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THE APPLICATIONS OF HYPNOTISM.' 



At the present time, when even medical experts hold 

 themselves in an attitude of indecision towards hypnotism, 

 it is not surprising that the laity are at a loss to reconcile 

 the conflicting opinions of the advocates of the practice and 

 its opponents. 



There are two leading features as to (he nature of hypno- 

 sis, held by the two leading schools of hypnotism. That of 

 the Salpelriere, enunciated by the eminent physician, Char- 

 cot, is, that hypnotism is pathological, and, in fact, a form 

 of hysteria, and occurs in hysterical subjects only; while the 

 Nancy school contends that hypnosis is a physiological con- 

 dition analogous to natural sleep, and that nearly all per- 

 sons of sane mind can be hypnotized. 



Much credit is due to Charcot for his researches into hyp- 

 notism at a time when the subject was held in contempt or 

 abhorrence; but it is to be deplored that he and his follow- 

 ers, by experimenting mainly on hysterical subjects — for 

 the most part women — have forced us to regard their ex- 

 periments as incomplete, and the arguments based upon them 

 as futile. As agricultural laborers, sailors, soldiers, and the 

 majority of children are shown to be exceptionally suscepti- 

 ble to hypnotism, we must, if we accept Charcot's dictum, 

 very greatly enlarge our views as to the prevalence of hys- 

 teria; indeed, we shall be forced to assume that one-half at 

 least of humanity are victims of this form of nervous de- 

 rangement. 



The fact is, that there are two kinds of hypnotism: " le 

 grand '' and " le petit." The former, which has been so de- 

 veloped by cultivation at the Salpetriere as almost to con- 

 stitute a new nervous disease, is undoubtedly to be seen in 

 comparatively few subjects, which few are always of pro- 

 nounced hysterical type; but the latter, " le petit hypno- 

 tisme," whicli is employed by Bernheim and by all physi- 

 cians practising the Nancy method, is a condition of very 

 constant occurrence. Many persons, and even some men of 

 science, seem to imagine that by hypnotism is meant the 



' Abstract of a paper by Charles Lloyd Tuckey, M.D., In The ContempcraiT 

 Review for November. 



piKiduction of such a state of unconseiousaess and autonaa- 

 tism as is seen in the subjects at the SalpStriSre, or en public 

 platforms. But Bernheim's definition covers a much wider 

 field. " Hypnotism," he says, " is the induction of a psy- 

 chical condition in which the subject's susceptibility to sug- 

 gestion and ability to act upon it are enormously in- 

 creased." 



Suggestion is the key to the hypnotic problem. By it the 

 subject is'put to sleep or calmed into a state of receptive 

 quiescence, and by it he is guided in the way of cure. The 

 degree of suggestibility is not necessarily proportioned to the 

 depth of sleep. Some persons are barely hypnotizable, and 

 yet a suggestion will take possession of their mind and dom- 

 inate their actions; while others, even in the most profound 

 hypnotic sleep, will refuse to receive or to act upon sugges- 

 tion. As an illustration of great suggestibility accompany- 

 ing a slight degree of hypnosis, I may refer to a case that 

 has come under my own notice. The patient, whom I may 

 call Dr. A., a university professor and a member of several 

 learned societies, was an inveterate smoker, and hardly to 

 be found without a cigarette in his mouth, except when he 

 was eating or sleeping. As he was a man of highly irritable 

 and nervous temperament and suffered from sleeplessness 

 and atonic dyspepsia, such excessive smoking was the very 

 worst thing for him. He knew well, and had been told by 

 several medical men, that the habit was undermining his 

 health and ruining his nerves, yet he found himself abso- 

 lutely unable to give it up. I hypnotized him, and he fell 

 into a state of languor resembling sleep, but without loss of 

 consciousness. I then suggested to him that he should no 

 longer have any desire for tobacco, and that he should feel 

 much better for leaving it off. After a few minutes I 

 aroused him, and found that he had a perfect recollection of 

 every word I had said to him ; but he remarked that previ- 

 ously, when his physicians had assured him that tobacco 

 was poison to him and had advised him to give it up, he had 

 mentally resented their assertions and their counsel, while 

 now, under the influence of hypnotism, he felt that the 

 words I had spoken were so convincing that it would be im- 

 possible to go against them. As a matter of fact, he at once 

 gave up smoking, and I hear from him that he has felt no 

 inclination to resume the habit. He was hypnotized only 

 three times, and it is now eighteen months since he under- 

 went the treatment. Still, frequently though such cases 

 may occur in practice, we may take it as a general rule that 

 the deeper the hypnotic effect, the greater is the influence of 

 suggestion. 



Suggestibility apart from hypnotism comes within the ex- 

 perience of us all. Every one has some portion of such sus- 

 ceptibility, and in many it is very highly developed, and 

 may be worked upon for good or evil with signal effect. 

 The drunkard, converted by a Gough or a Father Mathew, 

 is redeemed through suggestion ; and through it the victim 

 of evil example or evil solicitation falls to his ruin. We are 

 physically benefited by it when words of hope and cheerful 

 surroundings lead us to forget bodily pain or to entertain 

 the idea of its removal, or even to make the effort required 

 for self-cure — as when a sufferer from functional paralysis 

 is induced, by kindly encouragement, to move the affected 

 limb. On the other hand, suggestion may, and continually 

 does, work physical harm, as when some unwise sympathi- 

 zer or some meddling Cassandra utters prognostications of 

 sickness and trouble, which, by reason of the depression 

 they induce, are likely to undermine the health of a nervous 

 hearer. 



