The physiological explanation of the hypnotic state which Heidenhain ventures to suggest, is that a stimulus of the kind just mentioned has the effect of inhibiting the functions of the cerebral hemispheres, in a manner analogous to that which is known to occur in several other cases which he quotes of ganglionic action being inhibited by certain kinds of stimuli operating upon their sensory nerves. very gentle stimulation of the skin caused | continued, and regular stimulation of the only the muscles lying immediately below nerves of touch, sight, or hearing; and the seat of stimulation to contract, and may be terminated by a strong or sudden that on progressively increasing the change in the stimulation of these same strength of the stimulus its effect progres- nerves. sively spread to muscles and to muscle groups further and further removed from the seat of stimulation. It is interesting that this progressive spread of stimulation follows almost exactly Professor Pflüger's law of irradiation. But the rate at which a reflex excitation is propagated through the central nerve organs is very slow, as compared with the rapidity with which such propagation takes place in ordinary circumstances. Moreover, the muscles are prone to go into tonic contraction, rather than to respond to a stimulus in the ordinary way. The whole hypnotic condition thus so strongly resembles that of catalepsy, that Heidenhain regards the former as nothing other than the latter artificially induced. In the case of strong persons this tonic contraction of the muscles may make the body as stiff as a board, so that, if a man is supported in a horizontal position by his head and his feet only, one may stand upon his stomach without causing the body to yield. The rate of breathing has been seen by Heidenhain to be increased fourfold, and the pulse also to be accelerated, though not in so considerable a degree. In a chapter on the conditions which induce the state of hypnotism, Heidenhain begins by dismissing all ideas of any special "force” as required to produce or to explain any of the phenomena which he has witnessed. He does not doubt that some persons are more susceptible than others to the influences which induce the hypnotic state, and he thinks that this susceptibility is greatest in persons of high nervous sensibility. These "influences may be of various kinds; such as looking continuously at a small, bright object, listening continuously to a monotonous sound, submitting to be gently and continuously stroked upon the skin, etc. the common peculiarity of all the influences which may induce the hypnotic .state being that they are sensory stimuli of a gentle, continuous, and monotonous kind. Awakening may be produced by suddenly blowing upon the face, slapping the hand, screaming in the ear, etc., and even by the change of stimulus proceeding from the retina which is caused by a person other than the operator suddenly taking his place before the patient. On the whole, the hypnotic condition may be induced in susceptible persons by a feeble, In a more recent paper, embodying the results of a further investigation in which he was joined by P. Grutzner, Heidenhain gives us the following supplementary information. The muscles which are earliest affected are those of the eyelids; the patient is unable to open his closed eyes by any effort of his will. Next, the affection extends in a similar manner to the muscles of the jaw, then to the arms, trunk, and legs. But even when so many of the muscles of the body have passed beyond the control of the will, consciousness may remain intact. In other cases, however, the hypnotic sleep comes on earlier. Imitative movements become more and more certain the more they are practised, so that at last they may be invariable and wonderfully precise, extending to the least striking or conspicuous of the changes of attitude and general_movements of the operator. Professor Berger observed that when pressure is exerted with the hand at the nape of the neck upon the spinous process of the seventh cervical vertebra, the patient will begin to imitate spoken words. It is immaterial whether or not the words make sense, or whether they belong to a known or to an unknown language. The tone in which the imitation is made varies greatly in different individuals, but for the same individual is always constant. case it was a hollow tone, "like a voice from the grave;" in another almost a whisper, and so on. In all cases, however, the tone is continued in one kind, i.e., it is monotonous. Further experiments showed that pressure on the nape of the neck was not the only means whereby imitative speaking could be induced, but that the latter would follow with equal certainty and precision if the experimenter spoke against the nape of the neck-especially if he directed his words upon it by means of a sound-fun In one nel. A similar result followed if the similarity of these reflex movements to words were directed against the pit of those which occur in the well-known the stomach. It followed with less cer- "croak experiment" of Goltz is pointed tainty when the words were directed out. against the larynx or into the open mouth, A number of other experiments proved and the patient remained quite dumb that unilateral hypnotism might be inwhen the words were directed into his duced by gently and repeatedly stroking ear, or upon any other part of his head. one side or other of the head and foreIf a tuning-fork were substituted for the head. The resulting hypnotism manivoice, the note of the fork would be imi-fested itself on the side opposite to that tated by the patient when the end of the fork was placed on any of the situations just mentioned as sensitive. By explor ing the pit of the stomach with a tuningfork, the sensitive area was found to begin about an inch below the breast-bone, and from thence to extend for about two inches downwards and about the same distance right and left from the middle line, while the navel, breast-bone, ribs, etc., were quite insensitive. Heidenhain seeks though not, we think, very successfully to explain this curious distribution of areas sensitive to sound, by considerations as to the distribution of the vagus nerve. which was stroked, and affected both the face and limbs. When the left side of the head was stroked, there further resulted all the phenomena of aphasia, which was not the case when the right side of the head was stroked. When both sides of the head were stroked, all the limbs were rendered cataleptic, but aphasia did not result. On placing the arms in Mosso's apparatus for measuring the volume of blood, it was found that when one arm was hypnotized by the unilateral method, its volume of blood was much diminished, while that of the other arm was increased, and that the balance was restored as soon as the cataleptic condiNext we have a chapter on the subjec- tion passed off. In these experiments tion of the intellectual faculties to the consciousness remained unaffected, and will of the operator which is manifested there were no disagreeable sensations exby persons when in a state of hypnotism. perienced by the patient. In some inFor the manifestation of these phenom-stances, however, the above results were ena the sleep must be less profound than equivocal, catalepsy occurring on the same that which is required for producing imi- side as the stroking, or sometimes on one tative movements; in this stage of hyp-side and sometimes on the other. In all notism the experimenter has not only the cases of unilateral hypnotism, the side motor mechanism on which to operate, affected as to motion is also affected as but likewise the imagination. "Artificial to sensation. Sense of temperature unhallucinations" may be produced to any der these circumstances remains intact extent by rehearsing to the patient the long after sense of touch has been abolscenes or events which it may be desired ished. As regards special sensation, the to make him imagine. A number of in- eye on the hypnotized side is affected teresting details of particular cases are both as to its mechanism of accommodagiven, but we have only space to repeat tion and its sense of color. While colorone of the most curious. A medical stu- blind to "objective colors," the hypnodent, when hypnotized in the morning, tized eye will see "subjective colors" had a long and consecutive dream, in when it is gently pressed and the pressure which he imagined that he had gone to suddenly removed. Moreover, if a dose the Zoological Gardens, that a lion had of atropin be administered to it, and if it broken loose, that he was greatly terri- be then from time to time hypnotized fied, etc. On the evening of the same while the drug is gradually developing its day he was again hypnotized, and again influence, the color-sense will be found to had exactly the same dream. Lastly, at be undergoing a gradual change. In the. night, while sleeping normally, the dream first stage yellow appears grey with a was a third time repeated. bluish tinge, in the second stage pure blue, in the third blue with a yellowish tinge, and in the fourth yellow with a light bluish tinge. The research concludes with some experiments which show that in partly hypnotized persons imitative movements take place involuntarily, and persist until interrupted by a direct effort of the will. From this fact A number of experiments proved that stimulation of certain parts of the skin of hypnotized persons is followed by certain reflex movements. For instance, when the skin of the neck between the fourth and seventh cervical vertebræ is gently stroked with the finger, the patient emits a peculiar sighing sound. The Heidenhain infers that the imitative | key can be sanely looked for while women movements which occur in the more pro- occupy the place of slaves, is one of those found stages of hypnotism are purely problems I leave it to philanthropists to automatic, or involuntary. solve. The widespread belief out here is, that no radical regeneration of the young can take place while the parent stock remains. But first as to Turkish beauties, about whom so much has been written and so little really known. Are they indeed the houris we have been taught to consider them? Are they the timid, gentle, gazellelike partners of their jealous lords? Alas! poets and dramatists have very much misled us their chief beauty is in the mystery that surrounds them; and the closer we see them, both physically and morally, the less do we admire. In concluding this brief sketch of Heidenhain's interesting results, it is desirable to add that in most of them he has been anticipated by the experiments of Braid. Braid's book is now out of print, and as it is not once alluded to by Heidenhain, we must fairly suppose that he has not read it. But we should be doing scant justice to this book if we said merely that it anticipated nearly all the observations above mentioned. It has done much more than this. In the vast number of careful experiments which it records — all undertaken and prosecuted in a manner strictly scientific-it carried In general they have oval faces, clear the inquiry into various provinces which olive skins, languishing dark eyes, and have not been entered by Heidenhain. beautiful hands soft as velvet and white Many of the facts which that inquiry as snow beyond this, nothing. They yielded appear, a priori, to be almost lack the natural grace and pretty coquetry incredible; but, as their painstaking in- of our Levantine belles, and the firm vestigator has had every one of his results tread, elegant manners, and becoming confirmed by Heidenhain so far as the modesty of European women. Their latter physiologist has prosecuted his re- figures are clumsy, their features somesearches, it is but fair to conclude that what harsh, their lips full and often thick; the hitherto unconfirmed observations they walk with a roll (their legs being deserve to be repeated. No one can read bowed), and even their natural attractions Braid's work without being impressed by depend more or less upon artificial aid. the care and candor with which, amid They thickly powder their faces, blacken violent opposition from all quarters, his their brows and dye their eyelids and investigations were pursued; and now, lashes, so that when half veiled by the when, after a lapse of nearly forty years, yashmak screen, they are certainly strikhis results are beginning to receive the ing and present a dazzling effect; but confirmation which they deserve, the under other circumstances most of them physiologists who yield it ought not to would pass unobserved. forget the credit that is due to the earliest, the most laborious, and the hitherto most extensive investigator of the phenomena of what he called hypnotism. G. J. ROMANES. Many of the children are beautiful, with round, rosy, plump faces and golden brown hair; their dress is, however, frightful and ridiculous: they wear wide pantaloons, and long skirts of some outrageous color (often yellow), badly-fitting shoes, and a smartly colored cap perched on the top of their heads. The yashmak (or veil) worn by Turkish women was formerly made of thick muslin and completely hid the features. A fold passes over the mouth, under the chin, and is carried up over the ears; a still wider fold encircles the forehead, leaving the eyes alone uncovered, the whole surmounting a gaily colored little headdress which is joined on to the hair at the back. Nowadays the yashmak is often composed of the finest tarlatan, so that the whole of the features are clearly visible, and much of the illusion respecting Turkish beauty has consequently been dis How the advance of civilization in Tur-pelled. It has been well remarked that the young and pretty women wear the veil loosely, and of the thinnest material, while the old and ugly bandage up their faces with jealous care as though fearful of the admiring glances of the profane. The want of fresh air and exercise, an inordinate love of sweet food, etc., destroy their health, and at thirty a Turkish haurun is careworn, wrinkled, and often a confirmed invalid. most amusing sight to see a company of Turkish women at the bazaars, bargain. ing, coaxing, abusing the vendor of some coveted article (which they never intend to buy). Many a tedious hour is doubtless thus whiled away. The Turkish wife has naturally not much affection for her husband; she is treated as part of his goods and chattels and demeans herself accordingly. His theory being that the most exemplary wife would betray her husband had she but the opportunity, she does not care to prove the contrary, and accepts the status assigned her as she accepts her fate. But the Turkish children, you will ask; they at least may be taught better things? Alas! here is the saddest question of all. Many of the advanced Turks now give their girls a taste of Frank life. Either Her love of scandal, her proneness to they engage European governesses for intrigue, her hatred and jealousy of Christheir education or they send them to a tian women, are the natural outcomings of Christian school to get a smattering of such a narrowed life. Tyrannized over the French and English languages. But at twelve years of age this education ceases abruptly. They are then shut up, their countenances no longer visible to men, and in a few years are married to some one whom probably they have never seen. The one panacea the law has bestowed on married women is divorce. If not content with her husband, she may leave him, and take another, and another, although to her only one is permitted at a time. At five or six years of age the Turkish boy is taken out of his mother's hands, and put under the control of men. He no longer does her any obedience, and in many cases hardly distinguishes her from the other females composing the harem, A few years later he passes at once from the gross ignorance of the child to the full demands of manhood; at seventeen or eighteen a wife is given him, and his mother exercises over her and his offspring an authority to which he himself was never subject. Such is the Turkish custom. The wife herself is in no case treated as the friend or companion of her husband. They never talk, go out, visit, or eat together. They have separate apart ments both for day and night. The husband's male friends are never admitted into the women's apartments, nor of course do female visitors ever intrude into the men's. The women pass their time in dressing, gossiping, frequenting the bath, or in paying and receiving visits among themselves. Smoking is of course their universal passe-temps. One other diversion remains (dear to the female heart of all nations) — shopping; and I assure you this is made no light business in this country. It is a by her mother-in-law, in turns caressed and neglected by her capricious lord, lightly esteemed by her children, pitied or hated by her slaves and attendants, and not finding in her religion a shadow of comfort or support, can we be surprised that such an unhappy being should sow dissensions in her family and be the fruitful source of much misery and crime? Perhaps the most striking fact to a stranger is the little interest Turkish women seem to inspire among the gallant population of our city. But such strangers are perhaps unaware of the danger of a word or even of a look; a prolonged gaze into the carriage of a grande dame Turque may provoke the ire of an attendant eunuch and cause him to lay about right and left the heavy whip with which he is often provided: but the greatest danger lies in the treacherous encouragement of the grande dame herself. Some years ago a Monsieur B——, a young Frenchman of this town, became enamored of one of these veiled Junos, whose soft glances seemed to reveal a reciprocal passion. Day after day he awaited her carriage at a corner of the principal thoroughfare, and day after day the bewitching eyes drew him caressingly to his doom. Still no words were exchanged. Monsieur Bbecame more and more infatuated, and in spite of the warnings of his friends he determined to carry on the intrigue to the end, whatever that might be. Patiently he bided his time and his opportunity, nor were they long in presenting themselves. He was rewarded one day by seeing a tiny jewelled hand drop a billet from the carriage window, which fluttered all unnoticed to his feet. Seizing the paper the enraptured Frenchman hurriedly deciphered the few | their destination (for the latter was in the The two friends turned into a deserted street and arrived at a small door which led through a covered yard to a second entrance. This their guide unlocked, and made a sign for Monsieur B's friend to retire. All was silence and darkness around; the servant's black eyes seemed to glance with malice; and, moved by an undefined fear, the friend again implored Monsieur B- to return. "Bah!" returned this gentleman, "it is too late; besides, what is there to fear when things are managed so easily?" The door closed upon the audacious Frenchman, but the fears of his friends were prophetic he was never seen by them again. Many attempts were made to learn his fate, and large bribes were freely given for this object. A hint was received that he had been conveyed beyond the frontier, but all trace of him was lost, and no further clue was ever obtained as to his disappearance. One or two of such adventures are enough to damp the ardor of the boldest Lovelace, and unfortunately other examples have not been wanting. The following story was related to me by a lady who personally knew some of the parties concerned. A certain rich Turk, somewhat past middle age, whom I will call Selim Bey, occupied a handsome palace at Stamboul. His first wife had died, leaving him with two children who at an early age had been put under the charge of a young English lady, a Miss Blackley, who with them occupied a suite of apartments in the bey's palace. The bey's second wife (for he had but one) was a handsome, passionate woman, whose extravagant caprices were the cause of continual scandals, and who, it was reported, domineered over the too easy nature of her lord. On one or two occasions, Hourrem Hanoum had prayed Miss Blackley to deliver certain letters to One evening she was surprised by the sudden entrance into her apartment of Hourrem's favorite slave, named Adévié. Bathed in tears, she bitterly complained of the ill-usage of her mistress, declaring she felt ready to faint. Miss Blackley soothed her as she would have tried to soothe a child, and sought to calm her excitement by giving her a potion, which soon had the desired effect. The girl, in a sudden burst of contrition, then exclaimed: "Will you tell the English pacha not to come here tonight?" "What English pacha?" exclaimed Miss Blackley, astounded. "The tall, fair Englishman with the golden beard. He will come here tonight, for they have sent him a rope and a key; but to-morrow they will put the rope round his neck, shave his head and his beard, and, dressing him in women's clothes, they will lead him outside the city on to the hills, and there beat him like a dog." The astonished Miss Blackley, by adroit questioning, convinced herself of the truth of this statement, and soon mastered the whole plot. An Englishman, seduced by Hourrem's soft glances, had had the imprudence to accept her invitation to the palace, and at nine o'clock that evening was to open a door in the outer garden wall, the key of which had been conveyed to him. Her majordomo (whom she had won by a bribe) was to meet him there, and then escort him to her apartments. After some hours of amusement and feasting, he was to be made the laughing-stock of herself and her women by being treated in the way described by the slave, and finally he was to be given over to the tender mercies of Youssouf (a powerful eunuch) and conveyed at early dawn to the bare hills of Fundoucli. It was now eight o'clock, and but one short hour remained for Miss Blackley to think and act. She was horror-struck at the probable fate of her countryman, for she knew that evil passions once aroused may be carried to the verge of madness, and she dared not surmise what might |