cularly sensitive to every psychical influence. In some subjects
the eyes are open, in others closed. Here, also, a slight irritation
produces a certain amount of rigor in the muscle that has been
touched, but it does not weaken the antagonistic muscle, as in
lethargy, nor does it vanish under the influence of the same
excitement that has produced it. In order to put an end to the
somnambulistic condition, one must press softly upon the pupil of the
eye, upon which the subject becomes lethargic, and is easily roused by
breathing upon him. In this early stage, somnambulism appears very
infrequently.

Charcot's school also recognize the existence of compound conditions,
the history of whose symptoms we must not follow here. These slightly
sketched results, as well as a number of other facts, were only
obtained in the course of several years; yet in 1882 the fundamental
investigations of this school were considered virtually concluded.
Then Dumont-Pallier, the head of the Parisian Hospital Pitie, came
forward with a number of observations, drawn also exclusively from the
study of hystero-hypnotism, and yet differing widely from those
reached by the physicians of the Salpetriere. In a long series of
communications, he has given his views, which have in their turn been
violently attacked, especially by Magnin and Berillon. I give only the
most important points.

According to these men, the hyper-excitability of the nerves and
muscles is present not only in the lethargic condition, but in all
three periods; and in order to prove this, we need only apply the
suitable remedy, which must be changed for each period and every
subject. Slight irritations of the skin prove this most powerfully. A
drop of warm water or a ray of sunshine produces contractions of a
muscle whose skin covering they touch.

Dumont-Pallier and Magnin accede to the theory of intermediate stages,
and have tried to lay down rules for them with as great exactness as
Charcot's school. They also are very decided about the three periods,
whose succession does not appear to them as fixed; but they discovered
a new fundamental law which regulates the production as well as the
cessation of the condition--_La cause qui fait, defait_; that is, the
stimulus which produces one of the three periods needs only to be
repeated in order to do away with that condition. From this the
following diagram of hypnotic conditions is evolved:

[Illustration]

And, furthermore,