The late Dr. Delboeuf, of Liege, whose experiment on the cauterized arm has been referred to, puts forward a theory to account for this action of suggestion on the functions of organic life. He supposes that under ordinary circumstances our attention is concentrated upon external things, from which come our more vivid impressions - the life of relation. The vegetative functions are so established that they go on automatically and unconsciously, and it is only under exceptional circumstances that we become acquainted with the working of organic life; e.g., lying awake at night, we become conscious of the movements of the heart; and in illness we are frequently made unpleasantly cognizant of functions at other times unfelt. But though in the progress of evolution it has been found expedient that the functions of organic life should be carried on automatically by the lower departments of the cerebro-spinal system, in order that all our attention may be devoted to accommodating ourselves to the environment; the highest centres have not yet entirely lost control over those below them, and may under certain circumstances resume, on occasion, the power which they had ceased to exercise.

It is well, under ordinary circumstances, that organic life should be carried on automatically; but it is conceivable that conditions may arise in which the interference of the suzerain may be necessary. It is in these cases, according to Delboeuf, that hypnotism plays such an important part. The hypnotized person is more or less cut off from the life of relation, and the attention, being set free from consideration of the environment, can be directed inwards, and made to concentrate itself for a time on the organic functions: the mind is thus enabled to resume its knowledge and the will its control.

On this theory it is possible to understand the different degrees of control over those functions exercised by different individuals. On the one hand we see or hear of exceptional cases like that of Colonel Townshend, in which a person is able, apparently, to exercise some control over his organic functions in his ordinary waking state; and others in which such a result may be brought about by special psychical 'preparation - e.g., the Indian fakirs. The theory explains the facility with which we produce curative effects in certain patients who are only slightly influenced by hypnotism, whilst in others our suggestions only affect functions, and relieve symptoms when the hypnotic sleep is extremely profound.