Concerning the faculty of presensation, it is worth while to say a
little more. The early mesmerists made a great point of the power of
some patients to diagnose the condition of another. Dr. Puysegur's
patient Joly, mentioned above, possessed the faculty to an unusual
degree. He was an educated man, of good position, and could express
himself intelligibly:--
C'est une sensation veritable que j'eprouve dans un endroit
correspondant a la partie qui souffre chez celui que je touche: ma
main va naturellement se porter a l'endroit de son mal, et je ne peux
pas plus m'y tromper que je ne pourrois le faire en portant ma main
ou je souffrirois moi-meme.
Now, the following experiment has been carried out by Charcot at La
Salpetriere. A young girl suffering from hysterical hemiplegia
(paralysis of one side) came up one day from the country. She was
placed in a chair behind a screen and a hypnotic patient sent for
from the wards. The latter was placed on the other side of the screen
and hypnotised. Neither of the patients was aware of the other's
presence.
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