DR. BEARD'S EXPERIMENTS IN HYPNOTISM. THE subjoined letters from Dr. Beard and Dr. Donkin on mesmeric experiments made by the former before some of the members of the International Medical Congress, and which appeared in the Times newspaper of the 12th August, seem to have been called forth under the following circumstances. Dr. Beard had been announced to give a demonstration of Hypnotism at the above-named Congress, but from some cause or other this was withdrawn from the programme. A few semi-private experiments were, however, made, which Dr. Donkin attacked in a letter to the Times of the 11th ult. These two letters we now reprint without present comment, but we may return to the subject in a future issue. The first is Dr. Donkin's account of the affair, and is followed by Dr. Beard's version and corrections:

:

(To the Editor of THE TIMES.)

Sir,-The following account of a mesmeric, or, to use the more fashionable term, hypnotic séance, may be of some interest and use, especially at this time, when many doctors are going to and fro, and knowledge may be increased.

I went this afternoon, in common with several other members of the International Medical Congress, to the Waterloo Hotel, Jermyn Street, whither Dr. G. Beard, of New York, had invited us to witness what he termed experiments in hypnotism, etc., on one of his "trained" (sic) patients. The "subject," a young man about 21 years old, was delivering a lecture on temperance in an alleged state of trance as I entered the room. Soon after Dr. Beard came in and proceeded to deal with the patient after the manner of mesmerists, stopping and starting his flow of words by a touch, etc. By Dr. Beard's permission, the suggestion of considering the case in the ordinary medical manner, by obtaining a good clinical history and examining into the patient's physical and mental condition, was adopted, and before any further experiments were tried, Dr. Crichton Browne elicited the following facts:-The "subject," a native of Edinburgh, was using an assumed name; he refused to disclose the name by which he was known when in business in that town, although told that the object in asking it was to inquire into his antecedents. He declined to answer questions of a medical nature put to him by Dr. Browne, the examination being in its result perfectly negative as to his credibility as a witness, but bringing out the positive fact that he had been conversant with Spiritualism in New York, while he alleged that he had forgotten the names of the "mediums" he had sat with. With a protest from the spectators on the unsatisfactory upshot of the "case-taking" thus far, Dr. Beard was requested to exhibit the phenomena we had come to see.

Various experiments were shown, which in the opinion of the

meeting were totally valueless; and finally, Dr. Beard having stated that the condition of perfect insensibility could be produced, the suggestion was made that this experiment should be tried, admitting, as it would, of the application of the fairly definite test of the infliction of what would in the ordinary state be pain, but would be, of course, on the hypothesis of the genuineness of Dr. Beard's case, unfelt. To this test the patient refused to submit. The meeting then, at the instance of Dr. Crichton Browne, unanimously expressed the opinion that in the absence of proof of the genuineness of the alleged phenomena, with the strong probability of the "subject' being an impostor, it was useless to witness any further manifestations, and promptly dissolved itself.

A rumour that these performances might be reproduced at one of the meetings of the congress is, we would hope, without foundation. -I am, Sir, your obedient servant, H. DONKIN.

(To the Editor of THE TIMES.)

Sir, In reply to Dr. Donkin's report of one of my series of experiments in trance (hypnotism), before some of the members of the International Medical Congress, it is proper to make the following

statements:

1. My object in bringing over from America one of the individuals on whom I have been experimenting during the past year was not to demonstrate the genuineness of hypnotism-in regard to which all experts are in substantial agreement-but to illustrate new phases of the hypnotic condition. To demonstrate absolutely the genuineness of trance phenomena would require not a few hours or days, but weeks.

2. One of the special points that I sought to make clear was, that whatever may be the physical or moral character of the subject, experiments may be made with him in such a way that he cannot deceive us, and that we may in some instances be as sure of our results as in dealing with mathematics. Tests of this kind, that depend even remotely on the character of the subject experimented on, have no value in science. This is the central maxim in all of my writings and lectures on this theme. I have never inquired as to the antecedents of the subject employed on the occasion referred to. Whatever may have been his history or general character, he was in his relation to the experiments as honest as Dr. Donkin or Sir James Paget. This is proved, not by his own statements, but by a long series of experiments made on him during the past year, not only by myself but by others. That many of the symptoms of experimental trance, like the symptoms of insanity, of epilepsy, and of hysteria, can be simulated, only those who are unfamiliar with this department of science will question; but our methods of detecting simulation in trance are, as I have elsewhere shown, far more scientific than our means of discovering simulation in insanity, or

any of the morbid conditions to which it is allied, and these means have been repeatedly employed with the individual here referred to.

3. The cautery test suggested by Dr. Donkin is, as usually employed, of very little demonstrative value. In my lecture on this subject before the New York Academy of Science last January, I slowly burned a hole in the hand, and no indications of pain were exhibited. The audience shuddered, but the subject appeared precisely like a corpse. The subject brought to London has stood in hundreds of experiments far more scientific and demonstrative tests. When once the positive suggestive of numbness is given to a hypnotised subject, there is no operation in surgery, short or prolonged, that cannot be performed upon him. As an anæsthetic, ether, chloroform, and nitrous oxide, in quickness, in speed, and in safety, are incomparably inferior to trance. But the power of the human will greatly exceeds popular belief. Very near the spot where my London experiments were made Christian martyrs are said to have remained motionless and calm until their limbs were burned to a crisp. The cautery experiment, although I have myself sometimes used it, I must regard as unscientific. We have now better tests of the genuineness of the phenomena, at once less cruel and more convincing. These tests have been described in my writings on this subject, and some of them were referred to in my private experiments last week. The discussion of this topic at the meeting of the British Medical Association in Cambridge last year, though ably introduced by Professor Preyer, of Jena, was, as all will allow, in some respects unsatisfactory, save as a stimulus to thought, partly for want of an individual to experiment upon, and in part because the restriction of time and space in sections made the consideration of such themes with any satisfaction impossible. To meet this difficulty I brought one of my cases with me, and gave to Professor Preyer and Mr. Braid an opportunity for operative experiments which, though not demonstrative, were far more satisfactory than could have been given in a section.

In regard to claims at once so novel and so incredible even an approach to unanimity of opinion is only possible after many and varied confirmations; but men of science may differ from each other without desiring to destroy each other; and on a theme like this, where the temptation to carry scepticism to the extreme where it becomes credulity and to mistake violence for science is so rarely resisted, it is pleasing to note that Dr. Donkin is as courteous in his manner, as he is erroneous in his conclusions.

London, 10th August.

GEORGE M. BEARD.

To create by a divine fiat a perfect man, incapable of falling, or of missing the mark set before him, would be to make a machine, not a man-an automaton, not a son who could receive the fulness of the Father's love, and return it with the full fervour of his being.— "HAMARTIA."

BUDDHISM AND WESTERN THOUGHT.*

BY M. A. (OXON.)

THAT Englishmen are almost entirely ignorant of the principles and practice of a form of faith which embraces within its fold one-third of the human race is, considering their connection with India, very surprising. But the average Briton is downright and practical; whereas Buddhism, with its metaphysical doctrines and purely spiritual conceptions, commends itself only to the subtle and flexible modes of thought that characterise the Eastern mind. The Western mind must, so to speak, materialise the conception of Spirit before it can lay hold on it. That in so doing it brutalises and disfigures it, misapprehends its more subtle conceptions, and parodies some of its nobler teachings, is inevitable. To how many Englishmen is the idea of Nirvâna familiar? Would not nine out of ten, who attach any meaning at all to the word, translate it as Professor Monier Williams does, "the being blown out like a flame: utter annihilation"? How many would correlate it with that "kingdom of heaven" which, as Jesus told his disciples, is within a man, and to which they only can attain who have risen superior to the things of time and sense, and have entered into peace? Yet this is, doubtless, an approximate view of the true conception.

But it is not the average mind alone that makes these blunders. Men who have studied Eastern Theology, and who come forward as the guides of men less well instructed, propound the most startling and erroneous notions. "The religion of Buddha," says Professor Max Müller, "was made for a mad-house." t There is no trace of the idea of God in the whole of Buddhism, either at the beginning or at the end," says M. Barthélemy St. Hilaire.‡ "Buddhism denies the existence of the soul,"§ says one who is well-known in England in connection with this subject, Mr. Rhys Davids. According to Mr. Turnour|| "Buddha is a wonderful impostor." Burnouf, and many prominent Eastern scholars, hold that "the highest reward in Buddhism after death is the cessation of individual consciousness." Two names only, those of Colebrooke and Foucaux are ranged on the other side. The vast

* Buddha and Early Buddhism. A. Lillie. Trübner & Co., 1881. + Chips from a German Workshop, p. 254.

Le Bouddha et sa Religion, p. iv. § Buddhism: Table of Contents. || Journal of Bengal Asiatic Society, vol. vii., p. 991. ¶ Lillie. Introd. p. vii.

mass of opinion ranks Buddhism as Atheistic, or at least Agnostic, beginning in a negation, and culminating in annihil

ation.

The publication of Mr. Lillie's work, the fruit, he tells us, of nine years' study of Buddhism, should do much to present a more truthful view of the subject. To him the agnostic school of Buddhism which undoubtedly does exist, is a comparatively late development. "The Buddhism of the date of the Christian era was already a corrupt form." The ancient Buddhists "believed the higher Buddhism and the higher Christianity to be the same religion; an idea which seems also to have been held by St. Paul, for he talks of a gospel as having been already preached to every creature under heaven, at a time when, outside Jerusalem, a small Romish congregation comprised almost all the Gentile converts of the historical Apostles."*

The effects due to this form of faith are stated concisely by Mr. Lillie, and the perusal of the claims so put forward is not a little startling.

1. The most formidable priestly tyranny that the world had ever seen crumbled away.

2. The institution of caste was overthrown.

3. Polygamy and slavery were for the first time seriously attacked and condemned.

4. Woman was raised from a position of degradation to equality with man.

5. All bloodshed, whether by the knife of the priest or the sword of the conqueror, was forbidden.

6. Personal religion was substituted for religion by the body corporate: the development of the spiritual life for sacrificial and ritual atonement.

7. The principle of religious propagandism by moral means alone was introduced. China, Bactria, Japan, and the greater part of Asia were so converted to Buddhism. Dean Mansel and others hold that the missionaries of Buddha had reached Alexandria by the time of Alexander the Great. Their mystic societies-Therapeuts, Essenes, and the like-gradually undermined the priestly religions of Babylonia, Palestine, Egypt, and Greece, and prepared the way for Christianity. America was evangelised by the same unwearying enterprise in the fifth century, A.D. They penetrated in another direction to Northern Europe, and their traces are left among Norsemen, Angles, and Goths.

Lillie. Introd. p. x.