This classifying of my experiments is only to bring on their mention in
the order in which they seem to increase in importance. As a fact, the
same faculties attend to them all. Still, the division is useful.
Second, then, come those which dealt with long distances. To one of my
first patients (a messenger in a law-office) I showed scenes in Syria,
Egypt, Athens, and Rome, and after I had removed him from the mesmeric
sleep I handed him a pile of photographs which I had brought from
foreign countries. He turned them over rapidly and picked out the
picture of the scene he had witnessed, and without hesitation. I ranked
all this class next to lowest in importance because I had the scenes in
my own mind at the time. Yet the patients saw more than I was thinking
of. When I showed this messenger the obelisk in front of St. Peter's at
Rome, he also described the great colonnade around the piazza, which I
had at the moment forgotten. Subsequent experiments with others made me
know that he was viewing the scene itself.
The class ranked third, or next higher, were those in which the patients
were called from a distance. In the Arlington Heights Sanitarium some of
the patients formerly received, and I suppose still receive, beneficial
hypnotic treatment. One patient, Grace ----, could be called into the
office at any time by the simple will of Dr. Ring, the proprietor. I
received the account from a valued nurse who attended this patient in
the hospital. I was able to do the same thing myself in one case, but
only when the patient was at some occupation which did not require much
concentration. I am not prepared to speak as to the spaces across which
this influence may be exerted. With another patient, who was over two
miles away, the experiment seemed fairly successful, but I am not
sufficiently certain to claim a success.
In class four, the patients told facts which had not been previously
within their knowledge or mine. For tests of this kind I would procure
from friends some old coins wrapped up so that I could not know the
dates on them. When the first patient with whom this was tried was told
to pass into the sleep she called out the date of the coin almost
instantaneously--"1793." I thought she was still awake and guessing. But
in that instant she had passed into a deep sleep and had told the date
correctly.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account