Hypnotism

(hip’ -not-izm) [ynvog, sleep]. A state of artificial somnambulism or trance, induced in certain persons by concentrating the gaze on a small object, or on a revolving mirror, or by complete subjection of their will to that of another, at whose command the hypnotic state develops. Three stages are described, — the cataleptic, the lethargic, and the somnambulistic. 323