o Dr. Marsh's house, and
arriving there we all turned to and did what we could to restore Herrick
to consciousness. Now that he was in a warm room the drawn expression
and the blue look left his face, but otherwise he appeared to sleep as
soundly as ever. The heart was now acting very well, and aside from the
coma the condition of the patient gave us no cause for anxiety. As time
went on, however, and we absolutely failed to waken him, and the heart
again showed signs of weakness, we began to feel somewhat uneasy.

"You see," said Watson, "we did not know what suggestion was given the
patient; these post-hypnotic suggestions are peculiar in their action
upon some sensitives. If, as it is fair to suppose, this man was ordered
to sleep, he should in the natural course of events sleep for a number
of hours and then awake, after passing from the hypnotic sleep to the
normal sleep; but we know very little of the effect on some nervous
systems of post-hypnotic suggestions. Another thing, in many cases the
patient will not waken or cannot be wakened except by the person who put
him to sleep. The reason for this is plain enough. Part of the effect on
the mind of hypnotic suggestion is due entirely to sleep. The skilled
hypnotist commands one of his sensitives to sleep under certain
conditions. The sensitive expects to be awakened by the same voice and
in the same way, and habit and association have fixed in his mind
certain conditions which he associates with the order to awake. There is
no doubt whatever that Mr. Herrick heard what we were saying when we
spoke to him in a loud voice, but he heard it without understanding,
much as a person in a sleepy condition hears noises about him without
trying to comprehend them. It is undoubtedly true that the man who put
Herrick to sleep could have wakened him in a moment, while we, with all
our knowledge and experience, were unable to make his brain regain its
normal condition. We decided to let him sleep; and if, at the end of a
few hours, he did not regain consciousness, we would try again what we
could do to assist him, of course watching the heart in the meanwhile
and using nitro-glycerin or strychnia if indicated.

"At that moment Herrick suddenly spoke, at first huskily and then in a
loud, clear voice, shouting, 'Yes, yes, I hear you; I am awake.' Then he
sat up, asking in a dazed way, 'Where am I? What does this mean?'"

"As he did so the old-fashioned clock in the hall struck t