May 24, 1889.] 



SCIENCE. 



407 



secret curses and superstitious rites to be accounted for upon the 

 same principle. 



In more recent times the success of a host of quaclc remedies, 

 supported by quasi-scientific proofs, is to be referred to the same 

 influence of mind upon body. The existence of such influence, and 

 its great power for good or ill, is fully admitted by modern science ; 

 its practical application has, however, been left almost exclusively 

 to charlatans and empirics. Naturally the physician has encoun- 

 tered the general fact of mental influence, and more or less un- 

 consciously profited by its benefits ; but the outspoken recognition 

 of psychic states upon physical ills has been rare, owing to the 

 ■endangering of one's reputation to which such a step would lead. 

 The result has been that a special sect, ignorant of all rational 

 physiology, has taken up the valuable kernel of truth, and sur- 

 rounded it with an enormous shell of fantastic doctrines, se.-ni-reli- 

 gious and altogether unscientific, in which the original kernel is 

 warped quite out of recognition. 



In recent years the question has assumed a more scientific as- 

 pect, owing to the light shed upon it by the researches in hypno- 

 tism. In this condition, in which suggestions are obeyed with 

 abnormal readiness, it has been shown that functions ordinarily 

 beyond voluntary control can be influenced, and thus a way be 

 opened up for acting upon disturbed functions and diseased con- 

 •ditions. With a sensitive subject, a burn can be suggested at the 

 spot where a coin touches the skin, and the inflammation, the 

 scar, and all, will result. Further, if the suggestion be given that 

 of two wounds the one will heal very quickly and the other slowly, 

 one may find the inflammation almost entirely gone from the one 

 •on the following day, while on the other it will be evident for days 

 •or even weeks. If nature's process can thus be hastened or re- 

 ■tarded, though in a somewhat abnormal condition it is true, why 

 should it not be possible to systematically utilize this power in the 

 ■case of real ills ? Isolated examples of such attempts can be 

 pointed out. Dr. Esdaile in India performed many operations in 

 which hypnotism was the only ansesthetic used, and Dr. Liebault of 

 Kancy has for many years been treating his patients by hypnotic 

 suggestion whenever it seemed desirable. The writer has recently 

 had an opportunity to witness the well-systematized procedures of 

 two physicians at Amsterdam — Drs. Van Renterghem and Van 

 Eeden — in the same direction. These physicians regard hypno- 

 ■tism as a form of sleep very variable in intensity, and passing im- 

 perceptibly into a normal sleep. They find a very large percent- 

 age (about 75 per cent or more) partially susceptible to its influ- 

 ■ence, and make no claim beyond the power to appeal by this means 

 to natural restorative processes where the usual means of treat- 

 ment have been of little avail. The process is a gradual one, and 

 the suggestion must be very frequently repeated before a complete 

 -cure is effected. There is no element of the mysterious about 

 their proceedings, but simply a methodical attempt to test the 

 •powers of mental influence upon physical ills. 



As just noticed, they recognize different degrees of hypnotic 

 sleep, and regard the memory that the subject retains of what has 

 been done during the hypnotic condition as a convenient point of 

 distinction between them. In the lightest sleep the patient remains 

 iuUy conscious of what has been going on, and can give an accu- 

 rate account of it. When the sleep is deeper, his remembrance is 

 vague, and hints must be given in order to recall the events. In 

 the deeper sleep all recollection is gone. Of 178 persons, only 7 

 could not be hypnotized, and 79 were thrown into a deep sleep. 

 The procedure is very simple, and depends entirely upon the 

 acceptance of a suggestion. The eyelids are closed and held for a 

 moment, the patient being told to go to sleep ; or the patient fixates 

 the physician's eye for a moment, with the same result. A breath 

 upon the eyelids, or touch upon the nose, easily awakens the 

 sleeper. While in this condition, the suggestions are given that 

 the pain will be gone, that the power to move a paralyzed limb will 

 return, that sight or hearing will improve, that hallucinations will 

 not recur, and so on, to suit' the requirements of each case. In 

 cases of paralysis the limbs are moved for the patient, gradually 

 extending the range of the movement, and suggesting the same 

 motions to be effected voluntarily by the patient. In cases of 

 partial blindness, exercises in seeing and distinguishing different 

 objects are made under hypnotic suggestion. In brief, each case 



must be treated individually ; and it requires the utmost tact, aided 

 by a pleasing and impressive manner, to accomplish the best 

 results. To the effects of such indirect suggestions, every candid 

 physician will testify. 



As to the time of cure, this depends upon the special malady 

 and the individual. Sometimes a single suggestion will suddenly 

 effect an almost complete cure, while in other cases the progress is 

 very slow. The more gradual cures are to be preferred as being 

 more in harmony with nature's methods. The kinds of disease 

 most readily yielding to this treatment at once suggest the pro- 

 cesses here involved. Hysterical affections make up a consider- 

 able portion of the cases treated ; and in these the combined 

 psycho-physiological disturbance is more mental than physical. 

 But paralysis, rheumatic troubles, palpitations of the heart, diges- 

 tive irregularities, and nearly all the ills that flesh is heir to, are 

 found upon the list of successfully treated cases. They are all, 

 however, functional troubles. In cases of organic trouble it is 

 evident that restoration is not more possible by this method than 

 by another. The difficulty is, that severe functional troubles may 

 take the appearance of being organic, especially in cases of com- 

 plicated disease. It must be admitted, however, that the benefits 

 of hypnotic treatment have a much wider extent than what are 

 generally understood by hysterical affections. Of 162 cases treated, 

 91 are regarded as restored to health, 46 have improved, and only 

 25 have been treated without avail. The main point at issue will 

 probably be the permanence of such cures. The question has not 

 been studied sufficiently long to admit of a positive answer, but the 

 proper basis for a conclusive verdict is rapidly being accumulated. 

 As far as the evidence goes, it points to as large a percentage of 

 permanent cures as is effected by treatment by any other method. 

 Cases are not unknown in which, after all skill has been applied, a 

 sudden shock or accident has effected a complete and permanent 

 restoration. The sudden cures of hypnotism may be regarded as 

 affiliated with this class. The far more numerous gradual cures 

 are naturally subject to relapses, and repeated suggestion is neces- 

 sary to continue the progress. 



Another point that will not fail to be raised is the danger incident 

 to such methods. The dangers are real, and of many kinds ; but 

 they are all such as, in the hands of a skilful physician, are re- 

 duced to a minimum. The avoidance of unpleasant suggestions, 

 an easy awakening from the sleep, the suggestion that no one else 

 but the physician can hypnotize the patient, — all contribute to a 

 successful result. 



The entire question is one that the future must decide ; but it 

 should be recognized that attempts are now in progress to clear 

 this very fertile field of the weeds that have grown upon it, and 

 cultivate it assiduously for the advancement of science and the 

 benefit of mankind. 



BOOK-REVIEWS. 



The Primitive Family in its Origin and Development. By C. 

 N. Starcke. (International Scientific Series.) New York, 

 Appleton. 12". Si. 75. 



The object of this work is to set forth the nature of the family 

 as it exists in the most primitive form known to us, and, so far as 

 possible, to trace its origin and the course of its development. To 

 accomplish this end, the use of the comparative method is of course 

 essential ; and hence the author takes us over the whole field of 

 savage life, and gathers proofs and illustrations from every quarter 

 of the globe. Mr. Starcke's views on many of the subjects treated 

 are opposed to those hitherto prevalent, and his book is largely a 

 polemic against the writers with whom he disagrees. Thus it has 

 been quite commonly held that in many tribes, if ^not in all, the 

 earliest state of society was one of promiscuous intercourse between 

 the sexes, and evidence of this has been believed to exist in the 

 widely diffused custom of reckoning descent through the mother 

 alone. Mr. Starcke denies all this, and maintains that " the social 

 life of man begins with the partially aquatislic familj', and the 

 family group which is ruled by the father in virtue of his phj'si- 

 cal superiority. . . . Clans are subsequently formed ^which, as 

 their internal cohesion increases, gradually pass from the paternal 



