HISTORY OF HYPNOTISM.

In order to understand the gradual development of modern hypnotism from animal magnetism, we must distinguish two points: firstly, that there are human beings who can exercise a personal influence over others, either by direct contact or even from a distance; and, secondly, the fact that particular physical states can be induced in human beings by certains physical processes.

This second fact especially has long been known among the Oriental peoples, and was utilized by them for relgious purposes. Kiesewetter attributes the early soothsaying by means of precious stones to hypnosis,which was induced by steadily gazing at the stones. This is also true of divination by looking into vessels and crystals, as the Egyptians have long beenin the habit of doing, and as has often been done in Europe:by Cagliostro, for example. These hypnotic phenomena are also found to have existed several thousandyears ago among the Persian magi (Fischer), as well as up to the present day among Indian yogis and fakirs, who throw themselves into the hypnotic state by means of fixation of the gaze. The same tiling has occurred since the eleventh century in many convents of the Greek Church (Fischer). Among the best known are the Hesychasts, or Omphalopsychics, of Mount Athos, who hypnotize themselves by gazing at the umbilicus. The fact has often been verified in popular opinion, apart from these religious customs, that it was possible to induce sleep by looking fixedly at a certain point ; for example, at the tip of the nose. Hypnotic conditions appear often to occur among uncivilized peoples, as is clearly to be gathered from the information of many travellers, and as Bastian, a chief authority on ethnology, has particularly shown. He, as well as Stoll, has pointed out the near relationship of many phenomena among uncivilized populations to hypnotism. Bastian believes that a more exact study of hypnotism by individual travellers would be of great service to popular psychology ; the phenomena which occur spontaneously among uncivilized populations could be more carefully examined and brought into closer relation to hypnotism.

Independently of this there has existed at all times in many quarters the belief that particular individuals could influence their fellows by the exercise of certain powers. This influence could be used as well for good as for evil. Of the first use we are reminded by the laying on of hands in benediction ; also by the healing by touch which was obtained by the old Egyptians and other Oriental nations : numerous old monuments testify to this. If the meaning of many of them is not clear, in the case of others hardly a doubt exists as to the right interpretation. The Ebers Papyrus also, which represents the state of Egyptian medicine before the year 1552 B.C., contains a statement, according to which the laying ofhands on the head of a patient plays a part in treatment.(*) We see the same thing later in thecures which King Pyrrhus and the Emperor Vespasian are said to have effected.

(*) For the knowledge of this I have to thank a private communication from Dr. Heinrich Joachim, of Berlin, who will make a German translation of the Ebers Papyrus.

It is known that Francis I. of France, and other French kings up to Charles X., healed by the imposition of hands. We see here already that this individual power took effect through contact; however,this appears not tohave been always necessary, as is witnessed by the widespread and continued belief in sorcerers, who could bewitch other persons. Thebelief in sorcerers indicates that contact was by no mean : always necessary to produce an effect, which, it is pretended, could be induced even from a

The question here is only of solitary facts in which no scientific system is discoverable. A system presents itself to us only after the end of the Middle Ages. It develops itself out of the doctrine of the influence of the stars upon men which, as is known, astrology puts forward. Even nowadays we find remains of it, especially in the belief in the influence whichthe moon is supposed to exercise. It is well knownthat many people expect warts and so forth to disappear as the moon wanes ; while more modern doctors of mental diseases called in the influence of the moon to explain special periodical mental disAtthe end of the Middle Ages, Theophrastus Paracelsus in particular (about 1530) came forward with the theory of the effect of the heavenly bodies on mankind, more especially on their diseases. Out of this the belief gradually developed itself that not only did the stars influence men, but that men also mutually influenced each other—a belief which, as we have already seen, had already arisen sporadically.

Van Helmont taught with more precision that man possessed a power by means of which he could magnetically affect others, particularly the sick. Perhaps Helmont obtained the main features of his doctrine from Goclenius.

The Scotchman Maxwell maintained something of the same kind later (about 1600). He attributed to the human excreta, and also to mummies, an effect upon human beings; they could be utilized for the curing of diseases (sympathetic cures) ; also men could cure themselves of diseases by transferring them to animals or plants. A remnant of this system developed by Maxwell still exists in country places, where people occasionally apply excreta to their wounds. Maxwell assumed in particular a vital spirit of the universe (spiritus vitalis), by means of which all bodies were related to each other. This vital spirit seems to be the same thing which Mesmer later called the universal fluid.

In the beginning of the eighteenth century we find Santanelli in Italy asserting a like proposition. Everything material possesses a radiating atmosphere which operates magnetically. Santanelli, however, recognized the great influence of the imagination (Ave Lallemant).

Although the foundation of the doctrine of animal magnetism was thus laid, universal attention was first drawn to it by Mesmer (*) a Viennese doctor (1734-1815). He studied in his dissertation the influence of the planets upon human bodies. At the beginning Mesmer made great use of the magnet in the treatment of diseases. In the year 1775 he sent out a circular letter, particularly addressed to several academies. In this he maintained the existence of animal magnetism, by means of which persons could influence each other; he, however, distinguished animal magnetism completely from the magnetism of metals, which later he ceased to employ. The only academy which replied to him was that of Berlin, at Sulzer's instigation, and its reply was unfavourable. However, about this time Mesmer was nominated a member of the Academy of Bavaria.

(*) The name is often written " Messmer," instead of " Mesmer;'' the latter spelling is, however, decidedly the correct one. At least it is so found in the book which Mesmer himself brought out—"General Explanations of Magnetism," by Mesmer, Carlsruhe, 1815. Mesmer's friend, Wolfart, and his, biographer, Justinus Kerner, write the name also with one s.

Mesmer made much use of " animal magnetism " in the treatment of diseases. He cured at first by contact, but believed later that different objects of wood, glass, iron, and so forth, were also capable of receiving the magnetism. Consequently he made use of these as means for conveying his magnetism, especially later in Paris, where he went in 1778, chiefly in consequence of the enmities he had aroused in Vienna. In Paris Mesmer constructed the baquet, which was magnetized by him, and which was supposed to transmit the magnetism. Bailly represents it as a very complicated apparatus ; an oak chest or tub, with appendages of iron &c. Mesmer found many adherents in Paris—Dr. Deslon joined him first of all—but he also encountered many opponents. Several scientific Commissions which examined the question pronounced, in 1784, against the existence of animal magnetism, particularly the one to which Bailly was reporter. One of the members of the Commission, Jussieu, made, however, a separate report, which was not considered decisive. No one, however, denied that far-reaching effects were produced by imagination ; it was only denied that there was a physical force resembling true magnetism. In spite of all attacks, Mesmer made disciples. His pupils and successors are generally called mesmerists, and the doctrine of animal magnetism is also called mesmerism, vital magnetism, bio-magnetism, or zoo-magnetism.

I do not wish to join the contemptible group of Mesmer's professional slanderers. He is dead, and can no longer defend himself from those who disparage him without taking into consideration the circumstances or the time in which he lived.

Against the universal opinion that he was avaricious, I remark that in Vienna, as well as later in Morsburg and Paris, he always helped the poor without reward. I believe that he erred in his teaching, but think it is just to attack this only, and not his personal character. Mesmer was much slandered in his lifetime, and these attacks upon him have been continued till quite lately. Let us, however, consider more closely in what his alleged great crime consisted. He believed in the beginning that he could heal by means of a magnet, and later that he could do so by means of a personal indwelling force which he could transfer to the baquet. This was evidently his firm belief, and he never made a secret of it. Others believed either that the patient's mere imagination played a part, or that Mesmer produced his effects by some concealed means. Then, by degrees, arose the legend that Mesmer possessed some secret by means of which he was able to produce effects on people such as the cure of diseases, but that he would not reveal it. In reality the question was not at all of a secret purposely kept back by him, since he imagined, and always insisted, that he exercised some individual force. Finally, if he used this supposititious individual force for the purpose of earning money, he did nothing worse than do modern physicians and proprietors of institutions who likewise do not follow their -calling from pure love of their neighbour, but seek to earn their own living by it, as they are quite justified in doing. Mesmer did not behave worse than those who nowadays discover a new drug, and regard the manufacture of it as a means of enriching themselves. Let us at last be just and cease to slander Mesmer, who did only what is done by the people just mentioned. That those who defame Mesmer know the least about his teaching, and have the least acquaintance with his works, is very clearly shown by a whole series of books about modern hypnotism.

A follower of Mesmer, Chastenet de Puysegur, whose good faith cannot be doubted (Dechambre) discovered, in 1784, a state which was named artificial somnambulism. Apart from some falsely interpreted phenomena (thought-transference, clairvoyance, &c.) the chief characteristic of this state was a sleep, in which the ideas and actions of the magnetized person could be directed by the magnetizer. Whether Mesmer knew of this condition or not is uncertain, but it seems to me probable that he did. About the same time Petetin, a doctor of Lyons, occupied himself with magnetism ; besides catalepsy Petetin describes phenomena of sense transference (hearing with the stomach). The French Revolution and the wars repressed the investigation of magnetism in France till about the year 1813.

In Germany animal magnetism was recognized at the same time in two different places—on the Upper Rhine and in Bremen. In the year 1786 Lavater paid a visit to Bremen, and exhibited the magnetizing processes to several doctors, particularly to Wienholt, through whom Albers, Bicker, and later also Heineken, were likewise made acquainted with magnetism. Bremen was for a long time a focus of the new doctrine; the town was often even brought into bad repute in the rest of Germany on account of the general dislike to animal magnetism. About the same time the doctrine of animal magnetism spread from Strassburg over the Rhine provinces ; Bockmann, of Carlsruhe, and Gmelin, of Heilbronn, occupied themselves with it ; later they were joined by Pezold, of Dresden. Getting encouragement from Bremen, people began to make experiments in other parts of Germany. Selle, of Berlin, brought forward, in 1789, a scries of experiments made at the Charite, by which he confirmed a part of the alleged phenomena, but excluded all that was super-normal (clairvoyance).

Notwithstanding the early dislike to it magnetism finally gained ground in Germany. In particular animal magnetism flourished much in Germany during the first twenty years of this century. In Austria only, it met with ill-fortune ; the exercise of magnetism was even forbidden in the whole of Austria in 1815. I do not enter more fully into the details of the teaching of different individuals, as they have no close connection with hypnotism. In the main two different tendencies can be distinguished—one critical and scientific, and the other mystical (Ave Lallemant). While the first had the preponderance in the beginning, later on the last came to the fore and led to the downfall of magnetism. Besides the scientific inquirers already mentioned I may name Treviranus, Schelling, Kieser, Passavant, Kluge; also Pfaff, who attacked clairvoyance in particular ; and further, Stieglitz and Hufeland. The last, who was at first a decided opponent, acknowledged certain facts later on, but excluded all the super-normal. He thus drew upon himself the hatred of the mystics. Even in the year 1834 Hufeland expressed himself as recognizing, to a certain extent, the existence of animal magnetism and its value in healing. Among the mystics I may mention Ziermann, Eschenmayer, Justinus Kerner, the well-known poet and editor of the " Seeress of Prevorst." Wolfart of Berlin must here be especially mentioned.

In the year 1812 the Prussian Government sent Wolfart to Mesmer at Frauenfeld, in order that he might there make himself acquainted with the subject. Wolfart came back a thorough adherent of Mesmer, introduced magnetism into the hospital treatment, and afterwards became a professor at the university. A prize which was offered by the Berlin Academy of Sciences, at the request of the Prussian Government, for an Essay on Animal Magnetism was, it appears, withdrawn. However, magnetism flourished so much at that time in Berlin that, as Wurm relates, the Berlin physicians placed a monument on the grave of Mesmer at Morsburg, and theological candidates received instruction in physiology, pathology, and the treatment of sickness by vital magnetism. It was Mesmer's idea to teach it to the clergy. The well-known physician Koreff, also, whom Varnhagen von Ense mentions as one of the most gifted of men, and of whom Cuvier said that if he were not already in Paris he must be entreated to come there, interested himself much in magnetism, and often made use of it for healing purposes so long as he lived in Berlin.

In the rest of Germany also, many inquirers occupied themselves with animal magnetism ; in several universities a knowledge of the phenomena was spread by means of lectures—for example, by Wolfart in Berlin, and by Bartels in Breslau. As many authors inform us, a royal order in February, 1817, made magnetization in Prussia the privilege of physicians only; but in the official code of laws nothing is to be found on the subject. At the same time such laws were enacted ' in other countries. Magnetism was introduced everywhere, especially in Russia and Denmark. In Switzerland and Italy it was at first received with less sympathy.

After Mesmer had left France in the time of the Revolution, in order, after prolonged travels, to settle himself at his native place on the Bodensee, magnetism only regained its importance in France at the beginning of the present century. In Germany there were more physicians who turned to the study of animal magnetism, which in France fell for the most part into the hands of laymen. Among the most earnest inquirers Deleuze must here be mentioned. But the whole doctrine received a great impetus through the Abbe Faria, who came to Paris from India. In 1814-15 he showed by experiments, whose results he published, that no unknown force was necessary for the production of the phenomena; the cause of the sleep, said he, was in the person who was to be sent to sleep ; all was subjective. This is the main principle of hypnotism and of suggestion, of which Faria even then made use in inducing sleep. Two other investigators in France must be mentioned, Bertrand and Noizet, who paved the way for the doctrine of suggestion, in spite of much inclination to animal magnetism. In 1820 experiments were begun in the Paris hospitals, chiefly under the direction of Du Potet. At the proposal of Foissac, and at the recommendation of Husson, the Paris Academy of Medicine in 1826 appointed a Commission to examine the question of animal magnetism. The Commission worked for six years and pronounced a favourable opinion in 1831 ; but the Academy was evidently not convinced. In spite of several further experiments, for example those of Berna, no other result was obtained. Particularly because the chief emphasis was laid on the mystical side of the question the struggle was made substantially easier to the opponents of mesmerism, among whom Dubois was prominent.

The candidates for the Burdin prize for clairvoyance, Pigeaire, Hublier, and Teste, failed to obtain it; and in 1840 the Academy declined to discuss the question further.

Meanwhile, although in Germany another series of investigators were busying themselves with mesmerism, on the whole, after about 1820, the belief in magnetism declined more and more ; the cognate phenomena also received hardly any attention. This retrogression was caused as much by the rise of the exact natural sciences as by the unscientific and uncritical hankering after mystical phenomena, which could not but revolt serious investigators. Mesmerism flourished relatively the longest in Bremen and in Hamburg, where Siemers was its advocate; also in Bavaria, where Hensler and Ennemoser, between the years 1830 and 1840, still represented it. In other towns we likewise still find a number of thoughtful inquirers, who allowed themselves to be influenced neither by the passion for the wonderful nor by the attacks of the principal opponents of magnetism, and who sought to defend their position in a thoroughly scientific manner ; Most, Fr. Fischer, and Hirschel, may be mentioned. It may also be emphatically insisted that a scries of philosophers have believed firmly and persistently in the reality of the phenomena, although not much regard has been paid to this fact. They have even founded scientific systems upon the phenomena : i.e., Schopenhauer, Carus, Pfnor. Although magnetism lost many adherents in the scientific world, among the people the belief in the mysterious force continued prevalent. The more science drew back the more shameless became the cheating and fraud; although in Germany there were fewer attempts to make money by it than in France. The abuse grew so strong that the Catholic Church several times came forward to interfere. But the more the extravagance and cheating increased the less inclined were serious-minded persons to interest themselves in these matters.

In England, in spite of the efforts of the London physicians Elliotson and Ashburner, magnetism could get no footing. When the French magnetizer, La Fontaine, exhibited magnetic experiments in Manchester in 1841, Braid, a doctor of that place, interested himself in the question. He showed, like Faria, but with more method, that the phenomena were of subjective nature. By carefully fixing the eyes upon any object a state of sleep was induced, which Braid called " Hypnotism." (*)

(*) This name was not, however, altogether new, as already Henin de Cuvillers had talked of " hypnoscope " and "hypnobat," with reference to magnetic states (Max Dessoir).

At first Braid considered hypnotism to be identical with the mesmeric states, but he soon gave up this view; he was of opinion that the two conditions were only analogous, and he left mesmerism in an independent position by the side of hypnotism. Braid was acquainted with the cataleptic phenomena, and certain suggestions, and used hypnotism therapeutically ; in particular he used it to perform painless surgical operations. Already, earlier, mesmerism had been several times made use of in surgical operations. In the result we see mesmerism and Braidism, as the state investigated by Braid is occasionally called, used by different persons for the like purpose. Among those who used animal magnetism or hypnotism in surgery, the following deserve to be mentioned: Loysel, Fontan, Topham, Joly, Ribaud, Kiaro (according to Max Dessoir), Varges, Herzog. Hypnotism, however, found no general acceptation, in spite of the fact that a well-known physiologist, Carpenter, as well as Laycock, James Simpson, Mayo, and others, confirmed the facts.

In America, meanwhile, animal magnetism had taken root; New Orleans was, for a long time, its chief centre. A few years later than Braid, Grimes appeared in the United States, and, independently of Braid, obtained like results. His methods were not essentially different from those of Braid ; the states produced by Grimes were called electro-biological. Among his adherents Dods and Stone must be mentioned. In 1850 Darling came from America to England, where he exhibited the phenomena of electro-biology ; their identity with those of hypnotism was soon recognized. Durand de Gros,(*) a French doctor who had lived in America, returned in 1853 to Europe, and exhibited the phenomena of electro-biology in several countries, but aroused little interest.

(*) He wrote under the pseudonym of Philips.

Braid's discovery was first made known in Bordeaux by Azam, in 1859. Encouraged by Bazin and mocked by others, Azam made some hypnotic experiments ; he communicated the results to Broca in Paris. The latter discussed hypnotism before the Academie des Sciences. It was made use of several times to perform painless operations ; Velpeau, Follin, and Guerineau in particular made experiments. Other physicians, Demarquay and Giraud-Teulon, as well as Berend in Berlin, Pincus in Glogau, and Heyfelder in St Petersburg, showed the slight value of hypnotism for surgery. In consequence of this it found no acceptance in medicine at that time. The experiments of Lasegue in 1865, when he obtained cataleptic phenomena by closing the eyes, aroused no particular interest.

Meanwhile, Liebeault, who later removed to Nancy, had made himself familiar with the phenomena of hypnotism and animal magnetism. The last he endeavoured to refute, and he became the real founder of the therapeutics of suggestion. His book, published in 1866 (Du Sommeil, &c), which is even to-day very well worth reading, contains his ideas ; they remained little known, and the author was much laughed at. Independently of him Charles Richet came forward in Paris in 1875 to contend for the real existence of hypnotism, which he called " Somnambulisme provoque."

In the year 1878 Charcot began his public classes, in which he directed attention to the physical states of hystero-epileptics during hypnosis ; in 1881 Paul Richer published, in his book on " La grande hysterie," many experiments performed on the lines of Charcot. Among the later pupils of Charcot I should name : Binet, Fere, Gilles de la Tourette, Babinski, Barth, Bourneville, Regnard.

In 1880 many investigators in Germany, particularly

Weinhold, Opitz, and Ruhlmann in Chemnitz, Heidenhain, and Berger in Breslau, besides Mobius, Benedikt, Eulenburg, Senator, Adamkiewicz, Borner, Meyersohn, and Baumler, occupied themselves with the subject, incited thereto by the exhibitions of Hansen. The invastigations of hypnotism in animals, published in l872 by Czermak, and after him by Preyer, aroused no lasting interest. The movement of 1880 also soon ceased, although Preyer often pointed out the importance of Braidism.

The researches of Charcot likewise had little effect upon the further pursuit of the inquiry—as little as had the book of Prosper Despine on Somnambulism, which appeared in 1880. It is true that in some hospitals investigations were undertaken, particularly by Dumontpallier in Paris, by Pitres in Bordeaux, also by Ladame in Geneva, and later by Binswanger in Jena ; these researches were, however, sporadic.

Only when a second medical school in France— that of Nancy — approached the subject, did the interest become more general. Prof. Bernheim, of Nancy, who, incited by Dumont, had studied the question with Liebeault, and had accepted the latter's views, published a book, " De la Suggestion," &c, in 1884. He gave in it examples of the curative effects of hypnotism, the phenomena of which, he says, are entirely of a psychical nature. Besides this, in Nancy, Beaunis worked at the physiology of hypnotism, and Liegeois at the forensic side of the question. Then followed in France the contest between the schools of Charcot and of Nancy, which is not yet entirely settled ; the latter, however, has gained ground more and more.

People began to busy themselves with hypnotism, in other countries as well as France, chiefly on the lines of the school of Nancy. It is true that, as has already been mentioned, the study of hypnotism had been begun in various countries in connection with the work of Charcot As, however, in consequence of the rather one sided standpoint of these investigations, the different inquirers failed to find any lasting satisfaction, even the name of Charcot was powerless to give a general extension to the study of hypnotism. Only when the school of Nancy created a surer basis for hypnotism by a profounder psychological conception could people elsewhere begin to devote themselves on a larger scale to the study of it. In France itself the importance of the Nancy investigators was more and more recognized. A. Voisin, Berillon, and numerous other experimenters occupied themselves with the subject, and even those who had at first considered the experiments of Charcot to be of higher value turned in large numbers to the school of Nancy. Hypnotism found an entrance to other countries, and it appears that in the north of Europe a relatively greater number of investigators interested themselves in it than in France. In Belgium the eminent psychologist Delbceuf, of Liege, smoothed the way for it ; numerous physicians—Van Renterghem, Van Eeden, De Jong, and others—made use of hypnotism in Holland for curative purposes. In Denmark, Sweden, and Norway we find also a series of inquirers — Johannessen, Sell, Frankel, Carlsen, Schleisner, Velander, and most particularly Wetterstrand, of Stockholm, who uses hypnotism therapeutically to a very great extent; also in Russia, where Stembo and Tokarski should be noticed. In Greece, Italy, and Spain, where Pulido used suggestion therapeutically many years before Bernheim, hypnotism is gaining in importance. In England there exists a society of private investigators—the Society for Psychical Research—which, besides examining certain mysterious phenomena, also studies hypnotism. Gurney and F. Myers must here be especially mentioned. Before this, in England, Hack Tuke had often called attention to hypnotism and its therapeutic value.

In other quarters of the globe, especially in America, hypnotism has also awakened great interest. Beard had already long ago interested himself in the question. Unluckily his investigations are not known to the extent which they certainly merit. An American Society for Psychical Research has also been formed in the United States.(*)

(*) Now affiliated to the English Society.

In several of the South American States serious inquirers have turned to the study of hypnotic phenomena ; for example, Octavio Maira and David Benavente in Chili.

Meanwhile, through Forel, hypnotism had gained ground, more particularly in Switzerland, and there is no doubt that the great movement spread to Germany from thence. Obersteiner of Vienna, Frankel of Dessau, and Mobius, had already endeavoured to draw attention to hypnotism in Germany, by clear and impartial reports. Lesser experiments in therapeutics had also been made by Creutzfeldt, Wiebe, Fischer, and Berkhan. But a really stirring activity has only just lately set in ; it began about two years ago, and was the result of the publications of Forel, which appeared in the German periodicals. They demonstrate the great importance of hypnotism for therapeutics. The essential importance of suggestion had not hitherto had sufficient stress laid upon it, and in consequence many-hypnotic experiments may have remained fruitless. Many other investigators, following the example of Forel, have made experiments in medical treatment by hypnotism in Germany lately ; among them may be especially mentioned : Sperling, Nonne, Michael, Hess, Schrenck-Notzing, Hosslin, Baierlacher (who became known by his discovery of reaction of degeneration, and who, unfortunately, died a short time ago), Corval, Schuster, Hirt, Ad. Barth, Brugelmann. We find likewise a number of physicians in Austria active in the same field ; Krafft-Ebing, Freud, Frey, Schnitzler, and F. Muller may be named. Other men—for example, Ziemssen, Seeligmuller, Koberlin—set their faces most decidedly against the therapeutic use of hypnotism. Other authors, again, worked at the particular subjects which have a relation to hypnotism without laying special stress on its therapeutic value; and here the works of Forel, Lilienthal, and Rieger must be named, which inquired into the legal side of the question. Krafft-Ebing published an extremely detailed experimental study of one case; Max Dessoir compiled a valuable Bibliography of Modern Hypnotism ; further, Bleuler, Huckel, Maack, Weiss, Sallis, Dreher, may be mentioned.

In spite of the great importance of hypnotism to therapeutics, I think it a great mistake when some doctors fix the therapeutic value of hypnotism as the standard by which it is to be judged ; and here another factor—the founding of an experimental psychology—may be well taken into consideration. As a matter of fact, a large number of investigators have recognized the great value of hypnotism, particularly in this direction—above all, Krafft - Ebing, Forel, Max Dessoir ; and several scientific societies have been formed in Germany after the pattern of the above-mentioned English Society for Psychical Research, in the programme of which it is essentially the use of hypnotism in the carrying out of psychological experiments which plays the chief part. Such are the Psychological Society in Munich and the Society for Experimental Psychology in Berlin, to which we already owe a series of remarkable works by Max Dessoir, Bastian, Hellwald, and Bentivegni.

Hypnotism has, moreover, made its entrance into the lecture-rooms of several German universities ; lectures are delivered about it in Berlin, by the well-known physiologist, Preyer, and at Freyburg, in Baden, by Munsterberg, a distinguished psychologist. In order to facilitate a general discussion of the most important questions in the domain of hypnotism, a Congress met in Paris in 1889, where nearly all civilized nations were represented, and where a substantial clearing-up of opinions on some important points was attained. In general it may be said that the views of the school of Nancy carried the day.

In any case hypnotism has for the time won great importance, as may be estimated from the fact that it influences even literary circles. As in former days animal magnetism provided Alexander Dumas and Balzac with material for romances, so in later times several authors have chosen their themes out of the domain of hypnotism. Those who have become best known are Claretie, Belot, Meding, Epheyre. Finally, it must be mentioned that animal magnetism, out of which hypnotism has developed itself, has retained some adherents in the scientific world—F.

Myers, Richer, Langley ; so that at present we can distinguish three great schools with many points of transition (Max Dessoir): (1) The school of Charcot; (2) the school of Nancy ; and (3) the school of the mesmerists.