59Q POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



HYPNOTISM, ITS HISTORY, NATURE AND USE. 



BY HAROLD M. HAYS, 



COLLEGE OK PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS, NEW YORK CITY. 



~T is perhaps unnecessary to state that the word hypnotism brings 

 -*- to the mind of the average person timid recollections of many 

 criminal acts. That is because few people hear of hypnotism in its 

 proper sphere. It is clothed with the garb of shame; it is surrounded 

 with all the horror belonging to the age of witchcraft. Newspapers 

 delight in depicting its bad sides, in painting to the world the crimes 

 that have been committed under its influence, the fearful results of its 

 all powerful spell. To most it means a giving up of one's will to 

 another who is superior, the crushing of one's entity by the power of 

 another, the total abstinence of individual self-control, the entire 

 weakening of one's higher intelligence. Vivid imagination supplies 

 the result — suffering, hardship, labor and total subservience. 



The question arises, ' Why should hypnotism have been thus de- 

 rided?' Simply and plainly because the ignorance of people in gen- 

 eral has given it no opportunity to show its good sides. Unfortunately 

 people are always looking for the ' eternal gullible ' and are not 

 satisfied until they get a taste of it. And as hypnotism was first prac- 

 tised solely and is now practised mostly by men who have made the 

 world their dupes, the world has had to suffer in the advancement 

 of hypnotism on a scientific basis. But it has been so with other 

 sciences. Astrology and alchemy are now things of the past; but 

 astronomy and chemistry are their results — two great and everlasting 

 sciences. There is therefore still great hope for hypnotism; for, 

 although known under different names for so many hundreds of years, 

 it is still in its infancy and the scientific aspect of the subject is yet 

 in embryo. 



Before, however, proceeding to cases in point, we may review briefly 

 the history of hypnotism up to the present day. Call it what we may, 

 since the beginning of the world, before Noah ever went on the Ark or 

 the whale swallowed Jonah (much to the discomfort of both), hypno- 

 tism 1ms boon practised. The influence of one man over another by 

 a certain innate quality or by personal magnetism has always been. 

 Even Eve exerted an influence over Adam which has precipitated the 

 world into misery and kept it there ever since. As time went on, 

 people recognized this influence, gave it a name and called it the 

 influence of the gods, the result being that those who were ordained 



