The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-01-10

before the subjects eyes and slightly
above them, and make him look
at it fxedly for some time. The
pupils Of his eyes at first contract and then
sleep appear. he then sinks into trance,
his limbs become rigid as in cstslepsy, aud
presently you may or may not, according as
he is good o. Indifferent subject, be able
to make him do wonderful things. This is
the hypnotism that we are all familiar with
in public exhibitions under the name Of
mersmerism. Very amusing results are
produced. and it is easy to see that very
dangerous ones might also be brought
about. Thus the subject who is told that
he is a king at once assumes a royal
air, another who is told he is a
street fakir begins to cry his wares,
and the third having it suggested to him
that he is a member of congress advances to
the footlights aud makes a tremendous po-
litical speech. If the operator should sug-
gest to a good subject the propriety of
committing a crime he would probably do
it If it could be done at once, but it is not
probable that the hypnotic state would exist
for any great length Of time. or that it
would exist in full vigOr if the operator
were not present with the subject. There
is therefore no danger of criminals becom-
ing hypnotizers and thus making others do
their wicked deeds for them. The kind of
of somnambulism above described is what
the French term the somnGDtbuleSBle mag
neteQue.
EFFECT UPON SENSITIVE SUBJECT.
Nevertheless, if a skillful mesmerizer
operates constantly upon one sensitive sub
ject, the latter, after a time, almost ceases
TO have any will but his. There is a case on
record of man who he'd such an influence
over young girl that when she was ex-
pecting the arrival of her mother he
induced q washerwoman from-th streets to
enter the house. calling out to the girl as
she did 50: Mary. here's your motherp p
The girl embraced the stranger with eifu-
sive affection, and when her tyrant called
her attention to her mistake sank down in
tears Of helpless modification.
The somnI mbulIst, as some one has put
it, Facts his dreams" and in that way, sub
ject to human limitations, he performs
wonderful feats. He cannot fly, and to
| dream that you are flying is not uncommon,
nor can he penetrate the portals Of heaven,
| as happy Teople have done in their sleep.
| Does he experience thar perfect ecStacy that
| De Quincey subscribed as one of the stages
of opium iutoxicationl 1t would not seem
probable from the instances that have been
recorded.
The extraordinary things that people have
been known to do in unnatural sleep are
only equaled by the ordinary things that
| they can do when they are sleeping q nor
mai sleep. The old horse jogging along the
dusty road which he is perfectly familiar
| with, on a hot, droWsy summer day, not
mfr, quently goes to sleep, and when he is
| standing III front Of the village store, where
| his owner loves to loaf for hours at time,
unless something out of the unusual run is
| transpiring about him he is nearly always
taking nap. If you watch him you will
see his head gradually sinking lower
and lower In the check rein until the bit
presses his mouth disagreeably, when he
wakes with start and looks about him
! gull lily like an old man after dinner, ready
to deny that he had ever thought Of going
| to sleep. Is there anything wicked in taxi
Ing nap in your easy chair after dinnerl
No practice is more natural and innocent,
yet there never was man or woman who
would confess it, however visible the proof
might be. One would as soon expect a con-
fession Of snoring as confession of that
| after-dinner nap.
MEN WHO WORK WHILE ASLEEP.
But if horses go to sleep standing in the
shafts or jogging along the road it il
equally true that men have been known to
sleep while engaged in some habirual &C.
cupatlon. Sir William Hamilton, the re-
suit of whose Investigations have been
| alluded to before, gives an instance of @
postman in England who used to make a
| journey every day between two neighbor-
| ing villages by certain beaten track.
| Regularly everyday he would go to sleep
and continue walking, and regularly as
clockwork he would wake up when
he came to a certain little stream
which had to be crossed by q narrow and
shaky plank This was no more than
| the old horse does, and the waking up at g
certain place was no more than the faculty
! Of waking at a regular hour every morning,
| which nearly ell people possess. Many poo
| pie, for that matter, are able TO wake at any
| hour that they choose. The night watch
man does not always watch, but If he
/ knows when an inspector is to be expected
he can regulate his sleeping and waking tc
suit. Another story is told by Sir William
, more wonderful than his postman story. II
| comes down to US on the authority OF tive
philosophers Of the olden time.
A REMARKABLE INSTANCE.
| Two scholars were making journey or
| horseback On the continent, and, having
been riding all day long, and doubtless be
| quilting the weary hours by erudite discus
sion, they arrived at an inn at nightfal
! thoroughly fatigued. There third philoso-
| pher joined them and presented them with
a manuscript he had recently found. The
more tired one of the two travellers volun-
teered TO READ IT, lt may well Do imagined
that it was dry reading, aud that all the
surroundings were calculated to induce
drowsinesS. Nevertheless, the reader read
for some time, tur1ing over the pages
and making the proper pauseS and
| infections, until one of the
listeners, making an interruption and OBJ
serving that it was not needed, went up TO
him and found that, while he was reading
| perfectly correctly, he was, notwithstand-
ing sound asleep. Nor had he, when
! awakened, the slightest recollection of O
| word ne had read. 1t may well be sus-
I pected that the country parson in the hot
summer weather, when the birds are twit-
tering lullaby among the vines about the
church windows, aud when the locusts are
buzzing their drowsy tune against the
NAPLES about the porch, takes a little nap
while he drones forth his familiar prayers.
ALL ARE MYSTERIOUS MANIFESTATIONS.
While some people behave as though they
were awake, when in reality they are
asleep, others behave as though they were
asleep when in reality they are awake. The
| absent-minded individual who walks along
the street apparently cutting everybody he
| meets, who walks into an open drain or
| perhaps bumbs up against q moving car
| riage, might just as well DO somnam-
bulist But this is another thing and has
nothing to do with the subjects sketched
here. Mesmerism, hypuotism. somnam-
bulism are all manifestations Of dreams