Nuel's statement that in hypnosis the writing always differs from the subject's normal hand, and that consequently hypnotic signatures may always be distinguished from others, seems to me too general. He is probably right when he says that in many cases the writing of hypnotic subjects is irregular and spasmodic.

We have now studied the memory, which is a chief condition for the continuance of mental activity. This shows no abnormalities in superficial hypnosis, though such may be easily induced in deep hypnosis, at least by suggestion. But a certain adherence to rule in the chain of ideas, conditioned by the laws of association, exists in deep hypnosis, as in the waking state. Certainly associations may assume the character of hallucinations when the state of consciousness is altered. I suggest to X. that he has a pack of cards in his hand. He believes it; and the mental picture of the cards arouses the idea that he is playing a game of "Skat," and that he is in a restaurant with his friends Y. and Z. The single suggestion of cards has sufficed to call up a whole scene by association of ideas. Certainly in this case the associations are merely mechanical - i.e., no high degree of mental activity is concerned.

Nevertheless, the mental activity, thought, appears as soon as we deprive X. of the existing associations, and he exerts himself to create a new sequence of ideas. I tell X., while he thinks he is holding the cards, that he is in the train, and the chain of ideas connecting the cards and the restaurant is put an end to. In order to establish a connection between the cards and the train, the subject now declares he has bought the cards for a birthday present for a friend whom he is travelling to meet. The consciousness and will of hypnotics also express themselves in the case of indeterminate suggestions (suggestions inditerminles, as Beaunis calls them). In such suggestions no definite action is commanded, but the subjects are left to choose among a number. Here is a man with a violent bronchial catarrh. I suggest to him in hypnosis to do something or other which will benefit his health. He at once gets up, and goes to a box containing catechu for the purpose of taking some. Indeterminate suggestion can also be made to act post-hypnotically. I tell a hypnotic, who is sitting with me one evening in my room, to do some thoroughly foolish action after he wakes.

He wakes and blows the lamp out.

The fact that the subject sometimes allows himself to be persuaded to do something, if a reason is given to him- for it, shows even more plainly that the thinking process is not arrested in hypnosis. Nothing can induce X. to spill a glass of water in my room; but directly I tell him the room is on fire he does it at once so as to extinguish the fire.

It is important to know how the hypnotic subject sometimes makes a logical use of slight external impressions which anybody else would hardly think about. Much apparent "clairvoyance" is due to this. Many subjects are helped also by the hyperesthesia of their organs of sense, which enables them to recognize things which would be overlooked in the waking state.

Let us take a very common experiment, often made to prove the existence of animal magnetism. The magnetized subject knows whether he has been touched by his magnetizer or another person. It is astounding to observe the accuracy with which such subjects, when their eyes have been bandaged, can distinguish one person from another. Ochorowicz, who believes in animal magnetism on other grounds, gives a number of interesting examples of this. The hypnotic subject observes the smallest details - the differences in the strength of pressure, in the temperature of the hand, in the posture of the person touching him, in the sounds he makes with his shirt-cuffs; nothing is overlooked, and a logically exact conclusion is drawn. It may very well happen in such cases that the subject is not clearly conscious of drawing his conclusions from these details. This phenomenon is very common in normal life. How often it happens that at first sight one person draws a conclusion as to the character of another, and is at the same time unaware of the details from which he draws it. We often divine the meaning of a face without knowing how; we think that it is a clever or a stupid face; we recognize an expression of happiness or sadness at once, without realizing the details of our impression.

Thought-transference, of which I shall speak later, may often be explained in this way; the subject reads the wish and thought of the experimenter even in a gesture, in the direction of his eyes, in the involuntary movement of his lips (Carpenter), particularly when he has had some training in this line.

The prophecies and predictions of somnambules and other such persons often depend upon the logical utilization of such insignificant impressions. A peculiar mental quickness is not always necessary, as is shown in the case of a man who was told by a soothsayer that he had lately suffered a loss in his family. This was true. The man was astonished till a friend drew his attention to the fact that he was wearing crape - a fact which gave the soothsayer a clue (Fonvielle).

In hypnosis, just as in the normal state, mental activity depends upon the attention paid by the subject; indeed, in the deep hypnoses the subject's attention plays a particular part, being easily diverted from the experimenter. In deep hypnosis the subject's attention is first directed to one point only - i.e., to the experimenter, so that other objects hardly exist for him. When this phenomenon is clearly marked, we speak of rapport; or of isolated rapport when the subject is in hypnotic connection with only one individual. This is an important phenomenon of hypnosis. We saw in the fourth experiment (p. 35) that the subject only answered me, and apparently ignored the other persons present. Isolated rapport is a common phenomenon of deep hypnosis. It can undoubtedly be induced by suggestion; whether it can only arise in this manner or may be brought about by other means, is to be questioned. Doilken only once saw a case of isolated rapport without the necessary suggestion being made. I have often seen cases of this kind in which I do not think I lent any assistance either by word or deed.