ter half of this period is not unknown to us
to-day, and as the names connected with it are familiar, it remains
for me to mention but one more name, that of the one who ushered in
the fourth period, F. W. H. Myers.

From its beginning Myers was prominently connected with the Society
for Psychical Research and occupied the offices of president and
secretary. He held the latter position at the time of his death in
1901. In 1887 he formulated his theory of the subliminal self or
subliminal consciousness, a theory which has come to be more and more
accepted, and the value of which has received increasing appreciation.
It has been known as the "subconscious self" or the "subconsciousness"
probably more than by Myers's original title; and his theory has been
modified by some subtractions and additions, but it is generally
accepted to-day and its exposition has helped solve many problems in
abnormal psychology. In no department has it contributed more than in
that of hypnotism, for by it this state has been partially explained.

For a number of years Charcot and his followers put forward a
physiological theory of hypnotism which waged war with that of the
Nancy School, under Liebeault, but even before Charcot's death he
recognized the validity of the Nancy claims while still clinging to
his own. Few if any espouse Charcot's claims to-day. The general
psychological theory of Nancy, which bases the results on suggestion,
is that currently accepted, while a theory not very different from
that of animal magnetism has been held by some of those who accepted
the spiritualistic hypothesis, notably among whom was Myers.

Hypnotism to-day is recognized as the product of a long line of
erroneous theory and zigzag development, but the wheat has largely
been sifted and the chaff thrown to the winds of antiquity. Its
therapeutic and psychological value is duly recognized by science
to-day.[189]

[187] Binet and Fere, _Animal Magnetism_, p. 8.

[188] C. Mackay, _Extraordinary Popular Delusions_, I,
p. 278.

[189] Many works and encyclopedic articles on hypnotism
have been consulted in the preparation of this chapter,
all of which were valuable, and few of which stand out
prominently.

CHAPTER XI

THE HEALERS OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY

"Medical cannot be separated from moral science, without
reciprocal and essential mutilation."--REID.

"Man is a dupeable animal. Quacks in medicine, quacks in
r