds, “I again tried the experiment of causing the first person spoken of to gaze on a different object to that used in the first experiment, but still, as I anticipated, the phenomena were the same. I also tried on him M. Lafontaine’s mode of mesmerising with the thumbs and eyes, and likewise by gazing on my eyes without contact; and still the effects were the same.”

It is indeed perfectly obvious that Mr. Braid succeeded in producing a heavy form of initial trance in these cases. Nor is it easy to get rid of the impression that the effect was not partly at least owing to his personal Od-influence. But, remembering what I witnessed of his performances, and construing candidly all his statements, I am disposed to believe that his method, adopted by the patient when in a room alone, upon himself, would throw susceptible persons into trance. Mr. Braid appears to me to have the double merit, first of having discovered the means of self-mesmerising—of so disturbing by very simple and harmless means the nervous system, that trance would appear without the influence of a second party to aid its supervention—and secondly, of having, at an early period, when prejudice ran very high in England against these practices, availed himself of this disguised mesmerism to do much good in the treatment of disease. Mr. Braid252 does not appear to have fallen on any instances of clairvoyance, but he narrates many observations relating to phreno-mesmerism.

II. Trance-Umbra.—This is the best title I can hit on to designate the peculiar condition, the study of which promises to exceed in interest that of any of the phases of perfect trance; inasmuch as in this state the same extraordinary powers are manifested as in trance, without the condition of an abstracted state of consciousness, which rendered the possession of those powers useless, at least, directly, to the person who manifested them. It is true that this law could be broken; the mesmeriser can desire an entranced clairvoyante to remember, when she awakes, any particular event or communication made by her. But for this exceptional power a special injunction or permit is necessary. In trance-umbra, on the contrary, the subject is throughout himself. When exhibiting the wildest phenomena he is conscious of what he is doing, and preserves afterwards as accurate a recollection of it as any of the spectators.

Then, how is trance-umbra induced? How is it known that the shadow of trance has enveloped the patient, and that, though quite himself to all appearance, he is in a state to manifest the highest trance-faculties?

The way to induce trance-umbra, is to administer a little dose of mesmerism. One operator, like Dr. Darling, (I quote from Dr. Gregory’s most instructive and interesting Letters on Animal Magnetism,) directs his patient to sit still with his eyes fixed, and his attention concentrated on a coin held in his hand, or on a double-convex bit of zinc with a central portion of copper so held. This is, in truth, a gentle dose of hypnotism. The patient looks in quiet repose at a small object held in his hand253 or his lap, instead of fatiguing his sensations by straining the eye-balls upwards. Suppose a group of a dozen persons sitting thus in a half-darkened, still room, preserving a studied quietude, and concentrating their attention on one point of easy vision; in from fifteen to twenty minutes one or more is found to be in the state of trance-umbra. Mr. Lewis (I quote again the same authority) employs a different process. He eyes his patients intently as they sit in a row before him, still and composed, with a concentrated will, and its full outward expression by him, to influence their psychical condition. In five minutes it often happens that the state of trance-umbra supervenes.

In the mean time, what has marked its arrival? The Rev. R.?S.?F. writes me, that he had been three times the subject of the first of the two methods: the operator was Mr. Stone, Lecturer at the Marylebone Scientific Institution. The first two experiments were successful, the third failed. Then Mr. F. writes, “The only circumstance which I noticed (bearing upon the above question) in myself, and which I afterwards found tallied with the experience of others, was this: On the two occasions when I was affected, after about ten minutes the coin began to disappear from my sight, and to reappear a confused, brilliant substance, similar to those appearances which remain on the retina after one has been looking towards the sun for a few minutes, and I seemed for the moment to have fallen into a half-dreamy state; but in the subsequent part of the experiments, I appeared to myself to be in my ordinary state. On the third occasion, when the experiment failed with myself and with all the others, (which I think might be accounted for by the accidental irregularity of the proceedings,) I did not experience the sensations mentioned above.” This account tallies with254 other evidence upon the point; a brief peri............