HYPNOTISM : WHAT IT IS AND WHAT IT IS NOT 769 



the just reputation of one wlio has done so much to advance the 

 science of medicine, but I believe that in reference to the subject 

 of hypnotism Charcot has committed a serious error in regarding 

 a neurosis which is unquestionably an artificial derivative of hyp- 

 notism as the type of hypnotism itself, and it seems probable that 

 this error is largely due to a failure to appreciate the subtle role 

 of suggestion.* 



We have now reviewed the more important facts at present 

 known about hypnotism. Into the question of cerebral physiol- 

 ogy I can not enter here, for I desire to confine myself to facts, 

 and we can not go far into that realm unless we give ourselves up 

 to speculation and abandon the surer footing of facts entirely ; 

 nor can I stop to speak of the interesting phenomena of spontane- 

 ous double consciousness, of retroactive hallucinations, and of 

 spontaneous somnambulism. Full descriptions of these and of 

 many other interesting conditions can be found in the more re- 

 cent treatises upon hypnotism. 



The medico-legal aspects of hypnotism have recently been 

 very carefully studied, and only a short time since a special trea- 

 tise appeared upon the subject. The forensic questions suggested 

 by hypnotism are certainly of great interest, but I can not help 

 thinking that their actual importance has been considerably exag- 

 gerated. The problem is such a novel one and suggests so many 

 curious possibilities that it is not strange that some persons should 

 have had their mental equilibrium a little disturbed from specu- 

 lating about it. 



In conclusion I wish to make a few remarks about the value 

 of hypnotism in the cure of disease. This is a subject upon which 

 the greatest difference of opinion at present exists among profes- 

 sional men, but there can be no question that the majority main- 

 tain an attitude of the most rigid skepticism. That it is very diffi- 

 cult at present to form an exact estimate of the therapeutic value 

 of hypnotism is certain, but I can not help believing, after careful 

 observation of a considerable number of cases in which it was 

 tried, that the virtues of hypnotic suggestion are real and great. 

 To be sure, the class of maladies in which benefit can be expected 

 is limited. There is no evidence at present that organic states of 

 disease can be in any way modified by hypnotism, and it is not 

 probable that there ever will be. But there is evidence, and evi- 

 dence of the best kind, that a large number of functional diseases 

 have been benefited and even permanently cured. Liebault, Bern- 

 heim, and Forel have succeeded in curing, or at least in improv- 

 ing, such conditions as headache, functional disturbances of the 

 bladder, St. Vitus's dance, writer's cramp, migraine, neuralgia, 



* I recently had an opportunity of studying the cases of the " grand hypnose " at the 

 Salpetriere, and my belief in the correctness of Bernheim's views was fully confirmed. 



TOL. XXXIII. — 49 



