Buchanan's Journal of Man, July 1887: Volume 1, Number 6
Philosophy
Buchanan's Journal of Man, July 1887: Volume 1, Number 6
Medicine -- Periodicals; Phrenology -- Periodicals; Science -- Periodicals
One experiment brings out this fact clearly. On a white sheet of paper
is placed a card equally white; with a fine point, but without
touching the paper, the contour of the card is followed while the idea
of a line traced in black is suggested to the subject. The subject,
when awakened, is asked to fold the paper according to these imaginary
lines. He holds the paper at the distance 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.
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