549 A. In the so-called "transposition of the senses" it is claimed that stimuli which normally affect only one particular sense-organ affect some other part of the body; e.g. when letters are said to be read by the skin the part of the skin concerned is supposed to be stimulated by the light rays.

Pététin, a famous doctor of Lyons, first gave currency to this notion in his Electricité Animate, Paris, 1808. Thus the sense of hearing was alleged to be transposed sometimes to the pit of the stomach (p. 7), and sometimes to the tips of the fingers or the toes (p. 10); the sense of taste to the same regions (p. 25); and the sense of sight to the stomach (p. 45). These phenomena were observed in several different subjects.

The most obvious explanation of them is that the sensations received through one organ were referred to some other part of the body arbitrarily associated with them through some chance suggestion of the subject's own or of the operator's. Thus Fahnestock (Statuvotism, p. 174), in criticising Durand's account of a patient whose five senses were transposed to the pit of the stomach, attributes it "to the manner in which the doctor proceeded.... He succeeded in drawing the patient's attention to her stomach.... She could have answered his questions quite as well had he applied his lips to any other part of her body;... for I have seen transposition effected at the will of the subject in many cases of artificial somnambulism by simply requesting them to throw their minds to the stomach or any other part of the body." Similarly in the case of a hysterical patient reported by Dr. Niccolo Cervello,1 it was significant that immediately after the doctor had spoken in her hearing of a case he had recently witnessed of "transposition of the senses " to the hands and feet, the patient proceeded to exhibit the same phenomenon.

In the case of hearing, it is clearly impossible to prove transposition, since no sound made near any part of the body can be out of ear-shot. In the cases of sight and taste, since the early mesmerists were unaware of the extreme acuteness of hypnotised subjects in picking up hints, it must remain doubtful whether sufficient precautions were taken to guard against their discovering the nature of the objects presented to them by the ordinary use of the senses. Even if this was guarded against, they might have acquired their knowledge of the objects by thought-transference from the operators, who knew what they were.

See the works of Pététin, Durand, Foissac, and Despine, especially Observations de Médecinc Pratique, pp. 45, 62, and Etude Scientifique sur Somnatnbulisme, p. 167. One of Despine's patients apparently read through the sole of her foot, and another by the tips of her fingers.

The phenomenon called by De Rochas "exteriorisation of sensibility," is an extravagant version of the theory of transposition of the senses, the sense being supposed to be transferred to some object outside the organism, such as a glass of water or the shadow of the hypnotised person; any stimulus applied to these objects is then felt by the person, who becomes anaesthetic meanwhile. These experiments were repeated and extended by Dr. Joire of Lille. Since the accounts show that suggestion was freely exercised, it is unnecessary to criticise them in detail.

1 Storia di un Caso d'Isterismo con Sognatione Spontanea, Palermo, 1853. A summary of this case was given in the Journal S.P.R., for December 1900 (vol. ix. p. 333).

549 B. Perhaps the best evidence for transposition of the senses is to be found in some experiments made by Professor Fontan of Toulon, and described in his paper on Hystéro-épilepsie Masculine: Suggestion, Inhibition, Transposition des Sens, in the Revue Philosophique, August 1887. A full account of this is given in Proceedings S.P.R., vol. v. pp. 263-268; but I have space here for a short extract only.

The subject, B., is a sailor, aged twenty-two, apparently robust, but suffering from hysteria, with attacks of catalepsy - the result, apparently, of a sojourn in Madagascar. When he came under Dr. Fontan's care his left side was wholly devoid of feeling, and the sense of smell was absent on that side; sight and hearing diminished; taste normal. A hysterogenous zone on the right side remained unaffected by any treatment. Hypnotic suggestion suspended the anaesthesia for a few hours at a time, but the magnet, and the magnet only, removed it permanently, and practically cured the patient.

[Transpositions of hearing, taste and smell are next described].

Transposition of sight is, of course, the most bewildering of these super-normalities. We seem here to be overriding the lack not only of physiological but of physical adaptation, dispensing not only with the specially percipient retina, but with the lens, indispensable for the mere purpose of refracting the incident rays, so that they may meet in a focus and give a distinct image. Dr. Fontan, indeed, says that he would not have thought of trying these visual experiments at all had it not been for the fumbling of B.'s fingers on the printed letters, as already described. It was suggested to the subject that he could only see with his fingers, and the psychical blindness was reinforced by placing a screen close to the subject's face, so that he could not see his own hands, nor the objects offered, nor the faces or gestures of the bystanders.

Printed letters were first tried; and the subject, who could scarcely read in his normal state, deciphered a few of these with difficulty. A number of skeins of coloured wool, which he had never seen, were then placed before him, and he was told to choose the red ones. He felt the wools, rejected unhesitatingly the colours not asked for, and arranged the red in a series. He did this also with the green and with the blue wools. The wools were again mixed, and he was told to put the red ones on the right, the green on the left. But he was now exhausted, and recognised nothing.

The same experiments were repeated next day with fresh specimens of wool. And next the room was completely darkened, B.'s hand was placed in a box containing various patterns of wool, which he had never either seen or touched, and he was told to choose the blue ones. " He seized them," says Dr. Fontan, in a letter rather more detailed than the printed account, "with such rapidity, such force, tossing aside all those which he did not want, that we supposed that the experiment had failed. Shut up in a dark room, where we could not see each other, we did not know what was going on, and fearing some access of frenzy, I precipitated myself on the subject and hypnotised him strongly, by pressing the globes of his eyes. He had had time enough during this scene, which did not last five seconds, to choose the wools, and to hide them in his bosom. At no other time did he show such eagerness for the suggested colour." He had, in fact, selected four blue skeins, which he clutched so closely that he had to be altogether inhibited before they could be taken from him.

The next experiment was perhaps the best of all. The wools were placed on a table tinder a strong sheet of glass. B. (psychically blinded and with the screen interposed) placed his hand on the glass, and was ordered to indicate the red wool. He resisted for a time, but " ended by consenting to search for the red wools, whose position he indicated by a tap on the glass, which left no room for doubt." He repeated this process several times with the green, the blue, and the yellow wools, and always with complete success.

Once more. Five photographs, of which one only was of a child, were placed on the table, and he was told to find the child's photograph. "He felt the faces, turned them with head upwards, felt over the child's figure carefully, and gave the photograph to me correctly".