Neurypnology Chapter VII

Neurypnology Chapter VII

BEFORE concluding the first part of this treatise, I shall make a short resumé of what I consider the points made out by what has been advanced. lst, That the effect of a continued fixation of the mental and visual eye in the manner, and with the concomitant circumstances pointed out, is to throw the nervous system into a new condition, accompanied with a state of somnolence, and a tendency, according to the mode of management, of exciting a variety of phenomena, very different from those we obtain either in ordinary sleep, or during the waking condition. 2d, That there is at first a state of high excitement of all the organs of special sense, sight excepted, and a great increase of muscular power; and that the senses afterwards become torpid in a much greater degree than what occurs in natural sleep. 3d, That in this condition we have the power of directing or concentrating nervous energy, raising or depressing it in a remarkable degree, at will, locally or generally. 4th, That in this state, we have the power of exciting or depressing the force and frequency of the heart's action, and the state of the circulation, locally or generally, in a surprising degree. 5th, That whilst in this peculiar condition, we have the power of regulating and controlling muscular tone and energy in a remarkable manner and degree. 6th, That we also thus acquire a power of producing rapid and important changes in the state of the capillary circulation, and of the whole of the secretions and excretions of the body, as proved by the application of chemical tests. 7th, That this power can be beneficially directed to the cure of a variety of diseases which were most intractable, or altogether incurable, by ordinary treatment. 8th, That this agency may be rendered available in moderating or entirely preventing, the pain incident to patients whilst undergoing surgical operations. 9th, That during hypnotism, by manipulating the cranium and face, we can excite certain mental and bodily manifestations, according to the parts touched.

I have obtained analogous results with so many patients, as to make me quite certain of the reality of the phenomena referred to, and to warrant me, as I think, to draw these inferences. Many of the phenomena are of such a nature as to admit of physical and chemical proof, in respect to which, the patients cannot possibly deceive us; and as regards those phenomena where they might do so, I have had the assurance of so many patients, on whose veracity I can implicitly rely, proving the same facts, that there remains not the slightest room for me to doubt the correctness of these statements. I have been equally anxious to avoid being myself misled, as I should be not to mislead others; and I would recommend those who have not had an opportunity of watching such phenomena, in the most critical manner, or who have not entered on the investigation with candid minds, to suspend their opinions until they have had such opportunity. I have no hesitation in saying it is most improbable that any man should form a just estimate in this matter from mere reading or hearsay evidence, And equally so if he does not approach it with a mind open to honest and fair investigation. The subject itself is so very subtle in its manifestations, so very different from all we are accustomed to meet with in the ordinary condition, that, with the utmost candour and openness for receiving the truth, and the whole truth, it will be found extremely perplexing to follow it out in many of its bearings. How then can it be expected anyone should prosecute the inquiry successfully who enters on it with his mind blinded by indomitable prejudice? [Footnote: It would perhaps be difficult to adduce a stronger proof of the extent to which prejudice may overcloud the brightest intellects, and render them incompetent to do justice to the subject they would investigate, than that which was presented at a late meeting of the Medico-Chirurgical Society of London, when a debate took place after the reading of Mr Ward's case of amputation of the leg during mesmeric sleep. As I am not an animal magnetiser, nor personally acquainted with any of the parties referred to, any remarks I am about to make are of course uninfluenced either by pique or prejudice.

The operation referred to was said to have taken place in a public hospital; in the presence of medical, and also non-medical witnesses. The patient is alleged to have exhibited no manifestation of feeling pain, as far as his countenance could be taken as a correct index, and there was no movement of the limbs or body; and after the operation he is said to have declared that he did not feel any pain, but had heard " a grunching," which it has been inferred was the noise of the sawing of the bone; and it was also admitted he had groaned during the time he was under the operation. How was this announcement met? First, it was questioned whether the man was not a person of little or no feeling at any time, because other patients had been known, whilst wide awake, who were very insensible to pain. But had not the patient, in this ease, been declared to have been suffering so much pain from his knee, that he had been unable to sleep, and that his health was so much impaired by his suffering as to render amputation of the leg indispensable? Nay, had it not been set forth, that the pain of his leg had been greatly diminished, and his sleep restored, and his health greatly improved, after he was mesmerized, preparatory to the operation, which he had consented to undergo whilst in that state; and yet, that after he had been asleep, and considered in a fit state for being operated on, the mere movement of the joint, whilst drawing him to the edge of the bed, was followed by so much pain as to awake him. Was this any proof of his being a person devoid of feeling?

Then it is held, that as he heard, as it is presumed he did, the sawing of the bone, he must have felt the cutting of the skin and soft parts. It is thus assumed that it is impossible for a person to hear, and be in the state not to feel inflictions on the limbs at same time. It is well known, however, that disease of the trunks of the sentient nerves, or of the spinal cord, may induce such a state, independently of any lesion of the brain. But then, say others, had he not felt when the principal nerve was irritated, the other leg must have been convulsed. This is assuming, that the speakers fully knew every law which has been known, or ever shall be known of the nervous system, in every possible condition, which is rather a bold position to assume, and what few who have studied the subject will be disposed to accord even to the gifted individuals referred to. Others assume the non-expression of feeling was a mere matter of stoicism, and the general inference to be deduced from the whole harangues of these parties is, that the whole was a piece of collusion and deception. Had the parties intended collusion and deception, would they have admitted that the patient heard the sawing of the bone, or groaned or moaned during the operation? One gentleman, the learned editor of a medical journal, I think, admitted he was bound to believe the testimony of those who had brought the case forward, but frankly avowed, that for his own part, "he could not have believed it, although he had seen it himself," When a man has attained to this state of prejudice and incredulity, of course it would be idle to adduce to him either experiment or argument. I would beg respectfully to ask, Had the mind of any of these gentlemen never entertained the possibility of a patient, long accustomed to severe pain, moaning from habit, whilst free from pain at the moment; or even feeling pain, and manifesting the same by sensible signs during sleep, and yet being quite unconscious of it when he awoke? Do we never meet with similar results in consequence of accidents, in the course of disease, or as the effects of over doses of narcotics? That such is the case during the artificial sleep induced by the methods I have pointed out in this treatise, I am quite certain. I am equally certain that the sensibility to pricking, and pinching, and maiming the rigid limbs, is gone, some time before hearing disappears. Even a piece of paper may be inserted, and retained under the eyelids, without the slightest inconvenience, not even inducing nictitation. In short, I am quite certain that a patient may be sufficiently sensible to hearing to enable him to answer questions, whilst unconscious of pricking, pinching, or strong shocks of galvanism passed through the arms, and that even when roused sufficiently to give expression to feeling such inflictions, if allowed to remain quiet a little afterwards, so as to fall into the profound state again, that he may have lost all recollection of such inflictions when roused and fully awake.

From the circumstance of the patient having heard, as it is alleged he did, the sawing of the bone, I am of opinion the operation was commenced sooner than it should have been; and I think it very probable that the moaning referred to might have arisen from a slight feeling of pain, but not sufficient to arouse the patient, or to impress him sufficiently to enable him to remember it when awake.

In conclusion, from the numerous opportunities I have enjoyed of witnessing analogous results, in the course of my operations in Neuro-hypnotism, if I may venture to give an opinion in this matter, I have no hesitation in expressing my thorough conviction that Mr Topham, Mr Ward, and the patient, have all spoken and represented the case with the utmost good faith and candour.

To those who wish to stifle investigation, and hold we ought to rest satisfied with the decision of the French Commission, I beg to remark, that a commission of the same learned body was appointed to investigate and to report on Harvey's discovery of the circulation of the blood, and that this most important discovery was rejected by them as a fallacy. Did their decision alter the laws of nature, or prevent the ultimate triumph of our immortal countryman? And when so much in error while investigating the more apparent and demonstrable one of the circulation of the blood, is it not quite as likely that they may have been mistaken in their decision on the still more abstruse and subtle subject of the laws and distribution of the nervous influence?

It is matter of history, in respect to the profession in our own country, that there was not a medical man in England, who had attained forty years of age, who would believe in the truth of Harvey's discovery. Is it to be wondered at, then, that Hypnotism should meet with opposition at the present time?

To conclude these remarks in respect to this operation: the fact that patients have been known, in some few instances, from natural causes which were not understood, to have undergone severe surgical operations without any sense of pain, instead of militating against the truth of the insensibility of the patient whose limb was amputated during the nervous sleep, tends directly to confirm it; for if such a remarkable state can exist from some accidental circumstances not understood, there is no reason why a similar condition may not be induced by artificial means.]

As to the proximate cause of the phenomena, I believe the best plan in the present state of our knowledge, is to go on accumulating facts, and their application in the cure of disease, and to theorize at some future period, when we have more ample stores of facts to draw inferences from. From the first I was of opinion, that much of the excitement and many of the phenomena developed, were attributable to the altered state of the circulation in the brain and spinal cord, and especially to the greater determination of blood to them, and all other parts not compressed by rigid muscles, arising from the difficulty, during the cataleptiform state, of the blood being propelled in due proportion through the rigid extremities. I have not yet seen occasion to alter this opinion; but rather to conclude, that the ganglionic, or organic system of nerves, is also inordinately stimulated from the same cause, and thus having acquired an undue preponderance induces many of the remarkable phenomena which have been referred to. Whoever examines carefully the injected state of the conjunctival membrane, and of the capillary circulation in the head, face, and neck, the distended state of the jugular veins, the hard bounding throb of the carotid arteries, and the greatly increased frequency of the pulse, during the rigid condition of the limbs, cannot fail to perceive that there is great determination to the head. Again, when all these symptoms are so speedily changed on reducing the cataleptiform condition of the limbs, how can it be doubted that the rigidity of the limbs, and consequent obstruction to free circulation through them, is the chief cause of the determination to the head and other parts not directly pressed on by rigid muscles? [Footnote: In reference to the cataleptiform condition, I beg leave to offer the following remarks merely by way of conjecture, and with the hope that they may excite others to direct their attention to the investigation. Muscular contraction or motion is voluntary or involuntary. The voluntary arises from a mandate of the mind, proceeding from the brain, and effecting contraction or shortening of the muscular fibres; the involuntary, or reflex, from irritation conveyed to the spinal cord, producing a like result, and may be excited by tickling, pricking, or pinching the skin of the extremities of a decapitated or pithed animal. It appears me, however, that much of the efficiency and tendency to muscular contraction is dependent on another cause, namely, the state of tone or tension of the muscles when considered to be in a state of quiescence; and this state of tone I consider depends on the ganglionic or organic system of nerves. Supposing, from deficiency of this, the muscular system is relaxed, a morbid tendency to reflex action will be induced, as a musical string will be more easily excited to vibrate if moderately tight, than if drawn very tense. It will also render muscular effort less efficient and certain, because part of the muscular contraction, which would have been efficient as available force or motion, will be expended in bringing up the muscular structure to that state which ought to have been its normal condition of tension or tone.

On the other hand, supposing the organic system has been extremely active, and rendered the muscular tone abnormally great, it will produce the very reverse effect of that just referred to. It will not only offer resistance to reflex motion, but also to voluntary motion; and, if carried to a certain extent, may render the parts fixed and rigid, from the ganglionic system overpowering the cerebro-spinal system.

That this is not mere hypothesis seem to me to be in some degree proved, by the result of operations referred to in my paper in the Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal for October, 1841, where muscles which had been rigidly contracted, and had lost all power of. motion, had motion restored by dividing the tendons, and allowing a new portion to grow between the divided ends, thus elongating the muscles; and, in other eases, where there was paralysis from relaxation, power was regained by cutting out a portion of tendon, bringing the divided ends together, and ensuring their adhesion, and thereby shortening the muscles, and giving them artificially that tone or tension, the want of which I considered was the great cause of the continuance of the paralysis. It therefore appears to me, that during the hypnotic state there is a complete inversion of the ordinary condition, and that the force of the ganglionic system becomes predominant, instead of being, as in the ordinary condition, only subordinate.

Another argument in favour of this view is the well known fact, that all voluntary motion, or reflex muscular action, speedily exhausts the powers, and renders the subject unable to continue such efforts, and fatigued in consequence of them. Voluntary effort also is strongest at first, and gradually becomes weaker. The functions of the organic system of nerves, on the contrary, are more equable and persistent in their nature; and, although they may be influenced in some degree as to the activity of their functions, by directing attention in a particular manner, - as the secretion of saliva by thinking of food, the secretion of milk by the nurse thinking of her child, &c. &c., still they cannot be said to be under voluntary control in the same direct manner and degree as muscular motion. The cataleptiform state induced by Hypnotism comes on gradually. For some time voluntary power predominates; but at length the involuntary rigidity, or organic tonicity gains the ascendency; and, although persisted in for a great length of time, is followed by no exhaustion or fatigue, on the contrary, so far as I have carried the experiments, the whole functions seem to be invigorated by the continuance of this condition.]

In conclusion, I beg leave to remark, that the varieties which are met with as regards susceptibility to the hypnotic impression, and the mode and degrees of its action, are only analogous to what we experience in respect to the effects of wine, spirits, opium, the nitrous oxide, and many other agents. They are all well known to act differently on different individuals, and even on the same individuals at different times, according to the condition of the system; but who calls in question the reality of their effects merely because of that want of uniformity of action?

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