instance, smoking or drinking, it could often be broken up by placing
him in the mesmeric sleep, and telling him he would no longer desire to
continue the habit, but would even loathe them. The habit of sucking the
thumb, a bad temper, lying, stealing, dullness and lack of ambition,
etc., were amenable to this treatment. To illustrate: A boy fifteen
years old, always at the foot of his class, was put into the hypnotic
sleep, and told that he would be able to study harder and learn his
lessons better, so as to go to the head. This was continued daily for
several weeks, and, sure enough, he accepted the suggestion, and
outstripped every scholar in his class, and kept at the head so long as
these means were used; but, unfortunately, when they were discontinued
he relapsed into his first state. The suggestions had not been
sufficiently thorough to take deep root, and become a part of his
nature, as might have been the case with a better knowledge as to how to
use them. So long ago as in 1892 Dr. Berillon, Editor of _The Revue de
l' Hypnotism_, read a paper before the Second International Congress of
Experimental Psychology, in which he stated that he had observed the
beneficial effects of hypnotism in education in some 250 cases,
including nervous insomnia, night terror, sleepwalking, kleptomania,
stammering, idleness, filthy habits, cowardice and moral delinquency. He
also stated that other observers had similar experience. My friend, Dr.
B. Osgood Mason, of New York, working on the same lines, has had similar
experiences. I will quote a few illustrative cases furnished by him. The
first is of a school-girl fifteen years of age, a pupil in one of the
grammar-schools of New York--intelligent in many ways; a good reader of
such books as interested her--history, biography, and the better class
of novels; but for the routine of school studies she had no aptitude,
and she was constantly being left behind in her classes. She could not
concentrate her mind upon details which did not specially interest her.
If she succeeded in learning a lesson she could not remember it, or if
she remembered it until she arrived at the classroom, when she arose to
recite, it was instantly gone; her mind became a perfect blank; she had
not a word to say, and was obliged to sit down in disgrace. She could
write a good composition, but could never stand up and read it before
the class. Teachers had been engaged to give her special lessons, so as
to enable her to pass her preliminary examination, which would allow her
to come up for entrance to the Normal College. After months of effort
they reported to the mother that it was utterly useless to go on; it was
impossible for her to pass her preliminary examination, and they did not
think it right to take her money without any such expectation. She was
then brought to me to inquire if anything could be done to help her. I
proposed hypnotic suggestion. It was then March 30; the first
examination was in May. I commenced treatment at once. The patient went
into a quiet, subjective condition, with closed eyes, but did not lose
consciousness. I suggested that she would be able to concentrate her
mind upon her studies; that her memory would be improved; that she would
lose her excessive self-consciousness and timidity, and in their place
she would have full confidence in herself and be able to stand up
before the class and recite. She was kept in the hypnotic condition
one-half hour at each treatment, and the same or similar suggestions
were quietly but very positively made and repeated at intervals during
that time. She at once reported improvement in her ability both to study
and recite. She had six treatments, and on May 25 she reported that,
greatly to the surprise of her teachers, she had passed her preliminary
examination with a percentage of 79, which entitled her to come up for
the college examination. In June she passed her examination for entrance
to the Normal College with a percentage of 88; entered the College and
is at present doing well, though the suggestions have not been repeated
since May.
Another case from the same author was that of a boy "so bad as to be
perfectly unmanageable, and his temper so outrageous, that his mother
begged me to come to the house and see if I could do anything with him.
"Having secured _carte blanche_ for whatever course I chose to pursue, I
went. He was in the back room, his grandmother urging him forward, he
kicking and resisting. Without speaking, I went directly to him, seized
him firmly by one wrist, and brought him topsy turvy through two
intervening rooms, gave him a thorough shaking, and set him down
violently in a chair. He smoothed down his bang, whimpered a little, and
gruffly remarked that I had rumpled his hair. I told him I had not
intended to disturb his hair, but that as he had never obeyed anybody I
had come to the house for the express purpose of making him obey me, and
I should most certainly do it. After a few moments I said, quietly, 'Now
go and lie down on the bed in the next room.' He started, walking toward
the bed, but when near it he set off on a full run past it and into the
back room. I brought him back and again ordered him to lie down on the
bed. He went toward it as if to obey, but suddenly sprang under it, and
clung to the slats underneath with hands and feet, and hung there like a
monkey. I dislodged him, pulled him out, gave him a spanking, and
surprised him by tossing him vigorously upon the bed, with the command
to lie there quietly until I gave him permission to move. He obeyed.
Presently I ordered him to go into the front room and sit down again in
the chair he had before occupied. Again he quietly obeyed, I said: 'All
right; now you understand you will obey me. I don't want to hurt you. I
want to be a good friend to you, only you must obey me.'
"I then in a pleasant way gave him a short lesson, picturing to him very
plainly the course of a boy such as he was, and where it would be likely
to end; and also showing what he might be if he would change his course.
I told him I should be at the house again in a day or two, and I should
expect him to meet me pleasantly, shake hands with me, and do whatever I
directed him.
"Next day there came a telephone message begging me to come up; M. was
outrageous again. I went. He was backward in greeting me, but at length
came and shook hands. I afterward learned that there had not been the
slightest improvement in his behavior; and the cause of his mother's
sending for me was his outrageous conduct at the table, when, in a fit
of anger, he had thrown a plate at his grandmother. I talked to him
pleasantly a moment, and then said very quietly, 'Now go and lie down on
the bed.' He did so at once. I sat down beside him, and taking his two
thumbs firmly in my hands, I said: 'Now, M., I want you to look steadily
at that little stud in my shirt-front; keep your eyes very steadily
fixed upon it.' He did so, and I never secured better or more
concentrated attention from any patient.
"In five or six minutes his eyelids quivered and soon dropped. I closed
them, suggesting sleep; and directly he was in the sound hypnotic sleep.
I then presented the two pictures again--the bad and the good
course--and suggested that they would always be present, distinct in in
his mind, that he would dislike the _wrong_ course and desire to avoid
it, and choose the _good_ one. I suggested definitely that he would be
kind and considerate to his mother, and obey her as well as me. I
repeated these suggestions very positively, let him sleep ten minutes,
and repeated them again, and then awoke him by counting.
"The effect of this treatment was very marked; his whole manner at home
was changed, and he became comparatively docile and manageable.
"He came to my office for his next treatment, which was perfectly
successful. I have given him in all six treatments, and the improvement
has been maintained and increased. He is not yet by any means perfect,
but his general behavior is changed, and I am suggesting such definite
improvements in his conduct, and impressing such pictures upon his mind,
as I think will help to develop his better nature and qualities. He is a
lover of flowers, and on two occasions has brought some of his own
choosing to me. He has lost none of his boyishness; he is full of life;
is mischievous, playing tricks even upon his mother; but he is
affectionate and generally obedient. His will is not broken, but he has
self-control, and he is far more considerate of others than formerly. In
short, he is a fair example of one of the educational uses of hypnotism
and suggestion."
The only other case I will quote is one of night terrors.
"A little girl, five years of age, went soundly to sleep when first put
to bed, but after two or three hours she awoke screaming and trembling
with terror, on account of the hideous black man whom she saw in her
dream. The impression of the dream was vivid and persistent, and her
screams kept the household aroused and alarmed for hours every night,
and this state of things had already continued for months. One day, when
she was perfectly bright and happy, I placed her in her high chair in
front of me; put my hands gently upon her shoulders, and asked her to
look steadily at a trinket easily in her view, and quieted her with
passes and soothing touches until her drooping eyelids denoted the
subjective condition. I then commenced in a gentle, sing-song manner to
suggest that she would go easily to sleep as usual at night, but that
she would have no frightful dreams; that she would see the dreadful
black man no more, but would sleep quietly on the whole night through.
It was repeated over and over in the same gentle manner.
"That was a year ago; she has not seen the black man since, and her
sleep and health have been perfect. There was no repetition of the
treatment."
From these few cases, and many not quoted, it appears evident that we
have in hypnotism, or suggestion, an agent which, when fully understood,
will be of great usefulness to parents in the early training of
children. That it should be used wisely no one will deny.
The question will naturally arise, How is it that a suggestion to a
child while passive or in the hypnotic sleep is more effective than when
awake. The answer is not so easy to give; but it is possible that in
this state the subliminal self, the higher self, or, perhaps, the
spiritual nature is appealed to; and as the active, every-day nature,
the conscious self, is now dormant, it receives this appeal more
seriously. Perhaps a quotation from Prof. Frederic W. H. Myer, who has
given the subject profound attention, will help to make the subject
clearer. He says: "In waking consciousness I am like the proprietor of a
factory whose machinery I do not understand. My foreman, my subliminal
self, weaves for me so many yards of broadcloth per diem (my ordinary
vital processes), as a matter of course. If I want any pattern more
complex, I have to shout my orders in the din of the factory, where only
two or three inferior workmen hear me, and they shift their looms in a
small and scattered way. Such are the confined and capricious results of
the first, the more familiar stages of hypnotic suggestion.
"At certain intervals, indeed, the foreman stops most of the looms, and
uses the freed power to stoke the engine and oil the machinery. This, in
my metaphor, is sleep; and it will be effective hypnotic trance if I can
get the foreman to stop still more of the looms, come out of his private
room, and attend to my orders--my-self suggestions--for their repair and
re-arrangment."
To make this a little plainer. The subliminal self, the foreman, is the
one who manages the machinery of the nervous system, and turns out this
or that sort of conduct or behavior in the child, or the man or woman,
as he is told to turn out by the conscious self. But in the hypnotic
trance this subliminal self can take orders, or suggestions, for other
kinds of conduct or behavior; alter the action of the brain, so as to
make another sort of creature; for he is not so occupied then but that
he can receive these orders. As in the kaleidescope, the pictures
presented depend entirely on the arrangement of the pieces of glass. So
in daily conduct, character depends on the combination and activity of
the brain cells. By suggestion in the hypnotic state we are able, to
some extent at least, to alter this combination so that new conduct is
presented.
The question now arises, How can the parent make use of this agent in
altering the nature of a child from one that is not desirable to one
that is? Probably the best way to proceed would be to take it while
sleeping, and make the suggestion then; for ordinary sleep is not
different from hypnotic sleep, except in degree. As the child is in the
act of going to sleep, let the mother, or whoever is to make the
suggestion, sit by its side, take it by the hand and gently soothe it
with pleasant words or music, in a firm but agreeable voice. Let her say
slowly: Now you are going to sleep, sleep, sleep. You will soon be
sleeping sweetly. How nice it is to sleep and rest our bodies so that we
can feel well and strong on the coming day. This sleep is going to do
you a great deal of good. You will not have bad dreams. You will not see
ugly faces or wake up with a fright. Tomorrow you will wake up
good-natured, full of life, and will be good boy (or girl, as the case
may be), and do your best to make mother happy and proud of you. You
will want to play and enjoy the fresh air and sunshine; relish your
food; not eat too much, etc., etc., according to the needs of the child.
If it is timid and fearful of thunder, or dogs, or horses, or other
harmless things, you can say to it, Now, you will not be afraid any more
of thunder but like to hear it. This, like all other suggestions, must
be repeated several times, so as to make an impression. If afraid of
strangers, say, now, you will not fear men, or persons you don't know;
repeating it slowly over and over again. If the child uses bad language,
say, Now you will not want to use bad words any more, and will be
careful how you speak. If it has a cold, put the hand over the chest and
say, Now your cold will get well quickly, and not grow worse. If it has
the unfortunate habit of wetting the bed at night, even this can be
broken up, often by one suggestion, and surely by several repeated so as
to take deep root in the mind. This latter is necessary to produce any
effect. In case of disease, even serious disease, when a physician is
necessary, suggestion may be used by the nurse or parents, or the
physician, if he has learned the art, to advantage; but if the parents
are anxious or weary, they had better leave it for those who are not
weary or anxious; otherwise they may transfer their own condition
instead of one of health. The state of mind and body of the operator
should be a stable, equable and wholesome one.
The age at which suggestion may be of use is hardly yet known. Certainly
so soon as the understanding has become developed it may be employed,
though the language should be simplified for the childish understanding.
Before this it is of doubtful utility; but some experiments which have
been made intimate that good health may sometimes be transmitted from a
healthy person to a very young sick child by thought transference.
Thought transference is the transference from one to another person of
some feeling, sensation or idea. The person from whom the thought is
transferred is the _active_ agent, and the one who receives it is the
_passive_ one. Often this phenomenon takes place spontaneously, as when
one is in trouble, or at the point of dying, a knowledge of it may
sometimes be transferred to an intimate friend who is in sympathy. In
the hypnotic state, thought transference can sometimes be induced
artificially; and the point here to be considered is the transference
to the child of healthy normal sensations to replace the abnormal ones
which may have taken possession of consciousness and caused trouble.
The important thing always to have in mind in using psychic forces on
children is to instil natural, or normal, conditions, not unnatural or
abnormal ones. To this end to produce the best results, the active agent
should be a normally healthy person, having good common sense, and
living a normal, natural life. Those with sickly, sentimental or
fanciful notions, if they try to use suggestion may transfer these
states to the child, which would do harm rather than good.
INDEX.
Acquired characters, inheritance of, 71, 73, 77 _et seq._, 79, 90,
109, 111, _et seq._
Acquired characters not transmitted, 213
Adaptation to environment necessary for health, 149
Aesthetic sense displayed by animals, 28
Aesthetic surroundings during gestation, 95
Air, regarded as food, 174
Alcohol, as a poison, 91
Alcohol, effect of, on offspring, 171
Allen, Joseph A., observations of, as to effects of war on children,
200
_Allen, Grant_, 34, 48, 51, 180
Amphimixis, theory of, 76
Ancestral _ids_, 75
Ancestral tendencies, correction of, 126
Animals, practical superiority of man over, what?, 210
Animal flesh, supposed effect of eating, 63
Atavism in relation to disease, 83
Baby, a theoretical, 185 _et seq._
Bad habits, broken up by suggestion during mesmeric sleep, 214
Bad temper cured by hypnotic suggestion, 217 _et seq._
Beauty, reference of sexual selection to, 28
Bees, instincts of, 122
Berillon, Dr., on beneficial effect of hypnotism over bad habits,
etc., 215
Birthmarks, 59, 68, 94
Blood, healthy, purifying influence of, 92
Blood, study of the, 140, 151
Bones, modification of certain, through sitting, 116
Boys, mortality among larger than with girls, 136
Breasts, best methods of developing, 209
Breasts, defective, women having, incapable of becoming mothers of a
virile race, 209
Breasts, development of, after marriage and parentage, 209
Breasts, degeneracy of the, and motherhood, 208
Breeding in and in, Noyes' first principle for race improvement, 38
Camp life, evils of, 202
Cases of prenatal influences, 204 _et seq._
Cells, sexual, 110, 162
_Chandler, Jennie_, 97
Character, dependence of, on arrangement of nerve cells, 222
Character, improvement by suggestion, method to be employed by parents
for, 223
Character of children affected by war, 201
Characteristics, origin of, through sexual selection, 134
_Charles, Havelock_, 116
Chickamauga Camp, prostitution at, 202
Children acquire special aptitudes from mothers, 205
Child bearing, best age for, 170
Children, breeding of, in Plato's Republic, 11, 12
Children considered as belonging to the State, 10 _et seq._, 22
Children, deaths of, in New York city, 139
Children, healthy, essentials for having, 168
Children, interests of unborn, 199
Children, characteristics of, in the Oneida Community, 39
Children in the Oneida Community, care of, 38
Children, mortality among, 136
Children, obstacle of war to production and training of, 203
Child training aided by suggestion, 214 _et seq._
Children, training of, 16 _et seq._, 52
Civil War and how it affected the character of children, 201
Co-adaptation of parts as evidence of transmission of acquired
characters, 116
Coalescence of sperm and germ cells, 166
Concentrative power, want of, cured by hypnotic suggestion, 216
Conduct, knowledge of its object, not possessed by animals, 210
Congenital characters, transmission of, 177
Congenital deformities, 80
Consanguineous marriages among the Greeks, 23
Consanguineous marriages, regulations as to, among uncultured peoples,
21, 42
Consanguineous marriages, effect on offspring, 42
Constitution, bodily, improvement of the, 150
Consumption, causes of, 176
Consumption, tendency to, whether a bar to marriage, 176
Contentment, value of, 95
Continuity of germ-plasm, 107, 118
Co-operation, hygienic value of, 156 _et seq._
_Cope, Prof. E. D._, 59, 69
Cousins, marriage between, 43
Couvade, custom of the, 63 _et seq._
Crimes, increase of, caused by war, 201
_Darwin, Charles_, 28, 30 _et seq._, 73, 75, 85, 100, 105, 106, 109,
141, 179, 184
Death, causes of, 150
Deformities, congenital, 80
Degeneracy of the breasts and motherhood, 208
Degeneracy in offspring due to maternal degeneracy evidenced by
inability to nurse a child, 208
Degeneration, evidence of, 140
Development of breasts after marriage and parentage, 209
Diseases, influence of hygiene over, 159
Diseases, inheritance of, 80
Diseases which affect offspring, 175
Disposition spiritualized through marriage of chastity, 210
Disproportion between accidental causes and effects, 68, 90
Diversity between offspring and parents, causes of, 58
Domestication of animals, 9
_Doutrebente, Prof._, 92
Drink, influence of, over offspring, 16
_Duncan, J. C. Mathews_, 170
Education, beneficial effects of hypnotism in, 215
Education and heredity, 111 _et seq._
Education and non-transmission of acquired characters, 124
Education of Spartan children, 15
Education, Plutarch on, 17
Education, study of laws of evolution, as part of, 125
Educational uses of hypnotism and suggestion, 220
Egg. See _Ovum_.
_Eimer, Dr. G. H._, 71, 79 _et seq._, 90
Embryo, how parental properties communicated to, 69
Embryology, importance of, 103
Energy, bodily, use and abuse of, 153
Environment, adaptation to, necessary for health, 149
Epigenesis, theory of, 104
Esquirol on the effects of the French Revolution over children, 200
Ethics of the body, hygiene as the, 160
Evolution, a superior race produced by, 130 _et seq._
Evolution, meaning of the term, 210
Evolution of the horse, 102
Evolution, study of laws of, as part of education, 125
Evolutionary theories, conflict of, with humane sentiments, 145 _et
seq._
Example, influence of, over children, 18
Exercise, transmission of effects of, 111
Experiment in race improvement by Noyes, 37 _et seq._
Explanation of the action of hypnotic suggestion, 221
Family life, abolition of, in Plato's Republic, 10
Father rule should be combined with mother rule, 213
Fatherhood, too little importance assigned to, 212
Feeble constitutions prevent numerous offspring, 147
Fertilization essential to true germ plasm, 165
Fertilization, nature of, 166
_Fison, Lorimer_, 42
Fitness for survival, characteristics of, 140
Flat head Indians and heredity, 213
Flat head and round head tribes, comparison between, 213
Flat head not transmitted to offspring, 213
Flattening the skull, injurious effect of on health, 214
_Flint, Dr. Austin_, 88
Food, how it affects germ plasm, 173
Food (certain) injurious influence of, 94
Foot, compression of, by Chinese ladies, 20
Fosterage, 96
French Revolution, evil effects of over children, 200
_Galton, Francis_, 46, 50, 73, 106, 135, 170
Gemmules, essential to pangenesis, 105, 106
Generation, influences over, at time of conception, 57, 58
Generation, influences over, subsequent to conception, 58
Generative powers, debilitation of the, 84
Germ plasm and heredity, 107, 162
Germ plasm, continuity of the, 73, 74 _et seq._, 107, 118
Germ plasm, how affected by food, 173
Germ plasm, modification of the, 76, 80
Germ variations, causes of, 81
Gestation (period of) importance of pleasant surroundings during, 93
Gestation, maternal influence during, 96
Gestation, strong emotion during, effect of, 63, 94
Gestation, uterine disturbances during, 93
Girls, physical training of, among Spartans, 14
Girls, mortality among, smaller than with boys, 136
Great mothers, how constituted, 208
Group marriage of Australian natives, 21
_Haeckel, Ernst_, 109
_Harvey_, 103
_Haycraft, John Berry_, 143
Head flattening, 20
Health, action of nature in relation to, 130
Health, transmission of, by thought transference, to young sick child,
224
Healthy localities enable the healthiest offspring to be reared, 210
Health, adaptation to environment necessary for, 149
Health, ideal of, 148
Health, importance of, in relation to marriage, 135, 168, 171
_Hearn, Professor_, 67
Hedonism, New, 48
Hereditary tastes of children, 204 _et seq._
Heredities, antagonistic, of two parents, 58
Heredity among Flat-head Indians, 213
Heredity, definition of, 100
Heredity and education, 111 _et seq._
Heredity, evils arising from, may be cured, 35
Heredity, exceptions to law of, 58
Heredity and germ plasm, 107
Heredity, importance of knowledge of, by teachers, 125
Heredity, modification of law of, 99
Heredity, preponderating influence of, 69, 89
Heredity, rational view of, 109
Heredity, spectre of, 127 _et seq._
Heredity, theories of, 73 _et seq._
Heredity, transformation of, 83
_Hering, Richard_, 70
Hidery tribes of British Columbia, 214
High-pressure, effects of living at, 152
Hypnotic sleep, differs from ordinary sleep only in degree, 223
Hypnotic suggestion, value of, as aid to education, 216
Hypnotism as suggestive therapeutics, 214
Horse, evolution of the, 102
Human selection, plans for, 135 _et seq._
Human kind, regarded as a whole, should be benefited by our conduct,
211
Human race, further improvement of impossible, if marriage relation be
regarded only from standpoint of sexual indulgence, 210
Humane sentiments, conflict of, with theories of evolution, 145 _et
seq._
Husband and wife, tendency to resemble each other, 89
_Huth, A. H._, 42
Hygiene, modern, as opposed to natural selection, 142 _et seq._
Hygiene, as the ethics of the body, 160
Hygiene, promises of, 158 _et seq._
Hygienic laws, punishment for infraction of, 161
Hygienic surroundings, importance of, 139
Hygienic training, value of, 151
Ideal of Health, 148
Idiots, education of, 25
Illustrative cases of prenatal influence, 60 _et seq._
Imagination, effect of, on unborn offspring, 55 _et seq._
Improvement of race. See _race improvement_.
Incas of Peru, consanguineous marriages among the, 23
Income, bodily, importance of living within, 152
Individual, the, as the beginning and end of the race, 50
Individuality, development of the, 126
Infanticide among Spartans, 15
Infanticide, former general prevalence of, 19
Infanticide in Plato's Republic, 11
Infanticide not morally permissible, 24
Inheritance of acquired characters, question as to the, 71, 73, 77,
79, 90, 109, 111 _et seq._
Inheritance, organic, wonders of, 101
Injuries during life, transmission of, 79 _et seq._
Injury to health through flattening the skull, 214
Instinct, explanations of origin of, 121
Instincts of the race for children, loss of, 208
Instruction and education, difference between, 210
Intelligence affected by head flattening, 214
Jacob, rods of, 56
_Jeune, Lady Mary_, 47
_Jowett, Professor B._, 25 _et seq._, 34
_Krafft, D. Von Ebing_, 82, 84, 91
_Lamarck_, 111
Lamarchian theory of transmission, 213
Language, not transmitted to offspring, 119
_Leeuwenhock_, 103
Limitation of offspring, 179 _et seq._
Locust, egg-laying instinct of, 123
Luxury and parentage, 208
_Lycurgus_, marriage regulations of, 13 _et seq._, 22, 27
_Lyman, Dr. C. W._, on treatment of a baby, 185 _et seq._
Man, variations undergone by, 138
Man, practical superiority of, over animals, what, 210
Manufacturing life, unhealthiness of, 152
Manufacturing mills, deterioration caused by, 158
Marriage, consanguineous, ideas as to, 21, 42
Marriage customs among Spartans, 18, 19
Marriage, early, disadvantages of, 137
Marriage, importance of health in relation to, 135
Marriage, regulations as to, in Plato's Republic, 22, 25
Marriage of weak and worthless, 137
Marriage, a sacred state, 52
Marriage of chastity, disposition spiritualized by, 210
Marriages of affection and passion, difference between, analogous to
that between education and instruction, 210
_Mason, Dr. R. Osgood_, on beneficial effect of hypnotism in
education, 215
Maternity, avoidance of, 208
_McGee, Dr. Anita Newcomb_, 37
Memory, endowment of reproductive cells with, 70
Memory, improvement of, by hypnotic suggestion, 210
Mental dullness, curable by suggestion during hypnotic sleep, 215
Mental emotion of mother, injury to unborn child through, 200