Complete Hypnotism
Mesmerism, Mind-Reading and Spiritualism
How to Hypnotize:
Being an Exhaustive and Practical System
of Method, Application, and Use
by A. Alpheus
1903
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
History of hypnotism—Mesmer—Puysegur—Braid—What is hypnotism?—Theories
of hypnotism: 1. Animal magnetism; 2. The Neurosis Theory; 3.
Suggestion Theory
CHAPTER I
How to Hypnotize—Dr. Cocke’s method-Dr. Flint’s method—The French
method at Paris—At Nancy—The Hindoo silent method—How to wake a subject
from hypnotic sleep—Frauds of public hypnotic entertainments.
CHAPTER II
Amusing experiments—Hypnotizing on the stage—“You can’t pull your hands
apart!”—Post-hypnotic suggestion—The newsboy, the hunter, and the young
man with the rag doll—A whip becomes hot iron—Courting a broom
stick—The side-show
CHAPTER III
The stages of hypnotism—Lethargy-Catalepsy—The somnambulistic
stage—Fascination
CHAPTER IV
How the subject feels under hypnotization—Dr. Cocke’s experience—Effect
of music—Dr. Alfred Warthin’s experiments
CHAPTER V
Self hypnotization—How it may be done—An experience—Accountable for
children’s crusade—Oriental prophets self-hypnotized
CHAPTER VI
Simulation—Deception in hypnotism very common—Examples of Neuropathic
deceit—Detecting simulation—Professional subjects—How Dr. Luys of the
Charity Hospital at Paris was deceived—Impossibility of detecting
deception in all cases—Confessions of a professional hypnotic subject
CHAPTER VII
Criminal suggestion—Laboratory crimes—Dr. Cocke’s experiments showing
criminal suggestion is not possible—Dr. William James’ theory—A bad man
cannot be made good, why expect to make a good man bad?
CHAPTER VIII
Dangers in being hypnotized Condemnation of public performances—A
commonsense view—Evidence furnished by Lafontaine; by Dr. Courmelles;
by Dr. Hart; by Dr. Cocke—No danger in hypnotism if rightly used by
physicians or scientists
CHAPTER IX
Hypnotism in medicine—Anesthesia—Restoring the use of
muscles—Hallucination—Bad habits
CHAPTER X
Hypnotism of animals—Snake charming
CHAPTER XI
A scientific explanation of hypnotism—Dr. Hart’s theory
CHAPTER XII
Telepathy and Clairvoyance—Peculiar power in hypnotic
state—Experiments—“Phantasms of the living” explained by telepathy
CHAPTER XIII
The Confessions of a Medium—Spiritualistic phenomena explained on
theory of telepathy—Interesting statement of Mrs. Piper, the famous
medium of the Psychical Research Society
INTRODUCTION.
There is no doubt that hypnotism is a very old subject, though the name
was not invented till 1850. In it was wrapped up the “mysteries of
Isis” in Egypt thousands of years ago, and probably it was one of the
weapons, if not the chief instrument of operation, of the magi
mentioned in the Bible and of the “wise men” of Babylon and Egypt.
“Laying on of hands” must have been a form of mesmerism, and Greek
oracles of Delphi and other places seem to have been delivered by
priests or priestesses who went into trances of self-induced hypnotism.
It is suspected that the fakirs of India who make trees grow from dry
twigs in a few minutes, or transform a rod into a serpent (as Aaron did
in Bible history), operate by some form of hypnotism. The people of the
East are much more subject to influences of this kind than Western
peoples are, and there can be no question that the religious orgies of
heathendom were merely a form of that hysteria which is so closely
related to the modern phenomenon of hypnotism. Though various
scientific men spoke of magnetism, and understood that there was a
power of a peculiar kind which one man could exercise over another, it
was not until Frederick Anton Mesmer (a doctor of Vienna) appeared in
1775 that the general public gave any special attention to the subject.
In the year mentioned, Mesmer sent out a circular letter to various
scientific societies or “Academies” as they are called in Europe,
stating his belief that “animal magnetism” existed, and that through it
one man could influence another. No attention was given his letter,
except by the Academy of Berlin, which sent him an unfavorable reply.
In 1778 Mesmer was obliged for some unknown reason to leave Vienna, and
went to Paris, where he was fortunate in converting to his ideas
d’Eslon, the Comte d’Artois’s physician, and one of the medical
professors at the Faculty of Medicine. His success was very great;
everybody was anxious to be magnetized, and the lucky Viennese doctor
was soon obliged to call in assistants. Deleuze, the librarian at the
Jardin des Plantes, who has been called the Hippocrates of magnetism,
has left the following account of Mesmer’s experiments:
“In the middle of a large room stood an oak tub, four or five feet in
diameter and one foot deep. It was closed by a lid made in two pieces,
and encased in another tub or bucket. At the bottom of the tub a number
of bottles were laid in convergent rows, so that the neck of each
bottle turned towards the centre. Other bottles filled with magnetized
water tightly corked up were laid in divergent rows with their necks
turned outwards. Several rows were thus piled up, and the apparatus was
then pronounced to be at ‘high pressure’. The tub was filled with
water, to which were sometimes added powdered glass and iron filings.
There were also some dry tubs, that is, prepared in the same manner,
but without any additional water. The lid was perforated to admit of
the passage of movable bent rods, which could be applied to the
different parts of the patient’s body. A long rope was also fastened to
a ring in the lid, and this the patients placed loosely round their
limbs. No disease offensive to the sight was treated, such as sores, or
deformities.
“A large number of patients were commonly treated at one time. They
drew near to each other, touching hands, arms, knees, or feet. The
handsomest, youngest, and most robust magnetizers held also an iron rod
with which they touched the dilatory or stubborn patients. The rods and
ropes had all undergone a ‘preparation’ and in a very short space of
time the patients felt the magnetic influence. The women, being the
most easily affected, were almost at once seized with fits of yawning
and stretching; their eyes closed, their legs gave way and they seemed
to suffocate. In vain did musical glasses and harmonicas resound, the
piano and voices re-echo; these supposed aids only seemed to increase
the patients’ convulsive movements. Sardonic laughter, piteous moans
and torrents of tears burst forth on all sides. The bodies were thrown
back in spasmodic jerks, the respirations sounded like death rattles,
the most terrifying symptoms were exhibited. Then suddenly the actors
of this strange scene would frantically or rapturously rush towards
each other, either rejoicing and embracing or thrusting away their
neighbors with every appearance of horror.
“Another room was padded and presented another spectacle. There women
beat their heads against wadded walls or rolled on the cushion-covered
floor, in fits of suffocation. In the midst of this panting, quivering
throng, Mesmer, dressed in a lilac coat, moved about, extending a magic
wand toward the least suffering, halting in front of the most violently
excited and gazing steadily into their eyes, while he held both their
hands in his, bringing the middle fingers in immediate contact to
establish communication. At another moment he would, by a motion of
open hands and extended fingers, operate with the great current,
crossing and uncrossing his arms with wonderful rapidity to make the
final passes.”
Hysterical women and nervous young boys, many of them from the highest
ranks of Society, flocked around this wonderful wizard, and
incidentally he made a great deal of money. There is little doubt that
he started out as a genuine and sincere student of the scientific
character of the new power he had indeed discovered; there is also no
doubt that he ultimately became little more than a charlatan. There
was, of course, no virtue in his “prepared” rods, nor in his magnetic
tubs. At the same time the belief of the people that there was virtue
in them was one of the chief means by which he was able to induce
hypnotism, as we shall see later. Faith, imagination, and willingness
to be hypnotized on the part of the subject are all indispensable to
entire success in the practice of this strange art.
In 1779 Mesmer published a pamphlet entitled “Memoire sur la decouverte
du magnetisme animal”, of which Doctor Cocke gives the following
summary (his chief claim was that he had discovered a principle which
would cure every disease):
“He sets forth his conclusions in twenty-seven propositions, of which
the substance is as follows:— There is a reciprocal action and reaction
between the planets, the earth and animate nature by means of a
constant universal fluid, subject to mechanical laws yet unknown. The
animal body is directly affected by the insinuation of this agent into
the substance of the nerves. It causes in human bodies properties
analogous to those of the magnet, for which reason it is called ‘Animal
Magnetism’. This magnetism may be communicated to other bodies, may be
increased and reflected by mirrors, communicated, propagated, and
accumulated, by sound. It may be accumulated, concentrated, and
transported. The same rules apply to the opposite virtue. The magnet is
susceptible of magnetism and the opposite virtue. The magnet and
artificial electricity have, with respect to disease, properties common
to a host of other agents presented to us by nature, and if the use of
these has been attended by useful results, they are due to animal
magnetism. By the aid of magnetism, then, the physician enlightened as
to the use of medicine may render its action more perfect, and can
provoke and direct salutary crises so as to have them completely under
his control.”
The Faculty of Medicine investigated Mesmer’s claims, but reported
unfavorably, and threatened d’Eslon with expulsion from the society
unless he gave Mesmer up. Nevertheless the government favored the
discoverer, and when the medical fraternity attacked him with such
vigor that he felt obliged to leave Paris, it offered him a pension of
20,000 francs if he would remain. He went away, but later came back at
the request of his pupils. In 1784 the government appointed two
commissions to investigate the claims that had been made. On one of
these commissions was Benjamin Franklin, then American Ambassador to
France as well as the great French scientist Lavoisier. The other was
drawn from the Royal Academy of Medicine, and included Laurent de
Jussieu, the only man who declared in favor of Mesmer.
There is no doubt that Mesmer had returned to Paris for the purpose of
making money, and these commissions were promoted in part by persons
desirous of driving him out. “It is interesting,” says a French writer,
“to peruse the reports of these commissions: they read like a debate on
some obscure subject of which the future has partly revealed the
secret.” Says another French writer (Courmelles): “They sought the
fluid, not by the study of the cures affected, which was considered too
complicated a task, but in the phases of mesmeric sleep. These were
considered indispensable and easily regulated by the experimentalist.
When submitted to close investigation, it was, however, found that they
could only be induced when the subjects knew they were being
magnetized, and that they differed according as they were conducted in
public or in private. In short—whether it be a coincidence or the
truth—imagination was considered the sole active agent. Whereupon
d’Eslon remarked, ‘If imagination is the best cure, why should we not
use the imagination as a curative means?’ Did he, who had so vaunted
the existence of the fluid, mean by this to deny its existence, or was
it rather a satirical way of saying. ‘You choose to call it
imagination; be it so. But after all, as it cures, let us make the most
of it’?
“The two commissions came to the conclusion that the phenomena were due
to imitation, and contact, that they were dangerous and must be
prohibited. Strange to relate, seventy years later, Arago pronounced
the same verdict!”
Daurent Jussieu was the only one who believed in anything more than
this. He saw a new and important truth, which he set forth in a
personal report upon withdrawing from the commission, which showed
itself so hostile to Mesmer and his pretensions.
Time and scientific progress have largely overthrown Mesmer’s theories
of the fluid; yet Mesmer had made a discovery that was in the course of
a hundred years to develop into an important scientific study. Says
Vincent: “It seems ever the habit of the shallow scientist to plume
himself on the more accurate theories which have been provided for him
by the progress of knowledge and of science, and then, having been fed
with a limited historical pabulum, to turn and talk lightly, and with
an air of the most superior condescension, of the weakness and follies
of those but for whose patient labors our modern theories would
probably be non-existent.” If it had not been for Mesmer and his
“Animal Magnetism”, we would never have had “hypnotism” and all our
learned societies for the study of it.
Mesmer, though his pretensions were discredited, was quickly followed
by Puysegur, who drew all the world to Buzancy, near Soissons, France.
“Doctor Cloquet related that he saw there, patients no longer the
victims of hysterical fits, but enjoying a calm, peaceful, restorative
slumber. It may be said that from this moment really efficacious and
useful magnetism became known.” Every one rushed once more to be
magnetized, and Puysegur had so many patients that to care for them all
he was obliged to magnetize a tree (as he said), which was touched by
hundreds who came to be cured, and was long known as “Puysegur’s tree”.
As a result of Puysegur’s success, a number of societies were formed in
France for the study of the new phenomena.
In the meantime, the subject had attracted considerable interest in
Germany, and in 1812 Wolfart was sent to Mesmer at Frauenfeld by the
Prussian government to investigate Mesmerism. He became an enthusiast,
and introduced its practice into the hospital at Berlin.
In 1814 Deleuze published a book on the subject, and Abbe Faria, who
had come from India, demonstrated that there was no fluid, but that the
phenomena were subjective, or within the mind of the patient. He first
introduced what is now called the “method of suggestion” in producing
magnetism or hypnotism. In 1815 Mesmer died.
Experimentation continued, and in the 20’s Foissac persuaded the
Academy of Medicine to appoint a commission to investigate the subject.
After five years they presented a report. This report gave a good
statement of the practical operation of magnetism, mentioning the
phenomena of somnambulism, anesthesia, loss of memory, and the various
other symptoms of the hypnotic state as we know it. It was thought that
magnetism had a right to be considered as a therapeutic agent, and that
it might be used by physicians, though others should not be allowed to
practice it. In 1837 another commission made a decidedly unfavorable
report.
Soon after this Burdin, a member of the Academy, offered a prize of
3,000 francs to any one who would read the number of a bank-note or the
like with his eyes bandaged (under certain fixed conditions), but it
was never awarded, though many claimed it, and there has been
considerable evidence that persons in the hypnotic state have
(sometimes) remarkable clairvoyant powers.
Soon after this, magnetism fell into very low repute throughout France
and Germany, and scientific men became loath to have their names
connected with the study of it in any way. The study had not yet been
seriously taken up in England, and two physicians who gave some
attention to it suffered decidedly in professional reputation.
It is to an English physician, however, that we owe the scientific
character of modern hypnotism. Indeed he invented the name of
hypnotism, formed from the Greek word meaning ‘sleep’, and designating
‘artificially produced sleep’. His name is James Braid, and so
important were the results of his study that hypnotism has sometimes
been called “Braidism”. Doctor Courmelles gives the following
interesting summary of Braid’s experiences:
“November, 1841, he witnessed a public experiment made by Monsieur
Lafontaine, a Swiss magnetizer. He thought the whole thing a comedy; a
week after, he attended a second exhibition, saw that the patient could
not open his eyes, and concluded that this was ascribable to some
physical cause. The fixity of gaze must, according to him, exhaust the
nerve centers of the eyes and their surroundings. He made a friend look
steadily at the neck of a bottle, and his own wife look at an
ornamentation on the top of a china sugar bowl: sleep was the
consequence. Here hypnotism had its origin, and the fact was
established that sleep could be induced by physical agents. This, it
must be remembered, is the essential difference between these two
classes of phenomena (magnetism and hypnotism): for magnetism supposes
a direct action of the magnetizer on the magnetized subject, an action
which does not exist in hypnotism.”
It may be stated that most English and American operators fail to see
any distinction between magnetism and hypnotism, and suppose that the
effect of passes, etc., as used by Mesmer, is in its way as much
physical as the method of producing hypnotism by concentrating the gaze
of the subject on a bright object, or the like.
Braid had discovered a new science—as far as the theoretical view of it
was concerned—for he showed that hypnotism is largely, if not purely,
mechanical and physical. He noted that during one phase of hypnotism,
known as catalepsy, the arms, limbs, etc., might be placed in any
position and would remain there; he also noted that a puff of breath
would usually awaken a subject, and that by talking to a subject and
telling him to do this or do that, even after he awakes from the sleep,
he can be made to do those things. Braid thought he might affect a
certain part of the brain during hypnotic sleep, and if he could find
the seat of the thieving disposition, or the like, he could cure the
patient of desire to commit crime, simply by suggestion, or command.
Braid’s conclusions were, in brief, that there was no fluid, or other
exterior agent, but that hypnotism was due to a physiological condition
of the nerves. It was his belief that hypnotic sleep was brought about
by fatigue of the eyelids, or by other influences wholly within the
subject. In this he was supported by Carpenter, the great physiologist;
but neither Braid nor Carpenter could get the medical organizations to
give the matter any attention, even to investigate it. In 1848 an
American named Grimes succeeded in obtaining all the phenomena of
hypnotism, and created a school of writers who made use of the word
“electro-biology.”
In 1850 Braid’s ideas were introduced into France, and Dr. Azam, of
Bordeaux, published an account of them in the “Archives de Medicine.”
From this time on the subject was widely studied by scientific men in
France and Germany, and it was more slowly taken up in England. It may
be stated here that the French and other Latin races are much more
easily hypnotized than the northern races, Americans perhaps being
least subject to the hypnotic influence, and next to them the English.
On the other hand, the Orientals are influenced to a degree we can
hardly comprehend.
WHAT IS HYPNOTISM?
We have seen that so far the history of hypnotism has given us two
manifestations, or methods, that of passes and playing upon the
imagination in various ways, used by Mesmer, and that of physical
means, such as looking at a bright object, used by Braid. Both of these
methods are still in use, and though hundreds of scientific men,
including many physicians, have studied the subject for years, no
essentially new principle has been discovered, though the details of
hypnotic operation have been thoroughly classified and many minor
elements of interest have been developed. All these make a body of
evidence which will assist us in answering the question, What is
hypnotism?
Modern scientific study has pretty conclusively established the
following facts:
1. Idiots, babies under three years old, and hopelessly insane people
cannot be hypnotized.
2. No one can be hypnotized unless the operator can make him
concentrate his attention for a reasonable length of time.
Concentration of attention, whatever the method of producing hypnotism,
is absolutely necessary.
3. The persons not easily hypnotized are those said to be neurotic (or
those affected with hysteria). By “hysteria” is not meant nervous
excitability, necessarily. Some very phlegmatic persons may be affected
with hysteria. In medical science “hysteria” is an irregular action of
the nervous system. It will sometimes show itself by severe pains in
the arm, when in reality there is nothing whatever to cause pain; or it
will raise a swelling on the head quite without cause. It is a tendency
to nervous disease which in severe cases may lead to insanity. The word
neurotic is a general term covering affection of the nervous system. It
includes hysteria and much else beside.
On all these points practically every student of hypnotism is agreed.
On the question as to whether any one can produce hypnotism by pursuing
the right methods there is some disagreement, but not much. Dr. Ernest
Hart in an article in the British Medical Journal makes the following
very definite statement, representing the side of the case that
maintains that any one can produce hypnotism. Says he:
“It is a common delusion that the mesmerist or hypnotizer counts for
anything in the experiment. The operator, whether priest, physician,
charlatan, self-deluded enthusiast, or conscious imposter, is not the
source of any occult influence, does not possess any mysterious power,
and plays only a very secondary and insignificant part in the chain of
phenomena observed. There exist at the present time many individuals
who claim for themselves, and some who make a living by so doing, a
peculiar property or power as potent mesmerizers, hypnotizers,
magnetizers, or electro-biologists. One even often hears it said in
society (for I am sorry to say that these mischievous practices and
pranks are sometimes made a society game) that such a person is a
clever hypnotist or has great mesmeric or healing power. I hope to be
able to prove, what I firmly hold, both from my own personal experience
and experiment, as I have already related in the Nineteenth Century,
that there is no such thing as a potent mesmeric influence, no such
power resident in any one person more than another; that a glass of
water, a tree, a stick, a penny-post letter, or a lime-light can
mesmerize as effectually as can any individual. A clever hypnotizer
means only a person who is acquainted with the physical or mental
tricks by which the hypnotic condition is produced; or sometimes an
unconscious imposter who is unaware of the very trifling part for which
he is cast in the play, and who supposes himself really to possess a
mysterious power which in fact he does not possess at all, or which, to
speak more accurately, is equally possessed by every stock or stone.”
Against this we may place the statement of Dr. Foveau de Courmelles,
who speaks authoritatively for the whole modern French school. He says:
“Every magnetizer is aware that certain individuals never can induce
sleep even in the most easily hypnotizable subjects. They admit that
the sympathetic fluid is necessary, and that each person may eventually
find his or her hypnotizer, even when numerous attempts at inducing
sleep have failed. However this may be, the impossibility some
individuals find in inducing sleep in trained subjects, proves at least
the existence of a negative force.”
If you would ask the present writer’s opinion, gathered from all the
evidence before him, he would say that while he has no belief in the
existence of any magnetic fluid, or anything that corresponds to it, he
thinks there can be no doubt that some people will succeed as
hypnotists while some will fail, just as some fail as carpenters while
others succeed. This is true in every walk of life. It is also true
that some people attract, others repel, the people they meet. This is
not very easily explained, but we have all had opportunity to observe
it. Again, since concentration is the prerequisite for producing
hypnotism, one who has not the power of concentration himself, and
concentration which he can perfectly control, is not likely to be able
to secure it in others. Also, since faith is a strong element, a person
who has not perfect self-confidence could not expect to create
confidence in others. While many successful hypnotizers can themselves
be hypnotized, it is probable that most all who have power of this kind
are themselves exempt from the exercise of it. It is certainly true
that while a person easily hypnotized is by no means weak-minded
(indeed, it is probable that most geniuses would be good hypnotic
subjects), still such persons have not a well balanced constitution and
their nerves are high-strung if not unbalanced. They would be most
likely to be subject to a person who had such a strong and
well-balanced nervous constitution that it would be hard to hypnotize.
And it is always safe to say that the strong may control the weak, but
it is not likely that the weak will control the strong.
There is also another thing that must be taken into account. Science
teaches that all matter is in vibration. Indeed, philosophy points to
the theory that matter itself is nothing more than centers of force in
vibration. The lowest vibration we know is that of sound. Then comes,
at an enormously higher rate, heat, light (beginning at dark red and
passing through the prismatic colors to violet which has a high
vibration), to the chemical rays, and then the so-called X or unknown
rays which have a much higher vibration still. Electricity is a form of
vibration, and according to the belief of many scientists, life is a
species of vibration so high that we have no possible means of
measuring it. As every student of science knows, air appears to be the
chief medium for conveying vibration of sound, metal is the chief
medium for conveying electric vibrations, while to account for the
vibrations of heat and light we have to assume (or imagine) an
invisible, imponderable ether which fills all space and has no property
of matter that we can distinguish except that of conveying vibrations
of light in its various forms. When we pass on to human life, we have
to theorize chiefly by analogy. (It must not be forgotten, however,
that the existence of the ether and many assumed facts in science are
only theories which have come to be generally adopted because they
explain phenomena of all kinds better than any other theories which
have been offered.)
Now, in life, as in physical science, any one who can get, or has by
nature, the key-note of another nature, has a tremendous power over
that other nature. The following story illustrates what this power is
in the physical world. While we cannot vouch for the exact truth of the
details of the story, there can be no doubt of the accuracy of the
principle on which it is based:
“A musical genius came to the Suspension Bridge at Niagara Falls, and
asked permission to cross; but as he had no money, his request was
contemptuously refused. He stepped away from the entrance, and, drawing
his violin from his case, began sounding notes up and down the scale.
He finally discovered, by the thrill that sent a tremor through the
mighty structure, that he had found the note on which the great cable
that upheld the mass, was keyed. He drew his bow across the string of
the violin again, and the colossal wire, as if under the spell of a
magician, responded with a throb that sent a wave through its enormous
length. He sounded the note again and again, and the cable that was
dormant under the strain of loaded teams and monster engines—the cable
that remained stolid under the pressure of human traffic, and the heavy
tread of commerce, thrilled and surged and shook itself, as mad waves
of vibration coursed over its length, and it tore at its slack, until
like a foam-crested wave of the sea, it shook the towers at either end,
or, like some sentient animal, it tugged at its fetters and longed to
be free.
“The officers in charge, apprehensive of danger, hurried the poor
musician across, and bade him begone and trouble them no more. The
ragged genius, putting his well-worn instrument back in its case,
muttered to himself, ‘I’d either crossed free or torn down the
bridge.’”
“So the hypnotist,” goes on the writer from which the above is quoted,
“finds the note on which the subjective side of the person is attuned,
and by playing upon it awakens into activity emotions and sensibilities
that otherwise would have remained dormant, unused and even
unsuspected.”
No student of science will deny the truth of these statements. At the
same time it has been demonstrated again and again that persons can and
do frequently hypnotize themselves. This is what Mr. Hart means when he
says that any stick or stone may produce hypnotism. If a person will
gaze steadily at a bright fire, or a glass of water, for instance, he
can throw himself into a hypnotic trance exactly similar to the
condition produced by a professional or trained hypnotist. Such people,
however, must be possessed of imagination.
THEORIES OF HYPNOTISM.
We have now learned some facts in regard to hypnotism; but they leave
the subject still a mystery. Other facts which will be developed in the
course of this book will only deepen the mystery. We will therefore
state some of the best known theories.
Before doing so, however, it would be well to state concisely just what
seems to happen in a case of hypnotism. The word hypnotism means sleep,
and the definition of hypnotism implies artificially produced sleep.
Sometimes this sleep is deep and lasting, and the patient is totally
insensible; but the interesting phase of the condition is that in
certain stages the patient is only partially asleep, while the other
part of his brain is awake and very active.
It is well known that one part of the brain may be affected without
affecting the other parts. In hemiplegia, for instance, one half of the
nervous system is paralyzed, while the other half is all right. In the
stages of hypnotism we will now consider, the will portion of the brain
or mind seems to be put to sleep, while the other faculties are,
abnormally awake. Some explain this by supposing that the blood is
driven out of one portion of the brain and driven into other portions.
In any case, it is as though the human engine were uncoupled, and the
patient becomes an automaton. If he is told to do this, that, or the
other, he does it, simply because his will is asleep and “suggestion”,
as it is called, from without makes him act just as he starts up
unconsciously in his ordinary sleep if tickled with a straw.
Now for the theories. There are three leading theories, known as that
of 1. Animal Magnetism; 2. Neurosis; and 3. Suggestion. We will simply
state them briefly in order without discussion.
Animal Magnetism. This is the theory offered by Mesmer, and those who
hold it assume that “the hypnotizer exercises a force, independently of
suggestion, over the subject. They believe one part of the body to be
charged separately, or that the whole body may be filled with
magnetism. They recognize the power, of suggestion, but they do not
believe it to be the principal factor in the production of the hypnotic
state.” Those who hold this theory today distinguish between the
phenomena produced by magnetism and those produced by physical means or
simple suggestion.
The Neurosis Theory. We have already explained the word neurosis, but
we repeat here the definition given by Dr. J. R. Cocke. “A neurosis is
any affection of the nervous centers occurring without any material
agent producing it, without inflammation or any other constant
structural change which can be detected in the nervous centers. 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 neurosis or 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.” In short, M.
Charcot places hypnotism in the same category of nervous affections in
which hysteria and finally hallucination (medically considered) are to
be classed, that is to say, as a nervous weakness, not to say a
disease. According to this theory, a person whose nervous system is
perfectly healthy could not be hypnotized. So many people can be
hypnotized because nearly all the world is more or less insane, as a
certain great writer has observed.
Suggestion. This theory is based on the power of mind over the body as
we observe it in everyday life. Again let me quote from Dr. Cooke. “If
we can direct the subject’s whole attention to the belief that such an
effect as before mentioned—that his arm will be paralyzed, for
instance—will take place, that effect will gradually occur. Such a
result having been once produced, the subject’s will-power and power of
resistance are considerably weakened, because he is much more inclined
than at first to believe the hypnotizer’s assertion. 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 strongly as possible.
However, it is not necessary that we begin with the eyes. According to
M. Dessoir, any member of the body will answer as well.” The theory of
Suggestion is maintained by the medical school attached to the hospital
at Nancy. The theory of Neurosis was originally put forth as the result
of experiments by Dr. Charcot at the Salpetriere hospital in Paris,
which is now the co-called Salpetriere school—that is the medical,
school connected with the Salpetriere hospital.
There is also another theory put forth, or rather a modification of
Professor Charcot’s theory, and maintained by the school of the Charity
hospital in Paris, headed by Dr. Luys, to the effect that the physical
magnet and electricity may affect persons in the hypnotic state, and
that certain drugs in sealed tubes placed upon the patient’s neck
during the condition of hypnosis will produce the same effects which
those drugs would produce if taken internally, or as the nature of the
drugs would seem to call for if imbibed in a more complete fashion.
This school, however, has been considerably discredited, and Dr. Luys’
conclusions are not received by scientific students of hypnotism. It is
also stated, and the present writer has seen no effective denial, that
hypnotism may be produced by pressing with the fingers upon certain
points in the body, known as hypnogenic spots.
It will be seen that these three theories stated above are greatly at
variance with each other. The student of hypnotism will have to form a
conclusion for himself as he investigates the facts. Possibly it will
be found that the true theory is a combination of all three of those
described above. Hypnotism is certainly a complicated phenomena, and he
would be a rash man who should try to explain it in a sentence or in a
paragraph. An entire book proves a very limited space for doing it.
CHAPTER I.
HOW TO HYPNOTIZE.
Dr. Cocke’s Method—Dr. Flint’s Method—The French Method at Paris—at
Nancy—The Hindoo Silent Method—How to Wake a Subject from Hypnotic
Sleep—Frauds of Public Hypnotic Entertainers.
First let us quote what is said of hypnotism in Foster’s Encyclopedic
Medical Dictionary. The dictionary states the derivation of the word
from the Greek word meaning sleep, and gives as synonym “Braidism”.
This definition follows: “An abnormal state into which some persons may
be thrown, either by a voluntary act of their own, such as gazing
continuously with fixed attention on some bright object held close to
the eyes, or by the exercise of another person’s will; characterized by
suspension of the will and consequent obedience to the promptings of
suggestions from without. 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 hypnotism,
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
disturbances. On emerging from the hypnotic state, the person
hypnotized usually has no remembrance of what happened during its
continuance, but in many persons such remembrance may be induced by
‘suggestion’. About one person in three is susceptible to hypnotism,
and those of the hysterical or neurotic tendency (but rarely the
insane) are the most readily hypnotized.”
First we will quote the directions for producing hypnotism given by Dr.
James R. Cocke, one of the most scientific experimenters in hypnotism
in America. His directions of are special value, since they are more
applicable to American subjects than the directions given by French
writers. Says Dr. Cocke:
“The hypnotic state can be produced in one of the following ways:
First, command the subject to close his eyes. Tell him his mind is a
blank. Command him to think of nothing. Leave him a few minutes; return
and tell him 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 take his eyes away from it. Suggest that
his eyelids are growing heavy, that he cannot keep them open. Now 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.
“Fascination, as it is called, is one of the hypnotic states. The
operator fixes his eyes on those of the subject. Holding his attention
for a few minutes, the operator begins to walk backward; the subject
follows. The operator raises the arm; the subject does likewise.
Briefly, the subject will imitate any movement of the hypnotist, 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. Firm pressure over the orbits, or over the
finger-ends and root of the nail for some minutes may also induce the
condition 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 magnetized.
The wearing of belts around the body, and rings round the fingers, will
also, sometimes, induce a degree of hypnosis, if the subject has been
told that they have previously been magnetized or are electric. The
latter descriptions are the so-called physical methods described by Dr.
Moll.”
Dr. Herbert L. Flint, a stage hypnotizer, describes his methods as
follows:
“To induce hypnotism, I begin by friendly conversation to place my
patient in a condition of absolute calmness and quiescence. I also try
to win his confidence by appealing to his own volitional effort to aid
me in obtaining the desired clad. I impress upon him that hypnosis in
his condition is a benign agency, and far from subjugating his
mentality, it becomes intensified to so great an extent as to act as a
remedial agent.
“Having assured myself that he is in a passive condition, I suggest to
him, either with or without passes, that after looking intently at an
object for a few moments, he will experience a feeling of lassitude. I
steadily gaze at his eyes, and in a monotonous tone I continue to
suggest the various stages of sleep. As for instance, I say, ‘Your
breathing is heavy. Your whole body is relaxed.’ I raise his arm,
holding it in a horizontal position for a second or two, and suggest to
him that it is getting heavier and heavier. I let my hand go and his
arm falls to his side.
“‘Your eyes,’ I continue, ‘feel tired and sleepy. They are fast
closing’ repeating in a soothing tone the words ‘sleepy, sleepy,
sleep.’ Then in a self-assertive tone, I emphasize the suggestion by
saying in an unhesitating and positive tone, ‘sleep.’
“I do not, however, use this method with all patients. It is an error
to state, as some specialists do, that from their formula there can be
no deviation; because, as no two minds are constituted alike, so they
cannot be affected alike. While one will yield by intense will exerted
through my eyes, another may, by the same means, become fretful, timid,
nervous, and more wakeful than he was before. The same rule applies to
gesture, tones of the voice, and mesmeric passes. That which has a
soothing and lulling effect on one, may have an opposite effect on
another. There can be no unvarying rule applicable to all patients. The
means must be left to the judgment of the operator, who by a long
course of psychological training should be able to judge what measures
are necessary to obtain control of his subject. Just as in drugs, one
person may take a dose without injury that will kill another, so in
hypnosis, one person can be put into a deep sleep by means that would
be totally ineffectual in another, and even then the mental states
differ in each individual—that which in one induces a gentle slumber
may plunge his neighbor into a deep cataleptic state.”
That hypnotism may be produced by purely physical or mechanical means
seems to have been demonstrated by an incident which started Doctor
Burq, a Frenchman, upon a scientific inquiry which lasted many years.
“While practising as a young doctor, he had one day been obliged to go
out and had deemed it advisable to lock up a patient in his absence.
Just as he was leaving the house he heard the sound as of a body
suddenly falling. He hurried back into the room and found his patient
in a state of catalepsy. Monsieur Burq was at that time studying
magnetism, and he at once sought for the cause of this phenomenon. He
noticed that the door-handle was of copper. The next day he wrapped a
glove around the handle, again shut the patient in, and this time
nothing occurred. He interrogated the patient, but she could give him
no explanation. He then tried the effect of copper on all the subjects
at the Salpetriere and the Cochin hospitals, and found that a great
number were affected by it.”
At the Charity hospital in Paris, Doctor Luys used an apparatus moved
by clockwork. Doctor Foveau, one of his pupils, thus describes it:
“The hypnotic state, generally produced by the contemplation of a
bright spot, a lamp, or the human eye, is in his case induced by a
peculiar kind of mirror. The mirrors are made of pieces of wood cut
prismatically in which fragments of mirrors are incrusted. They are
generally double and placed crosswise, and by means of clockwork
revolve automatically. They are the same as sportsmen use to attract
larks, the rays of the sun being caught and reflected on every side and
from all points of the horizon. If the little mirrors in each branch
are placed in parallel lines in front of a patient, and the rotation is
rapid, the optic organ soon becomes fatigued, and a calming soothing
somnolence ensues. At first it is not a deep sleep, the eye-lids are
scarcely heavy, the drowsiness slight and restorative. By degrees, by a
species of training, the hypnotic sleep differs more and more from
natural sleep, the individual abandons himself more and more
completely, and falls into one of the regular phases of hypnotic sleep.
Without a word, without a suggestion or any other action, Dr. Luys has
made wonderful cures. Wecker, the occulist, has by the same means
entirely cured spasms of the eye-lids.”
Professor Delboeuf gives the following account of how the famous
Liebault produced hypnotism at the hospital at Nancy. We would
especially ask the reader to note what he says of Dr. Liebault’s manner
and general bearing, for without doubt much of his success was due to
his own personality. Says Professor Delboeuf:
“His modus faciendi has something ingenious and simple about it,
enhanced by a tone and air of profound conviction; and his voice has
such fervor and warmth that he carries away his clients with him.
“After having inquired of the patient what he is suffering from,
without any further or closer examination, he places his hand on the
patient’s forehead and, scarcely looking at him, says, ‘You are going
to sleep.’ Then, almost immediately, he closes the eyelids, telling him
that he is asleep. After that he raises the patient’s arm, and says,
‘You cannot put your arm down.’ If he does, Dr. Liebault appears hardly
to notice it. He then turns the patient’s arm around, confidently
affirming that the movement cannot be stopped, and saying this he turns
his own arms rapidly around, the patient remaining all the time with
his eyes shut; then the doctor talks on without ceasing in a loud and
commanding voice. The suggestions begin:
“‘You are going to be cured; your digestion will be good, your sleep
quiet, your cough will stop, your circulation will become free and
regular; you are going to feel very strong and well, you will be able
to walk about,’ etc., etc. He hardly ever varies the speech. Thus he
fires away at every kind of disease at once, leaving it to the client
to find out his own. No doubt he gives some special directions,
according to the disease the patient is suffering from, but general
instructions are the chief thing.
“The same suggestions are repeated a great many times to the same
person, and, strange to say, notwithstanding the inevitable monotony of
the speeches, and the uniformity of both style and voice, the master’s
tone is so ardent, so penetrating, so sympathetic, that I have never
once listened to it without a feeling of intense admiration.”
The Hindoos produce sleep simply by sitting on the ground and, fixing
their eyes steadily on the subject, swaying the body in a sort of
writhing motion above the hips. By continuing this steadily and in
perfect silence for ten or fifteen minutes before a large audience,
dozens can be put to sleep at one time. In all cases, freedom from
noise or distractive incidents is essential to success in hypnotism,
for concentration must be produced.
Certain French operators maintain that hypnotism may be produced by
pressure on certain hypnogenic points or regions of the body. Among
these are the eye-balls, the crown of the head, the back of the neck
and the upper bones of the spine between the shoulder glades. Some
persons may be hypnotized by gently pressing on the skin at the base of
the finger-nails, and at the root of the nose; also by gently
scratching the neck over the great nerve center.
Hypnotism is also produced by sudden noise, as if by a Chinese gong,
etc.
HOW TO WAKE A SUBJECT FROM HYPNOTIC SLEEP.
This is comparatively easy in moot cases. Most persons will awake
naturally at the end of a few minutes, or will fall into a natural
sleep from which in an hour or two they will awake refreshed. Usually
the operator simply says to the subject, “All right, wake up now,” and
claps his hands or makes some other decided noise. In some cases it is
sufficient to say, “You will wake up in five minutes”; or tell a
subject to count twelve and when he gets to ten say, “Wake up.”
Persons in the lethargic state are not susceptible to verbal
suggestions, but may be awakened by lifting both eyelids.
It is said that pressure on certain regions will wake the subject, just
as pressure in certain other places will put the subject to sleep.
Among these places for awakening are the ovarian regions.
Some writers recommend the application of cold water to awaken
subjects, but this is rarely necessary. In olden times a burning coal
was brought near.
If hypnotism was produced by passes, then wakening may be brought about
by passes in the opposite direction, or with the back of the hand
toward the subject.
The only danger is likely to be found in hysterical persons. They will,
if aroused, often fall off again into a helpless state, and continue to
do so for some time to come. It is dangerous to hypnotize such
subjects.
Care should be taken to awaken the subject very thoroughly before
leaving him, else headache, nausea, or the like may follow, with other
unpleasant effects. In all cases subjects should be treated gently and
with the utmost consideration, as if the subject and operator were the
most intimate friends.
It is better that the person who induces hypnotic sleep should awaken
the subject. Others cannot do it so easily, though as we have said,
subjects usually awaken themselves after a short time.
Further description of the method of producing hypnotism need not be
given; but it is proper to add that in addition to the fact that not
more than one person out of three can be hypnotized at all, even by an
experienced operator, to effect hypnotization except in a few cases
requires a great deal of patience, both on the part of the operator and
of the subject. It may require half a dozen or more trials before any
effect at all can be produced, although in some cases the effect will
come within a minute or two. After a person has been once hypnotized,
hypnotization is much easier. The most startling results are to be
obtained only after a long process of training on the part of the
subject. Public hypnotic entertainments, and even those given at the
hospitals in Paris, would be quite impossible if trained subjects were
not at hand; and in the case of the public hypnotizer, the proper
subjects are hired and placed in the audience for the express purpose
of coming forward when called for. The success of such an entertainment
could not otherwise be guaranteed. In many cases, also, this training
of subjects makes them deceivers. They learn to imitate what they see,
and since their living depends upon it, they must prove hypnotic
subjects who can always be depended upon to do just what is wanted. We
may add, however, that what they do is no more than an imitation of the
real thing. There is no grotesque manifestation on the stage, even if
it is a pure fake, which could not be matched by more startling facts
taken from undoubted scientific experience.