230 C. Other cases of multiple personality developed in connection with the hypnotic trance have been studied by Professor Pierre Janet's brother, Dr. Jules Janet, and were described by the latter in a paper entitled "L'Hystérie et l'Hypnotisme, d'après la Théorie de la Double Personnalite," in the Revue Scientifique, May 19th, 1888. One of these cases was that of Professor Charcot's famous subject, Blanche Wittman, whose history, as developed in the hands of Dr. Jules Janet, I give in a later Appendix (225 A).

Another case,1 treated also by M. Jules Janet, and which he kindly gave me the opportunity of seeing, was even more remarkable in a therapeutic aspect. It is perhaps the most marked among those very rare cases where it can be said with confidence that death itself has been averted by a hypnotic change of personality.

From the age of thirteen the patient, Marceline R., had been subject to a miserable series of hysterical troubles - chorea, crises, anaesthesia, etc. In January 1886 the hysterical tendency took its most serious form - of insuperable vomiting, which became so bad that the very sight of a spoonful of soup produced distressing spasms. Artificial means of feeding were tried, with diminishing success, and in June 1887 she was paralytic and so emaciated that (in spite of the rarity of deaths from any form of hysteria) her death from exhaustion appeared imminent.

M. Janet was then asked to hypnotise her. Almost at once he succeeded in inducing a somnambulic state in which she could eat readily and digest well. Her weight increased rapidly, and there was no longer any anxiety as to a fatal result. But the grave inconvenience remained that she could only eat when hypnotised. M. Janet tried to overcome this difficulty; for a time he succeeded; and she left the hospital for a few months. She soon, however, returned in her old state of starvation. M. Janet now changed his tactics. Instead of trying to enable her to eat in her first or so-called normal state, he resolved to try to enable her to live comfortably in her secondary state. In this he gradually succeeded, and sent her out in October 1888, established in her new personality. The only inconveniences of this change seem to be (1) that when she has been left some months without re-hypnotisation a tendency to hysterical mutism sets in; and (2) that whenever she is "awakened " into her first personality she has lost (like Fé1ida X.) all memory of the time passed in the second.

1 The earlier part of this case is described in M. Jules Janet's paper, "Un Cas d'Hystérie Grave," Revue de l'Hypnotisme, May 1889.

After some shorter trials, M.Janet hypnotised her November 12th, 1888, and left her in her secondary state till January 15th, 1889. He then "awoke" her, but the vomiting at once returned, and she again applied to M. Janet for help. He hypnotised her, and left her in her second state till March 31st. He then again "awoke " her, with the same result. Again he hypnotised her; and when he took me to see her on August 10th, she had been in the hypnotic state continuously for three months and ten days, during which time she had successfully passed a written examination for the office of hospital nurse, which she had failed to pass in her normal state.

When we saw her, August 10th, she was normal in appearance and manner, except for a certain shortness of breath, or difficulty of speaking, which M. Janet explained as likely to develop into hysterical mutism if hypnotisation were not renewed. She was fairly well nourished, and her expression was open and contented.

M. Janet resolved not merely to re-hypnotise her, but to wake her and leave her for a time in her first state, in order to see whether the dysphagia had disappeared, and at the same time to observe whether the loss of recollection of the events of the secondary state was really complete. He woke her - in the old Elliotsonian fashion - by "reverse passes." Her change of expression was very noticeable. The look of easy content was replaced by a pained, anxious air. Her attention was at once arrested by some masons at work in the courtyard, who apparently had pulled down a wall, or made some similar change, since her last wakening. Asked what she was looking at, she said, in a low, timid voice, "I had not observed the alterations." Asked what day of the week it was, she said "Sunday" - and in fact March 31st was a Sunday. "What day of the month?" "March 31st." "How, then, is this oleander in the courtyard in flower?" " Oh, sir," she said, "those flowers are only paper." "Feel them!" She felt them timidly, and said nothing more. "What had you for breakfast this morning?" "I tried to take some milk." This again referred to March 31st - on August 10th she had breakfasted on ordinary solid food. " Drink a little now." She attempted, but spasms at once began, and she could not retain it.

We then left her; but Professor Pierre Janet (who was also present) told me later that during the two or three days for which she was left in her first state the alarming vomiting continued and she began to spit blood. "My brother was sent for, and determined to re-hypnotise her. She was calmed as if by enchantment, and is now in excellent condition. During her two 'waking ' days she made a number of serious blunders not only as regards her mother, but with lodgers in the house. Her conduct absolutely proved a complete forgetfulness of the preceding months. After making inquiries from the various persons who saw her, my brother told me that he could retain no doubt as to her forgetfulness." M. Jules Janet added that since she had been replaced in the second condition the loss of flesh had been rapidly repaired, and she was again comfortable.