at which it was at the
moment of suggestion, and folds it in the form of a rectangle exactly
superposable on the card.
A curious experiment in the same line has been often repeated by Prof.
Charcot. The subject is given the suggestion of a portrait on a white
card, which is then shuffled up with a dozen cards all alike. On
awakening, the subject is asked to run over the collection, without
being told the reason why it is wished. When he comes to the card on
which had been located the imaginary portrait, he at once perceives
it. One detail of these experiments is very significant. Supposing we
show the imaginary portrait at a distance of two yards from the
subject's eyes, the card appears white, whereas a real photograph
would appear gray. If it is gradually brought nearer, the imaginary
portrait at last appears, but it is necessary for it to be much nearer
than an ordinary photograph for the patient to recognize the subject.
By means of opera glasses we can make the patient recognize her
hallucination at a distance at which she could not perceive it with
the naked eye. In short, the imaginary object which figures in the
hallucination is perceived under the same conditions as if it were
real. Various other experiments are detailed in support of this
formula. The opera glasses only act as if they were focussed upon the
point of hallucination, and in the case of a short-sighted subject
they had to be altered to allow for the defect of vision. If the
patient looks through a prism the image is seen duplicated, although
the subject is absolutely ignorant of the properties of a prism, as
well as of the fact that the glass is a prism. A photograph of the
plain white card used when the photograph was suggested may be
substituted, and on being shown to the patient, the hallucinatory
image is seen just the same, even two years after the original
experiment, as was done in one case.
Some strange phenomena of polarity are related. The following
experiments by MM. Binet and Fere are given in illustration: "We give
a patient in somnambulism the common hallucination of a bird poised on
her finger. While she is caressing the imaginary bird she is awakened
and a magnet is brought near her head. After a few minutes she stops
short, raises her eyes and looks about in astonishment. The bird which
was on her finger has disappeared. She looks all over the ward and at
last finds it, for we hear her say, 'So you thought you would leave
me,
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