exist a crowd of elementary sensations ...(that) remain what they are-namely, subconscious sensations, real,
without doubt, and able to play a considerable role in the psychological life of the individual; but...not
transformed into personal perceptions...' 335 The degree to which subconscious sensations came to awareness
was termed by Janet, the 'extent of the field of consciousness;' 336 and the extent of the field of consciousness
was widely variable both between individuals and within a given individual over time.
In hysteria, the field of consciousness was subject to a pathological degree of contraction. This contraction of
the field of consciousness 'prevents those subject to it from connecting certain sensations with their
personality.'337 In anaesthesia, for example, the patient lost the ability to assimilate certain tactile and
muscular sensations to personal consciousness; in amnesia, forgotten events could not be brought to
consciousness even though they were available under hypnosis or through automatic writing.
Indeed, pathological contraction of the field of consciousness could leave the mind subject to the vagaries of
a multitude of subconscious processes (e.g., suggestions, fixed ideas) that engaged the mind without being
assimilated to the personality, that influenced perception, in other words, without themselves being perceived.
Here was a powerful new conception of mind, mind as a psychodynamic system in which consciousness
reflected the workings of subconscious process. This was, needless to say, a construction of mind that was to
influence many later theorists, including both William James 338 and Sigmund Freud. 339
325
See Charcot, J-M. (1890). Oeuvres compltes. Leons sur les maladies du systme nerveux. Paris:
Progrs Mdicale.
327
Bernheim, H. (1884), De la suggestion dans l'tat hypnotique et dans l'tat de veille. Paris: Octave Doin;
Bernheim, H. (1886). De la suggestion et de ses applications la thrapeutique. Paris: Octave Doin; Bernheim,
H. (1891). Hypnotisme, suggestion, psychothrapie. Etudes nouvelles. Paris: Octave Doin. For a discussion of
the content and significance of Bernheim's De la suggestion, see the essay on Bernheim in this volume.
328
Hricourt, J. (1889). L'Activit inconscient de l'esprit. Revue scientifique, 3me series, 26, 2, 257-68.
329
330
Ellenberger, H.F. (1970). Discovery of the Unconscious. The History and Evolution of Dynamic Psychiatry.
New York: Basic Books, p. 406.
331
Janet, P. (1892). tat mental des hystriques. Les stigmates mentaux. Paris: Rueff; Janet, P. (1894). tat
mental des hystriques. Les accidents mentaux. Paris: Rueff.
332
Janet, P. (1901). The Mental State of Hystericals. A Study of Mental Stigmata and Mental Accidents. New
York: G.P. Putnam's Sons.
333
334
Ibid., p. 35.
335
Ibid., p. 37.
336
Ibid., p. 38.
337
Ibid., p. 40.
338
See, for example, Taylor, E. (1983). William James on Exceptional Mental States, The 1896 Lowell
Lectures. New York: Scribner's.
339
For an analysis of the relationship between Janet and Freud, see Ellenberger, op. cit.