Complete Hypnotism, Mesmerism, Mind-Reading and Spritualism by A. Alpheus (top books of all time txt) 📕

certain individuals will become so enamored with its charms that other equally valuable means of cure will be ignored. Mental therapeutics has come to stay. It is yet in its infancy and will grow, but, if it were possible to kill it, it would be strangled by the fanaticism and prejudice of its devotees. The whole field is fascinating and alluring. It promises so much that it is in danger of being missed by the ignorant to such an extent that great harm may result. This is true, not only of mental therapeutics and hypnotism, but of every other blessing we possess. Hypnotism has nothing to fear from the senseless skepticism and contempt of those who have no knowledge of the subject." He adds pertinently enough: "While hypnotism can be used in a greater or less degree by every one, it can only be used intelligently by those who understand, not only hypnotism itself, but disease as well."

Dr. Cocke is a firm believer that the right use of hypnotism by intelligent persons does not weaken the will. Says he: "I do not believe there is any danger whatever in this. I have no evidence (and I have studied a large number of hypnotized subjects) that hypnotism will render a subject less capable of exercising his will when he is relieved from the hypnotic trance. I do not believe that it increases in any way his susceptibility to ordinary suggestion."

However, in regard to the dangers of public performances by professional hypnotizers, Dr. Cocke is equally positive. Says he:

"The dangers of public exhibitions, made ludicrous as they are by the operators, should be condemned by all intelligent men and women, not from the danger of hypnotism itself so much as from the liability of the performers to disturb the mental poise of that large mass of ill- balanced individuals which makes up no inconsiderable part of society." In conclusion he says: "Patients have been injured by the misuse of hypnotism. * * * This is true of every remedial agent ever employed for the relief of man. Every article we eat, if wrongly prepared, if stale, or if too much is taken, will be harmful. Every act, every duty of our lives, may, if overdone, become an injury.

"Then, for the sake of clearness, let me state in closing that hypnotism is dangerous only when it is misused, or when it is applied to that large class of persons who are inherently unsound; especially if that mysterious thing we call credulity predominates to a very great extent over the reason and over other faculties of the mind."

CHAPTER IX.

Hypnotism in Medicine.--Anesthesia.--Restoring the Use of Muscles.--Hallucination.--Bad Habits.

Anaesthesia--It is well known that hypnotism may be used to render subjects insensible to pain. Thus numerous startling experiments are performed in public, such as running hatpins through the cheeks or arms, sewing the tongue to the ear, etc. The curious part of it is that the insensibility may be confined to one spot only. Even persons who are not wholly under hypnotic influence may have an arm or a leg, or any smaller part rendered insensible by suggestion, so that no pain will be felt. This has suggested the use of hypnotism in surgery in the place of chloroform, ether, etc.

About the year 1860 some of the medical profession hoped that hypnotism might come into general use for producing insensibility during surgical operations. Dr. Guerineau in Paris reported the following successful operation: The thigh of a patient was amputated. "After the operation," says the doctor, "I spoke to the patient and asked him how he felt. He replied that he felt as if he were in heaven, and he seized hold of my hand and kissed it. Turning to a medical student, he added: 'I was aware of all that was being done to me, and the proof is that I knew my thigh was cut off at the moment when you asked me if I felt any pain.'"

The writer who records this case continues: "This, however, was but a transitory stage. It was soon recognized that a considerable time and a good deal of preparation were necessary to induce the patients to sleep, and medical men had recourse to a more rapid and certain method; that is, chloroform. Thus the year 1860 saw the rise and fall of Braidism as a means of surgical anaesthesia."

One of the most detailed cases of successful use of hypnotism as an anaesthetic was presented to the Hypnotic Congress which met in 1889, by Dr. Fort, professor of anatomy:

"On the 21st of October, 1887, a young Italian tradesman, aged twenty, Jean M--. came to me and asked me to take off a wen he had on his forehead, a little above the right eyebrow. The tumor was about the size of a walnut.

"I was reluctant to make use of chloroform, although the patient wished it, and I tried a short hypnotic experiment. Finding that my patient was easily hypnotizable, I promised to extract the tumor in a painless manner and without the use of chloroform.

"The next day I placed him in a chair and induced sleep, by a fixed gaze, in less than a minute. Two Italian physicians, Drs. Triani and Colombo who were present during the operation, declared that the subject lost all sensibility and that his muscles retained all the different positions in which they were put exactly as in the cataleptic state. The patient saw nothing, felt nothing, and heard nothing, his brain remaining in communication only with me.

"As soon as we had ascertained that the patient was completely under the influence of the hypnotic slumber, I said to him: 'You will sleep for a quarter of an hour,' knowing that the operation would not last longer than that; and he remained seated and perfectly motionless.

"I made a transversal incision two and a half inches long and removed the tumor, which I took out whole. I then pinched the blood vessels with a pair of Dr. Pean's hemostatic pincers, washed the wound and applied a dressing, without making a single ligature. The patient was still sleeping. To maintain the dressing in proper position, I fastened a bandage around his head. While going through the operation I said to the patient, 'Lower your head, raise your head, turn to the right, to the left,' etc., and he obeyed like an automaton. When everything was finished, I said to him, 'Now, wake up.'

"He then awoke, declared that he had felt nothing and did not suffer, and he went away on foot, as if nothing had been done to him.

"Five days after the dressing was removed and the cicatrix was found completely healed."

Hypnotism has been tried extensively for painless dentistry, but with many cases of failure, which got into the courts and thoroughly discredited the attempt except in very special cases.

Restoring the Use of Muscles.--There is no doubt that hypnotism may be extremely useful in curing many disorders that are essentially nervous, especially such cases as those in which a patient has a fixed idea that something is the matter with him when he is not really affected. Cases of that description are often extremely obstinate, and entirely unaffected by the ordinary therapeutic means. Ordinary doctors abandon the cases in despair, but some person who understands "mental suggestion" (for instance, the Christian Science doctors) easily effects a cure. If the regular physician were a student of hypnotism he would know how to manage cases like that.

By way of illustration, we quote reports of two cases, one successful and one unsuccessful. The following is from a report by one of the physicians of the Charity hospital in Paris:

"Gabrielle C------ became a patient of mine toward the end of 1886. She entered the Charity hospital to be under treatment for some accident arising from pulmonary congestion, and while there was suddenly seized with violent attacks of hystero-epilepsy, which first contracted both legs, and finally reduced them to complete immobility.

"She had been in this state of absolute immobility for seven months and I had vainly tried every therapeutic remedy usual in such cases. My intention was first to restore the general constitution of the subject, who was greatly weakened by her protracted stay in bed, and then, at the end of a certain time, to have recourse to hypnotism, and at the opportune moment suggest to her the idea of walking.

"The patient was hypnotized every morning, and the first degree (that of lethargy), then the cataleptic, and finally the somnambulistic states were produced. After a certain period of somnambulism she began to move, and unconsciously took a few steps across the ward. Soon after it was suggested--the locomotor powers having recovered their physical functions--that she should walk when awake. This she was able to do, and in some weeks the cure was complete. In this case, however, we had the ingenious idea of changing her personality at the moment when we induced her to walk. The patient fancied she was somebody else, and as such, and in this roundabout manner, we satisfactorily attained the object proposed."

The following is Professor Delboeuf's account of Dr. Bernheim's mode of suggestion at the hospital at Nancy. A robust old man of about seventy- five years of age, paralyzed by sciatica, which caused him intense pain, was brought in. "He could not put a foot to the ground without screaming with pain. 'Lie down, my poor friend; I will soon relieve you.' Dr. Bernheim says. 'That is impossible, doctor.' 'You will see.' 'Yes, we shall see, but I tell you, we shall see nothing!' On hearing this answer I thought suggestion will be of no use in this case. The old man looked sullen and stubborn. Strangely enough, he soon went off to sleep, fell into a state of catalepsy, and was insensible when pricked. But when Monsieur Bernheim said to him, 'Now you can walk, he replied, 'No, I cannot; you are telling me to do an impossible thing.' Although Monsieur Bernheim failed in this instance, I could not but admire his skill. After using every means of persuasion, insinuation and coaxing, he suddenly took up an imperative tone, and in a sharp, abrupt voice that did not admit a refusal, said: 'I tell you you can walk; get up.' 'Very well,' replied the old follow; 'I must if you insist upon it.' And he got out of bed. No sooner, however, had his foot touched the floor than he screamed even louder than before. Monsieur Bernheim ordered him to step out. 'You tell me to do what is impossible,' he again replied, and he did not move. He had to be allowed to go to bed again, and the whole time the experiment lasted he maintained an obstinate and ill-tempered air."

These two cases give an admirable picture of the cases that can be and those that cannot be cured by hypnotism, or any other method of mental suggestion.

Hallucination.--"Hallucinations," says a medical authority, "are very common among those who are partially insane. They occur as a result of fever and frequently accompany delirium. They result from an impoverished condition of the blood, especially if it is due to starvation, indigestion, and the use of drugs like belladonna, hyoscyarnus, stramonium, opium, chloral, cannabis indica, and many more that might be mentioned."

Large numbers of cases of attempted cure by hypnotism, successful and unsuccessful, might be quoted. There is no doubt that in the lighter forms of partial insanity, hypnotism may help many patients, though not all; but when the disease of the brain has gone farther, especially when a well developed lesion exists in the brain, mental treatment is of little avail, even if it can be practiced at all.

A few general remarks by Dr. Bernheim will be interesting. Says he:

"The mode of suggestion should be varied and adapted to the special suggestibility of the subject. A simple word does not always suffice in impressing the idea upon the mind. It is sometimes necessary to reason, to prove, to convince;