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Title: Hypnotism made plain
Author: Maynard Shipley
Release date: February 13, 2026 [eBook #77928]
Language: English
Original publication: Girard: Haldeman-Julius Company, 1924
Credits: Tim Miller, toy9683 and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HYPNOTISM MADE PLAIN ***
LITTLE BLUE BOOK NO. 92 Edited by E. Haldeman-Julius
Hypnotism Made Plain
Maynard Shipley
HALDEMAN-JULIUS COMPANY GIRARD, KANSAS
Copyright, 1924 Haldeman-Julius Company
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
HYPNOTISM MADE PLAIN
CONTENTS
Page
Introduction 5
Chapter 1. A Retrospect 7
Chapter 2. Modern Hypnotic Methods 20
Chapter 3. Phenomena of Hypnotism 31
Chapter 4. Hypnotism and Psycho-Analysis 43
Chapter 5. Suggestion and the Masses 50
Chapter 6. Hypnotism and Personality 57
INTRODUCTION
To many persons mention of the word “hypnotism” at once brings to
mind a “Professor” in full-dress suit on a vaudeville stage putting
“subjects” through laugh-provoking antics. Or the image of Svengali
rises before the mind’s eyes, with long, lank fingers making mystic
“passes” before the now helpless--not to say enslaved--victim,
fascinated by the large, black, “sorcerer” eyes of the great master.
To such persons the “hypnotist” is rather closely identified with the
“charlatan.” Happily, this conception of hypnotists and hypnotism is
fading out in the strong, clear light of modern science.
Hypnotism and Suggestion (two phases of the same phenomenon) have now
taken their legitimate places in psychology and medicine as subjects
intimately related to our everyday life, in health and in disease.
Whether we know it or not, Suggestion is at work all around and within
us, day and night, from earliest childhood to the very close of our
lives.
Hypnotism and suggestion have--against strong opposition--won an
important place in the history of medicine. It has been amply
demonstrated that certain maladies which have stubbornly resisted the
regular medical treatment often yield to psycho-therapeutic methods
(mind treatment). The time has long since passed when medical science
scoffed at the idea of alleviating or entirely removing pain and
certain pathological conditions by suggestion in mild cases and
hypnotism in more stubborn, deep-seated afflictions.
What is the “Applied Psychology” about which we hear so much nowadays,
but the application of the established principles of suggestion to the
problems of social life and the affairs of prosaic business? Applied
psychology--for a course of ten lessons for which enterprising “leaders
of thought” are charging $100--is nothing more or less than hypnotism
and suggestion “made plain.” Investigation will readily show that the
principles of suggestion are applicable to the affairs of business and
social life. But hypnosis and suggestion may also play a sinister part
in intellectual, social and political life, and need to be understood
as a matter of self-protection.
From what has been said--and I shall adduce abundant proofs in
succeeding pages in support of the statements made above--it may be
seen that to give a little time and study to the elementary principles
of hypnotism and suggestion is not merely a form of diversion, but
a measure of self-defense as well as a means of self-improvement,
resulting often in improved health, a happier frame of mind, and even
worldly success.
HYPNOTISM MADE PLAIN
CHAPTER 1.
A RETROSPECT
The story of the origin and development of hypnotism--or mesmerism,
as it was once called--is not only interesting in itself, as history,
but also helpful to a clear understanding of its modern phases and
applications.
What we now call suggestion and hypnotism, and recognize as purely
psychological phenomena, were originally believed to be manifestations
of a peculiar, universally disseminated fluid, analogous to the ether
of the physicists, which could be absorbed by various substances and
discharged therefrom.
As early as 1530, the celebrated Swiss physician Paracelsus
(1493-1541)--founder of medical chemistry--advanced the theory of
“personal magnetism,” or magnetic influences, derived from the
universal cosmic magnetic “fluid” or force which, he declared, bound
the stars together, and permeated all living things. Each man carries
within his own body, he said, a twofold magnetism, one healthful,
the other morbid. The magnetism of a healthy person attracts the
morbid magnetism of a sick person, thus relieving the latter of his
malady. Absorbed by the healthy person, the morbid magnetic force is
transformed at once into wholesome magnetism.
Dr. Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus Paracelsus von
Hohemeim--Paracelsus’ real name--may or may not have fully believed in
his theory of transferable magnetism. He was--for his time--a great
physician, and as such a very practical man--a forerunner of the modern
pragmatists. If belief in his doctrine on the part of his patient would
act as a curative agency, Paracelsus would undoubtedly utilize this
doctrine, just as he did astrology--belief in which was universal in
his day and age. He appears to have been fully aware of the value of
faith if not of suggestion in the cure of disease. “It is all one,” he
remarks, “whether you believe in something real or something false,
it will have the same effect upon you.... It is always the faith that
works the miracle, and whether the faith is aroused by something real
or something false its miraculous power is the same.”
A few years later, Jean Baptist van Helmont, “father of chemistry”
(1577-1644), stimulated by diligent perusal of the works of Paracelsus,
adopted and expounded the doctrine that man possessed a magnetic force
capable of healing the sick.[1]
[1] Van Helmont was first to prove the indestructibility of matter
in chemical changes by utilizing the balance in analysis, invented
the word “gas”, and first used the melting-point of ice and the
boiling-point of water as limits of a thermometric scale. He opposed
the view of Descartes that the pineal gland is the seat of the soul,
his physiological investigations leading him to the conviction that the
temple of that entity is the stomach!
The Paracelsean doctrine of a healing magnetic force was introduced
into England by Robert Fludd (1574-1637), the physician and theosophist
(a partisan of the Rosicrucians). We hear little or nothing of
this doctrine in French works until the year 1766, when appeared
the dissertation, “_De planetarum influxu_” (“On the Influence of
the Planets”), of the Viennese physician, Friedrich Anton Mesmer
(1734-1815)--born near Constance, and later resident in Paris.
Mesmer, like Paracelsus, believed that a magnetic element or fluid
pervaded the universe and pervaded all bodies. Following Descartes, he
denied that there could be a vacuum anywhere within the cosmos, since
the mutual influence between the stars and planets “is transmitted
by a fluid universally disseminated, and everywhere continuous, so
that no vacuum can exist.” This universal fluid--analogous to the
hypothetic ether of space of modern physicists--“is, by its very
nature, enabled to receive and retain all impressions of movement,
to propagate them and transmit them.” In the human body this medium
expresses itself in conditions related to magnetism, and the forces
exhibited are of the nature of _Animal Magnetism_. This force, says
Mesmer, may be transferred from the human body to both inanimate
and animate bodies, certain substances being more susceptible to
this influence than others. “The magnet, too, artificial, as well as
natural, is susceptible to animal magnetism, without any impairment
of its influence upon iron or the magnetic needle. From this we see
that the artificial magnet possesses qualities which are efficacious
in sickness, and that if we obtain successful results from its
application, these are due merely to animal magnetism.”
Mesmer laid down rules of procedure in accordance with which “this
principle is able to cure maladies of the nervous system directly, and
other maladies indirectly.”
This method of healing was put into practice in Vienna about 1763, with
the co-operation of Dr. Maximillian Hell, Professor of Astronomy, and
it is recorded that a number of cures were effected.
Having been bred for the church, it was not difficult for Dr. Mesmer
to pass from a belief in cures by “sacred relics” to the treatment of
diseases by application of magnetized plates, rings, collars, amulets,
etc. As in the case of many “faith” healers of our own day, Mesmer’s
fame soon became widespread, reports of his marvelous cures even
reaching the court of Louis XVI.
Under the patronage of Marie Antoinette, Mesmer held seances to which
people of all classes flocked for treatment, including many men
distinguished in the arts and sciences. Unfortunately, Mesmer elected
to invest himself and his procedure with an atmosphere of mysticism,
arraying himself in yellow robes, bearing a wand in his hand,
suggestive of the staff of the ancient followers of Aesculapius.
In the light of our present-day knowledge regarding the power of
suggestion as a curative agent, we are not surprised to learn that
Dr. Mesmer was able to effect many remarkable cures by convincing his
patients of the therapeutic virtues of his magnetized paraphernalia.
Believing as he undoubtedly did that he possessed an “animal magnetism”
which could be transferred to inanimate substances, including water,
glass, iron, etc., Mesmer constructed his curious “baquet.” This weird
apparatus consisted of a wooden tub with an iron rod placed vertically
in the center, around which were arranged layers of corked bottles
filled with magnetized water--“magnetized” by his own hands, just as
he believed he could pass his own “magnetic fluid” directly into the
body of a patient. Each bottle was supplied with a conductor, i. e., an
iron wire running through the cork and in contact with the central rod.
The tub was filled with water, iron filings, pounded glass and sand,
previously magnetized by passes of Mesmer’s hands, or by his merely
breathing upon them. That the magnetic effluvia might not escape and
be dissipated in space, a closely-fitting cover was placed on the tub.
“Conductors” passed from the source of the emanations, or fluid, to the
patient--woolen or cotton cords, which the patients twined around their
bodies. Soft iron rods projected from the baquet, which were placed in
contact with any desired part of the patient’s body.
Seated around the baquet, lulled by soft music issuing from the
adjoining room, the patients gazed at the dim light, in a more or
less hypnotic condition, while the “animal magnetism” supplied by the
baquet did its curative work. Mesmer and his assistants passed from
one patient to another, making mystic passes over them--directing
the fluid--or touching them with the rods. Patients of hysterical
temperament sometimes fell into convulsions, which were interpreted
by Mesmer as a favorable sign. He even went so far as to assert that
there could be no permanent cures without these so-called “crises.” It
was not long before Mesmer was publicly denounced as a charlatan and
disappeared from the public eye.
Mesmer’s sensational success doubtless aroused the jealousy of the
“regular” medical profession. It is known that his claims were very
superficially investigated by a committee of scientists. He was duly
branded as a quack, and retired into comparative obscurity, “to walk
silent on the shore of the Bodensee, meditating on much.” A monument
marks his grave in the churchyard of the Meersburg, placed there by
admiring German physicians.
Mesmer honestly regarded himself as a martyr, the victim of envious
competitors. And we need not doubt that many victims of disease were
aided or actually cured by his methods, though no magnetic fluid issued
from his rings and amulets to be guided by his mystic wand; just as
in our days sufferers are helped--through auto-suggestion--by the
“anti-rheumatic ring,” “electric” belts and pads void of electricity,
or pink pills containing no curative drugs. All of these devices are
but modern recrudescences of the very ancient practice of suggestion
and hypnosis, “laying on of hands,” touching the king’s gold ring, or
the ancient custom of healing by the art of making passes.
In the temples of Isis, of Osiris and of Serapis, hypnotism
and suggestion were common practices. Indeed, some form of
psycho-therapeutics, by means of touch or passes, was practiced amongst
all the nations of antiquity whose records have come down to us even
in fragmentary form. We are assured by Plutarch that Pyrrhus, the
famous king of Epirus, was able to relieve colic and affections of the
spleen by laying the patients on their backs and passing his great
toe over them. Cures by the laying on of hands were effected also by
pagan Roman emperors and Christian saints, as well as by the priests
of ancient Egypt, Babylonia, Assyria, Chaldea, Persia, China and
India--accompanied by mystic “passes.”
Why not, then, cures by the baquet of Mesmer, or the “Oscilloclast”
of Dr. Albert Abrams, as well as the healing at Lourdes, St. Anne de
Beaupré and other shrines? A magnetic element pervades the universe
and penetrates all bodies, said Mesmer, capable of receiving and
communicating all kinds of motions and impressions. All bodies
are radio-active, said Abrams, and emit electronic vibrations (?)
capable of reinforcing and finally breaking down the electronic waves
characteristic of each disease. Relics of the saints have the power of
healing the sick, says the Roman Catholic Church. And in each case the
cures are assuredly made--by suggestion and auto-suggestion.
When an Australian aborigine believes (imagines) that an enemy has
struck him at a distance, to all intents and purposes he is so struck.
Promptly he lies down and becomes actually ill--through the power of
auto-suggestion--frequently followed by gradual loss of vitality ending
before long in death (Klaatsch). But this power of the imagination
(auto-suggestion) to work harm--as well as good--is not confined to
savages. Baudouin tells of a case, noted by Coué, of a nun who was
confined to her bed by illness during the winter. She soon recovered,
becoming well and strong again. On April 1st her appetite disappeared,
in a few days she was again confined to her bed, and she died before
the end of the month. She thought she had heard her physician say,
during her winter illness, “She won’t outlive April.” The suggestion
that she was to die before the close of April became fixed in her mind,
so, feeling sure that she would die in April, in April she died. Many
similar cases are on record.
With the exception of the private--and gratuitous--work carried
on by the Marquis de Puységur, who substituted a gentle sleep for
convulsions, and by the Abbé Faria, who was the first to state the
doctrine of suggestion, we hear very little about mesmerism in France
for some years following the retirement of its founder.
In England a number of physicians became interested. Among the pioneers
should be mentioned John Elliotson (1837), whose attention was directed
to the subject by a French nobleman, to whose house leading members of
the medical profession had been invited to witness a demonstration. Dr.
Elliotson was profoundly impressed by the experiments there witnessed,
and used his position on the staff of University College Hospital to
employ mesmerism in treating patients. He was particularly successful
in cases of nervous diseases. As President of the Royal Medical and
Chirurgical Societies, his opinion would, in any other instance, have
carried great weight. Owing to the characteristic conservatism not
only of the medical profession, but of scientists in general, his use
of mesmerism in the hospital, though remarkably successful, was met by
the violent opposition that pertains to most radical departures from
the practices sanctioned by “authority.” Refusing to bow to the mandate
of unreasoned conservatism, Dr. Elliotson was obliged to resign.
Retiring to private practice, he continued the use of mesmerism with
increasingly satisfactory results, though unaware of the fact that no
“animal magnetism”--or vital fluid--was involved in the process. This
discovery was due to James Braid, a noted surgeon of Manchester.
Having witnessed a public exhibition of so-called mesmerism, Braid
became convinced (1841) that there was therapeutic value in the method.
He determined to explore the subject thoroughly, concerning himself
not only with the practical application of hypnotism, but also with an
attempt to explain the fundamental nature of the phenomena witnessed.
Accepting, tentatively, the theories advanced by Mesmer, he soon
arrived at the conclusion that there was no “vital force” or “animal
magnetism” involved; hence there could be no question of magnets,
metals, and crystals transmitting such a curative fluid. Braid found,
by experiment, that he could produce all the phenomena attributed to
the action of Mesmer’s “vital fluid” by merely inducing the patient
to fix his gaze upon any bright object, held at a short distance in
front of and slightly higher than the level of the patient’s eyes,
accompanied by concentration of the mind on the object. The desired
state of drowsiness or even complete unconsciousness was shown to be
evokable without resort to magnets or passes, the phenomenon being
entirely subjective, and quite independent of “animal magnetism.” He
attributed hypnosis to a tiring of the sensory organs.
Braid noted that the depths of the sleep induced varied in different
persons from slight drowsiness to a state of complete unconsciousness.
The latter condition he defined as “neurohypnotism, or nervous sleep,
a peculiar condition of the nervous system produced by artificial
contrivance.” He later proposed that this condition be termed Hypnosis,
and the process involved Hypnotism, or Neurohypnology, limiting
the term “hypnotic sleep” to those cases where on awakening entire
forgetfulness of all that had occurred during sleep was acknowledged
by the patient. Braid was first to demonstrate that there is a close
relationship between hypnosis and natural sleep.
As might be expected by a student of the history of science, Braid’s
very important work failed to elicit the support and encouragement of
the British medical fraternity, who should have been most profoundly
interested in his results. In Germany and Switzerland, however, his
name was held in honor, a number of investigators on the Continent
having become deeply interested in the practical application
of hypnotism to medical practice. Among these may be mentioned
Krafft-Ebing, Preyer, Oskar Vogt, Euelenburg, Heidenhain, Wetterstrand,
Forel and Albert Moll. It has well been said that Braid laid the
foundation of the theories elaborated later (1891-4) by F. W. H. Myers,
of Cambridge, and Carpenter, basing the phenomena of hypnotism on the
existence and activity of a subliminal consciousness.
In 1860, the year of Braid’s death, his discovery of the subjective
nature of so-called mesmerism was published by the Paris Academy of
Science.
The researches of Braid attracted the attention of Dr. Liébault,
of Nancy, who, in 1864, opened up a dispensary in that town for
the gratuitous treatment of the poor by hypnotism. Braid was first
to assert that suggestion was the only external factor involved in
producing the phenomena of hypnosis, but the credit for demonstrating
this fact beyond a doubt is usually given to Liébault, who disavowed
Braid’s “tired senses” theory, pronouncing hypnotism to be wholly the
result of suggestion (in an essay in 1866). This pioneer did not,
however, explain the condition of mind necessary for the production of
the phenomena of hypnotism. The elucidation of this problem was the
work of F. W. H. Myers.
Myers assumed that man is endowed with both a supraliminal
consciousness and a subliminal or subconscious intelligence--taking
ordinary consciousness as a hypothetical level or limen (threshold).
This theory does not predicate the existence of two minds, however, or
two separate intelligences. Myers wished merely to point out that the
stream of consciousness in which we habitually live is not our only
one, and forms, in fact, only a small part of our total personality,
most of which lies below the threshold of our ordinary waking
consciousness. But the subliminal part of personality is by no means
“merely an unconscious complex of organic processes, but an intelligent
vital control.”
Modern psycho-therapeutics (mind-treatment of disease, through
suggestion), as also psycho-analysis, takes for granted the dual
functioning of mind, one part conscious, the other part subconscious.
Hypnotism and suggestion become understandable on the hypothesis put
forth by Myers, and on no other theory can we account for the phenomena
involved. “By means of hypnotism the attention of the conscious mind
may be distracted, and this leaves the operator free to communicate
with the subconscious.”
This in brief is the history of the progress from “animal magnetism”
to hypnotism through purely psychical (mental) methods. It but remains
to add a few words relative to the new views introduced by Emile Coué,
colleague (1885-86) of Liébault, founder of the first school of Nancy,
as Coué may justly be called founder of the “New Nancy School.”
The originality of Coué’s work consists in the fact that by his
method cures are effected without resort to hypnosis or even to the
suggestion of a second person. He relies entirely upon auto-suggestion,
which he regards as the effective force in hypnotic suggestion.
Furthermore, it is conceded by several eminent authorities that Coué
has fully established the _law of reversed effort_, which is said to
be operative in all cases of suggestion. Effective auto-suggestion
depends upon the elimination--or at least the partial elimination--of
the conscious will. Will-power must give way to the curative--not to
say creative--power of the _imagination_. “In a conflict between will
and imagination,” says Coué, “the power of imagination is in direct
proportion to the square of the will-power.”[2]
[2] This new theory of suggestion has recently been ably expounded
by Prof. Charles Baudouin, of Geneva, in his “Suggestion and
Auto-Suggestion”, translated from the French by Eden and Cedar Paul.
CHAPTER 2.
MODERN HYPNOTIC METHODS
Modern methods of inducing complete hypnosis, or the suggestive
semi-trance, vary with the temperament and training (theoretical
convictions) of the hypnotist. Some employ the method of Braid, others
of Liébault, or, again, a combination of the two.
In certain cases, the ancient method of employing passes, at a slight
distance from the body, is used, especially when a deep hypnotic
trance is deemed desirable. The regular, monotonous stroking motions
have a potent tranquilizing effect, and aid also in concentrating the
patient’s attention. This was the method of Puységur, who sought to
induce the gentle sleep rather inaptly called by him “somnambulism.”
The Abbé Faria depended mostly upon emphatic pronouncing of the word
“sleep,” after the subject had been comfortably ensconced in an easy
chair. In obdurate cases he laid his hands upon the crown of the head,
on both brows, or elsewhere, as the occasion seemed to demand.
Disciples of Braid seek, before all else, to obtain results through
mental concentration and attention, holding a glittering object above
the level of the eyebrows, at a distance of a foot or more from the
subject’s eyes. The effort of the eyes to gaze fixedly at the brilliant
object, accompanied by banishment of all thoughts apart from the
object, usually induces the hypnotic state.
Not a few modern psycho-therapists employ Liébault’s method to induce
hypnosis, though certain modifications of his practice are often
introduced. The patient is usually placed in a comfortable chair and
requested to “think of nothing,” gazing meanwhile into the face, or
at the raised finger, of the operator. The patient is then told in a
soothing voice that his eyelids are heavy, that his limbs feel numb:
“You are getting more and more drowsy. You are falling asleep,” etc. If
this procedure is followed for a minute or two, the desired degree of
“somnambulism” is usually induced.
Patients vary considerably in their susceptibility to suggestion.
Freedom from fear and nervousness are prerequisites to satisfactory
results. This may be effected by frank and friendly preparatory talk,
the operator’s aim being to create a sympathetic atmosphere, while at
the same time conveying the impression that he has complete command
of the situation, and is fully able to give the help sought by the
subject. This is the procedure employed by Dr. A. M. Hutchison, the
very successful English psycho-therapist.
There is a tendency on the part of nervous patients to contract
the muscles, clench the jaw, assuming unconsciously an attitude of
rigidity. Just the opposite condition, says Hutchison, is required.
There must first be complete relaxation of all the muscles, as well as
of the mind. This may be accomplished by allowing the mind to dwell
upon pleasant memories or lovely scenes, followed by an effort to
make the mind as near a blank as possible. Gazing steadfastly at the
upraised finger of the operator is conducive to this condition. The
fixed gaze serves only as a preliminary to complete auto-suggestion,
without which a deeper condition of hypnosis cannot be produced. The
operator in the last analysis merely aids the subject in hypnotizing
himself, the hypnosis being merely a means to an end, which is the
reception of suggestions by the subconscious mind, suitable to the
disease, or bad habit, for which treatment is sought.
As said previously, it is now well established that the mind is dual in
character, one part being conscious and the other subconscious. Under
hypnosis the conscious mind is for the time being distracted, or in
a state of abeyance. In this condition the subconscious mind is open
to suggestions from the operator. The suggestions being intended for
the welfare of the subject, they are passively received, retained, and
automatically acted upon by the individual, unconsciously.
In cases where the patient is the victim of a bad habit, the operator
merely needs to suggest to the subconscious mind that the habit
is extremely detrimental to the health or worldly success of the
patient, and must be got rid of. The suggestions act directly upon
the subconscious mind, and when later the patient is tempted to
continue the objectionable habit, there comes into play a restraining
impulse--an inhibition from the subconscious part of the mind. In some
cases repulsion takes the place of the former desire.
Mental suggestion is successfully employed not only in the eradication
of bad habits, but also in the treatment of many diseases, among which
may be mentioned certain forms of insomnia, constipation, obsessions,
early melancholia, paralysis, St. Vitus’ dance. It is also effective
in such cases as stammering, writer’s cramp, stage-fright, and as a
substitute for gas in dentistry, or for chloroform, etc., in some other
instances where an anaesthetic would ordinarily be employed.
Professor Wetterstrand is speaking from long experience when he
declares that “the palliative effect of suggestion as a soporific and
anodyne remedy in serious and incurable diseases, such as tuberculosis,
cancer, etc., is far too little appreciated.” The great value of
suggestion in every day medical practice as “an aperient, an appetizer,
a soporific, and a means of regulating the digestion, the secretions
and the menstrual discharge” was pointed out by Professor Forel, and,
as he remarked, “is far too little realized.” The method has proved
of great value in the treatment of alcoholism, addiction to morphia,
neuralgia and hysteria.
Some persons are not hypnotizable. Just what the percentage is who
are obdurate to hypnosis is not definitely known. Much depends on the
skill and personality of the operator. Experienced psycho-therapists
have stated that only about one person in every ten reaches the state
of deep sleep. On the other hand, Dr. Liébault, who hypnotized a great
number of persons of all ages and occupations, and of both sexes, found
that of 1,000 persons subjected by him to hypnotic experiments, 460
fell into a deep trance, 223 into a very deep trance, 129 into a deep
hypnosis, 30 into a light hypnosis, 100 into a light trance, and 26
remained refractory. As a rule only a certain degree of drowsiness is
required for successful medical treatment.
Generally speaking, no one can be hypnotized against his will. And it
should be noted particularly here that no one can ever be made to do
anything under hypnosis that would be against his nature or his moral
convictions when he was awake. A teetotaller cannot be made to drink
alcoholic liquor, or even water that he is told is wine or whiskey;
an honest man cannot be made to steal; a peaceful man to fight. A
strong emotion--a deep-seated love or hatred--has more power over the
subconscious mind than has any hypnotic suggestion. So considered,
“Trilby,” for example, is based on a pure absurdity--no influence of
Svengali’s could ever have made Trilby give up her love for little
Billee.
Hutchison finds that “the best subject for hypnosis is the person
who has the intelligence to understand what is asked of him and the
ability to concentrate his mind upon it.” Intelligent co-operation is a
desideratum. It is all but impossible, in most cases, to hypnotize an
insane person or an imbecile.
Professor Wetterstrand, a famous psychiatrist and hypnotist of
Stockholm, utilizes a method of hypnosis which, it is claimed,
is effective in about 97 per cent of the cases that come before
him--numbering at the time 3,148 persons. He employs what may, perhaps,
justly be called _mass hypnosis_. Instead of the usual procedure of
handling one patient at a time, he “hypnotizes his patients wholesale.”
He uses two large rooms, heavily carpeted and curtained, to prevent
noise and resonance. Both rooms are furnished with sofas, reclining
chairs, and also with easy chairs for patients who do not wish to
recline.
Beginning his work with patients who have been hypnotized on previous
occasions, he goes from one patient to another, merely whispering
suggestions into each patient’s ear, quite inaudible to the other
patients. Those thus hypnotized at the beginning he soon awakes. By
thus showing that he has full control of the situation, a feeling
of confidence is produced in the waiting newcomers, who have never
before been under this treatment. The very sight of so many hypnotized
persons exercises an hypnotic influence on all present--a form of mass
suggestion. It is then an easy matter to induce the hypnotic sleep even
in those who have come for their first treatment.
In his recent work, “Suggestion and Auto-suggestion,” Prof. Charles
Baudouin has elucidated the new theory of suggestion offered by Emile
Coué, referred to previously.
Coué, as I have already said, seems to have established the fact that
we have considerable power over ourselves through _imagination_,
curative results being obtained without the aid of a second person to
make suggestions. In a sense, the cures are effected by hypnotism,
but the hypnotism is self-hypnotism, auto-suggestion. He holds
that hypnotic suggestion, and the ordinary waking suggestion made
by a second person, are merely different methods of applying
auto-suggestion. The cures are effected by “creative imagination.”
The will in these matters is negative, and must be as far as possible
eliminated. It is obstructive, not creative. If the will and the
imagination are in conflict, the powers of imagination are virtually
nullified. “In a conflict between will and imagination, the power of
imagination is in direct proportion to the square of the will-power,”
declares Coué.
It is very desirable that the patient should have faith in his
physician--faith in the efficacy of his treatment. But, as remarked by
that experienced psycho-therapist, Dr. Albert E. Davis, the patient
must take his share in combating the disease, and then he will
understand that his cure had come through no other source than his own
mind.
To one who has given the matter little or no study, Coué’s famous
formula, “Day by day, in every way, I’m getting better and better,” or
“My pain is passing away,” frequently repeated aloud, may appear to be
a fruitless, not to say foolish, procedure. But there are thousands of
persons who know by experience that the method is in many cases highly
efficient; not only helpful but actually curative. As Dr. Davis well
points out, the message which is uttered is being conveyed to a part
of the mind--the subconscious--“which is incapable of controversial
argument, and constant repetition will have its effect. That mind,
prior to this, has implicitly believed its possessor every time he
said ‘I am very ill.’ Why should it not be convinced, even more by
suggestions which are in conformity with the natural desire to be
strong and healthy?”[3]
[3] Albert E. Davis is Honorary Physician to the Liverpool
Psycho-Therapeutic Clinic, and the author of “Hypnotism and Treatment
by Suggestion”, Fourth Edition, New York, 1923.
Another very interesting development of “creative imagination” is
pointed out in “Sex Antagonism,” by Heape. It is generally believed
among scientists that stories of pre-natal “markings” are mere
superstition, and undoubtedly most of them are fancied resemblances
without connection with any previous experience on the part of
the mother. Nevertheless the instances given by Mr. Heape must be
considered unless they can be disproved. For example, a lizard
dropped from the ceiling upon the naked breast of a pregnant woman.
She declared (_imagined_) that her child would be born with a mark
of a lizard on its breast. It was. Again, a woman’s husband returned
from the war with his face slashed in the form of a cross. The woman
imagined that her expected child would be born with such a disfiguring
slash. The child was born with the marking on its face.
According to this school of thought, it was not _fear_ that the
markings would appear on the child (as is claimed by most persons
who believe in pre-natal markings) that produced the resulting
disfigurement; it was the result of _creative imagination_. For the
woman, the marking, in imagination, had already been made. Had she
taken an opposite attitude, and visualized the face and body of the
infant as perfectly normal, it is most likely that no “birth-mark”
would have been created,--created, as a matter of fact, by the mother
herself.
Wetterstrand, Forel, Krafft-Ebing and others have shown that in
certain individuals redness and swelling of the skin, and even
blistering or ulceration, may be induced by hypnotism. I have
myself witnessed the appearance of a white cross on a woman’s
forearm by auto-suggestion. There can be no doubt that the genuine
cases of “stigmatization”--supposed by the faithful to be the
result of a divine miracle rewarding holiness--are the effect
of auto-suggestion--_imagination_. In all, some 150 cases of
stigmatization have been recorded, the three I am about to mention
having all occurred within the last hundred years. No scientist today
regards the wounds--replicas of the injuries stated to have been
caused by the nails in Jesus’ hands and feet--which appeared in the
hands and feet of Maria von Morll, for example, as “faked.” The same
may be said of the stigmata of Katharine Emmerich and Louise Lateau.
The verdict of science is that these women were hysterical invalids,
not pious impostors. These wounds are, declared Professor Delboeuf, a
psychologist of Liège, “auto-suggestive phenomena resulting from the
intensive concentration of the attention upon the wounds of Christ.”
An equal concentration of the mind on the part of an expectant mother
might well produce, by suggestion, any form of birth-mark on the body
of an unborn infant. At least, there is no positive evidence to the
contrary; although, as remarked above, most of such cases reported are
the result of mere superstitious credulity.
Good health, normality, if _imagined_ to exist, may, within certain
limits (or under certain conditions) be _created_. This at least is
the doctrine of the New Nancy School. That Coué has to his credit many
cures effected by his new methods of auto-suggestion is conceded by
most, if not all, practising psycho-therapists who have investigated
the subject.
Auto-suggestion is founded on “the great law that the subconscious part
of mind governs the physical body, and in its turn is controlled by
reasoned suggestions from the conscious mind.” It is not even necessary
that the suggestions made in the first instance should be true: they
may be quite contrary to fact and apparently opposed to all reason. By
reiteration the desired effect is produced, and they become true. When
a person in pain persists in saying “I have no pain,” or an inveterate
smoker in saying “I have no desire to smoke,” the one is opposed to
sensation and the other to fact. The effect, however, is soon apparent;
the pain lessens, and the desire to smoke is diminished.”[4]
[4] Davis, _Op. cit._, Pages 50-51.
It should not be forgotten, in giving oneself auto-suggestive
treatment, that pain is a _signal_. To remove pain without finding
out what has caused it may be a very dangerous procedure. But as a
temporary measure, or as a means of alleviation of the pain arising
from an affliction already diagnosed and under treatment, it may be of
great value.
Most persons today are not averse to speaking casually of the power
of mind over matter, but when it comes to a practical application of
the principle they are inclined to “side-step.” Yet it is self-evident
that many persons increase their discomforts and ills by brooding over
them. It is equally self-evident that pain and even illness can in many
cases be allayed or eliminated by an opposite course--an affirmation of
well-being, of health and joy.
The basis of “Christian Science” and other mind-healing cults is faith,
and faith cures are not all legendary. None of them is “miraculous.”
Auto-suggestion, _imagination_, working on the subconscious mind,
can accomplish wonders. The task of the scientist is to find out
what are the _limitations_ of these psycho-therapeutic methods of
treatment. The Christian Scientist believes that there are no inherent
limitations--and dies.
CHAPTER 3.
PHENOMENA OF HYPNOTISM
Let anyone who is skeptical concerning the power of mind over matter
consider even a few of the many amazing phenomena of hypnotism. Public
exhibitions of hypnotic experiments were, not long ago, frequently
given in this country and in Europe. The Danish hypnotist, Hansen,
rolled up a considerable fortune in this way. In most of the German
states, and in Holland, Belgium and Switzerland, such performances are
prohibited. They should be made illegal in the United States; for, in
the hands of “Professors” ignorant of either psychology or medicine,
much harm can be done by such exhibitions, both to the public at large
and to the participants. The showmen-hypnotists have in mind only the
entertainment of audiences and are little concerned about any bodily or
mental injury that may be done the volunteer subjects.
While the really important work in hypnotism and auto-suggestion
is being pursued by psychiatrists (alienists) and physicians in
laboratories and clinics, demonstrating “the influence of mind over
matter,” their results are not so obvious, so easily understood, as the
spectacular performances of the showmen-hypnotists.
As a rule there is no necessity for these showmen to place “tools”
in the auditorium to volunteer when requests are made for subjects
for demonstration. Among the many real volunteers who are curious to
see if they can be hypnotized, it is not a difficult matter for the
experienced showman to select some well suited to his purpose, though
he succeeds better with some of these than with others. The unsuitable
persons having been rejected, it is not long before the expert has a
band of hypnotized subjects doing the goose-step behind him, utterly
devoid of any impulse of their own, ready on command to perform
whatever ridiculous--and therefore laughter-provoking--“stunt” he may
suggest.
Limbs are stiffened and retained in any posture selected by the
hypnotist, and without fatigue to the subject. Laid horizontally, the
whole body may be made rigid, so that if the head be placed on one
chair and the heels on another, the body forming a bridge between the
two, heavy loads quite beyond the person’s normal powers are readily
borne by him. Certain movements of the arms or legs once begun, the
subject cannot of his own will inhibit them. A needle run through a
fold of the skin will cause no pain. Told that he is an orchestral
conductor, the volunteer will soberly conduct an imaginary orchestra,
waving the baton to and fro. Ordered to give three cheers for “the king
of Iceland” three minutes after awakening, the subject will, promptly
at the time suggested, suddenly break forth with the cheers for the
imaginary king, though unable to account for his by now embarrassing
foolishness. The same result will occur if the order is given for 243
or 2043 minutes after awakening--the subconscious mind will keep
accurate count.
These phenomena are genuine in character, and are all capable of a
psychological explanation. In the cataleptic or deeper stages of
hypnotism, the subject loses all consciousness of the external world,
still, however, hearing and obeying the voice of the operator. On
awakening he has either partially or wholly forgotten all that has
occurred during his somnambulistic sleep or trance.
Psychotherapists usually designate as somnambulism the (third) phase of
hypnotism wherein all that has happened during the trance is completely
forgotten. The term is objectionable, however, since it is commonly
applied to sleep-walking (_in somno ambulare_--to walk in sleep). For
this reason Louis Satow suggests that the term _somnambulance_ be
applied to sleep-walking, and _somnambulism_ to the deepest phase of
hypnotic sleep.[5]
[5] In his excellent book, “Hypnotism and Suggestion” (translated by
Bernard Miall), Page 76, New York, 1923.
Hutchison regards sleep-walking as a counterpart of hypnotic sleep.
As is well known, not a few persons during natural sleep leave their
beds and wander about the house, or even go out into the street or
climb on the roof, performing dangerous feats in a state of entire
unconsciousness. Entering a room where other persons are sitting, they
will answer any questions put to them, or carry on a conversation.
Some undertake complicated transactions, usually those which are “most
frequently included in the circle of their work and thought, and which
concern them also in their waking moments” (Satow). Upon awakening the
sleep-walker has no recollection of his actions during sleep.
Coué would explain that the somnambulist performs what are often
perilous feats, usually with perfect security, because of his absence
of fear; that is, he does not _imagine_ himself falling from the height
scaled, or the narrow board or path traversed in his wanderings.
Satow says that sleep-walkers are “unaware of a large number of
sensory impressions, and for this reason do not recognize danger.”
However, as he further observes, somnambulists have occasionally “come
to grief during their perilous wanderings,” as shown by authentic
results. Usually, the business in hand having been accomplished, the
sleep-walker finds his way back to bed, spontaneous waking during the
performance being of rare occurrence.
Dr. Baerwald, of the Humboldt Academy in Berlin, tells of a
sleep-walker who, without being hypnotized, was able to recite the
words of a book which another person was reading (the letters being
one two hundred and fiftieth of an inch high) although the latter sat
facing the somnambulist, with the back of the book turned to him. The
reader will doubtless jump to the plausible conclusion that this was
a case of telepathy--mind-reading. Not so. Induced to close his eyes,
the sleep-walker could no longer “recite the words of the book.” The
somnambulist had actually been reading the book from the reflected
image of the type in the pupils of the reader’s eyes! Doubtless such
acuteness of vision does not occur in the waking state.
In both hypnotic somnambulism (deep sleep) and sleep-walking, the
essential characteristic is lack of remembrance of the events which
have occurred. But in the case of the sleep-walker even the prick of
a needle would cause him to awake; whereas in the deepest phase of
hypnotic sleep marked anaesthesia occurs. In pre-chloroform days,
Esdaile and others were enabled to carry out large numbers of major and
minor surgical operations without pain to the patient. Even in recent
times, painless tooth-extraction and painless childbirth have occurred
with the aid of hypnotic sleep.
In the first phase of hypnosis, only sleepiness is induced. The
influenced person, in this stage, can resist suggestion and open his
eyes (Forel). With this degree of hypnosis alone, many cases of cure
have been effected.
Dr. Hutchison states that adequate anaesthesia can also be induced by
suggestion in the state of light sleep (second phase), when the patient
is fully conscious, allowing painless tooth-extraction: “only the sight
of the extracted tooth has carried conviction to the patient.”
Cases of profound anaesthesia without loss of consciousness have
been frequently noted on the battle-field, where soldiers have been
severely wounded, even including severance of important parts of the
body, without pain, and even without knowing for a time that the injury
had been inflicted. It is probable that the sudden shock in such
cases paralyzes the nerves, hence there can be no sensation of pain
registered in the cerebrum. On the other hand, it is quite possible
that on the field of battle the condition is purely psychological, the
victim being in a sort of trance, as a result of excitement.
Certain of the martyrs appear to have been in such a state at the time
of their burning at the stake or similar torturing deaths--“a result of
the state of intense exaltation into which they fell in anticipation
of martyrdom,” rendering them to a great extent oblivious to injuries
which would otherwise result in unspeakable agony. It is said that
Archimedes, the greatest mathematicion of antiquity, was so deeply
engrossed in some geometrical problem that he was unaware of the fact
that Syracuse had been taken by the Romans, and that he had received a
mortal wound, even though his life-blood was flowing away.
_Concentration_ of thought is one aspect of hypnosis, rendering
one unconscious of the external world and its doings. Thus, again,
Archimedes having discovered how to determine the specific weight of
bodies while he was taking a bath, the well-known story goes that he
became so excited over the solution that he rushed to the street stark
naked, shouting as he ran, “Eureka! Eureka!” (I have found it! I have
found it!). Had his thigh been pierced by an arrow as he ran, it is
doubtful if he would, for the moment have felt any pain from the wound
inflicted.
Everyone is familiar with the undisputed fact that the medicine-man
(shaman) of certain savage tribes is capable of producing--by
auto-suggestion--anaesthesia which enables him to dance barefoot in
the midst of a fire, or over red-hot boulders. Many savages, by means
of rhythmical, long-protracted dances, produce a form of auto-hypnosis
which enables them to inflict severe wounds in their flesh which do not
bleed and quickly heal.
Hypnotists find it quite possible to render a person incapable (during
the hypnotic state) of exercising his faculties of tasting, smelling,
seeing or hearing, “except in so far as the operator allows him to do
so.” Told that a glass of water is bubbling champagne, the subject
(unless deeply opposed on principle: see previously) smacks his lips
with intense satisfaction; or he chews chalk for candy with equal
gusto. He will, at the command of the operator, smell asafetida as a
delicious violet odor, or pronounce strong ammonia an odorless liquid,
inhaling it without discomfort. The subconscious mind is not endowed
with an olfactory lobe or gustatory organs. Capacity for pain is an
exclusive property of the conscious mind. Hence the anaesthesia of
hypnotism.
An incident narrated by Dr. Wingfield shows at once the source of
“automatic writing” and the power of subconscious mind to remember what
the conscious mind knows nothing about.
Having hypnotized his patient, during somnambulism he made him imagine
that he was (1) riding with the hounds, (2) rowing a race in his
college boat, and (3) that next morning he would put a boot on one foot
and a shoe on the other. “On waking he knew none of these things. I
then made him put his hand on a planchette, and asked ‘What did he do
first?’ After a few meaningless scratches it wrote ‘hunting.’ ‘When
then?’ I asked. ‘Rowed in the races,’ was the answer. ‘Did I tell him
to do anything?’ ‘Boot one, shoe one,’ said the planchette.”
Dr. Wingfield calls attention to the fact that the knowledge possessed
by the planchette was exactly commensurate with that possessed by the
subject during somnambulism. “It will thus be seen that any loss of
memory after hypnosis is only apparent and not real.”
This power of the subconscious to remember facts, names, the
measurement of time, and even languages, wholly unknown to the
conscious mind, has frequently aroused astonishment in the learned
and superstitious awe in the uninstructed. The Countess deLaval,
for example, talked the Breton language in her sleep, but could not
understand a word of Breton when awake. (She had heard it spoken in
early childhood.) An illiterate servant, in a state of trance, spoke
Hebrew fluently, but knew nothing whatever of the language when awake.
It was learned that she had years before been in service with a
clergyman who had a habit of memorizing Hebrew aloud.
The ouija-board or planchette aids the subconscious in bringing to
consciousness forgotten memories. But the subconscious mind is highly
imaginative, and often a great liar--as the ouija-board attests!
In some cases, suggestions made to a person under hypnotic treatment
retain their hold on the subject after he has been wakened, and it then
becomes necessary to re-hypnotize the subject, suggesting contrary
ideas. A hypnotized person may be led to believe that a dear friend has
done him a great injustice, or stolen his purse, or that he has seen
Smith or Jones commit a grave crime. In such cases of _post-hypnotic
hallucinations_--as they are called--the subject, after waking, if
questioned will describe in full detail the circumstances of the injury
done him, and would be fully capable of giving evidence to support his
hallucination in a court of law. Some persons even develop similar
hallucinations by auto-suggestion.
“It is familiar to us all,” says Dr. Hutchison, “how readily some
people can ... fabricate the details of a scandal, can, so to speak,
create for themselves the hallucination of a scandal, every incident
of which they believe themselves to have seen. For this it suffices
simply that some one person should rest under slight suspicion, that a
slight rumor should be set afloat, and ere long idle onlookers create
the details which are wanting, and which they implicitly believe they
have founded on fact. Nowhere are more striking instances of this seen
than in law courts, when an attempt is made to sift evidence. It is a
well-known fact that a clever counsel may lead a witness into accepting
and confirming most contradictory statements, by merely suggesting with
an air of conviction that certain events had or had not been witnessed
by him.”
Very interesting is the phenomenon of post-hypnotic suggestion. The
suggestion is made during the hypnotic sleep that the subject perform
certain acts after the lapse of a certain time, in the waking state.
A young woman was told by Dr. Milne Bramwell to address a letter to
him 12,500 minutes from the time at which she came out of the hypnotic
sleep. Although she remembered nothing of the request on waking, at the
exact second of expiration of the 12,500 minutes she wrote the letter,
believing that the act was entirely voluntary. In this case, the woman
was quite incapable of calculating the time consciously. In other cases
Dr. Bramwell suggested to the hypnotized subjects that certain messages
should be delivered at a fixed date, at a certain hour. Notwithstanding
the fact that obstacles were purposely put in their path, the subjects
faithfully carried out the commands at the appointed hour.
For the sake of the experiment, hypnotized subjects have been commanded
to do rather absurd things at a specified time. Having carried out
the suggestion, and asked why the act was performed, the subject
will frequently attempt to give a good reason why he had done so and
so, believing fully that he had done it of his own accord. “Even
when delusions of the senses occur in the waking state,” says Satow,
“without hypnosis, we must assume that the persons affected are not,
for the time being, for some reason or other, in a position to correct
the creations of their imaginative faculties by reference to realities,
and therefore regard them as real. So Luther, who was still deep in the
superstitions of his day, regarded the devil who appeared to him on
the Wartburg as being so real that he hurled his inkstand after him.”
Post-hypnotic results are often utilized to very good advantage by
the psycho-therapist, since all psycho-physical processes can be
influenced. For example, a person suffering from sleeplessness may
be given very definite directions as to the hour at which he will
become drowsy and the number of hours he will sleep. Such suggestions,
however, may not always be responded to literally, but in some cases
only a gradual improvement in sleeping occurs. Dr. Hutchison finds that
“definite suggestions may be given in a case of obstinate constipation
to act later in the form of a post-hypnotic suggestion, and so lead
after a few treatments to the complete cure of the constipation. The
various secretions may be influenced on the same lines, and so appetite
and the ability to digest any food can be successfully suggested in a
person suffering from loss of appetite and who may have refrained from
solid foods for weeks or months.”
According to Satow, all remedial hypnosis depends upon post-hypnotic
effects. “The cure of all sorts of complaints--stammering, agoraphobia,
insomnia, incontinence of urine, etc.--is complete only if it holds
good _after_ hypnosis. All post-hypnotic suggestions are much more
easily realized if ordered to be carried out at a given time.... To
explain the effect of post-hypnotic suggestions it must be assumed that
after hypnosis a condition of greater vigilance and increased nervous
activity continues in the subconsciousness.”
It has been observed that in arithmetical experiments many persons
when hypnotized are able to add up 20% more figures than in the waking
state. But no hypnotist can enable a subject to work out mathematical
problems with which the subject is wholly unfamiliar in the waking
state, since “no idea can ever be invoked which has not already
consciously or unconsciously found its way into the mind” (Satow). In
the same way, no hypnotist can enable anyone to play the piano who has
not been accustomed to play it.
It is quite true, however, that mathematicians have solved problems
during sleep which baffled them when awake. And the story of how
the great Paganini awoke one morning to find his famous “_Sonate du
Diable_” written in score by his bedside has often been told. Knowing
nothing of the marvelous workings of the subconscious mind, Paganini
ascribed the composition to the devil. A friend of my own frequently
sells stories and poems which are the products of dreams. Robert Louis
Stevenson always declared that “the Brownies” gave him his stories in
his sleep.
CHAPTER 4.
HYPNOTISM AND PSYCHO-ANALYSIS
While Dr. Albert E. Davis utilizes psycho-analysis as an adjunct
to hypnosis and suggestion, most psycho-analysts are opposed to
the employment of suggestive therapeutics in any case whatever.
The late André Tridon, in particular, in his well-known treatise,
“Psycho-Analysis and Behavior” (1920), points out that hypnotism and
psycho-analysis “have nothing in common but are in fact the exact
opposite of each other: hypnotism introduces something into the
subject’s mind, psycho-analysis takes something out of it.”
The “something” that hypnotism introduces into the subject’s mind is
the suggestion that the cells and organs of the body perform their
functions in a normal manner, thus eliminating diseased conditions,
leading to restoration of the patient’s health, and without the
necessity for drugs. In many cases the same results can be achieved
by psycho-analysis, by digging out the original causes and removing
the complexes or obsessions. But this is not equivalent to saying that
hypnotic suggestion is not in many cases a valuable therapeutic remedy.
Since the ordinary custom, in the case of illness in a family, is to
call in a physician, the question is whether suggestion can do the work
usually thought to be produced only by the taking of medicine.
As a matter of fact, “suggestion can steady a palpitating heart equally
as well as belladonna, or take the place of digitalis in heart disease
by diminishing the number of beats and resting the heart muscles”
(Davis). When a patient has a cold he is ordinarily put to bed and
given drugs to induce perspiration. But he can also be put to bed
and perspiration can be induced by hypnotic suggestion. By hypnotic
suggestion, according to reputable psycho-therapists, constipation
can be cured naturally, without recourse to drugs, by re-establishing
healthy functional activity in the glands secreting the intestinal
juices. By hypnosis a natural sleep can be made to supersede insomnia,
followed by cheerfulness and capacity for hard work the morning
following.
“The real value of hypnotism,” says Dr. Davis, “lies in the fact
that it provides us with an additional weapon, which is enormously
important, in the fight against disease. Through it the subject is
better able to control his organism in his own interest. He cannot
realize too plainly that the force which is exerted comes not from
the hypnotist, but from himself. It is from the inner self the change
arises; the hypnotist simply awakens dormant protective instincts. The
best results are achieved when the patient understands this, for he
will employ in his waking moments the same agency as that resorted to
by the operator under hypnosis.”
What the hypnotist does is to stimulate the subconscious activities of
body and mind. Very interesting and instructive in this connection is
the following statement by Dr. Davis: “The sense of smell is greatly
developed. I have had several subjects who, under hypnotism, could
identify by sense of smell alone the owners of purses, keys and other
articles of personal use. In hearing, it is well known that the subject
can distinguish the faintest whisper of the operator inaudible to
bystanders. Other powers are equally strengthened.... All of these
instances enable one to realize the power of hypnotism to restore the
proper working of bodily functions.”
Granted that psycho-analysis will also cure these same ailments
which are reached by hypnotism or suggestion--may cure some of them
better; but must one spend weeks or months exploring the history of
the subconscious life in order to relieve a toothache or an attack of
constipation?
Tridon seemed to think he was making out a strong case against
suggestive therapeutics by pointing our similarities between neurotic
and hypnotic states. “Every neurose,” he declared, “is a form of
auto-suggestion.” Well, what of it? The business of the hypnotist is to
help the patient to help himself in throwing off the neurose. And in
many cases he does. In some cases he may fail. But as much can be said
also of the psycho-analyst.
“The neurotic who consults a hypnotist is, after all, seeking a
quick escape from reality, from effort, from responsibilities,”
says Tridon (_Op. cit._, Page 275). If the “reality” happens to be
neuralgia, or writer’s cramp, or a desire for alcohol in excess, why
not seek to “escape” from it as soon as possible, with or without
“responsibilities”? Why not seek “the line of least effort”?
The hypnotist reaches the subconscious mind by _suggestion_,
and through the _imagination_--not the will--stimulates its
health-restoring activities.
Tridon triumphantly declares that many experimenters “have come to
the conclusion that we cannot suggest anything to a subject unless he
unconsciously craves to do that very thing. Suggestions of unpleasant
actions are either rejected or very ephemeral. Suggesting murder
or suicide proves effective mainly in the movies. Lombroso saw his
subjects wake up every time he ordered them to perform humiliating
tasks or to assume degrading rôles” (Page 277).
Very good. No psycho-therapist would complain of the foregoing
impeachment. The subject, whether he knows it or not, “unconsciously
craves” to get well, to become strong, to throw off any neurosis which
happens to afflict or disable him. The hypnotist suggests to the
subconscious mind that what the subject unconsciously craves can be
obtained, that it _is being obtained_, through the creative power of
imagination, of auto-suggestion, supplemented and strengthened, if need
be, by the direct suggestions or “commands” of the hypnotist.
No doubt there are cases, especially of deep-seated hysteria and
neurosis, where analysis would be a more satisfactory method of
treatment than hypnosis or suggestive therapeutics. Dr. Davis has tried
both, and still employs either method, according to the diagnosis.
Mr. Tridon was experienced only as an analyst. But he points out that
Freud, who studied hypnotism under Charcot of Salpétrière and Bernheim
and Liébault of Nancy, finally discarded the hypnotic method entirely.
“It was while studying a patient in hypnotic ‘trance’ that Freud
suspected the possibility of a study of the unconscious in the waking
state,” says Tridon. I need merely remark in passing that the methods
(and principles) of Charcot have also been “discarded” by practically
all modern hypnotists, and the methods of Bernheim and Liébault much
improved upon by later students--some of them, like Freud, pupils of
these pioneer psycho-therapists.
But did Freud “discard” suggestion?
As a matter of fact, the patient who applies for treatment at the
clinic of a psycho-analyst is under suggestion before he arrives. He
has been assured by someone that the analyst can relieve him of his
ailment, or that under the analysis his complaint will disappear.
He has _faith_ in the psycho-analytic method; he _imagines_ himself
being cured of his obsessions or complexes. His _subconscious_ is
already at work--stimulated by auto-suggestion--before he has his
first interview. He is already on the road to recovery. Tridon to the
contrary notwithstanding, there _is_ a relationship between suggestion
and psycho-analysis.
Tridon says (Page 280): “Jung says very frankly somewhere that
practitioners who manage to invest themselves with the halo of the
medicine man are wise in every respect. Not only do they have a large
practice but they also obtain the best results. Dealing with neurotics,
the medical exorcist shows to his subjects his full valuation of the
‘psychic’ element when he gives them an opportunity to fasten their
faith to his mysterious personality.”
Realizing that the great psycho-analyst Jung has virtually (if
unconsciously) returned to the basic principles of suggestive
therapeutics, Tridon tells us that he disagrees with Jung “as to the
final, not temporary, results of such cures.” But why this gratuitous
injection of the word “temporary”? If “such cures” were merely
“temporary,” as against proved permanent cures, would Dr. Jung, out of
his wealth of experience, commend the “halo of the medicine man” as
“wise in every respect”? I think not. Years of practical experience
have taught Jung the great value of _faith_--and imagination--as a
creative curative agency, acting by auto-suggestion on the subconscious
personality: and he admits that the “medical exorcist” should show
“to his subjects his full valuation of the ‘psychic’ element” when he
gives them “an opportunity to _fasten their faith_ to his mysterious
personality.”
At the base of all successful psycho-therapeutic treatment lies faith,
a form of creative imagination. So long as the “fame” of Jesus reached
the ears of the sick and “tormented” “throughout all Syria,” “he
healed them” (Matt. ix, 23, 24). But when he returned to his native
countryside, where his “fame” as a healer was either unknown or
discredited in advance, where he found no faith, “he could do no mighty
work” (Mark, VI).[6]
[6] The reader who desires full information--full data--on all the
points merely touched upon in this little book, would do well to
consult Louis Satow’s “Hypnotism and Suggestion”, previously referred
to--by far the most scholarly work so far published in English on this
important subject.
CHAPTER 5.
SUGGESTION AND THE MASSES
The important rôle of suggestion in relation to social, religious and
political phenomena is only beginning to be generally recognized.
Louis Satow has performed a very useful service in emphasizing this
aspect of the subject. As he so well points out, “many of the ideas
and conceptions which the individual believes himself to have adopted
independently and without constraint are no more than the effect of the
mass mind, which manifests itself in manners and customs and education.
On the other hand, the individual mind, especially that of the leader,
investigator or moralist, has a stimulating effect upon the mind of the
crowd.”
The mind of the crowd exercises, in certain directions, a beneficial
effect upon the progress of civilization, while in many other cases
the opinions of the crowd tend to obstruct the development of the more
progressively-minded individuals. The modern national arrogance and
national egoism, factional exclusiveness, religious bigotry, etc.,
“once more plainly demonstrate that it will be long indeed before the
mass mentality corresponds with the highest humanity and its many-sided
intellectual culture.”
Altogether too many individuals, from whom one might reasonably expect
better things, fall a prey to mass suggestion--or, less elegantly,
“follow the band-wagon.” The better-educated individual, as a member of
the crowd, often acts in direct opposition to what are normally his
own feelings and opinions.
It is doubtful, however, if persons of real culture ever so far succumb
to mob psychology as to join in tar-and-feather parties, assaults upon
working-class gatherings, or lynchings and mass atrocities. The power
of suggestion in such cases is, no doubt, very strong, especially in
its influence upon persons whose moral foundations are not too sound,
causing them to be carried away from their moorings by the more or
less contagious mob psychology. Men who are, as individuals, naturally
cowards, are apt to take advantage of the feeling of invincible power
conferred upon them for the moment by the solidarity of the crowd,
fused into a psychological unit. In many so-called “civilized” human
beings the instincts of the brute lie not very far from the surface,
only awaiting an opportunity when it will be safe to release impulses
bordering upon the sadistic.
“Merely as a result of the imitative instinct,” remarks Satow, “which
is innate in man, and plays a great part even in the animal world, the
crowd displays a much greater susceptibility to suggestion than the
individual.”
We must admit with Bechterow that, “without knowing it, until we reach
a certain level we acquire for ourselves the emotions, superstitious
ideas, opinions, tendencies, intentions and even singularities of
character of the individuals with whom we most commonly associate.”
The power of the press to produce a desired frame of public mind,
merely by the endless repetition of certain carefully chosen phrases,
was well illustrated before and during the World War. The masses are
inclined to believe anything which is suggested with sufficient force
and continued repetition. The principle was well understood by the
crafty old politician Cato, who, as is well known, concluded all his
public speeches with the phrase, “_Delenda est Carthago_” (Carthage
must be destroyed). Today we are quite familiar with equally effective
slogans, endlessly repeated. The mere name of a candidate for political
office on the wind-shield of countless automobiles is but a form of
suggestion--and it works! It is the device alike of demagogue and
plutogogue, of progressive and reactionary. Mass suggestion everywhere;
whether in peace or in war; in politics or in religion!
Many phenomena--political, social or religious institutions--can be
understood only in the light of suggestion--_suggestive compulsion_.
But here let me quote an eloquent and instructive passage from Satow’s
chapter on hypnosis and suggestion in religion (which the reader would
find it well worth while to consult):
“From the lowest forms of religion--from the belief in magic [its
earliest phase], animism, fetichism, daemons and spirits, by way of
polytheism, to monotheism, and even beyond; beneath the embittered
spiritual and material conflict between the various religions,
confessions, sects and philosophies, an eternally tedious and extremely
involved development has taken place, which has often led to the most
grievous errors and abuses. But without the omnipotent factors of
hypnosis and suggestion the psychological processes of this religious
evolution will always be a riddle. But for an insight into the peculiar
medley of the spiritual attributes of humanity, which, in addition
to, and in spite of, its intelligence exhibits an almost morbid
credulity and incapacity to form an independent opinion; but for the
hysterical excitability of the nervous system; but for the phenomena
of auto-hypnosis and auto-suggestion, mass susceptibility and mass
hallucination, religious belief would remain utterly inexplicable.
Whether we consider the Indian yogis, the Buddhist priests, the
Egyptian, Chinese, or Persian sages, the pagan, or Jewish, or Christian
hierarchies, and whether the events in question occurred in a hoary
antiquity or only yesterday, the picture is always the same: the
masses, by all possible means, are kept in bondage to superstition and
ignorance, and then a net of suggestion is dropped over their heads, so
that the power of priestcraft may be maintained.... By most people the
dangers of ecclesiastical suggestion are either underestimated or are
simply not recognized at all.”
Throughout the long history of man’s inhumanity to man, we see in
operation the forces of hypnotism and suggestion. Prof. Otto Stoll,
while recognizing, for example, that the Crusades had their roots in
economic and political, as well as religious, conditions, nevertheless
contends that “all the attempts of the historians to point to movements
of this character as the logical consequence of the motive forces
issuing from the ephemeral but universal conditions of the age,
are powerless to explain, in a satisfactory manner, without the
all-significant factor of suggestibility, either their extent or the
direction which they assumed.”
The direction which the piety of the Crusades at the first capture of
Jerusalem took was to tear babes from the breasts of “infidel” mothers
and dash their brains out against the walls; to ravish every woman
seized; rip open the abdomens of men to see whether they had swallowed
any money; drive the Jews into their synagogues and burn them to death;
slaughter others even in the churches; and massacre in all 70,000 men,
women and children--“for Christ’s sake.” An archbishop chronicles with
evident satisfaction: “Surely have these things happened in accordance
with the righteous judgment of God.”[7]
[7] Quoted by Satow, _Op. cit._, Pages 191-92.
Such are the fruits of mass suggestion! Nor need we go back to the
Middle Ages for examples. Some of us still remember the Ludlow
massacre, the Everett mass-murder, and other exhibitions of “idealism”
and “patriotism” under suggestion.
Now comes Mr. William Jennings Bryan reiterating daily through the
press and on the platform that the theory of evolution is based upon
the “mere unsupported guesses of biologists and psychologists,” and
that only men and women who accept “the word of God”--as revealed in
the Book of Genesis--are fit to teach in our schools and colleges. By
the law of suggestion, acting on minds with as little knowledge of
science as is possessed by “the great commoner” himself, a wave of
reaction is sweeping the country; and nine states have already made
“Bible reading” compulsory in our public schools. The end in view is,
of course, to _suggest_ to the rising generation that the so-called
Books of Moses are authoritative works of science, derived directly
from Jehovah. Meanwhile, Mr. William Sunday has been appealing to a
still lower order of intelligence with his assertion that “Charles
Darwin is in hell,” and _suggesting_ that all who accept the doctrine
of evolution in preference to the legends of the ancient Babylonians,
Assyrians and Armenians are destined to join him in a hell quite
unknown to these ancient poets and chroniclers.[8]
[8] The writers of the Old Testament speak only of “Sheol” (Job X,
21)--a great pit under the earth, derived from the Babylonian “Arallu”
and akin to the Greek “Hades”, where the spirits of the dead--good,
bad or indifferent--went. “Hell-fire” and “brimstone” are a much later
invention.
It has been alleged by many prominent writers of the day that a
movement is on foot to arouse a spirit of militarism in the United
States, in the interest of imperialist finance, which, it is pointed
out, needs a strong army and navy. Can it be that we are being
prepared--by _suggestion_--for the next “war to end war”? Let us hope
that this fear is groundless, that “Defense Day” meant only what it was
asserted to mean, and not--“Delenda est Carthago”! It would surely be
deplorable if a war psychology were permitted to gain even the smallest
momentum. Otherwise the few lessons learned from the recent World War
would soon be lost in a deluge of _suggestive_ propaganda.
“Over and over again,” truly remarks Satow, “has the question been
asked: How was it that the war was so terribly widespread, the armies
so enormous? Of course, numerous well-founded reasons have been
found--historical, political and economic--but none of them suffices
unless we take into account the great, the truly powerful factor: _Mass
Suggestion!_... The partial and exaggerated sense of nationality,
national arrogance and national covetousness, on which the mass
suggestion thrives so exuberantly, furnish a fruitful soil for the war
mentality.”
CHAPTER 6.
HYPNOTISM AND PERSONALITY
Attention has already been directed to F. W. H. Myers’ theory of a
conscious and a subconscious intelligence--a duality of mind in each
individual. Hypnotism and suggestion operates mostly--and in the final
analysis only--on the subconscious mind.
We have seen how the Countess deLaval could speak fluently the language
of Brittany when under hypnotic sleep, but knew nothing of Breton when
awake--i.e., the language was known only to her subconscious mind, the
seat of memory. Hansen, the Danish hypnotist, having hypnotized an
English officer, was astonished to hear him break forth in a tongue
unknown to him. Later it was learned that the language was Welsh, which
the officer had heard spoken as a child, but which his conscious mind
had long forgotten. The fact that old people often recall occurrences
of many years ago, but forget forthwith an event of but yesterday,
has often been commented upon. All of these phenomena are readily
understood in the light of Myers’ theory of dual intelligence--duality
of mind.
The foregoing theory also makes explicable the frequently reported
cases of amnesia, or of dissociation; i.e., the breaking up of
consciousness into parts which lead separate (independent) existences,
or what is commonly known as double, or multiple, personality. Dr.
Davis recalls the rather recent case of an elderly gentleman, of good
position, who was accused of having sent offensive anonymous letters to
a young lady, charging her with thieving, drunkenness, immorality, etc.
So strong was the evidence against him that he was committed to jail,
and was later admitted to bail only on the condition that he should
not come within forty miles of the city. “At the eleventh hour it was
discovered by the merest chance that the young woman had unconsciously
written these most abusive letters to herself, and on receiving them
in her normal state of mind knew absolutely nothing about their
authorship.”[9]
[9] Davis, “Hypnotism and Treatment by Suggestion”, Page 41.
The reader may remember the case of Claire Beauclaire, of Brockton,
Massachusetts--made public in 1922--who possessed two distinct
personalities, one that of an apparently normal girl of eighteen years,
the other that of a child of five. Better known, however, is the case
of Bernice Redick, of Cleveland, Ohio, a high school graduate, with a
decided love for music. In the midst of a conversation she suddenly
nodded, fell into sleep for a moment, then awoke. But during this
moment she had “slipped back” fifteen years, as far as her mind was
concerned.
The girl was taken to Columbus, and placed under the care of Dr.
Henry Herbert Goddard, alienist, head of the Ohio Bureau for Juvenile
Research.
Asked her name, she told Dr. Goddard that it was “Polly.” “How old
are you?” inquired the alienist. “I am four years old,” she replied.
Mentally, she was indeed but a child of four. She could neither read
nor write, and knew nothing of music, of which she was formerly so
apt a pupil. She could not even distinguish colors by name, merely
exhibiting the childish desire for bright ones. She could not count
above ten. Her chief diversion was sitting on the floor playing with
dolls. But she did not remain “Polly” for long at a time. “During her
first day,” says Dr. Goddard, “she changed from Polly to Bernice and
back eleven times. The reversion was just as sudden one way as the
other, and just as inexplicable.”
Psycho-analysts would explain the case by assuming that the girl had
been unhappy at home, or had had an unfortunate love affair, and wished
to escape from reality--to have an easier time by becoming someone
else. If this were the real explanation, why change so frequently back
to Bernice?
Dr. Goddard was at a loss to know how to proceed. There were at that
time fewer than 25 such cases in the medical records of the world.
Any competent hypnotist could have prescribed the appropriate remedy;
but probably hypnotism was not in good repute among the physicians
consulted. At any rate. Dr. Goddard adopted the plan of bringing Polly
up to her normal age and previous intellectual status by educating her
as he would any other four-year-old child--for the Binet test showed
Polly to possess normal intelligence for a child of that age. “We
thought,” he explained, “that by bringing Polly’s mentality up to the
age of Bernice the two personalities might automatically become one.”
Eventually, as we shall see, he had to resort to hypnotism after all;
but first he tried this educational plan. Polly was first taught to
read, which she learned more readily than most four-year-old children.
The usual kindergarten courses were included in the curriculum. The
lessons, however, were frequently interrupted by the reappearance of
Bernice, who knew nothing of any such person as Polly. The dissociation
was complete.
As this case has never appeared in book form anywhere, let us quote Dr.
Goddard’s own words:
“One day, when Polly was engrossed in a conversation with an attendant,
a pencil was placed in her hand, and she was told to write a letter
to a nurse she liked. A magazine, held between her hand and her eyes,
kept her from seeing the paper on which she wrote. The conversation
continued and kept her attention from the letter, but her hand moved
mechanically across the paper, and the letter was finished. It was a
letter such as would be written by almost any girl of ten or twelve
years.
“When it was finished we showed it to her, and then asked suddenly,
‘How old are you, Polly?’
“‘I am eleven years old,’ she replied instantly.
“From then on she consistently admitted being eleven years old. Success
seemed to have crowned our efforts.
“When she awoke as ‘Polly,’ she at first, each time, became the
four-year-old ‘Polly’ we had originally known, but in a few minutes
passed to the eleven-year-old stage. These transitions were frequent
and irregular. One day as she was preparing to go for a walk she
suddenly changed to ‘Polly.’ She remained thus for six days, babbling
and playing as any child would. Bernice reasserted herself at about the
same hour of the day, whereupon the girl began looking about for her
coat to go for the walk, resuming her conversation with the words she
was saying when ‘Polly’ drove her out.
“Having brought her to the age of eleven we continued the treatment
until she admitted she was fourteen. Then we held a party, celebrating
her fifteenth birthday, with candles and presents. A succession
of birthdays followed within a few weeks, the girl apparently not
realizing that she was being tricked. At last she became nineteen and
admitted that was her age.”
But the automatic fusion of the two personalities expected by Dr.
Goddard did not occur. Bernice was quiet and modest, reserved, timid
and ambitious. “Polly” was careless, boisterous, disobedient, and “hail
fellow well met” with everyone.
“Just as Dr. Jekyll in the story gave way more and more readily to
the encroachments of Mr. Hyde, so did Bernice give way more and more
readily to the self-assertive ‘Polly.’ Even yet, when she awoke, she
was often ‘four years old,’ and had to pass through the successive
stages, which she now did very rapidly.”
After months of educational work, without success in merging the two
personalities into a unified Bernice, hypnotic treatment was introduced
at last--a modified form of mesmerism--with a view to driving out
“Polly.”
“Both personalities were told of the existence of the other, but each
knew of it only as a normal person would know of someone he had heard
of but never seen. ‘Polly’ in particular declared there was no such
thing, and that if there was she had no room for her. Later she said
Bernice was a friend that I had told her about, who was coming to see
her some time.
“Hypnotism again came into play. I placed ‘Polly’ in a sleep, first
telling her that she was going to meet Bernice. Somewhere the two minds
met, in one of the strangest introductions I ever hope to make. It was,
of course, impossible to observe any reaction that took place, as our
only method of observation was of necessity through bodily actions, and
for the time being there were none.
“Awakening, ‘Polly’ said she remembered Bernice, but that she lived
in Cleveland, and would come down to see her some time. She resented
the idea that she might be stealing Bernice’s body, but declared that
this was her own, and she had always possessed it. Polly was banished
by hypnotism and Bernice came into control. She, too, remembered the
strange introduction. From that time, however, there was a conscious
effort by each personality to drive out the other. ‘Polly’ was very
strong. Even with the aid of hypnotic influence, which I called upon
to banish ‘Polly’ at every appearance, it has been difficult going for
Bernice.
“The mental aspect of the case has been closely related to the
physical. When the body was fatigued, ‘Polly’ nearly always came into
power. After a night’s sleep the girl nearly always awoke as Bernice.
“Now, although we have established Bernice permanently, it must be
admitted ‘Polly’ may yet gain permanent control.”
On January 12, 1923, Dr. Goddard announced through the daily press that
“Polly has not appeared for nearly a month.”
Later there seem to have been relapses, in which a third personality
appeared, “living,” Dr. Goddard was quoted in the press (March 7th)
as saying, “only in the imagination of ‘Polly.’” On this date it was
announced that Miss Redick would be discharged from the Ohio State
University Hospital a week later as permanently restored to her normal
self.
This case bears many interesting likenesses to the famous case of “Miss
Beauchamp,” reported by Dr. Morton Prince in his “The Dissociation of a
Personality.” The intrusive personality, younger but not a child, was
here known as “Sally.” “Sally” hated “Miss Beauchamp,” between whom and
herself there existed the same differences of temperament as between
“Polly” and Bernice. She would play tricks on her--walk miles into the
country and wake up as “Miss Beauchamp,” without carfare home (“Miss
Beauchamp” disliked to walk); pile up the furniture, climb on top, and
let “Miss Beauchamp” climb down; write abusive letters for the other
personality to find, tangle her embroidery silks, etc. “Sally,” like
“Polly,” was finally “murdered” by being hypnotized out of existence.
In this case, however, “Miss Beauchamp” herself was not the original,
normal personality; but a final fusion into the normal woman was
finally achieved.
From this brief study the power and scope of hypnotism and suggestion
may be comprehended--their value in the hands of a skilled physician,
their danger in the hands of a charlatan. As a herald of their use and
a warning against their disuse, let me conclude by quoting the opening
stanza of Browning’s poem, “Mesmerism”:
All I believed is true!
I am able yet
All I want, to get
By a method as strange as new:
Dare I trust the same to you?
Entrusted to the exploitation of a showman, the subconscious may avenge
its abuse in a grievous manner; but entrusted to the understanding
sympathy of a trained and experienced practitioner, there is no more
efficacious alleviant for many of the ills to which the body is subject
than the hypnotic or suggestive method of treatment.
Transcriber’s Note:
Italicized text is surrounded by underscores: _italics_.
Erroneously placed or missing quotation marks or punctuation have been
silently corrected.
The following printer error has been changed:
p. 39: “implictly” changed to “implicitly” (implicitly believe they
have founded on fact)
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