552 B. From Dr. J. Milne Bramwell's "Personally Observed Hypnotic Phenomena" (Proceedings S.P.R., vol. xii. p. 194).

In response to suggestion the subject may recall the events of waking life to a greater extent than he could do in the normal condition, as well as what has taken place during previous hypnoses; and, on awaking, may have lost all recollection of what has occurred. The lost memory can be restored to a greater or lesser extent by suggestion. The improvement in memory extends to remote as well as recent incidents, and I have noticed numerous examples of both. One patient, whose natural memory was unusually bad, was able to recall on awaking some verses with which she was previously unacquainted, and which were only read over to her twice during hypnosis. Another, who could play a few dance tunes upon the piano, but who could only do so with the music before her when awake, was able, when hypnotised and blindfolded, to play the same tunes much more brilliantly. I have found that subjects who could not remember events which happened at an earlier age than six or seven were able, when hypnotised, to recall those which had occurred at the age of two and a half years.

In many of these instances I have obtained confirmatory evidence, at all events as regards the occurrence of the facts themselves, from the testimony of older relatives.

552 C. It is possible not only to improve memory by hypnosis, but also to recover memories that have lapsed from the normal consciousness, e.g. - as Dr. Bramwell has shown - those relating to the events of early childhood. Further, the memory of events occurring during secondary states of consciousness, which the primary consciousness has never been aware of at all, may sometimes be recovered by hypnosis. The best known instance of this is the case of Ansel Bourne (225 A). Dr. Dufay records another case as follows: -

With respect to the forgetfulness of what had taken place during an attack of somnambulism, I have published in the Revue Scientifique of December 1st, 1883, the case of a young servant girl, who, thinking that her mistress's jewels were not safe in the drawer where she had put them, hid them in another piece of furniture, where they seemed to her to be safer. Accused of having stolen them, and despite her denials (which were quite sincere), she was put in prison. One day, in paying a professional visit at the prison, I recognised her, having seen her serving at the house of one of my colleagues. Knowing her to be somnambulic, I put her to sleep, and she then related to me what she had done, and was much distressed at having no recollection of it when awake. I made her repeat her declaration before the examining magistrate, who, after verification, had her set at liberty.

Many cases of the effects of hypnotism on memory are given in the Revue de l'Hypnotisme, e.g. a case recorded by Dr. Pitres (vol. ix., 1895, p. 164) of a patient who for several days in succession remembered when hypnotised her dreams of the previous night, which she could not recollect while awake.

553 A. The following is a striking instance of the utilisation of hypnotic suggestion to avoid waste of energy in a responsible and exhausting occupation. Dr. A. Forel, in a paper on "Quelques Suggestions " in the Revue de l'Hypnotisme, vol. vi. p. 357 (1892), writes: -

At the Burghölzli Asylum, in order to watch the patients with suicidal tendencies during the night, we employ warders who have received appropriate hypnotic suggestions. The nurse's bed is placed at the side of the patient's, and the suggestion is given that she shall sleep well and hear nothing except any unusual sound the patient may make. If the latter attempts to get out of bed, or to do herself any harm, the nurse awakes at once, otherwise she sleeps soundly, despite the unimportant noises and movements made by the patient.

This system succeeds admirably, provided we select suggestible warders for it The inappreciable advantage is that the nurse does not get tired (I have sometimes continued this sleeping watch with the same nurse for more than six months without her suffering the slightest fatigue), and that the danger of ordinary watching - that of falling asleep, despite every precaution - does not exist.

I have not had a single accident to report, with regard to patients watched in this manner, for four years. It is curious to observe the surprise sustained by the said patients - melancholies - to see themselves so well watched in this way.

553 B. An interesting case of intelligent mental action, which was apparently beyond the subject's normal powers, and the origin of which was only traced to the hypnotic condition by accident, is recorded by Dr. Bramwell in one of the papers above referred to {Brain, Summer Number, 1900, p. 207). The subject was the Miss A. of his time experiments (551 C). She sometimes remained undisturbed for an hour or two in his room in the hypnotic condition while he was treating other patients. On being questioned in hypnosis as to her mental life under these conditions, she replied as follows: -

"When you do not speak to me, and nothing occurs that interests me directly, I generally think of nothing, and pass into a condition of profound restfulness. Once, however, I had an important dress to make and was puzzled how to do it. After you had hypnotised me and left me resting quietly, I planned the dress. When I awoke I did not know I had done so, and was still troubled about it. On my way home I suddenly thought how the dress ought to be made, and afterwards successfully carried out my ideas. I believed I had found the way out of the difficulty there and then, in the waking state; I now know I did so some hours previously when hypnotised." When the subject was aroused she had no recollection of what she had said, and still believed she had planned the dress when awake.

Dr. Liébeault, in a paper in the Revue de l'Hypnotistne, January 1889 (already referred to in 527 A), gives several cases of the use of hypnotism in education, - the schoolboys on whom suggestion was practised for the purpose acquiring a greater power of concentrating their attention on their lessons. See also the references to papers by Dr. Bérillon and others in the same Appendix, and in 528 A.