Experience has taught me that the professional musician in a regular
orchestra, the player of classic music; a telegrapher, a first-class
stenographer, or those whose business requires concentration; and
naturally slow correlators, are more readily lead into hypnosis.
Seat your subject in a chair and stand directly in front of him and
repeat the following paragraph:
[Sidenote: How to hypnotize]
“Take an easy position. Put your hands together thus. (Plate II.) I am
going to ask you to look at the end of this pencil. If you will do so
and think of it, your eyelids will get heavy and close; or, if I close
them for you, allow them to remain closed; then your head will fall to
the front, your hands will drop to your sides and you will forget where
you are. When I want you to awaken I will (tell you) say ALL RIGHT and
clap my hands. (Suit the action to the word.) Do you understand me? At
no time will you feel sleepy, but by giving me your undivided attention
you will slowly forget where you are.”
If you desire to send a person to a place of which he knows nothing, as
to the manner of going you must necessarily give him full directions,
so nothing that is certain to occur can divert him. So it is with a
subject; he must know what to expect and thus be freed of all fear that
might be aroused when the attributes occur, which otherwise would cause
an active mind. The falling of the eyelids, of the head and the hands
should arouse no thought other than the one you are suggesting to him
through his ear, i. e., the thought of _sleep_.
As _two senses_ must be affected to impress a thought, great care
is necessary that whatever you _say_ you actually _do_, so
the prospective subject can see as well as _hear_ it.
[Sidenote: As to affecting two senses]
Special attention is drawn to the sentence, “If you will do so your
eyelids will get heavy and close; or, if I close them for you, allow
them to remain closed.” Only three in ten will close their eyelids;
the other seven after giving you the stare for some five minutes, must
have their eyelids closed for them. If you will note in the foregoing
sentence, I have said nothing about the eyelids “not closing,” but
have made affirmations and _provided_ for the “not closing.” When
you say to him, “Your eyelids will get heavy,” you must then close
_your_ eyelids. When you say, “remain closed,” your eyelids must
be closed while saying the words. When you say, “or if I close,” while
uttering the words “I close,” you must with your fingers close your
own eyes, taking care to immediately remove the fingers; otherwise
you would convey through his eye the idea that you will hold his eyes
closed (suggested to him by seeing you hold your own eyelids closed).
Hence, if you close them for him, when you remove your fingers, the
subject will open his eyes. When you use the words, “head falls to the
front,” your head must move forward; and when you say, “hands fall to
your sides,” your hands must fall.
[Sidenote: As to awakening]
If you will notice, there are two ways of awakening mentioned here;
one is “When I tell you;” the other, “When I say ALL RIGHT and clap
my hands.” (Which must be said with one breath.) You use “ALL RIGHT
and clap my hands;” the doctor should use the other. The physician,
desiring his patient to go away with some inspiration given him, simply
says, “When you open your eyes you are awake,” and so and so is the
case; for an inspiration given in hypnosis can only be responded to
_in_ hypnosis. The operator in the parlor entertainment, when he
has finished the performance says, “All right,” and claps his hands.
[Sidenote: As to signs]
[Sidenote: Expression of thought]
Why do I desire the subject to put his hands together? To _see_
them fall. The hands will unconsciously drift apart—the action will
be entirely involuntary, and after a pupil has watched a dozen pairs
of hands he will see that no one on earth can deceive him, as it is
utterly impossible to simulate (consciously) an involuntary action. It
is for the same reason that I desire the head to fall to the front—I
wish to _see_ it fall—_knowing that when an action is part of
a thought, to the degree that action takes place is to the extent
that the thought is aroused in the “mind.”_ When the hands drop
_relaxed_ to the sides, I know that the subject has forgotten or
lost his environment, and therefore is in hypnosis.
Now, I have told the subject exactly what would happen. If my pupil
will carefully analyze the paragraph he will find that telling him to
“Take an easy position” is the first attribute I desire. That to “look
at the pencil,” if the operator holds it in the proper position, will
force the eyes upturned, or converged; that if he thinks of the pencil
he will furnish concentration. I then tell him as to the closing of
the eyes; and then, if I slip into his “mind” the thought of sleep, I
will have accomplished my purpose and have induced hypnosis.
Now stand to the left of your subject, holding a lead pencil or your
finger as in Plate III, and repeat _verbatim_ in a firm voice:
“Drowsy, sleepy, drowsy, sleepy, drowsy, sleepy; as you go deeper
asleep your eyelids get heavy and close.” (Repeat until accomplished.)
“Drowsy, sleepy, drowsy, sleepy, drowsy, sleepy; as you go deeper
asleep your head falls to the front.” (Repeat until accomplished.)
“Drowsy, sleepy, drowsy, sleepy, drowsy, sleepy; as you go deeper
asleep your hands get heavy and fall to your sides.” (Repeat until
accomplished.)
[Sidenote: Multiplying a thought]
[Sidenote: Only one thought at a time]
[Illustration: Upturned Eyes.]
[Illustration: Converged Eyes.