,-lHNt, I ill Ii I jjiPiiiiliiSji! ( I Hliilittj llP ipilili II! iiiill 1 ili iiiiijiiiii.il,,! «?i is iff i Pi i ::i!!!!=;i!;ii;ii! i lllif I iiiih! r 1 NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICINE NLM DQ55flET5 1 U b SURGEON GENERAL'S OFFICE LIBRARY. ANNEX ---- Section, .. _ _ / 3—1639 NLM005582951 DUE TWO WEEKS FROM LAST DATE RETURN TO NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICINE BEFORE LAST DATE SHOWN dec 8 m KB ■ 5M973 HYPNOTISM HOW IT IS DONE; ITS USES AND DANGERS JAMES R. COCKE M.D. SEVENTH THOTJ^nm-.----■----.____ j JUK 30:900 BO STO N " "-----— LEE AND SHEPARD PUBLISHERS , v .w Copyright, 1894, by James R. Cocke All rights reserved Hypnotism TABLE OF CONTENTS. PAGE Preface.............................................. 1 PART I. CHAPTER I. A Definition of Hypnotism and Allied Terms, together with Considerations of what the Hypnotic Condi- tion Is......'..................................... ° CHAPTER II. The Effect of Hypnotism upon the Special Senses..... 20 CHAPTER III. Auto-Hypnotism...................................... ^8 CHAPTER IV. How to Detect the Attempted Simulation of the Hyp- notic State---.................................. ''' CHAPTER V. The Dangers Attending the Practice of Hypnotism..... 46 CHAPTER VI. Hypnotism in the Lower Animals....... ............. 63 CHAPTER VII. The Curative Power of Hypnotism.................... 70 iv TABLE OF CONTENTS. CHAPTER VIII. PAGE Method of Applying Hypnotism in Disease............. 82 CHAPTER IX. Hypnotism in Surgery................................ 95 CHAPTER X. The Value of Hypnotism and Therapeutic Suggestion in the Cure of Dipsomania (Chronic Drunkenness), Morphio-Mania (the Morphine Habit), and the other Drug Habits.................................... 103 CHAPTER XI. Hypnotism as a Cure for Illusions and Hallucinations.. 123 CHAPTER XII. The Application of Hypnotism to Functional and Organic Disease in General........................ 130 CHAPTER XIII. Neurasthenia......................................... 162 CHAPTER XIV. Transference of Sensation by Means of a Magnet....... 193 CHAPTER XV. The Relation of Sleep and its Accompanying Dreams to the Phenomena of Hypnotism, and the Hallucina- tions in That State___............................ 202 CHAPTER XVI. Telepathy—Thought-Transference—Mind-Reading...... 218 TABLE OF CONTENTS. v PART II. CHAPTER I. PAGE Introduction and General Considerations in Part II.... 256 CHAPTER II. Theories of Hypnotism............................... 264 CHAPTER III. A Condensed Sketch of the Histoiy of Hypnotism...... 320 CHAPTER IV. Bibliography.......................................... 336 Index............................................. 361 PREFACE. It is a saying as old as the hills that '' a little learning is a dangerous thing." While as a physician I am ready to admit the truth of this, I think that there is infinitely more danger to the common weal from the populace being densely ignorant of the phenomena which are daily occurring in their midst. Hypnotism is at the present time exciting widespread interest, from scientific men, pro- fessional men, and laymen as well. The great public is the bar before which all things shall be tried, their utility determined, and their faults ascertained. Medical men, conversant with the history of medicine, must all admit that a general intelli- gence concerning medical matters is greatly needed by the public at the present time. Hypnotism is freely discussed by only the few. It is marvelled at by the many. Around it the charlatan throws the sombre robe of mystery. The novelist finds in it a rich field of romantic opportunity. Now it is my purpose, as far as I may, to 2 PREFACE. divest hypnotism of the supernatural, to show how it is done, and explain its rational basis. I shall also describe its dangers, and endeavor to outline its usefulness both in the medical world and in society, and in the latter part of my book shall describe the principal theories which are current about it. I shall in the first part of this work quote mainly my own experience, for I have found hypnotism in the United States of America a very different thing from hypnotism in France. The hypnotic states vary according to the temperament of the subject. The national characteristic's also alter its manifestations. Especially is this true between northern and southern races. I have hypnotized altogether about one thou- sand three hundred and fifty people. The greater part of these were Americans, some negroes, quite a number of French, a few Ger- mans, and a few of the northern races, such as Danes, Russians, etc. It will be my purpose, then, to illustrate the differences in the hypnotic state, as they occur in the various nationalities. So important do I believe this power of hyp- notism to be that I wish every man, woman, and child of intelligence in this country could realize what a part it has played in the political and religious histories of the world. It has made prophets and seers of old, witches and PREFA CE. 3 wizards at the beginning of our century, relig- ious fanatics of our own day, of all conditions and kinds. Believing as I do in the importance of hypnotism, both as a healing agent and as a sociological factor, I shall endeavor, first, to tell what it is, how it may be accomplished, and try to outline some of its infinite varieties. In the part devoted to the cure of disease, I shall endeavor to divest the subject of all technicalities, so that the lay reader may com- prehend it, and to help him to form, if pos- sible, an idea of the profound effect which the various mental conditions may have over his bodily well-being. My plea, then, is for wider knowledge. To the goddess of Reason I humbly bow. She needs no crawling, cringing minions to do her homage. Knowledge is her swift messenger of peace. Goodness and Mercy are her white- winged angels, carrying glad tidings to all the world. True it is that life is a mystery, and yet the most mysterious and most marvellous thing we know of, is the fact that it is governed by law, and that every thought we have is a product of law. Every mental phenomenon of our own consciousness is immutably fixed by our subjective condition, plus our environ- ments. The human mind, presenting problems both of boundless study and endless utility, is the 4 PREFACE. grandest thing in all this universe. Men have prayed and suffered in the past, magic and witchcraft have been evoked to cure dis- ease, and yet the suffering are ever with us. Wrecked lives on every hand attest the error which man has made in not understanding his mental states. Therefore I believe that general knowledge of any part of that vast science we call psychology will prove at the same time the most interesting and the most useful study that man can pursue. I shall treat briefly the subject of thought- transference or telepathy ; shall give some of my own experiences, and also refer to pub- lished literature upon the subject. As will be seen from what I have said I do not intend to confine myself strictly to the relation of hypnotism to medicine only, but shall endeavor to give a broader view of it in its application to every-day life. HYPNOTISM. CHAPTER I. A DEFINITION OF HYPNOTISM AND ALLIED TERMS, TOGETHER WITH CONSIDERATIONS OF WHAT THE HYPNOTIC CONDITION IS. I cannot but feel-that the term "hypnotism " is a misnomer. I have never seen a hypnotized person whose condition was identical with that of sleep. Since this has come to be the com- monly existing term, however, I use it in pref- erence to magnetism, mesmerism, psycholo- gism, etc. In Foster's Encyclopaedic Medical Dictionary, Volume III., page 1946, the following defini- tion will be found of hypnotism. It is derived from the Greek word $™o? meaning sleep. The terms used to designate this condition are in French, hypnotisme, sommeil somnambu- lique provoque (ou artificiel); Latin, hypno- tismus ; German, Hypnotismus ; Italian, ipno- tismo; Spanish, hipnotismo. Syn. Braidism. "An abnormal state into which some persons c HYPNOTISM. may be thrown, either by a voluntary act of their own, such as gazing continuously with fixed attention on some small bright object held close to the eyes, or by the exercise of an other person's will; characterized by suspen- sion of the will and consequent obedience to the promptings of 'suggestions' from with- out. The activity of the organs of special sense, except the eye, may be heightened, and the power of the muscles increased. Complete insensibility to pain may be induced by hyp- notism, and it has been used as an anaesthetic. It is apt to be followed by a severe headache of long continuance, and by various nervous dis- turbances. On emerging from the hypnotic state, the person hypnotized usually has no re- membrance of what happened during its con- tinuance, but in many persons such remem- brance may be induced by ' suggestion.' About one person in three is susceptible to hypnotism, and those of the hysterical or neu- rotic tendency (but rarely the insane) are the most readily hypnotized. Hypnotization, the inducing of hypnotism. Hypnotized, in a state of hypnotism. Hypnotizer, one who induces hypnotism." Methods of Inducing Hypnotism. The hypnotic state can be produced in one of the following ways. First, command the sub- HYPNOTISM. ject to close his eyes. Tell him that his mind is a blank. Command him to think of nothing. Leave him a few minutes ; return and tell him that he cannot open his eyes. If he fails to do so, then begin to make any suggestion which may be desired. This is the so-called mental method of hypnotization. Secondly, give the subject a coin or other bright object. Tell him to look steadfastly at it and not to take his eyes from it. Suggest that his eyelids are growing heavy, that he cannot keep them open. Xow close the lids. They cannot be opened. This is the usual method employed by public exhibitors. A similar method is by looking into a mirror, or into a glass of water, or by rapidly revolving polished disks, which should be looked at steadfastly in the same way as is the coin, and I think tires the eyes less. Another method is by simply commanding the subject to close his eyes, while the operator makes passes over his head and hands without coming in contact with them. Suggestions may be made during these passes. This is the so-called Mesmeric method. Fascination, as it is called, is one of the hyp- notic states. The operator fixes his eyes upon those of the subject. Holding his attention for a few min- utes the operator begins to walk backward; 8 HYPNOTISM. the subject follows. The operator raises his arm; the subject does likewise. Briefly, the subject will imitate any movement of the hyp- notist, or will obey any suggestion made by word, look, or gesture, suggested by the one with whom he is en rapport. A very effective method of hypnotizing a person is by commanding him to sleep, and having some very soft music played upon the piano, or other stringed instrument. I have obtained some curious effects in this way, to be noted later. Firm pressure over the orbits, or over the finger-ends and root of the nail, for some minutes may also induce the condi- tion of hypnosis in very sensitive persons. Also hypnosis can frequently be induced by giving the subject a glass of water, and telling him at the same time that it has been magnet- ized. The wearing of belts around the body, and rings around the fingers, will also, some- times, induce a degree of hypnosis, if the sub- ject has been told that they have previously been magnetized or are electric. The latter de- scriptions are of the so-called physical methods of inducing hypnotism described by Dr. Moll. The hypnotic state frequently supervenes in persons sitting in a spiritualistic seance, or at a "circle" as it is called. I shall reserve a chapter for the subject of auto-hypnotism. The physiological illusions produced upon HYPNOTISM. 9 die different systems of the body vary much, according to the method used, and the degree of hypnosis induced. Also they vary widely in different individuals of different tempera- ments. I have seen a profound attack of hys- teria induced in a woman with red hair and blue eyes, from simply looking at a coin, while her brunette sister was easily placed in a deep trance, so that an excrescence was removed without pain from her finger. Authors differ greatly in their statements about the average susceptibility of the masses to hypnotism. Some state that about 70 per cent., others that 80 per cent., others that 90 or more per cent, are susceptible of being hypno- tized, if time enough were only given. I have found the pre-requisite to hypnotism to be vol- untary obedience for a few minutes on the part of the subject. Briefly, then, hypnotism may be induced by impressing profoundly the mentality through all of the senses. The in- tellect, the reason, the will, the emotions, are all children of the senses, ministered to, taught, and trained by the external phenomena of the universe. Those conditions which we term "subcon- scious " bear indeed curious and distorted rela- tions to the ordinary conscious states, and yet they are related to, and not different in kind from, the phenomena common to conscious life. 10 HYPNOTISM. The following is a description of the usual appearance of a person who is being hypnotized by the sensory method. Have the subject look fixedly at a bright object held about fifteen inches from the eyes. Tell him that he must think only of the object at which he is looking. Hold a bright coin in one hand, place the other hand over the radial artery, upon the wrist of the subject, and watch the pulse carefully. If the subject is a good one, in from three to four minutes the heart will beat more rapidly, the pulse will be- come more bounding, and the pupils of the eyes will dilate. When these changes take place in the pulse and pupils, tell the subject that his consciousness will be absorbed. Insist that he cannot hold his eyelids open, and com- mand him to close them. Then suggest sleep. The subject's face is generally flushed. The expression is set. Then the subject is com- manded to relax his muscles, and suggestions are made according to the results desired. If I am treating a man suffering with some form of delusional insanity, I tell him that his de- lusion is a delusion, and that when he comes out of, the hypnotic condition, his mind will be clear, and that the fancy will trouble him no more. If I wish any portion of the body to become numb for a surgical purpose, I constantly HYPNOTISM. 11 stroke that portion of the body, and state that it will be insensible to pain. If I wish to produce general anaesthesia, I make passes all over the body. I have found by experimenting, that i* is sometimes better to make a part rigid by suggestion, when a profound degree of anaes- thesia is desired. It is difficult to express in words the great variety of effects, sensory and motor, which can be produced by suggestion, upon a hyp- notic subject, when he is in the hypnotic state. Beings which are children wholly of his imag- ination, will exist for him as conscious entities. His personality may be changed, and he will for the time, think, act and live another man. The various faculties of the mind may be, each in their turn, rendered abnormally acute. The speech centres may act in such a way that a man who. has naturally a poor command of language, will, when hpynotized, converse vol- ubly or deliver an address, speaking fluently. The emotions may be played upon by sug- gestions, like an instrument of music by a mas- ter's hand. Joy, sorrow, grief, despair, love and hate, may be made to follow each other and appear in combination with marvellous rapidity. The man may be made to believe that he is a broomstick, a pitcher, chair, or carpet, or any other inanimate thing, and to act his part with wonderful skill. 12 HYPNOTISM. Prof. James, of Harvard, says in effect that one needs only to see a person do these things to be convinced that the subject is not acting his part for the purpose of deception. Could they act such a part when in the normal state, they would have long since found their true place upon the stage. One cheek may be made pale while the other is red, one hand cold while the other is warm, and in good subjects even the pulse will beat slowly or more rapidly at the command of the operator. The states vary as do the phenom- ena obtained. Some subjects will have a mocking smile upon their faces, and remember all that has transpired when the hypnotic state has been suspended. I had one man tell me that he did it all for amusement, and that he was not in any way under my control, but I soon con- vinced him of his mistake, by hypnotizing him one day and telling him that he had drank a number of flies with his cup of coffee, for he immediately vomited his whole breakfast. It is said by M. Focachon, an apothecary, at Charmes, that blisters may be made upon the skin by applying several postage stamps and telling the subject that he is being burned. It does not seem to me that in the experi- ment by Focachon all chance of fraud was excluded, as the postage stamp mentioned could HYPNOTISM. 13 have been impregnated with one of several substances which would have produced a blister from its action on the skin, independently of hypnotism. Pain in wounds may certainly be relieved. and another French authority claims that wounds may be inflicted on a person while in the hypnotic state, without subsequent inflam- mation taking place in them. This has not been my experience. Neither have I been able to produce blisters by means of an ordinary piece of metal as has been described by another writer. I have recently made a very curious experi- ment in order to determine whether a person paralyzed by hypnotic suggestion would act in the same way as he would if he were paralyzed from organic disease of the brain. A good subject was thoroughly hypnotized. I told him that he would have a stroke of apo- plexy, and that he would fall, and that when I commanded him to rise, his left side would be entirely paralyzed. He fell at the word, and when I told him to get up the left arm and leg- were paralyzed by suggestion. The face was drawn to the opposite side from the one para- lyzed, exactly after the manner of one suffering from a stroke of apoplexy, when blood is first effused into the brain. I commanded this sub- ject to walk, and had his gait carefully studied 14 HYPNOTISM. Every good physician knows that a person suf- fering from that form of paralysis known as hemiplegia swings the paralyzed side forward in walking. This subject when commanded to walk, dragged his left leg after him, his left arm hung limp at his side, but he did not swing the body after the manner of those suffering with paralysis from organic brain disease. This proves conclusively that paralysis induced by suggestion does not affect the psychic life of the subject in the same way that paralysis will affect the consciousness when due to organic disease. I have purposely left the theories of hyp- notism for the latter part of the book, wishing to make its phenomena clear to my readers. The followers of the school at Nancy describe a flushed face and other physical phenomena as common to, if not a necessary part of, the hypnotic state. I think these phenomena occur more frequently when the coin or other bright object is used to hold the attention of the sub- ject, Sleeping persons can be hypnotized. Con- versely, the hypnotic state can be succeeded by a natural sleep. I have frequently induced hyp- notism in a sleeping person by simply pressing the fingers and making rapid suggestions. In about two minutes the hypnotic state will su- pervene, and the subject will obey any sugges- HYPNOTISM. 15 tion made to him. I have also succeeded in hypnotizing a woman when suffering from that condition known as catalepsy, and made her breathe more rapidly and talk to me when she was insensible to all others in the room. A subject may be hypnotized by one operator when he cannot be by another. The subject under the control of the operator will usually obey him only, and yet he can, by suggestion, be transferred to another hypnotist while in the hypnotic state. Or a person who cannot be hypnotized by one hypnotizer, afterward hav- ing been hypnotized by another, is generally susceptible to the first one in the future. Children under three years of age, and vio- lently insane people, are difficult to hypnotize, because it is not easy to hold their attention. The same is true of idiots. Are there any pre-requisite qualities in the person which particularly fit that person for a hypnotic sensitive ? French authorities, like Charcot, claim that hypnotism is more fre- quently induced in the hysterical than in those who have a more normally-balanced mentality. I shall have occasion to report a number of cases of hysteria in this book, as it bears a very important relation to all psychic abnormalities. The condition, or multiplicity of conditions, con- stituting the disease ridiculously called " hys- teria, "varies so much that volumes would be re- 16 HYPNOTISM. quired to enumerate them. Suffice it to say, that hysteria is a diseased condition of the psy- chic life in which the ego is abnormally promi- nent. A hysterical person may be vivacious, may laugh and cry in rapid succession, may become paralyzed in one or another part of the body, and recover rapidly. He may also be so abnormally sensitive that sight, hearing, taste, and smell will be painfully acute, or one of these senses may become wholly absent, or be in a perverted state. It is impossible to draw the line between hysteria and many forms of emotional insanity. Now, from a prolonged study of the subject, I believe that there are two forms of hysteria, namely : latent and active. I believe that there is a certain amount, nay, I may say a large amount, of latent hysteria in every one. When the control of the will is withdrawn, these lower states of our consciousness show themselves in an infinite variety of ways. A hypnotized patient, as I have said, can be made numb in any part of the body at the will of the operator. You can cause him to feel pain in any portion of the body in the same way that you can cause any or all of the manifestations of consciousness to be very acute, or very slug- gish. In other words, the hypnotic state develops that latent subconscious condition, in which HYPNOTISM. 17 one faculty or sense may be made to predomi- nate, or in which they may be all, for the time, extinguished. This is exactly what occurs in a profoundly hysterical person, independently of the hypnotic state. Hysterical persons can be more easily hyp- notized only when their attention can be held for a sufficient length of time. When a hysterical state has so disordered the faculty of concen- tration as to make prolonged attention impos- sible, hypnotism cannot be induced. Dr. Moll truly says that the element of contradiction is very strong in the character of many hysterical persons, and that they will not give the requisite degree of attention for successful hypnosis. Awakening from, and the Duration of, the Hypnotic Stcde. Subjects will usually awaken of their own accord in a few minutes, from the lighter degrees of hypnosis, or, in some cases, in even a few seconds. The more profound hypnotic states will continue for some time when they are not interfered with by the hypnotist. There are almost as many methods of awakening a subject from the hypnotic state as there are of putting him into it. A subject who is hyp- notized will usually awake when commanded to do so. I frequently command him to count 18 HYPNOTISM. twelve, and tell him to wake up when the word ten is spoken. He may also be awakened by simply telling him that he is " all right " and to open his eyes. The application of cold water is also said by some writers to arouse subjects readily. If the hypnotic state has been induced by passes over the body, passes in the opposite direction will frequently arouse the subject. I have never had difficulty in arousing a subject from the hypnotic sleep. Things which will Prevent the Production of Hypnotism. Disturbing noises at the first experiment have power to prevent hypnosis. They distract the attention, and thus interfere with the mental state necessary for hypnosis. Later, when the subject has learned to concentrate his thoughts, noises are less disturbing. But in hypnotic ex- periments the most absolute avoidance of any sign of mistrust by those present is necessary. The least word, a gesture, may thwart the at- tempt to hypnotize. As the mood of a large company is often distrustful, even as a whole generation is also sometimes sceptical, so the great variations in susceptibility to hypnosis which have shown themselves at different times and places are explicable. It is not surprising that at one seance six persons, one after an- HYPNOTISM. 19 other, are hypnotized, while at other seances six persons will all prove refractory. The American people certainly seem less sus- ceptible to hypnotism, and as a rule are more sceptical about it, than are their brethren across the water. 20 HYPNOTISM. CHAPTER II. THE EFFECT OF HYPNOTISM UPON THE SPECIAL SENSES. Hypnotism, as has been already mentioned, can produce total insensibility, both to touch and to pain, over any part or over the whole of the body. Painful affections such as func tional neuralgias may also be relieved and certain of them cured by hypnotism. I shall devote a special chapter to the subject of hyp- notism in surgery. The Effect of Hypnotism upon the Sense of Sight. This is one of the most curious of all phe- nomena occurring in the hypnotic state. If a person who is hypnotized is told to open his eyes he will do so, and seeing, will perceive only as the operator may suggest. Prof. James mentions some very interesting experiments, which prove that blindness which can be induced by suggestion is purely psychic, and not due to any effect directly upon either the centre of HYPNOTISM. 21 sight in the brain or locally upon the eye. The hypnotized subject will become psychically blind at the operator's will. If a line is made upon a clean blackboard, the hypnotized sub- ject, if commanded to do so, will tell you that the blackboard is still a blank. Place a number of lines in any position you please around the first one. The hypnotized subject will still insist that the line you first made upon the blackboard is not there. Prof. James argues that the fact of the hypnotized subject refus- ing to recognize the existence of a line, is an evidence that the subject saw the line, but that his consciousness refused to recognize its exist- ence. The following are Prof. James' own words : " Make a stroke on a paper or blackboard, and tell the subject it is not there, and he will see nothing but the clean paper or board. Next, he not looking, surround the original stroke with other strokes exactly like it, and ask him what he se«s. He will point out one by one the new strokes, and omit the original one every time, no matter how numerous the new strokes may be, or in what order they are ar- ranged. Similarly, if the original single line, to which he is blind, be doubled by a prism of sixteen degrees placed before one of his eyes (both being kept open), he will say that he now sees one stroke, and point in the direction 00 HYPNOTISM. in which lies the image seen through the prism. '' Another experiment proves that he must see it in order to ignore it. Make a red cross, invisible to the hypnotic subject, on a sheet of white paper, and yet cause him to look fixedly at a dot on the paper on or near the red cross ; he will, on transferring his eye to the blank sheet, see a bluish-green after-image of the cross. This proves that it has impressed his sensibility. He has felt but not perceived it. He had actually ignored it, refused to recognize it, as it were." I trust the reader will bear in mind these two experiments, as they will throw much light upon the theory which later I shall advance, to explain the physiology of the hypnotic state. The Effect of Hypnotism upon the Sense of Hearing. All sorts of hallucinatory impressions may be produced upon the sense of hearing as well as upon the sense of sight, The subject's hearing may be made abnormally acute, or he may be made to hear things which do not exist. This peculiar subconscious condition, when not interfered with by suggestion, ren- ders the sense of hearing peculiarly^, nay, pathologically, acute. A hypnotized subject is much more sensitive to music. It has for him HYPNOTISM. 23 a deeper meaning than for the normal mind. There is, indeed, yet unexplored a vast field for experimentation in this direction. The peculiar effect of music on hypnotized subjects is illus- trated in the following extract in the " Medi- cal News," July 2.S, 1S94, from the article bv Alfred S. Warthin, Ph.D., M.D., of Ann Arbor. Michigan. He says that while in Vienna he observed musical enthusiasts closely while listening to a performance of one of Wagner's great musical dramas. From his observation he reached the conclusion that these people were in a self- induced hypnotic condition, and put forward their subjective natures to such an extent that they predominated over, and for the time, sub- \ jugated their objective consciousnesses. From these observations it occurred to him to try the effect which music would have upon hypnotized subjects. He says of his first subject that he was a physician, and of an emotional nature, and easily hypnotized. Wagner's "Ride of Walkure" was played from the pianc score. The subject's pulse became more rapid, fuller and of increased tension. As the music con- tinued the pulse rate rose from (M)} his normal rate, to 120 per minute, becoming very full, quick and of low tension ; at the same time the rate of respiration was increased from 18 to 30 per minute. The subject's face showed great 24 HYPNOTISM. mental excitement; his whole body was thrown into motion ; the legs were drawn up and the arms tossed into the air, at the same time the whole body was bathed in profuse sweat. On being awakened the subject said that he did not perceive the music as sound but as feeling, and that this feeling was a sensation of wild excitement, brought on by '' riding furiously through the air." This state of mind brought up before him, in the most realistic and vivid manner imaginable, the picture of the ride of Tarn O'Shanter, which he had seen y^ears be- fore ; that almost immediately this became real to him, and in some way he took part in the wild chase, not as a witch, devil, nor as Tarn, but in some way his consciousness was spread through every part of the scene, being of it, and yet playing the part of a spectator. Dr. Warthin's second subject was a young man twenty-two years of age, of average musical and emotional development. Was not so easily hypnotized, and did not pass into such a deep state of hypnotism. The same music was played with practically" the same result, the second subject experiencing, as did the first, the sensation of riding through the air. The pulse rate also rose from 70 to 120 beats per minute. The same experiment was tried upon a number of subjects, and while all of them experienced the sensation of riding HYPNOTISM. 25 through the air, only one of the number knew that the music was Wagner's famous '' Ride of Walkiire." To him it always expressed and pictured the wild ride of the daughters of Wotan, the subject taking part in the ride. It is here to be noted that the subjects could not tell afterward what music had been played to them while in the hypnotic state, and that the same composition played to them while in the normal state produced no impression com- parable with that received in the hypnotic con- dition, and was without physiologic effect. Slow music (The Walhalla motif) produced at first an opposite effect upon the pulse ; later almost doubling the rate and lowering the ten- sion. To the subject it gave a feeling of " lofty grandeur and calmness," and this, in turn, brought back the memory of mountain-climbing made years before, together with the mental state produced by the contemplation of a land- scape of " lofty grandeur." Another totally different piece of music was played, it being very intense and ghastly. It was the music of the scene in which Brunnhilde appears to sum- mon Sigmund to Walhalla. It produced a very marked change in the pulse, which was made slow, irregular in rhythm, and very small. The respirations were decreased in rate, and became gasping. The face of the hypnotic sub- ject became pale, and covered with cold per- 26 HYPNOTISM. spiration. The feeling described by him was that of death. No definite impression could be described. In this article are related many more inter- esting experiments, but want of space forbids my quoting them. The fact that music can produce such remark- able effects upon hypnotized subjects gives to the subjective consciousness a psychological importance which it has never occupied before, and undoubtedly the future will prove that this field is rich with yet undiscovered treasures. Many sensations, many vague memories of some forgotten day, will be brought up from the depths and recesses of this wonderful land of dreams and will be studied, and will enrich colder thought with radiant poetic gems. Hallucinations and delusions of taste and smell in a hypnotized subject can also be pro- duced by suggestion, but they possess no espe- cial interest here. The power of speech may be wholly abolished or partially inhibited, and cer- tain words will be forgotten at command while the hypnotic state lasts. Also the memory of a printed page or the memory of certain letters may be forgotten. I once hypnotized a man and made him read all of his a's as w's, his u's as v's, and his b's as x's. I added suggestion after suggestion so rapidly that it would have been impossible for HYPNOTISM. 07 him to have remembered simply what I said and call the letters as I directed. Simulation was in this case impossible, as I made him read 15 or 20 pages, he calling the letters as suggested each time they occurred. I have shown that hypnotism may act upon the five senses of the body as well as upon the emotions. 28 HYPNOTISM. CHAPTER III. AUTO-H YPNOTIHM. One can induce the hypnotic state upon him- self by the exercise of the same faculties which produce it when it is brought about by the suggestion of another. A number of my subjects will pass into a deep trance and remain so for a period of time ranging from five minutes to two hours, if they look at a bright object, a bed of coals, or at smooth running water. They have the ability to resist this state or to bring it at will. Many of them describe beautiful scenes from nature, or some mighty cathedral with its lofty dome, or the faces of imaginary beings, beauti- ful or demoniacal, according to the will and temper of the subject. That this power of auto-liypnotism is exercised by nearly every one I am quite sure, Who does not look at a tiny picture and in the minute face see again reflected the beaming countenance, life-size, of some dear one ? Again, look at the pictures of Michael Angelo, and those bits of paint reveal HYPNOTISM. 29 the enlarged ideal soul of the artist; or wil-ness a play upon the stage, and if it is well done the true lover of art will become wholly absorbed in the feelings and thoughts of the players, and forget that it is all a scene on the stage, while his whole nature goes out in sympathy for the afflicted, in admiration for the noble, and in hatred and contempt for the base ; or look at a bed of coals on a winter's night, while the winds moan. Does not the maiden see reflected the face of her lover, and fancy that the burning coals are building for her a home radiant with light and full of happiness ? I could cite an experience from every part of man's emotional life which would prove beyond a doubt that the things we usually see are not measured, as they really are by our perceptions, but that our subjective consciousness gives an artistic tinge to what we see, as does the artist, when he executes with paints upon canvas, a representation of nature. Auto-hypnotism has been one of the prom- inent factors in the religious history of the world. The prophets of old dreamed dreams and saw visions. Swedenborg by his overwrought brain had depicted visions of a certain existence, and so strong were these impressions upon him that he believed himself inspired, and that he possessed a key to the word of God. The same is true of many of the saints of the early ) 30 HYPNOTISM. Christian church. This is the power at work in the noisy revivals which occur very fre- quently in the South and West. I have seen a young woman first become convinced that she was a sinner, then, concentrating her whole mind upon the thought, induce in a few minutes a condition of auto-hypnosis. The dervishes as they dance and wound them- selves, also present the physical appearances of a certain stage of hypnosis. The same con- dition of things is found frequently among the Shakers at their meetings. The same thing exists in a mad-house when a monomaniac dwell- ing upon one thing so concentrates his attention that he is oblivious to all but the predominat- ing idea. Again, in the convent and cloister, among the ascetics to be found there, you may observe the same physical and mental charac- teristics. Some persons, of course, are more susceptible to auto-hypnotism than others, yTet all rational beings can at will, within certain limits, render themselves insensible to the external world, and live only in the depths of their natures. How is this induced ? By everything, by every condition, which will so absorb our faculties as to enable us to assume a semi-conscious condition of auto-hypnotization. I have seen among a certain religious sect persons who believed that, for the time, their personality was HYPNOTISM. 31 changed to that of another, living or dead. In this hypnotized state they sometimes imagine that a person, living or dead, controls their minds and hence they impersonate the indi- vidual whom they suppose has control of their bodies. Notably, one man who believed that he was controlled by an Indian made a ridiculous spectacle of himself on one occasion, by talking in a manner in which he supposed an Indian would talk. He also jabbered an unintelligible jargon, and informed me that it was the lan- guage of a Cherokee chief. Bringing a person to him who understood the Cherokee language very well, the man was highly indignant when he was told that his jargon was not the lan- guage of the Cherokee or any other language that could be determined. A curious thing about these self-hypnotized subjects is that they carry out perfectly, in this condition of auto-hvpnotization, their own ideals of the personality with whom they be- lieve themselves to be possessed. If their own ideals of the part they are playing are im- perfect, their impersonations are ridiculous in the extreme. One man I remember, believed himself to be controlled by the spirit of Charles Sumner. Being uneducated, he used the most wretched English, and his language was utterly devoid of sense. While, on the other hand, a very intelligent lady who believed herself to be 32 HYPNOTISM. controlled by the spirit of Charlotte Cushman personated the part very well. It is not my purpose in this work to deal with other than questions concerning hypnotism. One of the most difficult parts of the study of hypnotism is the one that we are now study- ing, that of self-induced hypnosis. From many cases which I have seen in the hospitals for the insane, I am convinced that a number of persons who are thought to be suffering from delusional insanity, are simply in a state of auto-hypnosis. Another interesting case was that of a man who believed that he was being hypnotized by a man at some distance whom he had never seen. He would sit down and talk for hours, if one would let him, of the various conditions which he supposed the operator was producing upon him. The self-induced hypnotic state can be carried to a very great degree. I can hyp- notize myself to such an extent that I will become wholly unconscious of events taking place around me, and a long interval of time, say from one-half to two hours, will be a com- plete blank. During this condition of auto- hypnotization I will obey suggestions made to me by another, talking rationally, and not knowing any event that has occurred after the condition has passed off. I have made studies in order to determine if HYPNOTISM. 38 there were any differences between the condition of self-induced hypnotism and hypnotism in- duced by another. There are minor differences. The mental and introspective life is stronger in the hypnotic state when induced by one's own will. The imagination takes wilder flights. The poetic fancies weave more exquisite gar- lands of thought, or, again, the depths of despair and gloom may be induced, if there is anything in one's environment to suggest it, while in the condition of self-hypnotization. Kingsley in his " Hypatia" accurately de- scribes this mental state, although he does not call it by name. This condition of self-hypnotization is allied to, if not identical with, the so-called ecstatic state, frequently spoken of by writers. Prob- ably a large number of the visions and proph- ecies to be found in Eastern literature are the product of this condition of the mind. Fasting and long hours of work, by increasing the power of imagination, and the general sensitiveness of the nervous system, increase the susceptibility of a subject to auto-hypnotiz- ation, and, at the same time, in such subjects the condition of hypnosis is much deeper. An impoverished blood acting upon the poorly nourished brain, assists in producing many of the visions which have erroneously been regard- ed as supernatural revelations. In this book 3 34 HYPNOTISM. no denial is made of the fact that supernatural revelations do exist. Such a discussion would be foreign to its purpose. No rational man would claim, however, that all of the stuff and nonsense which is alleged by the votaries of the widely different and contradictory systems of religion were genuine revelations from the Di- vine, for in the sorry mess of absurd contradic- tions the Deity would be put into the ridiculous position of giving the lie to his own utterances. No one can for a moment believe the statement that all of the writings of Joe Smith, Buddha. Zoroaster, Mohammed, and many others, many of which contradict each other, could be in- spired revelations of God ; and yet in all these writings the claim is made that, while their authors were entranced or asleep, many of their prophecies were given them as dreams or visions. Now to-day, in our western civilization, en- thusiasts can and do induce auto-lrypnotization by the excess of their own imaginations, plus excessive concentration, which, by developing in them first a condition of trance or semi-trance, and thereby giving free play to their fancies, afterward find mirrored in their own imagina- tions distorted semblances of their own ideals which they teach as divine. Also many delusions which at first are tran- sitory, afterwards leave an indelible imprint HYPNOTISM. 35 upon the brain and become fixed, resulting in insanity. Dr. Bernheim says that there is a danger which it is important to recognize, and which I shall mention. After having been hypnotized a number of times, some subjects preserve a disposition to go to sleep spontaneously. Some of them have hardly been awakened when they again fall into the same hypnotic sleep. Others fall asleep thus during the day. This tend- ency to auto-hypnotization may be repressed by suggestion. It is sufficient to state to the sub- ject during sleep that when once awakened he will be completely awake, and will not be able to go to sleep again involuntarily during the clay. Others, too, are easily susceptible to hypno- tization when they have often been put into the somnambulistic state. The first comer may sometimes put them into this condition by surprise, simply closing their eyes. Such a susceptibility to hypnotism is a real danger. Delivered over to the mercy of any one, de- prived of psychical and moral resistance, certain somnambulists thus become weak, and are moulded by the will of the suggestionists. The moralists who are careful of human dignity, and who are preoccupied with the thought of such great possibilities of danger, are in the right. They are right to condemn a 36 HYPNOTISM. practice which may rob a man of his free will without the possibility of resistance on his part; they would be a thousand times right if the remedy were not side by side with the evil. When we foresee such a tendency in our cases of somnambulism, we take care to say during sleep (and it is a good rule to follow), " Nobody will be able to hypnotize you in order to relieve you, unless it be your physician." And the subject, obedient to command, is refractory to foreign suggestion. Dr. Moll says, " It is possible that some states of sleep which are generally considered patho- logical, belong to auto-hypnosis." I hope that Dr. Bernheim is right when he says it is a good rule to follow, always to suggest to a subject while he is hypnotized, that he can be hypnotized only by his physician. Perhaps this may prove a sufficient protection, but I seriously doubt it. There are neurotic individ- uals, especially with fanatical tendencies, who, after having been hypnotized by themselves or others, will fall into various ecstatic states, no matter what suggestions are made to them during the hypnotic sleep. This part of the subject will be more fully discussed under the chapter, '' The dangers of hypnotism." HYPNOTISM. 37 CHAPTER IV. HOW TO DETECT THE ATTEMPTED SEMULATION OF THE HYPNOTIC STATE. Many amateurs, and some professional oper- ators, frequently imagine that subjects are hyp- notized when they are not. A patient under my care was possessed with the idea that hyp- notism meant necessarily sleep. So she would close her eyes at command, and imagine that she was immediately going to sleep. But she did not do so. Others are seized with terror, and begin to tremble and shake violently as soon as any attempt is made to hypnotize them. Others again (especially profoundly hysterical persons) apparently for the sake of appearing remarkable in some way, will simulate the hyTpnotic state when in reality they are not hyp- notized at all. The facial expression, the pulse- rate, and the actions, together with the tem- perament of the person, will enable the expe- rienced operator to discriminate between them at once. These subjects are not insensible to pain, and while they may pretend that they do 38 HYPNOTISM. not feel the prick of a pin, or an electric brush, etc., their facial expression contradicts their words. Minor degrees of hypnosis are sometimes very difficult to distinguish from simulation of the hypnotic state. However, it is impossible for any one simulating hypnotism to obey the dif- ferent suggestions with that hearty co-oper- ation with which the genuinely hypnotized person will. Hysterical persons simulating the hypnotic state will at times act very remarkably indeed ; their facial contortions are painful ; they will make hideous noises, and, for the sake of confounding the operator, will refuse to de- sist at his command. At a public exhibition of hypnotism given recently, at which I was present, an operator called a number of subjects from the audience. A hysterical individual came up with the others, and before any attempt was made to hypnotize him at all he began the most dismal, hideous screeches ever heard, exceeding in wildness the yells of a maniac. He trembled, shook and wept profusely. The hypnotizer could do ab- solutely nothing with him, and he made so much noise and performed such peculiar antics, that he seriously disturbed the whole perform- ance. Yet, to any one familiar with these con- ditions, it was apparent at once that he was seeking to draw attention to himself, and while HYPNOTISM 39 he did succeed in producing upon himself the appearance of being in extreme distress, yet motives of vanity and egotism were apparent in all his actions. I subsequently found upon inquiry that he was addicted to these ludicrous performances^ when he frequented gatherings where attempts were made to study hypnotism or other allied psychical phenomena. History presents many of these cases. A good example is the story of the oracle of Delphi in which its votary had to lash herself to fury be- fore making any prophecy. One of the ancient Hebrew prophets gave evidence of this disturbed psychic state, by promenading the streets of Jerusalem, clothed only in madness, while he wildly exhorted the people, and predicted dire vengeance upon them. There are, in all communities, certain neuro- tic individuals who have unbalanced nervous systems, and who seek distinction, especially in public gatherings, by manifestations similar to the case just described. The people of the Orient seem much more susceptible to this form of hysteria (i), if indeed it may be called such, than do the nations of the West. Its manifestations are legion. One will laugh, another will cry and laugh, another will have what are termed "hystero- epileptic fits." Another will deliver a whole meaningless harangue, and perhaps attribute 40 HYPNOTISM. to himself supernatural abilities. My oppor- tunities for studying this class of people have been very large indeed. They do not, as might have been expected, often become violently in- sane, neither are they good hypnotic subjects. They furnish, however, a greater majority of the victims of monomania. Their mental bal- ance is so unstable that they are liable to be- come possessed with the wildest fancies. They make religious fanatics or would-be reformers, and imagine that they have some great and important mission to perform. It is indeed a curious thing that society, which is so full of these people, should not have demanded of the scientific world some effort, either to prevent them from doing them- selves or others harm, or find a cure, if possible, for this very sad weakness. These patients are not usually amenable to hyrpnotism. They constitute a class by themselves. They present at times marked evidences of nervous degen- eration. They may have quick, restless eyTes, retreating foreheads, with a large development of the occiput (the back of the head). On the other hand, they may have large stolid faces, dull heavy eyes, and mayT be slow of speech, with obtundity of all the mental faculties. I was once deceived by such a person. He was a house-carpenter by occupation, habitually phlegmatic, and exceedingly slow of perception, HYPNOTISM. 41 One day he attended a religious revival, sud- denly imagined he "got religion" and evinced his great joy by squeezing to such an extent the hands of those around him that he inflicted serious injuries upon one man's hand, and in- jured several others in a lesser degree. He was a man of powerful physique, and, when some of the cooler brethren endeavored to re- strain him, his religious enthusiasm overflowed all bounds, and he proceeded in his ardor to knock several of them down. The condition ended in a severe fit of genuine epilepsyr. This was the first fit which he ever had, and, as far as I know, the only one. It has often been said that the border line between sanity and insanity is not sharply drawn, and persons studying this class of phe- nomena intelligently are soon made to realize the force of the saying, "The insane people are not in the mad-houses only." Men and women walk our streets with impulses of homicidal mania, with tendencies to suicide, and carry about with them all sorts of curious morbid ideas. In the study I have made of hypnotism, and the states simulating it, I have indeed been astonished to find how many strange impulses persons apparently sane carry about with them for years, scarcely daring to admit them to themselves, much less to confide them to their friends. 42 HYPNOTISM. In the chapter treating of the dangers at- tending the practice of hypnotism, I shall dis- cuss this subject to a greater extent. Some persons, when the attempt is made to hypnotize them, gaze fixedly at a bright object held near their eyres, and while the eyes become set and there is more or less rigidity, will re- fuse to obey any suggestion. When the coin is withdrawn they will stare fixedly into vacancy for some minutes, and then have an attack of hysteria, and afterwards return to their normal state. It is impossible for a person to simulate a deep hypnotic trance. I have seen it attempted many times. In one instance, an actress of no mean ability made an attempt, at my request, to do this, after seeing a number of persons deeply hypnotized. In her room she studied the con- dition, and tried it some half-dozen times in my presence, but while her face was a complete blank, while she succeeded in relaxing every muscle, her features would show by every movement that she perceived sudden noises, pin-pricks, etc, States of narcotism from drugs, such as opium and chloral, sometimes resemble the hypnotic state. I once read of a man who took a dangerously large dose of morphine and attended immediately an exhibition of a pub- lic hypnotizer. He sat with others upon the HYPNOTISM. 48 stage, went into a profound sleep, and re- mained so for about six hours, to the con- sternation of the operator. A medical expert could probably have recognized the opium- poisoning by a careful examination of the eyes, or by the use of faradic electricity. As has been previously mentioned, persons, from motives of vanity, or for other reasons, have at times pretended that they were hypno- tized when they were not. Upon the subject of simulating the hypnotic state Dr. Moll says, in studying the hypnotic state, "'It has been too much the habit to look for one physical symptom or another, and settle the question of fraud from its presence or absence. And yet this is exactly the opposite of what is generally done in judging of mental states ; e.g., when we want to diagnose a case and decide whether it is insanity or not, no authority on mental disorders would suppose fraud simply because some bodily symptom was absent. He will con- sider and weigh the case as a whole. Even when each symptom taken separately might be fraudulent, they would be weighed against one another and a diagnosis formed from them. If the doctor finds, also, some symptom which cannot be simulated, he will weigh this, too, but he will not conclude fraud from its absence." Drs. Moll, Kron, and Sperling argue very wisely that only persons with a large experience 44 HYPNOTISM. in hypnotism can determine in a given case whether a person is simulating hypnosis or is really hypnotized. Drs. Moll, Krafft-Ebing, and others cite rnany^ phenomena which are common to the hypnotic state, and yet emphasize the fact that there are very great differences in the phe- nomena attending this wonderful condition. The school at Nancy claims that blisters can be produced upon the skin during a profound trance from hypnosis, also flushings of the skin, and other so-called vasomotor phe- nomena take place during the hypnotic state. But these phenomena may accompany other states as well as the one we are considering. Dr. Moll states again that there are persons who can cause a part of the body to flush or to turn pale by concentrating their minds upon it. He says then, " the most of the symptoms may, each separately or a number of them collect- ively, be simulated by the pretender." Bodily symptoms attending the hypnotic state were particularly emphasized by the great Charcot. The school of Nancy describes physical symp- toms attending the hypnotic state, but many of them differed from those described by Char- cot. To exclude fraud was the effort of the two great French schools of hypnotism. Now there are phenomena which are produced by sugges- tion and which are independent of the subject's HYPNOTISM. 45 will. And in these, although they may be pro- duced without the hypnotic state being induced, wilful deception is impossible; therefore they must be largely relied upon in making a defi- nite decision. 46 HYPNOTISM. CHAPTER V. THE DANGERS ATTENDING THE PRACTICE OF HYPNOTISM. This part of my subject is the most impor- tant, and at the same time the most difficult, for the lay reader to comprehend. One must be familiar not only with the consequences, imme- diate and remote, following the hypnotic state. but must have a knowledge of the diseases of the mind and body as well. The subject ap- pears first in a medico-legal aspect, secondly in a purely medical aspect, and thirdly in a social aspect. Much has been written upon the sub- ject which is utterly absurd to any one conver- sant with the conditions occurring in hypnotized subjects. Many of the fears which exist in the popular mind are utterly groundless, while many, it seems to me, of the real dangers have never yet been recorded. The recent trial of Gouffe in France for mur- der, in which hypnotism was pleaded as a de- fence, elicited much interesting discussion. I personally do not believe that the average indi- HYPNOTISM. 47 vidual in the hypnotic state could be made to commit crimes. Prof. James states that while for a time the will and other faculties are in abeyance, they are not wholly extinguished, and if the command is very repugnant to the hyp- notized subject he will not go beyond certain limits in its execution. Let me illustrate by a case of my own. A girl who was hypnotized deeply, was given a glass of water, and was told that it was a lighted lamp. A broomstick was placed across the room, and she was told that it was a man who intended to injure her. I suggested to her that she throw the glass of water (she supposing it was a lighted lamp) at the broomstick, her en- emy, and she immediately threw it with much violence. Then a man was placed across the room, and she was given instead of a glass of water a lighted lamp. I told her that the lamp was a glass of water, and that the man across the room was her brother. It was suggested to her that his clothing was on fire and she was commanded to extinguish the fire by throwing the lighted lamp at the individual, she having been told, as was previously mentioned, that it was a glass of water. Without her knowledge a person was placed behind her for the purpose of quickly checking her movements, if desired. I then commanded her to throw the lamp at the man. She raised the lamp, hesitated, wav- 48 HYPNOTISM. ered, and then became very hysterical, laugh- ing and crying alternately. This condition was so profound that she came very near drop- ping the lamp. Immediately after she was quieted, I made a number of tests to prove that she was deeply hypnotized. Standing in front of her I gave her a piece of card-board, telling her that it was a dagger, and commanding her to stab me. She immediately struck at me with the piece of cardboard. I then gave her an open pocket-knife, and commanded her to strike at me with it. Again she raised it to ex- ecute my command, again hesitated and had another hysterical attack. I have tried similar experiments upon thirty or forty people with similar results. Some of them would have in- jured themselves severely, I am convinced, at command, but to what extent, I of course can- not say. That they could have been induced to harm others, or to set fire to houses, etc., I do not believe. I say this after a very careful reading and a large amount of experimentation. Immediate Consequences of Hypnotism. I have occasionally seen subjects who com- plained of headache, vertigo, nausea and other similar symptoms after having been hypnotized, but these conditions were at a future hypnotic sitting easily remedied by suggestion. A careful search of the literature has HYPNOTISM. 49 failed to show that any serious consequences have followed immediately upon the hypnotic state. Krafft-Ebing publishes a careful study of a case in which hypnotism proved injurious, owing to the fact that the subject had been severely strained by too frequent and too pro- longed hypnosis. For further particulars see " Hypnotism " by Krafft-Ebing. Temporary disturbances of the different sys- tems of the body have been noted. The ques- tion is often asked if one ever becomes hypno- tized, and remains so for an indefinite period. I think not. I have recently heard of a case in Louisville, Ky., in which a young lady lay in a trance for several days and was subsequently buried, this condition being the result of an attempt which her lover had made to hypnotize her. I know nothing, however, of the authen- ticity of the storyr. It seems to me that the con- dition termed " catalepsy " might be produced when hypnotism was attempted if the hypno- tized subject were intensely frightened at the time. So-called hysterical sleep sometimes follows upon an attempt to induce the hypnotic state. Persons also pass by transition from the hyp- notic state into this condition. See the works of Drs. Moll, Bernheim,and others. It is stated that 4 50 HYPNOTISM. this hysterical sleep may be prevented by sug- gesting to the subject that he will hear music, or will see an imaginary game or a beautiful picture. This may succeed with some persons. I have seen several states which might be loosely termed hysterical sleep, follow upon, or occur as the immediate consequence of, an at- tempt to hypnotize. In such patients, when they show these tendencies, I think suggestion without inducing the hypnotic state should be used, if they are in need of treatment, or other methods should be relied upon. Cases have been reported in which insanity7 followed the use of chloroform and ether. Probably these persons were of a badly balanced nervous tem- perament, and very likely insanity would fol- low as the result of any agent which made a profound impression upon them. Certainly hypnotism should in such cases be used with the greatest possible care. If the physician can ascertain the fact that a patient is subject to temporary insanities, following severe fright or other similar conditions, due caution should be observed. The terms somnambulism, hypnotism, cata- lepsy, I believe cover a great variety of mental states. The cataleptic trance or suspended animation might follow upon the hypnotic state, but I do not know that it ever has. It certainly is a danger to be thought of in the HYPNOTISM. 51 application of hypnotism, and is an argument against the rash use of this powerful agent. Conditions ivliich Contra-indicate the Use of Hypnotism in Disease. There is one contra-indication greater than all the rest. It applies more to the physician than to the patient, more to the masses than to any single individual. It is not confined to hypnotism alone ; it has blocked the wheels of human progress through the ages which have gone. It is undue enthusiasm. It is the danger that certain individuals will become so enamored with its charms, that other equally valuable means of cure will be ignored. Mental therapeutics has come to stay. It is yet in its infancy and will grow, but, if it were possible to kill it, it would be strangled by the fanat- icism and prejudice of its devotees. The whole field is fascinating and alluring. It promises so much that it is in danger of being misused by the ignorant to such an extent that great harm may result. This is true, not only of mental therapeutics and hypnotism, but of every other blessing we possess. Hypnotism has nothing to fear from the senseless scepticism and con- tempt of those who have no knowledge of the subject. Dr. Ewald of Berlin states that hypnotism should not be classified with the practice of 52 HYPNOTISM. medicine, that it should not be so dignified. His reason was that every shepherd boy, every peasant, could hypnotize, and Dr. Moll answers that every shepherd boy, every peasant, can give a hypodermic injection, can compound medicines and apply bandages, but they cannot do so intelligently. So, while hypnotism can be used in a greater or less degree by every one, it can only be used intelligently by those who understand, not only hypnotism itself, but disease as well. The argument is made that hypnotism is palliative in many cases, and not curative. This, alas ! is equally true of a large number of the methods used in the practice of medicine. It can, like everything else in the world, be abused. It has also a very broad field of usefulness. Per- sonally, as I said before, I believe some forms of hypnotic suggestion, perhaps even hypnosis itself, to be injurious in that class of insane patients known as paranoiacs. I can also con- ceive that an attempt to hypnotize a patient suffering with a surgical shock, might further add to the already dangerous exhaustion. Per- sons suffering with disease of the aortic valves of the heart should be hypnotized with the greatest possible care, especially when the com- pensation is not well established, yet it can be applied safely in these cases. It is argued that the patient may learn from HYPNOTISM. 53 the physician to hypnotize and apply it igno- rantly to others. Drugs are learned of in the same way, and are too frequently administered to the patient by his friends. I know no more contra-indications for the use of hypnotism than for any other remedial agency. Every argument that is used against hypnotism may be used against any other method now in vogue of treating disease. Again, I must plead earnestly for a more careful study of each individual patient. The physician, if possible, should feel as the patient feels ; should not only place himself in imagin- ation in the position of the patient, but should share as far as possible with, and realize every condition of, the patient's consciousness. How often this is ignored does not need to be stated. Could we understand and measure accurately all of these feelings, desires and emotions of our patients, much needless suffering would be assuaged. Possibly many broken hearts healed, and certainly many wrecked lives restored to usefulness. Dr. Moll, after stating that headache, water- ing of the eyes, depression, etc., may follow im- proper use of hypnotism, tersely remarks that many of those who object to hypnotism on account of these trifling ailments occurring after it, do not refrain from hypnotizing. Ho cites the following list of names : Gilles de la 54 HYPNOTISM. Tourette, Ewald, Mendel, Rieger and Bin- swanger. Dr. Moll gives the following list of rules for the relief of the nervous symptoms following the use of hypnotism. 1. To avoid as far as possible all suggestions which tend to unduly excite the mind. 2. To avoid continuous stimulation of the senses as much as possible. 3. To carefully do away with suggestion before awakening the subject, The proper method will not cause nervousness. Remote Consequences of Hypnotism. It is generally believed that the hypnotic state is likely to weaken and paralyze the will of the subject when he is otherwise in a normal con- dition. Many persons will object to being hypnotized because, as they express it, they are "afraid of losing their wills" and becoming the dupes of unscrupulous persons. I do not believe that there is any danger whatever of this. I have no evidence (and I have studied a large number of hypnotized subjects) that hyp- notism will render a subject less capable of exercising his will when he is relieved from the hypnotic trance. I do not believe that it in- creases in any way his susceptibility to ordinary suggestion made in ordinary conversation. I once had a business man tell me, after he had been induced to commit a folly in signing HYPNOTISM. 55 a note, that he did not know what made him do it. I inquired minutely into the circum- stances and found that he had been, as it is ordinarily expressed, "over-persuaded." Now this condition of over-persuading, or persuad- ing against one's better judgment, is not similar to, or identical with, the hypnotic state. The crafty rascal with the winning smile who cheats you out of your every dollar does not entrance you, nor does he render you in any way unconscious. He studies the vulnerable parts in man's nature, and works skilfully upon him through these. His victim's weakness may be either greed, excessive sympathy, profound vanity, or the inability to reason clearly. Upon one or all of these the cunning man relies for success in dealing with his victim. Reason is the great governor which controls and balances all of the mechanism of the mind, and it is indeed astonishing how few men allow its full sway. Let the emotions get "'the upper hand, give any or all of the passions sway, and the man is a wreck. I think as I have said before, that hypnotism does not weaken the man's reason or his will. It is the happy bal- ance of mind that protects a man, and while the mind consists of the co-ordinate action of all of the faculties, they may act individually, and when one predominates and governs the others the mind is unbalanced. There is then 56 HYPNOTISM. no immediate danger of hypnotism in itself be- ing used for the purpose of unduly influencing the conduct of the mind. That very mysteri- ous power which some men exercise over others and over the opposite sex, does not seem to me to be akin to any of the hypnotic states. As I said previously, the influence depends upon the ability of one man to appeal to the avarice or the vanity, or to the sympathies, of another. The real danger of hypnotism lies in the fact that, owing to the mystery that surrounds it, it may, in the imaginative and enthusiastic, produce by its very nrystery a disturbed condi- tion of the mind similar to, if not identical with, the condition of religious monomania. I think that patients are not liable to die from the effects of hypnotism, as they sometimes do from the effects of chloroform, ether, mor- phine, etc. Every time a man is hypnotized, for the time, more than the usual amount of energy is consumed. If such a condition be too long continued, or if he be hypnotized too frequently, a condition might result in which nervous exhaustion would be prominent. (See "Hypnotism" by Krafft-Ebing.) There are in our hospitals cases of a similar condition which were brought on byr over-excitement of one kind and another. Thus it follows that hypnotism is not a magi- cal power by which one man can permanently HYPNOTISM. 57 control or rule the destinies of another, or in which women can be robbed of their virtue, or the wealthy of their property ; and yet cer- tain states of mental enfeeblement may be produced, not by hypnotism, per se, but by the credulity which was a part of the subject's nature before he submitted to the process of hypnotization. This element of faith, as will be shown later, is a very important element in the production of hypnotism. It is this element when misused that makes hypnotism a dangerous thing. The love of the miraculous and belief in the super- natural, are, in many cases, the twin sisters of laziness, and men have ever sought through utilizing these to obtain their ends, and to earn their daily bread without toil. Many persons who are afflicted with organic incurable disease, apply to me for treatment, and are very much disappointed when they are told that hypnotism is not the universal specific for all the ills of man. Several chapters will be devoted to the uses of hypnotism in disease. The dangers of pub- lic exhibitions, made ludicrous as they are by the operators, should be condemned by all in- telligent men and women, not from the danger of hypnotism in itself so much as from the liability of the performers to disturb the mental poise of that large mass of ill-balanced individ- 58 HYPNOTISM. uals, which makes up no inconsiderable part of society. Dr. Moll quotes the following : '' Du Potet and Lafontaine describe, as a rare occurrence in hypnotic experiments, a state of lethargy in which artificial awakening was impossible. After some time there was a spontaneous awak- ening, and no evil consequences were to be ob- served. Guermonorez described lately how a person had remained three days in hypnosis, nobody being able to awaken him." I cite the following from Dr. Moll again, in proof of what I have stated in the earlier part of this chapter : "It is well known that there are some who can be easily7 influenced in life, who believe all that they are told, upon whom the most unim- portant trifles make an impression, neverthe- less, when an effort is made to hypnotize them, they offer a lively resistance, and the typical symptoms of hypnosis cannot be induced in them." The following ideas differ from my own. They are taken from a translation of Dr. Luys' Clinical Lectures which were given in the Charity Hospital, in Paris: " You can not only oblige this defenceless being, who is incapable of opposing the slightest resistance, to give from hand to hand anything you choose, but you can also make him sign a promise, draw HYPNOTISM. 59 up a bill of exchange, or any kind of agree- ment. You can make him write an holo- graphic will (which, according to the French law, would be valid), which he will hand over to you, and of which he will never know the existence. He is ready to fulfil the minutest legal formalities, and will do so with a calm, serene, and natural manner, which would de- ceive the most expert law officers. The som nambulists will not hesitate either, you may be sure, to make a denunciation, or to bear false witness. They are, I repeat, the passive instru- ments of your will. For instance, take E., she will at my bidding write out and sign in my favor a donation of forty pounds. In a criminal point of view, the subject under certain sug- gestions will make false denunciations, accuse this or that person, and maintain with the greatest assurance that he has assisted at an imaginary crime." As will be seen from the quotation here made from M. Luys, he evidently believes that he can convert his subjects into mere puppets. This may be true in the laboratory when a hyp- notist has a few hysterical young men and women, who will, under such circumstances, do what they are told ; but the conditions cited by him are certainly exceptional, and are not likely to occur in the ordinary therapeutic ap- plication of hypnotism. 60 HYPNOTISM. The following are rules from Bernheim for preventing danger from the hypnotic state : 1. Never hypnotize any subject without his formal consent, or the consent of those in au- thority over him. 2. Never induce sleep except in the presence of a third person who is in authority, who can guarantee the good faith of the hypnotist and the subject. Thus, in the event of an accu- sation, or any suspicion of any attempt which is not for the relief of the subject, any trouble may be avoided. 3. Never give to the hypnotized subject, with- out his consent, any suggestions other than those necessary for his cure. The physician has no rights but those conferred upon him hy the patient. He should limit himself to the therapeutic suggestion ; any other experiment, even if it should be in the interest of the science, is forbidden him, without the formal consent of the patient. The physician should not, if he thinks that the experiment which he wishes to perform may have the slightest harmful effect, profit by his authority over the patient in order to provoke this consent. He also states that each of the phenomena severally7 can be induced in sensitive subjects, without producing first the hypnotic state, meaning by the hypnotic state, I suppose, the HYPNOTISM. 61 unconsciousness ; and he cites a number of cases to prove his assertion. The terms hypnosis and hypnotic sleep are used in a very confus- ing manner by most, if not by all, writers upon this subject. They tell you in one breath that a patient may be hypnotized and will be con- scious, that he may be hypnotized and be un- conscious, that he may obey the suggestions when out of the hypnotic state exactly as he would when in it, that a part of the body may be made insensible to pain without in any way making the patient unconscious of events around him. Once for all I mean, when speak- ing of the hypnotic state, the condition in which unconsciousness is induced by those means, varied as they are, which are described in this and other books of its kind. Krafft-Ebing also cites a case where a patient had been injured by the misuse of hypnotism. That such is the case no one who has ever ex- perimented intelligently in this direction will deny. This is true of every remedial agent ever employed for the relief of man. Every article we eat, if wrongly prepared, if stale, or if too much is taken, will be harmful. Every act, every duty of our lives may, if overdone, become an injury. Then, for the sake of clearness, let me state in closing, that hypnotism is dangerous only when it is misused, or when it is applied to that 62 HYPNOTISM. large class of persons who are inherently un- sound, especially if that mysterious thing we call credulity predominates to a very great ex- tent over the reason and over other faculties of the mind. HYPNOTISM. 63 CHAPTER VI. HYPNOTISM IN THE LOWER ANIMALS. The first one to notice this phenomenon was Daniel Schwenter who, in 1636, fascinated a number of cocks and hens. Fr. Kircher, a Jesuit priest, made a number of scientific experiments ten years later. Animals can be hypnotized in a direct ratio to their ability to concentrate their attention. This varies much in the different species. It is, as a rule, more marked in the domestic animals than in wild ones. Certain animals have the power of fascinat- ing their prey, but to what extent has not been fully determined. The ability that a cat has to hold the attention of a bird is doubtless familiar to all. Assisted by a student, I have made a number of experiments in this direction, and if his observations be correct, the eye of a cat occupies the same relation to a bird that a bright coin does to a man. The cat's pupils become dilated in watching a bird, and the 64 HYPNOTISM. bird, although flying in circles during the most of the time, keeps its eyes fixed as far as pos- sible upon those of the cat. Some years ago I purchased a stuffed cat. A student hid it in some bushes on a farm so that the head, eyes and fore-paws were mainly visible, while the rest of the body was concealed. A bird sitting on a tree, as soon as it perceived the stuffed cat, first appeared to be frightened, then began flying in circles around the cat, each successive circle smaller than the last. Finally the bird lit upon the ground within fourteen inches of the cat's face, and looked steadily into its glass eyes. Its attention was fixed, its pupils somewhat dilated, and so ab- sorbed was it that it did not fly until the student, stepping carefully, passed between it and the cat. This experiment was repeated on nine different occasions with different birds and the same phe- nomenon was obtained eight times. Snakes have also the power to fascinate frogs and little birds. But they do not often do so. Mr. Vincent says, out of a hundred frogs put into a snake's cage only six were in any way fascinated ; the others jumped wildly about till they were caught by the snake. Probablv the condition of fascination was a condition of fascination from fear. It seems unreasonable to compare this fas- cination, which may be the natural conse- HYPNOTISM. 65 quences of extreme fright, with the catalepsy induced by means of pressure on the nerves. Snakes also can be hypnotized. Snake- charmers are able to fascinate them by means of music, and they induce the snakes to imitate as far as possible their movements. It is generally said that in cases of snake-charming the fangs are extracted. It is questionable as to whether this '' fas- cination " is not the result, in most cases, of training. The student previously mentioned, placed a small looking-glass near the habitation of a snake indigenous to this climate. Coming out of its hole one day it perceived the glass, fixed its eyes upon it, and remained in this condition, apparently oblivious to all other conditions. The student caught it while it was in this posi- tion, released it again, and tried on subsequent days to approach it when the glass was not there, but found that he could not do so without the snake giving evidence of a knowledge of his presence. It is a familiar trick with children to catch a hen, hold her head near the ground, and draw a line with a piece of chalk, then releasing her head she will continue for some time in the position in which she was placed, and finally slowly walk away as though arousing herself from the condition of stupor. 5 66 HYPNOTISM. A hen can also be made to sit or to transfer her nest by means of a well-known expedient. The head is placed under the wing, and the bird is then gently rocked to and fro, with the result that it apparently goes to sleep. On waking, the hen will remain contentedly on the nest in which she has been placed. It is not easy to catch a pigeon by going straight up to the bird, but it can be quickly taken by walking around and around it. The pigeon turns itself so as not to lose sight of its would-be captor, and soon it can be seized. This has been quoted as a hypnosis but there is no doubt that the bird becomes dazed and giddy. Many claim that animals can be held at bay by simply holding their gaze. Illustrative of this Mr. Vincent says, " On one occasion I suc- ceeded in compelling a ' jibbing' horse to ' back ' by simply fixing my eyes on his, and then walking toward him. On my taking my eyes from him, he, glad to be released, immediately started off in the proper direction, and the driver on that journey had no more difficulty with him." A veterinary surgeon assures me that horses are very susceptible to hypnosis, and that while in this state they are susceptible to a very large amount of suggestion. He claims that when horses are hypnotized by compelling them to HYPNOTISM. 67 look at a bright object, suggestion will act powerfully upon them, and that theyT give evidence that suggestion may take the form of a delusion. He did not cite any cases. I have experimented on a very intelligent dog, but failed to get evidence that it could be hypnotized. The phenomenon that apparently resembles the trance state by nerve-stimulation is seen in the simulated death of animals. A notable instance is that of the opossum in our own land which, when frightened, will lie ap- parently dead, as is well-known to all southern people. Various experiments have been tried upon frogs. They will remain, after they have been placed there and held there, for some time in positions which are unnatural. In this their positions resemble the artificial catalepsy which can be induced by suggestion. As is well known a hypnotized person will hold his arm in any position he is told to, but the comparison between a frog lying upon his back after he has been held there for some time, and the catalepsy which can be induced by suggestion upon a hypnotized subject, seems to me very strained. The frog is probably stunned or frightened, while this is not the case with a hypnotized person. This trance state in animals may generally 68 HYPNOTISM. be induced by monotonous excitation of par- ticular nerves or by constant pressure. Scientific interest attaches mainly to the apparent death, while life still continues, of many insects. This condition is evidently in their case an act of the brain in its higher centres. The psychic states of the lower animals present a very wide field for experimentation and study. How nearly their conscious life approximates in function and phenomena, our own, we as yet do not know. From a large experience in the study of the intelligence of animals, I personally believe that the higher orders of them possess in a minor degree all the faculties which belong to the human mind. Dr. H. Sea wood, in his admirable work upon Materia Medica and Therapeutics, states that the drugs which act upon man, producing delirium, very frequently act upon the lower animals, producing con- vulsions. He explains this by the fact that in the animals the cerebrum is less highly devel- oped, hence the centres of the lower brain and spinal cord have to bear the brunt of the action of the drug. It is well known to all physiologists that when these centres are stimulated and when the inhibition of the cerebrum is withdrawn, con- vulsions result. It does not seem strange then that animals should be easily made unconscious HYPNOTISM. 69 (entranced) byT music, loud noises, fright, etc. It is claimed by the French school that hyster- ical persons are frequently atavistic, That is, their nervous development has reverted to the state resembling one of the evolutionary forms of man. These persons, so it is said by the school of Nancy, will frequently be hypnotized by any sudden shock to their senses, such as the blow upon a gong, the bright flash of a light, etc, 70 HYPNOTISM. CHAPTER VII. THE CURATIVE POWER OF HYPNOTISM. Next to the welfare of the soul, no subject possesses so wide an interest as does the well- being of the body. Medicine and religion were early united in the progress of man. Esculapius held in Grecian mythology an important place among the gods. Miracles of healing have characterized every religion in the world which claimed a supernatural origin. Cures by faith and by prayer have been recorded by most if not by all of the votaries of the different great religious systems. That there is a certain ele- ment of truth in the claims of all these systems cannot be gainsaid. The shrine of St. Anne de Beaupre, in Canada, the pool of Siloam mentioned in the Bible, the cures of faith-healers in our own land, all bear witness that in some way, not yet clearly under- stood, the mind exercises a great deal of in- fluence for good or ill over the human body. The belief is almost as universal as the belief in HYPNOTISM. 71 God, and testimonials abound in all religions that the sick have been and are being cured by faith. The scientific world has been too busy with purely material things and too sceptical of spiritual things to give this matter a just hearing. There is a reaction now even among the medical men, and the spirit of investigation pervades the minds of our best thinkers. With the advance that is being made in pathology and psychology, many diseased states are classified now and understood which a few years ago were enigmas. Go back a little way in history and we find madmen worshipped by the savages as deities, or, by their more civilized brethren, they were regarded as being possessed of devils. In madhouses they were whipped and punished to cure their supposed evil tendencies. But the light of our more humane civilization to-day is being beneficently shed upon this very large benighted class, a class which is ever growing as the nervous systems of men become, by evolution, more developed and more highly organized. Mental diseases are absolutely increasing and allied nervous conditions are becoming alarmingly more frequent. Childhood and old age alike pay their tribute every year to the ever-increas- ing throng. Hereditary taint, too, plays its part more actively under the conditions of modern civilization than it did when man was 72 HYPNOTISM. in his cruder state. The biological law of the survival of the fittest is now modified. During savagery the more feeble were not afforded the protection from the rigors of the weather and from the many sources of danger, which the unfortunate of our own day receive. Nervous, hysterical and epileptic children receive more tender care, hence their lives are prolonged and many times they marry, perhaps a mate as degenerate as themselves, and an innocent posterity pays, with bitter suffering, for this stupendous error. A careful student of medicine, if he has that sympathy for suffering which he should have, is many times appalled at the thought of the accumulating misery which is in store for the generations yet unborn. What can hypnotism do for these conditions ? Something, it is to be hoped, possibly not so much as could be wished. No palliative reme- dial agency can cure this immediate wrong. Hypnotism cannot unmake and regenerate a nervous system, which is inherently so delicate that its possessor is rendered unfit to meet the complex requirements of our modern life. Mental disease will be the first to be treated, and, for the sake of clearness, especially for the lay reader, a very few concise definitions will be given. The following definitions of in- sanity are taken from Webster's International HYPNOTISM. 73 Dictionary. They are, "1. The state of being insane ; unsoundness or derangement of mind ; madness; lunacy. 2. Such a mental condition as, either from the existence of delusions, or from incapacity to distinguish between right and wrong with regard to any matter under action, does away with the individual responsi- bility." The latter definition is at once the broader and the better. Alas, if all the persons who come within its scope were confined in mad- houses the present accommodations for the treat- ment of the insane would prove very inade- quate for the care of this multitude. Most people have impulses, which, if not restrained by experience, by the will, or by training, would make them madmen. A man is insane, then, whenever his mind does not show him how to place himself in right relations with society, and with his natural environments. Bearing in mind this very broad classification the reader will have no difficulty in following what will be said upon the treatment of this class of diseases by hypnotism. Hypnotism is of no value whenever the brain is so injured by disease that any consecutive, co-ordinate thought is impossible. Persons absolutely demented cannot be hypnotized. I have tried this experiment many times. Many persons in a demented condition do not know 74 HYPNOTISM. even their own names, and are for the most part probably ignorant of all events passing around them. This condition of course exists in all degrees, and occurs as a result of many widely different morbid states, so that whenever an in- creasing diseased condition of the brain im- pairs the power of attention by the destruction of the cortical cells of the brain, hypnotism is useless. It has not succeeded in my hands in that class of maniacs who suffer from fixed delu- sions. Neither has it succeeded in cases suffer- ing from what are technically termed "impera- tive conceptions." (Cases suffering from vari- ous imperative conceptions are, while possessing their reason, either irresistibly led hj certain impulses, or they cannot rid themselves of erroneous ideas concerning themselves and others.) Broadly, that large group of insanities accompanying organic destruction of the brain can never be cured and only very rarely ben- efited by hypnotism. The terms "hypnotic suggestion," "post- hypnotic suggestion," and " simple suggestion " will be used so frequently that an explanation of them seems necessary. By "hypnotic suggestion" is meant sug- gestion made while the subject is hypnotized. By "post-hypnoticsuggestion " is meant sug- gestion after the patient is out of the hypnotic state. The term post-hypnotic suggestion has HYPNOTISM. 75 also been erroneously applied to suggestions made during the hypnotic state when these sug- gestions are intended to remain permanently in the mind of the patient. By " simple suggestion " is meant the sugges- tion made to the patient without hypnosis being induced. The whole subject will be further elucidated in the chapters devoted to the theo- ries of hypnotism. By the term " mental control " is meant all forms of suggestion or other means of impress- ing the psychic life of the patient. There are many morbid conditions which are not attended by permanent injury to the structures of the brain. These are all amen- able in a greater or less degree to one or an- other of the forms of suggestion. Children suffer from many morbid, erroneous ideas, which afflict their developing brains. When these become chronic they can frequently be cured by strong suggestion, or when this fails by the use of hypnotism. Examples are, fear of the dark, excessive fear of contamination, fear of ghosts, etc. The disease known as " night terrors " in children, when the physical causes are first removed will usually yield to hypnotism. I have also benefited a number of cases of somnambulism, both in children and adults, by hypnotic suggestion. Hypnotism is also valuable in curing many 76 HYPNOTISM. bad habits of mind and body which have been formed during childhood. Several severe cases of kleptomania have been cured by it. Im- moral and vicious tendencies are in a measure amenable to its influence. Modern science is throwing a new light upon this whole question of morals. Its principles have long since been recognized in a degree. The infinite variety in the moral tendencies of different individuals has at last aroused the best minds of the age to a rational considera- tion of their causes. It is now recognized that there is such a thing as moral insensibility, and also that this mental disease, for it is a disease, may be either congenital or acquired. The old idea of individual responsibility is now taking an entirely different guise, and it is a recog- nized fact that the different moral traits may be strengthened or weakened by use or disuse. Whether one believes that the mind is simply the result of material life, or whether it is due to and finds its essence in an external spiritual agency, the practical results to the world by the new conception of the growth or develop- ment of the mind, will be the same. Crime is essentially a disease. A disease not brought about by some spiritual prince of darkness, seeking the eternal damnation of man, but by a disease inherent in the development of the psychical life of the individual. HYPNOTISM. 77 Jesse Pomeroy, the fiendish murderer, in the State's prison in Massachusetts, affords a strik- ing example of moral anaesthesia (insensibility). Persons having observed him carefully, state that he gives no evidence of deep remorse for his revolting and hideous crimes, but instead is simply impatient of restraint, and regards himself as not being thoroughly7 understood (which is true), and also that he is a much- persecuted man, which it is needless to say is not true. The point that is here sought to be made clear is this, that the mind possesses in embryo certain capacities and traits. If these are prop- erly brought out by its heredity, environment, and training, it will reach its full and grand development. If, from one of many causes, in some respect, it is hindered, the divinest thing of all creation is distorted. Now in the sub- jective consciousness of every one lie dormant, controlled by the reason and by the will, all of the impulses, which if let loose, play havoc with the character. They are preying upon us in the still hours of the night, or when our better selves are conquered by the sway of passion. They grow with us, these hideous monsters that inhabit the cellars of our souls, and, when our reason and will are sleeping, they climb into the beautiful mansions of our intellects and besmear them with their own filth and slime. 78 HYPNOTISM. These impulses, these tendencies, which are in every man, can be, as is well-known to all, cul- tivated or repressed. When any one of them, thirst for alcohol for instance, gets the upper hand, it may sometimes be repressed by hyp- notism when the ordinary forces fail. It is in the functional insanities that hyp- notism finds its true remedial sphere. It is in children whose moral natures are unbalanced, that it can be made useful if other means fail, in controlling tendencies. It is in the adult who is weak and vacillating that it sometimes proves a tower of strength. It can be applied in many ways. The Church has done much in this direction by making fear its lever. Again, hope has been the guiding angel of many fallen souls. Love and hate can be so wrought upon that the hypnotic state will be induced, and thereby play their part for good or ill in life's great drama. Hysteria has been casually mentioned and defined, and a separate chapter will be devoted to the subject. Nervous prostration, technically termed '' neurasthenia," is more amenable to hypnotism than is any other form of nervous disease. Too many women, and a large number of men, alas, know its symptoms full well. Sleeplessness, depression, inattention, irritability, all go to make up its symptomatology, and cry out with HYPNOTISM. 79 mighty voices that man has worked his nervous system too hard. Many pains, as neuralgia, etc., can be relieved or cured by the use of hypnotism. Many func- tional disturbances of different parts of the body, likewise, may find relief through its agency. Many painful conditions often attend- ing destructive organic disease can be amelio- rated in the same way. Hypnotism never did and never can restore organs whose active tis- sues have been totally destroyed. A man whose brain has been injured, either from external causes or from an extensive hemorrhage with- in its substance, can never again have the par- alyzed side of the body restored to its normal condition by hypnotism, but if enough brain tissue is left, suggestion made in the hypnotic state may prove a more powerful stimulant to him than ordinary^ incentives, and he may re- gain, in a degree, the lost use of his body. I do not know a greater crime than holding out false hopes to such an one, when these hopes must be blighted. Therefore too much should not be claimed for any method of cure, for fear that the disappointment will be too great. It indeed requires nice discrimination upon the part of any one practising hypnotism, to know how much either to hope for them- selves, or to promise to their patients. Hypnotism is a remedial agent, so myste- 80 HYPNOTISM. rious and overwhelming in its effect that it is likely to impress too profoundly the invalid who is seeking relief. It is more wonderful than surgery, more subtle in its influence than drugs, and permeates every part of the psychic life of the patient. Hypnotisin in Acute Delirium. Hypnotism has proved very7 beneficial in the acute delirium attending many fevers, and the best method of using it is by holding the atten- tion of the subject, by means previously de- scribed, until the surplus activity of the brain is subdued. A rather large experience with it in this field has convinced me that whenever feas- ible the attention should be held by touch, sight and hearing, sometimes a difficult task. Also the suggestion may be suited to any delusion in the mind of the patient which is made apparent by his speech. One man was suffering from what is termed a "busy delirium," and was in the second week of typhoid, and constantly spoke of an unpaid bill, and of certain debts which were due him, and of a contract which he should sign but could not. Holding his right hand in mine with my left a document was held before his eyes and he was commanded to look steadily at it. He was told that this paper would give me the power to settle his affairs, and he was com- HYPNOTISM. 81 manded to sleep. The patient, being delirious for fourteen hours, was made by this means to sleep four and one-half hours. Another person suffering from a form of re- ligious delirium, after several futile attempts to hypnotize him, was finally hypnotized by hav- ing a portion of the Episcopal prayer-book read to him. Many more instances could be quoted. Out of nearly one hundred delirious patients I never failed to obtain a greater or less degree of hypnosis. They are frequently more suscep- tible to it than when they are well. Probably the effects of opiates are many times the results of suggestion rather than from the narcosis induced by the physiological action of the drug. Hypnotism can be used to train the attention of persons habitually inattentive. It probably would not, however, prove of service in permanently reducing high pulse- rates which frequently attend both disturbed mental and febrile states. 6 82 HYPNOTISM. CHAPTER VIII. METHOD OF APPLYING HYPNOTISM IN DISEASE, In Chap. I. directions were given for induc- ing the hypnotic state. This state varies to a certain extent, according to the method used. As was previously said, the pulse-rate may rise, the face flush, or the reverse may occur, or hypnosis may be induced without causing either effect. One may be hypnotized by simply telling him that he will sleep, and in disease the beneficial effects seem to depend both upon the method of inducing the hypnotic state, and upon the suggestions made during hypnosis. In the various mental states accompanied by delusions, active suggestion of such a nature as to contradict and correct the delusion is always necessary. When there is a high de- gree of nervous excitability without delusion, absolute repose should be sought, and can best be obtained by inducing hypnosis simply through the sense of touch, and by command- ing the patient to close his eyes. Sometimes HYPNOTISM. 83 simply stroking the hands gently will be suf- ficient. Stroking the head may be necessary, or placing the tips of the fingers over the eye- lids will answer, when other methods fail. Music will often prove of service, and dim light will frequently aid. Total darkness is rarely desirable. In chronic diseases, where the patient is fretful, and exaggerates minor symptoms, he should, by ordinary verbal suggestions, be taught self-control, and should not be encour- aged to rely too much upon hypnosis to relieve him of pain, which it is often best for him to endure for a time. In a case seen by me a patient, who had been suffering for a long time, desired to be kept in the hypnotic state, practically all the time. While his sufferings were not at all times in- tense, occasionally the pain was severe. It was impressed upon him, both in and out of the hypnotic state, that his own self-control was essential to a permanent cure, and that the hypnotization must be reserved to relieve the acute pain. Where there is severe pain the attention must be held in every possible way. In addition to the subject's looking at a bright object, suggestions should be made rapidly and sometimes very sternly. Where there is extreme restlessness and insomnia with 84 HYPNOTISM. those who are acutely ill, with fevers for ex- ample, utter repose should be sought, and the sense of touch and hearing are the best avenues through which to induce it. Natural sleep sometimes comes instead of artificial hypnosis. In this natural sleep the patient will not obey suggestion, and it is always preferable to any artificially suggested condition of sleep. In the application of hypnotism to disease, The personality of the operator counts for a great deal. He should, by every possible way, obtain the volitional obedience from his patient, and the removal of every cause of pain and discomfort should be sought before hypno- tization is attempted. The question is often asked how long it is safe to leave a patient in this state. No evil consequences are likely to follow the use of hypnotism for the relief of either mental ex- citement or physical pain. The degree of hypnotism induced should vary according to the suffering of the patient. It should be carried just so far as will afford relief to him, and no useless suggestion should be made to him during the period of hypnosis. I have elsewhere sard that natural sleep frequently follows by transition upon the hyp- notic state, or, when the attempt is made to hypnotize the patient, he falls instead into a natural sleep. This is always desirable. It is HYPNOTISM. 85 astonishing to what extent one's consciousness exaggerates even a small amount of pain when it has been endured for a long time. The value of repose of the nervous system as a sedative to other diseased functions of the body, has never yet been fully appreciated. A patient of mine suffering for months from a very painful affliction of the bladder, had obtained no rest either night or day. Morphine disagreed with him to such an extent that its use was dis- continued. The drugs which sometimes afford relief in this condition had all been tried, but, owing to the sensitive condition of the stomach, they all, in turn, had to be given up. The man was a nervous wreck, shrieking and screaming with every recurrence of pain. He was a curse to himself and to his friends. He had been discharged from a number of hospitals, for he was ill-tempered and unman- ageable, owing to his sufferings, and neither attendants nor physicians had any patience with him. I was requested by a friend to see him, and from his manner and mode of speech, at once gathered the idea that his physical sufferings were intensely aggravated, and at the same time exaggerated by7 both his fear, and, if I may use the word, the hyper-excitability of his whole consciousness. Pain there was, however, and plenty of it. He was not free from it night or 86 HYPNOTISM. day, catching only about two hours' sleep in the twenty-four, and that in snatches. Examin- ing the patient I found that he held all of his muscles rigid, and that he was so afraid of be- ing hurt that an examination of the bladder was practically impossible. Chemical analysis showed blood and pus in the water. I told the man that if he would relax every muscle of the body his pain would cease, and that he would go to sleep. I told him to think of sleep and for a time to forget, and not allow in his consciousness that he had any pain. At the same time I gave him some sugar-of-milk pellets. I sat by him and held his hands and stroked his head and commanded him to sleep. In a half-hour he was sleeping quietly. This was a natural sleep, not a hypnotic trance. He slept four and one-half hours, and was much refreshed, but again complained of pain, and I insisted upon his remaining perfectly quiet, and explained to him the difficulty7 he gave both his physicians and attendants, and reassured him that perfect repose, mental and bodily, would greatly lessen his pain. His attendants, who were very capable, caught the idea at once and assisted me in carrying out the plan of treatment. He was taught by a series of exercises, after the Delsarte system, complete muscular relaxation. The degree of mitigation obtained in this way was astonishing beyond HYPNOTISM. 87 measure. The chronic disease which had made his life a curse to him was, in a measure, sub- dued. The utterly unmanageable patient became docile, and, while the disease ended fatally, the man was made comfortable with- out the use of drugs, all of which caused him greater discomfort. Simple Suggestion. Hypnotic suggestion is by no means the only method we have of favorably impressing the mind. While the theories which have been advanced by the so-called Christian Scientists, mental healers, etc., are absurd in the ex- treme, there is nevertheless an element of truth in their teachings. Since it is the mind that perceives all pain, and since that pain can react upon the mind, it logically fol- lows that, within certain limits, the converse of this is true. Recent psycho-physiological experiments car- ried on at Harvard and Yale Universities in our own country, and in the universities abroad, throw much light upon many questions which ultimately must prove of great benefit. By means of suitable instruments it is possible to estimate the time which it takes a sensory im- pression to reach the consciousness and again be transformed into a motor impulse. Again, it is now a recognized truth that all 88 HYPNOTISM. the sense perceptions are capable of such an extent of cultivation that one of them alone can, in a measure, substitute for, or take the place of another. Through every avenue of the mind the consciousness of a man can be reached in thousands of ways, and the psychic life is more infinite in its various sensations and impressions than are all of the combinations of tone and color ever dreamed of in music or in painting, and no man has ever yet learned the way to measure the relative and absolute amount of pain which can be borne, and which is being felt by another. It has long since been recognized that nerv- ous excitability and lack of self-control make pain more real and harder to bear. All men possess, in a greater or less degree, self-con- trol. It is capable of development by various means and in differing ratios, and just so far as all members or parts of the body are under the control of the will, just so far can one be made oblivious to suffering. It is known by almost every one that some great excitement will for a time make the weak strong, and every medical man has seen, more than once, a puny, whining, sickly woman, under the stress of circumstances, arise from her degraded men- tal state, and be noble and strong, aye, a very heroine, in great emergencies. Now, in disease, hypnotism may be a proper means of influenc- HYPNOTISM. 89 ing the mind. The emotions may be the chan- nels through which the healthy mental stimulus may be given to the mind, and the intellect in another person may be the part in need of treatment. Again, the artistic desire, or the love of gain, aye, every trait, every attribute, if properly studied and understood, can, by a skilled hand, be played upon like the keys of a musical instrument, and the harsh discordant notes of the diseased consciousness may be changed into the divinest harmonies, and a halting vacillating character may be converted into one steadfast and true. In the light of our modern research science promises grand things to the coming generations. There is hope for the weak, relief for the sick, not only through the discoveries of physiology and chemistry, but also through a proper under- standing and classification of the various men- tal phenomena, which have been with us for- ever, and forever have been misunderstood. The field of suggestion, independently of the hypnotic state, is a broad one. Mental therapeu- tics in the broadest sense promises more than has ever been hoped for it by rational men. It is difficult because the chain of environment binds the human mind down. Habit, tradition and custom are among the keepers of the prison in which the soul is bound. How many aim- less people there are in the world to-day, whin- 90 HYPNOTISM. ing and complaining for the want of a purpose to make life worth living. They themselves do not know this want, and yet it acts power- fully upon them. How many great minds there are, too, who are wrung with suffering at the errors they see everywhere around them, and which they are incapable of remedying. And yet when one speaks of treating disease through the mind, either by hypnotism or by any other means of impressing the psychic life, the practising physician and most of the lay- men will say, " Oh, yes, very true. Imaginary disease can be cured by suggestion, but real disease cannot be." How great this error is the future will prove. Coarse food, badly cooked, may possess the same chemical constitution as a well-cooked sumptuous meal served at the rich man's table. Slops, with which the sick are so often regaled, are said by chemists, many times to contain nourishment in a concentrated form, and yet what man does not loathe and despise this class of food. Every man who has enjoyed a good dinner, and I trust that every one has, can testify how often the sight of food and the faces of happy friends have banished pain and care. Every man who has listened to a lecture or ser- mon which would thrill his soul, can testify to the fact that it made him feel physically7 better. Every true mother will tell you, how, in the love HYPNOTISM. 91 and care of her children, she finds her own life made young again, and experiences in their pleasure the vigor and health of her early7 youth. These are all truisms, but for them a plea is nec- essary. The world needs more happiness. In- dividual constitution and disposition need more careful study. The power which one exercises over another is not due to any one factor. Its constitution is more complex than the molecules of organic matter. The man does not live, who possesses within himself a vestige of those qualities which ennoble the race, who does not in a measure recognize and take pleasure in those with whom his soul finds an affinit}\ The psychic impression which one person makes upon another is, at the same time, the most subtle and the most powerful socio- logical factor that exists. Is it not reasonable, then, that association with those who are con- genial to us should prove a stimulus which tends to restore lost health '. The opposite, every one recognizes to be true, therefore the mental constitution and disposition should be studied and understood by the practitioner of medicine before he attempts to cure the sick man. How is this to be done { The soul inscribes upon every man's face a story which the skill- ful may learn to read. Every tone of the voice reflects the condition of the mind within, when 92 HYPNOTISM. one will stop to listen and understand it. There is not one attitude, not one pose of the human form that does not mean something. The mind is ever seeking, by every means with- in its power, to express itself to the outer world. Often its very attempt at concealment tells, plainer than words, of the storm of suffering and passion within. The blind now see through their fingers and their ears, the deaf man hears with his eyes and touch, aye, and even those unfortunate ones who are both deaf and blind, learn to hear with their fingers, and literally speak words with their mouths. What glorious triumphs over matter ! The human soul imprisoned, even by the death of the senses, cannot be kept in bondage. Hands will speak for paralysed tongues if they are taught. So let us hope that in the future the attempt will not be made to separate mind from matter, but that their inter-dependence may be recog- nized, and the proper relation of external caus- ality to the subjective consciousness may be better understood. Fanaticism, even of the most ignorant, has, in a great many directions, discovered much which the scientist and man of reason failed to find. So, while I feel pity for the sect which believes that man has no body to be hurt, I equally pity the inexplicably stupid material- HYPNOTISM. 93 ism of the so-called scientific educated medical man who fails to understand the psychic con- stitution and personal traits of the patient. I rejoice that I have lived to see the triumph of chemistry, of surgery7, of physiological and path- ological research ; but the psycho-physiological research promises discoveries greater than all these ; those which will reveal the laws which govern and control the actions, feelings and thoughts. Whenever disease, then, affects conscious life, whether it be organic or inorganic, its manifes- tations may be altered in a degree by anything which may reach it, either by the external world, or by any cause which originates in the recesses of the consciousness. Let the plea for the study of the mind be made everywhere. Let its phenomena be read by the school chil- dren. Teach them not only reading and writing and the ordinary studies, but that by the ex- ercise of their faculties they can ward off both mental and bodily ills. The system of mental therapeutics here out- lined is necessarily difficult. Its difficulty in- creases in that ratio that men and women fail to understand themselves and others. The little couplet that says, " I do not love you, Doctor Fell, The reason why I cannot tell," will soon lose its force and power. Men will 94 HYPNOTISM. learn to analyze and find out that which is ob- jectionable in others, and by judicious analysis learn their own faults as well. The point that is sought to be made clear in this chapter is, that hypnotism and therapeutic suggestion are only specimens of some of the means which may be used to act upon the mind for the cure of disease. HYPNOTISM. 96 CHAPTER IX. HYPNOTISM IX SURGERY. Bernheim, in his book on '' Suggestive Ther- apeutics." page 116, says, "The use of hyp- notism for the production of surgical anaes- thesia is by no means a new thing. Dr. Char- pignon reviewed the following facts, relative to operations practised during hypnotic anaes- thesia, in the Gazette des Hopitau.v in 1*29. The removal of a breast by Jules Cloquet in 184.") ; in 1841"!. the amputation of a leg, and the extirpation of a gland, painlessly performed by Dr. Loysel of Cherbourg ; in 1845, a double thigh amputation by Drs. Fanton and Towsel of London ; in 1S4.~>, the amputation of an arm, by Dr. Joly of London ; in 1*47, the removal of a tumor of the jaw by Drs. Ribaud and Kiaro, dentists of Poitiers. " In spite of these fortunate trials, surgeons soon showed that hypnotism only rarely succeeds as an anaesthetic, that absolute insensibility is the exception among hypnotizable subjects, and that the hypnotizing itself generally fails in Hv 96 HYPNOTISM. persons disturbed by the expectation of an operation." It is my experience that a larger number of persons can be made insensible to pain than the eminent author, Dr. Bernheim, and his colleagues believe to be true. All of the an- aesthetics now in use, each in their turn, have met with very great enthusiastic admiration on the one side, and profound distrust on the other. I agree with Dr. Bernheim that hyp- notism can never wholly supplant the use of ether, chloroform and gas as an anaesthetic for surgical purposes. Many of the failures, however, to produce by hypnotism the insensibility to pain, were due to the subjects not having been properly pre- pared. I am also willing to admit that my own experience in the surgical use of hypnotism is limited when compared with European hyp- notists ; but I shall give it, and trust that it may add a little to what has been so ably writ- ten by physicians, both in Europe and in America. I have hypnotized forty-two persons for minor and major surgical operations. Six obstetrical cases are to be added to the list, making a total of forty-eight. Every one of these patients was hypnotized more than once before a sur- gical operation was attempted. Six of them were major or capital operations, exclusive of the HYPNOTISM. 97 obstetrical cases. This leaves thirty-six of my cases which were only minor operations. Four of these thirty-six cases, while there was no danger in the operation performed upon them, would have suffered severely had it not been for the deep hypnotic trance. The most difficult operation performed under hypnosis which ever came within my expe- rience will now be related, and a few of the others will be casually mentioned. The patient now to be described was a young man, suffering with tubercular disease of the bladder. His sufferings had been for over a year something terrible to witness. Opiates had been used, practically in vain, as he soon established a tolerance for each and all of them, and could take astonishingly large amounts of them without either stupefying him, or in the least mitigating his misery. The terrible suf- fering so wore upon him that his whole nervous system was shattered. It was necessary, of course, to treat the bladder locally. Under hypnosis this could be accomplished without pain. Finally an explora- tion of the bladder became necessary, with a view of removing inflammatory material, which it was supposed had collected upon its walls, and interfered with the expulsion of its con- tents. As there had been other surgical pro- cedures in the case, the patient was so worn by 7 98 HYPNOTISM. these various attempts to relieve him, that we feared the sight of a strange surgeon might prove too much of a shock to his enfeebled ner- vous system. At my request an eminent Boston surgeon was called and arrangements made to administer an anaesthetic. The man's condition was so feeble that we all feared that chloroform, ether, or gas, would prematurely end his life. I stated to the surgeon that I believed he could be hypnotized to such an extent that he would never know what had occurred. Now, as every tissue about the bladder of the patient was, owing to its diseased state, as sen- sitive, possibly7, as the human eye, every one familiar with bladder surgery will realize the depth of anaesthesia that must have been in- duced to obtain the following results. The patient was thrown by suggestion, and by looking at a bright object, into a deep hyp- notice trance. Let me say, in passing, that his temperature was 103'S at this time. After he had been thoroughly entranced a pre-arranged signal was given, and the surgeon entered the room. He explored the bladder thoroughly through a supra-pubic opening, in- vestigated every part of it, and determined its size, and this by means of the sense of touch. Proper apparatus were adjusted for drainage, and the wound dressed. Tlie surgeon left the HYPNOTISM. 99 room, and when the young man was brought out of the hypnotic trance he did not know that any7 one had been in the room, and insisted that the hypnotism simply had made him feel a great deal better. It is far from my purpose to appeal to the love of the marvellous inherent in the race, but. in the words of the surgeon who operated, the degree of anaesthesia obtained seemed to him " absolutely uncanny.'" That the patient did not pretend anaesthesia will be apparent, when I state that every surgeon who ever made such an operation, will testify that it would be, without an anaesthetic, one of the most pain- ful in the whole category of major surgical operations. To illustrate the highly sensitive condition of the bladder, I shall state that from one-half to one ounce of warm water very slowly introduced through a syringe and cathe- ter had previously caused the patient to shriek and have spasms of the whole body from the instense pain he suffered. Hypnotism was used on this young man twice or three times a day, for a period of nearly four months, and the amount of pain saved is a little short of miraculous. I have hypnotized, as previously stated, six women in childbirth. In one, instrumental interference became necessary by means of for- ceps. She claimed to be wholly unconscious of 100 HYPNOTISM. what was done. One patient died, as was after- wards proved, from organic disease of the heart during labor, while in the hypnotic state. The death, however, was not due in any way to hypnotism. Of my other four patients, three claimed to be wdiolry unconscious, and free from pain during the birth of their children, while the other one knew what was passing, but claimed that she experienced no pain. Now while it is true that only a certain number of persons susceptible to hypnotization can be hypnotized sufficiently to be rendered insensible to pain, the fact that some such do, is an ear- nest plea of itself for its use whenever feasible. It is my belief, from experiments, that this number can be made very much larger than hypnotists generally believe, by hypnotizing a number of times, prior to the operation, the person to be operated upon, so that the system will become accustomed to the deep trance. What percentage can be hypnotized to this extent I do not as yet know, but for that per- centage, for that unknown quantity, I ask a fair hearing before the great bar over which scientific thought presides as a judge. It is myr purpose in this book to make it largely elementary, and I deeply regret that the limited space forbids my quoting more extensively from the writings of Bernheim, Moll, Liegeois, Luys, HYPNOTISM. 101 King, Forel, and others. There is quite an extensive literature at the present time bearing on this subject, and upon kindred branches of hypnotism. Most of it is unfortunately too technical to permit of casual reading by the every-day busy man, and yet it is to the masses that hypnotism is of value, if it has any value. The judgment of it will not be left to any set of men, no matter how learned. Therefore, if I can in a measure make the ordinary phe- nomena of hypnotism clear, and enhance the appreciation of its uses, and give a fair under- standing of its dangers, my7 labors will not have been in vain. With reference to the department of surgery hypnotism has its place. It does not fill that place at the present time, owing either to the scepticism or the ignorance of those to whom it would be of the most value. I think a large amount of dentistry might be safely and pain- lessly done if hypnotism were used as an anaes- thetic. It is claimed that persons partially under the influence of chloroform can be hypnotized more readily and more deeply, than is ordinarily the case with a normal individual. Most persons when they begin to take ether imagine that the stupor produced by the drug is identical with that of sleep, and I have seen a person go to sleep when he imagined he was taking 1(12 HYPNOTISM. ether, when only a sponge scented with a sub- stance resembling it in smell was placed over the face, although the substance placed upon the sponge was practically inert. The whole subject of the application of hyp- notism in surgeiy is, then, notwithstanding the many attempts which have been made in Europe and America to solve it, as yet sub judice, and I earnestly hope that a widespread effort on the part of the surgeons, both in Europe and America, will bring about a more intelligent application of it and ameliorate much suffering which now goes unrelieved. I cannot see the necessity of entering into the details of a larger number of cases in which hypnotism has been used as a surgical anaesthetic either by myself or by others. Any one wishing to further study the subject will find a very good description of it in Dr. Bern- heim's book, ,; Suggestive Therapeutics." One thing should be noted, however. In certain classes of diseases there is a great deal of pain following surgical operations. Persons are either left to bear this pain, or morphine is used for its relief. In every such case hypno- tism should be tried thoroughly before resort- ing to the use of opiates. HYPNOTISM. 103 CHAPTER X. THE VALUE OF HYPNOTISM AND THERAPEUTIC SUGGESTION IN THE CURE OF DIPSOMANIA (CHRONIC DRUNKENNESS), MORPHIO-MANIA (THE MORPHINE HABIT), AND THE OTHER DRUG HABITS. Circumstances have placed me in a position where I have been able to study carefully and extensively the subject of drink and other drug habits. I have investigated many of the cures which have been claimed both by the regular medical profession and the so-called irregular practitioners. I have carefully studied, also, the history7 of this subject, the great importance of which is everywhere recognized, and shall at some future day devote a book to this sub- ject alone. That all the systems of cure yet invented have failed of perfection, every intelligent man and woman knows, alas, too well. Various drugs have been vaunted from time to time as specifics for the alcohol habit. Each of them has offered testimonials in evidence attesting 104 HYPNOTISM. its virtues. Each in its turn has failed to such an extent that the medical world is in a great measure sceptical of all of them. Religion, too, has taken up the question. Prayer-meetings have been and are being held over the whole Christian world, sermons and lectures against drunkenness are being delivered everywhere, and millions of devoted, noble wives and mothers have knelt in prayer and implored the Divine Giver of Life to shield their beloved ones from this terrible curse, and beneath the starry canopy of heaven, while kneeling in prayer, gazing perhaps earnestly into the faces of their little ones, they have heard, perchance, the night winds as they sighed and moaned, bringing, not the chorus of angels to their ears, but the wild mocking yell of the revellers as they came home poisoned both in body and in mind, by that wonderful destroyer, alcohol. Perchance many of them arose from their knees to admit to the sanctity7 of their homes their drunken husbands, sons or brothers, un- til, alas, by the debauch of these same hus- bands, sons and brothers, even the homes them- selves melted away, and black poverty and wreck and ruin, the companions of the great king Alcohol, took possession of the fortress of love. Again. Lame men walk our streets para- lyzed from the abuse of this potent drug. HYPNOTISM. 105 There are children born every day, cursed in their mothers' wombs by the dissipation of one or both parents. Our insane hospitals are crowded, our prisons are filled with the wrecks of this fearful agent. These facts prove be- yond a doubt that the terrible disease has not yet been remedied, and I think the reasons are, first, that every system of treatment has, in a measure, failed to recognize the personal equa- tion of the sufferer. I am glad to acknowledge the work done by the ministers of the Gospel, also the moral influence of many of the tem- perance organizations throughout this and other lands. Watching carefully the tide of social events I believe to-day that drunkenness is gradually growing less. Even in my short life I have seen, with pleasure, the change in the social world in the habit of drinking at entertainments of all kinds, and this change makes life brighter and better. The young man, who, ten years ago, was ad- mired and thought funny for being intoxicated at some social gathering, is to-day discarded by the better elements of society. While drunken- ness may increase with the population, propor- tionately it has decreased. This is not due to any7 one factor, but to the aggregate work of the moral, religious, social, educational and hygienic factors which are so powerfully influ- encing our social well-being. It is to these and 106 HYPNOTISM. not to any one medical agent that I look for the ultimate cure of the great evil of drink. Whether alcohol can be used without being- abused is too broad a question for discussion in this little w^ork. How far it can be a factor for good in the social evolution of the race has not yet been determined. Sir William Roberts in his excellent little work, ''Diet and Digestion,'* says that the use of alcohol, tea, coffee and tobacco, have been beneficial in strengthening both the muscles and the brains of the power- ful western races who, he argues, have out- stripped their eastern brethren in civilization and in intellectual attainments. If this be true we have bought our civilization at a fearful cost. There are so many geographical, climatic, and race factors which enter into this question of the use of alcohol, that it will be impossible to more than casually glance at them here. It is true that alcohol acts less deleteriously upon those who live in the open air than upon those who lead a sedentary life. It may be true that those who work at hard labor can utilize and oxidize alcohol in some form as food, more readily than they can the articles which they usually eat, but I doubt it. Thousands go through life and drink moder- ately and are, to all appearances, no worse off mentally or physically for the use of alcohol. HYPNOTISM. 107 It is not to these that I appeal in this work, but to those who are addicted to the use of al- cohol to such an extent as to impair or wholly destroy their usefulness and happiness. How is the Alcohol Habit Acquired f What are the factors which predispose cer- tain individuals to the excessive use of liquor, while others work side by side with them, per- haps in the same occupation, and do not use it at all '. Until this question is answered, no amount of medicine, no amount of treatment of any kind, will drive drunkenness from the land. Prof. Cesare Lombroso of Turin and others have studied the formations of the head, face and body, and believe by the study of the morphological department of anthropology that they7 have found a certain class of individuals who are what they term "degenerates." It is their opinion that the brain and nervous sys- tems of these individuals have less resisting power and less capability of reasoning than have their more fortunate brethren. That this is true within certain limits, I believe. De- generate nervous systems may be either inher- ited or acquired. One of the principal factors of degeneration is unquestionably the habitual use of alcohol. It is in a measure seductive to most persons. In moderate doses it stimulates the cerebral cortex and as a result, in the early 108 HYPNOTISM. stages of alcoholic intoxication, there is a feeling of exhilaration or buoyancy. Conversation is more fluent, but less coherent. A poor man feels rich when in the condition of semi-intox- ication, especially if he is in the bar-room sur- rounded by companions in a similar state. The bright glare of the lights reflected by mirrors, the noise, the gesticulations and excited con- versation, all tend to heighten the effect which is, nevertheless, evanescent. Then the stage of stupor comes on, and, after it has worn off, with the morning comes misery, headache, tremor, thirst, and nervous irritability, all goading and harassing him. Again he seeks relief, and again whips his jaded nervous system with alco- hol. Again it responds, if there is sufficient vi- tality left in it, and possibly7 the phantasmagoria of the night before are even heightened in their intensity, and so each succeeding stage of de- bility is, for a time, relieved by another debauch, and thus he traverses a vicious circle until out- raged nature rebels, and his inflamed stomach will no longer tolerate the fiery poison, and the disordered brain and nerves conjure as children of their own disease, frightful demons, which haunt him night and day, until, either through medical aid or rest, his equilibrium is in a measure restored. Then, as the memory of his sufferings wears off, the elements of bodily and mental disease engendered by the previous HYPNOTISM. 109 debauch cause him mental depression and, possibly, bodily unrest, and again he seeks re- lief, and again passes through the same cycle of joy and sorrow. This is the usual expe- rience of the man who goes on sprees. There is another class of men, who, while they do not intoxicate themselves to the ex- tent just described, use a large amount of liquor every day. They keep it up for years, and die with some disease which results from the prolonged abuse of their systems. Pos- sibly the heart may be exhausted, or the liver or the kidneys give out, or the weakened blood- vessels yield at some point in the brain, and apoplexy results. Or some contagious disease carries him off because he has burned up the resisting power of his system. There is another class of alcoholics, the so- called real dipsomaniacs. These individuals are certainly mentally and physically degener- ate, for if left to themselves they will consume as much liquor as they can get. One spree follows upon another in quick succession, until the victim is taken either to the mad-house or the prison, or until he wears out the lives of devoted friends in providing for his useless existence. Tliere are many variations in this type. From careful study and experience it seems to me that the larger majority, but by no 110 HYPNOTISM. means all of the men and women who use alcohol to excess, possessed originally the so- called neurotic temperament (diathesis). In other words, their nervous systems were unfit to stand the wear and tear of life, and, directly or indirectly, they sought to make up for their weakness by stimulation. That healthy individuals may induce by drink a similar condition of weakness is well known. Their systems are much more easily restored to the healthy balance, all other things being equal. When the word neurotic is used it does not mean nervous irritability, for, as is well known, very phlegmatic people may have a very poor mental equipoise. Having discussed in general the temperament and condition of those addicted to the alco- holic habit we now come to the question, what are the exciting causes which lead men to drink ? They are legion. Association plays an active part. Among the causes are the habits of study and the class of books which men read. Too many novelists, alas ! present to their readers enticing pictures or ludicrous descriptions of the effects of alcohol. The splendid novels of Dickens and Thackeray, and those of many other writers, possibly the majority of the writers of light fiction, are too often marred with conviviality in its most HYPNOTISM. Ill seductive form. This is true in a greater degree of the poorer classes of books which are greedily devoured by the young. They naturally react upon sensitive nervous youths and arouse all sorts of curious imaginings in their brains. These fancies lead them to try the liquid magic, and the excited brain calls for more excitement, and more trashy romance is served up, with or without whisky. In an extensive hospital and dispensary prac- tice, I talked with a large number addicted to the excess of alcohol, and their familiarity with convivial writings was astonishing. The mind, while it has certain tendencies, certain traits, which are inherent in it, surely is, to a great extent, moulded by its dealings and experiences with the external world. Study everywhere the lives of the young and not one will be found that cannot be more easily poisoned by bad suggestion than benefited by7 good training and good example. While all sorts of tendencies exist in children, while in some the bad ones may be irresistible, more can be accomplished in curing them than has ever been dreamed of by those dealing with the social problems of the day7. It will follow from what has been said that if the alcoholic habit is acquired as the result of so many widely different causes, no one remedy can relieve all cases, not even hypno- 112 HYPNOTISM. tism will prove a universal specific. Some of the newspapers have contained, within the last few months, a number of extravagant articles by men who knew nothing about the subject, advocating hypnotism as a universal cure for drunkenness. To one familiar with the disease in all of its many forms, the jM'esumption and arrant conceit which many of these writers show, would be disgusting did they not produce results which are even more appalling. Men who never knew intimately a dozen intoxicated men in their lives, will write high-sounding- phrases in praise of some great cure about which they know absolutely nothing. That this may, in a way, be productive of good I admit. That it may be productive of immense harm, is equally true. Hypnotism has its-place, and I shall endeavor, so far as may be, to make it clear. I have in twelve years treated 159 persons who were addicted to the excessive use of liquor. Ten of these cured themselves independently of hypno- tism by the moral force of their own characters. Fifty-four were lost sight of because they would not attend to any system of treatment long enough to give it a fair trial. Nineteen of the remainder were dipsomaniacs, /. e., they were inherently degenerate and gave evidence in a great many ways of mental unsoundness. Hypnotism, combined with physical restraint HYPNOTISM. 113 and remedies directed to relieve the organic disease which existed in some of them, cured four of the nineteen. Of the remaining fifteen, four are dead. Six were in insane asylums, and the remaining five have been lost sight of. Out of the 159 cases, 124 of them were men. They ranged from nineteen to sixty-five years of age. Their average was forty-five. The total num- ber of cases benefited was thirty-seven, about 23 per cent. ; the total number of cases apparently cured was twenty-nine, about 11 per cent. ; the total number treated by hypnotism alone with- out other remedial agencies was fifteen; the total number cured by hypnotism, unaided by medicine, was five. In nearly all of my cases, I cannot say what per cent., there were other bodily ailments. My notes show that three cases of dipsomania who died were afflicted with chronic Bright's disease when they came under my treatment. From these cases will be seen that a fair percentage of cures may be claimed. A few persons, as I have said, recover by their own will from the alcoholic habit. If it could be stimulated early enough by hypnotic sug- gestion, I believe the number would be much larger. I shall now report, in full, a severe case of dipsomania which was cured, and state the method used. The patient was a man thirty- one years of age. His grandfather upon his 8 114 HYPNOTISM. father's side died insane. His father died of apoplexy, his mother of pulmonary tuberculosis. When five years of age he was confided to the care of his uncle, a clergyman. Family history on the maternal side of the house could not be obtained. His uncle described him to me as a very nervous child. He was quick in school, kindly and affectionate, and as a boy7 was universally7 liked. He developed well, went through the primary7 and grammar schools, and stood well in his class. He gave no evidence of the love of liquor until he was thirteen years of age. He was then brought home one night intoxicated. He was violent and was ill for some day7s after. His uncle used every form of moral suasion. Six months later he was found in the street hopelessly drunk. Bad matters grew worse. He failed in the high school in most of his examinations, and the drink habit continued to increase upon him. At twentyr-five he came into possession of a large fortune left him by7 another uncle. He voluntarily7 submitted to placing his money7 in trust, realizing his own weakness. For two years afterwards he drank heavily, and was placed in an asylum for the insane. He re- mained there one and one-half years, and was discharged. He evidently believed that he was cured, but soon lapsed into his old habits. When I saw him, in the spring of 1SS8, his HYPNOTISM. 115 nervous system was in a very diseased state, but not so much as would have been expected of one who had taken the amount of liquor he was accredited with consuming. The patient was readily hypnotized at the second sitting, and while in the hypnotic state was told that he would not have any era vino- for whisky, or any7 other alcoholic drink, for a period of two weeks. This suggestion did not affect him, however, for he was intoxicated in four days. After he had been captured from the slums, and somewhat restored to health, he was again hypnotized, and given a pill com- posed of some inert substance. He was told that this pill would take away7 his appetite for liquor for a period of three day7s. At the end of that time he was to come to me for another. This he did. He was again hypnotized, and another similar pill was given him. He was told that after he was awakened pills would be given him. of which he would take one each day. The patient was hypnotized once in three weeks for twenty visits. During this whole period he did not drink. His mental and phys- ical condition improved. He received, after the twentieth hypnotic treatment, a severe shock from the death of his mother, who died, as was previously7 stated, with tuberculosis. Immediately the thirst for drink returned. He 116 HYPNOTISM. came to me again and begged of me to protect him, as he said he was afraid he would drink and could not control himself. He was again hypnotized and was kept under observation two weeks. He was last heard of in the spring of 1893, and was at that time in Germany study- ing painting, and had been wholly free from the alcoholic habit. The next case which I shall report as illus- trating the action of hypnotism was that of a man addicted to periodical sprees. He was a mechanic, well-developed physically7, forty-three years of age, was married and had three healthy children. No organic disease could be detected about him. Every7 three months, reg- ularly, he would have a spree lasting two weeks. He explained to me that he felt no phy7s- ical desire for liquor, but had a mental impulse to drink which became a fixed idea, and was im- possible for him to resist. This idea usually7 possessed him about four clay7s before he yielded to it. I told him to come to me as soon as the idea came upon him. This he did. He was told, in the hypnotic state, that the idea would vanish. It did not. He told me honestly the evening after he had been hypnotized, that the impulse was growing upon him, and he feared that he must yield. Again he was hypnotized, and was told that he was a man and had will enough to resist it, and that he would walk six HYPNOTISM. 117 times up and down before a liquor store and would not go in. As soon as he was aroused from the hypnotic condition he did as he was told. He was secretly watched by his brother, who did not drink. He wrote me next day that the desire for drink was entirely7 gone. At the end of the following three months he again consulted me, stating that the idea was haunting him, but not quite to such an extent as previ- ously. One hy7pnotic treatment was sufficient to dispel it. At the end of the following nine months he again returned, stating that he had drank a glass of whisky7 with a friend, and that the old idea had returned. He was hyp- notized, and since then, a period of three years, he has had no desire for drink. Now, after reporting these two very favorable cases, it is but just and right that I should report failures when such exist. One case, a lawyer, thirty-seven years of age, was a constant drinker, taking something like eight drinks of whisky each day7. He was readily hypnotized, more so perhaps than the two in which hypnotism was beneficial. He was told that the appetite for liquor would vanish. As this did not prove to be true, the pill-experiment was tried upon him. Then suggestion when he was out of the hypnotic state was tried. Then suggestion while in the deep trance was tried. Medicines were given 118 HYPNOTISM. him, hypodermic injections of strychnine were used, and after thirty-six hypnotic treat- ments I gave the case up, and he was apparently no better. He subsequently7 went to one of the well advertised cures for alcoholism. He in- formed me that he drank while at the institu- tion and had done so ever since. I heard within a year that the man was taking a prodigious amount of liquor, averaging from fifteen to eighteen drinks of one kind or another during working hours, and imbibing freely of whisky whenever he awoke, which was frequently, during the night. The question might be asked, why did hyp- notism fail here ? Frankly, I do not know. The man was easily hypnotized, claimed to be earnestly desirous of a cure, stated that he used all of his will, but yet, up to the present time, all treatment upon him has failed. Another notable failure was that of a man, also a lawyer, forty-eight yrears of age. He said that he had no particular desire for liquor, but drank it because he wanted to. Professed great scepticism with regard to being cured of the habit. Was hypnotized after the fifth trial. Was told that liquor would produce nausea whenever he attempted to drink it, and was released from the hy7pnotic state. That evening he dined with friends, partaking freely of champagne, and was nauseated and HYPNOTISM. 119 vomited profusely. He drank some whisky the following morning with a similar result. Again he was hypnotized. Was told that one glass of whisky7 would make him almost in- sensible, and that he would be unable to walk if he drank it. That afternoon he proceeded to try the experiment. Again the whisky7 nauseated him, but it did not trouble his gait. He then declared that no man should control his stomach and he would drink what he chose. He drank a large amount of liquor that even- ing and kept a good deal of it down by holding ice in his mouth. He went home beastly7 drunk, and afterwards I tried many7 times to hypnotize him, but never could do so. Whether or not in his normal state the man was determined to drink I cannot say. Certain it is that he did so. Summing up the result generally, hypno- tism has succeeded best upon the class of men who have been trained to obedience. I have notes of more cures by hypnotism among the less intelligent classes. It has failed more often in the highly educated. The reason for this may7 be that the more educated have more temptations. There is a class of men who drink from sheer habit, who have not carried it to such an excess that it has undermined their general systems, and who can be cured if a strong 120 HYPNOTISM. appeal is only made in the right way. I have treated a dozen or so of these individuals, and as they were all easily cured, I did not include them in my7 table of bad cases. There are many men in society who drink because of their associations. They7 can and ought to be saved by moral suasion, and with them it is not necessary7 to use hy7pnotism. In conclusion, hyrpnotism is of use in a cer- tain number of alcoholic patients. It may suc- ceed alone, or as an adjuvant to other methods. It is my opinion that it should rarely7 be de- pended upon alone. In addition to removing, so far as possible by hygiene and medicine, all physical disease, the whole of the moral nature should be impressed by every7 possible means. Morphio-maniaandthe Other Drug Habits. Twenty-two persons addicted to the morphine habit have been hypnotized by7 me. Out of this number seventeen have been cured. Hypno- tism alone was used in four cases of these seven- teen. The others were treated by7 hypnotism supplemented by7 medicines which would tone the nervous sy7stem. All of my7 twenty7-two cases contracted the habit as a result of physi- cians prescribing the drug. All of them could be hypnotized. The worst cases were cured the most easily. Much of the suffering incident to the sudden abandonment of the morphine habit HYPNOTISM. 121 can be relieved by hypnotism. The use of morphine or any of the preparations of opium seems to make the subject more sensitive to hypnotism. Of the seventeen cured, eleven were women and six were men. Of the re- maining five, two were lost sight of. One died from cancer of the stomach, and the re- maining two are confined in hospitals for the insane. They were practically insane when I first saw them. It would seem, then, that hypnotism certainly promises a great deal to those suffering from this terrible habit; y7et the number of my cases is too small to permit of sweeping assertions. With the cocaine habit I have had no experi- ence. I have treated six cases addicted to the chloral habit. Five were cured, it requiring an average of three hypnoses each to do this. My sixth case died from an overdose of chloral which he took after the first hypnotization. It is needless to add that he did not take the chloral as a result of the hypnotization, but because he had a severe headache. I have treated forty-six cases for the tobacco habit, with forty-two cures, and four pro- nounced failures. Of my forty-two cures, the average length of time of the use of tobacco was nineteen years. They were all in hearty accord with me, and had unbounded faith that they would be helped. They all claimed that 122 HYPNOTISM. after the first or second treatment they had no desire for tobacco. Personally, however, I believe a large amount of this to be due to their great faith. A gentleman of my acquaintance voluntarily stopped the tobacco habit, having sufficient faith in his own will-power, although he was then forty-six, and had used it excess- ively, smoking sixteen cigars a day a large part of the time from his sixteenth year. Imagination is a potent factor in both the formation and cure of many evil practices. I have seen a few cases of very severe suffering as a consequence of the sudden abandonment of tobacco. With many persons the habit clings very strongly. Plenty of fresh air, and a simple diet composed largely, but not exclu- sively, of vegetables, mitigate the suffering. This is also true of the opium habit, if the patient is not too profoundly prostrate. Moral resistance is the element of hope in all these cases. Sometimes it can be roused by hypnotic suggestion when all other means fail. Because of this and for the sake of wider experience, I plead earnestly for a more extend- ed trial of it. HYPNOTISM. 123 CHAPTER XL HYPNOTISM AS A CURE FOR ILLUSIONS AND HAL- LUCINATIONS. The following definitions are taken from Dr. Ireland's work entitled, '' The Blot upon the Brain." He says, '' Illusions are erroneous interpreta- tions of real sensations, that is, sensations origin- ating from changes in the outer world acting on some part of the nervous system. Thus, a man mistakes a rock for a tower, or the play of the moonlight through the forest leaves for running water, or a sheet hungup for a ghost. In these instances the mind has been too rapid in its fore- cast, either by following the line of habit ac- quired in cases outwardly similar, or by yield- ing to the suggestions of hope and fear, or by following the fallacies of a disordered mind. "A hallucination is a perception of a sensation arising from changes within the organism without any corresponding change in the outer world. It is a perception that has no object. Hallucinations have been divided into ' element 124 HYPNOTISM. ary' and 'elaborated.' Thus, a flash of light, or a sound in the ear, is a simple hallucination ; but if a man believes he sees a figure or hears a voice which has no outward existence, it is an elaborated hallucination. This subjective irritation of the optic or auditory nerve appears to him to be the same as the image of some figure or sound already existing in his mind." This part of my subject will be a very difficult one for the lay reader to grasp, and halluci- nations have played so important a part in the history of the world that it seems to me that the general public should have a better under- standing of them. They do not occur in the violently insane alone. Probably very few sane people go through life without some time or another experiencing either hallucinations or illusions, or both. They have been mistaken for supernatural appearances. Voices origi- nating in the brains of men have commanded them to do hideous things, and whole systems of religion have arisen as products of a diseased brain, caused possibly by an undigested beef- steak. Wills have been made, homes broken up, and lives wrecked, because these fancies were mistaken for Divine utterances. Voices, children of a perverted imagination, tell us queer things by night. Our dreams make up a large integral part of our consciousness. Before proceeding let us consider what we HYPNOTISM. Vza mean by certain words which will be used in this chapter. Imagination is, 1. The image-making power of the mind, the power to create or reproduce ideally an object of sense previously perceived ; the power to call up mental images. 2. The representative power ; the power to reconstruct or recombine the materials furnished by direct apprehension ; the fancy7. 3. The power to re- combine the materials furnished by direct memory for the accomplishment of a purpose. 4. A mental image formed by7 an action of the imagination as a faculty. From the foregoing definitions it will be clear that hallucinations arising from the imagina- tion are very complex indeed. If we associate with the word " imagination " the word '' volun- tary " our conception will be at once changed. Who cannot call up at will the face of some loved one, who has either gone to death's date- less night, or who is journeying in some far-off land ? Memory7, the twin sister of imagination, when acting in concert with her, can produce anew upon the mind of an old man the glorious imagery of his childhood, and he lives again the joys of his youth. Hallucinations are not always, in fact are very seldom, the result of the voluntary exercise of imagination. An eminent physician became insane and suffered many7 and varied hallucinations. 126 HYPNOTISM. After being restored to health he says : "The only influence which the will had over the hal- lucinations during my illness was that it could place me in a favorable position for receiving them." He says it never succeeded either in intentionally calling before him hallucinations, or in changing a recollection or a product of the fancy into a hallucination, or in recalling by will one which had recently appeared to him. Hence, apparently, the view of Lelut, that hal- lucinations are simply thoughts, is erroneous. Hallucinations are very common among those who are partially insane. They occur as a re- sult of fever and frequently accompany de- lirium. They result from an impoverished con- dition of the blood, especially if it is due to starvation, indigestion, and the use of drugs like belladonna, hyoscyamus, stramonium, opium, chloral, cannabis indica, and many more that might be mentioned. Probable Physical Causation of Hallucina- tions. Dr. Bouchard of Paris has carried on exper- iments for a number of years which prove that there are many poisonous products, formed dur- ing the process of digestion, which act upon the brain in a similar way to many of the drugs men- tioned. Now, if digestion be arrested at a cer- tain stage, these products pass into the blood, HYPNOTISM. 127 act through it upon the cells of the brain, and weird fancies, strange voices, and queer forms haunt the habitations of the mind. Some of these so-called alkaloids have been isolated and their physiological action studied. Also, re- cently7, a substance has been found in the secre- tions taken from patients suffering from mel- ancholia, which, when injected into animals, gives rise to phenomena which are similar to, if not identical with, those observed in this form of insanity among men. The whole theory of auto-intoxication prom- ises to throw much light upon both the cause and the treatment of many obscure mental dis- eases. It is well known that there are sub- stances formed as a result of putrefactive changes in dead bodies which are highly7 poison- ous. Some of them belong to the so-called nerve- poisons. Some are irritants of the mucous membrane. It is now equally well established that many substances are thrown off by the secretions from the live body, which will act in the same way as substances formed after death. Prof. Bouchard has proved that during the waking hours a person secretes a substance which is carried off by the urine, and when this substance is injected into the lower animals, it causes them to sleep, and, strange as it is, this eminent professor has found, by experimenta- tion, in the urines passed off by sleeping persons, 128 HYPNOTISM. a substance which acts as a cerebral excitant, producing, when injected into the lower animals, delirium, insanity and convulsions. These sub- stances he succeeded, by the use of alcohol and other chemical means, in extracting from the urine, purified many of them and affixed names to them. Truly we carry ever with us, in our own bodies, substances which, if not eliminated, may not only kill us, but may act upon some part of the brain and disorder its function and disturb its harmony, and then insanity with all of its hallucinations and illusions follows. This at present is the theory of the most scientific men of the day. Every nerve-cell, aye, every pro- toplasmic cell of the body, forms substances as a result of its living activity, which, if allowed to accumulate in or around it, at first interferes with and then finally destroys it. The brain forms by its own activity substances complex in their nature, which if allowed to accumulate within, at first disturb, and finally destroy7 its operations. This much was necessary before I could make intelligible a rational application of hypnotism in this class of patients. Admitting, then, the physical theory of the causation of in- sanity to be mainly true, admitting that sub- stances in the blood may poison the brain and disorder its functions, admitting that each cell HYPNOTISM. 129 of the brain develops substances which if not eliminated are poisonous to it, how can hyp- notism be of value in treating this class of dis- eases ? Can so intangible a thing as suggestion exercise an influence over the complex biologi- cal chemistry of the brain and body ? Most certainly. Charcot, Luys, Liebault, Bernheim, Krafft-Ebing, and others, many of whom are acknowledged to be the best authorities in Europe, if not in the world, upon mental and nervous diseases, all testify and are in accord about a few of the following facts. First, hyp- notism can, by soothing an over-excited brain, cause the blood supply in it to be diminished, and rest follow delirium. Faculties unaccustomed to obey the will can bo trained to obedience. It is generally believed by most psycho-phys- iologists that different parts of the brain can ■ act independently, and in this way produce a great many varieties or states of consciousness, hence the terms " subconscious," " dual-con- sciousness, " and many other similar ones. Now, when one part of the brain is acting abnormally it may be checked or inhibited by the other parts of the brain. Each cell of the brain has a certain degree of vitality which can be expended rapidly or slowly according to the circumstances. Suppose the brain by its ac- tivity to be evolving as the result of the de- struction of its own cells, substances which act 9 130 HYPNOTISM. as poisons and which interfere with or pervert its action. By quieting this activity7, the blood circulating through the brain will have an opportunity of removing and disposing of the before-mentioned toxic (poisonous) products. Hence it follows that hypnotism may act as a great regulator of the brain and nervous meta- bolism. The authorities quoted en masse practically agree that by7 concentrating the mind in- tensely upon any part of the body7, various changes take place in that part, both in its sen- sation, in its blood-supply7, and in its nucrition. Tell the hypnotic subject that a part of the body is freezing, and immediately the phenom- ena popularly termed "goose-flesh" appears. Apply a metal and tell him it is hot, and he not only believes that he is being burned, but, according to Bernheim and others, actual blisters on the part will appear. * The part will grow red or pale at the command of the hyp- notist. The bowels too will move at a definite hour stated by the hypnotist when his patient is in the hypnotic state. The suggestions will act for 24 or 36 hours afterwards. Chemically in- active substances will nauseate and produce *Note.—1 personally have never seen a blister produced as the result of suggestion, but have witnessed the other phenom- ena described. HYPNOTISM. 131 vomiting, and when ordered will intoxicate like whisky ; and what is more pertinent to this chapter, hallucinations, illusions, and de- lusions, may7 be created, or in many cases de- stroyed, at the pleasure of the hypnotist. Hence it follows that no spiritual or magnetic theory7 is necessary to account for, or to give a reasonable explanation of, the curative effect of hypnotism. The terms nerve-force, vital fluid, etc., are perhaps as vague, at least we know as little about them as we do of animal magnetism and other allied terms. It is true that hypnotism will cure some cases of insanity7 which are accompanied by hallucinations and illusions. It will relieve these same conditions when occurring among sane people as a result of some local or general slight disorder. Again I must urge upon my readers, whether they be medical men or laymen, the utter folly of relying upon hypnotism without attending to all other methods of hygiene and medicine which have been and are the glorious achieve- ments of the best medical thought of this and other ages. Enthusiasm, like scepticism, is a good thing. In this most fascinating study both should be held in check by7 a firm, strong judgment ever regulated by reason and experience. 132 HYPNOTISM. Hypnotism, as has been said before, may be a palliative in some incurable cases, as well as hasten the recovery7 of those so fortunate as to be susceptible of entire relief. A clear comprehen- sion of the whole subject by the intelligent classes would greatly diminish the amount of fanaticism which is so deleterious to a large number of individuals. We do not need mira- cles or revelations to explain phenomena which can be and are susceptible of explanation upon a hypothesis which is based upon experimenta- tion. I shall cite two cases widely7 different, illus- trative of the utility and of the method of applying hy7pnotism, in cases of mental dis- order. Case 1. A German, fiftyT-one years of age, male, habits temperate, family history bad. Mother insane, father alcoholic, father's father epileptic, grandmother on father's side tuber- culous. One brother suffered with paranoia, and sister profoundly hysterical. One of his children was an imbecile, the other tubercular. The patient himself was of even temper, kindly7, and was a baker by trade. He told me that whenever falling asleep he saw a white horse leaning over him, and that the horse pulled at the bedclothing with its teeth and awoke him. This condition of things had lasted for years, when one day he had a sensation as though HYPNOTISM. 133 some one were stealing upon him. Turning around quickly he saw the white horse reach out to bite him. He knew perfectly well that his condition was an hallucination, but it made him feel very uncomfortable nevertheless. He subsequently began to hear voices, some speak- ing to him kindly, some harshly. His physi- cian advised rest and change, but his demons followed every7where. He never for one mo- ment believed them to be real, and understood his condition thoroughly. He went as a volun- tary patient to a private asylum in New York State, and remained there for three months. Medicines were tried upon him, and everything known to the physicians in attendance was done for his relief. But he could not get rid of the hallucinations. He consulted me in the spring of 1891. Was hypnotized at the eighth sitting. Was hypno- tized subsequently7 three times a week for eight weeks. The first trypnotization changed the nature of the hallucination, and after the third one his nervous sy7stem was much disturbed. He became hysterical, the most profoundly so of any one ever under my observation. One day his right arm would be paralyzed, in a day or two the paralysis would change into the left. For a week or ten days he would vomit everything he ate. Each manifestation was in turn immediately subdued by hypnotism, 134 HYPNOTISM. and at the end of eighteen weeks he presented no abnormality, and, as far as I know, not hav- ing heard from him for over a year, the hallu- cinations have not returned. Second patient was a little girl of neurotic family history. She stated that play7mates in- visible to others haunted her night and day7. Some of them were kindly, others teased her for her playthings, called her horrid names, while others spoke in a language she did not understand. The little one was pale, exceed- ingly irritable, and would hold conversations for hours at a time with the imaginary spectres. Remedies were given her for her bodily condi- tion, and although it improved, the morbid fan- cies grew stronger. She was hypnotized at the first sitting, all hallucinations vanished at the third sitting, and she remained well for eight months, and then contracted pneumonia and died. I have treated with hypnotism eight cases representing various forms of hallucinations. Five with complete success, one with partial success, and I experienced total failure with the other two. Authors vary widely in their re- sults. Some, like myself, have had very good results, others, fairly good. All believe in its value. The subject has been exceedingly difficult to make clear without the use of technical HYPNOTISM. 135 terms. Hence, if the lay readers find it too complex and the profession too elementary, I shall ask them to realize, each in his way, my difficulties, and show all the indulgence that they can. 136 HYPNOTISM. CHAPTER XII. THE APPLICATION OF HYPNOTISM TO FUNCTIONAL AND ORGANIC DISEASE IN GENERAL. It will be my purpose again in this chapter, for the sake of clearness, and for the benefit of the general reader, to divest the subject, as far as possible, both of technical terms, and of theoretical considerations. The latter, in fact, would not prove, in the light of our present knowledge, much of a loss even to the medical men. I shall quote a number of cases from the well- known Dr. Bernheim, and as they are perhaps more remarkable than my own experience, I shall introduce him to my7 readers. Dr. Bernheim, the author of the book, "Sug- gestive Therapeutics," which has been trans- lated by Christian A. Herter, M. D., was a Pro- fessor of Medicine in the faculty at Nancy. His work has won for him well deserved re- nown everywhere, and his honesty and truthful- ness would not be questioned by any reliable medical authority in the civilized world. Many HYPNOTISM. 137 may differ from him in regard to his theories. He, like other men, may at times have been de- ceived in his results. What he writes is indeed difficult to believe by the practitioner who is wedded to drugs, and to the coarser ideas. Of a very sceptical nature my7self, many of his statements sound like miracles in some ancient oriental work. The phenomena he claims to have obtained through hypnotism, are to me more miraculous than any claim ever put forth for the cure of disease by any system of religion now extant. As far as space will permit I shall cite briefly some few of his cases, practically without com- ment, merely using my own language suffi- ciently to make the otherwise technically diffi- cult descriptions of this author clear. For more extended information I refer the readers to his book, *" Suggestive Therapeutics,'' as before mentioned. The book is, in my judgment, the best medi- cal work on hypnotism and therapeutic sugges- tion which has ever been written in any lan- guage, and my acquaintance with this class of literature has been a very large one. Method of Application. Suggestions are made to patients either during or after hypnosis. The theory is that hypno- tism increases the susceptibility of the patient to 138 HYPNOTISM. suggestion. If the reader understands that, he understands more than I do. To say that the man gets well because he is told to, gives no explanation whatever of the ultimate cause of the experiment, for our old conceptions of dis- ease, which are inherent in the very idea of dis- ease itself, teach us that disease may effectually do away with the normal obedience of the body or the mind to environment, at least its rela- tions to such are disturbed. Say that it stimu- lates the will if you please. How ? Mothers have been cured of serious functional diseases by one or two hypnotic treatments, when their children were growing up around them, and feeling sadly the neglect of their daily care. Their homes, which should have been made bright by their love, were dark and desolate for the want of woman's thoughtfulness. Ought not these to be more powerful stimulants of the will, than could be a suggestion made to them in a particular state of the nervous system ? Again, invalids lie imprisoned on their backs in one room for years at a time, and, strange as it may seem, recover after one or two hypnotic treatments. Does it not seem reasonable to suppose that all nature would have charms for these men and women greater than the power of hypnotic suggestion ? We are told it is faith. What is faith ? It has made martyrs. It has made villains. It HYPNOTISM. 139 has made saints (?) as well. It must precede every positive act of human life. True, of its essence we know nothing. A certain medico- religious sect, calling themselves Christian Scientists, tell us that we have no bodies, that there is no matter, that disease is not a reality at all. If this be true, then the other neces- sities of life are only delusions. Now I have found from my observations of these people that they eat and drink, live in houses, wear clothing, and avoid bad weather, and, except for their peculiar ideas upon this one topic, act much like other folk. They effect cures, apparently, upon the same class of persons, and it is a large one, as those benefited by hypnotic suggestion and simple suggestion. Prayers have at different times apparently given the same result. Shrines and statues have done likewise. In the face of such an accumulation and variety of evidence as history offers, one can- not doubt the result, whatever may be his or her opinion of the causes which lead to it. Every7 one who has practised medicine for a little time and heard the stories told by many chronic invalids who have tried faith healing, Christian Science, etc., will realize keenly the fact that these methods, like the regular prac- tice of medicine, all fail egregiously. They give us as little reason for success or failure as 140 HYPNOTISM. does the regular practitioner of medicine in such cases. His drug will make one man sleep, and the same dose will make another violently delirious, and it will nauseate a third, and pro- voke a violent skin eruption on the fourth. I know of one man who assures me that a severe neuralgia was cured by prayer. Many others assure me that they have been made better or cured of various diseases through the agency of Christian Science. Another assures me that he was very7 nearly killed by7 Christian Science, while his next-door neighbor says it is the one grand truth in the world. What the difference is, or why such diverse results are obtained, I shall leave to the ingenuity and greater intel- ligence of my readers. Paracelsus, who lived in the first half of the sixteenth century, recognized the power of faith and said of it: "Whether the object of your faith be false or real you will nevertheless obtain the same effects. Thus if I believed in St. Peter's statue as I would have believed in St. Peter himself, I would obtain the same effects that I would have obtained from St. Peter ;—but that is superstition. Faith, how- ever, produces miracles ; whether it be false or true faith, it will always produce the same wonders." It is the opinion of most of the European observers that all of the results attributable HYPNOTISM. 141 to treatment by magnets, charms, magnetized and electric belts, etc., are primarily the result of suggestion. Drs. Liebault and Bernheim have proved that most, if not all, of the results obtained through these various articles, are not due to anything inherent in them, but to the faith of the patient. Dr. Bernheim does not wholly subscribe to this. Therapeutic suggestion is not in any way a discovery of our present age. What is new is its scientific mode of application and its recog- nition and adoption by general medicine. Dr. Hack Tuke, in speaking of the effect of imagination during sleep, reports a case. He says, "The daughter of a consul at Hanover, aged sixteen, intended to use rhubarb (for which she had a particular dislike). On the day following she dreamed that she had taken the abhorred dose. Influenced by this imagi- nary rhubarb, she waked up and had five or six easy7 evacuations." A similar result is reported in another case. A monk intended to purge himself on a certain morning. On the night previous he dreamed that he had taken the medicine, and conse- quently waked up to y7ield to nature's demands. He had eight movements. The following is a case illustrative of the power of prayer. The Princess of Schwartzen- 142 HYPNOTISM. burg had suffered for eight years from para- plegia, for which the most celebrated doctors in Germany and France had been consulted. In 1821 the Prince of Hohenlohe, who had been a priest since 1815, brought to the prin- cess a peasant who had convinced the young prince of the power of pray7er in curing disease. The mechanical apparatus which had been used by Dr. Heine for several months to overcome the contracture of the limbs was removed. The prince asked the paralytic to join her faith to both his and the peasant's. "Do you believe y7ou are already helped ? " "Oh, yes, I believe so most sincerely." "Well, rise and Walk." At these words the princess rose and walked around the room several times, and tried going uj) and downstairs. The next day she went to church, and from that time on she had the use of her limbs. In the first case quoted it does not seem rea- sonable to me to attribute the movement of the bowels to the dream. I think it more likely that the intestinal disorder provoked the dream, and that the purging was the result of a dis- ease and not the effect of a dream. Dr. Bernheim says, "Hypnotism, like nat- ural sleep, exalts the imagination, and makes the brain more susceptible to suggestion. The strongest minds cannot escape from the hal- HYPNOTISM. 148 lucinatory suggestions of their dreams. It is a physiological law that sleep puts the brain into such a psychical condition that the im- agination accepts and recognizes as real the im- pressions transmitted to it. To provoke this special psychical condition by means of hyp- notism, and to cultivate the suggestibility thus artificially increased with the aim of cure or relief, this is the role of psycho-therapeutics." A case of probably hysterical paralysis is quoted by Dr. Bernheim as follows : " Marie Lanou-Domeuge, twenty-four years of age, had been troubled for three years with incomplete paralysis of the whole left side. She could not take a step without help. "Hearing Massabielle spring spoken of, the peasant sent some one to Lourdes one day to bring a little of the healing water from the source itself. She was helped to get up and dress. Two people lifted her and she stood, both of them supporting her by the shoulders. Then she stretched out her trembling hand and plunged her fingers into the glass of water, made a large sign of the cross, put the glass to her lips and drank the contents slowly. Then she straightened herself up, shook herself and cried in triumphant joy, ' Let me go, let me go quickly ! I am cured !' And she began to walk as if she had never been paralyzed." The following Dr. Bernheim reports, which 144 HYPNOTISM. demonstrates the power of hypnotism over mus- cular rheumatism. "Achild was brought to me with a pain, which pain dated back four or five days, like muscular rheumatism in the right arm ; the arm was painful to pressure. The child could not lift it to its head. I said to him, ' Shut your eyes and go to sleep.' I held his eyelids closed and went on talking to him. " You are asleep and you will keep on sleeping until I wake you up. You are sleeping very well as if you were in bed. You are perfectly well, and comfortable. Your arms and legs and whole body are asleep and y7ou cannot move." I took my fingers off his eyelids and they remained closed. I put his arms up and they remained so. Then touching the painful arm I said : ' The pain has gone away. You will have no more pain ; and when you wake up you will not feel any more pain. It will not come back any more.' In order to increase the force of suggestion by embodying it, so to speak, in a material sensation, I suggested a feeling of warmth—loco clolenti. The heat took the place of the pain. I said to the child, ' You feel that your arm is w7arm ; the warmth increases, and you have no pain.' I woke the child in a few minutes ; he remembered nothing. The sleep had been profound. The pain had almost com- pletely disappeared. The child lifted the arm HYPNOTISM. 145 easily to his head. I saw the father on the days following and he told me that the pain had disappeared completely7, and that there was no return of it." The next case, which is of profound interest, is that of a working-man. He was fifty years old, and had been in the hospital several times. The observations referring to his case will be given later on. For several days he had an ulnar neuritis characterized by contraction in flexion of the three last fingers of the hand, a complete anaesthesia in the entire ulnar region, twinges of pain along the path of the nerve, and pain along the olecranon groove. I hyp- notized him. In a few seconds he fell into a complete relaxation. Suggestive catalepsy and somnambulism were present. At different times I suggested the relaxation of his hand, the return of sensibility, the cessation of pains. I ran a needle into his forearm saying, '' You are going to feel." In a few minutes the feel- ing came back again, and the fingers unbent. When he awoke all the phenomena of the neu- ritis had vanished. I have seen a number of cases of this disease. As is well known to all physicians the ulnar nerves control sensation and motion to a certain extent on the side of the hand next to and in- cluding the little finger. When this nerve becomes inflamed, when the condition of neu- 10 146 HYPNOTISM. ritis exists, the patient suffers intensely from the pain and numbness. This disease in a patient of mine completely broke down his self-control and made a weakling of a man who, when well, was powerful, both intellectually and physically. Dr. Bernheim says, '' These examples relate to actual observations. However singular they may appear they are nevertheless facts." He says, " In these cases, sometimes the pain per- sists, or is simply diminished ; it may gradually disappear after two or more treatments. In other cases it may be diminished when the sub- ject awakes, and may continue growing less until it disappears without a new hypnotization. If not, a new suggestion may succeed, especially if a deeper sleep be induced. The pain taken away for the moment may return in several hours or later, and may only yield definitely after a variable number of hypnotizations. Finally, only certain troubles among those complained of may be effaced. The others resist the attempt. We can understand that the effect obtained is subordinate both to the subject's suggestibility and to the psychical cause which determines the symptoms. Mus- cular pains, the painful points in phthisis, certain dynamic contractures, even though bound up with organic affections of the nervous centre, certain movements which remain after chorea, incontinence of urine, which children HYPNOTISM. 147 suffer from at night, etc., often disappear as if by enchantment after a single suggestion or after several." He also says, '' The mode of suggestion should be varied and adapted to the special suggesti- bility7 of the subject. A simple word does not always suffice in impressing the idea upon the mind. It is sometimes necessary7 to reason, to prove, to convince ; in some cases to affirm decidedly ; in others to insinuate gently ; for in the condition of sleep, just as in the waking con- dition, the moral individuality of each subject persists according to his character, his inclina- tions, his special impressionability, etc. Hyp- nosis does not run all subjects into a uniform mould, and make pure and simple automatons out of them, moved solely by the will of the hy7pnotist ; it increases the cerebral docility ; it makes the automatic activity preponderate over the will. But the latter persists to a certain degree, the subject thinks, reasons, discusses, accepts more readily7 than in the waking con- dition, but does not always accept, especially7 in the light degrees of sleep. In these cases we must know the patient's character, his particular psychical condition, in order to make an impression upon him." Another case reported by the same author was that of a hysterical woman, who went easily into somnambulism (this term is used 148 HYPNOTISM. synonymously with hypnotism or rather denotes a particular stage of hypnotism), but in this condition she often complained of discomfort, pain, and oppression; then sometimes an attack of hysterical sleep, in which the patient ceased to be in relationship with the operator, replaced the hypnotic sleep. Affirmation alone did not succeed in dissipating this uncomfortable pre- cursor of a crisis. He succeeded by means of a musical diversion ; he made her hear a won- derful suggestive orchestra. (In the hypnotic state the patient will hear any sound suggested by the operator, the sound existing, of course, only in the imagination of the patient.) As she adored music, her face became radiant, she beat time with her hand and all discomfort van- ished. As there was no music save in the mind of the patient it would have been of interest had Dr. Bernheim noted what rhythm she indicated with her hand. I cannot but feel impressed in reading care- fully the work of Dr. Bernheim, which I have quoted, that he is sometimes led away from accurate scientific observation by his enthu- siasm, and is unwittingly deceived as to his results. Too much care cannot be enjoined upon those investigating the phenomena of hypnotism not to be deceived by hysterical states of the subjects, who, I have found, HYPNOTISM. 149 frequently simulate that which they do not feel. Dr. Bernheim is in accord with me in ques- tioning the infallibility of therapeutic sugges- tion. He writes, '' Therapeutic suggestion is not infallible, though it gives good results in a large number of cases. It may even fail when it is intelligently and persistently managed. The cause of failure is inherent sometimes in the disease, sometimes in the subject." The following cases of hysterical persons Dr. Bernheim has found not to be benefited by hypnotism. They are cases of melancholia, some cases of hypochondria, and certain neu- ropathic cases. Hypochondriacs simulating as they do dis- eased conditions, it seems rather singular that hypnotism should prove of so little value in many such cases. The following case will illus- trate the condition well. "I recently had to treat a young woman who was hypochondriacal. Among other troubles she had a violent pain in the epigas- trium which she believed to be connected with uterine cancer, although she had been repeat- edly7 told that there was no lesion there. I succeeded in hypnotizing her enough, and sometimes even in obtaining a profound sleep. I hypnotized her for ten days, and by energetic suggestion succeeded in quieting the pain. 150 HYPNOTISM. But she hastened to add that the pain would return, and in fact it did come back, involun- tarily evoked by her diseased imagination." It is my belief that the pain complained of in Dr. Bernheim's case just quoted, is a sensory hallucination, probably provoked in the same way that hallucinations of sight, hearing, etc., are provoked. Organic Disease of the Nervous System. Dr. Bernheim shows that hypnotism removes many of the symptoms attending organic dis- ease of the nervous system, paralysis, anaesthe- sia (insensibility to touch and to pain), blind- ness from brain-injury, severe pain, etc. His theory of the matter is that many of the results of the injury reach much further than the actual anatomical limits of it, and as the higher cerebral centres control the lower, they again train other parts of the nervous system to perform vicariously7 the function of the injured part. Hence paralysis of one part or the whole of one side of the body can be either ameliorated or wholly7 relieved by treatment with hypnotism. (For record of cases see Bern- heim's "Suggestive Therapeutics," page 217.) Records similar to Bernheim's have been pub- lished by Charcot, Liebault, Braid, Mesmer, Krafft-Ebing, and pre-eminently by Luys. These gentlemen are all careful observers and HYPNOTISM. 161 their position in the medical world, together with their thorough scientific education, will give weight to their testimony. The early investi- gators of these subjects, like the pioneers of every new science, were shining marks for every sort of abusive epithet, and for their devotion to science were called insane, termed rascals, were branded as charlatans—in fact, had exhausted upon them the whole magazine of vituperative abuse. The Church settled the whole question to its satisfaction, at least, for the time, by announcing that they were the special emissa- ries, and in the service of, His Satanic Majesty. To-day7 hypnotism holds a respected place in the scientific world, but its nature, like the nature of most mental phenomena, is not under- stood, yet it has done and is doing much good. In the United States it has not received, either from the public or from the medical practi- tioner, the study which it deserves. A long nar- ration of cases is wearisome to the general reader, yet, at the same time, they are necessary for the practitioner of medicine, since he cannot judge in any way of the accuracy7 and method of the observer unless cases are given in de- tail. I have had, of course, a much smaller experi- ence than have some of the European hyp- notists, but I shall enumerate a few cases in detail and shall select the diseases most often 152 HYPNOTISM. met with by the physician in general practice. Those which are not amenable to cure by the ordinary means at the command of the practi- tioner, will be given the most prominence. I shall, so far as I can, give cases representing the diseases of each system of the body, for reference, and because it will make the subject more easily understood by the lay reader. Paralysis Resulting from Disease of the Brain. No attempts will be made in the following re- ports to localize definitely the part of the brain affected. I have treated with hypnotism eight cases of hemiplegia (paralysis of one side of the body), resulting from cerebral hemorrhage. All ex- cept one of them were treated by hypnotism only after the paralysis had existed for a period varying from three months to eight or ten years. Three of my cases suffered from aphasia (inability to speak). Let me report one in detail. Mr. F., fifty-nine years of age, was seen by me in March, 1893. The whole of the left side of the body was paralyzed. He had undergone what is termed a shock of apoplexy, the pre- ceding December. Contracture of the left leg and left arm was pronounced. His face pre- sented the usual drawn appearance. He was given a watch and I asked him what it was. HYPNOTISM. 153 He called it a broomstick. I made a sign as though sweeping the floor with it. He imme- diately shook his head and said " No." Then the names of a number of articles were written on a card, " knife," "watch,'' "hat," "plate," etc. He selected the w7ord " watch," pointed to it on the card, and then pointed to the watch in my7 hand. As each of the articles mentioned on the card were handed to him, he persisted in calling them by other names, and pointed to their correct names upon the card. He was bypnotized easily, and while in this state I told him that he would call things by their correct names, and that he could pronounce his words clearly. On being aroused he did very much better, but did not call everything correctly7. He was hypnotized eight times. The aphasia practically disappeared, although his speech was scanning when he talked. He spoke after the manner of a school-boy7 in his early7 attempts to read poetry7. Aphasia very frequently7 passes off in a very short time after an injury to the brain, either from disease, or as the result of traumatism, but as the patient was much relieved after the first hypnotic treatment it seems that he was much benefited by hypnotism. The post-hemiplegic contractures, both in this case and in a number of others, gradually im- proved while they were being treated by hyp- 154 HYPNOTISM. notism. In fairness let me say that I have seen equally good results from Swedish gymnastics and massage. The power of concentration and memory, which is usually impaired by hemiplegia of cerebral origin, were all benefited under hyp- notic suggestion. In these cases improvement was so rapid that it would be unreasonable to attribute it to any7 other agency. In those which gradually obtain a partial use of their limbs, hyqmotism seemed to hasten and amplify the result. A patient suffering from a tumor upon the brain consulted me in the summer of 1893. He was forty-five years of age, and a sailor by pro- fession. Owing to the location of the tumor there were clonic convulsions of the right fore- finger and the right hand and arm, there was diffuse severe pain over the left side of his head. He was suffering from what is termed "hemi- anopsia." The temporal half of vision in each eye was totally7 destroyed. He was ill-tempered and exceedingly7 irritable. Suffered greatly from insomnia, sleeping only7 two or three hours in the twenty7-four. Naturally7 superstitious, that condition was intensified by the disease. He believed that it was sent upon him as a punishment for his many misdeeds. As they were mainly7 deeds of dissipation, probably this was indirectly7 true. The man was treated HYPNOTISM. 155 with the usual remedies, iodide of potash, and mercury7, but he did not improve. The process was specific, and gradually7 developed. Comatose attacks, together with general convulsions, came on. The pain grew steadily worse between the comatose attacks. After all other remedies had failed, lrypnotism was tried as a last resort. The effect was start- ling in the extreme. At the first sitting he passed into the state of deep hypnosis in thirty seconds. He slept quietly for six hours after he was hypnotized, the hypnotic condition passing into natural sleep. The man lived for three months, and the last half of the period was insane because of the increase in the size of the brain-tumor. Up to the time that he lost his mind completely, he was kept free from pain by7 hy7pnotism, it being used three or four times a day. A case of so-called irritable or traumatic spine, will next be mentioned. This man was injured in the celebrate! Revere Railway ac- cident. I do not know to what extent. His nervous equilibrium was badly7 disturbed. He suffered from insomnia. His spine was very7 tender to the touch. He walked with difficulty, his gait being somewhat ataxic. He com- plained of various morbid sensations through- out the body7. His hands were icy cold even on the hottest day. There were zones both on 156 HYPNOTISM. the body and extremities which were insensible to pain, temperature and touch. The deep tendon and superficial reflexes were all exaggerated. The power of prolonged con- centration was lost. Business cares caused him so much headache and mental confusion that he was obliged to abandon his work. I was consulted and my opinion asked as to the advisability7 of his having massage, which had already been tried upon him by another operator. Having read of the success of hypnotism in such cases, I suggested to him that he let me try it. He was hypnotized in ten minutes. Suggestions were made to him while in that condition that his spine would no longer be sore. He was told that he could walk well. At the same time I told him that I would give him a piece of metal that was magnetized, and that every time he felt the symptom of disease during the day7, he would receive a strong elec- tric shock from the metal. I took an aluminium pocket-piece from my pocket, which was sent to me as an advertise- ment for some firm, and punching some holes through it with my knife, bound it on the side of his shirt next his skin. I suggested that when he was awakened from the hypnotic state, he would go immediately7 downstairs and get me a glass of water, and would not use his HYPNOTISM. 157 crutches. He had not taken a step without them for five years. I then commanded him to wake up. He did so. Began to move around restlessly7, complained of the heat and said, "' Would y7ou like a glass of water ?" Receiving an affirmative answer he arose, went downstairs without the crutches, to the amaze- ment of his family, walking perfectly well. He brought the water up, complained of headache and drowsiness, and I again hypnotized him, and told him that these symptoms would pass off and that he would feel jolly7. Again he was awakened and his whole manner changed. He was lively and walked around the room with ease. He slept five hours that night, and in one week resumed his business and has been perfectly well ever since. Had not similar cases, perhaps even more difficult ones, been reported by other hypnotists, I should hardly expect credence for this one. Call it imagination if you will. Say that faith did the work, I care not to what it is due. A man who had been a burden to himself and family since the accident was restored to the condition of health. Let me say that elec- tricity, massage, and the Weir-Mitchell rest cure, and other means, including Christian Science, had all been tried in vain. A number of cases of so-called nervous cough, have yielded, under my observation, to hypno- 158 HYPNOTISM. tism. Many forms of functional dyspepsia have also been cured by me in this way7. The pain in chronic articular rheumatism has in some cases under my care been benefited by7 hypno- tism. In other cases this agent has failed. In some of these massage and electricity after- wards succeeded. Dysmenorrhcea (painful menstruation) will, when of nervous origin, yield more readily to this than to any7 other mode of treatment known to me. The lightning pain of locomotor ataxia, says Dr. Bernheim, will often yield readily to it. A case under my care suffered excruciatingly. In this case all of the typical sy7mptoms were present, namely7 anaesthesia, abolition of ten- don reflexes, the Argyle Robertson pupil, and rectal and vesical incontinence. The anthrop- athies frequently seen in this terrible disease also added their misery to the patient's burdens. Hypnotism relieved the pains at the second trial. The other symiptoms were not improved. Hyp- notism has failed in my hands in two cases of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. I have tried it in eight cases of myelitis. It did no good. Neither did it benefit two cases of anterior poli- omyelitis under my7 care. One patient, suffer- ing with progressive muscular atrophy7, whom I had the opportunity7 of observing, was hypno- tized by a professional friend. I subsequently HYPNOTISM. 159 hypnotized him, neither of us doing him any good. Severe vomiting accompanying pregnancy has been relieved in three cases by me, and tried with failure in one case in which drugs sub- sequently succeeded. Another case of the same trouble in which vomiting was excessive, no food being retained for several days, was cured at the first sitting by a friend who practised upon the patient so-called Christian Science. The result being due no doubt to suggestion as in my cases. One of the most effectual evidences of the power of hypnotism ever noted by me occurred in my practice some y7ears since. A man who suffered with severe trigeminal neuralgia, had tried many systems of cure. A physician rec- ommended him to try massage, and suggested that he call on me to administer it. I did so and gave him about thirty treatments. The massage did him no good. I suggested to his physician that the well-known operation of re- section of tae trigeminal nerve should be per- formed for his relief. This was done. As often happens the nerve grew together again ill a few months, and the man's sufferings were terrible in the extreme. I stayed with him all one night, and when the pain would set in, so great was his agony that he got up out of bed and seized a chair firmly by the back, and by press- 160 HYPNOTISM. ure of his fingers upon the edge, cut them to the bone. I dressed his fingers and held him down afterwards by main force during the paroxysms. The man was a chronic morphine-eater. At the request of his physician I gave him six hypodermics of morphine during the night, each dose consisting of a half-grain. It made him delirious but did not relieve him. It did not occur to me to hypnotize him. He read of a professional hypnotist in this city who was not a physician. He consulted him and was hypnotized at the first sitting. The night fol- lowing he had no pain. It returned after the following night, and I was summoned, and at his request hypnotized him. He slept peace- fully for seven hours. The neuralgia recurred in ten day7s (he had been playing a wind in- strument, as he was a musician by profession). Again he was hypnotized and the affection has not up to the present time, a period of four years, recurred. I have succeeded by hypnotism since, in re- lieving many cases of neuralgia, but none of them were so severe as the case reported. Sim- ilar observations are recorded by all of the prom- inent European writers upon hypnotism, and it is indeed singularly sad that such records are not heeded by every7 practitioner of medicine throughout this land. Hypnotism can be HYPNOTISM. 161 learned by all of them in a comparatively short space of time. It is infinitely more safe than the constantly increasing doses of morphine which are so frequently used for this sad afflic- tion. The severe pain in one case of gout was like- wise relieved by hypnotism, so I am told by a reliable acquaintance. 15 162 HYPNOTISM CHAPTER XIII. NEURASTHENIA. What a world of symptoms this simple word covers ! Many7 and varied are its clinical man- ifestations. Alas, how common it is among the American people with their overworked nervous systems ! The term also covers a vast deal of medical ignorance. The disease has been the means of enriching the vendors of patent medicines, the keepers of resorts at mineral springs, and has afforded a good income for a large major- ity of the practising plrysicians of the world. Its refractory7 qualities have baffled the skill of many a practitioner. It is the mother of more medical fads than is any7 other disease. Vol- umes have been written upon it, sanitariums without number have been constructed for its cure. What is it ( Nervous exhaustion, brain fag. Insomnia is its handmaiden, digestive disturbance its constant companion. Head- ache, backache, constipation, diarrhoea, uterine affections, aye, every pai't of the body finds a HYPNOTISM. 163 lodging-place for some of its symptoms. It affects the mind as well as the body. It pro- duces irritability of temper, inattention and morbid fancies of all kinds. It impoverishes the blood, it affects the eyes, and perverts all the other senses. Each individual case does not usually present all of the array of symptoms mentioned, but they are blended together in every puzzling combination conceivable. It both obscures and simulates most, if not all, of the other diseases of the body. It is blamed for the existence of many of them. When long continued it per- verts the whole temperament of the individual. It causes one to be preoccupied in one's self. Hence selfishness is a very common symptom. So absorbed are these patients in their own misery that they forget their duties to their friends and to society7 at large. I shall now endeavor to report a few cases, and hope by so doing to make some of its clinical types clear. The first patient was a lady, thirty-six years of age. She was married and the mother of one child. She was above medium height, fairly well nourished, had a rather dark complexion and brown hair and eyres. She had been abroad a great deal, and had consulted for her various ailments a number of eminent practitioners and specialists. She 164 HYPNOTISM. talked volubly, was fairly well educated and appeared well. I was called to her in the even- ing and found her so much depressed that I feared melancholia. She complained of tinnitus aurium (ringing in the ears). She had pain in the upper part of the back of the neck and the head (cervico-occipital neuralgia). She com- plained of pain in the lumbo-sacral region (the lower part of the back). She did not sleep well, for which she had taken at different times the following list of drugs, all of which she said "disagreed" with her, which is not surprising. First, bromide of soda and chloral, mor- phine in combination with atropine, phenacetine with and without bromides, antipyrine, chloro- dyne, whisky, brandy, cannabis Indica, sul- phonal, several of the valerianates, a number of the homeopathic potences of caffia. She had tried massage and warm baths, all for in- somnia, in a period of four years. For her other s\7mptoms she had attended most of the mineral springs of Europe. Was treated with the water-cure by a pupil of Dr. Winternitz in Vienna. She had been douched with cold water and with warm water. She had tried the Scotch douche. She had tried shower-baths. She had tried electricity with and without baths. She had had glasses prescribed by no less than six eminent oculists. Injustice to these gentlemen let me say, however, that HYPNOTISM. 165 their prescriptions were all practically alike. She had consulted a number of specialists, and was treated by7 them for uterine and ovarian difficulties. She had tried lavage (washing out of the stomach). She had taken no less than eighteen of the salts of iron, in combination with phosphorus, quinine, cinchonidine, and cinchona. The salts of zinc had also tried their hand upon her. Specialists of the throat and nose had done their best for her. As she had had an occasional attack of hives (urticaria) the dermatologists had also done what they could for her. Her friends prayed for her, and she prayed for herself. All in vain. The Chris- tian Scientists argued with her that her disease did not exist, which was partly true. Magnetic physicians laid their hands upon her, but, alas ! with no success. In fact, strange as it may7 seem, this lady had tried all of the methods related, and while bene- fited for a time by each, was cured by none. Now, readers, must I relate it ? She was hypnotized once, twice, thrice, and the number steadily7 increased until the limit of seventy-five was reached. She got better after each one of them, but, shame to all of the healing methods, she did not get well. I sug- gested everything that my7 brain could invent. I had her take every sort of mental exercise, of diversion and amusement she had long since 166 HYPNOTISM. had enough. She studied painting and music to no avail. This sweet, complacent, refined, professional, expert invalid set at naught reg- ular medicine, religion, occultism, in fact, all of the methods for the cure of the ills of man, and the last I heard of her she was in Cali- fornia, trying the grape cure, but was receiving no benefit. This description is not overdrawn, and I have no doubt it is almost the daily experience of every7 physician who is thrown in contact with so-called nervous invalids. This form of dis- ease is chiefly found among the wealthy7. Its causes are, first, the want of a purpose in life, and a lack of mental capacity7, inordinate vanity7, and, above all, profound narrow selfish- ness. From studying women of all classes in very large numbers, I am led to believe that a majority7, perhaps a large majority7, of them, suffer more or less every day. Some of them, I am thankful to say7 many, by the exercise of their wills, and by devotion to their homes and to society are able in a measure to forget their suffering's. Many7 times what they7 do not for- get they nobly7 bear. The second of these cases will illustrate an- other form of neurasthenia, and it seems to me ridiculous to call the two widely7-different con- ditions by the same name. Case 2. A lawyer, fifty-five yrears of age. HYPNOTISM. 167 Family history good. He did not use alcohol and had no other vice. He was a railroad at- torney7, and transacted business for a large num- ber of wealthy corporations. He was kindly and gentle. He possessed a splendid physique. For eight or ten years he worked from eight o'clock in the morning to twelve at night. The year before I was consulted his family com- plained that he was growing irritable. This increased, and he redoubled his work. He be- came so excitable that he was insolent and un- bearable to his clerks and business associates. Things that would not have ordinarily annoyed him produced in him a violent fit of anger. His food began to distress him, and he greatly7 restricted his diet. Finally, owing to severe headaches, he consulted a celebrated New York physician. His medical adviser gave him medi- cine, and told him that unless he desisted from his work he would break down entirely. He took the medicine but did not desist from work. Insomnia came on, and the depression and nervous irritability steadily increased. Finally he made one or two blunders in business, from lack of concentration, and then went abroad for his health. Although he could reason clearly he was so nervous and irritable that his family found it necessary to confide him to the care of nurses. He committed assaults on several of them at different times. Then afterwards, 168 HYPNOTISM. weeping like a child, told them that it was his nervous state, and that he had no intention of acting in that way. Consulting a physician in this city he was sent to me for massage, rest, and forced feeding. Rooms were secured in a private house, and the treatment begun. The following incident illustrates the very sad con- dition of his nerves. His attendant was called away one evening and I happened in in his absence. There in his room, sitting in a chair, I found this wreck of a man, ciying bitterly, and looking between whiles at two objects which he held in his hands. Strange as it may seem, these were simply two night-shirts, and this once in- tellectual, strong man, was actually weeping because he could not decide which of the night- shirts to put on. I remonstrated with him gently, and he immediately became enraged and ran around the room like a madman. I took him kindly but firmly by the shoulders and sat him down on a chair and commanded him to put on a night-shirt, and handed him one. He reluctantly obeyed. I then led him to the bed as I would a spoiled child. Then it occurred to me to hypnotize him. I took a bright coin from my pocket and went through the usual process. In five minutes he was hyp- notized. I induced the so-called somnambulic state, and made suggestions pertinent to his HYPNOTISM. 169 condition, telling him that he would sleep, that his massage would rest him, and that his irri- tability of temper would leave him. The next day found him much better. He was hyp- notized twice a day for fourteen days. Hyp- notism relieved the irritability and in a measure restored the power of consecutive thought. Massage, rest, and a large amount of food again renewed his physical vigor. After ten weeks of this treatment he was sent to the mountains for a month, then to the seaside for a month, and then gradually he returned to his business cares. The description given by Stevenson of Dr. Jeky7l and Mr. Hyde does not begin to compare in force with the difference between this patient ill and the same patient well. Intellectual, noble, hospitable, kindly, and calm of demeanor when well, this same man, when suffering from nervous exhaustion, was ill-tempered, perverse, brutal, coarse, and selfish to such a degree that it would be impossible for any but a medical man who is conversant with this condition, to believe. I have cited two extreme cases. There are all gradations of them, and hypnotism, or sug- gestion without hypnotism, will benefit most of the symptoms ; and if rest, hygiene, suitable occupation, and diet are used at the same time, if there is any power of recuperation left in 170 HYPNOTISM. such a patient they may again restore him to health. Of course, in many cases there are underlying organic diseases which may require medical or surgical treatment for their relief ; but from a large experience I am convinced that minor diseases are regarded erroneously as the causes of this interestingly7 complex state, when they only7 play7 a subordinate part in the con- dition, and sometimes are not responsible for it at all. It is curious, however, that neurasthenia may sometimes be relieved or cured by a slight surgical operation, or by7 some insignificant remedial agency. " Suggestion did it," most physicians will say7; then, bless suggestion, say I, or anything else that will relieve this class of patients. There are many sy7mptoms of brain-exhaus- tion. Many more of the absence of cerebral balance. I do not design this for a text-book upon med- icine, but merely to show the application of hypnotism to disease. Many7 forms of depression are curable by suggestion. I do not know that they can be classified and differentiated from those forms of depression which cannot be cured by hypnotism. I think more depends upon the temperament of the person who is being treated. There is an innate susceptibility to hy7pnosis. Some people are much more easily hypnotized, HYPNOTISM. 171 some can be benefited, and some cannot. Why this is true I cannot say, and in a considerable search of the literature I have failed to find a rational explanation of it. To say that one man is susceptible and one man is not so, is simply7 to state a fact. The constitution of the human mind, its infinitely variable qualities, can never be understood until its essential essence is discovered. We know that consciousness cannot manifest itself with- out a nervous system. We know also that the higher the type of the cerebral developments, the greater the intellectual capacity7. Within certain limits it has been fairly7 well established that certain parts of the brain preside over, or, better, are associated with, certain sensory and motor manifestations. Microscopical anatomy7 teaches that the mor- phological elements of the gray matter of the brain are carried in the central part of the nerves to all parts of the body7. There are dis- tributed throughout the body many collections of this gray7 matter. Martin, in his book en- titled, "The Human Body," compares these small masses (ganglia) to telegraphic stations which carry and perhaps elaborate the informa- tion which is received at the periphery through the senses to the telegraphic central station— the brain. We know that the substances of which the 172 HYPNOTISM. nervous system is composed are very complex. We do not know the chemical changes which take place in it as the result of its activity. All that we know about the so-called patholog- ical anatomy of the nervous system has been discovered by studying specimens of nerves and brain taken from the dead body, or by studying those which have been removed from the living body7 during an operation, the specimens them- selves in either case being dead. The electrical experiments conducted by physiologists upon the nerves and muscles taken from frogs and other animals are familiar to all. They give us no information as to what the essence of the mind is. All we really know of the mind is by its manifestations, and these pass through the nervous system and the sensory and motor apparatus to the external world. Neither phyrsiologyr, chemistry nor pathology has as yet given us any information as to what the ulterior causes of thought are due. Hence it follows, in the light of our present knowledge, that we cannot formulate any theory of mental'and nervous exhaustion which will not be largely the result of speculation. Having hypnotized persons afflicted with all grades of neurasthenia, and having succeeded in some cases and failed in others in giving relief, the only thing that is left for me to do is simply to indicate the patients who HYPNOTISM. 173 were helped, and indicate and describe those who were not. In what I am about to say7 I do not wish to be understood, especially by physicians, as mak- ing dogmatic assertions, but shall give in the clearest possible manner my views, which have been formed as a result of my personal experi- ence, plus what I have read of the works of others. I do not quote extensively here, as space will not permit. The cases of neurasthenia in which hypno- tism has, in my hands, given the best results, were those in which nervous exhaustion had been induced as a result of over-study or of some other severe strain of the nervous system. Neurasthenia following the abuse of tobacco and alcohol will yield quickly7. Hypnotism is more successful in that class of neurasthenics. who, after their cure has been effected, have a purpose in life. In chronic neurasthenia its success will be in the direct ratio to the ability of the hypnotist to cure by suggestion, not only the habits of living, but the modes of thought of the subject. It is sometimes ex- ceedingly difficult, nay, impossible, to do this, in persons who are indolent and who possess no mental resources which enable them to provide suitable occupation and amusement for them- selves. Hypnotism may develop, but it cannot make 174 HYPNOTISM. an intellect which never existed. In applying it to neurasthenia I study7 the voice of the patient carefully7. I believe it to be the best index which we possess, of the moral character and mental condition, if it is only understood correctly. Narrow, sordid men and women have voices which, while widely7 different in musical pitch, have certain qualities in common. Depressed, gloomy7 people always show it by7 the voice. One can tell an illiterate man from the tones of his voice, even if he is speaking a language which is unknown. This subject has never received sufficient study. Having paid particular attention to it, I have -watched care- fully7 and without prejudice for the purpose of contradicting or verifying my first impression, particularly7 of so-called neurasthenics. * While the disease is not confined to any7 one class of people, its symptoms are so different in persons of different temperaments as to be scarcely7 recognizable. Any sy7stem of therapeutics which is to relieve or wholly7 cure this condi- tion must take into account, first, the tempera- ment, the mental habits, and kind of education, all bodily7 states, and last, but not least, the external environments of the patient. Every7 faculty7 must be acted upon. Self-control is the pre-requisite. Self-confidence the second. *The Voice as an Index to the Soul. J. R. Cocke, M. D. Arena, Jan., 1894. HYPNOTISM. 175 The greatest possible amount of diversion com- patible with the intellectual capacity of the patient should be prescribed. The past history too, should be learned and taken into account. Not only the bodily7 history, but all defeated ambitions, all unrealized hopes, aye, every dis- appointment, every joy should be known and understood, and, strange as it may7 seem, the affections should be clearly7 comprehended, for there are many who go through life and who never feel or experience deep, true love. These, indeed, are difficult cases to cure. For, caring for nothing else in the world, they are selfishly preoccupied and study assiduously each ailment, real or imaginary7. When men or women are blase they7 are equally difficult to treat successfully. I know a patient who is wealthy, who has everything in the world to live for, social posi- tion, kind friends—everything. He has the opportunity7 to do good and to be of use in every way. He gives his money freely, but he cannot give his better self, because it does not exist. It is impossible to entertain him with anything. Books for him have no charm, the theatre no fascination. Music and poetry do not reach him. The ambition to be successful in business is not his, and all in the world that he cares for, all that he cuddles and tends, are his own feelings and complaints. He cannot 176 HYPNOTISM. be reached even through the passions. Food and drink have for him no temptations. He lives in the world, bored by the things which should interest him and make his life worth living. He has tasted of everything. He has drank of all the good things of life. He has travelled, and y7et the world has made practi- cally no impression upon him. Loving friends have nurtured and cared for him, and he gives back only cold expressions of love for their pains. He does what he conceives to be his duty, and, in the ordinary7 sense of the word, he does it well. He provides for the poor, he at- tends church, he is connected with a great many benevolent enterprises, but love, the one thing that makes life worth living, he has never felt. Hypnotism naturally could not re- lieve the imaginary7 or real ailments with which such a man must necessarily7 be afflicted. This is not an exaggeration, and, while his case is somewhat extreme, there are, I am sorry to say7, thousands of men and women like him in the world. Perhaps the condition is not as profound in them, but it exists in such a degree as to spoil their own lives and the lives of those around them. To what ex- tent this class of individuals could acquire that which they lack, if they7 were trained in early childhood, I do not know. But the experiment of training children who show these tenden- ■ HYPNOTISM. 177 cies should be tried, by reaching what is left of their moral natures through every means possible, and hypnotism may7 prove one of the most valuable of them. Hysteria. The complexus of morbid phenomena desig- nated by this misnomer, would require volumes to adequately7 describe. The state exists in the intellectual and in the ignorant alike. Its vic- tims have play7ed a large part in the world's his- tory7. It occurs in all gradations and varieties. It may be, and frequently is, hereditary. Some- times in different generations it alternates with epilepsy, insanity7, alcohol, and consumption. The only7 thing in common between the widely different conditions termed hysteria, is the fact that in these cases, after death, we have no means of discovering definite organic disease of the nervous sy7stem. For the sake of the lay reader only a brief description of hysteria will be given, and for further information, I shall refer those who wish it to medical works upon the diseases of the nervous system, particularly those of Charcot and his pupils. Most of the works in the English language upon diseases of the nervous system also describe it, and there are some excellent mono- graphs upon it as well. 178 HYPNOTISM. Clinical History of Hysteria. Minor degrees of this condition are evinced by an instability of the emotional sy7stem. It occurs more frequently in women than in men. The attack of laughing and crying which may come upon them as the result of mental excitement, grief, etc., is well known to all. It is probably not so well understood by the public that, in the graver forms of this disease, persons may be temporarily paralysed in one limb, or in one side of the body, in the upper or lower extremities, or in all at the same time. There are attacks of blindness, deafness, perversion of the senses of taste and smell, or, again, all of these senses may be won- derfully acute. Sometimes, but not alwayrs, there exists intense vanity7, a great desire for notoriety, and this desire may lead the patient to simulate many organic diseases, or to pre- tend in various ways that he is afflicted with conditions which are only imaginary. Hence, to say that a patient is hysterical may imply- perhaps more than would be desired. The profoundly hysterical persons sometimes have what Charcot terms hy7stero-epileptic fits. These persons also take very strong likes and dislikes without reason. Again, r^hey are very7 intuitive. There is not an organ or a system of the body exempt from these symptoms. HYPNOTISM. 179 There may be areas of numbness (anaesthesia), or hyperaesthesia (great sensitiveness) may be present. There may be zones of the body so sensitive that they cannot bear even the weight of the slightest clothing. The skin may become pale or the reverse. Bloody sweats have been described ; in fact, it would be impossible to imagine a symptom which does not exist in some of these cases. Hence it follows that a layman should never make a diagnosis of hysteria in himself or in any one else, for, indeed, it will puzzle at times the skill of the most expert neurologists. The point which should be understood clearly by all is this, that the disease is susceptible of relief through widely different agencies. Cases of hysterical paralysis may yield to the application of magnets, metals, prayer, drugs, electricity, aye, anything in which the patient can be made to believe. Again, these same patients may prove refractory for years, and be cured by some trifling circumstance, or never cured. Many of the miracles and wonders worked by charlatans are upon this class of patients. I have no objection to the patient being cured, no matter how it is done, if the cure is not more injurious than the disease. The thing which is objectionable is that this is sometimes not the case. 180 HYPNOTISM. Mrs. A. is cured of an hysterical affection by J.'s magnetized medicine, or other means. Mrs. B. may be afflicted with some disease which, if not properly treated, will end fatally7. Now Mrs. B., led by the marvellous expe- rience of Mrs. A., may lose precious time while experimenting with the remedy which was given Mrs. A. by J. This has more than once occurred in my experience. Notably, a lady suffering with uterine can- cer, but ignorant of the nature of the disease, instead of consulting a physician, was led to try a patent medicine because it had cured one of her friends of hysterical vomiting. Now cancer in this region, if it is recognized early enough, may be so thoroughly removed that a useful life may be prolonged for a number of yrears. In the case related the lady continued to take the medicine for four months, consuming in that time about thirty-six bottles of it. When a correct diagnosis was made, alas, the rapidly growing cancer had invaded the tissues to such * an extent that medicine and surgery7 could do little or nothing for her. It is this fear which should send every man and woman to a reliable physician, at least for a diagnosis. The question of treatment can be then decided. I do not claim that all of the cures which have been made by irregular practitioners were upon those who were simply hysterical. I do not believe that HYPNOTISM. 181 is the case. I am too well aware of the falli- bility7 of even the best physician, and while con- fessing that our methods are as yet imperfect, I still maintain that it is better to consult a man with experience and training, than one who is without these. I think that it is better that a man should see his physician a thousand times when it is not necessary, than to fail to see him once when he is in need of his assist- ance. Persons afflicted with any form of hysteria are entitled to the utmost consideration. In these cases, particularly, the physician should use the greatest amount of care, for he may overlook some existing organic disease. Some types of hysteria are made better and some worse by hypnotism. All are benefited if some form of suggestion, with or without hypnosis, is skilfully used. Mental therapeutics promises more in this field than in any other. Whenever the imagi- nation is strong, when the patient shows fanat- ical tendencies ; whenever the disposition is es- sentially7 contradictory, as is often the case; whenever the patient pretends a great many7 conditions that do not exist, and when, accom- panying all these, the intellect is enfeebled, hypnotism should be used with the greatest care, if at all, and only when other methods fail. 182 HYPNOTISM. On the contrary7, when there is anaesthesia (numbness), or when one faculty is alone af- fected by the hysterical sy7mptoms, and when thr mental equipoise of the patient is fairly good, hypnotism promises a great deal, as the follow ing case will show. A girl, sixteen years of age, attended a clinic, at which I was a post-graduate student. Her arm was paralysed and had been so for three years. The sense of touch, temperature, and pain were gone. The nutrition, however, was good, and the electrical reactions normal. The arm hung limp by7 her side. The physician in charge of the clinic hypnotized her. He then commanded her to raise her paralysed arm. She did so, to the astonishment of her mother, who was present, and to the amazement of the students as well. The physician told her that she would be able to use her arm for one week, and that at the end of that time she must return to the clinic. At the appointed time she came back, and the arm became paralvzed only7 as she entered the room, so she said. Again she was hyrpnotized, and was told that she would use her arm for a period of two weeks, and the in- terval of each hvpnosis was lengthened. This patient presented not the highly7-wrought emotional disposition, but simply7 an hysterical paralysis. This symptom, like all other symp- toms of hysteria, cannot be accounted for upon HYPNOTISM. 183 any hypotheses at present current. It is not purely imaginary7 in the ordinary7 sense of the word, but it certainly is connected with the mind in some way7. Medical literature is filled with such cases, and so-called miraculous cures of similar con- ditions abound on every7 hand. Here, too, the temperament is equally important and the sug- gestion must be tactfully7 suited to each patient. Apropos of the subject under discussion, I quote the following from a clinical lecture de- livered by Dr. M. Allen Starr, at the College of Phy7sicians and Surgeons in New York, pub- lished in the "International Clinics," in Janu- ary, 1892. The patient was a girl, nineteen years of age, who had suffered from what Dr. Starr termed a subconscious pain in the right arm and shoul- der. It had existed five years. Dr. Starr says he excluded organic disease and hypnotized her by means of a bright coin, and while she was hypnotized, suggested to her that her pain was growing less, and lengthened the period between each hypnotic treatment. The patient was entirely relieved by hypnotism. The following are Dr. Starr's words, verbatim, from the lecture. "You see, then, gentlemen, that in a con- dition of this kind it is possible to make sug- gestions that reach our subconscious states and 184 HYPNOTISM. last over into the conscious state, and such sug- gestion is not harmful in any way, and often has the effect of relieving conditions that have baf- fled medicine and all other forms of treatment. This condition of delusive pain sometimes may7 not be as firmly7 fixed as in this person. It may be subconscious, but not so constantly and acutely there as to affect the individual very much. Under these circumstances it may7 be possible, without putting the person into the hypnotic condition, to suggest relief, and through your personal influence gain a hold upon the individual to persuade him to get well." It will be noted that Dr. Starr calls this per- son's suffering " subconscious." It seems to me that the terms " sub " and " conscious " are con- tradictory7, "sub" denoting "under" or "be- low," and "consciousness," our recognition of our state and its surroundings. One cannot feel and know that of which they are not conscious. They may not place it in its proper position in consciousness. The theory is that such pain exists primarily, not in the arm, but in that portion of the brain which presides over sen- sation in the arm. This is, in fact, the theory which is generally accepted as explaining the varied phenomena of hy7steria. If a part of the body is numb, the trouble is not at all in that part of the body, but in the brain, and HYPNOTISM. 185 whatever sensory symptoms may exist they are morbid states, not necessarily of the part to which the brain is referred, but of the portion of the brain presiding over the locality. This theory looks plausible, but lacks absolute proof. The next statement I wish particularly to be noted. In an attack of major hysteria tliere are sen- sory and motor disturbances, general or local. Now, in a person who is hypnotized, these same phenomena can be produced exactly, and are apparently from the same source, the mind. They vanish with the hypnotic state, but may be left by suggestion in the mind of the patient after the hypnotic state has gone. Can we then, by suggestion, write almost anything we choose upon' the mind as upon a tablet with an indelible ink ? Does this state, termed hyp- nosis, so change the condition of the psychic life as to make it susceptible to such profound alteration % It certainly seems in many cases to be so. In trysteria, suggestion will frequently, as has been said, cause either a disappearance of, or a change in, the nature of the disturbances. This is the principle which is important for the reader to grasp. Just as disease of the body may affect the mind, so disease of the mind may produce, in the conscious life of the individual, sufferings which are just as tangible and real 186 HYPNOTISM. to him as the evidences of his senses, and yet have no basis or fact in discoverable organic disease of the bo^7. The man's consciousness may refuse to admit that he can move his legs when the nervo-muscular and osseous systems are in perfect order. Such a state is at first difficult to conceive. Tell the athlete as he vaults over a bar, or runs upon a race-track, that he cannot walk and he will laugh at you, and yet I have seen such an athlete who was paralyzed for one year, restored to health in a few minutes, by simple suggestion and ridi- cule. A friend laughed at him, and told him that he could walk if he only would. He tried it and he did. We do not know enough about the various states of consciousness to explain why this is true, but if those who do not know the fact wish to learn it, they will not have to seek the evidence at a great distance. I do not attempt to formulate any theory, but shall cite the following very simple propositions in proof of the fact, and trust that they will at the same time make its conception easier. First, then, the mind has sub j ectively the power of repeating in a real and vivid manner all of the phenomena of objective life. One will dream of eating and will relish food, or it will be loathsome to him. In dreams we hold imaginary conversations. In a dream which I HYPNOTISM. 187 remember well I had a discussion with a phan- tom being. His replies to my statements were sarcastic and intelligent. The style of language used, as I remember it was not my own. Now, if while sleeping one's mind can create from the store-house of associations a being who is friendly- or antagonistic, who will share in his pleasures, or participate in or add to his miseries, is it at all strange that disease, aye, real, keen, local or general pain can exist in the consciousness and have no local gross anatomical basis \ Some substance in the blood acting upon the portion of the brain which perceives sound, may cause subjective noises in the head. The same or another substance may act upon the centre of sight, and a variety of strange things may be seen. Every sense, indeed, every thought, is undoubtedly influenced by the nature and chemical and mechanical composition of the substance brought to its nervous mechanism by the blood, or such a substance may be generated within its nervous mechanism, as a result of its activity, and not be properly eliminated. It is easily proven that poisonous substances produce new, and alter the usual, forms of thought. There are a number of drugs which induce delirium. This delirium differs with the different drugs used. The same is true of 188 HYPNOTISM. the state termed "narcotism." Narcotism in- duced by opium and that induced by chloral hydrate, while resembling each other in certain particulars, vary much in others. In hysteria we have a certain condition of the brain and nerve cells which may have resulted from some form of the many circumstances affecting embryonic life. This condition may be a chemical one, or a morphological one. Given a certain impetus by environment, and the result of the activity7 to such a nervous mechanism is inharmonious, in just so far as its constitution differs from the ordinary types. Dr. Wesley Mills, in his."Animal Physiology-," emphasizes the fact that even low forms of life are influenced to a very great degree by the law of habit, and also he shows that rhythm is another characteristic of animal life. Again, the degenerate nervous system which has formed certain habits will continue to do these things rhythmically even after the cause has been removed, until something occurs to inter- rupt the regular phenomena -which it evokes. Hysteria occurs in crises of paroxysms. Each successive paroxysm leaves its impress and predisposes the nervous system to another paroxysm, or at least lowers its resistance so that it will be easily disturbed. Hypnotism, by impressing profoundly the psychic life, may interrupt these habits, or may alter, very HYPNOTISM. 189 profoundly, the chemistry, and possibly to a limited extent the morphology (form), of all or a part of the central nervous system. Use or disuse of any faculty7, as is well known, im- proves or injures it. It is equally well known that under strong stimulation the mind can perform feats which without it would be impossible. Hy7pnotism certainly7 impresses the whole psychic life to a very great extent, hence its work may be good or evil, according to the way in which it is used. The more susceptible the patient, the more injurious or beneficial will be the hyp- notism, according to the method of appli- cation, and other circumstances. It is not necessary, then, to explain the action of hyp- notism by any other than known phenomena. Whether there be vital fluid and animal mag- netism yet remains to be determined, but we do know, and in a measure can under- stand and study7, the facts which are pre- sented by the action of the mind, whatever its ultimate essence may be. It is by studying these facts and by classifying them that we may form some conception of the laws of psychic life, health and development. Most men and women possess in widely different de- grees all of the same mental faculties. Some of them may be rudimentary in certain individ- uals. 190 HYPNOTISM. When a normal man is in his ordinary wak- ing state there is a happy balance between all of the faculties. If he is frightened, this happy7 balance is disturbed. If he is intoxicated, it is likewise disturbed. Everything which acts violently upon the consciousness will cause one faculty of the mind to act in excess of the others. The same thing occurs in grave hysteria. The same thing occurs in hypnosis. The proposition is, then, that the balance of every mind can be destroyed by means of one kind or another, and when it is, phenomena occur indicative of the derangement. I believe every one could be made to show certain phenomena indicative of hy7steria. Consequently it appears that hysteria in some of its forms may be developed in every one by a disturbing influence which renders the co- ordinate action of the mind in all of its parts inharmonious. Let me illustrate. Severe fright can make a man insensible to pain. A man, when frightened, may sustain an injury, and be at the time unconscious of it. A man of my acquaintance, who was in a rail- way accident, had his left leg badly crushed. After twenty minutes he succeeded in extricat- ing himself from the wreck, and first perceived his injury when he attempted to use the crushed limb. In other words, fright rendered him, by disturbing the balance of his conscious- HYPNOTISM. 191 ness, insensible at the time to pain. Great joy- may produce the same result. Great mental sorrows will sometimes have the same effect. Many states of the mind can be carried to such a degree as to render all other sensations and conditions temporarily7 impossible. It seems to me that in this statement the phenomena common to hypnotism find an ex- planation ; but my7 critics would say, " Not an absolute explanation." Such an absolute explanation cannot be given to any7 of the phenomena of life. We do not know why7 oxygen causes a combustion of the tissues. We know that it has a certain chem- ical affinity for them, and that is all we know about it. We have only7 the facts and cannot explain them by any7 methods of investigation which we now possess. Chemistry7, histology, phyrsiology, pathology7 and anatomy are only classifications of ultimate facts. Why bella- donna induces delirium, and cold water does not, we do not know. Physiologists will say, "Ah, but it induces it by7 its action, which causes a state of hyperaemia (congestion) of the brain. It acts upon the centres controlling the blood vessels, and upon the centres controlling respi- ration." Why7 it does so, we do not know. Why one state will occupy the whole consciousness to the exclusion of all the rest, we do not know, but we know that it does. Why- a certain method 192 HYPNOTISM. of impressing the nervous system will subju- gate for a time the higher centres of thought, we do not know, but we know that it will do so, and we have discovered some of the avenues over which it travels. Again, we do not know that the psychic life can reproduce within it- self, to itself, all the experiences which it has had with the external world when the brain and nervous system are destroyed. Dr. Ireland says that the nervous system, like the osseous system, has the outline of the form of man. He might have added that in the mind there is an outline, something even better than an outline, the whole form of a man's life from the cradle to the grave. The mental arm may move, the man's eyes may see, the man may feel, when the avenues of expression through the body and to the outside world are destroyed. Now, as the whole body- is under the control of the nervous system, as each portion of the body7 has assigned to it a portion of the nervous sys- tem, this portion may7 act in harmony -with the rest, may do the work of the rest, or may act independently. Hence it seems to me that the relation be- tween the inharmonious actions of the mind during the hypnotic state and some conditions, occurring as they7 do in widely7 different states, resembling the phenomena of the hy7pnotic state. is explained, at least is made easier of com- prehension. HYPNOTISM. 198 CHAPTER XIV. TRANSFERENCE OF SENSATION BY MEANS OF A MAGNET. In 1890 M. Luy7s made public in the June and August numbers of the " Fortnightly Review" experiments which created a profound sensation. He claimed that magnets could be made to carry the sensations of the sick to well persons who were previously hypnotized. After conveying the symptoms of the patients to the hypnotized subject he then freed him from the sensations by- suggestion. M. Luys' so-called discoveries were by no means new. It was a favorite doctrine of the followers of Mesmer. The mesmerists frequently experi- enced the sensations of the one mesmerized. Hip- pocrates recognized the value of the magnet as a therapeutic agent. Medical literature has contained more or less reference to it ever since. It was filled with evidences of a belief in it dur- ing the mediaeval ages. In 1845 Reichenbach published accounts of the action of magnets upon disease. Dr. Luvs 13 \\)\. HYPNOTISM. sayrs that his method of therapeutics consists in the conveyance of the symptoms of the dis- eased subject to the hy7pnotized subject by means of a magnetized rod. The following are Dr. Luys' methods. The patient places his hands upon those of the hypnotized subject. The assistant holds for a minute or two, near the arms of the two persons, an apparatus composed of three branch- ing rods, then moves it about in various direc- tions. The magnet is moved in the direction of the different limbs, and by7 these methods Dr. Luys claims that the two persons are mag- netized. The movements are made with the north pole of the magnet only when they are opposite to the painful places upon the patient's body7. The hypnotized person not only takes, for a time, the diseased state of the patient, but his personality is changed so that if the subject hypnotized is a female, and the sick person a bearded man, she will assume the masculine manner, and if her face is touched will act as though her beard had been pulled. The subjects used are regular daily attend- ants at the laboratory. They are paid for their services. They have access to the clinical his- tories of the patients, and the probability7 is that they shrewdly guess the ailment of the patient, and in most cases assume or act the part for the purpose of deception. If the patient is suf- HYPNOTISM. 195 fering from paraly-sis, the subject acts as though he or she were paralyzed. If, however, the patient is suffering with a pulmonary or cardiac affection, the transfer is supposed to take place in these organs. I do not know that there are any7 recorded observations in which cardiac irregularity7 (irregular beating of the heart) has been transferred from the patient to the hyp- notized subject. This transfer of the symptoms does not always prove beneficial. Mr. Vincent says, "Thus, a patient suffering from 'paralysis agitans" may have his affection transferred to the subject, who will adopt the most violent palsy; but all this time the patient is suffering still." It is more probable that the ludicrous per- formances of the hypnotized (?) subjects are either the result of wilful deception or of hyp- notic suggestion. In those who are benefited by having their sensations transferred to the hypnotized subject, the benefit is probably due to either the impressions made upon them by the mimicry of the subjects or the result may- be due to simple suggestion. Dr. Luys has taught that the magnet may- affect the emotions. He thinks that because a magnet will act upon a steel needle it will also act upon the faculties of man. He thinks that the north pole of the magnet acts in the op- posite manner to the south pole. 196 HYPNOTISM. As is well known the north pole attracts the needle while the south pole repels it. Dr. Luys says, " If you present the north pole of the magnetic rod to a subject who is in a state of lethargy, you arouse in him movements of joy, and expansion of feeling, and if you connect him with the south pole, movements of repulsion appear." Experiments have been made by a number of medical men to test these assertions. When Luy-s' subjects were aware which pole was being used they evinced the phenomena expected of them, but when the poles were wrongly labelled, or not labelled at all, some very ludicrous phenomena were observed that did not coincide with the results claimed by M. Luys. His magnet was usually- labelled with a large letter N in blue ink written upon the north pole. It is claimed that hypnotized subjects will see a yellow flame issue from the north pole of the magnet, and a blue flame from the south pole. Reichenbach's subjects reversed the color of the lights seen at the two poles of the magnet. Dr. Luys claims that he can impress the characteristic physiological effects of different drugs upon the sy7stems of the hypnotized sub- jects. When these drugs are placed in sealed tubes and brought into contact with the sub- jects in the state of hypnosis, he can produce nausea with ipecac, intoxication with brandy, HYPNOTISM. 197 sleep with morphine, etc. I have witnessed many similar experiments conducted by some of the pupils of Dr. Joseph Rhodes Buchanan in Boston. They were not sufficiently success- ful to be of scientific value. Dr. Luys also claimed that he could transfer the sensations of the hypnotized subject to a glass of water, a stick, a doll, etc. After the sensation had been transferred the subject would writhe if the water were agitated, and would evince sensations if the stick or doll were touched. Mr. Vincent say7s, "Recently I gave a de- monstration of the fallacies of these experi- ments, and the following was the report. ' The subject was now introduced, and being put in- to the hy-pnotic state, the experiment was tried with complete success. Whenever the water was touched, and the subject was aware of the fact, he shuddered and writhed until the feat- ures became distorted as if with excessive pain. When, however, the water was touched, and the patient was kept in ignorance of the fact, there was no effect whatever upon him.'" Other writers agree with Mr. Vincent in his view of these experiments. However, it is better not to be too rash in forming conclusions. Such a thing may be possible. Twenty subjects may simulate, willingly or not, while the twenty-first may be genuinely affected. 198 HYPNOTISM. Dr. Frederic Peterson, of the College of Phy- sicians and Surgeons, New York, and Mr. A. E. Kennelly, chief electrician, Edison Laboratory, Orange, N. J., reported some very conclusive ex- periments in the New York " Medical Journal " of December 31, 1892. They were tried at the Edison Laboratory, for at this place their facil- ities, through the kindness of Mr. Edison, were all that could be desired. Some idea of the strength of the magnets used may be gained from the fact that heavy bolts and chisels a number of feet away from the magnets were irresistibly drawn to them, and it required, so these gentleman state, a considerable muscular exertion to remove them. The experiments were conducted with the strictest scientific accuracy. All of their results were of a nega- tive character. Their experiments were ex- ceedingly interesting, and if the reader wishes to pursue the subject further he is referred to the journal before mentioned. Phenomena similar to the ones described have been recorded in the literature of spiritu- alism in this country7. Journals abound with similar descriptions. Clairvoyants claim that they can, while in the trance state, take the symptoms of the one they- are examining. For twelve years I have studied their claims carefully. I have, times without number, heard clairvoyants describe correctly the symp- HYPNOTISM. 199 toms of persons who were sitting before them. Their descriptions of the real pathological con- ditions are often erroneous to absurdity. They will, however, locate correctly the seat of the pain. The late Mr. Bishop, who was well known as a mind-reader, could give these descriptions with wonderful accuracy. The claim has been made that this was accomplished by muscle-reading. A clairvoyant holding the hand of the patient and beginning to describe the symptoms, the tension of the patient's muscles will indicate, it is said, whether the clairvoyant is describing correctly or not the existing symptoms. There are clairvoyants, however, who read the symptoms of the patients without taking their hands or in any way coming in contact with them. This whole subject should be care- fully investigated. Most persons who have studied the phenom- ena either go determined to be, or not to be con- vinced, according to his or her preconceived opin- ion. This is of course unscientific, but, alas ! such a spirit is often not confined to the igno- rant or to the half-educated. This is one of the easiest phenomena to be investigated which has been alleged by7 spiritualism to be true. Members of this faith also believe that if they are sensitives (mediums), tbey are affected with the ailments of those with whom they are 200 HYPNOTISM. brought in contact. For a number of years spiritualists have claimed that a person may impart his or her physical condition to an arti- cle which has been worn or carried about the person, and the sensitive can take this article, describe the physical and mental character- istics of the person, and also his ailments, if they exist. I have given some study to this claim, but shall not record my results, as they are not as y7et in such shape as to be published. It 4s singular indeed, if the claim coming from so many different sources, that such phenomena are true, is wholly fallacious. It is alluded to in writings as far back as the second century, and while the present theories regarding it may be wholly untrue, a proper investigation of the subject might lead to the discovery of some principle not yret more than faintly suspected. Had the microscope never been invented the minute constructions of our own bodies and that vast world which is revealed by microscopy, while it is invisible to the naked eye, could at best have only been conjectured. Had the early crude instruments of this class met with neglect and contempt, what a vast field of knowledge would have been forever sterile ! So, no matter how seemingly unreasonable the claims may be, phenomena, especially the psy- chic phenomena, which carry with them the weight of a large amount of human testimony, HYPNOTISM. 201 should receive at least careful investigation. The discoveries of the world have not all been made by learned men and women. Their classification and explanation may re- quire your learning to properly adjust them in the niche where they belong. 202 HYPNOTISM. CHAPTER XV. THE RELATION OF SLEEP AND ITS ACCOMPANYING DREAMS TO THE PHENOMENA OF HYPNOTISM, AND THE HALLUCINATIONS IN THAT STATE. In the early part of this book I took exception to the term "'hypnotism" as denoting sleep. I said that many of the hypnotized subjects were not asleep, but, on the contrary, were very actively awake. Having myself been hypno- tized a number of times, I shall describe for the sake of comparison the sensations which oc- curred to me during the passage into the hyp- notic state, and while it lasted. I do not claim that the sensations which I experienced were those which are alway7s experienced. In fact, for reasons which I shall give later, I think they differ in some degree from those which are commonly felt. I have questioned a large number of persons who were hypnotized by myself and by others, and have found that the sensations are essen- tially different according to the narrator. Every physician who has tried to analyze the HYPNOTISM. 203 symptoms of a patient knows how difficult it often is to get from him a perfectly clear and comprehensive statement of.his exact sensa- tions. I have questioned some fifty persons who were anaesthetized by chloroform, ether, laugh- ing-gas, etc. Also I have questioned a number of persons who had been intoxicated. In none of these latter were the symptoms identical. Neither were descriptions of those upon whom anaesthetics were used identical. Some would say that chloroform simply made them feel as though they were going to sleep. Others would speak of suffocating sensations. Others would have dreams, some pleasant, some unpleasant, and so I might go on for pages with their de- scriptions. Hence it follows that if the sensa- tions differ in different persons with the same agent employed to produce these sensations, whether it be drugs or hypnotism, no uniform description of sensations could be made to apply to all. My7 own sensations during the first hy-pnosis I ever experienced were as follows. I voluntarily submitted in the spring of 1882 to a professional hypnotist. He commanded me to close my ey7es, and said that I could not open them. I tried to open them at once and did so. Again he commanded me to close my eyes. He stroked my head and face and eyelids with his fingers, 204 HYPNOTISM. Now, it is to be noted that at that time I was a firm believer in the doctrine of animal mag- netism. I felt, or imagined that I felt, a tin- gling sensation in my forehead and in my eyes, which I supposed emanated from the fingers of the operator. A sensation akin to fear came over me. The operator said to me, '' You are going to sleep, you are getting sleepy. You cannot open y7our eyes." I was conscious that my heart was beating rapidly and felt a sen- sation of terror. He continued to tell me that I was going to sleep, and could not open my eyes. He then made passes over my head, down over my hands and body, but did not touch me. He then said to me, '' You cannot open your eyes." The motor apparatus of my lids would not seemingly respond to my will, yet I was conscious that while one part of my mind wanted to open my eyes, another part did not want to, so I was in a paradoxical state. I believed that I could open my eyes and yet could not. The feeling of not wishing to open them was not based upon any desire to please the operator. I had no personal interest in him in any way, but, be it understood, I firmly be- lieved in his power to control me. He con- tinued to suggest to me that I was going to sleep, and the sensation of terror previously mentioned continued to increase. He fold me that I was asleep, and placed HYPNOTISM. 205 my hand over my head, and stated that it was rigid, and that I could not put it down. Again a part of my consciousness wanted to put it down, and another part did not. He stroked my arm and told me that it was growing numb, that it was growing insensible. He told me that I had no feeling in it. He said, "You have no feeling in it, have you ?" I said, " No," and I knew that I said " No," yet I knew that I had feeling in it, and yet believed thai* I had no feeling in it. He pricked my hand with a pin, and said, "You do not experience any sensation." Again I answered in the negative. He said, " You feel no fatigue in the arm," and continued to prick me at intervals with a pin. He made many suggestions to me and I obeyed them. The sensation of terror continued to in- crease. I was not conscious of my body at all, but was painfully conscious of the two con- tradictory elements within me. I knew that my body existed, but could not prove it to my- self. I knew that the statements made by the operator were in a measure untrue. I obeyed them voluntarily and involuntarily. This is the last remembrance that I have of that hypnotic experience. The operator commanded me to drop my arm. I knew when I did it. It seemed to me that he commanded me to wake imme- diately afterwards. Persons around me, upon whom I could rely, told me a number of things 206 HYPNOTISM. which I did after dropping my arm at the command of the hypnotist, but I had no memory of them. Now, if I acted in an unconscious condition, it is perfectly- clear that I could have no memory of what did not exist for the time, viz., my consciousness. It is well known to the medical profession that in that condition known as puerperal eclampsia (convulsions occurring at childbirth), the sufferer will be totally- ignorant of the time elapsing during the period of the convulsions. The memory7 of days and even weeks will be wholly effaced. Now, if I was unconscious during the hypnotic state mentioned, it follows that my- sense of the time which elapsed was also in abeyance, for it seemed to me that the hy-pnotist commanded me to awake as soon as I dropped my arm, although I was assured by those around me, who were my friends, that I was in this state some ten minutes after the last command of which I was conscious was given. On coming out of the hypnotic condition I was somewhat dizzy-. The sensation of terror clung to me for eight or ten hours afterwards. I was hypno- tized three times subsequently by the same man with similar results, the sensations being prac- tically the same each time. I discovered for my-self on the evening following the third hyp- notic sitting that I could place myself by an act of my- own will in a similar condition. I did HYPNOTISM. 207 not at that time know that auto-hypnosis was possible as I had never heard of it. Owing to an imperfection of sight, the hypnotist could not hypnotize me by having me look at a bright coin (after the Braid method), because I could not see it. He told me to fix my mind on the number twenty-six and hold up my hand. This I did, and passed into a state of deep hyp- nosis, experiencing in a greater degree the sensation of terror before mentioned. This was in his presence and at the third hypnotic treat- ment which I had with him, and was in the morning at ten o'clock. In my room that evening it occurred to me to try the same experiment. I did so. I kept the number twenty7-six in my mind, in a few minutes I felt the sensation of terror but in a different way. I was intensely- cold. My heart seemed to stand still. I had tinnitus aurium (ringing in the ears). My hair seemed to rise upon my scalp. I persisted in the effort, and the previously mentioned noise in my ears grew louder and louder. The roar became deafening. It crackled like a mighty fire. I was fearfully- conscious of my-self. Having read vivid ac- counts of dreams, visions, etc., it occurred to me that I would experience them. I felt in a vague way that there were beings all about me but could not hear their voices. I felt as though every7 muscle in my body was fixed and rigid. 208 HYPNOTISM. The roaring in my ears grew louder still, and I heard, above the roar, reports which sounded like artillery and musketry. Then, above the din of the noise, a musical chord. I seemed to be absorbed in this chord. I knew nothing else. The world existed for me only in the tones of this mighty chord. Then I had a sensation as though I were expanding. The sound in my ears died away, and yet I was not conscious of silence. Then all consciousness was lost. The next thing I experienced was a sensation of intense cold, and of some one roughly shaking me. Then I heard the voice of my jolly land- lord calling me by name, and asking if I were ill. I awoke with the taste of brandy in my mouth. My landlord had come into the room to read the newspaper to me, as was his custom, and found me stretched out in a reclining- chair. As he expressed it, "I was as white as a ghost and as limp as a rag," and he thought I was dead. He says it took him ten minutes to arouse me, which was probably true, as his good wife in the meantime brought a phy7sician who lived near, who naturally- had his visit in vain. I did not explain the cause of my7 indis- position. As will be seen from the description which I have given, a sensation of terror was the pre- dominating feeling when I was hypnotized, HYPNOTISM. 209 both by the operator and when the state was induced by myself upon myself. The sensations experienced by me did not resemble sleep. They did not resemble chloro- form or ether narcosis, as these have been used on me several times, and the memory of them is fresh in my mind. The sensations in the hypnotic state did not resemble the sensations produced by morphine or chloral, as I have used both of these drugs, and remember well how they affected me. Whatever may be the experiences of others, I am convinced that the result was brought about in my7 own case by the following agencies. I firmly believed that something would hap- pen when the attempt was made to hypnotize me. Secondly, I wished to be hypnotized. These, together with a vivid imagination and strained attention, brought on the states which occurred. How far I could have carried this and what the result would have been, I cannot say ; but one thing I am sure of, and I speak now for myself only, I could not have been hypnotized against my will. Neither do I believe that any one else could be unless terror or strong faith for the time paralyzed the volition. I do not believe the hypnotist had any power over me excepting the power which my sur- 14 210 HYPNOTISM. render to my own faith and my own imagina tion, plus the attention and terror, gave him. These experiments were repeated thrice dur- ing the following week, and in the third one the phenomena differed somewhat. I had several dreams in addition to the sense of terror present in the other two. I heard voices, some of them profane, some ludicrous, and all of them in a measure coherent. I awoke easily this time, having remained in the state about two hours. I consulted the hypnotist who first hypnotized me, but, as he was an ignorant man, got little satisfaction from him. He was a public hyp- notizer—that is, he gave exhibitions of hypno- tism for the entertainment of the public. He advised me to discontinue my experiments upon myself, as he was afraid I would do myself harm (this was good advice), and stated that I would better not submit to hypnotism, except when he hypnotized me (which was doubtful advice). I have compared the sensations experienced by me with those of many others who have been hypnotized. In some respects the experi- ences of those who were consulted resembled my own, but not in every particular. Close analysis of the language of those with whom I have conversed about the sensations which they experienced while being hypnotized, HYPNOTISM. 211 has convinced me that none of the states occur- ring in hypnosis are identical with those of natural sleep. I have not determined whether the halluci- nations of suggestion affect the consciousness in the same way as do dreams occurring in natural sleep. Causes of Dreams in the Natural Sleep. These may be classified under two general groups. First, those occurring as a result of peripheral stimulation of the senses, and second, those which are the products of mental asso- ciation. These two sets of causes may occur separately7 or together. Example : A dream resulting from peripheral stimulation of the nerves. Persons frequently dream of being in a snow-storm when a portion of the body is exposed during sleep. The phenomenon to be noticed here, is that dreams magnify the sensations carried to the brain. In this we have a possible resemblance to the exaggera- tion produced upon the hypnotized subject by the suggestion of the operator. Example of the second class of causes: Memory- provoked by no discoverable cause may bring back long-forgotten events of child- hood, and group them about with all sorts of fantastic imagery. Diseased states of the body may provoke exaggerated imagery- while sleep- 212 HYPNOTISM. ing, and in dreams our personality may be changed. Dr. Moll cites the experience of an officer who greatly admired the achievements of Hannibal. In a dream one night he thought he was Han- nibal and conducted a dream warfare, crossing the Alps with his army, and fighting again in fancy the great battles which Hannibal had fought centuries before. There are some differences between the phe- nomena of deep hypnosis and those of natural sleep. In deep hypnosis the suggestion of the hypnotist is logically fitted to the ideas in the mind of the subject. In the state of deep hyp- nosis the hypnotist can carry on a conversation with the one hypnotized. However, certain sleeping persons will converse with a person in the room if care and tact be used by the one awake. Secrets have been elicited in this way7. The hypnotized subject will imitate the movements of the operator. This is also true within certain very narrow limits of persons sleeping naturally. A person while sleeping will turn in bed and execute some simple com- mand, but if it is long continued the sleeper will generally awake. Natural Somnambulism. A sleep-walker resembles a hypnotized per- son, as is well known, and a somnambulist will HYPNOTISM. 213 do a large amount of work and will accomplish wonderful feats while -perfectly unconscious. The resemblance between these tw7o states is so marked that one of the states of hypnotism has been called "artificial somnambulism." Dr. Moll divides spontaneous natural som- nambulism into three stages. First, that in which the sleeper speaks. Second, that in which he makes all sorts of movements but does not leave his bed. Third, that in which he gets up and walks about, and performs the most complex actions. Dr. Moll says, comparing the phenomena of natural sleep with those of hypnosis, "As re- gards the phenomena of natural sleep my7 ex- perience is that the persons who are the most restless in natural sleep, who talk and throw themselves about, are the most inclined to lively movements in hypnosis." He cites the following from Liebault, Max Simon, Charpignon, and Brierre de Boismont. "Hypnotic suggestion finds an analogy in sleep. Of course the effect of dreams upon the organism is not so easy to observe as is the effect of suggestion, since most dreams are forgotten. However, I shall mention some of these analo- gous cases. Persons who dream of a shot and wake up in consequence, continue to hear the reverberation clearly after they awake. Others after waking feel a pain of which they have been 214 HYPNOTISM. dreaming. I shall merely mention certain phe- nomena which resemble these, the dreams which are continued into waking life, which may be compared to continuative post-hypnotic sugges- tions. There are well-known dream-pictures which are not recognized as dreams, and which are taken for reality after waking." Fere cites a case in which hysterical para- plegia was induced : "A girl dreamed for sev- eral nights that men were running after her. She grew daily more exhausted, and the weak- ness of her legs increased till a hysterical paraplegia of both legs declared itself." It seems to me that the hysteria may have been the cause of the dream in Fere's case, instead of the result of it. Disorders of Natural Sleep. The morbid conditions of sleep have not re- ceived the study they deserve. They7 resemble artificially induced hypnosis. Suggestion plays an important part. Bad dreams may fre- quently be prevented during sleep by sug- gestion in an artificially induced hypnotic con- dition during the day. Patients will obey sug- gestions made to them while dreaming. Cer- tainly some of these disorders are akin to, if not identical with, auto-hypnosis. Talking in the sleep is a common phenomenon. It is HYPNOTISM. 215 curious that Laura Bridgeman (the deaf, dumb, and blind woman), would converse with her- self while sleeping, by putting one hand against the other and spelling the words, using the deaf-and-dumb alphabet, with one hand, and feeling with her other the words spelled with the first hand. It has been mentioned before that the hyp- notic state may7 be artificially induced on a sleeping person. This is best accomplished when one is half asleep, and the power of the will is for the time withdrawn. There are many disordered states of sleep in which a per- son will not only obey suggestions after the maimer of one upon whom artificial hypnosis has been induced, but in which many elements not found in artificial hypnosis play a part. Dreams are the fairies which haunt us while we are asleep, but they are under the power of the king of all the fairies, the human will. When he is asleep another faculty of the mind may exercise his wand and change the persons of these beings that dwell with us in dreamland. They will for the usurper then build a new world, create more fantastic beings, and draw from the depths of the unknown, weird, strange imagery, and construct new palaces of thought for the fancy- to dwell in. They know no space. They even soothe old Father Time to sleep, and while he is sleeping, they put into a 216 HYPNOTISM. man's life the experiences of countless ages, in a minute, aye, in a second of time. The Relation of Hypnotism to Morbid Cata- lepsy, Epilepsy, and the Insanities. Hypnotism has been called an artificial neu- rosis, an induced insanity7, an artificial hysteria, a suggestive delirium, etc. It matters very little what a thing is called. It must be judged of solely by its effects. While the state is transitory its results are good or ill according to the use that is made of it. It differs from all these morbid states in two essentials. First, it is induced by the will of the operator or by that of the subject or both, and second, it is broken by him or by the will of the sub- ject. It is, in either case, the child of intention parented by volition, while the other states are the result of either external or internal causes, acting independently of the will and volition. Hypnotism is, in a sense, the mind, the consciousness, acting in obedience to an- other mind, another consciousness, and not being in relation and harmonizing with the phenomena of ordinary necessity, the phe- nomena of life. It is, so to speak, a mimicry of existence. It enacts over again experiences without causality, or, better, it is governed mainly by the circumstances of mental sug- HYPNOTISM. 217 gestion, rather than by the circumstances of ordinary external environments. All of the healthy mental states may be produced during hypnosis. All of the diseased states of the mind, all of the harsh discordant elements, may- be likewise reproduced by suggestion. 218 HYPNOTISM. CHAPTER NVI. TELEPATHY—THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE—MIND- READING. These three terms denote the super-sensory7 communications between two or more indi- viduals—that is, the ability which one mind is supposed to possess to receive thoughts from another, without the communication passing, in the usual way, through the channels of the senses. The word "telepathy7" itself was invented or brought into use by the British Society for Psychical Research. The word by its derivation suggests that the influence in question operates across a considerable distance of space, and this is ordinarily7 the case in the instances of spon- taneous telepathic phenomena so ably reported by the British Society7 for Psy-chical Research. Doubtless many of my readers will, on see- ing the heading of this chapter, be sceptical of such a thing as thought-transference being a possibility. If this scepticism is intelligent, I, and, for HYPNOTISM. •_>!<) that matter, the whole thinking world, will welcome it. If it is born of ignorance plus conceit, it will only harm him who is in need of enlightenment. The British Society for Psychical Research has collected a vast deal of evidence bearing on this subject. It is tabulated and classified and intelligently commented upon by the authors in "Phantasms of the Living," to which I gladly refer the reader for more extended in- formation than I have space for, far more than I possess as the result of my own experience. The work consists of two volumes, and in every respect is scientific and scholarly. In this chapter I shall give a very brief out- line of the subject, relate some of my own experiences, and quote a few cases from the work just mentioned. The subject of telepathy is broadly divided into two classes, experimental and spontaneous. Experimental telepathy is that form of telep- athy which occurs as a result of the concerted endeavor of two or more individuals, one endeavoring to receive, and the other attempt- ing to project, a mental image. The one re- ceiving the thought from the mind of the other is called the percipient ; tlie one whose thoughts are read is termed the agent. Mr. Hudson claims that experimental telep- athy is much more easily produced when hyp- 220 HYPNOTISM. notism is practised after the method of Mesmer, than after the method of Liebault and Braid. The history of the subject is summarized in Hudson's "Law of Psychic Phenomena," to which the reader is referred. Fiction is filled with accounts of both experi- mental and spontaneous telepathy, a notable instance of which is found in Charlotte Bronte's book, "Jane Eyrre." As the reader is doubt- less aware, in Bronte's book, Jane Eyre hears Mr. Rochester call her when he is miles away, and afterwards is made to attest to the truth of the experience. Many other instances could be given. I shall first consider spontaneous telepathy. Spontaneous telepathic experiences may be received either as simple ideas, or as hallucina- tions of sight, hearing, touch, or as all three combined. The evidence of the existence of this kind of telepathy is well-nigh universal. Personally, I have scarcely talked with a family- in my very large acquaintance, in which some member of it has not had some such experience as will be related. These telepathic impressions or hallucinations may- occur in the waking state at all times of day. They may occur as dreams in sleep. They frequently occur j ust as, or after, one has retired, before falling asleep. HYPNOTISM. 221 A great deal of evidence has been adduced by the British Society for Psychical Research, which goes to prove that it is a fairly frequent occurrence for persons to see images of friends who are very- ill, who are dying, or who are just dead. The Society has carefully eliminated, as far as possible, all errors in the cases cited, and from their report little or no doubt is left that such phenomena are of frequent occurrence. I shall cite one case which came under my own immediate observation, and which has nowhere been published. It occurred in the winter of 1877, in the home of my uncle. Mrs. E., a Protestant Irish lady, widowed, sixty years of age, was employed to read to me, and had lived in our house some months. Her reputation was good, and she was known by our family to be a truthful woman. She was well educated and intel- ligent. One morning on coming down to breakfast, she told us that her aunt, a Mrs. B., had died the night before in the city- of Cork, Ireland. She stated that she saw her aunt, described her death-scene, and heard her call her, Mrs. E., by- name. She saw an old-fashioned clock in her aunt's room, and the hands pointed to 1:15 a.m. At three o'clock that afternoon the lady received a 222 HYPNOTISM. cablegram informing her of the death of her aunt, confirming the hour of death as seen by Mrs. E. Subsequently a letter received by Mrs. E. stated that the dy7ing words of the aunt were repeated calls for her niece. This same lady, so she told me, had on previ- ous occasions experienced similar telepathic phenomena. The following cases are reported from "Phan- tasms of the Living,"' Vol. I. The first case is reported by- Capt. G. P. Russell Colt, of Gart- sherrie, Coatbridge, Scotland. ''I was at home for my7 holidays and resid- ing with my father and mother, not here but at another old family- place in Mid-Lothian. built by7 an ancestor in Mary Queen of Scots' time, Inveresk House. " My bedroom was a curious old room, long and narrow, with a window at one end of the room and a door at the other. My bed was on the left of the window, looking towards the door. I had a very dear brother (my eldest brother), Oliver, lieutenant in the 7th Royal Fusiliers. He was about nineteen years of age, and had at that time been for some months before Se- bastopol. I corresponded frequently with him, and once when he wrote while in low spirits. not being well, I said in answer that he was to cheer up, but that if anything happened to him, HYPNOTISM. 223 he must let me know by appearing to me in my room, where we had often as boy7s together sat at night and indulged in a surreptitious pipe and chat. This letter (I found subsequently) he received as he was about to receive the Sac- rament from a clergy-man who has since related the fact to me. Having done this he went to the entrenchments and never returned, as in a few hours afterwards the storming of the Redan took place. He, on the captain of his company falling, took the vacant place, and led his men bravely on. He had just led them within the walls, though he was already wounded in several places, when a bullet struck him in the right temple and he fell amongst heaps of others, where he was found in a sort of kneeling post- ure (being propped up by other dead bodies) thirty-six hours afterwards. His death took place, or rather he fell, though he may7 not have died immediately, on the 8th of September, 1 *.'>.">. " That night I awoke suddenly, and saw, fac- ing the window of my room, by my bedside, sur- rounded by a light sort of phosphorescent mist, as it were, my brother kneeling. I tried to speak but could not. I buried my head in the bed- clothes, not at all afraid (because we had all been brought up not to believe in ghosts and apparitions), but simply7 to collect my ideas, be- cause I had not been thinking or dreaming of him, and, indeed, had forgotten all about what 224 HYPNOTISM. I had written to him a fortnight before. I de- cided that it must be a fancy, and the moon- light play7ing on a towel, or something out of place. But looking up, there he was again, looking imploringly and sadly at me. I tried to speak but found myself tongue-tied. I could not utter a sound. I sprang out of bed, glanced through the window, and saw there was no moon, but that it was very7 dark and raining hard. This I could tell by the sound against the panes. I turned and still saw poor Oliver. I shut my- eyes and walked to the door of my room. As I turned the handle before leaving the room I looked back once more. The appa- rition turned his head slowly7 and looked anx- iously and lovingly7 at me, and I saw then for the first time, on the right temple a wound with a red stream from it. His face was a waxy pale tint, but transparent-looking, and so was the reddish mark. But it is almost impossible to describe his appearance. I only know that I shall never forget it. " I left the room and went into a friend's room and lay on the sofa the rest of the night. I told him why7. I told others in the house, but when I told my father he ordered me not to repeat such nonsense, and especially not to let my mother know. " On the Monday morning following he re- ceived a note from Sir Alexander Milne, to say HYPNOTISM. 225 that the Redan was stormed, but no particulars. I told my friend to let me know if he saw the name among the killed and wounded before I did. About a fortnight later he came with a very grave face into my room in my mother's house in Athole Crescent, in Edinburgh. I said, ' I suppose it is to tell me the sad news I expect ?' and he said, 'Yes.' Both the colonel of the regiment and one or two officers who saw the body confirmed the fact that the appearance was much as I had described it, and the death- wound was exactly where I had seen it. But none could say whether he actually died at the moment. His appearance, if so, must have been some hours after death, as he appeared to me a few minutes after two in the morning. Months later a small prayer-book and the letter I had written him were returned to Inveresk. They had been found in the inner breast-pocket of the tunic which he wore at death. I have them now." " The account in the ' London Gazette Extra- ordinary,' of September 22d, 1855, shows that the storming of the Redan began shortly after noon, on September 8th, and lasted upwards of an hour and a half. We learn from Russell's account that ' the dead, the dying and the in- jured were all lying in piles together,' and it would seem that the search for the wounded was still continuing on the morning of the 9th. 15 226 HYPNOTISM. The exact time of Lieutenant Oliver Colt's death is uncertain. Captain Colt told me in conversation that he has never on any- other occasion experienced a hallucination of the senses. He mentioned several persons who would be able to corroborate this narrative. We received the following letter from his sister, Mrs. Hope, of Fermoy. Deckmbkr 12th, 1882. '•On the morning of Sept. 8th, 1855, my brother, Mr. Celt, told myself, Captain Ferguson of the 42d regiment, since dead, and Major Borthwick of the Rifle Brigade (who is living), and others, that he had during the night awakened and seen, as he thought, my eldest brother, Lieut. Oliver Colt of the Royal Fusiliers (who was in Crimea), standing between his bed and the door ; that he saw that he was wounded in more than one place—I remember he named the temple as one place—by bullet-wounds; that he aroused himself, rushed to the door, with closed eyes and looked back at the apparition, which stood be- tween him and the bed. My7 father enjoined silence, lest my mother should be made uneasy, but shortly afterwards came the news of the fall of the Redan and of my brother's death. Two years afterward, my husband, Colonel Hope, invited my brother to dine with him ; the former being still a lieutenant in the Royal Fusiliers, the latter an ensign in the Royal Welsh Fusiliers. While dining they were talking of my eldest brother. My husband was about to de- scribe his appearance when found, when my brother described what he had seen, and to the astonishment of all present, the description of the wounds tallied with the facts. My husband was my eldest HYPNOTISM. 227 brother's greatest friend, and Mas among those who saw the body as soon as it was found." Another case is reported by a Miss L., who withholds her name from publication, in defer- ence to the views of a near relative. Jaxu.vkv 4th, 1880. " On one of the last days of July, about the year ls(.;i». at 3 o'clock p. m. , I was sitting in the drawing- room at the Rectory, reading, and my thoughts en- tirely occupied. I suddenly looked up, and saw most distinctly a tall, thin old gentleman enter the room and walk to the table. He wore a peculiar, old- fashioned cloak, which I recognized as belonging to my great uncle. I then looked at him closely, and remembered his features and appearance perfectly, although I had not seen him since I was quite a child. In his hand was a roll of paper, and he appeared to be very agitated. I was not in the least alarmed. as I firmly believed he was my uncle, not knowing- then of his serious illness. I asked him if he wanted my father, who, as I said, was not at home. He then appeared still more agitated and distressed, but made no remark. He then left the room, passing through the half-open door. I noticed that although it was a very wet day, there was no appearance of his having walked either in mud or rain. He had iio umbrella, but a thick walking-stick, which I recognized at once when my father brought it home after the funeral. On questioning the servants they declared that no one had rung the bell, neither did they see any one enter. My father had a letter by the next post, asking him to go at once to my uncle, who was very ill in Leicestershire. He started at once, but on his arrival was told that he had died exactly at 3 o'clock that afternoon, and had asked 228 HYPNOTISM. for him by name several times in an anxious and troubled manner, and a roll of paper was found under his pillow. I may mention that my father was his only nephew, and, having no son, he always led him to think that he would have a considerable legacy. Such, however, was not the case, and it is supposed that, as they were always good friends, he was influenced in his last illness, and probably, when too late, he wished to alter his will. " E. F. L." In answer to inquiries, Miss L. adds,— " I told my mother and an uncle at once about the strange appearance before the news arrived, and also to my father directly he returned, all of whom are now dead. They advised me to try to dismiss it from my memory, but agreed that it could not be imagination, as I described my uncle so exactly; and they did not consider me to be either of a nervous or superstitious temperament. " I am quite sure that I stated the facts truthfully and correctly to Major Taylor. The facts are as fresh in my memory as if they only happened yes- terday, although so many years have passed away. I can assure you that nothing of the kind ever occurred before or since." (This is in answer to the question whether Miss L. had ever had an hallucina- tion of the senses on any other occasion). " Neither have I been subject to nervous or imaginative fancies. This strange apparition was in broad day- light, and as T was only reading the'Illustrated Newspaper ' there was nothing to excite my imagi- nation." I could cite a number of such cases but it seems unnecessary. HYPNOTISM. 229 There are but three essential points which should be noted. 1. Deception. 2. Chance. 3. An accidental hallucination of the senses twisted by7 the narrator, intentionally- or other- wise, to fit some occurrence. The mass of evidence collected renders these three objections invalid. If the reader wishes to verify this for himself the information is easy of access, therefore it will not be discussed further in this place. He is referred to "Proceedings of the British Society for Psychical Research of August, 1894.'' The character of the hallucinations or phantasms varies widely in the different cases, so that no attempt will be made here to de- scribe them at length. Experimental Telepathy. This is not so easy a task. It is beset on every side with difficulties, and the experimenter is liable to mistakes on every hand. I shall cite my own experience, and then quote other cases. My first attempt in experimental telepathy was a ludicrous failure. I shall give the case in full. R. was a young man, twenty-eight years of 230 HYPNOTISM. age. He was hy-pnotized for the cure of writer's cramp. The method of Mesmer (by- passes) was used. While in the mesmeric state he voluntarily told me Achat I did when I went into an adjoining room. He said I poured some medicine from a bottle into a glass and drank it. He complained that it tasted bitter to him. The medicine was bitter. I, standing behind him. took a pencil in my left hand and made motions in the air with it describing the figures 8, 5, 2, 6. He told me correctly7 the figures described without turning his head. I noticed incidentally7 that my sleeve rustled as I made the movements. This was prevented and again different figures described. He failed utterly. A slight screen was surreptitiously-interposed so as to prevent him from seeing me, and my sleeve was allowed purposely- to rustle. Again he described correctly- the figures made. The experiment was tried six times, and whenever he could hear the movements of my arm, he could correctly tell what was being- done with it. I asked him to guess at a certain word in my mind. I selected the German word ''haupt mann/' and concentrated my- attention upon it. standing four feet away- from him. He made several ineffectual attempts. He then asked to be allowed to touch my HYPNOTISM. 231 hand, and said that he thought he could spell it for me. This was allowed, and holding my hand lightly in his, he began at the beginning of the alphabet and stopped at " h ." In this way he went through all the letters and spelled out the word correctly. He was then asked to try another, and held my hand as before. I selected a simple English word. '"' cap." He began the alphabet as before, and I misled him by moving the muscles in my hand very slightly upon the wrong letters and he spelled out the letters d-r-h-i-o, which of course had no meaning. I again gave him my hand and thought of "cap" and "stick." I allowed my- muscles to move slightly upon the correct letters and he cor- rectly spelled cap, but did not get at the word stick at all, which was associated in my mind with the word cap. A word of caution here is necessary. It will be noticed that I allowed the young man to proceed in his own way7, and did not impose scientific test conditions upon his method of procedure. In studying phenomena it is best to allow the hynotized subject to proceed as he pleases, and if possible make the tests without his knowl- edge, for in this way suspicion will not in any way act as an embarrassment to him. 232 HYPNOTISM. Twenty-eight similar experiments were tried, and in each of them it was proved beyond a doubt that his results were due to muscle-read- ing alone. All the faculties of a hypnotized subject in the lighter stages of hypnosis are wonderfully acute, probably the result of concentrated at- tention, and they will often perceive a very slight occurrence which ordinarily would not be noticed. The slightest movements of the muscles may give them a hint, when it would not be noticed by a man in his normal condition. When the young man told me, as he did at first, without my solicitation, correctly, that the medicine poured into the glass and drank by me was bitter, he may have temporarily experienced telepathically the taste of the medicine. He may have shrewdly guessed at it. My second case was that of a girl suffering with hysterical tremor. She was hypnotized for the cure of it. She complained one day while hypnotized that her mouth tasted of spice. It occurred to me, as I had been chew- ing some spice, that it might be a telepathic phenomenon. I said nothing, and the next time she was hypnotized I surreptitiously put a tablet of quinine in my mouth. She immediately asked for water, and said that her mouth was HYPNOTISM. 288 very bitter. The water was given her, and a screen was placed between her and me. I then put cayenne pepper into my mouth, and she began to cry and said some one had put pepper into the water given her. As the water was handed her by another person who did not even know that I had pepper about my person, the experiment was con- clusive. I put a rather large amount of pepper into my7'mouth and it burned me severely, and the girl cried and was becoming so hysterical that I calmed her by suggestion and awoke her. The burning in her mouth vanished at once, but not so in mine. Nineteen experiments were tried with this girl. Of the nineteen, six were conclusive, four were doubtful, and the other nine were failures. Similar experiments have been tried by me with thirty-six different hypnotic subjects. They were all under thirty years of age. The average of experiments with the thirty-six sub- jects was eight for each subject. Of the 288 experiments, 69 were entirely successful. They embraced experiments in the transference of numbers, words, names of objects, taste, smell, etc. One experiment tried by me is well worth relating. One of my subjects while hypnotized was 234 HYPNOTISM. told to remain perfectly still for five minutes and to relate to me at the end of this time any sensation he might experience. I passed into another room and closed the door and locked it; went into a closet in the room and closed the door after me ; took down from the shelf. first a linen sheet, then a pasteboard box, then a toy engine, owned by7 a child in the house. 1 went back to my subject and asked him what experiences he had had. He said I seemed to go into another room and from thence into a dark closet. I wanted something off the shelf, but did not know what. I took down from the shelf a piece of smooth cloth, a long, square, pasteboard box, and a tin engine. These were all the sensa- tions he had experienced. I asked him if he saw the articles with his eyes which I removed from the shelf. He answered that the closet was dark and that he only felt them with his hands. I asked him how he knew that the engine was tin. He said, " By- the sound of it." As my hands touched it I heard the wheels rattle. Now the only sound made by me while in the closet was simply the rattling of the wheels of the toy as I took it off the shelf. This could not possibly- have been heard as the subject was distant from me two large rooms, and there were two closed doors between us, and the noiso was very7 slight indeed. Neither could the sub- HYPNOTISM. 235 ject have judged where I went, as Iliad on light slippers which made no noise. The subject had never visited the house before, and naturally did not know the con- tents of the closet, as he was carefully7 observed from the moment he entered the house. I could give many- more interesting expe- riences of my own, but have cited sufficient, I trust, not to convince my readers, but to in- terest them so that they- may if they wish pur- sue the same line of experiments for them- selves. s E.cperimental Thought-Transference in the Normal State. This is another phase of the subject, but is hardly- less interesting than telepathy- during hypnosis. The most extravagant claims have been made for it, and much which has been stated as telepathy, has not been genuine thought- transference. Thanks to the Society for Psy-chical Research, a very large amount of evidence has been col- lected and tabulated. My own experiments in this direction have led to some interesting results. If it be true that one mind can influence another and convey thoughts and ideas to it without using the ordinary- avenues of the 23<1 HYPNOTISM. senses, it is the most stupendous discovery7 in psychology-. If it is not true, it is equally im- portant to disprove it. The Right Hon A. J. Balfour, M. P., Presi- dent of the Society for Psychical Research, in his address published August, 1894, savs : "What I am asserting is that the facts which we come across are very odd facts, and by7 that do not merely mean queer and unex- pected. I mean ' odd ' in the sense that they are out of harmony with the accepted theories of%the material world. They- are not merely dramatically strange, they are not merely- extraordinary and striking, but they are odd in the sense that they- will not easily7 fit in with the views which physicists and men of science generally give us of the universe in which we live. " In order to illustrate this distinction I will take a very simple instance. I suppose every- body- would say that it would be an extraor- dinary circumstance if, at no distant date, this earth on which we dwell were to come into collision with some unknown body travelling through space, and, as the result of the collision, be resolved into the ordinary gases of which it is composed. Yet though it would be an extraordinary and even an amazing event, it is after all one of which no astronomer, I vent- ure to say, would assert the impossibility. He HYPNOTISM. 237 would say, I suppose, that it was unlikely, but that if it occurred it would not violate, or even modify, his general theories as to the laws which govern the movements of the celestial bodies. Our globe is a member of the solar system which is travelling I do not know how many miles a second in the direction of the constellation Hercules. Tliere is no a priori ground for saving that in the course of that mysterious journey7, of the cause of which we are perfectly- ignorant, we shall not come across some body- in inter-stellar space which will produce the uncomfortable results which I have ventured to indicate. And, as a matter of fact, in the course of the last two hundred years, astronomers have themselves been wit- ness to stellar tragedies of incomparably7 greater magnitude than that which would be produced by the destruction of so insignificant a planet as the world, in which we happen to be per- sonally interested. We have seen stars which shine from an unknown distance, and are of unknown magnitude, burst into sudden con- flagration, blaze brightly for a time, and then slowly die out again. What that phenomenon precisely indicates of course we cannot say7, but it certainly7 indicates an accident of far more startling and tremendous kind than the shatter- ing of our particular world, which to us would seem, doubtless, extraordinary enough. 238 HYPNOTISM. "This, then, is a specimen of what I mean by a dramatically extraordinary event, Now^ I shall give you a case of what I mean by a scientifically extraordinary event, which, as you will at once perceive, may be one which at first sight, and to many observers, may appear almost commonplace and familiar. I have constantly7 met people who will tell you, with no apparent consciousness that they are say7ing anything more out of the way than an obser- vation about the weather, that by- an exercise of their will they can make anybody- at a little distance turn around and look at them. Now such a fact (if fact it be) is far more scien- tifically extraordinary than would be the de- struction of this globe by celestial catastrophe as I have imagined. How profoundly mis- taken, then, are they who think that this exer- cise of will power as they- call it. is the most natural and most normal thing in the world, something that everybody- would have expected, something which hardly- deserves scientific notice or requires scientific explanation. In reality- it is a profound mystery-, if it be true, or if anything like it be true ; and no event, however startling, which easily- finds its appro- priate niche in the structure of the phy-sical sciences ought to excite half so much intellectual curiosity as should this dull and, at first sight, commonplace phenomenon." HYPNOTISM. 239 The claim has been made by the opponents of spiritualism that many of the phenomena which are attributed by the spiritualists to be the results of spirits are really explicable upon this hyrpothesis. If it be true, the phenomena are scarcely- less wonderful than they would be if of spiritual origin. This is not the book in which to discuss at length such a supposition, and it is merely- noted here for the sake of calling attention to the possibility- of such being the fact. If it be true that one living mind can affect another at a distance, it does not follow that the mind might not do so in another world. It is a very- common experience for some one to think of some friend before meeting him, when the person has not been in the mind for years. Direct thought-transmission by experiment is not so thoroughly known. The experiment is easily tried, and it is to be hoped that what is here written may lead to a wider study of the subject. I shall cite a few of the conditions under which such experiments may be made. Let three persons agree upon one article, say a playing card, while the fourth is absent from the room. When number four comes in let all keep perfectly- quiet, and concentrate their minds on the article agreed upon. In an astonishing number of instances the experi- 240 HYPNOTISM. ment will prove a success—the fourth person will name the correct card. The following conditions should be observed. Do not indicate by look or gesture the object agreed upon. Do not come in contact with the percipient. Do not laugh at or make fun of the experi- ment, but simply- keep the mind passive. All parties should be in good temper at the time such experiments are made. There is no objection to any amount of mer- riment before and after the experiment, and great care should be taken not to ridicule the failure of the percipient. I have tried many- such experiments. My success averages about .">:> per cent. I quote the following from "Phantasms of the Living," by Edmund Gurnev, M.A., Fred- eric W. H. Myers, M. A., and Frank Podmore M. A., in Vol. I. The experiments of these gentlemen were in every way conducted scientifically and can be relied upon for accuracy- of statement, and freedom from previously conceived prejudice or bias. "Easter, lssi. Present, Mr. and Mrs Creery and family, and W. F. Barret, the nar- rator. One of the children was sent into an adjoining room, the door of which was closed. On returning to the sitting-room, and closing HYPNOTISM. 241 its door also, I thought of some object in the house, fixed upon at random. Writing the name down I showed it to the family present, the strictest silence being preserved through- out. "We then thought silently of the thing se- lected. In a few seconds the door of the adjoin- ing room was heard to open, and, after a very- short interval of time, the child would enter the sitting-room, generally- with the object selected. "No one was allowed to leave the sitting- room after the object had been fixed upon ; no communication with the child was conceivable as her place was often changed. Further, the only instructions given the child were to fetch some object in the house that I would fix upon, and together with the family keep in mind this idea, to the exclusion as far as possible of all others. "In this way I wrote down among other things, a hairbrush, it was brought ; an orange, it was brought; a toasting-fork, failed on the first attempt, a pair of tongs being brought, but on second trial it was brought. With another child (among other trials not here mentioned) a cup was written down by me ; it was brought ; a saucer ; this was a failure, a plate being brought; no second trial allowed. The child being told it was a saucer replied, 16 242 HYPNOTISM. 1 That came into my head, but I hesitated as I thought it unlikely you would name saucer after cup, as being too easy.' " But of course the most satisfactory condition was that only the members of the investigating committee should act as agents, so that signals could not possibly be given unless by one of them. This condition clearly makes it idle to represent the means by which the transferences took place as simply a trick which the members of the investigating committee failed to detect. The trick, if trick there was. must have been one in which they, or one of them, actively- shared ; the only alternative to collusion on their part being some piece of carelessness amounting to almost idiocy—such as uttering aloud the word required or leaving the selected card exposed on the table. The following se- ries of experiments were made April 13th, 1882. The agents were Mr. Myers and the present writer, and two ladies of their acquaintance, the Misses Mason, of Morton Hall. Retford, who had become interested in the subject by the remarkable successes which one of them had obtained in experimenting among friends. '' As neither of the ladies had ever seen any of the Creery family- till just before the experi- ments began, they had no opportunity for ar- ranging a code of signals with the children ; so that any hypothesis of collusion must in this HYPNOTISM. 243 case be confined to Mr. Myers or the present writer. As regards the hypothesis for want of intelligence, the degree of intellectual behav- ior required of each of the four agents was simply this. (1) To keep silence on a partic- ular subject ; and (2) to avoid the uncon- sciously displaying a particular card or piece of paper to a person situated at some yards' dis- tance. The first condition was realized by keep- ing silence altogether ; the second by remain- ing quite still. The four observers were per- fectly satisfied that the children had no means at any moment of seeing, either directly or by- reflection, the selected card or the name of the selected object. The following is the list of trials.— " Objects to be named. (These objects had been brought and still remained in the pocket of one of the visitors. The name of the object selected for trial was secretly written down, not spoken.) A white penknife. -Correctly named with color the first trial. Box of almonds.—Correctly named. Threepenny piece.—Failed. Box of chocolate.—Button box said ; no sec- ond trial given. (A penknife was hidden, but the place was not discovered.) Fictitious names to be guessed. 244 HYPNOTISM. Martha Billings.—" Biggis " was said. Catherine Smith.—Catherine Shaw was said. Henry Cowper.—Failed. Cards to be named : Two of clubs.—Right first time. Queen of diamonds.—Right first time. Four of spades.—Failed. Four of hearts.—Right first time. King of hearts.—Right first time. Two of diamonds.—Right first time. Ace of hearts.—Right first time. Nine of spades.—Right first time. Five of diamonds.—Right third time. Two of spades.—Right first time. Eight of diamonds.—Failed. Three of hearts.—Right first time. Five of clubs.—Failed. Ace of spades.—Failed. " The chances against accidental success in the case of any one card are, of course, 51 to 1, y-et out of the fourteen successive trials, nine were successful at the first trial, and only four trials were complete failures. The odds against the occurrence of the five successive running, in the card series, are considerably- over 1,000,000 to 1. On none of these occasions was it even remotely- possible for the child to obtain by7 ordinary7 means a knowledge of the object named. Our own facial expression was the only- index open to her ; and even if we had not purposely looked HYPNOTISM. 245 as neutral as possible, it is difficult to imagine how we could have unconsciously carried, say, the two of diamonds, written upon our fore- heads. '' During the ensuing y-ear, the committee. consisting of Prof. Barrett, Mr. Myers, and the present writer, "-made a number of experiments under similar conditions, which excluded con- tact and movement, and which confined the knowledge of the selected object—and there- fore the chance of collusion with the percipient —to their own group. In some of these trials conducted at Cambridge, Mrs! F. W. H. My-ers and Miss Mason also took part. In a long series conducted at Dublin, Professor Barrett was alone with the percipient. Altogether these scrupulously7 guarded trials amounted to 497, and of this number 98 were completely successful at the first guess, and 45 at the second. " A large number of trials was also made in which the group of agents included one or more of the Creery family ; and as bearing on the hypothesis of an ingenious family trick, it is worth noting that—except when Mr. Creery himself was thus included—the percentage of successes was, as a rule, not appreciably higher *Note: By "the present writer" is meant one of the authors of " Phantasms of the Living." 246 HYPNOTISM. under these conditions than when the com- mittee alone were in the secret." Mr. Esdaile, for many- y-ears Presidency Surgeon in Calcutta, whose observations on hypnotic phenomena now form an accepted part of physiological science, gives the follow- ing case of transference of taste between him- self and a patient whom he had mesmerized. The subject was a y-oung Hindoo, Baboo Mohun Mittre, who had been operated upon painlessly whilst in the mesmeric trance. " One day- that the Baboo came to the hospi- tal to pay his respects, after getting well, I took him into a side room, and mesmerizing him until he could not open his eyes, I went out and desired my assistant surgeon to pro- cure me some salt, a slice of lime, a piece of gentian, and some brandy-, and to give them to me in any order he chose, when I opened my- mouth. We returned, and, blindfolding Lallee Mohun, I took hold of both his hands, and open- ing my mouth, had a slice of half-rotten lime put into it by- my assistant. Having chewed I asked, ' Do you taste any-fhing (' % Yes. I taste a nasty- old lime' and he made a very wrv face in consequence. He was equally- correct with all the other substances, calling the gentian by- its native name, cheretta ; and when I tasted the brandy, he said it was shrab (4;he general name for wine and spirits). HYPNOTISM. 247 Being asked of what kind, he said, ' What I used to drink—brandy.' For I am happy- to say he was caired of his drunken habits (formerly drinking two bottles of brandy- a day) as well as of his disease." The following extract entitled, "Production. of local anaesthesia," is taken from " Appari- tions and Thought-Transference,'' by Frank Podmore, M.A., London. " In experiments carried on with various subjects at intervals through the years 1883-87, at some of which the present writer assisted, Mr. Edward Gurney had shown that it was possible by means of the unexpressed will of the agent to produce local anaesthesia in certain persons. (S. P. R. vol. i. pp. 257-200; ii. 201-205; iii. 453-459; v. 14-17.) In these experiments the subject Avas placed at a table, and his hands were passed through holes in a large brown-paper screen, so that they were completely concealed from his view. Mr. G. A. Smith then held up his hands at a distance of two or three inches from the finger indicated by Mr. Gurney, at the same time willing that it should become rigid and insensible. On subsequently applying appro- priate tests it was found, as a rule, that the finger selected had actually become rigid and was insensi- ble to pain. In the last series of 100 experiments Mr. Gurney, as well as Mr. Smith, held his hand over a particular finger. In 124 cases only the fin- ger over which Mr. Smith's hand had been held was affected; in 16cases Mr. Gurney and Mr. Smith were both successful; in 13 Mr. Gurney was suc- cessful and Mr. Smith failed. In the remaining 7 cases no effect was produced. It is noteworthy that in a series of 41 similar trials, in which Mr. 248 HYPNOTISM. Smith, while holding his hand in the same position, willed that no effect should be produced, there was actually no effect in 36 cases; in 4 cases the finger over which the hand was held, was affected. The rigidity was tested by asking the subject at the end of the experiment, to close his hands. When he complied with the request the finger operated on — if the experiment had succeeded—would remain rigid. The insensibility was proved by pricking, burning, or by a current from an induction coil. In the majority of the successful trials the insensibility was shown to be proof against all assaults, however severe. " In these earlier experiments it seemed essential to success that Mr. Smith's hand should be in close proximity to that of the subject, without any inter- vening barrier. These conditions made it difficult to exclude the possibility of the subject learning, by variations in temperature, or by air currents, which finger was actually being operated on ; though it was hard to conceive that the percipient could by any such means have discriminated between Mr. Gurney's hand and Mr. Smith's.* On the other hand, even if this source of error was held to be excluded, the interpretation of the results remained ambiguous. As a matter of fact, Mr. Gurney himself was inclined to attribute the effects produced, not to telepathy, as ordinarily un- derstood, but to specific vital effluence, or, as he phrased it, a kind of nervous induction, operating directly on the affected part of the percipient's organism. (Pro. S. P. R. vol. v. pp. 254-259.) With a view to test this hypothesis further, ex- *I suppose that the gentleman feared that the subject would either feign anaesthesia, or that if he knew that it was expected of him, suggestion would produce the anses- thesia described. This is not, however, stated in the text. HYPNOTISM. 249 periments of the same kind were made by Mrs Sidgwick during the years 1890 and 1892, the sub- jects being P. and Miss B. already mentioned. The percipient was throughout in a normal condition. As before, he sat at a table, with his hands passed through holes in a large screen, which extended sufficiently far in all directions to prevent him from seeing either the operator or his own hands. Mr. Smith, as before, willed to produce the desired effect in the finger which had been intimated to him, either by signs or writing, by one of the experimen- ters." Similar cases have been quoted by M. Richet and his results were fairly good. From the few cases cited, both from my own personal experience and from the reports of the Society' for Psychical Research, it is evident that phenomena exist, which would lead nat- urally to the supposition that the mind may have other channels of communication than the ordinary ones. I do not assert dogmatically that it has, and granting that it has, I have no theory to ex- plain the phenomena. I do not know what the essence of thought is, or whether the mind is merely associated with or is the result or the product of the chemico-physical life of the ner- vous system. It may be both. That these phe- nomena have been the bases of the development of many religions the most casual observer must be convinced. Prophecies have been made in all ages. Some of them have proven true. 250 HYPNOTISM. Whether they are all explainable upon intel- lectual insight cannot be said, but it certainly seems not. It is a strange thing that many are willing to believe miracles and marvels occur- ring some thousands of years ago, while they are entirely unwilling to listen to similar events occurring in this modern civilization. Psy- chical research of all kinds is handicapped by7 superstition and beset everywhere with diffi- culties. I would strongly urge that the work be con- tinued in America upon the lines laid down by the British Society of Psychical Research. It is argued that nothing is accomplished by add- ing more evidence to prove phenomena already clearly demonstrated. I reply that we can never make new discoveries in this field with- out constant experimentation. Mighty truths are developed slowly, they are not discovered wholly by one individual. The locomotive en- gine is not the child of one brain, but the prod- uct of many. So the subjects of telepathy, hypnotism, and kindred topics will not be devel- oped or mastered by any one mind. Probably the question of telepathy will not be settled satisfactorily in the few remaining years of this century, but it will be settled. Instruments will be found of which we are now ignorant. Our present crude methods of investigation will be improved. HYPNOTISM 251 Before closing this chapter, I wish to add a word of caution about public exhibitions of telepathy. There are men who travel over this country and give exhibitions something like the follow- ing : A woman is placed on the stage blindfolded and with her back to the audience. The show- man goes through the form of mesmerizing or hypnotizing her. He then asks different persons in the audience to hold up articles : a watch, a knife, etc., are held up. The woman tells wThat the articles are which are seen by the showman. There is usually a pre-arranged method of signalling ; generally words are used to convey7 the idea. For instance, in a case observed by me, the man told the woman to '' hurry up, you should be able to tell that quickly.'' Those words meant a watch, and she proceeded to state that it was a watch. Many7 similar results occurred during the evening. Of course these exhibi- tions are unscientific. Muscle-reading also has been mentioned. The experiment is easily7 tried, and any one may con- vince himself how easy it is to do many7 appar- ently wonderful things in this direction. By means of it a blindfolded man may drive a horse and carriage through the streets of a large city. Many find articles which have been 252 HYPNOTISM. hidden in the most secret places, and to the un- initiated it seems truly wonderful. A prac- tised touch can easily discern the slightest move- ment upon the part of the one with whom he is in contact. Even variations of the rate of res- piration may give him a hint. A very common instance of muscle-reading is a favorite parlor amusement. A person is blindfolded while one or more hides a key. The hands of one or more persons are then placed upon the back and chest of the person blindfolded. He then begins to move and is guided to the hidden key by the pressure made upon the body. This has been and is often now confounded with telepathy. It is astonishing how the dif- ferent emotions of the body will affect uncon- sciously the muscular movements. A writer has said, " We believe that for which we hope," and we impress that belief in every movement possible to the human frame. HYPNOTISM. 253 PART II. CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION AND GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS IN PART II. In the first section of this work it has been my endeavor to make clear the phenomena of hypnotism, to enable the reader to understand it, to divest it, as has been said before, of su- perstition. This present portion of our work will be de- voted entirely to theoretical considerations and to the history of hypnotism, a part which I am well aware is difficult to make at once interesting and concise. Men are ever prone to theorizing, and these theories become with many persons hobbies, aye, even idols, for they7 bow down and worship them. A Frenchman is quoted as saying, '' My theory is true, and if the facts do not fit it, so much the worse for the facts.1" Theories are good only when they help us to understand the nature of the facts. We are more apt to think the reverse, however. Theories are very likely, if wrong, to cause 254 HYPNOTISM. an application of the facts which is detrimental to human progress. The soul—what a magic word ! In what a widely different manner it is used by7 different individuals ! Men have laid down their lives to save their souls. They have tortured them- selves and others for the same object. The followers of Mohammed would compel the in- fidel dogs to believe their religion if they had to force it into their hearts at the dagger's point. The history of religious persecution of all kinds is at once the most disgusting and the saddest chapter in all the history of the world. Thanks to our enlightened modern civiliza- tion, the rack and thumbscrew, and the burn- ing fagots around the stake are gone, but, Phoenix-like, arising from the ashes of burned martyrs and witches the hideous monster, in- tolerance, rears its head once more. But this time the monster is in a different guise. It is not clothed with a sword but instead has a milder dress. Its guise is now scientific dog- matism. The would-be scientist assumes the right by- reason of his great knowledge to do the think- ing for the rest of the world. The professor of chemistry, because he is an expert in this line, assumes that he is competent to judge about that of which he knows nothing. HYPNOTISM. 255 Mathematicians calculate accurately enor- mous distances, consequently they assume that they, too, have the right of judging for their fellow-men about matters of which they are ignorant. The physicist, with his atomic theory and molecular vibration, has found the key to the universe, but, alas! the key is only in his own conceit. One thing should be said, however, in justice to all these, that men who have been trained to careful observation and logical close reason- ing are better adapted to study and to pro- nounce judgment upon many subjects, because they have learned to think accurately7 and logically7 upon one. It is, indeed, astonishing how few men or women possess this power of reasoning clearly7 and of observing carefully. Prejudice colors to a fearful extent the opinions of all classes. To-day we are passing through an epoch in which evolution is the dominant theory7. Every biological resemblance between different species, whether it be morphological or physiological, is construed into an evidence that something came from something else, the two being widely different from each other. We have such lucid terms as "protoplasmic differentiation," "embryonic resemblances," and many others that could be mentioned. 256 HYPNOTISM. Now, that evolution has played a large part in the world's history is very apparent, and yet, when it is dogmatically assumed that it is the principle of the construction and development of all living things, it seems to me that mat- ters are carried rather too far. Many influ- ences have altered existing ty7pes, and hence are evolutionary7, but there is much to be found out, much to be known. Again, certain dominant psychological and ethical ideas are shaping to an undue degree the thought of mankind, and, " if the facts do not fit them, why, so much the worse for the facts." Such methods of thought must prove detrimental to scientific advancement. I would rather believe nothing than to believe an error. I do not believe that a bad creed is better than no creed at all, whether the term creed is made to apply either to scientific or religious theories, so I wish to be plainly understood; I have no theory to explain the hypnotic phenomena. I do not know that the mind is something different from matter. The only manifestation I know of mind is through the material world. I do not know that mind is the product of mat- ter ; but I do know that without matter I cannot, with any means at the present within my power, communicate with mind. I do not know that the brain is entirely the seat of the mind. Experiments point that way, however. HYPNOTISM. 257 Destruction or disease of a part of the brain is often, but not always, accompanied by mental deterioration. Mental deterioration does exist without discoverable disease or injury of the brain. I recognize on every hand not only the in- finity of space, but the infinite possibilities in everything in the universe. We know that planets revolve in their orbits and that they have done so for ages, and that they are mill- ions and millions of miles apart, and that wonderful little camera, the eye, unaided by any instrument, reflects the minute image of them upon the consciousness of man. Aided by the telescope, these images are enormously enlarged. Had the telescope not existed, the worlds would have sailed in their orbits just the same, but for us they would have only existed as bright spots in the inky darkness of the night. What man can say that there may not be yet developed means of divining the now un- knowable ? Forces everywhere operate around us, possibly, of whose existence we are, as yet, entirely ignorant. Only yesterday another substance was found in the atmosphere; it is, possibly, another ele- ment. Its effects are yet unstudied, and its purpose is undetermined. Of the ultimate essence of things we are entirely ignorant. 17 258 HYPNOTISM. Systems of religion and philosophy have come and have disappeared like dreams in the night. Love, kneeling, has ever wept over and kissed the dewy brow of the dying, and prayer has winged its way into the great unknown. These things are universal. I do not argue that what is universally believed must be true, but it is well worth the proving. Because all men have believed certain things does not necessarily prove them to be true. We believe that which is brought into our consciousness, or deductions drawn therefrom. We fit imaginary states to our own ideals. We clothe the Divine with the best, and some- times with the worst, of our own attributes. A man's God exists for him in the perfection of his own ideal. This seems to me the uni- versal law of the conception of things. In regard to hypnotism, our conception of it, and our theories about it, will be formed around our knowledge of its phenomena. They will be accurate or inaccurate in a direct ratio to our understanding of the results of hypnosis. Therefore, I believe at the present time, that a careful study of the phenomena will help us to ultimately understand it, and lead us to more correct results than will speculation and theo- rizing about the results already obtained. The principal authors upon the subject shall be given a hearing, each in turn, and, so far as HYPNOTISM. 259 space will permit, their own theories will be told in their own language. Should my comments upon them seem at times severe, it is not with any7 disrespect that these are made, but only for the purpose of showing the utter futility of using high-sound- ing phrases and imagining that they explain something which they7 many times only mystify7. To say that the phenomena of hypnotism are only imaginary7 is a misstatement of the case. To say7 that they7 are the result of suggestion, is simply7 to state that a man does something because he is told to do it. To say that they7 are the result of self-suggestion, auto-hypnot- ism, means simply to say7 that a man told him- self to do something. To say7 that they are the result of animal magnetism, is to impute them to a force of whose qualities we know, at present, little or nothing. We have no instruments for measuring this force, no chemical tests for analyzing it, and it exists, if it exists at all, as a phenomenon, plus a preconceived notion of it. It does not resemble the magnetism of the electro-magnet. That one mind affects another in many ways no one will deny. Analyze it if you can, and if you analyze it simply by7 obser- vation you will at once be convinced that it is composed of, not one, but of many factors. So such an analysis of the hypnotic state has led 260 HYPNOTISM. me to believe that it is composed of many diverse and, at times, opposite conditions. After stating the theories advanced by the leading authors, I shall give an analysis of the mental factors which seem to me to compose it, but shall make no attempt to say what these mental factors emanate from, or of what they consist. Therefore I now confess my igno- rance of the essence of the mind, as did Dr. Foster in the beginning of one of his editions of his famous " System of Physiology7." He say7s in effect that we know the products formed by the death of the protoplasmic cell. We know that during life it has the power of assimilating and utilizing elements different from itself, and of eliminating the waste prod- ucts of its metabolism, but of that thing we call vitality, in other words how the protoplas- mic cell does this, we do not know. So we know that the lrypnotic state and similar phe- nomena exist. We are familiar with the facul- ties and qualities of the mind only by their manifestations, and we know that they are in- disseverably linked with the nervous system, and that is all we do know on this subject. Hence I should advise every7 one to study hyp- notism and the allied psychical phenomena, and form no conclusion until he has finished his labors. HYPNOTISM. 261 CHAPTER II. THEORIES OF HYPNOTISM.—THE FOLLOWING ARE CONDENSATIONS OF SOME OF THE PRINCIPAL CURRENT IDEAS OF HYPNOTISM. There are three main theories advanced con- cerning the nature of the hypnotic state. They are the theories of (1) Animal Magnetism, (2) of Neurosis, (3) of Suggestion. The believers in the Animal Magnetism theory, who are comparatively few among scientists, hold that there is an emanation directly from the operator to the subject, which will, when focussed on the subject, transform him into a mere automaton, subject to the will of the operator. The theory of Neurosis' is, in a few words, somewhat as follows. The state of hypnosis is a certain pathological condition into which some individuals, those only who have the necessary predisposition, are easily placed by anything which appeals strongly to the emo- tions. In this state special physical agents can produce special symptoms, without their being 262 HYPNOTISM. mentally expected by the subject. This condi- tion is said by Prof. Charcot and his colleagues of the Salpetriere Hospital to be rarely found in typical form. It is called by them '' le grand hypnotisme," and is said to accompany7 the disease hystero-epilepsy. I have seen in this country a number of such cases. I shall report one in detail. In the spring of 1890 a woman, twenty-three years of age, consulted me. She had been for some time a constant attendant at a gathering of spiritualists called a "circle."' Whenever the members of the circle joined hands the girl would pass into a state of catalepsy7. Every7 muscle in her body would be rigid, her breath- ing would be scarcely perceptible, and she would grow very pale. This condition of things would last two or three hours ; when it finally passed off she appeared languid for a number of hours after. One day in my office I gave her a piece of polished metal and told her that it was powerfully magnetized. She threw it across the room and had a hystero-epileptic fit of great violence. So susceptible was this girl to sug- gestion that she would have violent tremors whenever she believed she was in contact with any one who possessed magnetic power. She would have a convulsion if a piece of paper were given her, if she were told first that it was magnetized. There are a great many HYPNOTISM. 263 such cases in New England. Perhaps just as many in the rest of the country. The cataleptic trance is a stage of this kind of hypnotism which may be induced by the patient's suddenly7 hearing a loud noise or see- ing a bright light. The limbs and body obey every movement communicated to them and retain the position in which they are placed. The ey7es are fixed, and there is no sensibility to pain. The lethargic condition may be induced from the cataleptic by forcibly closing the eyelids. This state is marked by7 apparent unconscious- ness and by complete relaxation of the muscles, except when they7 are petrissaged ; or contrac- tions may be produced in them by pressure upon some of the large nerve-trunks. When the muscles are thus excited tonic contractions take place in them. This symptom is called by Charcot, neuro-muscular excitability. A lethargic state has been previously de- scribed, and may be induced by any of the methods of hypnotizing before mentioned. Prof. James says that a subject may, by fric- tion on the top of the head, be brought from either the lethargic or cataleptic state into the somnambulic condition, and that he is then active and susceptible to any suggestion the operator may make. This state may be induced primarily. In 264 HYPNOTISM. other words, the cataleptic or lethargic state may be produced at will by the operator if the suggestion be only properly directed. In the somnambulic condition the above-men- tioned manipulations of the muscles do not cause the clearly-defined contractions noticed in the lethargic, but whole regions of the body tend to become rigid. Sometimes slight stim- ulation of the skin, either by touching it or by blowing upon it, results in general tetanic con- vulsions. Prof. Charcot terms this cutaneo- muscular hy7per-excitabilityr. Among many other symptoms accompany- ing "le grand hypnotisme," the following are some of the most interesting. If the eyes of a patient in lethargy are opened he becomes cataleptic. Opening one eye causes the corresponding half of the body to become cataleptic, the other half remaining lethargic. (The term lethargy is used to denote complete muscular relaxation.) (Charcot.) The conditions of one side of the body may be transferred to the opposite side by the ap- proach of a magnet to the skin or by the con- tact with certain metals. (Luys.) Patients may be made to repeat automati- cally every word which they hear, by pressing upon the lower cervical vertebrae or upon the epigastrium. Aphasia is produced in these subjects of "le grand hypnotisme," by rub- HYPNOTISM. 265 bing the head, over the region of the speech- centre. (Buchanan.) " The theory of hymnotism denies that there is any special hypnotic state worthy of the name of trance or neurosis." (James, Liebault, Bernheim.) The various states of catalepsy, lethargy, etc., are due to mental susceptibility to outward suggestion. This susceptibility is found more or less in every one. It is generally believed by most scientists that the phenomena noticed in the subjects experimented upon in the Sal- petriere Hospital were produced by training and expectation. Those things which the first patients did were supposed by the experiment- ers to be typical. Subsequent patients, learn- ing what was expected of them, followed in their lead. This is demonstrated by the fact that these three typical stages and their accom- panying symptoms have occurred spontane- ously, so far as known, only at the Salpetriere. The appearance of the eyes, the flushing of the face, the quickening of the respiration, etc., are held to be not caused by the passage into the state of hypnosis, but to be due to the strain on the eyes, in consequence of looking stead- fastly at a small ob j ect. The patients at Nancy who are hypnotized by simple command, such as by telling them to go to sleep and close their eyes, do not exhibit any of these symptoms. 266 HYPNOTISM. It is generally held by those who believe in the suggestion theory that the various phenomena, such as echolalia, aphasia, imitation, etc, are the result of imitation aided by unconscious suggestion on the part of the operator. Indeed, the more enthusiastic adherents of the sugges- tion theory7 claim that there is no such thing as a trance-like state in which the patient is, for the time being, deprived of his will and is sub- ject, as if he were a puppet, to outward sug- gestion. The trance is held to be only the re- sult of a suggestion, and is not a necessary7 pre- liminary7 of the other states. At present the suggestion theory7 is more gen- erally supported than is the neurosis theory7 ad- vanced by Charcot and his followers at Salpetri- ere. Still, it has by no means been proved that the latter are wrong in their assumption that there is a peculiar physiological condition com- monly known as the hypnotic trance. So far as we know at present, the indications are that the results of suggestion are very7 unimportant unless the subject is in this trance-like state. Prof. James say7s that it is probable that we all pass through this state whenever we fall asleep (Drs. Moll, Bernheim, Lombroso, and other European observers are in accord with him). They believe that the usual relation between op- erator and subject may7 be described by7 saying that the former keeps the latter suspended be- HYPNOTISM. 267 tween sleeping and waking by talking to him enough to keep his slumber from growing pro- found, and yet not in such a way7 as to awaken him. He, as do also Liegeois, Forel, Liebault, Charcot, and Binet, considers that hypnotism and natural sleep have many points in common. Prof. James says that fixing the eyes and relaxing the muscles of the body produce the hy7pnotic state just as they7 facilitate the advent of sleep. He holds the suggestion theory7 to be correct, provided the trance state is granted as its pre-requisite. I have made a careful analysis of the symp- toms and sensations experienced by7 persons passing into, during, and while emerging from the lrypnotic state. My7 own sensations have been stated elsewhere. From the sensations experienced by7 myself and those described to me by a number of persons, I think that the half-asleep conception of the hypnotic state formed by the gentlemen just quoted is wholly- erroneous. I shall analyze these sensations a little later, and give in detail my reasons for venturing to differ from such eminent and learned minds. Symjitoms of the Trance. We will now consider a few of the most in- teresting of the symptoms commonly observed as accompanying the so-called hypnotic trance. 268 HYPNOTISM. Loss of memory, or amnesia, accompanies the deeper stages of the hypnotic condition. Sub- jects who have been through a number of per- formances and have exhibited the liveliest emotion, upon coming out of the hypnotic state, remember nothing of what they have been doing. M. Delboef, reasoning that the prob- able cause of the forget fulness was the discon- nection between the trains of ideas while in the trance state and while out of it, found that if the patient were awakened during the perform- ance of some act while still in the hypnotic con- dition, he remembered what had transpired during the trance. This is not by any means always the case, any more than that people always remember dreams when suddenly awak- ened from sleep. Dr. Bernheim, endorsing as he does the sug- gestion theory for the explanation of the hyp- notic phenomena, considers the cataleptic con- dition to be the result of suggestion. He states that although at first sight the cataleptic con- dition seems to be an abnormality, on reflec- tion we see that in our every-day waking life, also, many acts are performed automatically and without any conscious act of will ; for ex- ample, our circulation, respiration, or the move- ments of the alimentary canal. Speaking of the spinal reflex action, he says that an im- pression transmitted along a sensory nerve may HYPNOTISM. 269 be reflected through the gray horns of the cord, without traversing the brain, and that invol- untary motion follows the unperceived impres- sion or sensation. As an illustration of this he cites the case of a decapitated frog which, when an irritant, such as acetic acid, is applied to the skin, raises his leg to scratch the irritated place. But, owing to the fact that the frog is a cold-blooded animal, and that its cerebrum is less highly developed when compared with that of the higher orders of animals, the spinal cord and other nervous centres may exercise func- tions which are assigned in mammalia to the brain. Hence Dr. Bernheim's analogy does not seem to be very striking. Neither is his instance of a man, who, while absorbed in meditation, unconsciously and without subsequent memory, brushes away a troublesome fly, analogous to the state of hypnosis, as I shall show. It is stated that the brain may intervene to give the primary impulse, that the act con- tinues even when thought and will are other- wise occupied, exclusively by means of spinal automatism. The example of a man's walking with his mind at the same time absorbed in other subjects, or the instance of an artist's playing a long composition upon the piano, and in the course of it allowing his mind to wander till he no longer thinks of the music, are good illustrations of the point; nevertheless, I do not 270 HYPNOTISM. concede that these cases are similar to that of a man in the hypnotic condition. Continuing the illustration of the pianist, Dr. Bernheim say7s, " Moreover, that which the mind has lost track of, spinal automatism may resume. The artist no longer remembers all the phrases of the musical composition. His recollection has become all defective ; he is incapable of playing the piece through in consequence of his mental confusion. The spinal memory, if I may use the expression, supplements the cere- bral memory. The fingers frequently recover the difficult arrangements of stops and move- ments on the key-board, and accomplish them precisely, even when these movements, as- similated, so to speak, by the spinal cord, have become a mechanical operation, owing to their frequent repetition." I think that many physiologists would dis- agree with Dr. Bernheim in assigning to the spinal cord the centre of such automatic movement. He also seems to forget that many eminent authorities claim that a large number, if not all, of the movements executed by a pianist are presided over and directed and co-ordinated as well, by the cerebellum. A patient under my care suffered from a tumor of the cerebellum. He was a professional pianist, and as the tumor developed he lost his ability to co-ordinate the HYPNOTISM. 271 movements of his hands upon the piano, but could read music as well as ever. The diag- nosis of cerebellar tumor was verified at a ne- cropsy7. When the controlling power of the brain is removed and only the spinal centres are left intact, we find that stimulation of the periph- ery does not excite intelligent movements but spasms instead. There may7 be instinctive automatic activity7 of the nervous centres. As examples of this may be cited the different changes in facial expression accompanying our various emotions. M. Despine in his work, " Etude scientifique sur le somnambulisme," mentions affectation as one of the results of this automatism. He say7s, '' It is thought that the phenomena which constitute it are voluntary and studied. This is a mistake. A person is affected in maimer in consequence of an exaggerated facility for following what happens in thought, which the automatic nervous organs possess. The voice takes the most varied inflections, according to the slightest changes in the feelings."' Facial expression does not seem to me to bear any relation whatever to automatism. It is largely under control of the will, as every good actor will testify. It is no more automatic than is the act of raising the hand to the mouth when one is eating. In the case of the patient 272 HYPNOTISM. previously mentioned, who had the tumor of the cerebellum, co-ordination was so much im- paired that the man had to be fed, because he could not accurately7 carry his fork from his plate to his mouth. Dr. Bernheim cites a case of a boy7, who, when his ey7es were closed at command, would immediately become unconscious of external events. He was hypnotized, then, simply by closing his eyes, the hyrpnotization taking- place instantaneously. The boy in this state would converse volubly7 about himself, and immediately thereafter, when his eves were opened, he retained no memory of what he had said. We have Dr. Bernheim's word for the fact that the boy7 had no memory7 of his con- versation while in the hypnotic state. He does not state how he proved this. I, for one, cannot see how Dr. Bernheim, or any one else for that matter, could prove that the boy had no memory of what he had said while hypnotized. From the narration of the case I infer that the boy would pass instantly into and out of the hypnotic state at command. I think such statements are misleading. The theory of suggestion is, briefly, that a susceptible person will sleep when he is told to do so, and that his sleep will be of a particular kind. In this sleep the subject will do what he is told and will also awake by suggestion. HYPNOTISM. 273 While acting under the influence of this potent factor even his faculties, his senses, special and general, will obey any command given by the suggestor, if I may7 be allowed the word in this place. Theory of Animal Magnetism. Those believing in this theory, of which Mes- mer was the most prominent, hold, as has been previously7 mentioned, that the hypnotizer exer- cises a force, independently of suggestion, over the subject. They7 believe one part of the body may be charged separately, or that the whole body may7 be filled with magnetism. They rec- ognize the power of suggestion, but they7 do not believe it to be the principal factor in the pro- duction of the rrypnotic state. There has been much bitter dispute, especially in Europe, be- tween the suggestionists and the followers of the doctrine of animal magnetism. The phe- nomena produced by the so-called mesmerists certainly7 differ from those which are seen when a person is simply hypnotized by suggestion (by telling him to close his eyes and sleep). The Neurosis Theory. Now the lay reader must not be frightened by this formidable-looking word. Its meaning is very simple. A neurosis is any affection of the 18 274 HYPNOTISM. nervous centres occurring without any material agent producing it, without inflammation or any other constant structural change which can be detected in the nervous centres. As will be seen from the definition, any abnormal manifestation of the nervous system of whose cause we know practically nothing, is, for convenience, termed a neurosis. If a man has a certain habit or trick it is termed a neu- rosis or a neuropathic habit. One man of my acquaintance, who is a professor in a college, always begins his lecture by first sneezing and then pulling at his nose. Many forms of tremor are called neurosis. Now to say that hypnotism is the result of a neurosis, simply means that a person's nervous system is susceptible to this condition, which, by M. Charcot and his followers, is regarded as abnormal. Dr. Moll considers that, in the light of our present knowledge of hypnotism, the most we can accomplish towards an explanation of it is to compare its phenomena with those observed in waking life. By way of explanation, let us suppose that we are trying to explain a hyp- notic negative hallucination of sight. We must compare it with a corresponding phe- nomenon in waking life. By so doing we will notice that in the hypnotic state the patient fails to perceive any object which the operator HYPNOTISM. 275 tells him he cannot see, while in waking life we should be all the more certain to see an ob- ject when told that it is not there, from the fact of our attention being directed toward it. In explanation of this point of difference Dr. Moll, following Wundt, assumes the existence of a so-called dream consciousness in the hyp- notic state. It is believed by Dr. Moll that by means of this method of analogy, many phenomena, both hypnotic and post-hy7pnotic, can be explained, and he advises self-observation as a most valu- able aid to investigation. He considers that a great number of different states are included under the head of hypnosis, and takes up the discussion of the various hypnotic phenomena in the following order : (1) The phenomena of suggestion as regards voluntary movements ; (2) positive and nega- tive delusions of the senses ; (3) rapport; (4) the phenomena of memory ; (/>) post-hypnotic suggestion. Two rules are emphasized by Dr. Moll, as of great importance in enabling us to clearly com- prehend the various symptoms of the hypnotic condition. These rules are (1) that men have a certain proneness to allow themselves to be influenced by others through their ideas, and, in particular, to believe much without making conscious logical deductions. Dr. Moll is evi- 276 HYPNOTISM. dently much confused upon this point. Ordi- nary credulity7 does not resemble the hypnotic state. Inform a man, no matter how credu- lous he may be, that he cannot see the knob on the door in front of him, and the chances are that he will laugh at you. Let his attention be focussed, and let him believe some occult power is working on him, and the result may be quite different. I have known a number of very credulous people who were hypnotized only with great difficulty, and some could not be hypnotized at all, although they believed firmly when the attempt was made that they7 could be. (2) A psychological or physiological effect tends to appear in a man if he is expect- ing it. In regard to the first of these two points, both Bernheim and Bentivegini are in accord with Dr. Moll in saying that every one is more or less influenced by ideas. Among other ex- amples, as an illustration of the second point. Dr. Moll cites a case as follows : "A judicial •disinterment was to be made ; the grave was opened and the coffin raised. The official who was present said that he already smelt putre- faction, but when the coffin was opened it was found to be empty. Here expectation caused a distinct sense perception." It is possible in this case that the officer mis- took the scent of the earth or some other foul smell for the smell of putrefaction which was HYPNOTISM. 277 supposed to come from the dead body. I do not doubt, however, that many times such events occur in the way described by Dr. Moll. Can a person be hypnotized against his will ? Dr. Moll expresses his views on this subject as follows: "The question whether hypnosis can be induced against the wish of the subject is by no means un- important. We must distinguish here whether the subject complies with the prescribed conditions or whether he does not. If he does; if, for example, he sufficiently concentrates his attention; if he gazes at some object with the necessary attention, then hypnosis may be produced at the first attempt, even against the wish of the person experimented upon. However, it must be remembered that a per- son who does not allow himself to be hypnotized will hardly place himself in the necessary mental state. He will not generally fulfil the conditions; he will fix his eyes, but will allow his attention to wander. However, I think I may assert that cer- tain persons accustomed to obedience can be hyp- notized at the first attempt even against their will, and without the ordinary necessary straining of the attention if only they are told that hypnosis will occur. " The conditions for hypnosis may occur occasion- ally by chance, without the subject being conscious of them. (Max Dessoir.) "There is an interesting case of a girl who had often been hypnotized by loud noises, and who went to a drawer to appropriate some photographs from it. The casual beating of a gong threw her into a cataleptic state, so that she stood motionless in the act of carrying out her theft, and was discovered. 278 HYPNOTISM. Hack Tuke remarks that it is a pity all thieves can- not be taken as easily." Going on to discuss the single phenomena of hypnosis, the first symptom considered is, the functional disturbances of voluntary move- ment. Dr. Moll thinks that the explanation of this is to be found in the principle that expecta- tion may bring on functional abnormalities, but he says that in order that this should be understood thoroughly7, the hypnosis should be induced by slow degrees, as in this case the motor disturbances are plainer. If we can direct the subject's whole attention to the belief that such an effect as before men- tioned—that his arm will be paralyzed, for in- stance—will take place, that effect will gradu- ally7 occur. Such a result having been once produced the subject's will-power and power of resistance are considerably7 weakened, because he is much more inclined than at first to be- lieve the hypnotizer's assertions. This is generally the first step in the process of hypnosis. The method pursued at the school of Nancy is to convince the subject that his eyes are closing by directing his attention to that effect as strongly7 as possible. However. it is not necessary7 that we begin with the eyes. According to Max Dessoir, any member of the body7 will answer as well. HYPNOTISM 27 V) Sense Delusions. Dr. Moll holds that we are subject to positive sense delusions in the waking state as well as in the hypnotic state, and gives as an illustra- tion an example of Max Dessoir's. "I say to some one who is quite awake, k A rat is run- ning behind you.' The man can assure himself at once by turning around that there is no rat, but according to experience he will have a mental image of a rat for a moment, because I spoke of it, /. e., there is already a trace of hallucination, i' Again I do not agree with this statement. There is a great difference between a memory and a hallucination. Tell a man that a rat is behind him. Suppose the image of a rat is the first thing that enters his consciousness. Unless he thought he saw the rat upon the floor there would be no hallucination, but simply an image called up by the association of ideas. There is a difference between sense delusions in the waking state and in the hypnotic state. A moment's calm reflection is sufficient to dispel the former, while the latter increase in strength and persistence until they are as real as if they were really caused by sense per- ceptions. The previously mentioned dream conscious- ness differs in two respects (according to Wundt) 280 HYPNOTISM. from that of our waking life. These are, as Dr. Moll sets them forth, as follows: "In the first place, the remembered ideas have a hallucinatory character, /. e., we try in our dreams to objectify the images of memory, we do not recognize that they are images of memory as we do in waking life, but believe that we see, feel, etc., the real object to which they correspond. In the same way external impressions do not produce normal perceptions, but illusions. In the second place, in dreams the faculty of perception is changed, i. e., the power of judging the experiences of which we are conscious is essentially altered. "It is just this peculiarity of the dream con- sciousness (mentioned by Wundt) which is found in the consciousness of such hypnotic subjects as are accessible to suggested sense delusions." It would be exceedingly difficult to prove just what the experiences of a hypnotized subject are while in this so-called state of dream con- sciousness. A subject while hypnotized will answer you intelligently. Ask him how he feels, and, if he is imaginative, he will give you a vivid picture of his sensations, and, if I may judge of the sensations of dreams by my own experience, they do not in any way resemble the fantastic stories which are told by hypno- tized subjects in answer to questions. HYPNOTISM. 281 Other hypnotized subjects who have not vivid imagination will simply give you direct answers to the questions propounded to them. When they are brought out of this condition their descriptions vary as much as they did while they were hypnotized. Some will tell you they re- member nothing, others a few things, while others again remember everything that has occurred. Hence I fail to see the resemblance between the consciousness during ordinary dreams and that produced by artificial hypnosis. Dr. Moll next discusses the subject of rapport. His definition of it, which accords with that given by Noizet, Bertrand, Liebault, Bernheim, Forel and others, is as follows: " Rapport is a state of sleep in which the attention of the subject is fixed exclusively upon the hypnotizer so that the idea of him is constantly present in the subject's memory." I take exception again to the term sleep, since I know no condition of natural sleep in which the sleeper will obey without question a number of suggestions made to him. In natural sleep a certain number of hallucinations may be induced by stimulation of the senses, but these hallucinations will not follow any definite type, as will the hallucinations which are the products of suggestion in the hypnotized sub- ject. 282 HYPNOTISM. Bertrand makes the comparison of a mother falling asleep over her child's cradle. She hears the least sound the child makes, but no other. Then Bertrand goes on to say that the subject has fallen asleep with the thought of the hypnotizer in his mind, and hears only what he says, as in the case of the mother and child. Dr. Moll, taking up the consideration of the negative hallucinations, calls attention to two points. "Firstly, that the subject does not see certain objects, or hear certain noises, etc. ; secondly and more particularly, that the objects he does not see are just those he is forbidden by the hypnotizer to see." He also brings up again the point previously mentioned, that in the waking state the man is the more sure to see, from the fact of his attention being called to it, that which he is told he cannot see, while in hypnosis he fails to see that which he is for- bidden by the hypnotizer to see. Dr. Moll regards this process in the hypnotic state as a diversion of the attention, like that in the waking man who fails to perceive things which stimulate his organs of sense. He says further that this is shown in particular by those hallucinations which vanish the moment his attention is drawn to the hallucinatory ob- ject. That we can see clearly in such cases that the negative hallucination was caused by HYPNOTISM. 283 the diversion of the attention from the object, and that the direction of the attention to it was a counter-suggestion. Binet and Fere claim that another factor must be considered in addition to the diversion of the attention, viz., that before the diversion can be attained the subject must be convinced that the object he is forbidden to see is not there. Dr. Moll considers, however, that in addition to the two factors previously mentioned, the diversion of attention and the establishment of the conviction of the subject, there is needed to explain the negative hallucinations a com- plete changed state of consciousness, that is, the dream consciousness. He says in summing up, "There are three factors for the production of negative hallucinations ; firstly, dream con- sciousness ; secondly, the conviction established in the mind of the patient that the object is not there, and, thirdly, the diversion of the attention which results from this. The explanation given for analgesia in the hypnotic subject is-that it is induced by sug- gestion, reasoning from the fact that expected pain is much more keenly felt than that which comes unexpectedly. Again I do not accord with these gentlemen. I believe the analgesia (insensibility to pain) to be the result of a concentration of the conscious- 284 HYPNOTISM. ness in another direction, which I illustrated in the case of the man who injured his leg in the railway accident without at the time being aware of the fact. The derangement of memory sometimes fol- lowing the hypnotic condition is the next symp- tom discussed by Dr. Moll. He claims that there is an analogy between the occasional for- getting of acts performed consciously in our waking life and the failure to remember, after the hypnotic state, those things Which happened in hypnosis. But as this analogy is not suf- ficient to explain this derangement of memory, he assumes the existence of a double conscious- ness, which he explains as follows. "If we think of the life of such a being as divided into several periods a, b, c, d, e, f, g, in the periods a, c, e, g, only the events of those periods will be remembered, so that in the period c, he will remember only what hap- pened in a, and in the period e, what happened in a and c. On the other hand, in the periods b, d, f, both what has happened in them and in a, c, e, will be remembered. This idea of double consciousness is supported by Max Des- soir and Pierre Janet. They hold that human personality is a unity merely to our conscious- ness, and that it consists really7 of at least two clearly distinguishable personalities, each held together by its own chain of memories, arguing HYPNOTISM. 285 from the fact that one performs many mental acts unconsciously. They cite as an example the experiment made by a Mr. Barkworth, who, it is claimed, could add up a long column of figures, at the same time carrying on an ani- mated conversation. Dessoir considers that con- sciousness and memory are two elements of personality, and that in the case of Barkworth just mentioned there may be distinguished the elements of a second personality. That the mental processes which take place consciously to the man are called the primary consciousness, while those which take place mechanically are called the secondary consciousness. It is indeed a wonderful fact that European investigators should have reached the same conclusions independently which were arrived at centuries ago by the leading thinkers of Bud- dhism. This idea of a dual, or triple, or a quad- ruple consciousness is in no way new. We find it in early writings dating back many centuries before the birth of Christ. An educated Chinese gentleman made for me a translation from a Chinese work, the title of which is too intricate to be mentioned here, which taught the fact that there are many separate states of con- sciousness. According to this gentleman's translation, a doctrine something like the fol- lowing was advocated : " Man possesses two great brains, and two small brains. One great 286 HYPNOTISM. brain may go to sleep while the other great brain remains awake, and it makes the man do strange things which he, when the other brain awakes, does not know." This is wonderfully like the idea which is held by our modern phys- iologists, namely, that one portion of the cor- tical cells of the brain may act independently of the others, and thus give rise to a separate conscious state. We find the modern teachers of Theosophy expounding similar ideas of mul- tiplicity of conscious states. I do not know that they attribute them, however, to the inde- pendent action of certain parts of the brain. In the case just above mentioned the two consciousnesses exist together. It is stated, however, that they may7, under certain circum- stances, follow one another. As a demonstra- tion an example of Dessoir's is quoted in which a person took up a dream on the second night where he had left off on the first. Dr. Moll says further : " Applying this theory of double consciousness to the state of hypnosis, Dessoir thinks that hypnosis simply exhibits the hidden half of our mental life ; the part which is called secondary consciousness and which can occasionally be observed in ordinary life, or more plainly in pathological states. Dr. Moll, in leaving this subject, while he con- cedes that Dessoir's explanations are valuable, believes that he includes too much in his idea HYPNOTISM. 287 of double Ego, and states that he does not con- ceive the double consciousness on the same plan as Dessoir. Post-hypnotic suggestions are discussed at some length by Dr. Moll. He considers that in a certain sense they can be explained by analogy7, and supposes the following case : " I give a letter to X., who has called on me, and ask him to post it on his way home, if he passes a letter-box. This he does. " I now give exactly the same commission to Y., who is in a hypnotic state without sub- sequent loss of memory. He also fulfils the request." In this illustration Dr. Moll does not con- sider that the fact that Y. posted the letter without conscious act of will, distinguishes his case from that of X., because in this case it is assumed that he also posted the letter mechanically, talking in the meantime to an acquaintance, and not remembering afterwards whether he posted it or not; to assure himself he feels in his pocket for the letter. Now, Dr. Moll says very truly that it would be more striking if X. should perform some action against his will, just as post-hypnotic sugges- tions are sometimes carried out. He claims that an analogy to such a post-hyp- notic suggestion can be very easily found, and gives the following as an instance. 288 HYPNOTISM. " We will suppose that A. has lost a dear relation. A. is, in consequence, saddened and depressed, and cannot refrain from tears. Months pass and he grows calm ; but when the anniversary of the death arrives he falls into the same state of mental excitement and tears which he cannot conquer. The vivid idea has been enough to throw him, against his will, into a certain state." He also gives, as another an- alogy, the case of a person who stammers. At home he does not stammer, but a stranger comes in and he commences, against his will, to stammer, because he expected to do so. Arguing from the above, Dr. Moll concludes that such a result is brought about by vivid ex- pectation, and remarks that it is therefore not astonishing that a post-hypnotic suggestion should succeed against the subject's will. I cannot see the analogy between the two con- ditions. An individual stammers in the pres- ence of a stranger from what we call nervous erethism, in other words, he is over-excitable ; or, on the other hand, his timidity gets the better of his self-control. Now a man obeys a post- hypnotic suggestion in quite a different man- ner. It affects him as an imperative impulse. Let me illustrate. I told B., while in the hy7p- notic state, that six hours later he would go to his garden, gather a squash, and send it to his neighbor, Mr. C. The man was then aroused, HYPNOTISM. 289 and Mr. C. was told to expect the squash and to notify me if it arrived. As Mr. C. was a lawyer, I requested him to cross-question Mr. B., if he brought the squash, and to ascertain for me, if possible, what form the suggestion took in the mind of Mr. B. Promptly at the hour named this gentleman arrived at Mr. C.'s house with the squash. Mr. C, after praising the squash, said, " What made you bring it to me '( " The man replied, '' I saw your little boy in my garden looking at my squashes, and I thought he might like one of them." Mr. C. " But I have the same kind of squashes and the same sizes in my garden that you have in yours. Why should my child want one of yours?" "Oh, I do not know," the man re- plied, "perhaps it would seem nicer coming from some other house." Then he added, " Any way, I was seized with the idea, which was to me irresistible, that you would like one of my squashes, and here it is." Mr. C. " This is very curious. When did you get that idea ?" Mr. B. "It has been in my mind several times during the afternoon, and I could not get rid of it." Dr. Moll also states that post-hypnotic sug- gestions carried out against the will have a great likeness to many instinctive movements, 19 290 HYPNOTISM. and cites an example of the latter from Wundt, viz., the raising of the hand to ward off danger. In considering post-hypnotic suggestions that are carried out when there is loss of memory after waking, Dr. Moll returns to the case of waking life where X. was asked to post a letter. He believes that although X. did not keep the request continually in his consciousness it was only apparently forgotten and not really so, for he would not have posted the letter if he had not really remembered to do so. Likewise, in hypnotic suggestion, the suggestion really remains in the memory and the unconsciousness is only apparent. Is this not true of everything we remember during our whole lives ? If a man wishes to go aboard a train at a definite hour he does not think constantly that he will take the train, we will say at 4 p. m., but at- tends to his affairs until train time. Again, Dr. Moll says: "All post-hypnotic suggestions are merely apparently forgotten between waking and fulfilment." I omit his proof of this for want of space. His explanation for post-hypnotic sense-de- lusions occurring in a new hypnosis is, briefly, as follows : Since the loss of memory following the first hypnosis is only apparent, the idea re- mains in the secondary consciousness. Con- sequently at an appointed time the suggested idea transforms itself into a sense-delusion in HYPNOTISM. 291 a fresh hypnosis, which fresh hypnosis comes on through association when the idea reappears. The above explanation Dr. Moll does not think will apply when the post-hypnotic sense- delusion appears without a new hypnosis. His investigations have led him to the following conclusions : That these post-hypnotic sense- delusions appearing without a new hypnosis are analogous to certain hallucinations of sight, hearing, etc., which some persons have with- out being hypnotized. That these hallucina- tions result from a particular mental state which in some cases may be called a state of expecta- tion7 and is even perhaps identical with it. Dr. Moll says, " Susceptibility7 to suggestion is the chief phenomenon of hypnosis. We have seen how easily a hypnotic suggestion is carried out. The externally suggested idea of a movement induces the movement, the idea of an object causes a corresponding sense halluci- nation." This is only true of a certain number of hypnotized subjects, perhaps the larger number of them. The condition of hypnosis frequently merges into states in which the patient will not obey suggestion. Notably, one of these is hystero-epilepsy. Hysterical sleep is another. Hysterical delirium also may here be mentioned. I have seen a person, after obeying suggestion quietly for a while, suddenly begin to shout 292 HYPNOTISM. and talk violently and absolutely refuse to obey any further command given him by the opera- tor. The apparently contradictory statement is made by Dr. Moll, that however strange and paradoxical the phenomena of trypnosis may, at first sight, appear to us, we may be sure that there is no absolute difference between hy7pnotic and non-hypnotic states. Again he says, '' We may then consider every hypnosis as a state in which the normal course of the ideas is inhibited. It matters not whether the ideas have to do with movements, or with sense impressions." It is generally admitted by7 all hypnotists that voluntary attention is the pre-requisite factor for inducing the hypnotic state. The subject while hypnotized will focus his attention upon any object that the hypnotizer suggests. Ed. von Hartmann classifies attention as spontaneous and reflex. The following defini- tion of the two is given by Dr. Moll. "When by an act of will we choose one of several ideas and fix our attention upon it, this is spontane- ous attention; but when one idea among sev- eral gets the upper hand through its intensity7, or for some other reason, and this represses other ideas and draws exclusive attention upon it, this is reflex attention." He considers that the spontaneous attention, HYPNOTISM. 293 that is, the ability of the subject to voluntarily prefer one idea to another, is interfered with in the hypnotic state. That the reflex attention remains undisturbed, and that it is through this that the suggested idea, the choice of which has not, however, been left to the sub- ject, comes into prominence. Durand de Gros, Liebault, Richet, Beard, Schneider, Wundt, and Bentivegni take the same view. Speaking of the further investigation of numerical psychology, as that branch of psy- chology which considers the calculating of the time of reaction, etc., is called, Dr. Moll says that special attention should be given to the measurements of the time of reaction. He follows Wundt in his definition of the time of reaction, and defines it as the time that elapses between the moment of making a sense impres- sion, and the moment when the impression manifests itself by some external sign. The experiments of Marie and Azoulay in measur- ing the time of reaction of suggested sense de- lusions in hypnosis show it to be longer than when the object was a real one. Among other experimenters who have meas- ured the time of reaction for real objects, Stan- ley Hall found it to be before hypnosis, .328 seconds ; during hypnosis, .193 seconds ; half an hour after,.348 seconds. In this case the time f 294 HYPNOTISM. is considerably shortened during hypnosis. Prof. James did not obtain like results. His average figures on one occasion are as follows : Before hypnosis,.282 seconds ; during hypnosis, .546 seconds ; after hy7pnosis, .166 seconds. There are, however, many contradictions in James' results. Speaking of the appearance in ordinary life of phenomena resembling those accompanying hypnosis, Dr. Moll says, " I will therefore here express my conviction that all good observers may find ' hypnotic phenomena' in daily7 life. They result spontaneously from a chance oc- currence of the necessary conditions. There are further analogies to hypnosis which can easily be developed out of the preceding dis- cussions." Heidenhain, among others, has attempted a physiological explanation. His theory is given by Dr. Moll as follows: "Heidenhain sup- poses that the cause of the hypnotic state is an inhibition of the action of the ganglion cells of the cerebral cortex, induced by continuous weak stimulation of certain nerves. Heiden- hain thinks this inhibition is analogous to re- flex paralyses, as in these also the functions of the ganglion cells are impaired by peripheral stimuli." Among those who do not attempt to localize the hypnotic subject's loss of will may be HYPNOTISM. 295 mentioned Dr. J. Hughes Bennett. He, rec- ognizing that it is not the genesis of separate ideas which is prevented in hypnosis, but that it is the voluntary synthesis of them, con- sidered, since the ideas originated in the gan- glion cells, that there was a functional disturb- ance during hypnosis in the nerve fibres which connect these cells. Jendrassik looks at the matter in much the same way. The following authors attribute the hypnotic phenomena to a change in the circulation of blood in the brain: Braid, Carpenter, Tuke and Rumpf. Heidenhain, who at first supported this theory, afterward abandoned it for the following rea- sons : 1. Investigations with the ophthalmo- scope discovered no alterations in the retinal vessels. 2. He found that hypnosis would appear in spite of the inhalation of nitrite of amyl, which causes congestion of the brain (hypersemia). Dr. Moll says that even when there is a change in the circulation of the blood in the brain, it is just as much a mistake to say that the changed circulation causes the changed functions as it would be to say that because a muscle needs more blood when it is at work, it works more when more blood flows to it. He also says that if we were to take the vaso-motor 296 HYPNOTISM. disturbances as proved, it is by no means proved whether they are the cause or the effect of hypnosis. The opposite view is taken by Cappie. His theory is that the increased activity of the motor centres in hypnosis draws too much blood to them, thereby causing anaemia of the other portions of the brain which are necessary to consciousness. Cappie's theory is based on the principle put forward by Brown-Sequard, viz., that hypnotism is the sum of dynamo- genetic and inhibitory acts, i. , advanced the theory7 that the heavenly7 bodies exert an influence on the bodily health of man. From this theory7 was developed the belief that men exert an influence upon each other. It was taught by Van Helmont and the Scotchman, Maxwell, that there was a magnetic power in man which could be used beneficially for the cure of disease. Later Santanelli taught the same in Italy. Pomponatius. a Professor of Philosophy at Padua, about the beginning of the sixteenth century, supported a similar view. John Baptist Van Helmont, the discoverer of laudanum, spirits of hartshorn, the volatile salts, and the aeriform fluids to which he gave the name Gas, wrote on the subject of magnet- ism. This was about the beginning of the seventeenth century7. His definition of Magnetism is, '' That occult power which bodies exert over each other at a distance, whether by attraction or repulsion." Frederick Anton Mesmer, a doctor of Vienna (1734-1815) was the first to bring the doctrine 'vAv 320 HYPNOTISM. of animal magnetism into general notice. He believed in the existence of animal magnetism as a fluid force, but distinguished it from the magnetism of metals. In the year 1775 he sent out a circular letter addressed to a number of the leading academies. In this letter he set forth his belief that animal magnetism existed, and that by means of it one person could exert an influence over another. No attention was paid to his letter except by the Academy of Berlin, which sent him an unfavorable reply7. Mesmer made use of animal magnetism in the practice of medicine, at first by contact, later by using various objects of wood, glass or iron, which he believed could be charged by him with the magnetism. In 1778 he went to Paris where he constructed his famous " baquet " which he used for the cure of disease. It was a complicated apparatus. It consisted of a tub containing bottles arranged in a particular manner, also powdered glass, iron filings, water, etc. Through the lid passed movable iron rods which could be applied to the bodies of the patients. The patients stood in circles about the '' baquet." Soon the influence of the supposed current made it- self felt and caused the appearance of various hysterical and convulsionary symptoms, laughter, tears, moans, spasmodic movements, etc. As Mr. Vincent says, these were probably HYPNOTISM. 321 merely7 hysterical attacks brought about by the exciting combination of circumstances. Similar phenomena are constantly occurring in spiritualistic circles in this country at the pres- ent day. In the year 177!) Mesmer published a paper entitled, " Memoire sur la decouverte du mag- netisme animal," in which he claimed to have discovered a principle which would cure every disease. He sets forth his conclusions in twenty7-seven propositions of which the sub- stance is as follows:— There is a reciprocal action and reaction between the planets, the earth, and animate nature by7 means of a constant universal fluid, subject to mechanical laws yet unknown. The animal body is directly affected by the insinua- tion of this agent into the substance of the nerves. It causes in the human bodies prop- erties analogous to those of the magnet, for which reason it is called " Animal Magnetism." This magnetism may7 be communicated to other bodies, may be increased and reflected by mirrors, communicated, propagated and accu- mulated, by sound. It may be accumulated, concentrated, and transported. The same rules apply7 to' the opposite virtue. The magnet is susceptible of magnetism and the opposite virtue. The magnet and artificial electricitv have, with respect to disease, prop- 21 322 HYPNOTISM. erties common to a host of other agents pre- sented to us by nature, and if the use of these has been attended by useful results, they7 are due to animal magnetism. By the aid of magnetism, the physician enlightened as to the use of medicine, may7 render its action more perfect, and can provoke and direct salutary crises so as to have them completely7 under his control. Mesmer attracted much attention at Paris, where he gained many adherents, but also found many opponents. Prominent among the former was Dr. d'Eslon, one of the most noted scientists of the clay. Although the Faculty7 of Medicine which investigated Mesmer's claims reported unfavor- ably, nevertheless, he had a pronounced success in Paris. He replied to the attacks which were made upon him by the Faculty of Medicine, in a paper entitled, " Precis historique des faits relatif au magnetisme animal." The unfair- ness of the medical profession in Paris finally led him to leave that place, though the Govern- ment offered him a pension of 20,000 francs if he would remain. He afterwards came back at the request of his pupils. In 1781 the Government appointed two com- missions to examine Mesmer's claims. One was composed of the members of the Academy of Sciences and the Faculty of Medicine. HYPNOTISM. 323 Benjamin Franklin and Lavoisier were also of the number. The other was made up of mem- bers of the Royal Academy of Medicine. Both commissions reported unfavorably. The sub- stance of the conclusions arrived at by the Academy of Science was as follows : that the magnetic fluid did not exist and consequently had no beneficial effects ; that the various hysterical and violent symptoms observed in patients under public treatment were due to pressure, contact, and excitement of imagina- tion ; finally, that the contact and repeated excitement of the imagination might become hurtful, and that all treatment in public in which magnetism is employed must in the end be attended with evil results. One man, however, maintained Mesmer's claims, and published a private report in which he argued that certain of the effects produced could not be explained by imagination alone. This man was Laurent de Jussieu, the eminent botanist. He withdrew from the commission of the Royal Society of Medicine, on account of their hostile attitude toward Mesmer. Mesmer died in 1815, and was buried in Mors- burg, where a monument was erected in his honor by the physicians of Berlin. Much has been written about Mesmer which is in a sneering and contemptuous tone, by certain writers who, because they did not be- 324 HYPNOTISM. lieve in his theories, saw fit to attack his private character. In view of this ungenerous practice I take pleasure in quoting what Mr. Vincent says in regard to the above-mentioned writers. " It seems ever the habit of the shallow scientist to plume himself on the more accurate theories which have been provided for him by7 the progress of knowledge and of science, and then, having been fed with a limited historical pabulum, to turn and talk lightly7, and with an air of the most superior condescension, of the weakness and follies of those but for whose patient lal >ors our modern theories would prob- ably be non-existent.'1 Following Mesmer came the Marquis Chas- tenet de Puysegur, who took up with en- thusiasm the study of the hypnotic phenomena, and to whom is due the discovery7 of the som- nambulic state. He made use of hypnotism in the cure of disease, and with such success that he was un- able to accommodate all his patients, and re- sorted to Mesmer's plan of magnetizing a tree, which became widely7 known as l' De Puysegur's tree." The success of De Puy7segur was the signal for the formation of a number of societies in France for the purpose of investigating the magnetic phenomena. Among the contemporaries of De Puysegur, HYPNOTISM. 305 Petetin is worthy of mention. He described the state of catalepsy and the phenomena of sense-transference. This new version of the doctrine of magnet- ism was introduced into Germany about the same time that it appeared in France. Its headquarters were for some time at Bremen. Afterwards it spread through the provinces of the upper Rhine. Although there was at first a good deal of opposition to animal magnetism, it was finally taken up by the scientific world. In Austria, however, the practice of magnetism was entirely forbidden. Among those who in- vestigated the subject in Germany may7 be mentioned Wienholt, Bicker, Albers, Heineken, Pezold, Selle, Schelling. Kieser, Treviranus, Kluge. In the year 1*12 the Prussian Government interested itself in animal magnetism and sent Wolfart to Mesmer at Frauenfeld to investigate. He became thoroughly interested, and when he returned introduced the practice in the hospital at Berlin. In the year 1* 1-4-15 a new interest was added to the study of the subject)>y Deleuze, who pub- lished a book on the subject, and by the Abbe Faria, who came from India. He demonstrated that there was no unseen force or fluid, but that the cause of the phenomena was wholly sub- jective. Indeed, he made use of the method of ;:2(i HYPNOTISM. suggestion in the experiments which he per- formed. From this time that conception of the nature of hypnosis from which later the suggestion theory7 was evolved, began to gain ground. The investigations of Dr. Bertrand and Gen. Noizet in 1820 helped on its way this theory, which had its birth in the demonstrations of Abbe Faria. In 1*2* > experiments were carried on by Du Potet at the Hotel Dieu and at the Salpetriere. Soon after this the Academy7 of Medicine, through the exertions of Foissac, was again persuaded to investigate the question. A commission was appointed who, after five years of research, submitted their report. The report gave a description of the methods used to induce the magnetic connection, the time required to produce it, etc. There were enu- merated the phenomena of somnambulism, anaesthesia, loss of memory and the various other symptoms usually accompanying the hypnotic state. Finally the use of magnetism as a therapeutic agent is mentioned, and the statement is made that it should be allowed a place within the circle of medical sciences, and that, consequently, physicians only should practise it. This report, so different from the result of the first investigation, did more to confuse opinions in regard to magnetism than to clear them up, HYPNOTISM. 327 and finally7, in 1*37, another commission was appointed to examine the experiments of a magnetizer named Berna. The report of this commission was decidedly unfavorable to ani- mal magnetism. Soon after this, Burdin, a member of the Academy, in order to test the clairvoyant powers which had been claimed for the hyp- notic subjects, offered a prize of 3,000 francs to any one who could read a given writing with- out the aid of eyes. Several candidates tried for the prize, but all failed of obtaining it. After this the Academy7 refused to pay7 any further attention to the question of Magnetism. While these investigations were going on in France the subject was receiving considerable attention in Germany. After about 1830, how- ever, the belief in the magnetism theory began to decline rapidly in both Germany and France. Siemers of Hamburg, and Hensler and En- nemoser in Bavaria, still continued to support it. Among others who interested themselves in the study7 of the magnetic phenomena should be mentioned Most, Herschel, Fischer, Cams, Pfnor, Schopenhauer. As the belief in the genuineness of the mag- netic phenomena declined, men of science be- came very7 unwilling to have their names con- nected with the subject. The chief cause which operated to bring the study7 and practice of 328 HYPNOTISM. magnetism into ill-repute was the eagerness with which showmen and every description of fakir and charlatan seized upon this new science as a novel method of making money out of human credulity. Abuses of this kind have been, until quite recently, a serious hindrance to the progress of the investigation of the hyp- notic phenomena. In England hypnotism was not recognized until long after it was well known in France and Germany. Two physicians of London, Elliotson and Ashburner, took up the subject, but accomplished little more than injury to their own professional reputations. However, the investigations of Dr. Braid of Manchester, in 1*41, mark an important stage in the history of hypnotism. It was he who first established the suggestion theory7 on a scientific basis. To him also is due the name "hypno- tism." Braid came to the conclusion that hyp- notism and mesmerism were analogous states, but not identical, and he left magnetism as a state independent of hypnotism. The result of Braid's experiments was that he became con- vinced that there was no magnetic fluid or force emanating from the operator to the sub- ject, and that the hypnotic state was caused by7 physiological modifications of the nervous system. He considered that the hypnotic state was purely subjective, and that sleep wai HYPNOTISM 829 brought about by the fatigue of the eyelids and the concentration of the attention on a single idea, consequent upon fixing the gaze on a small object. Braid was supported in his con- clusions by Carpenter, the physiologist, and by a number of others. At about this time, or a little later, an Amer- ican named Grimes took up the study7 of hyp- notism and, independently of Braid, arrived at the same conclusions. Among other Ameri- can investigators should be mentioned Dods, Stone, and Darling. These writers termed the phenomena of hyp- nosis "electro-biological." Contemporaneous with these was the French writer, Durand de Gros, who wrote under the pseudonym of Dr. Phillips. In 1850 the doctrines of Braid were intro- duced in Bordeaux by Dr. Azam. He made a number of experiments and published the re- sults in the " Archives de Me de cine." Interest in the theory of suggestion now began to become more general. Numerous experiments were made by Velpeau, Follin, Guerineau, Demarquay, and others, to test the value of hyrpnotism in surgery. It was used with some success in performing operations without pain ; but as it was not known then that anaesthesia could be pro- duced by suggestion, it was supposed that only 330 HYPNOTISM. the deeper stages of hypnosis were of value in surgery. Lasegue discovered, in 1865, that catalepsy could be produced by closing the eyes of the patient. Dr. Liebault of Nancy, after having spent several years in studying the hypnotic phenomena, in 1806, published a book entitled, " Du sommeil et des etats analogues consideres surtout au point de vue de Vaction du moral sur lephysique." This work is of considerable importance in the history of the progress of therapeutic suggestion. Liebault considered hypnotic sleep to be identical with natural sleep ; that they7 are both due to the focussing of the attention and the nervous force upon the idea of sleep. In ordinary sleep, however, the subject is in relation with himself only7, while in hypnosis the subject falls asleep with his thought fixed in relationship with the hypno- tizer. In IS73 experiments in hypnotizing animals were made by Czermak and some others. Sy7mptoms resembling the ordinary hypnotic state were produced in birds, lobsters, pigeons, rabbits, etc. Preyer, however, considered this to be a state of paralysis due to fear, and gave it the name "cataplexia." In 1878 Charcot began his experiments at the Salpetriere. He found that catalepsy7 with anaesthesia could be produced by7 fixing the HYPNOTISM. 331 gaze upon a bright light. He also produced somnambulism from lethargy by rubbing the top of the patient's head. About this time interest was again aroused in Germany by Hansen, the Danish hypno- tizer, Weinhold, Heidenhain, Ruhlmann, and others. Rumpf, Schneider, Preyer, and others brought forward various theories, physiolog- ical, chemical and psycho-physical. The experiments at the Salpetriere did not attract a great deal of attention in France, but after the Medical School of Nancy, including Liebault, Bernheim, Beaunis, Liegeois, took up the subject of hypnotism, interest in it became more general. The various theories have finally become sifted down to the Neurosis theory, which is the one supported at the Salpetriere, and the Sugges- tion theory of the school of Nancy, and the Con- test between these two schools is still going on. How, then, does hypnotism stand at the pres- ent day ? We find many physicians of great scientific attainment using it successfully for the cure of disease. Leading psychologists and physiologists in every civilized country in the world are studying it. Only a very few persons deny its existence. Mr. Ernest Hart, writing in the October Century of the present year, dwells at length upon what he terms the "Eternal Gullibility 332 HYPNOTISM. of Humanity." His conclusions are mainly7 drawn from the confessions of an individual who simulated the hypnotic state in public for the purpose of obtaining money. This fact is not new. It has been dwelt upon by the press in this country and abroad for a number of y7ears, and is well understood by the intelligent public. Mr. Hart does not deny the existence of the hypnotic state. The British Society for Psychical Research is still conducting earnest and painstaking investigations of hypnotism and many allied states. Writers of fiction, such as Crawford and Du Maurier, still find in it themes with which to embellish their novels. If I may judge by my own personal experi- ence, and by what I read generally, the public is still ignorant of the real nature of hypno- tism. How much or how little hypnotism will be used in the future for the cure of disease, time alone can determine. HYPNOTISM. 333 CHAPTER IV. BIBLIOGRAPHY. A List of Authors and Periodical Literature. and of Books, relating to Hypnotism and Allied Subjects. All the Year, vol. ii. p. 136. Alphandery, La Therapeutique morale et la sugges- tion. Paris, 1886. Arthur (H.), Ind. Med. Gaz. Calcutta-, 1*92, xxvii 40, G*. Azam, Hypnotisme et double conscience: origine de leur etude et divers travaux sur des sujets ana- logues; avec des prefaces et des lettres de MM. Paul Charcot et Ribot. Paris, 1893, F. Alcon, 383p. Hvo. Ibid., Hypnotisme, double conscience, et alterations de la personnalite. Preface par J. M. Charcot. Paris, 1887, J. B. Baillierres & Fils, 283p. Backman (Dr. Alfred), Experiments in Clairvoyance. Pro. Sec. Psych. Res. July, 1891. Balassa, Methode des Ilufbeschlages ohne Zwang. Baldwin (J. M.), With Dr. Bernheim at Nancy, Nation, vol. lv. p. 101. 334 HYPNOTISM. Bateman (F. 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Von Berlin (Otto), Kleidoskopische Studieiiber Hyp- notismus und Suggestion. Freiburg, 1892, F. E. Fehsenfeld, 73p. 12mo. Bernheim (II.), Neuestudien tiber Hypnotismus, Sug- gestion und Psycotherapie. Ueber von Sigm. Frend. Leipz. & Wien. 1892, 392p. 8vo. HYPNOTISM. 335 Bernheim, Hypnotisme, suggestion, psycho-therapie; etudes nouvelles. Paris, 1891, O. Doin, 520p. 8vo. Bernheim, Der suggestion und ihre Heilwirking. Autorisirte deutsche, Aufgabe von Dr. S. Frend, Holfle. Leipz. & Wien. 192p. 8vo. Bernheim, De la suggestion, etc. Paris, 1887. Bertrand, Traite du somnambulisme et des diff4 rentes modifications qu'il presente, 1823. Besse, De l'hypnotisme therapeutique. Montpellier, 1888. Best (L. S.). New Rev. vol. ii. p. 334. Bianchi (Quirino), L'ipnotismo e la guistzia peurli. Studio medico-legal. Xapoli, 1892, 131p. 12mo. Binet, La psychologie du raisonnement, recherches experimen tales par l'liypnotisme. Paris, 1886. Binet, Les alterations de la personnalite. Paris, 1892. Binet et Fere, Le magnetisme animal. Paris 1886. Binet et Fere, Hypnotism in Disease and Crime. Pop. Sci. Mon. vol. xxxii. p. 763. Binswanger, Hypnotismus. Pathologischen Theil. Wien. 1887, C. Gislel & Co. 36p. 8vo. Birch (C. O.), Med. Gaz. Sydney, 1893, xii. 251. Bjornstrom, Hypnotismen, den utreckling och nuvarande standpunkt. Stockholm, 1887 ; New York, 1890. Boulengier, La pratique de l'hypnotisme par des personnes au corps medical. Presse med. Beige, Brux. 1893, xlv. 404-407. (Under medico-legal heading.) Borjean (Albert), L'hypnotisme • ses rapports avec 336 HYPNOTISM. le droit et la therapeutique :1a suggestion men- tale. Paris, 1890, F. Alcon, 329p. 12mo. Bottey (F.), Le magnetisme animal; etude critique et experimentale sur 1'hypnotism, etc. 2 ed. Paris, 1886, Nonoret & Cie, 18mo. Bourru et Burot, Compt. rend. Soc. de Biol, Paris. 1885, ii. 461. Bourru, Les variations de la personnalite. Paris, 1888. Briigelmann, Ueber den Hypnotismus und seine Vervvertung in der Praxis. 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HYPNOTISM. 357 Yung (Emile), Hypnotisme et spiritisme (les faits positifs et les faits presumes). Conference publiques prononcees dans Faula de FUniver- site de Geneve. Geneve, 1890, R. Burkhardt, 147p. 8vo. INDEX. Academy of Science, report of commission............. 323 Acute delirium treated by hypnotism.................... 80 Albers................................................. 325 Alcohol, dangers of..................................... 104 " immediate effects of............................ 107 Alcohol habit, causes which lead to..................... 110 " " how acquired............................. 107 Alcoholism, hypnotism as a cure for..................... 103 Alkaloids............................................. 127 America, hypnotism in.................................. 329 Americans, susceptibility of............................. 19 Amnesia............................................... 268 Anaesthesia............................ 11, 96, 179, 304, 329 Analgesia.............................................. 283 Animal magnetism, theory........... 261, 273, 297, 318-328 " Animal Physiology " (Mills)........................... 188 Animals, hypnotism of.............................. 63, 330 " psychic states of.............................. 68 Aphasia.......................................... 264, 266 " case of......................................... 152 Artificial awakening, instance of impossibility of........ 58 Ascetics, auto-hypnosis of............................... 30 Ashburner (John A.)................................... 328 Astrology, connection of with theory of Animal Magnetism 318 Attention, classification of.............................. 292 " Moll's definition of........................... 292 " trained by hypnotism......................... 81 359 360 INDEX. Austria, hypnotism in.................................. 325 Author's experience with auto-hypnosis................. 32 '' propositions explanatory of his position........309 theory........................................ 297 Auto-hypnosis.......................................... 28 " " causing insanity.......................... 35 " " " visions, oracles, etc............ 33, 34 " " compared to hypnosis produced by another 33 " " danger of................................ 35 " " described by Kingsley in " Hypatia "...... 33 " " experiment in............................ 207 Auto-intoxication....................................... 127 Automatic writing......................................304 Awakening from hypnotic state......................... 17 Azam (Dr.)............................................ 329 Balfoub (Rt. Hon. A. J.)............................. 236 " Baquet" of Mesmer................................. 320 Barkworth, case of..................................... 285 Beard (Geo. M.)........................................ 293 Beaunis (Prof.)......................................... 331 Beaupre St. Anne de) shrine of.......................... 70 Bennett (Dr. J. Hughes)................................ 295 Bentivegni (Adolf v.)................................. 293 Berlin, Academy of.................................... 320 Berna................................................. 327 Bernheim (Dr. H.) 49, 60, 95, 129, 130, 136 141, 142, 146, 150, 158, 265, 266, 268, 272, 281, 298, 299, 308, 331 Bertrand (Alexandre)...................................281 Bicker (Georg)......................................... 325 Binet (Alfred)......................................267, 283 Binswanger (O.)........................................ 54 Blisters caused by hypnotic suggestion................... 12 " Blot upon the Brain, The "............................ 123 Boismont (Brierre de).................................. 213 Bouchard (Dr.)......................................... 126 Braid Pr. Jas.) 150, 295, 328, conclusions..........328, 329 INDEX. 361 Bridgeman (Laura) case of............................. 215 British Society for Psychical Research......218, 249, 250, 332 Bronte (Charlotte)...................................... 220 Brown-Sequard........................................ 296 Buchanan (Dr. J. R.)........... ....................... 197 Burdin................................................. 327 Cappie (Dr. Jas.) theory of............................. 296 Carpenter (Wm.)....................................... 295 Carus (Carl Gustav).................................... 327 Catalepsy......................... 49, 50, 263, 265, 268, 329 Cataplexia............................................. 330 Caution in the use of hypnotism......................... 50 Cerebellum, relation of to automatic movements.........270 Change of personality............................... 11, 31 Charcot (J. M.).........44, 129, 150, 261, 262, 263, 267, 310 " " experiments of.......................... 330 " " classification of hypnotic stages.......... 298 Charpignon (Dr.)................................... 95, 213 Children, hypnotization of............................... 15 Christian Scientists................................ 139, 159 Chronic disease, use of hypnotism in.................... 83 Cloquet (Jules)......................................... 95 Commissioners appointed to examine Mesmer's claims___322 Conditions which contra-indicate the use of hypnotism in disease............................................. 51 Convivial writings as a cause of alcoholism.............. 110 Crime a disease........................................ 76 Curative power of hypnotism in disease.................. 70 Cure of bad habits by means of hypnotism................ 76 Cutaneo-muscular hyper-excitability..................... 264 Czermak J. N......................................... 330 Dangers attending the practice of hypnotism............ 46 Danger of auto-hypnosis................................ 35 Dangers of public exhibitions............................ 57 Danger of susceptibility to hypnosis..................... 3Q 362 INDEX. Darling................................................ 329 Death not liable to occur from hypnotism................ 56 Definition of hypnotism................................. 1 Degenerates........................................... 107 Delboeuf (J.)............................................ 268 Deleuze................................................ 325 Delusional insanity..................................... 10 Demarquay (Jean).................................*.....329 Dentistry, hypnotism in................................ 101 Depression curable by hypnotism........................ 170 Dervishes, auto-hypnosis of.............................. 30 Deslon (Chas.).......................................... 322 Despine (P.)............................................ 271 Dessoir (Max)..............................278, 279, 284, 286 Detection of attempted simulation of hypnotic state...... 37 Diathesis.............................................. 110 Dickens (Chas.)........................................ 110 Difficulty in distinguishing minor degrees of hypnosis from simulation of same.................................. 38 Digby (Sir Kenelm)..................................... 319 Dipsomania, instances of cure of.....................113, 116 " " failure to cure..............117,118 " value of hypnotism as a cure for............ 103 Dipsomaniacs.......................................109, 112 Disease, method of applying hypnotism in................ 82 Dods (J. B.)............................................ 329 Double consciousness................................... 285 Dreams, causes of in natural sleep....................... 211 " change of personality in........................ 212 Drug habits, value of hypnotism as a cure for........103, 121 Du Potet (see Potet). Durand de Gros.....................................293, 329 Duration of hypnotic state.............................17, 49 Dysmenorrhea, hypnotism as a remedy for............... 158 Ebers Papyrus........................................ 317 Echolalia.............,.,,,.,..,.......,.........,,.....266 INDEX. 363 Effec if hypnotism on the emotions..................... 11 u " " sense of hearing.............. 22 " " " " sight................ 20 " " " speech-centres................ 11 " " " special senses................. 20 Egyptians, auto-hypnotism among.......................318 Elaborated hallucinations................................ 124 Elementary hallucinations............................... 124 Elliotson (John)........................................ 328 England, hypnotism in.................................. 328 Ennemoser (Jos.)....................................... 327 Epilepsy, relation of to hypnotism....................... 216 Esdaile (Mr.), case of sense-transference observed by...... 246 Eslon (Chas. d')........................................322 Ewald (K. A.).........................................51, 54 F-aitk and expectation as factors in the production of hyp- notic phenomena.................................... 275 Fanton (Dr.)............................................ 95 Faria (Abb6)........................................325, 326 Fascinating power of snakes............................. 64 Fascination............................................ 7 Fischer................................................ 327 Focachon.............................................. 12 Foissac (P.)............................................ 326 Follin (E.).............................................. 329 Forel (Aug.).........................................267, 281 Franklin (Benj.)........................................ 323 Fright, case of anaesthesia caused by..................... 190 Frogs, experiments on.................................64, 67 Functional and organic disease, application of hypnotism in 136 Functional dyspepsia cured by hypnotism................ 158 Germany, hypnotism in....................... 325, 327, 331 Glocenius.............................................. 319 Gouffd, case of......................................... 46 Gout relieved by hypnotism............................ 161 364 INDEX. Greeks, hypnotism among............................... 318 Grimes................................................. 329 Guenneau............................................. 329 Gurney (Edmund)...................................... 240 " " classification of hypnotic stages........298 Hall (Stanley) experiments of.......................... 293 Hallucination, defined.................................. 123 Hansen................................................. 331 Hart (Ernest)........................................... 331 " " illustration of suggestion theory............297 Hartmann (Edward von)................................ 292 Hearing, effect of hypnotism on......................... 22 Heidenhain........................................ 295, 331 " theory of....................................294 Heine (Dr.)............................................ 142 Heineken (J.).......................................... 325 Helmont (J. B. van)....................................319 Hemiplegia......................................... 14, 152 Hen, hypnotization of.................................. 65 Hensler (P. I.)......................................... 327 Herschel............................................... 327 Herter (C. A.).......................................... 136 Hippocrates............................................. 193 Historical sketch of hypnotism..........................317 Horses, susceptibility of to hypnosis..................... 66 House-carpenter, case of................................ 41 Hudson (Thomas Jay).................................. 220 " Human Body, The " Martin).......................... 171 Hypersemia............................................. 191 Hypersesthesia.......................................... 179 Hypnotic state, duration of........................... 17, 49 " " methods of inducing.................... 6 Hypnotic suggestion defined............................. 74 " " use of............................... 137 Hypnotism, application of to functional and organic dis- INDEX. 365 Hypnotism as a cure for illusions and hallucinations...... 123 " as a regulator of the brain.................... 130 " curative power of............................ 70 '' definition of................................ 1 " in cure of dipsomania, morphia-mania, and other drug habits.......................... 103 " in dentistry................................. 101 " in disease, method of applying............... 82 " in surgery................................... 95 " its place in the scientific world............... 151 " theories of.............................. 261, 265 " in fiction.................................... 332 " relation of to sleep................ ..........267 Hypnotization against the will of the subject.............277 Hypochondriacs......................................... 149 Hysteria........................................ 15, 177, 304 " clinical history of............................... 178 " paroxysms of................................... 188 " theory to explain phenomena of................. 184 " treatment of by suggestion...................... 181 " two forms of................................... 16 Hysterical cases not benefited by hypnotism............. 149 " delirium.....................................291 " paralysis..................................... 179 " sleep......................................... 49 " woman, case of.............................. 148 Hystero-epilepsy........................................ 262 Hystero-epileptic fits.................................... 39 Illusions and hallucinations, hypnotism as a cure for... 123 Illusions, defined...................................... 123 Imagination, defined.................................... 125 " effect of during sleep...................... 141 " importance of in the formation and cure of bad habits.............................. 122 Immediate consequences of hypnotism................... 48 Importance of a careful study of the patient.............. 53 366 INDEX. Inhibition of one part of the brain by another............ 129 Insane persons, hypnotization of......................15, 73 Insanity caused by auto-hypnosis........................ 35 " definitions of.................................. 73 " following use of chloroform and ether.......... 50 " relation of hypnotism to....................... 216 " use of hypnotism as a cure for.................. 73 Intellect, development of by hypnotism.................. 173 Introduction to Part II................................. 253 Ireland (Dr. Wm. W.).............................. 123, 192 James (Prof. Wm.)..../l..y ..?-. 10.......47, 263, 265, 266, 267 " " " experiments of....................... 294 Janet (Pierre)........................................... 284 Jendrassik (Ernst)......................................295 Joly (Dr.).............................................. 95 Jussieu (Laurent de).................................... 323 Kiaro (Dr.)............................................ 95 Kieser (D. G.).......................................... 325 Kircher (Athanasius).................................63, 319 Kluge (Karl)............................................ 325 Krafft-Ebing (R. v.)...........,........44, 49, 56, 61, 129, 150 Kron (Dr.).............................................. 43 Lafontaine (Ch.)...................................... 58 Lanou-Domeuge (Marie), case of........................ 143 Lasegue (Ch.)........................................... 329 Latent hysteria......................................309-315 Lavoisier.............................................. 323 " Law of Psychic Phenomena " (Hudson)................ 220 " Le grand hypnotism ".................................262 Lethargy............................................263-265 Liebault......129, 141, 150, 213, 265, 267, 2S1, 293, 298, 329, 331 Liegeois............................................267, 331 Locomotor ataxia, hypnotism in the treatment of......... 158 Lombroso (Prof. Cesare).............................107, 266 INDEX. 367 u London Gazette Extraordinary "...................... 225 Loysel (Dr.)............................................ 95 Luys (Dr.)..................................58, 129, 150, 193 " " experiments with drugs in sealed tubes......... 196 " " " " magnetic rod................ 195 " " " " methods of sense-transference 194 Major hysteria, symptoms produced in a hypnotic subject. 185 Marie and Azoulay, experiments of...................... 293 Martial, reference to.................................... 318 Massabielle spring......... ....-.'... .