Research source

When a person falls asleep, he loses consciousness when en rapport with himself.[2] When he is placed in the…

Date of account: Published 1921
Source: The Problems of Psychical Research Experiments and Theories in the Realm of the Supernormal
Reference: The Problems of Psychical Research Experiments and Theories in the Realm of the Supernormal · selected passage 20
Rights: public_domain
Language: English
Record updated: 2026-08-24

Record summary

When a person falls asleep, he loses consciousness when en rapport with himself.[2] When he is placed in the "mesmeric" trance, he remains en rapport with the operator, and the deeper the trance, the more complete and effective this rapport is

Published source text

Read the available text below. Archive transcriptions may contain OCR errors; later context is labelled separately. A recorded claim is not a finding that it happened.

Source passage

Source text · mention only

When a person falls asleep, he loses consciousness when _en rapport_ with _himself_.[2] When he is placed in the "mesmeric" trance, he remains _en rapport_ with the operator, and the deeper the trance, the more complete and effective this _rapport_ is. Explain it as you will, the facts remain. The writings of the early mesmerists are filled with records of cases of this _rapport_, in which "community of sensation" was present, and various supernormal phenomena, such as clairvoyance, etc., were manifested. No such phenomena are recorded in hypnotic seances, as a rule, which makes me suspect most strongly that mesmerism and hypnotism are not identical, in spite of the general belief that they are fundamentally one--all mesmeric phenomena being due to "suggestion." Of this, however, later.

Historical context

Contextual commentary · mention only

This comes from historical psychical research. Methods, witness handling and standards of evidence differ from present-day research and should be assessed from the cited passage and edition.

Modern context

Contextual commentary · mention only

The passage can support a history of claims and recurring descriptions. It does not establish a paranormal mechanism, and competing psychological, social and physical explanations remain relevant.

Investigate related details with Anomaly Graph’s account-based search, or read how matching and provenance work.