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SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XV I II. No. 462 



delicate and neurotic, when the hypnosis is brought about 

 by faulty processes, and the suggestions made are almost 

 invaria"bly of a painful or sensational kind. Many of the 

 subjects used for exhibition are hypnotized twice a day for 

 months, and in consequence of this frequent repetition be- 

 come reduced to a condition of automatism, vacuity, and de- 

 pendence on the will of the operator, which it is painful to 

 contemplate. The subjects chosen by public hypnotists are 

 nearly always of a low type of intelligence, and are gener- 

 ally " weedy " and deficient in physical stamina. A few 

 weeks of exhibition will probably render such subjects unfit 

 for any subsequent employment requiring application or rea- 

 soning power. 



As one of the earliest among English physicians to study 

 the Nancy method of treatment by hypnotism, I feel it my 

 duty to speak very plainly of the dangers attending the 

 ignorant and injudicious use of this powerful agent. I am 

 the more impelled to do so, because the cause of medical 

 hypnotism has suffered through the confusion existing in the 

 popular mind between it and the hypnotism of shows and 

 entertainments. When people assert that hypnotism is essenr 

 fially dangerous, and that its employment should be made 

 rllegal, it is as well to inquire what variety of hypnotism is 

 referred to. If the speaker has in mind either amateur ex- 

 periments or public performances, any hearer who has studied 

 the subject must heartily endorse what he has said; but if, 

 as is sometimes the case, no discrimination is used, and 

 therapeutic hypnotism shares the general condemnation, we 

 should ask, in the first place, whether it has been proved a 

 dangerous agent in the hands of experienced medical men, 

 and, in the second, whether its benefits are such as to justify 

 tlie incurring of any risk. 



In the hands of a conscientious and experienced physician 

 the use of hypnotism is, I believe, absolutely devoid of 

 danger. This is my own experience; and last year I wrote 

 to the chief exponents of the treatment on the Continent, in 

 America, and in Great Britain and Ireland, asking them for 

 their opinion on this subject. They all replied that they had 

 never met with untoward results, and that they could not 

 conceive the possibility of such results if proper care and 

 judgment were used. The venerable pioneer of suggestive 

 hypnotism. Dr. Li6beault, who has practised for over thirty 

 3"ears among the poor of Nancy, gives the result of his ex- 

 perience in an extremely candid and interesting paper. In 

 this he tells of two or three slight contretemps which hap- 

 pened to him in his early days of inexperience, but he goes 

 on to say that he has never seen any serious accident occur 

 through the use of hypnotism, and records his conviction 

 that harm can result only through faulty method, or igno- 

 rance on the part of the operator. The fact that Dr. Liebeault 

 has practised hypnotism so long in a comparatively small 

 town, and that Professor Bernheim has, during the last five 

 years, hypnotized a large proportion of the patients who have 

 passed through the Nancy General Hospital without having 

 any evil results to register, is, I think, a strong proof of the 

 safety of this treatment. But even though hypnotism were 

 proved to be attended by a certain amount of risk, we should 

 hardly be justified in altogether prohibiting or abstaining 

 from its use, if at the same time we could show that its ad- 

 vantages exceeded its drawbacks, and that it enabled us to 

 treat successfullj' some diseases and conditions which resist 

 other measures. 



Among such intractable diseases, alcoholism takes a fore- 

 most place. The value of hypnotism in treating this malady 

 may be better understood by the reader if I refer to one or 



two examples drawn from my own experience. Among the 

 patients who came under ray care about the end of 1888 was 

 a successful and prosperous merchant, a member of a neurotic 

 and alcoholized family. He had been addicted to alcohol 

 for about three years, but drank only at intervals, between 

 which he entirely abstained from stimulants and worked 

 steadily at his business. When the alcoholic mania seized 

 him he would surreptitiously leave his wife and family, and 

 go into a mean lodging, where he could drink night and day 

 without hindrance. His family would spend days in seeking 

 him, and he would generally be found sleeping off the 

 effects of a debauch. As time went on the attacks became 

 more frequent, and between the last two only a fortnight 

 had elapsed. He was placed under supervision and treated 

 daily by hypnotic suggestion for about three weeks, but he 

 was only slightly influenced by hypnotism, and always re- 

 tained full consciousness. He returned home, and had no 

 relapse for seven months, throughout which time he worked 

 hard and regularly. In the summer of 1889 he travelled in 

 Scotland on business, and during this journey the double 

 shock of a thorough wetting and some bad news from home 

 had such an effect on him that he took to whisky. He drank 

 heavily for one day, but he was able to pull up of his own 

 accord, and during the following week he came to see me, 

 and to have the anti-alcoholic suggestions repeated. Since 

 then he has continued absolutely sober, and that without 

 any further treatment. To show the immense power wielded 

 by hypnotism, I shall quote the case of the manager of an 

 important company, who was on the point of being dismissed 

 from his post when he first consulted me, early in this year. 

 This gentleman was very susceptible to hypnotism; he fell 

 at once into a profound sleep, and proved one of the best 

 subjects I have ever seen. As he belonged to an alcoholized 

 family, it was necessary to forbid him all use of stimulants; 

 therefore he was told, while in the hypnotic stale, that 

 alcohol was poison to him, and that the taste of it would in 

 future make him violently ill. To test the efficacy of this 

 suggestion, a small glass of beer was given to him during 

 the hypnotic sleep, and another about half an hour after his 

 awaking; on both occasions the dose instantly brought ou an 

 attack of sickness, though the patient had no consciousness 

 of the suggestions he had received. He returned to his home 

 and business after about two months, and has had no relapse. 

 A few weeks ago, I had a letter from his mother, informing 

 me that he was very ill with pleurisy. The attack came on 

 suddenly while he was attending a cricket match, and as he 

 complained of violent pain and faintness, a well-meaning 

 friend made him take the usual rough and-ready remedy — 

 a glass of whisky. He had hardly swallowed the spirit when 

 he again rejected it, thus affording a proof of the continued 

 action of suggession after the lapse of three months, and 

 under altogether exceptional circumstances. 



Alcoholism is by no means the only disease originating in 

 bad habits and want of self-control. Morphinism, for ex- 

 ample, and the "tobacco habit," have also their victims, 

 and the suggestive treatment which has been found useful 

 in alcoholism has also proved efficacious against those kin- 

 dred evils. 



In a large proportion of cases, hypnotism should be used 

 as an adjunct to other remedial measures, and by no means 

 to their exclusion. And in cases of incurable disease it can 

 be only palliative and directed to the relief of distressing 

 symptoms, such as pain, sleeplessness, want of appetite, and 

 mental depression. By hypnotic suggestion we can often 

 reduce symptoms to their "anatomical expression," and take 



