Can we say that the equilibrist is really victorious over the vertigo? After much observation I am convinced that it would be more accurate to write that the vertigo conquers the equilibrist.
You all know the experiment which plunges a hen into a state of immobility and renders it more or less completely [p230] insensible by placing its beak upon the ground and drawing a straight chalk line towards which its eyes forcibly converge. In the same way, if any one take a brilliant object between two fingers and hold it a few inches from the eyes and a little above the forehead of a somewhat nervous person, first engaging him to look at it fixedly and to concentrate his attention on what follows, there is every chance of sending the person who is victim of the experiment into an hypnotic sleep.
The series of phenomena which then take place are familiar to all:
First, the eyes water a little through the fixed gaze, the pupils dilate and contract alternately, the members become extended, rigid, in some degree cataleptic. . .
Now recall the succession of acts which the equilibrist accomplishes in his work. He too, fixedly, obstinately gazes upon a single spot—the point of sight. All those who perform upon the cord have acknowledged that the same peculiar phenomena are produced at the end of the first seconds of this intense gaze; the equilibrist feels a sensation of absolute isolation, and at the same time a curious attrahent feeling towards the point of sight. In this nervous state the muscles assume a species of rigidity which assists the acrobat in his work.
Must we then conclude that the phenomena found here border upon hypnotism? This is a delicate question. I know that it will soon be laid before the Académie de Médecine by two clever savants of the Faculty of Montpellier. I commend these remarks to their attention, for they may feel some interest in them, owing to the difficulty which impedes close [p231] observation of these wandering artists, whose confidence is so hard to win.
Those who study this question of hypnotism amongst equilibrists should notice:
1. That as a rule they are female subjects,