An entire cessation of the functions of any sense organ can be induced in the same way as a negative hallucination. "You can no longer hear," "You are deaf," or "You are blind": these words suffice to deprive the hypnotic of the corresponding sense-perceptions. Not only does he cease to recognize any particular object, but the sense organ affected is insusceptible to anything. A command suffices to restore the functions (sight, hearing, etc.). It is certain that the blindness and deafness induced in this way are of a mental nature, for the corresponding organ of sense performs its functions, though the impressions do not reach the consciousness. In the same way the sight of one eye can be prevented, though the other can see as usual; a one-sided amaurosis can be created (Borel), or even hemianopsia (Willy).

Common sensation is influenced in hypnosis in the same way as the functions of the organs of sense, though it is a moot point whether disturbances occur without suggestion. It cannot be doubted that the excitement alone sometimes causes a feeling of oppression, probably of mental origin, but not necessarily attributable to suggestion. At all events, we can influence common sensation very materially by suggestion in hypnosis. A feeling of fatigue often appears in the lightest hypnosis, and may also exist in the deeper stages. In other respects also we are able to influence common sensation in hypnosis. This is not surprising when we consider that it is exactly the common sensations which are most under the influence of mental processes. Just as looking down from a tower causes giddiness, as the thought of repugnant food produces disgust, so we can call up these and related phenomena, or cause them to disappear, by suggestion. It is in this direction that the physician has to record the most striking successes, since the common sensations, of which pain is one, are the cause of most of the complaints we hear of. Anything that we can induce by a mental process, we can banish by suggestion.

I say to a subject who complains of want of appetite, "The loss of appetite has disappeared; you are hungry." I can cause another to feel thirst. Debove, on the other hand, has induced loss of appetite by suggestion to such an extent and for so long a period that the person concerned took no solid food for fourteen days. Further, it is possible up to a certain point to satisfy the hunger and thirst of subjects in deep hypnosis by merely suggested food and drink, as Fillassier informs us. It is a pity, however, that this result can only be obtained with a few persons and in a limited measure, for otherwise our politicians would no longer need to puzzle their heads over social questions and the feeding of the masses. Sexual feeling can also be produced by suggestion. Leopold Casper tells of a case in which Tissie hypnotized a patient and suggested to him that the right ring-finger should indicate sexual desire and the left abstinence. When the patient awoke, contact with the right finger caused sexual excitement; contact with the left subdued it. Once Tissie forgot to remove the suggestion, and the consequence was that for twenty-four hours the patient was unable to refrain from coitus and masturbation, as well as spontaneous emissions. Indirect methods often produce the desired result.

For example, a feeling of disgust can sometimes be induced by suggesting to the patient that repugnant food has been placed before him. An easy way of inducing a feeling of suffocation is to suggest that the patient is drowning.

Abnormalities of voluntary movement apart, nearly all the phenomena of suggestion hitherto described are the exclusive privilege of the second group of hypnotic states. I come now to some other physical functions which require a deep hypnotic state if they are to be influenced. I mention, first of all, the phenomena of that part of the muscular system which is normally independent of the will.

We will here, first of all, consider the circulation of the blood and the respiration. A large number of physiological investigations has been made in this field during hypnosis, in order to decide what is the state of the pulse and respiration without suggestion, but the statements are so contradictory that we only dare receive them with caution. Some believe that they have discovered objective symptoms in changes of the action of the heart and the respiration, but we cannot doubt that there has been considerable exaggeration. Tamburini and Seppilli found the respiration accelerated, often irregular, and the heart-beat accelerated and stronger in the transition stage from the waking to the hypnotic state. There was no change in the type of the pulse, but the wave was as a rule higher, and the curve of the pulse-tracing was affected by the respiration. Hauer and others - Richer, Magnin, etc. - also studied the pulse and respiration in connection with Charcot's stages, but the methods employed did not lead to the discovery of any sharp line of demarcation between the cataleptic and lethargic stages. Of other investigations I may mention those on respiration made by Isenberg and Vogt, who experimented on one another.

They found that when the eyes close in response to suggestion, the number of respirations diminishes, and that the subject at the same time experiences a feeling of restful calm. These authors also found that as the hypnosis proceeded the breathing became slower and more superficial, but was deepened at the commencement and termination of the hypnosis. Beaunis occasionally found that the tension of the pulse was increased, which he does not, however, think of much importance. Horsley found no alteration in the curve of the pulse-tracing. I shall deal with the investigations of Francke and others later on. Dollken found that when hypnosis sets in suddenly, the patient experiences a subjective feeling of warmth, and as a rule the face flushes and is covered with beads of perspiration; but two cases of sudden deep hypnosis were characterized by facial pallor, which persisted until the experiment was over. According to Lcewenfeld, Lloyd Tuckey almost invariably found the capillaries and smaller arteries so contracted in deep hypnosis that even somewhat deep wounds caused no hemorrhage.