Hidden Minds (8 page)

After the mid nineteenth century and the sanitization of hypnotism, its use as both a treatment and an exploratory tool became more frequent in medical circles – particularly among neurologists and psychiatrists. The phenomenon of post-hypnotic suggestion had become well established. It had been repeatedly demonstrated that instructions capable of influencing behaviour could be planted in the unconscious. This led some practitioners to consider the role of latent ideas in the formation of behavioural symptoms. Could, for example, certain ideas enter the mind and work their way down into the unconscious? Could the mind be poisoned – as it were – from below the awareness threshold, and could such a mechanism explain mental illness?

In 1873 the physician, Auguste Ambroise Liebeault, wrote that an idea planted in the mind of a hypnotised individual might become lodged inside -or ‘fixed’ in the terminology of the day.

If mental illness was caused by pernicious ideas that had become fixed in the unconscious, then how could they be discovered? How could they be brought into awareness? And how could they be removed? It was in pursuit of the answers to questions such as these that psychotherapy was born.

In the early 1880s psychotherapy did not exist (and hypnosis had proved to be an unreliable treatment). By the end of the 1880s, however, everything would change. The unconscious was to have a central role to play in
fin-de-siècle
explanations of mental illness. Moreover, psychotherapy would be the institution and vehicle through which the unconscious would become the most celebrated of ail psychological concepts.

I
n 1885 something very strange was happening in Le Havre. That autumn a young philosophy teacher, Pierre Janet, had begun a remarkable set of experiments on a woman called (in order to preserve her anonymity) Madame B. His findings were presented before the scientific community in Paris on 30 November, when his paper was read at a meeting of the Société de Psychologie Physiologique. The eminent neurologist and director of the Salpêtrière hospital, Jean Martin Charcot, was in the chair, for reasons which are now unknown, the young man himself did not attend; instead, his uncle Paul (also a philosopher) delivered the paper on his nephew’s behalf. It was unclear how such a distinguished audience would receive this unusual presentation; however, when Paul Janet closed his address, even the most sceptical members of the Société were impressed, and perplexed, by the young man’s findings. On reflection, it was decided that the results of his investigation should not be made available to the general public; however, even the most discreet members of the Société found it difficult to maintain a dignified silence. They talked among themselves, then to their colleagues, and finally to their friends. In fact, they talked so much about the philosophy teacher’s findings that, in April of the following year, a delegation representing the newly formed Society for Psychical Research set off from England for Le Havre for the purpose of finding out what, exactly, had been going on.

The delegation was led by Frederick Myers, a fellow of Trinity College Cambridge and one of the founders of the Society for Psychical Research, an organisation committed to the scientific investigation of paranormal (or psychical) phenomena. Myers was by no means a gullible man, and he had read Janet’s 1885 publication ‘Note sur quelques phénomènes de somnambulisme’ with due detachment. In this article, written for the
Bulletin de la Société,
Janet reported his controversial findings in full. They appeared to provide the reader with evidence for ‘suggestion at a distance’, that is the induction of a hypnotic trance state using telepathy. Myers was aware that many early hypnotists claimed that their powers could extend over great distances. Puységur, for example, conducted a demonstration in which – without saying a single word – he directed one of his patients to a chair and then instructed her to bring him certain objects. He had apparently controlled her behaviour by exercising bis will alone; however, such phenomena had never been the subject of a thorough scientific investigation. Janet’s work, confidently presented before the Paris intelligentsia, represented a bold assertion that this hitherto dubious phenomenon was both real and demonstrable. Initial reluctance to publicise Janet’s work was due to fear of attracting the unwelcome interest of overzealous enthusiasts. At that time, yet another craze for stage hypnotism and sensational phenomena was sweeping France and the Le Havre area was particularly affected. Needless to say, the delegation from England were not considered to be dilettantes or mere followers of fashion.

When Myers arrived in Le Havre he was introduced to the young philosophy teacher, a man with daunting academic credentials. Janet was a graduate of the École Normale Supérieure, a school for the intellectual elite of France. ‘Normalians’ were groomed for professorship, and although exempt from military service were pledged to teach for ten years. Janet had taken up his appointment at Le Havre in 1883; however, although committed to the teaching of philosophy, be had long since nurtured an interest in medicine and psychiatry. Over the years this had become something of a passion. Whenever he visited his family in Paris he invariably spent a significant proportion of his time seeing patients with his brother Jules (then, a medical student). On returning to Le Havre, he chose to spend most of bis leisure time as a voluntary worker at the local hospital. Janet was eager to start work on his
doctorat ès lettres
thesis, and it was almost inevitable that he would want to research an area relevant to medicine and psychiatry. He had been fortunate enough to have made the acquaintance of Dr Cibert, a local physician who had, among his many other patients, a woman who could be hypnotised by an act of will, Janet’s interest was aroused immediately.

Madame B lived with Dr Gibert’s sister at a house called Pavilion. She was described by Myers as a simple and honest character, a ‘heavy, middle aged, peasant woman, with a patient, stolid expression, and a very limited intelligence and vocabulary’. Dr Gibert had frequently experimented with hypnotism as a method of treatment, and had, by chance, discovered her unique susceptibility to the trance state; however, he had not undertaken any rigorous and systematic investigations of’suggestion at a distance’ and was happy to leave Madame B in the hands of his capable and enthusiastic junior for this purpose.

Myers was eager to see Janet’s original notes on the case. The young man obliged without question, Myers was struck by his scrupulosity. Each observation had been noted in a meticulous, careful hand. This was consistent with the man’s general bearing. He was quite short in stature, lean, with dark eyes and a trimmed, pointed beard. Fastidious, sharp. Very much a Parisian.

Janet’s notes made extremely interesting reading. He had induced a trance state in Madame B by holding her hand and applying gentle pressure. Even a slight pressure from his thumb would suffice; however, he noticed that unless he was ‘willing’ Madame B to sleep, nothing happened. Touch without intention was ineffective. Further proof of this phenomenon was obtained when Janet sat with Madame B while Dr Gibert ‘willed’ her to sleep from an adjoining room. Janet’s touch, without intention, did nothing. It was only when Gibert began to will Madame B to sleep that the desired outcome ensued.

Myers found an even more compelling entry dated 3 October 1885. Gibert had attempted to send Madame B to sleep from a distance of half a mile; however, when Janet went to investigate he found Madame B awake. She was somewhat indignant; ‘I know very well that M. Gibert tried to put me to sleep, but when I felt him 1 looked for some water, and put my hands in cold water. 1 don’t want people to put me to sleep in that way; it puts me out, and makes me look silly’ Further entries confirmed that Madame B knew whether it was Gibert or Janet who was attempting to make her sleep. This seemed to support an idea originally suggested by the early pioneers of hypnotism, that a strange bond called the
rapport
linked the hypnotist with his subject.

On 14 October 1885 Gibert had induced a trance in Madame B from a distance of two-thirds of a mile, at an hour suggested by a third person but not disclosed to Janet. When Janet recorded the time that Madame B fell asleep it coincided with the appointed hour. Myers recognised that these findings excluded the possibility that Madame B was detecting subtle and unintentional signs of anticipation from Janet. Given that he was ignorant of Gibert’s intentions, this was clearly an impossibility.

Although impressed byjanet’s notes, Myers was not entirely convinced. He had come to witness the phenomenon, not read about it. Therefore, it was agreed that he should participate in a series of experiments conducted between 20 and 24 April 1886. The first set of experiments were inconclusive; however, after 22 April Myers became increasingly certain that the phenomenon was genuine.

On the evening of 22 April Dr Gibert pressed his forehead against Madame B’s and planted a ‘mental suggestion’ in her mind. This mental suggestion had been chosen by Myers. As Gibert undertook his task, Myers made sure that Gibert was silent, and made no gestures that might be interpreted as disguised directions. Myers had suggested to Gibert that he instruct Madame B to examine a photographic album in the salon of Pavilion at precisely eleven o’clock the following day. Gibert and Janet were very familiar with Madame B’s daily round of activities. Most mornings she habitually sat sewing in the kitchen or in her bedroom; looking at photographs would be an unusual departure from her rather monotonous and predictable routine.

On the morning of the 23rd, Janet took Myers and his party to Pavilion. They waited in the room opposite the salon and at eleven o’clock, Madame B entered the salon and wandered about with ‘an anxious, preoccupied air’. The men entered the salon after ten minutes and found Madame B in a hypnotic state. Her eyes were open, but they were fixed. They left again, and watched her through the partially opened door. At twenty minutes past eleven she began to handle some photographic albums. She sat on the sofa and stared at the photographs until she drifted off into a deep sleep.

Later that day Janet attempted to make Madame B sleep at four-thirty (from his own house). At about five o’clock Myers and his party entered the salon and found her, eyes shut, asleep but sewing vigorously. She began to mumble, addressing Janet by name. As Myers listened carefully, he heard her say: ‘It is you who made me sleep at half past four.’ Those present tried to convince her that it was Dr Gibert who had made her sleep, but the woman maintained that it was Janet.

After many demonstrations of this nature Myers concluded that the phenomenon under investigation was genuine. He believed that he was able to exclude the possibility of fraud, accidental coincidence, and the use of coded directions or gestures. Moreover, he was persuaded that none of the Le Havre group were eager to exploit their ‘celebrity’. Quite the contrary, in fact. Indeed, Madame B herself seemed to be finding the whole procedure irritating, unwelcome, and demeaning. When Myers returned to England he gave an account of his visit to Le Havre in a paper titled: On telepathic hypnotism and its relation to other forms of hypnotic suggestion’. His visit to France had been most productive.

Myers later wrote a work titled
Subliminal Consciousness
(1892), in which he accounted for a range of phenomena – both normal and abnormal – by implicating a division of mind operating beyond awareness. He was convinced that hypnosis was a particularly useful tool for the study of subliminal consciousness, and urged psychologists to study the hidden mind within an experimental framework. Although he is now remembered primarily as a founding father of psychical research, his more general writings on the mind and its relation to matter and human personality are of considerable historical importance.

But what of the philosophy teacher? What was his response to widespread interest and acclaim? To his enormous chagrin, he found that he was being inaccurately quoted. His experiments were being described by individuals who had simply not read his work properly. Moreover, unlike Myers, he was far from certain that his studies
did
constitute evidence for telepathic hypnotism. Ironically, he wasn’t convinced. Showing quite remarkable restraint for an individual who might have, at that point, quite easily commanded massive public and academic interest, he simply abandoned further research into telepathy. Instead, he restricted himself to the more fundamental phenomena of hypnotism and suggestion. For the rest of his life Janet remained distrustful and sceptical of any claims for the existence of paranormal phenomena. His work with Madame B is now almost totally forgotten.

Although Janet did not realise it at the time, he was setting a precedent. He was exhibiting a ‘gift’ for obscurity. Like some curious reverse social alchemist, he had an uncanny knack of turning the gold of fame into the base metal of anonymity. It can be argued, without hyperbole, that Janet’s numerous books and publications easily secure him a place in the pantheon of great thinkers about the mind, it might even be argued that his works on psychology and psychiatry rank with (and perhaps even surpass in importance) the acknowledged greatest. Unfortunately, his gift for obscurity has rendered his name virtually meaningless outside his native France. Few have heard of him. Psychology has forgotten its Newton.

Janet was born on 30 May 1859 at 46 rue Madame, Paris. His father, Jules, was a legal editor, and his mother, Fanny, the daughter of a Strasbourg building contractor. The marriage produced three children: Pierre, Jules, and Margaret, Young Pierre was reasonably intelligent, but it was not until his adolescence that his true potential was recognised under somewhat curious circumstances. At the age of fifteen Janet became severely depressed and his education was interrupted for several months. When his depression lifted he threw himself into his work, becoming an outstanding student. After passing his baccalaureate examination he succeeded in securing a place at the Ecole Normale Superieure.