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Project Gutenberg eBook, Complete Hypnotism, Mesmerism, Mind-Reading and
Spritualism, by A. Alpheus
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with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.orgTitle: Complete Hypnotism, Mesmerism, Mind-Reading and Spritualism
How to Hypnotize: Being an Exhaustive and Practical System of Method,
Application, and Use
Author: A. Alpheus
Release Date: September 20, 2006 [eBook #19342]
Language: English
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***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK COMPLETE HYPNOTISM, MESMERISM,
MIND-READING AND SPRITUALISM***

E-text prepared by Jerry Kuntz
as part of the Lawson’s Progress Project
Complete Hypnotism:
Mesmerism, Mind-Reading and Spiritualism
How to Hypnotize:
Being an Exhaustive and Practical System
of Method, Application, and Use
by A. Alpheus

1903

CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION–History of hypnotism–Mesmer–Puysegur–Braid–What is
hypnotism?–Theories of hypnotism: 1. Animal magnetism; 2. The Neurosis Theory;
3. Suggestion Theory
CHAPTER I–How to Hypnotize–Dr. Cocke’s method-Dr. Flint’s method–The French
method at Paris–At Nancy–The Hindoo silent method–How to wake a subject from
hypnotic sleep–Frauds of public hypnotic entertainments.
CHAPTER II–Amusing experiments–Hypnotizing on the stage–”You can’t pull your
hands apart!”–Post-hypnotic suggestion–The newsboy, the hunter, and the young
man with the rag doll–A whip becomes hot iron–Courting a broom stick–The
side-show
CHAPTER III–The stages of hypnotism–Lethargy-Catalepsy–The somnambulistic
stage–Fascination
CHAPTER IV–How the subject feels under hypnotization–Dr. Cocke’s
experience–Effect of music–Dr. Alfred Warthin’s experiments
CHAPTER V–Self hypnotization–How it may be done–An experience–Accountable
for children’s crusade–Oriental prophets self- hypnotized
CHAPTER VI–Simulation–Deception in hypnotism very common–Examples of
Neuropathic deceit–Detecting simulation–Professional subjects–How Dr. Luys of
the Charity Hospital at Paris was deceived–Impossibility of detecting deception
in all cases–Confessions of a professional hypnotic subject
CHAPTER VII–Criminal suggestion–Laboratory crimes–Dr. Cocke’s experiments
showing criminal suggestion is not possible–Dr. William James’ theory–A bad
man cannot be made good, why expect to make a good man bad?
CHAPTER VIII–Dangers in being hypnotized Condemnation of public performances–A
commonsense view–Evidence furnished by Lafontaine; by Dr. Courmelles; by Dr.
Hart; by Dr. Cocke–No danger in hypnotism if rightly used by physicians or
scientists
CHAPTER IX–Hypnotism in medicine–Anesthesia–Restoring the use of
muscles–Hallucination–Bad habits
CHAPTER X–Hypnotism of animals–Snake charming
CHAPTER XI–A scientific explanation of hypnotism–Dr. Hart’s theory
CHAPTER XII–Telepathy and Clairvoyance–Peculiar power in hypnotic
state–Experiments–”Phantasms of the living” explained by telepathy
CHAPTER XIII–The Confessions of a Medium–Spiritualistic phenomena explained on
theory of telepathy–Interesting statement of Mrs. Piper, the famous medium of
the Psychical Research Society
INTRODUCTION.
There is no doubt that hypnotism is a very old subject, though the name was not
invented till 1850. In it was wrapped up the “mysteries of Isis” in Egypt
thousands of years ago, and probably it was one of the weapons, if not the chief
instrument of operation, of the magi mentioned in the Bible and of the “wise
men” of Babylon and Egypt. “Laying on of hands” must have been a form of
mesmerism, and Greek oracles of Delphi and other places seem to have been
delivered by priests or priestesses who went into trances of self-induced
hypnotism. It is suspected that the fakirs of India who make trees grow from dry
twigs in a few minutes, or transform a rod into a serpent (as Aaron did in Bible
history), operate by some form of hypnotism. The people of the East are much
more subject to influences of this kind than Western peoples are, and there can
be no question that the religious orgies of heathendom were merely a form of
that hysteria which is so closely related to the modern phenomenon of hypnotism.
Though various scientific men spoke of magnetism, and understood that there was
a power of a peculiar kind which one man could exercise over another, it was not
until Frederick Anton Mesmer (a doctor of Vienna) appeared in 1775 that the
general public gave any special attention to the subject. In the year mentioned,
Mesmer sent out a circular letter to various scientific societies or “Academies”
as they are called in Europe, stating his belief that “animal magnetism”
existed, and that through it one man could influence another. No attention was
given his letter, except by the Academy of Berlin, which sent him an unfavorable
reply.
In 1778 Mesmer was obliged for some unknown reason to leave Vienna, and went to
Paris, where he was fortunate in converting to his ideas d’Eslon, the Comte
d’Artois’s physician, and one of the medical professors at the Faculty of
Medicine. His success was very great; everybody was anxious to be magnetized,
and the lucky Viennese doctor was soon obliged to call in assistants. Deleuze,
the librarian at the Jardin des Plantes, who has been called the Hippocrates of
magnetism, has left the following account of Mesmer’s experiments:
“In the middle of a large room stood an oak tub, four or five feet in diameter
and one foot deep. It was closed by a lid made in two pieces, and encased in
another tub or bucket. At the bottom of the tub a number of bottles were laid in
convergent rows, so that the neck of each bottle turned towards the centre.
Other bottles filled with magnetized water tightly corked up were laid in
divergent rows with their necks turned outwards. Several rows were thus piled
up, and the apparatus was then pronounced to be at ‘high pressure’. The tub was
filled with water, to which were sometimes added powdered glass and iron
filings. There were also some dry tubs, that is, prepared in the same manner,
but without any additional water. The lid was perforated to admit of the passage
of movable bent rods, which could be applied to the different parts of the
patient’s body. A long rope was also fastened to a ring in the lid, and this the
patients placed loosely round their limbs. No disease offensive to the sight was
treated, such as sores, or deformities.
“A large number of patients were commonly treated at one time. They drew near to
each other, touching hands, arms, knees, or feet. The handsomest, youngest, and
most robust magnetizers held also an iron rod with which they touched the
dilatory or stubborn patients. The rods and ropes had all undergone a
‘preparation’ and in a very short space of time the patients felt the magnetic
influence. The women, being the most easily affected, were almost at once seized
with fits of yawning and stretching; their eyes closed, their legs gave way and
they seemed to suffocate. In vain did musical glasses and harmonicas resound,
the piano and voices re-echo; these supposed aids only seemed to increase the
patients’ convulsive movements. Sardonic laughter, piteous moans and torrents of
tears burst forth on all sides. The bodies were thrown back in spasmodic jerks,
the respirations sounded like death rattles, the most terrifying symptoms were
exhibited. Then suddenly the actors of this strange scene would frantically or
rapturously rush towards each other, either rejoicing and embracing or thrusting
away their neighbors with every appearance of horror.
“Another room was padded and presented another spectacle. There women beat their
heads against wadded walls or rolled on the cushion-covered floor, in fits of
suffocation. In the midst of this panting, quivering throng, Mesmer, dressed in
a lilac coat, moved about, extending a magic wand toward the least suffering,
halting in front of the most violently excited and gazing steadily into their
eyes, while he held both their hands in his, bringing the middle fingers in
immediate contact to establish communication. At another moment he would, by a
motion of open hands and extended fingers, operate with the great current,
crossing and uncrossing his arms with wonderful rapidity to make the final
passes.”
Hysterical women and nervous young boys, many of them from the highest ranks of
Society, flocked around this wonderful wizard, and incidentally he made a great
deal of money. There is little doubt that he started out as a genuine and
sincere student of the scientific character of the new power he had indeed
discovered; there is also no doubt that he ultimately became little more than a
charlatan. There was, of course, no virtue in his “prepared” rods, nor in his
magnetic tubs. At the same time the belief of the people that there was virtue
in them was one of the chief means by which he was able to induce hypnotism, as
we shall see later. Faith, imagination, and willingness to be hypnotized on the
part of the subject are all indispensable to entire success in the practice of
this strange art.
In 1779 Mesmer published a pamphlet entitled “Memoire sur la decouverte du
magnetisme animal”, of which Doctor Cocke gives the following summary (his chief
claim was that he had discovered a principle which would cure every disease):
“He sets forth his conclusions in twenty-seven propositions, of which the
substance is as follows:– There is a reciprocal action and reaction between the
planets, the earth and animate nature by means of a constant universal fluid,
subject to mechanical laws yet unknown. The animal body is directly affected by
the insinuation of this agent into the substance of the nerves. It causes in
human bodies properties analogous to those of the magnet, for which reason it is
called ‘Animal Magnetism’. This magnetism may be communicated to other bodies,
may be increased and reflected by mirrors, communicated, propagated, and
accumulated, by sound. It may be accumulated, concentrated, and transported. The
same rules apply to the opposite virtue. The magnet is susceptible of magnetism
and the opposite virtue. The magnet and artificial electricity have, with
respect to disease, properties common to a host of other agents presented to us
by nature, and if the use of these has been attended by useful results, they are
due to animal magnetism. By the aid of magnetism, then, the physician
enlightened as to the use of medicine may render its action more perfect, and
can provoke and direct salutary crises so as to have them completely under his
control.”
The Faculty of Medicine investigated Mesmer’s claims, but reported unfavorably,
and threatened d’Eslon with expulsion from the society unless he gave Mesmer up.
Nevertheless the government favored the discoverer, and when the medical
fraternity attacked him with such vigor that he felt obliged to leave Paris, it
offered him a pension of 20,000 francs if he would remain. He went away, but
later came back at the request of his pupils. In 1784 the government appointed
two commissions to investigate the claims that had been made. On one of these
commissions was Benjamin Franklin, then American Ambassador to France as well as
the great French scientist Lavoisier. The other was drawn from the Royal Academy
of Medicine, and included Laurent de Jussieu, the only man who declared in favor
of Mesmer.
There is no doubt that Mesmer had returned to Paris for the purpose of making
money, and these commissions were promoted in part by persons desirous of
driving him out. “It is interesting,” says a French writer, “to peruse the
reports of these commissions: they read like a debate on some obscure subject of
which the future has partly revealed the secret.” Says another French writer
(Courmelles): “They sought the fluid, not by the study of the cures affected,
which was considered too complicated a task, but in the phases of mesmeric
sleep. These were considered indispensable and easily regulated by the
experimentalist. When submitted to close investigation, it was, however, found
that they could only be induced when the subjects knew they were being
magnetized, and that they differed according as they were conducted in public or
in private. In short–whether it be a coincidence or the truth–imagination was
considered the sole active agent. Whereupon d’Eslon remarked, ‘If imagination is
the best cure, why should we not use the imagination as a curative means?’ Did
he, who had so vaunted the existence of the fluid, mean by this to deny its
existence, or was it rather a satirical way of saying. ‘You choose to call it
imagination; be it so. But after all, as it cures, let us make the most of it’?
“The two commissions came to the conclusion that the phenomena were due to
imitation, and contact, that they were dangerous and must be prohibited. Strange
to relate, seventy years later, Arago pronounced the same verdict!”
Daurent Jussieu was the only one who believed in anything more than this. He saw
a new and important truth, which he set forth in a personal report upon
withdrawing from the commission, which showed itself so hostile to Mesmer and
his pretensions.
Time and scientific progress have largely overthrown Mesmer’s theories of the
fluid; yet Mesmer had made a discovery that was in the course of a hundred years
to develop into an important scientific study. Says Vincent: “It seems ever the
habit of the shallow scientist to plume himself on the more accurate theories
which have been provided f, by the progress of knowledge and of science, and
then, having been fed with a limited historical pabulum, to turn and talk
lightly, and with an air of the most superior condescension, of the weakness and
follies of those but for whose patient labors our modern theories would probably
be non- existent.” If it had not been for Mesmer and his “Animal Magnetism”, we
would never have had “hypnotism” and all our learned societies for the study of
it.
Mesmer, though his pretensions were discredited, was quickly followed by
Puysegur, who drew all the world to Buzancy, near Soissons, France. “Doctor
Cloquet related that he saw there, patients no longer the victims of hysterical
fits, but enjoying a calm, peaceful, restorative slumber. It may be said that
from this moment really efficacious and useful magnetism became known.” Every
one rushed once more to be magnetized, and Puysegur had so many patients that to
care for them all he was obliged to magnetize a tree (as he said), which was
touched by hundreds who came to be cured, and was long known as “Puysegur’s
tree”. As a result of Puysegur’s success, a number of societies were formed in
France for the study of the new phenomena.
In the meantime, the subject had attracted considerable interest in Germany, and
in 1812 Wolfart was sent to Mesmer at Frauenfeld by the Prussian government to
investigate Mesmerism. He became an enthusiast, and introduced its practice into
the hospital at Berlin.
In 1814 Deleuze published a book on the subject, and Abbe Faria, who had come
from India, demonstrated that there was no fluid, but that the phenomena were
subjective, or within the mind of the patient. He first introduced what is now
called the “method of suggestion” in producing magnetism or hypnotism. In 1815
Mesmer died.
Experimentation continued, and in the 20’s Foissac persuaded the Academy of
Medicine to appoint a commission to investigate the subject. After five years
they presented a report. This report gave a good statement of the practical
operation of magnetism, mentioning the phenomena of somnambulism, anesthesia,
loss of memory, and the various other symptoms of the hypnotic state as we know
it. It was thought that magnetism had a right to be considered as a therapeutic
agent, and that it might be used by physicians, though others should not be
allowed to practice it. In 1837 another commission made a decidedly unfavorable
report.
Soon after this Burdin, a member of the Academy, offered a prize of 3,000 francs
to any one who would read the number of a bank-note or the like with his eyes
bandaged (under certain fixed conditions), but it was never awarded, though many
claimed it, and there has been considerable evidence that persons in the
hypnotic state have (sometimes) remarkable clairvoyant powers.
Soon after this, magnetism fell into very low repute throughout France and
Germany, and scientific men became loath to have their names connected with the
study of it in any way. The study had not yet been seriously taken up in
England, and two physicians who gave some attention to it suffered decidedly in
professional reputation.
It is to an English physician, however, that we owe the scientific character of
modern hypnotism. Indeed he invented the name of hypnotism, formed from the
Greek word meaning ’sleep’, and designating ‘artificially produced sleep’. His
name is James Braid, and so important were the results of his study that
hypnotism has sometimes been called “Braidism”. Doctor Courmelles gives the
following interesting summary of Braid’s experiences:
“November, 1841, he witnessed a public experiment made by Monsieur Lafontaine, a
Swiss magnetizer. He thought the whole thing a comedy; a week after, he attended
a second exhibition, saw that the patient could not open his eyes, and concluded
that this was ascribable to some physical cause. The fixity of gaze must,
according to him, exhaust the nerve centers of the eyes and their surroundings.
He made a friend look steadily at the neck of a bottle, and his own wife look at
an ornamentation on the top of a china sugar bowl: sleep was the consequence.
Here hypnotism had its origin, and the fact was established that sleep could be
induced by physical agents. This, it must be remembered, is the essential
difference between these two classes of phenomena (magnetism and hypnotism): for
magnetism supposes a direct action of the magnetizer on the magnetized subject,
an action which does not exist in hypnotism.”
It may be stated that most English and American operators fail to see any
distinction between magnetism and hypnotism, and suppose that the effect of
passes, etc., as used by Mesmer, is in its way as much physical as the method of
producing hypnotism by concentrating the gaze of the subject on a bright object,
or the like.
Braid had discovered a new science–as far as the theoretical view of it was
concerned–for he showed that hypnotism is largely, if not purely, mechanical
and physical. He noted that during one phase of hypnotism, known as catalepsy,
the arms, limbs, etc., might be placed in any position and would remain there;
he also noted that a puff of breath would usually awaken a subject, and that by
talking to a subject and telling him to do this or do that, even after he awakes
from the sleep, he can be made to do those things. Braid thought he might affect
a certain part of the brain during hypnotic sleep, and if he could find the seat
of the thieving disposition, or the like, he could cure the patient of desire to
commit crime, simply by suggestion, or command.
Braid’s conclusions were, in brief, that there was no fluid, or other exterior
agent, but that hypnotism was due to a physiological condition of the nerves. It
was his belief that hypnotic sleep was brought about by fatigue of the eyelids,
or by other influences wholly within the subject. In this he was supported by
Carpenter, the great physiologist; but neither Braid nor Carpenter could get the
medical organizations to give the matter any attention, even to investigate it.
In 1848 an American named Grimes succeeded in obtaining all the phenomena of
hypnotism, and created a school of writers who made use of the word
“electro-biology.”
In 1850 Braid’s ideas were introduced into France, and Dr. Azam, of Bordeaux,
published an account of them in the “Archives de Medicine.” From this time on
the subject was widely studied by scientific men in France and Germany, and it
was more slowly taken up in England. It may be stated here that the French and
other Latin races are much more easily hypnotized than the northern races,
Americans perhaps being least subject to the hypnotic influence, and next to
them the English. On the other hand, the Orientals are influenced to a degree we
can hardly comprehend.
WHAT IS HYPNOTISM?
We have seen that so far the history of hypnotism has given us two
manifestations, or methods, that of passes and playing upon the imagination in
various ways, used by Mesmer, and that of physical means, such as looking at a
bright object, used by Braid. Both of these methods are still in use, and though
hundreds of scientific men, including many physicians, have studied the subject
for years, no essentially new principle has been discovered, though the details
of hypnotic operation have been thoroughly classified and many minor elements of
interest have been developed. All these make a body of evidence which will
assist us in answering the question, What is hypnotism?
Modern scientific study has pretty conclusively established the following facts:
1. Idiots, babies under three years old, and hopelessly insane people cannot be
hypnotized.
2. No one can be hypnotized unless the operator can make him concentrate his
attention for a reasonable length of time. Concentration of attention, whatever
the method of producing hypnotism, is absolutely necessary.
3. The persons not easily hypnotized are those said to be neurotic (or those
affected with hysteria). By “hysteria” is not meant nervous excitability,
necessarily. Some very phlegmatic persons may be affected with hysteria. In
medical science “hysteria” is an irregular action of the nervous system. It will
sometimes show itself by severe pains in the arm, when in reality there is
nothing whatever to cause pain; or it will raise a swelling on the head quite
without cause. It is a tendency to nervous disease which in severe cases may
lead to insanity. The word neurotic is a general term covering affection of the
nervous system. It includes hysteria and much else beside.
On all these points practically every student of hypnotism is agreed. On the
question as to whether any one can produce hypnotism by pursuing the right
methods there is some disagreement, but not much. Dr. Ernest Hart in an article
in the British Medical Journal makes the following very definite statement,
representing the side of the case that maintains that any one can produce
hypnotism. Says he:
“It is a common delusion that the mesmerist or hypnotizer counts for anything in
the experiment. The operator, whether priest, physician, charlatan, self-deluded
enthusiast, or conscious imposter, is not the source of any occult influence,
does not possess any mysterious power, and plays only a very secondary and
insignificant part in the chain of phenomena observed. There exist at the
present time many individuals who claim for themselves, and some who make a
living by so doing, a peculiar property or power as potent mesmerizers,
hypnotizers, magnetizers, or electro-biologists. One even often hears it said in
society (for I am sorry to say that these mischievous practices and pranks are
sometimes made a society game) that such a person is a clever hypnotist or has
great mesmeric or healing power. I hope to be able to prove, what I firmly hold,
both from my own personal experience and experiment, as I have already related
in the Nineteenth Century, that there is no such thing as a potent mesmeric
influence, no such power resident in any one person more than another; that a
glass of water, a tree, a stick, a penny-post letter, or a lime-light can
mesmerize as effectually as can any individual. A clever hypnotizer means only a
person who is acquainted with the physical or mental tricks by which the
hypnotic condition is produced; or sometimes an unconscious imposter who is
unaware of the very trifling part for which he is cast in the play, and who
supposes himself really to possess a mysterious power which in, fact he does not
possess at all, or which, to speak more accurately, is equally possessed by
every stock or stone.”
Against this we may place the statement of Dr. Foveau de Courmelles, who speaks
authoritatively for the whole modern French school. He says:
“Every magnetizer is aware that certain individuals never can induce sleep even
in the most easily hypnotizable subjects. They admit that the sympathetic fluid
is necessary, and that each person may eventually find his or her hypnotizer,
even when numerous attempts at inducing sleep have failed. However this may be,
the impossibility some individuals find in inducing sleep in trained subjects,
proves at least the existence of a negative force.”
If you would ask the present writer’s opinion, gathered from all the evidence
before him, he would say that while he has no belief in the existence of any
magnetic fluid, or anything that corresponds to it, he thinks there can be no
doubt that some people will succeed as hypnotists while some will fail, just as
some fail as carpenters while others succeed. This is true in every walk of
life. It is also true that some people attract, others repel, the people they
meet. This is not very easily explained, but we have all had opportunity to
observe it. Again, since concentration is the prerequisite for producing
hypnotism, one who has not the power of concentration himself, and concentration
which he can perfectly control, is not likely to be able to secure it in others.
Also, since faith is a strong element, a person who has not perfect
self-confidence could not expect to create confidence in others. While many
successful hypnotizers can themselves be hypnotized, it is probable that most
all who have power of this kind are themselves exempt from the exercise of it.
It is certainly true that while a person easily hypnotized is by no means
weak-minded (indeed, it is probable that most geniuses would be good hypnotic
subjects), still such persons have not a well balanced constitution and their
nerves are high-strung if not unbalanced. They would be most likely to be
subject to a person who had such a strong and well-balanced nervous constitution
that it would be hard to hypnotize. And it is always safe to say that the strong
may control the weak, but it is not likely that the weak will control the
strong.
There is also another thing that must be taken into account. Science teaches
that all matter is in vibration. Indeed, philosophy points to the theory that
matter itself is nothing more than centers of force in vibration. The lowest
vibration we know is that of sound. Then comes, at an enormously higher rate,
heat, light (beginning at dark red and passing through the prismatic colors to
violet which has a high vibration), to the chemical rays, and then the so-called
X or unknown rays which have a much higher vibration still. Electricity is a
form of vibration, and according to the belief of many scientists, life is a
species of vibration so high that we have no possible means of measuring it. As
every student of science knows, air appears to be the chief medium for conveying
vibration of sound, metal is the chief medium for conveying electric vibrations,
while to account for the vibrations of heat and light we have to assume (or
imagine) an invisible, imponderable ether which fills all space and has no
property of matter that we can distinguish except that of conveying vibrations
of light in its various forms. When we pass on to human life, we have to
theorize chiefly by analogy. (It must not be forgotten, however, that the
existence of the ether and many assumed facts in science are only theories which
have come to be generally adopted because they explain phenomena of all kinds
better than any other theories which have been offered.)
Now, in life, as in physical science, any one who can get, or has by nature, the
key-note of another nature, has a tremendous power over that other nature. The
following story illustrates what this power is in the physical world. While we
cannot vouch for the exact truth of the details of the story, there can be no
doubt of the accuracy of the principle on which it is based:
“A musical genius came to the Suspension Bridge at Niagara Falls, and asked
permission to cross; but as he had no money, his request was contemptuously
refused. He stepped away from the entrance, and, drawing his violin from his
case, began sounding notes up and down the scale. He finally discovered, by the
thrill that sent a tremor through the mighty structure, that he had found the
note on which the great cable that upheld the mass, was keyed. He drew his bow
across the string of the violin again, and the colossal wire, as if under the
spell of a magician, responded with a throb that sent a wave through its
enormous length. He sounded the note again and again, and the cable that was
dormant under the strain of loaded teams and monster engines–the cable that
remained stolid under the pressure of human traffic, and the heavy tread of
commerce, thrilled and surged and shook itself, as mad waves of vibration
coursed over its length, and it tore at its slack, until like a foam-crested
wave of the sea, it shook the towers at either end, or, like some sentient
animal, it tugged at its fetters and longed to be free.
“The officers in charge, apprehensive of danger, hurried the poor musician
across, and bade him begone and trouble them no more. The ragged genius, putting
his well-worn instrument back in its case, muttered to himself, ‘I’d either
crossed free or torn down the bridge.’”
“So the hypnotist,” goes on the writer from which the above is quoted, “finds
the note on which the subjective side of the person is attuned, and by playing
upon it awakens into activity emotions and sensibilities that otherwise would
have remained dormant, unused and even unsuspected.”
No student of science will deny the truth of these statements. At the same time
it has been demonstrated again and again that persons can and do frequently
hypnotize themselves. This is what Mr. Hart means when he says that any stick or
stone may produce hypnotism. If a person will gaze steadily at a bright fire, or
a glass of water, for instance, he can throw himself into a hypnotic trance
exactly similar to the condition produced by a professional or trained
hypnotist. Such people, however, must be possessed of imagination.
THEORIES OF HYPNOTISM.
We have now learned some facts in regard to hypnotism; but they leave the
subject still a mystery. Other facts which will be developed in the course of
this book will only deepen the mystery. We will therefore state some of the best
known theories.
Before doing so, however, it would be well to state concisely just what seems to
happen in a case of hypnotism. The word hypnotism means sleep, and the
definition of hypnotism implies artificially produced sleep. Sometimes this
sleep is deep and lasting, and the patient is totally insensible; but the
interesting phase of the condition is that in certain stages the patient is only
partially asleep, while the other part of his brain is awake and very active.
It is well known that one part of the brain may be affected without affecting
the other parts. In hemiplegia, for instance, one half of the nervous system is
paralyzed, while the other half is all right. In the stages of hypnotism we will
now consider, the will portion of the brain or mind seems to be put to sleep,
while the other faculties are, abnormally awake. Some explain this by supposing
that the blood is driven out of one portion of the brain and driven into other
portions. In any case, it is as though the human engine were uncoupled, and the
patient becomes an automaton. If he is told to do this, that, or the other, he
does it, simply because his will is asleep and “suggestion”, as it is called,
from without makes him act just as he starts up unconsciously in his ordinary
sleep if tickled with a straw.
Now for the theories. There are three leading theories, known as that of 1.
Animal Magnetism; 2. Neurosis; and 3. Suggestion. We will simply state them
briefly in order without discussion.
Animal Magnetism. This is the theory offered by Mesmer, and those who hold it
assume that “the hypnotizer exercises a force, independently of suggestion, over
the subject. They believe one part of the body to be charged separately, or that
the whole body may be filled with magnetism. They recognize the power, of
suggestion, but they do not believe it to be the principal factor in the
production of the hypnotic state.” Those who hold this theory today distinguish
between the phenomena produced by magnetism and those produced by physical means
or simple suggestion.
The Neurosis Theory. We have already explained the word neurosis, but we repeat
here the definition given by Dr. J. R. Cocke. “A neurosis is any affection of
the nervous centers occurring without any material agent producing it, without
inflammation or any other constant structural change which can be detected in
the nervous centers. As will be seen from the definition, any abnormal
manifestation of the nervous system of whose cause we know practically nothing,
is, for convenience, termed a neurosis. If a man has a certain habit or trick,
it is termed a neurosis or neuropathic habit. One man of my acquaintance, who is
a professor in a college, always begins his lecture by first sneezing and then
pulling at his nose. Many forms of tremor are called neurosis. Now to say that
hypnotism is the result of a. neurosis, simply means that a person’s nervous
system is susceptible to this condition, which, by M. Charcot and his followers,
is regarded as abnormal.” In short, M. Charcot places hypnotism in the same
category of nervous affections in which hysteria and finally hallucination
(medically considered) are to be classed, that is to say, as a nervous weakness,
not to say a disease. According to this theory, a person whose nervous system is
perfectly healthy could not be hypnotized. So many people can be hypnotized
because nearly all the world is more or less insane, as a certain great writer
has observed.
Suggestion. This theory is based on the power of mind over the body as we
observe it in everyday life. Again let me quote from Dr. Cooke. “If we can
direct the subject’s whole attention to the belief that such an effect as before
mentioned–that his arm will be paralyzed, for instance–will take place, that
effect will gradually occur. Such a result having been once produced, the
subject’s will-power and power of resistance are considerably weakened, because
he is much more inclined than at first to believe the hypnotizer’s assertion.
This is generally the first step in the process of hypnosis. The method pursued
at the school of Nancy is to convince the subject that his eyes are closing by
directing his attention to that effect as strongly as possible. However, it is
not necessary that we begin with the eyes. According to M. Dessoir, any member
of the body will answer as well.” The theory of Suggestion is maintained by the
medical school attached to the hospital at Nancy. The theory of Neurosis was
originally put forth as the result of experiments by Dr. Charcot at the
Salpetriere hospital in Paris, which is now the co-called Salpetriere
school–that is the medical, school connected with the Salpetriere hospital.
There is also another theory put forth, or rather a modification of Professor
Charcot’s theory, and maintained by the school of the Charity hospital in Paris,
headed by Dr. Luys, to the effect that the physical magnet and electricity may
affect persons in the hypnotic state, and that certain drugs in sealed tubes
placed upon the patient’s neck during the condition of hypnosis will produce the
same effects which those drugs would produce if taken internally, or as the
nature of the drugs would seem to call for if imbibed in a more complete
fashion. This school, however, has been considerably discredited, and Dr. Luys’
conclusions are not received by scientific students of hypnotism. It is also
stated, and the present writer has seen no effective denial, that hypnotism may
be produced by pressing with the fingers upon certain points in the body, known
as hypnogenic spots.
It will be seen that these three theories stated above are greatly at variance
with each other. The student of hypnotism will have to form a conclusion for
himself as he investigates the facts. Possibly it will be found that the true
theory is a combination of all three of those described above. Hypnotism is
certainly a complicated phenomena, and he would be a rash man who should try to
explain it in a sentence or in a paragraph. An entire book proves a very limited
space for doing it.
CHAPTER I.
HOW TO HYPNOTIZE.
Dr. Cocke’s Method–Dr. Flint’s Method–The French Method at Paris–at
Nancy–The Hindoo Silent Method–How to Wake a Subject from Hypnotic
Sleep–Frauds of Public Hypnotic Entertainers.
First let us quote what is said of hypnotism in Foster’s Encyclopedic Medical
Dictionary. The dictionary states the derivation of the word from the Greek word
meaning sleep, and gives as synonym “Braidism”. This definition follows: “An
abnormal state into which some persons may be thrown, either by a voluntary act
of their own, such as gazing continuously with fixed attention on some bright
object held close to the eyes, or by the exercise of another person’s will;
characterized by suspension of the will and consequent obedience to the
promptings of suggestions from without. The activity of the organs of special
sense, except the eye, may be heightened, and the power of the muscles
increased. Complete insensibility to pain may be induced by hypnotism, and it
has been used as an anaesthetic. It is apt to be followed by a severe headache
of long continuance, and by various nervous disturbances. On emerging from the
hypnotic state, the person hypnotized usually has no remembrance of what
happened during its continuance, but in many persons such remembrance may be
induced by ’suggestion’. About one person in three is susceptible to hypnotism,
and those of the hysterical or neurotic tendency (but rarely the insane) are the
most readily hypnotized.”
First we will quote the directions for producing hypnotism given by Dr. James R.
Cocke, one of the most scientific experimenters in hypnotism in America. His
directions of are special value, since they are more applicable to American
subjects than the directions given by French writers. Says Dr. Cocke:
“The hypnotic state can be produced in one of the following ways: First, command
the subject to close his eyes. Tell him his mind is a blank. Command him to
think of nothing. Leave him a few minutes; return and tell him he cannot open
his eyes. If he fails to do so, then begin to make any suggestion which may be
desired. This is the so-called mental method of hypnotization.
“Secondly, give the subject a coin or other bright object. Tell him to look
steadfastly at it and not take his eyes away from it. Suggest that his eyelids
are growing heavy, that he cannot keep them open. Now close the lids. They
cannot be opened. This is the usual method employed by public exhibitors. A
similar method is by looking into a mirror, or into a glass of water, or by
rapidly revolving polished disks, which should be looked at steadfastly in the
same way as is the coin, and I think tires the eyes less.
“Another method is by simply commanding the subject to close his eyes, while the
operator makes passes over his head and hands without coming in contact with
them. Suggestions may be made during these passes.
“Fascination, as it is called, is one of the hypnotic states. The operator fixes
his eyes on those of the subject. Holding his attention for a few minutes, the
operator begins to walk backward; the subject follows. The operator raises the
arm; the subject does likewise. Briefly, the subject will imitate any movement
of the hypnotist, or will obey any suggestion made by word, look or gesture,
suggested by the one with whom he is en rapport.
“A very effective method of hypnotizing a person is by commanding him to sleep,
and having some very soft music played upon the piano, or other stringed
instrument. Firm pressure over the orbits, or over the finger- ends and root of
the nail for some minutes may also induce the condition of hypnosis in very
sensitive persons.
“Also hypnosis can frequently be induced by giving the subject a glass of water,
and telling him at the same time that it has been magnetized. The wearing of
belts around the body, and rings round the fingers, will also, sometimes, induce
a degree of hypnosis, if the subject has been told that they have previously
been magnetized or are electric. The latter descriptions are the so-called
physical methods described by Dr. Moll.”
Dr. Herbert L. Flint, a stage hypnotizer, describes his methods as follows:
“To induce hypnotism, I begin by friendly conversation to place my patient in a
condition of absolute calmness and quiescence. I also try to win his confidence
by appealing to his own volitional effort to aid me in obtaining the desired
clad. I impress upon him that hypnosis in his condition is a benign agency, and
far from subjugating his mentality, it becomes intensified to so great an extent
as to act as a remedial agent.
“Having assured myself that he is in a passive condition, I suggest to him,
either with or without passes, that after looking intently at an object for a
few moments, he will experience a feeling of lassitude. I steadily gaze at his
eyes, and in a monotonous tone I continue to suggest the various stages of
sleep. As for instance, I say, ‘Your breathing is heavy. Your whole body is
relaxed.’ I raise his arm, holding it in a horizontal position for a second or
two, and suggest to him that it is getting heavier and heavier. I let my hand go
and his arm falls to his side.
“‘Your eyes,’ I continue, ‘feel tired and sleepy. They are fast closing’
repeating in a soothing tone the words ’sleepy, sleepy, sleep.’ Then in a
self-assertive tone, I emphasize the suggestion by saying in an unhesitating and
positive tone, ’sleep.’
“I do not, however, use this method with all patients. It is an error to state,
as some specialists do, that from their formula there can be no deviation;
because, as no two minds are constituted alike, so they cannot be affected
alike. While one will yield by intense will exerted through my eyes, another
may, by the same means, become fretful, timid, nervous, and more wakeful than he
was before. The same rule applies to gesture, tones of the voice, and mesmeric
passes. That which has a soothing and lulling effect on one, may have an
opposite effect on another. There can be no unvarying rule applicable to all
patients. The means must be left to the judgment of the operator, who by a long
course of psychological training should be able to judge what measures are
necessary to obtain control of his subject. Just as in drugs, one person may
take a dose without injury that will kill another, so in hypnosis, one person
can be put into a deep sleep by means that would be totally ineffectual in
another, and even then the mental states differ in each individual–that which
in one induces a gentle slumber may plunge his neighbor into a deep cataleptic
state.”
That hypnotism may be produced by purely physical or mechanical means seems to
have been demonstrated by an incident which started Doctor Burq, a Frenchman,
upon a scientific inquiry which lasted many years. “While practising as a young
doctor, he had one day been obliged to go out and had deemed it advisable to
lock up a patient in his absence. Just as he was leaving the house he heard the
sound as of a body suddenly falling. He hurried back into the room and found his
patient in a state of catalepsy. Monsieur Burq was at that time studying
magnetism, and he at once sought for the cause of this phenomenon. He noticed
that the door-handle was of copper. The next day he wrapped a glove around the
handle, again shut the patient in, and this time nothing occurred. He
interrogated the patient, but she could give him no explanation. He then tried
the effect of copper on all the subjects at the Salpetriere and the Cochin
hospitals, and found that a great number were affected by it.”
At the Charity hospital in Paris, Doctor Luys used an apparatus moved by
clockwork. Doctor Foveau, one of his pupils, thus describes it:
“The hypnotic state, generally produced by the contemplation of a bright spot, a
lamp, or the human eye, is in his case induced by a peculiar kind of mirror. The
mirrors are made of pieces of wood cut prismatically in which fragments of
mirrors are incrusted. They are generally double and placed crosswise, and by
means of clockwork revolve automatically. They are the same as sportsmen use to
attract larks, the rays of the sun being caught and reflected on every side and
from all points of the horizon. If the little mirrors in each branch are placed
in parallel lines in front of a patient, and the rotation is rapid, the optic
organ soon becomes fatigued, and a calming soothing somnolence ensues. At first
it is not a deep sleep, the eye-lids are scarcely heavy, the drowsiness slight
and restorative. By degrees, by a species of training, the hypnotic sleep
differs more and more from natural sleep, the individual abandons himself more
and more completely, and falls into one of the regular phases of hypnotic sleep.
Without a word, without a suggestion or any other action, Dr. Luys has made
wonderful cures. Wecker, the occulist, has by the same means entirely cured
spasms of the eye-lids.”
Professor Delboeuf gives the following account of how the famous Liebault
produced hypnotism at the hospital at Nancy. We would especially ask the reader
to note what he says of Dr. Liebault’s manner and general bearing, for without
doubt much of his success was due to his own personality. Says Professor
Delboeuf:
“His modus faciendi has something ingenious and simple about it, enhanced by a
tone and air of profound conviction; and his voice has such fervor and warmth
that he carries away his clients with him.
“After having inquired of the patient what he is suffering from, without any
further or closer examination, he places his hand on the patient’s forehead and,
scarcely looking at him, says, ‘You are going to sleep.’ Then, almost
immediately, he closes the eyelids, telling him that he is asleep. After that he
raises the patient’s arm, and says, ‘You cannot put your arm down.’ If he does,
Dr. Liebault appears hardly to notice it. He then turns the patient’s arm
around, confidently affirming that the movement cannot be stopped, and saying
this he turns his own arms rapidly around, the patient remaining all the time
with his eyes shut; then the doctor talks on without ceasing in a loud and
commanding voice. The suggestions begin:
“‘You are going to be cured; your digestion will be good, your sleep quiet, your
cough will stop, your circulation will become free and regular; you are going to
feel very strong and well, you will be able to walk about,’ etc., etc. He hardly
ever varies the speech. Thus he fires away at every kind of disease at once,
leaving it to the client to find out his own. No doubt he gives some special
directions, according to the disease the patient is suffering from, but general
instructions are the chief thing.
“The same suggestions are repeated a great many times to the same person, and,
strange to say, notwithstanding the inevitable monotony of the speeches, and the
uniformity of both style and voice, the master’s tone is so ardent, so
penetrating, so sympathetic, that I have never once listened to it without a
feeling of intense admiration.”
The Hindoos produce sleep simply by sitting on the ground and, fixing their eyes
steadily on the subject, swaying the body in a sort of writhing motion above the
hips. By continuing this steadily and in perfect silence for ten or fifteen
minutes before a large audience, dozens can be put to sleep at one time. In all
cases, freedom from noise or distractive incidents is essential to success in
hypnotism, for concentration must be produced.
Certain French operators maintain that hypnotism may be produced by pressure on
certain hypnogenic points or regions of the body. Among these are the eye-balls,
the crown of the head, the back of the neck and the upper bones of the spine
between the shoulder glades. Some persons may be hypnotized by gently pressing
on the skin at the base of the finger-nails, and at the root of the nose; also
by gently scratching the neck over the great nerve center.
Hypnotism is also produced by sudden noise, as if by a Chinese gong, etc.
HOW TO WAKE A SUBJECT FROM HYPNOTIC SLEEP.
This is comparatively easy in moot cases. Most persons will awake naturally at
the end of a few minutes, or will fall into a natural sleep from which in an
hour or two they will awake refreshed. Usually the operator simply says to the
subject, “All right, wake up now,” and claps his hands or makes some other
decided noise. In some cases it is sufficient to say, “You will wake up in five
minutes”; or tell a subject to count twelve and when he gets to ten say, “Wake
up.”
Persons in the lethargic state are not susceptible to verbal suggestions, but
may be awakened by lifting both eyelids.
It is said that pressure on certain regions will wake the subject, just as
pressure in certain other places will put the subject to sleep. Among these
places for awakening are the ovarian regions.
Some writers recommend the application of cold water to awaken subjects, but
this is rarely necessary. In olden times a burning coal was brought near.
If hypnotism was produced by passes, then wakening may be brought about by
passes in the opposite direction, or with the back of the hand toward the
subject.
The only danger is likely to be found in hysterical persons. They will, if
aroused, often fall off again into a helpless state, and continue to do so for
some time to come. It is dangerous to hypnotize such subjects.
Care should be taken to awaken the subject very thoroughly before leaving him,
else headache, nausea, or the like may follow, with other unpleasant effects. In
all cases subjects should be treated gently and with the utmost consideration,
as if the subject and operator were the most intimate friends.
It is better that the person who induces hypnotic sleep should awaken the
subject. Others cannot do it so easily, though as we have said, subjects usually
awaken themselves after a short time.
Further description of the method of producing hypnotism need not be given; but
it is proper to add that in addition to the fact that not more than one person
out of three can be hypnotized at all, even by an experienced operator, to
effect hypnotization except in a few cases requires a great deal of patience,
both on the part of the operator and of the subject. It may require half a dozen
or more trials before any effect at all can be produced, although in some cases
the effect will come within a minute or two. After a person has been once
hypnotized, hypnotization is much easier. The most startling results are to be
obtained only after a long process of training on the part of the subject.
Public hypnotic entertainments, and even those given at the hospitals in Paris,
would be quite impossible if trained subjects were not at hand; and in the case
of the public hypnotizer, the proper subjects are hired and placed in the
audience for the express purpose of coming forward when called for. The success
of such an entertainment could not otherwise be guaranteed. In many cases, also,
this training of subjects makes them deceivers. They learn to imitate what they
see, and since their living depends upon it, they must prove hypnotic subjects
who can always be depended upon to do just what is wanted. We may add, however,
that what they do is no more than an imitation of the real thing. There is no
grotesque manifestation on the stage, even if it is a pure fake, which could not
be matched by more startling facts taken from undoubted scientific experience.
CHAPTER II.
AMUSING EXPERIMENTS.
Hypnotizing on the Stage–”You Can’t Pull Your Hands Apart”–Post Hypnotic
Suggestion–The News boy, the Hunter, and the Young Man with the Rag Doll–A
Whip Becomes Hot Iron–Courting a Broomstick–The Side Show.
Let us now describe some of the manifestations of hypnotism, to see just how it
operates and how it exhibits itself. The following is a description of a public
performance given by Dr. Herbert L. Flint, a very successful public operator. It
is in the language of an eye- witness–a New York lawyer.
In response to a call for volunteers, twenty young and middle-aged men came upon
the stage. They evidently belonged to the great middle-class. The entertainment
commenced by Dr. Flint passing around the group, who were seated on the stage in
a semicircle facing the audience, and stroking each one’s head and forehead,
repeating the phrases, “Close your eyes. Think of nothing but sleep. You are
very tired. You are drowsy. You feel very sleepy.” As he did this, several of
the volunteers closed their eyes at once, and one fell asleep immediately. One
or two remained awake, and these did not give themselves up to the influence,
but rather resisted it.
When the doctor had completed his round and had manipulated all the volunteers,
some of those influenced were nodding, some were sound asleep, while a few were
wide awake and smiling at the rest. These latter were dismissed as unlikely
subjects.
When the stage had been cleared of all those who were not responsive, the doctor
passed around, and, snapping his finger at each individual, awoke him. One of
the subjects when questioned afterward as to what sensation he experienced at
the snapping of the fingers, replied that it seemed to him as if something
inside of his head responded, and with this sensation he regained
self-consciousness. (This is to be doubted. As a rule, subjects in this stage of
hypnotism do not feel any sensation that they can remember, and do not become
self-conscious.)
The class was now apparently wide awake, and did not differ in appearance from
their ordinary state. The doctor then took each one and subjected him to a
separate physical test, such as sealing the eyes, fastening the hands,
stiffening the fingers, arms, and legs, producing partial catalepsy and causing
stuttering and inability to speak. In those possessing strong imaginations, he
was able to produce hallucinations, such as feeling mosquito bites, suffering
from toothache, finding the pockets filled and the hands covered with molasses,
changing identity, and many similar tests.
The doctor now asked each one to clasp his hands in front of him, and when all
had complied with the request, he repeated the phrase, “Think your hands so fast
that you can’t pull them apart. They are fast. You cannot pull them apart. Try.
You can’t.” The whole class made frantic efforts to unclasp their hands, but
were unable to do so. The doctor’s explanation of this is, that what they were
really doing was to force their hands closer together, thus obeying the counter
suggestion. That they thought they were trying to unclasp their hands was
evident from their endeavors.
The moment he made them desist, by snapping his fingers, the spell was broken.
It was most astonishing to see that as each one awoke, he seemed to be fully
cognizant of the ridiculous position in which his comrades were placed, and to
enjoy their confusion and ludicrous attitudes. The moment, however, he was
commanded to do things equally absurd, he obeyed. While, therefore, the class
appeared to be free agents, they are under hypnotic control.
One young fellow, aged about eighteen, said that he was addicted to the
cigarette habit. The suggestion was made to him that he would not be able to
smoke a cigarette for twenty-four hours. After the entertainment he was asked to
smoke, as was his usual habit. He was then away from any one who could influence
him. He replied that the very idea was repugnant. However, he was induced to
take a cigarette in his mouth, but it made him ill and he flung it away with
every expression of disgust. *This is an instance of what is called
post-hypnotic suggestion. Dr. Cocke tells of suggesting to a drinker whom he was
trying to cure of the habit that for the next three days anything he took would
make him vomit; the result followed as suggested.
The same phenomena that was shown in unclasping the hands, was next exhibited in
commanding the subjects to rotate them. They immediately began and twirled them
faster and faster, in spite of their efforts to stop. One of the subjects said
he thought of nothing but the strange action of his hands, and sometimes it
puzzled him to know why they whirled.
At this point Dr. Flint’s daughter took charge of the class. She pointed her
finger at one of them, and the subject began to look steadily before him, at
which the rest of the class were highly amused. Presently the subject’s head
leaned forward, the pupils of his eyes dilated and assumed a peculiar glassy
stare. He arose with a steady, gliding gait and walked up to the lady until his
nose touched her hand. Then he stopped. Miss Flint led him to the front of the
stage and left him standing in profound slumber. He stood there, stooping, eyes
set, and vacant, fast asleep. In the meantime the act had caused great laughter
among the rest of the class. One young fellow in particular, laughed so
uproariously that tears coursed down his cheeks, and he took out his
handkerchief to wipe his eyes. Just as he was returning it to his pocket, the
lady suddenly pointed a finger at him. She was in the center of the stage, fully
fifteen feet away from the subject, but the moment the gesture was made, his
countenance fell, his mirth stopped, while that of his companions redoubled, and
the change was so obvious that the audience shared in the laughter–but the
subject neither saw nor heard. His eyes assumed the same expression that had
been noticed in his companion’s. He, too, arose in the same attitude, as if his
head were pulling the body along, and following the finger in the same way as
his predecessor, was conducted to the front of the stage by the side of the
first subject. This was repeated on half a dozen subjects, and the
manifestations were the same in each case. Those selected were now drawn up in
an irregular line in front of the stage, their eyes fixed on vacancy, their
heads bent forward, perfectly motionless. Each was then given a suggestion. One
was to be a newsboy, and sell papers. Another was given a broomstick and told to
hunt game in the woods before him. Another was given a large rag doll and told
that it was an infant, and that he must look among the audience and discover the
father. He was informed that he could tell who the father was by the similarity
and the color of the eyes.
These suggestions were made in a loud tone, Miss Flint being no nearer one
subject than another. The bare suggestion was given, as, “Now, think that you
are a newsboy, and are selling papers,” or, “Now think that you are hunting and
are going into the woods to shoot birds.”
So the party was started at the same time into the audience. The one who was
impersonating a newsboy went about crying his edition in a loud voice; while the
hunter crawled along stealthily and carefully. The newsboy even adopted the
well-worn device of asking those whom he solicited to buy to help him get rid of
his stock. One man offered him a cent, when the price was two cents. The newsboy
chaffed the would-be purchaser. He sarcastically asked him if he “didn’t want
the earth.”
The others did what they had been told to do in the same earnest, characteristic
way.
After this performance, the class was again seated in a semicircle, and Miss
Flint selected one of them, and, taking him into the center of the stage, showed
him a small riding whip. He looked at it indifferently enough. He was told it
was a hot bar of iron, but he shook his head, still incredulous. The suggestion
was repeated, and as the glazed look came into his eyes, the incredulous look
died out. Every member of the class was following the suggestion made to the
subject in hand. All of them had the same expression in their eyes. The doctor
said that his daughter was hypnotizing the whole class through this one
individual.
As she spoke she lightly touched the subject with the end of the whip. The
moment the subject felt the whip he jumped and shrieked as if it really were a
hot iron. She touched each one of the class in succession, and every one
manifested the utmost pain and fear. One subject sat down on the floor and cried
in dire distress. Others, when touched, would tear off their clothing or roll up
their sleeves. One young man was examined by a physician present just after the
whip had been laid across his shoulders, and a long red mark was found, just
such a one as would have been made by a real hot iron. The doctor said that, had
the suggestion been continued, it would undoubtedly have raised a blister.
One of the amusing experiments tried at a later time was that of a tall young
man, diffident, pale and modest, being given a broom carefully wrapped in a
sheet, and told that it was his sweetheart. He accepted the situation and sat
down by the broom. He was a little sheepish at first, but eventually he grew
bolder, and smiled upon her such a smile as Malvolio casts upon Olivia. The
manner in which, little by little, he ventured upon a familiar footing, was
exceedingly funny; but when, in a moment of confident response to his wooing, he
clasped her round the waist and imprinted a chaste kiss upon the brushy part of
the broom, disguised by the sheet, the house resounded with roars of laughter.
The subject, however, was deaf to all of the noise. He was absorbed in his
courtship, and he continued to hug the broom, and exhibit in his features that
idiotic smile that one sees only upon the faces of lovers and bridegrooms. “All
the world loves a lover,” as the saying is, and all the world loves to laugh at
him.
One of the subjects was told that the head of a man in the audience was on fire.
He looked for a moment, and then dashed down the platform into the audience,
and, seizing the man’s head, vigorously rubbed it. As this did not extinguish
the flames, he took off his coat and put the fire out. In doing this, he set his
coat on fire, when he trampled it under foot. Then he calmly resumed his garment
and walked back to the stage.
The “side-show” closed the evening’s entertainment. A young man was told to
think of himself as managing a side-show at a circus. When his mind had absorbed
this idea he was ordered to open his exhibition. He at once mounted a table,
and, in the voice of the traditional side-show fakir, began to dilate upon the
fat woman and the snakes, upon the wild man from Borneo, upon the learned pig,
and all the other accessories of side-shows. He went over the usual
characteristic “patter,” getting more and more in earnest, assuring his hearers
that for the small sum of ten cents they could see more wonders than ever before
had been crowded under one canvas tent. He harangued the crowd as they surged
about the tent door. He pointed to a suppositious canvas picture. He “chaffed”
the boys. He flattered the vanity of the young fellows with their girls, telling
them that they could not afford, for the small sum of ten cents, to miss this
great show. He made change for his patrons. He indulged in side remarks, such as
“This is hot work.” He rolled up his sleeves and took off his collar and
necktie, all of the time expatiating upon the merits of the freaks inside of his
tent.
CHAPTER III.
THE STAGES OF HYPNOTISM.
Lethargy–Catalepsy–The Somnambulistic Stage–Fascination.
We have just given some of the amusing experiments that may be performed with
subjects in one of the minor stages of hypnotism. But there are other stages
which give entirely different manifestations. For a scientific classification of
these we are indebted to Professor Charcot, of the Salpetriere hospital in
Paris, to whom, next to Mesmer and Braid, we are indebted for the present
science of hypnotism. He recognized three distinct stages–lethargy, catalepsy
and somnambulism. There is also a condition of extreme lethargy, a sort of
trance state, that lasts for days and even weeks, and, indeed, has been known to
last for years. There is also a lighter phase than somnambulism, that is called
fascination. Some doctors, however, place it between catalepsy and somnambulism.
Each of these stages is marked by quite distinct phenomena. We give them as
described by a pupil of Dr. Charcot.
LETHARGY.
This is a state of absolute inert sleep. If the method of Braid is used, and a
bright object is held quite near the eyes, and the eyes are fixed upon it, the
subject squints, the eyes become moist and bright, the look fixed, and the
pupils dilated. This is the cataleptic stage. If the object is left before the
eyes, lethargy is produced. There are also many other ways of producing
lethargy, as we have seen in the chapter “How to Hypnotize.”
One of the marked characteristics of this stage of hypnotism is the tendency of
the muscles to contract, under the influence of the slightest touch, friction,
pressure or massage, or even that of a magnet placed at a distance. The
contraction disappears only by the repetition of that identical means that
called it into action. Dr. Courmelles gives the following illustration:
“If the forearm is rubbed a little above the palm of the hand, this latter
yields and bends at an acute angle. The subject may be suspended by the hand,
and the body will be held up without relaxation, that is, without returning to
the normal condition. To return to the normal state, it suffices to rub the
antagonistic muscles, or, in ordinary terms, the part diametrically opposed to
that which produced the phenomenon; in this case, the forearm a little above the
hands. It is the same for any other part of the body.”
The subject appears to be in a deep sleep, the eyes are either closed or half
closed, and the face is without expression. The body appears to be in a state of
complete collapse, the head is thrown back, and the arms and legs hang loose,
dropping heavily down. In this stage insensibility is so complete that needles
can be run into any part of the body without producing pain, and surgical
operations may be performed without the slightest unpleasant effect.
This stage lasts usually but a short time, and the patient, under ordinary
conditions, will pass upward into the stage of catalepsy, in which he opens his
eyes. If the hypnotism is spontaneous, that is, if it is due to a condition of
the nervous organism which has produced it without any outside aid, we have the
condition of prolonged trance, of which many cases have been reported. Until the
discovery of hypnotism these strange trances were little understood, and people
were even buried alive in them. A few instances reported by medical men will be
interesting. There is one reported in 1889 by a noted French physician. Said he:
“There is at this moment in the hospital at Mulhouse a most interesting case. A
young girl twenty-two years of age has been asleep here for the last twelve
days. Her complexion is fresh and rosy, her breathing quite normal, and her
features unaltered.
“No organ seems attacked; all the vital functions are performed as in the waking
state. She is fed with milk, broth and wine, which is given her in a spoon. Her
mouth even sometimes opens of itself at the contact of the spoon, and she
swallows without the slightest difficulty. At other times the gullet remains
inert.
“The whole body is insensible. The forehead alone presents, under the action of
touch or of pricks, some reflex phenomena. However, by a peculiarity, which is
extremely interesting, she seems, by the intense horror she shows for ether, to
retain a certain amount of consciousness and sensibility. If a drop of ether is
put into her mouth her face contracts and assumes an expression of disgust. At
the same moment her arms and legs are violently agitated, with the kind of
impatient motion that a child displays when made to swallow some hated dose of
medicine.
“In the intellectual relations the brain is not absolutely obscure, for on her
mother’s coming to see her the subject’s face became highly colored, and tears
appeared on the tips of her eyelashes, without, however, in any other way
disturbing her lethargy.
“Nothing has yet been able to rouse her from this torpor, which will, no doubt,
naturally disappear at a given moment. She will then return to conscious life as
she quitted it. It is probable that she will not retain any recollection of her
present condition, that all notion of time will fail her, and that she will
fancy it is only the day following her usual nightly slumber, a slumber which,
in this case, has been transformed into a lethargic sleep, without any rigidity
of limbs or convulsions.
“Physically, the sleeper is of a middle size, slender, strong and pretty,
without distinctive characteristic. Mentally, she is lively, industrious,
sometimes whimsical, and subject to slight nervous attacks.”
There is a pretty well-authenticated report of a young girl who, on May 30,
1883, after an intense fright, fell into a lethargic condition which lasted for
four years. Her parents were poor and ignorant, but, as the fame of the case
spread abroad, some physicians went to investigate it in March, 1887. Her sleep
had never been interrupted. On raising the eyelids, the doctors found the eyes
turned convulsively upward, but, blowing upon them, produced no reflex movement
of the lids. Her jaws were closed tightly, and the attempt to open her mouth had
broken off some of the teeth level with the gums. The muscles contracted at the
least breath or touch, and the arms remained in position when uplifted. The
contraction of the muscles is a sign of the lethargic state, but the arm,
remaining in position, indicates the cataleptic state. The girl was kept alive
by liquid nourishment poured into her mouth.
There are on record a large number of cases of persons who have slept for
several months.
CATALEPSY.
The next higher stage of hypnotism is that of catalepsy. Patients may be thrown
into it directly, or patients in the lethargic state may be brought into it by
lifting the eyelids. It seems that the light penetrating the eyes, and affecting
the brain, awakens new powers, for the cataleptic state has phenomena quite
peculiar to itself.
Nearly all the means for producing hypnotism will, if carried to just the right
degree, produce catalepsy. For instance, besides the fixing of the eye on a
bright object, catalepsy may be produced by a sudden sound, as of a Chinese
gong, a tom-tom or a whistle, the vibration of a tuning- fork, or thunder. If a
solar spectrum is suddenly brought into a dark room it may produce catalepsy,
which is also produced by looking at the sun, or a lime light, or an electric
light.
In this state the patient has become perfectly rigidly fixed in the position in
which he happens to be when the effect is produced, whether sitting, standing,
kneeling, or the like; and this face has an expression of fear. The arms or legs
may be raised, but if left to themselves will not drop, as in lethargy. The eyes
are wide open, but the look is fixed and impassive. The fixed position lasts
only a few minutes, however, when the subject returns to a position of
relaxation, or drops back into the lethargic state.
If the muscles, nerves or tendons are rubbed or pressed, paralysis may be
produced, which, however, is quickly removed by the use of electricity, when the
patient awakes. By manipulating the muscles the most rigid contraction may be
produced, until the entire body is in such a state of corpse-like rigidity that
a most startling experiment is possible. The subject may be placed with his head
upon the back of one chair and his heels on the back of another, and a heavy man
may sit upon him without seemingly producing any effect, or even heavy rock may
be broken on the subject’s body.
Messieurs Binet and Fere, pupils of the Salpetriere school, describe the action
of magnets on cataleptic subjects, as follows:
“The patient is seated near a table, on which a magnet has been placed, the left
elbow rests on the arm of the chair, the forearm and hand vertically upraised
with thumb and index finger extended, while the other fingers remain half bent.
On the right side the forearm and hand are stretched on the table, and the
magnet is placed under a linen cloth at a distance of about two inches. After a
couple of minutes the right index begins to tremble and rise up; on the left
side the extended fingers bend down, and the hand remains limp for an instant.
The right hand and forearm rise up and assume the primitive position of the left
hand, which is now stretched out on the arm of the chair, with the waxen
pliability that pertains to the cataleptic state.”
An interesting experiment may be tried by throwing a patient into lethargy on
one side and catalepsy on the other. To induce what is called hemi-lethargy and
hemi-catalepsy is not difficult. First, the lethargic stage is induced, then one
eyelid is raised, and that side alone becomes cataleptic, and may be operated on
in various interesting ways. The arm on that side, for instance, will remain
raised when lifted, while the arm on the other side will fall heavily.
Still more interesting is the intellectual condition of the subject. Some great
man has remarked that if he wished to know what a person was thinking of, he
assumed the exact position and expression of that person, and soon he would
begin to feel and think just as the other was thinking and feeling. Look a part
and you will soon begin to feel it.
In the cataleptic subject there is a close relation between the attitude the
subject assumes and the intellectual manifestation. In the somnambulistic stage
patients are manipulated by speaking to them; in the cataleptic stage they are
equally under the will of the operator; but now he controls them by gesture.
Says Dr. Courmelles, from his own observation: “The emotions in this stage are
made at command, in the true acceptation of the word, for they are produced, not
by orders verbally expressed, but by expressive movements. If the hands are
opened and drawn close to the mouth, as when a kiss is wafted, the mouth smiles.
If the arms are extended and half bent at the elbows, the countenance assumes an
expression of astonishment. The slightest variation of movement is reflected in
the emotions. If the fists are closed, the brow contracts and the face expresses
anger. If a lively or sad tune is played, if amusing or depressing pictures are
shown, the subject, like a faithful mirror, at once reflects these impressions.
If a smile is produced it can be seen to diminish and disappear at the same time
as the hand is moved away, and again to reappear and increase when it is once
more brought near. Better still, a double expression can be imparted to the
physiognomy, by approaching the left hand to the left side of the mouth, the
left side of the physiognomy will smile, while at the same time, by closing the
right hand, the right eyebrow will frown. The subject can be made to send
kisses, or to turn his hands round each other indefinitely. If the hand is
brought near the nose it will blow; if the arms are stretched out they will
remain extended, while the head will be bowed with a marked expression of pain.”
Heidenhain was able to take possession of the subject’s gaze and control him by
sight, through producing mimicry. He looks fixedly at the patient till the
patient is unable to take his eyes away. Then the patient will copy every
movement he makes. If he rises and goes backward the patient will follow, and
with his right hand he will imitate the movements of the operator’s left, as if
he were a mirror. The attitudes of prayer, melancholy, pain, disdain, anger or
fear, may be produced in this manner.
The experiments of Donato, a stage hypnotizer, are thus described: “After
throwing the subjects into catalepsy he causes soft music to be played, which
produces a rapturous expression. If the sound is heightened or increased, the
subjects seem to receive a shock and a feeling of disappointment. The artistic
sense developed by hypnotism is disturbed; the faces express astonishment,
stupefaction and pain. If the same soft melody be again resumed, the same
expression of rapturous bliss reappears in the countenance. The faces become
seraphic and celestial when the subjects are by nature handsome, and when the
subjects are ordinary looking, even ugly, they are idealized as by a special
kind of beauty.”
The strange part of all this is, that on awaking, the patient has no
recollection of what has taken place, and careful tests have shown that what
appear to be violent emotions, such as in an ordinary state would produce a
quickened pulse and heavy breathing, create no disturbance whatever in the
cataleptic subject; only the outer mask is in motion.
“Sometimes the subjects lean backward with all the grace of a perfect
equilibrist, freeing themselves from the ordinary mechanical laws. The curvature
will, indeed, at times be so complete that the head will touch the floor and the
body describe a regular arc.
“When a female subject assumes an attitude of devotion, clasps her hands, turns
her eyes upward and lisps out a prayer, she presents an admirably artistic
picture, and her features and expression seem worthy of being reproduced on
canvas.”
We thus see what a perfect automaton the human body may become. There appears,
however, to be a sort of unconscious memory, for a familiar object will seem to
suggest spontaneously its ordinary use. Thus, if a piece of soap is put into a
cataleptic patient’s hands; he will move it around as though he thought he were
washing them, and if there is any water near he will actually wash them. The
sight of an umbrella makes him shiver as if he were in a storm. Handing such a
person a pen will not make him write, but if a letter is dictated to him out
loud he will write in an irregular hand. The subject may also be made to sing,
scream or speak different languages with which he is entirely unfamiliar. This
is, however, a verging toward the somnambulistic stage, for in deep catalepsy
the patient does not speak or hear. The state is produced by placing the hands
on the head, the forehead, or nape of the neck.
THE SOMNAMBULISTIC STAGE.
This is the stage or phase of hypnotism nearest the waking, and is the only one
that can be produced in some subjects. Patients in the cataleptic state can be
brought into the somnambulistic by rubbing the top of the head. To all
appearances, the patient is fully awake, his eyes are open, and he answers when
spoken to, but his voice does not have the same sound as when awake. Yet, in
this state the patient is susceptible of all the hallucinations of insanity
which may be induced at the verbal command of the operator.
One of the most curious features of this stage of hypnotism is the effect on the
memory. Says Monsieur Richet: “I send V—— to sleep. I recite some verses to
her, and then I awake her. She remembers nothing. I again send her to sleep, and
she remembers perfectly the verses I recited. I awake her, and she has again
forgotten everything.”
It appears, however, that if commanded to remember on awaking, a patient may
remember.
The active sense, and the memory as well, appears to be in an exalted state of
activity during this phase of hypnotism. Says M. Richet: “M—- -, who will sing
the air of the second act of the Africaine in her sleep, is incapable of
remembering a single note of it when awake.” Another patient, while under this
hypnotic influence, could remember all he had eaten for several days past, but
when awake could remember very little. Binet and Fere caused one of their
subjects to remember the whole of his repasts for eight days past, though when
awake he could remember nothing beyond two or three days. A patient of Dr.
Charcot, who when she was two years old had seen Dr. Parrot in the children’s
hospital, but had not seen him since, and when awake could not remember him,
named him at once when he entered during her hypnotic sleep. M. Delboeuf tells
of an experiment he tried, in which the patient did remember what had taken
place during the hypnotic condition, when he suddenly awakened her in the midst
of the hallucination; as, for instance, he told her the ashes from the cigar he
was smoking had fallen on her handkerchief and had set it on fire, whereupon she
at once rose and threw the handkerchief into the water. Then, suddenly awakened,
she remembered the whole performance.
In the somnambulistic stage the patient is no longer an automaton merely, but a
real personality, “an individual with his own character, his likes and
dislikes.” The tone of the voice of the operator seems to have quite as much
effect as his words. If he speaks in a grave and solemn tone, for instance, even
if what he utters is nonsense, the effect is that of a deeply tragic story.
The will of another is not so easily implanted as has been claimed. While a
patient will follow almost any suggestion that may be offered, he readily obeys
only commands which are in keeping with his character. If he is commanded to do
something he dislikes or which in the waking state would be very repugnant to
him, he hesitates, does it very reluctantly, and in extreme cases refuses
altogether, often going into hysterics. It was found at the Charity hospital
that one patient absolutely refused to accept a cassock and become a priest. One
of Monsieur Richet’s patients screamed with pain the moment an amputation was
suggested, but almost immediately recognized that it was only a suggestion, and
laughed in the midst of her tears. Probably, however, this patient was not
completely hypnotized.
Dr. Dumontpallier was able to produce a very curious phenomenon. He suggested to
a female patient that with the right eye she could see a picture on a blank
card. On awakening she could, indeed, see the picture with the right eye, but
the left eye told her the card was blank. While she was in the somnambulistic
state he told her in her right ear that the weather was very fine, and at the
same time another person whispered in her left ear that it was raining. On the
right side of her face she had a smile, while the left angle of her lip dropped
as if she were depressed by the thought of the rain. Again, he describes a dance
and gay party in one ear, and another person mimics the barking of a dog in the
other. One side of her face in that case wears an amused expression, while the
other shows signs of alarm.
Dr. Charcot thus describes a curious experiment: “A portrait is suggested to a
subject as existing on a blank card, which is then mixed with a dozen others; to
all appearance they are similar cards. The subject, being awakened, is requested
to look over the packet, and does so without knowing the reason of the request,
but when he perceives the card on which the portrait was suggested, he at once
recognizes the imaginary portrait. It is probable that some insignificant mark
has, owing to his visual hyperacuity, fixed the image in the subject’s brain.”
FASCINATION.
Says a recent French writer: “Dr. Bremand, a naval doctor, has obtained in men
supposed to be perfectly healthy a new condition, which he calls fascination.
The inventor considers that this is hypnotism in its mildest form, which, after
repeated experiments, might become catalepsy. The subject fascinated by Dr.
Bremaud–fascination being induced by the contemplation of a bright spot–falls
into a state of stupor. He follows the operator and servilely imitates his
movements, gestures and words; he obeys suggestions, and a stimulation of the
nerves induces contraction, but the cataleptic pliability does not exist.”
A noted public hypnotizer in Paris some years ago produced fascination in the
following manner: He would cause the subject to lean on his hands, thus
fatiguing the muscles. The excitement produced by the concentrated gaze of a
large audience also assisted in weakening the nervous resistance. At last the
operator would suddenly call out: “Look at me!” The subject would look up and
gaze steadily into the operator’s eyes, who would stare steadily back with
round, glaring eyes, and in most cases subdue his victim.
CHAPTER IV.
How the Subject Feels Under Hypnotization.–Dr. Cooper’s Experience.–Effect of
Music.–Dr. Alfred Marthieu’s Experiments.
The sensations produced during a state of hypnosis are very interesting. As may
be supposed, they differ greatly in different persons. One of the most
interesting accounts ever given is that of Dr. James R. Cocke, a hypnotist
himself, who submitted to being operated upon by a professional magnetizer. He
was at that time a firm believer in the theory of personal magnetism (a delusion
from which he afterward escaped).
On the occasion which he describes, the operator commanded him to close his eyes
and told him he could not open them, but he did open them at once. Again he told
him to close the eyes, and at the same time he gently stroked his head and face
and eyelids with his hand. Dr. Cocke fancied he felt a tingling sensation in his
forehead and eyes, which he supposed came from the hand of the operator.
(Afterward he came to believe that this sensation was purely imaginary on his
part.)
Then he says: “A sensation akin to fear came over me. The operator said: ‘You
are going to sleep, you are getting sleepy. You cannot open your eyes.’ I was
conscious that my heart was beating rapidly, and I felt a sensation of terror.
He continued to tell me I was going to sleep, and could not open my eves. He
then made passes over my head, down over my hands and body, but did not touch
me. He then said to me, ‘You cannot open your eyes.’ The motor apparatus of my
lids would not seemingly respond to my will, yet I was conscious that while one
part of my mind wanted to open my eyes, another part did not want to, so I was
in a paradoxical state. I believed that I could open my eyes, and yet could not.
The feeling of not wishing to open my eyes was not based upon any desire to
please the operator. I had no personal interest in him in any way, but, be it
understood, I firmly believed in his power to control me. He continued to
suggest to me that I was going to sleep, and the suggestion of terror previously
mentioned continued to increase.”
The next step was to put the doctor’s hand over his head, and tell him he could
not put it down. Then he stroked the arm and said it was growing numb. He said:
“You have no feeling in it, have you?” Dr. Cocke goes on: “I said ‘No,’ and I
knew that I said ‘No,’ yet I knew that I had a feeling in it.” The operator went
on, pricking the arm with a pin, and though Dr. Cocke felt the pain he said he
did not feel it, and at the same time the sensation of terror increased. “I was
not conscious of my body at all,” he says further on, “but I was painfully
conscious of the two contradictory elements within me. I knew that my body
existed, but could not prove it to myself. I knew that the statements made by
the operator were in a measure untrue. I obeyed them voluntarily and
involuntarily. This is the last remembrance that I have of that hypnotic
experience.”
After this, however, the operator caused the doctor to do a number of things
which he learned of from his friends after the performance was over. “It seemed
to me that the hypnotist commanded me to awake as soon as I dropped my arm,” and
yet ten minutes of unconsciousness had passed.
On a subsequent occasion Dr. Cocke, who was blind, was put into a deep hypnotic
sleep by fixing his mind on the number 26 and holding up his hand. This time he
experienced a still greater degree of terror, and incidentally learned that he
could hypnotize himself. The matter of self-hypnotism we shall consider in
another chapter.
In this connection we find great interest in an article in the Medical News,
July 28, 1894, by Dr. Alfred Warthin, of Ann Arbor, Mich., in which he describes
the effects of music upon hypnotic subjects. While in Vienna he took occasion to
observe closely the enthusiastic musical devotees as they sat in the audience at
the performance of one of Wagner’s operas. He believed they were in a condition
of self-induced hypnotism, in which their subjective faculties were so exalted
as to supersede their objective perceptions. Music was no longer to them a
succession of pleasing sounds, but the embodiment of a drama in which they
became so wrapped up that they forgot all about the mechanical and external
features of the music and lived completely in a fairy world of dream.
This observation suggested to him an interesting series of experiments. His
first subject was easily hypnotized, and of an emotional nature. Wagner’s “Ride
of Walkure” was played from the piano score. The pulse of the subject became
more rapid and at first of higher tension, increasing from a normal rate of 60
beats a minute to 120. Then, as the music progressed, the tension diminished.
The respiration increased from 18 to 30 per minute. Great excitement in the
subject was evident. His whole body was thrown into motion, his legs were drawn
up, his arms tossed into the air, and a profuse sweat appeared. When the subject
had been awakened, he said that he did not remember the music as music, but had
an impression of intense, excitement, brought on by “riding furiously through
the air.” The state of mind brought up before him in the most realistic and
vivid manner possible the picture of the ride of Tam O’Shanter, which he had
seen years before. The picture soon became real to him, and he found himself
taking part in a wild chase, not as witch, devil, or Tam even; but in some way
his consciousness was spread through every part of the scene, being of it, and
yet playing the part of spectator, as is often the case in dreams.
Dr. Warthin tried the same experiment again, this time on a young man who was
not so emotional, and was hypnotized with much more difficulty. This subject did
not pass into such a deep state of hypnotism, but the result was practically the
same. The pulse rate rose from 70 to 120. The sensation remembered was that of
riding furiously through the air.
The experiment was repeated on other subjects, in all cases with the same
result. Only one knew that the music was the “Ride of Walkure.” “To him it
always expressed the pictured wild ride of the daughters of Wotan, the subject
taking part in the ride.” It was noticeable in each case that the same music
played to them in the waking state produced no special impression. Here is
incontestable evidence that in the hypnotic state the perception of the special
senses is enormously heightened.
A slow movement was tried (the Valhalla motif). At first it seemed to produce
the opposite effect, for the pulse was lowered. Later it rose to a rate double
the normal, and the tension was diminished. The impression described by the
subject afterward was a feeling of “lofty grandeur and calmness.” A mountain
climbing experience of years before was recalled, and the subject seemed to
contemplate a landscape of “lofty grandeur.” A different sort of music was
played (the intense and ghastly scene in which Brunhilde appears to summon
Sigmund to Valhalla). Immediately a marked change took place in the pulse. It
became slow and irregular, and very small. The respiration decreased almost to
gasping, the face grew pale, and a cold perspiration broke out.
Readers who are especially interested in this subject will find descriptions of
many other interesting experiments in the same article.
Dr. Cocke describes a peculiar trick he played upon the sight of a subject. Says
he: “I once hypnotized a man and made him read all of his a’s as w’s, his u’s as
v’s, and his b’s as x’s. I added suggestion after suggestion so rapidly that it
would have been impossible for him to have remembered simply what I said and
call the letters as I directed. Stimulation was, in this case impossible, as I
made him read fifteen or twenty pages, he calling the letters as suggested each
time they occurred.”
The extraordinary heightening of the sense perceptions has an important bearing
on the question of spiritualism and clairvoyance. If the powers of the mind are
so enormously increased, all that is required of a very sensitive and easily
hypnotized person is to hypnotize him or herself, when he will be able to read
thoughts and remember or perceive facts hidden to the ordinary perception. In
this connection the reader is referred to the confession of Mrs. Piper, the
famous medium of the American branch of the Psychical Research Society. The
confession will be found printed in full at the close of this book.
CHAPTER V.
Self-Hypnotization.–How It may Be Done.–An Experience.–Accountable for
Children’s Crusade.–Oriental Prophets Self-Hypnotized.
If self-hypnotism is possible (and it is true that a person can deliberately
hypnotize himself when he wishes to till he has become accustomed to it and is
expert in it, so to speak), it does away at a stroke with the claims of all
professional hypnotists and magnetic healers that they have any peculiar power
in themselves which they exert over their fellows. One of these professionals
gives an account in his book of what he calls “The Wonderful Lock Method.” He
says that though he is locked up in a separate room he can make the psychic
power work through the walls. All that he does is to put his subjects in the way
of hypnotizing themselves. He shows his inconsistency when he states that under
certain circumstances the hypnotizer is in danger of becoming hypnotized
himself. In this he makes no claim that the subject is using any psychic power;
but, of course, if the hypnotizer looks steadily into the eyes of his subject,
and the subject looks into his eyes, the steady gaze on a bright object will
produce hypnotism in one quite as readily as in the other.
Hypnotism is an established scientific fact; but the claim that the hypnotizer
has any mysterious psychic power is the invariable mark of the charlatan.
Probably no scientific phenomenon was ever so grossly prostituted to base ends
as that of hypnotism. Later we shall see some of the outrageous forms this
charlatanism assumes, and how it extends to the professional subjects as well as
to the professional operators, till those subjects even impose upon scientific
men who ought to be proof against such deception. Moreover, the possibility of
self-hypnotization, carefully concealed and called by another name, opens
another great field of humbug and charlatanism, of which the advertising columns
of the newspapers are constantly filled–namely, that of the clairvoyant and
medium. We may conceive how such a profession might become perfectly legitimate
and highly useful; but at present it seems as if any person who went into it,
however honest he might be at the start, soon began to deceive himself as well
as others, until he lost his power entirely to distinguish between fact and
imagination.
Before discussing the matter further, let us quote Dr. Cocke’s experiment in
hypnotizing himself. It will be remembered that a professional hypnotizer or
magnetizer had hypnotized him by telling him to fix his mind on the number
twenty-six and holding up his hand. Says the doctor:
“In my room that evening it occurred to me to try the same experiment. I did so.
I kept the number twenty-six in my mind. In a few minutes I felt the sensation
of terror, but in a different way. I was intensely cold. My heart seemed to
stand still. I had ringing in my ears. My hair seemed to rise upon my scalp. I
persisted in the effort, and the previously mentioned noise in my ears grew
louder and louder. The roar became deafening. It crackled like a mighty fire. I
was fearfully conscious of myself. Having read vivid accounts of dreams,
visions, etc., it occurred to me that I would experience them. I felt in a vague
way that there were beings all about me but could not hear their voices. I felt
as though every muscle in my body was fixed and rigid. The roar in my ears grew
louder still, and I heard, above the roar, reports which sounded like artillery
and musketry. Then above the din of the noise a musical chord. I seemed to be
absorbed in this chord. I knew nothing else. The world existed for me only in
the tones of the mighty chord. Then I had a sensation as though I were
expanding. The sound in my ears died away, and yet I was not conscious of
silence. Then all consciousness was lost. The next thing I experienced was a
sensation of intense cold, and of someone roughly shaking me. Then I heard the
voice of my jolly landlord calling me by name.”
The landlord had found the doctor “as white as a ghost and as limp as a rag,”
and thought he was dead. He says it took him ten minutes to arouse the sleeper.
During the time a physician had been summoned.
As to the causes of this condition as produced Dr. Cocke says: “I firmly
believed that something would happen when the attempt was made to hypnotize me.
Secondly, I wished to be hypnotized. These, together with a vivid imagination
and strained attention, brought on the states which occurred.”
It is interesting to compare the effects of hypnotization with those of opium or
other narcotic. Dr. Cocke asserts that there is a difference. His descriptions
of dreams bear a wonderful likeness to De Quincey’s dreams, such as those
described in “The English Mail-Coach,” “De Profundis,” and “The Confessions of
an English Opium Eater,” all of which were presumably due to opium.
The causes which Dr. Cocke thinks produced the hypnotic condition in his case,
namely, belief, desire to be hypnotized, and strained attention, united with a
vivid imagination, are causes which are often found in conjunction and produce
effects which we may reasonably explain on the theory of self-hypnotization.
For instance, the effects of an exciting religious revival are very like those
produced by Mesmer’s operations in Paris. The subjects become hysterical, and
are ready to believe anything or do anything. By prolonging the operation, a
whole community becomes more or less hypnotized. In all such cases, however,
unusual excitement is commonly followed by unusual lethargy. It is much like a
wild spree of intoxication–in fact, it is a sort of intoxication.
The same phenomena are probably accountable for many of the strange records of
history. The wonderful cures at Lourdes (of which we have read in Zola’s novel
of that name) are no doubt the effect of hypnotization by the priests. Some of
the strange movements of whole communities during the Crusades are to be
explained either on the theory of hypnotization or of contagion, and possibly
these two things will turn out to be much the same in fact. On no other ground
can we explain the so-called “Children’s Crusade,” in which over thirty thousand
children from Germany, from all classes of the community, tried to cross the
Alps in winter, and in their struggles were all lost or sold into slavery
without even reaching the Holy Land.
Again, hypnotism is accountable for many of the poet’s dreams. Gazing steadily
at a bed of bright coals or a stream of running water will invariably throw a
sensitive subject into a hypnotic sleep that will last sometimes for several
hours. Dr. Cocke says that he has experimented in this direction with patients
of his. Says he: “They have the ability to resist the state or to bring it at
will. Many of them describe beautiful scenes from nature, or some mighty
cathedral with its lofty dome, or the faces of imaginary beings, beautiful or
demoniacal, according to the will and temper of the subject.”
Perhaps the most wonderful example of self-hypnotism which we have in history is
that of the mystic Swedenborg, who saw, such strange things in his visions, and
at last came to believe in them as real.
The same explanation may be given of the manifestations of Oriental
prophets–for in the Orient hypnotism is much easier and more systematically
developed than with us of the West. The performances of the dervishes, and also
of the fakirs, who wound themselves and perform many wonderful feats which would
be difficult for an ordinary person, are no doubt in part feats of hypnotism.
While in a condition of auto-hypnotization a person may imagine that he is some
other personality. Says Dr. Cocke: “A curious thing about those self-hypnotized
subjects is that they carry out perfectly their own ideals of the personality
with whom they believe themselves to be possessed. If their own ideals of the
part they are playing are imperfect, their impersonations are ridiculous in the
extreme. One man I remember believed himself to be controlled by the spirit of
Charles Sumner. Being uneducated, he used the most wretched English, and his
language was utterly devoid of sense. While, on the other hand, a very
intelligent lady who believed herself to be controlled by the spirit of
Charlotte Cushman personated the part very well.”
Dr. Cooke says of himself: “I can hypnotize myself to such an extent that I will
become wholly unconscious of events taking place around me, and a long interval
of time, say from one-half to two hours, will be a complete blank. During this
condition of auto-hypnotization I will obey suggestions made to me by another,
talking rationally, and not knowing any event that has occurred after the
condition has passed off.”
CHAPTER VI.
Simulation.–Deception in Hypnotism Very Common.–Examples of Neuropathic
Deceit.–Detecting Simulation.–Professional Subjects.–How Dr. Luys of the
Charity Hospital at Paris Was Deceived.–Impossibility of Detecting Deception in
All Cases.–Confessions of a Professional Hypnotic Subject.
It has already been remarked that hypnotism and hysteria are conditions very
nearly allied, and that hysterical neuropathic individuals make the best
hypnotic subjects. Now persons of this character are in most cases morally as
well as physically degenerate, and it is a curious fact that deception seems to
be an inherent element in nearly all such characters. Expert doctors have been
thoroughly deceived. And again, persons who have been trying to expose frauds
have also been deceived by the positive statements of such persons that they
were deceiving the doctors when they were not. A diseased vanity seems to
operate in such cases and the subjects take any method which promises for the
time being to bring them into prominence. Merely to attract attention is a mania
with some people.
There is also something about the study of hypnotism, and similar subjects in
which delusions constitute half the existence, that seems to destroy the faculty
for distinguishing between truth and delusion. Undoubtedly we must look on such
manifestations as a species of insanity.
There is also a point at which the unconscious deceiver, for the sake of gain,
passes into the conscious deceiver. At the close of this chapter we will give
some cases illustrating the fact that persons may learn by practice to do
seemingly impossible things, such as holding themselves perfectly rigid (as in
the cataleptic state) while their head rests on one chair and their heels on
another, and a heavy person sits upon them.
First, let us cite a few cases of what may be called neuropathic deceit–a kind
of insanity which shows itself in deceiving. The newspapers record similar cases
from time to time. The first two of the following are quoted by Dr. Courmelles
from the French courts, etc.
1. The Comtesse de W– accused her maid of having attempted to poison her. The
case was a celebrated one, and the court-room was thronged with women who
sympathized with the supposed victim. The maid was condemned to death; but a
second trial was granted, at which it was conclusively proved that the Comtesse
had herself bound herself on her bed, and had herself poured out the poison
which was found still blackening her breast and lips.
2. In 1886 a man called Ulysse broke into the shop of a second-hand dealer,
facing his own house in Paris, and there began deliberately to take away the
goods, just as if he were removing his own furniture. This he did without
hurrying himself in any way, and transported the property to his own premises.
Being caught in the very act of the theft, he seemed at first to be flurried and
bewildered. When arrested and taken to the lock-up, he seemed to be in a state
of abstraction; when spoken to he made no reply, seemed ready to fall asleep,
and when brought before the examining magistrate actually fell asleep. Dr.
Garnier, the medical man attached to the infirmary of the police establishment,
had no doubt of his irresponsibility and he was released from custody.
3. While engaged as police-court reporter for a Boston newspaper, the present
writer saw a number of strange cases of the same kind. One was that of a quiet,
refined, well educated lady, who was brought in for shop-lifting. Though her
husband was well to do, and she did not sell or even use the things she took,
she had made a regular business of stealing whenever she could. She had begun it
about seven months before by taking a lace handkerchief, which she slipped under
her shawl: Soon after she accomplished another theft. “I felt so encouraged,”
she said, “that I got a large bag, which I fastened under my dress, and into
this I slipped whatever I could take when the clerks were not looking. I do not
know what made me do it. My success seemed to lead me on.”
Other cases of kleptomania could easily be cited.
“Simulation,” say Messieurs Binet and Fere, “which is already a stumbling block
in the study of hysterical cases, becomes far more formidable in such studies as
we are now occupied with. It is only when he has to deal with physical phenomena
that the operator feels himself on firm ground.”
Yet even here we can by no means feel certain. Physicians have invented various
ingenious pieces of apparatus for testing the circulation and other
physiological conditions; but even these things are not sure tests. The writer
knows of the case of a man who has such control over his heart and lungs that he
can actually throw himself into a profound sleep in which the breathing is so
absolutely stopped for an hour that a mirror is not moistened in the least by
the breath, nor can the pulses be felt. To all intents and purposes the man
appears to be dead; but in due time he comes to life again, apparently no whit
the worse for his experiment.
If an ordinary person were asked to hold out his arms at full length for five
minutes he would soon become exhausted, his breathing would quicken, his
pulse-rate increase. It might be supposed that if these conditions did not
follow the subject was in a hypnotic trance; but it is well known that persons
may easily train themselves to hold out the arms for any length of time without
increasing the respiration by one breath or raising the pulse rate at all. We
all remember Montaigne’s famous illustration in which he said that if a woman
began by carrying a calf about every day she would still be able to carry it
when it became an ox.
In the Paris hospitals, where the greater number of regular scientific
experiments have been conducted, it is found that “trained subjects” are
required for all of the more difficult demonstrations. That some of these famous
scientists have been deceived, there is no doubt. They know it themselves. A
case which will serve as an illustration is that of Dr. Luys, some of whose
operations were “exposed” by Dr. Ernest Hart, an English student of hypnotism of
a skeptical turn of mind. One of Dr. Luys’s pupils in a book he has published
makes the following statement, which helps to explain the circumstances which we
will give a little later. Says he:
“We know that many hospital patients who are subjected to the higher or greater
treatment of hypnotism are of very doubtful reputations; we know also the
effects of a temperament which in them is peculiarly addicted to simulation, and
which is exaggerated by the vicinity of maladies similar to their own. To judge
of this, it is necessary to have seen them encourage each other in simulation,
rehearsing among themselves, or even before the medical students of the
establishment, the experiments to which they have been subjected; and going
through their different contortions and attitudes to exercise themselves in
them. And then, again, in the present day, has not the designation of an
‘hypnotical subject’ become almost a social position? To be fed, to be paid,
admired, exhibited in public, run after, and all the rest of it–all this is
enough to make the most impartial looker-on skeptical. But is it enough to
enable us to produce an a priori negation? Certainly not; but it is sufficient
to justify legitimate doubt. And when we come to moral phenomena, where we have
to put faith in the subject, the difficulty becomes still greater. Supposing
suggestion and hallucination to be granted, can they be demonstrated? Can we by
plunging the subject in hypnotical sleep, feel sure of what he may affirm? That
is impossible, for simulation and somnambulism are not reciprocally exclusive
terms, and Monsieur Pitres has established the fact that a subject who sleeps
may still simulate.” Messieurs Binet and Fere in their book speak of “the honest
Hublier, whom his somnambulist Emelie cheated for four years consecutively.”
Let us now quote Mr. Hart’s investigations.
Dr. Luys is an often quoted authority on hypnotism in Paris, and is at the head
of what is called the Charity Hospital school of hypnotical experiments. In 1892
he announced some startling results, in which some people still have faith (more
or less). What he was supposed to accomplish was stated thus in the London Pall
Mall Gazette, issue of December 2: “Dr. Luys then showed us how a similar
artificial state of suffering could be created without suggestion–in fact, by
the mere proximity of certain substances. A pinch of coal dust, for example,
corked and sealed in a small phial and placed by the side of the neck of a
hypnotized person, produces symptoms of suffocation by smoke; a tube of
distilled water, similarly placed, provokes signs of incipient hydrophobia;
while another very simple concoction put in contact with the flesh brings on
symptoms of suffocation by drowning.”
Signs of drunkenness were said to be caused by a small corked bottle of brandy,
and the nature of a cat by a corked bottle of valerian. Patients also saw
beautiful blue flames about the north pole of a magnet and distasteful red
flames about the south pole; while by means of a magnet it was said that the
symptoms of illness of a sick patient might be transferred to a well person also
in the hypnotic state, but of course on awaking the well person at once threw
off sickness that had been transferred, but the sick person was permanently
relieved. These experiments are cited in some recent books on hypnotism,
apparently with faith. The following counter experiments will therefore be read
with interest.
Dr. Hart gives a full account of his investigations in the Nineteenth Century.
Dr. Luys gave Dr. Hart some demonstrations, which the latter describes as
follows: “A tube containing ten drachms of cognac were placed at a certain point
on the subject’s neck, which Dr. Luys said was the seat of the great nerve
plexuses. The effect on Marguerite was very rapid and marked; she began to move
her lips and to swallow; the expression of her face changed, and she asked,
‘What have you been giving me to drink? I am quite giddy.’ At first she had a
stupid and troubled look; then she began to get gay. ‘I am ashamed of myself,’
she said; ‘I feel quite tipsy,’ and after passing through some of the phases of
lively inebriety she began to fall from the chair, and was with difficulty
prevented from sprawling on the floor. She was uncomfortable, and seemed on the
point of vomiting, but this was stopped, and she was calmed.”
Another patient gave all the signs of imagining himself transformed into a cat
when a small corked bottle of valerian was placed on his neck.
In the presence of a number of distinguished doctors in Paris, Dr. Hart tried a
series of experiments in which by his conversation he gave the patient no clue
to exactly what drug he was using, in order that if the patient was simulating
he would not know what to simulate. Marguerite was the subject of several of
these experiments, one of which is described as follows:
“I took a tube which was supposed to contain alcohol, but which did contain
cherry laurel water. Marguerite immediately began, to use the words of M.
Sajous’s note, to smile agreeably and then to laugh; she became gay. ‘It makes
me laugh,’ she said, and then, ‘I’m not tipsy, I want to sing,’ and so on
through the whole performance of a not ungraceful giserie, which we stopped at
that stage, for I was loth to have the degrading performance of drunkenness
carried to the extreme I had seen her go through at the Charite. I now applied a
tube of alcohol, asking the assistant, however, to give me valerian, which no
doubt this profoundly hypnotized subject perfectly well heard, for she
immediately went through the whole cat performance. She spat, she scratched, she
mewed, she leapt about on all fours, and she was as thoroughly cat-like as had
been Dr. Luys’s subjects.”
Similar experiments as to the effect of magnets and electric currents were
tried. A note taken by Dr. Sajous runs thus: “She found the north pole,
notwithstanding there was no current, very pretty; she was as if she were
fascinated by it; she caressed the blue flames, and showed every sign of
delight. Then came the phenomena of attraction. She followed the magnet with
delight across the room, as though fascinated by it; the bar was turned so as to
present the other end or what would be called, in the language of La Charite,
the south pole. Then she fell into an attitude, of repulsion and horror, with
clenched fists, and as it approached her she fell backward into the arms of M.
Cremiere, and was carried, still showing all the signs of terror and repulsion,
back to her chair. The bar was again turned until what should have been the
north pole was presented to her. She again resumed the same attitudes of
attraction, and tears bedewed her cheeks. ‘Ah,’ she said, ‘it is blue, the flame
mounts,’ and she rose from her seat, following the magnet around the room.
Similar but false phenomena were obtained in succession with all the different
forms of magnet and non-magnet; Marguerite was never once right, but throughout
her acting was perfect; she was utterly unable at any time really to distinguish
between a plain bar of iron, demagnetized magnet or a horseshoe magnet carrying
a full current and one from which the current was wholly cut off.”
Five different patients were tested in the same way, through a long series of
experiments, with the same results, a practical proof that Dr. Luys had been
totally deceived and his new and wonderful discoveries amounted to nothing.
There is, however, another possible explanation, namely, telepathy, in a real
hypnotic condition. Even if Dr. Luys’s experiments were genuine this would be
the rational explanation. They were a case of suggestion of some sort, without
doubt.
Nearly every book on hypnotism gives various rules for detecting simulation of
the hypnotic state. One of the commonest tests is that of anaesthesia. A pin or
pen-knife is stuck into a subject to see if he is insensible to pain; but as we
shall see in a latter chapter, this insensibility also may be simulated, for by
long training some persons learn to control their facial expressions perfectly.
We have already seen that the pulse and respiration tests are not sufficient.
Hypnotic persons often flush slightly in the face; but it is true that there are
persons who can flush on any part of the body at will.
Mr. Ernest Hart had an article in the Century Magazine on “The Eternal
Gullible,” in which he gives the confessions of a professional hypnotic subject.
This person, whom he calls L., he brought to his house, where some experiments
were tried in the presence of a number of doctors, whose names are quoted. The
quotation of a paragraph or two from Mr. Hart’s article will be of interest.
Says he:
“The ‘catalepsy business’ had more artistic merit. So rigid did L. make his
muscles that he could be lifted in one piece like an Egyptian mummy. He lay with
his head on the back of one chair, and his heels on another, and allowed a
fairly heavy man to sit on his stomach; it seemed to me, however, that he was
here within a ’straw’ or two of the limit of his endurance. The ‘blister trick,’
spoken of by Truth as having deceived some medical men, was done by rapidly
biting and sucking the skin of the wrist. L. did manage with some difficulty to
raise a slight swelling, but the marks of the teeth were plainly visible.”
(Possibly L. had made his skin so tough by repeated biting that he could no
longer raise the blister!)
“One point in L.’s exhibition which was undoubtedly genuine was his remarkable
and stoical endurance of pain. He stood before us smiling and open-eyed while he
ran long needles into the fleshy part of his arms and legs without flinching,
and he allowed one of the gentlemen present to pinch his skin in different parts
with strong crenated pincers in a manner which bruised it, and which to most
people would have caused intense pain. L. allowed no sign of suffering or
discomfort to appear; he did not set his teeth or wince; his pulse was not
quickened, and the pupil of his eye did not dilate as physiologists tell us it
does when pain passes a certain limit. It may be said that this merely shows
that in L. the limit of endurance was beyond the normal standard; or, in other
words, that his sensitiveness was less than that of the average man. At any rate
his performance in this respect was so remarkable that some of the gentlemen
present were fain to explain it by supposed ‘post- hypnotic suggestion,’ the
theory apparently being that L. and his comrades hypnotized one another, and
thus made themselves insensible to pain.
“As surgeons have reason to know, persons vary widely in their sensitiveness to
pain. I have seen a man chat quietly with bystanders while his carotid artery
was being tied without the use of chloroform. During the Russo-Turkish war
wounded Turks often astonished English doctors by undergoing the most formidable
amputations with no other anaesthetic than a cigarette. Hysterical women will
inflict very severe pain on themselves–merely for wantonness or in order to
excite sympathy. The fakirs who allow themselves to be hung up by hooks beneath
their shoulder-blades seem to think little of it and, as a matter of fact, I
believe are not much inconvenienced by the process.”
The fact is, the amateur can always be deceived, and there are no special tests
that can be relied on. If a person is well accustomed to hypnotic
manifestations, and also a good judge of human nature, and will keep constantly
on guard, using every precaution to avoid deception, it is altogether likely
that it can be entirely obviated. But one must use his good judgment in every
possible way. In the case of fresh subjects, or persons well known, of course
there is little possibility of deception. And the fact that deception exists
does not in any way invalidate the truth of hypnotism as a scientific
phenomenon. We cite it merely as one of the physiological peculiarities
connected with the mental condition of which it is a manifestation. The fact
that a tendency to deception exists is interesting in itself, and may have an
influence upon our judgment of our fellow beings. There is, to be sure, a
tendency on the part of scientific writers to find lunatics instead of
criminals; but knowledge of the well demonstrated fact that many criminals are
insane helps to make us charitable.
CHAPTER VII.
Criminal Suggestion.–Laboratory Crimes.–Dr. Cocke’s Experiments Showing
Criminal Suggestion Is not Possible.–Dr. William James’ Theory.–A Bad Man
Cannot Be Made Good, Why Expect to Make a Good Man Bad?
One of the most interesting phases of hypnotism is that of post-hypnotic
suggestion, to which reference has already been made. It is true that a
suggestion made during the hypnotic condition as to what a person will do after
coming out of the hypnotic sleep may be carried out. A certain professional
hypnotizer claims that once he has hypnotized a person he can keep that person
forever after under his influence by means of post- hypnotic suggestion. He says
to him while in the hypnotic sleep: “Whenever I look at you, or point at you,
you will fall asleep. No one can hypnotize you but me. Whenever I try to
hypnotize you, you will fall asleep.” He says further: “Suggest to a subject
while he is sound asleep that in eight weeks he will mail you a letter with a
blank piece of note paper inside, and during the intervening period you may
yourself forget the occurrence, but in exactly eight weeks he will carry out the
suggestion. Suggestions of this nature are always carried out, especially when
the suggestion is to take effect on some certain day or date named. Suggest to a
subject that in ninety days from a given date he will come to your house with
his coat on inside out, and he will most certainly do so.”
The same writer also definitely claims that he can hypnotize people against
their wills. If this were true, what a terrible power would a shrewd,
evil-minded criminal have to compel the execution of any of his plans! We hope
to show that it is not true; but we must admit that many scientific men have
tried experiments which they believe demonstrate beyond a doubt that criminal
use can be and is made of hypnotic influence. If it were possible to make a
person follow out any line of conduct while actually under hypnotic influence it
would be bad enough; but the use of posthypnotic suggestion opens a yet more
far-reaching and dangerous avenue.
Among the most definite claims of the evil deeds that may be compelled during
hypnotic sleep is that of Dr. Luys, whom we have already seen as being himself
deceived by professional hypnotic subjects. Says he: “You cannot only oblige
this defenseless being, who is incapable of opposing the slightest resistance,
to give from hand to hand anything you may choose, but you can also make him
sign a promise, draw up a bill of exchange, or any other kind of agreement. You
may make him write an holographic will (which according to French law would be
valid), which he will hand over to you, and of which he will never know the
existence. He is ready to fulfill the minutest legal formalities, and will do so
with a calm, serene and natural manner calculated to deceive the most expert law
officers. These somnambulists will not hesitate either, you may be sure, to make
a denunciation, or to bear false witness; they are, I repeat, the passive
instruments of your will. For instance, take E. She will at my bidding write out
and sign a donation of forty pounds in my favor. In a criminal point of view the
subject under certain suggestions will make false denunciations, accuse this or
that person, and maintain with the greatest assurance that he has assisted at an
imaginary crime. I will recall to your mind those scenes of fictitious
assassination, which have exhibited before you. I was careful to place in the
subject’s hands a piece of paper instead of a dagger or a revolver; but it is
evident, that if they had held veritable murderous instruments, the scene might
have had a tragic ending.”
Many experiments along this line have been tried, such as suggesting the theft
of a watch or a spoon, which afterward was actually carried out.
It may be said at once that “these laboratory crimes” are in most cases
successful: A person who has nothing will give away any amount if told to do so;
but quite different is the case of a wealthy merchant who really has money to
sign away.
Dr. Cocke describes one or two experiments of his own which have an important
bearing on the question of criminal suggestion. Says he: “A girl who was
hypnotized deeply was given a glass of water and was told that it was a lighted
lamp. A broomstick was placed across the room and she was told that it was a man
who intended to injure her. I suggested to her that she throw the glass of water
(she supposing it was a lighted lamp) at the broomstick, her enemy, and she
immediately threw it with much violence. Then a man was placed across the room,
and she was given instead of a glass of water a lighted lamp. I told her that
the lamp was a glass of water, and that the man across the room was her brother.
It was suggested to her that his clothing was on fire and she was commanded to
extinguish the fire by throwing the lighted lamp at the individual, she having
been told, as was previously mentioned, that it was a glass of water. Without
her knowledge a person was placed behind her for the purpose of quickly checking
her movements, if desired. I then commanded her to throw the lamp at the man.
She raised the lamp, hesitated, wavered, and then became very hysterical,
laughing and crying alternately. This condition was so profound that she came
very near dropping the lamp. Immediately after she was quieted I made a number
of tests to prove that she was deeply hypnotized. Standing in front of her I
gave her a piece of card-board, telling her that it was a dagger, and commanded
her to stab me. She immediately struck at me with the piece of card-board. I
then gave her an open pocketknife and commanded her to strike at me with it.
Again she raised it to execute my command, again hesitated, and had another
hysterical attack. I have tried similar experiments with thirty or forty people
with similar results. Some of them would have injured themselves severely, I am
convinced, at command, but to what extent I of course cannot say. That they
could have been induced to harm others, or to set fire to houses, etc., I do not
believe. I say this after very careful reading and a large amount of
experimentation.”
Dr. Cocke also declares his belief that no person can be hypnotized against his
will by a person who is repugnant to him.
The facts in the case are probably those that might be indicated by a
common-sense consideration of the conditions. If a person is weak-minded and
susceptible to temptation, to theft, for instance, no doubt a familiar
acquaintance of a similar character might hypnotize that person and cause him to
commit the crime to which his moral nature is by no means averse. If, on the
other hand, the personality of the hypnotizer and the crime itself are repugnant
to the hypnotic subject, he will absolutely refuse to do as he is bidden, even
while in the deepest hypnotic sleep. On this point nearly all authorities agree.
Again, there is absolutely no well authenticated case of crime committed by a
person under hypnotic influence. There have been several cases reported, and one
woman in Paris who aided in a murder was released on her plea of
irresponsibility because she had been hypnotized. In none of these cases,
however, was there any really satisfactory evidence that hypnotism existed. In
all the cases reported there seemed to be no doubt of the weak character and
predisposition to crime. In another class of cases, namely those of criminal
assault upon girls and women, the only evidence ever adduced that the injured
person was hypnotized was the statement of that person, which cannot really be
called evidence at all.
The fact is, a weak character can be tempted and brought under virtual control
much more easily by ordinary means than by hypnotism. The man who
“overpersuades” a business man to endorse a note uses no hypnotic influence. He
is merely making a clever play upon the man’s vanity, egotism, or good nature.
A profound study of the hypnotic state, such as has been made by Prof. William
James, of Harvard College, the great authority on psychical phenomena and
president of the Psychic Research Society, leads to the conviction that in the
hypnotic sleep the will is only in abeyance, as it is in natural slumber or in
sleepwalking, and any unusual or especially exciting occurrence, especially
anything that runs against the grain of the nature, reawakens that will, and it
soon becomes as active as ever. This is ten times more true in the matter of
post- hypnotic suggestion, which is very much weaker than suggestion that takes
effect during the actual hypnotic sleep. We shall see, furthermore, that while
acting under a delusion at the suggestion of the operator, the patient is really
conscious all the time of the real facts in the case–indeed, much more keenly
so, oftentimes, than the operator himself. For instance, if a line is drawn on a
sheet of paper and the subject is told there is no line, he will maintain there
is no line; but he has to see it in order to ignore it. Moreover, persons
trained to obey, instinctively do obey even in their waking state. It requires a
special faculty to resist obedience, even during our ordinary waking condition.
Says a recent writer: “It is certain that we are naturally inclined to obey,
conflicts and resistance are the characteristics of some rare individuals; but
between admitting this and saying that we are doomed to obey–even the least of
us–lies a gulf.” The same writer says further: “Hypnotic suggestion is an order
given for a few seconds, at most a few minutes, to an individual in a state of
induced sleep. The suggestion may be repeated; but it is absolutely powerless to
transform a criminal into an honest man, or vice versa.” Here is an excellent
argument. If it is possible to make criminals it should be quite as easy to make
honest men. It is true that the weak are sometimes helped for good; but there is
no case on record in which a person who really wished to be bad was ever made
good; and the history of hypnotism is full of attempts in that direction. A good
illustration is an experiment tried by Colonel de Rochas:
“An excellent subject * * * had been left alone for a few minutes in an
apartment, and had stolen a valuable article. After he had left, the theft was
discovered. A few days after it was suggested to the subject, while asleep, that
he should restore the stolen object; the command was energetically and
imperatively reiterated, but in vain. The theft had been committed by the
subject, who had sold the article to an old curiosity dealer, as it was
eventually found on information received from a third party. Yet this subject
would execute all the imaginary crimes he was ordered.”
As to the value of the so-called “laboratory crimes,” the statement of Dr.
Courmelles is of interest: “I have heard a subject say,” he states, “‘If I were
ordered to throw myself out of the window I should do it, so certain am I either
that there would be somebody under the window to catch me or that I should be
stopped in time. The experimentalist’s own interests and the consequences of
such an act are a sure guarantee.’”
CHAPTER VIII.
Dangers in Being Hypnotized.–Condemnation of Public Performances.–A. Common
Sense View.–Evidence Furnished by Lafontaine.–By Dr. Courmelles.–By. Dr.
Hart.–By Dr. Cocke.–No Danger in Hypnotism if Rightly Used by Physicians or
Scientists.
Having considered the dangers to society through criminal hypnotic suggestion,
let us now consider what dangers there may be to the individual who is
hypnotized.
Before citing evidence, let us consider the subject from a rational point of
view. Several things have already been established. We know that hypnotism is
akin to hysteria and other forms of insanity–it is, in short, a kind of
experimental insanity. Really good hypnotic subjects have not a perfect mental
balance. We have also seen that repetition of the process increases the
susceptibility, and in some cases persons frequently hypnotized are thrown into
the hypnotic state by very slight physical agencies, such as looking at a bright
doorknob. Furthermore, we know that the hypnotic patient is in a very sensitive
condition, easily impressed. Moreover, it is well known that exertions required
of hypnotic subjects are nervously very exhausting, so much so that headache
frequently follows.
From these facts any reasonable person may make a few clear deductions. First,
repeated strain of excitement in hypnotic seances will wear out the constitution
just as certainly as repeated strain of excitement in social life, or the like,
which, as we know, frequently produces nervous exhaustion. Second, it is always
dangerous to submit oneself to the influence of an inferior or untrustworthy
person. This is just as true in hypnotism as it is in the moral realm. Bad
companions corrupt. And since the hypnotic subject is in a condition especially
susceptible, a little association of this kind, a little submission to the
inferior or immoral, will produce correspondingly more detrimental consequences.
Third, since hypnotism is an abnormal condition, just as drunkenness is, one
should not allow a public hypnotizer to experiment upon one and make one do
ridiculous things merely for amusement, any more than one would allow a really
insane person to be exhibited for money; or than one would allow himself to be
made drunk, merely that by his absurd antics he might amuse somebody. It takes
little reflection to convince any one that hypnotism for amusement, either on
the public stage or in the home, is highly obnoxious, even if it is not highly
dangerous. If the hypnotizer is an honest man, and a man of character, little
injury may follow. But we can never know that, and the risk of getting into bad
hands should prevent every one from submitting to influence at all. The fact is,
however, that we should strongly doubt the good character of any one who
hypnotizes for amusement, regarding him in the same light as we would one who
intoxicated people on the stage for amusement, or gave them chloroform, or went
about with a troup of insane people that he might exhibit their idiosyncrasies.
Honest, right-minded people do not do those things.
At the same time, there is nothing wiser that a man can do than to submit
himself fully to a stronger and wiser nature than his own. A physician in whom
you have confidence may do a thousand times more for you by hypnotism than by
the use of drugs. It is a safe rule to place hypnotism in exactly the same
category as drugs. Rightly used, drugs are invaluable; wrongly used, they become
the instruments of the murderer. At all times should they be used with great
caution. The same is true of hypnotism.
Now let us cite some evidence. Lafontaine, a professional hypnotist, gives some
interesting facts. He says that public hypnotic entertainments usually induce a
great many of the audience to become amateur hypnotists, and these experiments
may cause suffocation. Fear often results in congestion, or a rush of blood to
the brain. “If the digestion is not completed, more especially if the repast has
been more abundant than usual, congestion may be produced and death be
instantaneous. The most violent convulsions may result from too complete
magnetization of the brain. A convulsive movement may be so powerful that the
body will suddenly describe a circle, the head touching the heels and seem to
adhere to them. In this latter case there is torpor without sleep. Sometimes it
has been impossible to awake the subject.”
A waiter at Nantes, who was magnetized by a commercial traveler, remained for
two days in a state of lethargy, and for three hours Dr. Foure and numerous
spectators were able to verify that “the extremities were icy cold, the pulse no
longer throbbed, the heart had no pulsations, respiration had ceased, and there
was not sufficient breath to dim a glass held before the mouth. Moreover, the
patient was stiff, his eyes were dull and glassy.” Nevertheless, Lafontaine was
able to recall this man to life.
Dr. Courmelles says: “Paralysis of one or more members, or of the tongue, may
follow the awakening. These are the effects of the contractions of the internal
muscles, due often to almost imperceptible touches. The diaphragm–and therefore
the respiration–may be stopped in the same manner. Catalepsy and more
especially lethargy, produce these phenomena.”
There are on record a number of cases of idiocy, madness, and epilepsy caused by
the unskillful provoking of hypnotic sleep. One case is sufficiently
interesting, for it is almost exactly similar to a case that occurred at one of
the American colleges. The subject was a young professor at a boys’ school. “One
evening he was present at some public experiments that were being performed in a
tavern; he was in no way upset at the sight, but the next day one of his pupils,
looking at him fixedly, sent him to sleep. The boys soon got into the habit of
amusing themselves by sending him to sleep, and the unhappy professor had to
leave the school, and place himself under the care of a doctor.”
Dr. Ernest Hart gives an experience of his own which carries with it its own
warning. Says he:
“Staying at the well known country house in Kent of a distinguished London
banker, formerly member of Parliament for Greenwich, I had been called upon to
set to sleep, and to arrest a continuous barking cough from which a young lady
who was staying in the house was suffering, and who, consequently, was a torment
to herself and her friends. I thought this a good opportunity for a control
experiment, and I sat her down in front of a lighted candle which I assured her
that I had previously mesmerized. Presently her cough ceased and she fell into a
profound sleep, which lasted until twelve o’clock the next day. When I returned
from shooting, I was informed that she was still asleep and could not be awoke,
and I had great difficulty in awaking her. That night there was a large dinner
party, and, unluckily, I sat opposite to her. Presently she again became drowsy,
and had to be led from the table, alleging, to my confusion, that I was again
mesmerizing her. So susceptible did she become to my supposed mesmeric
influence, which I vainly assured her, as was the case, that I was very far from
exercising or attempting to exercise, that it was found expedient to take her up
to London. I was out riding in the afternoon that she left, and as we passed the
railway station, my host, who was riding with me, suggested that, as his friends
were just leaving by that train, he would like to alight and take leave of them.
I dismounted with him and went on to the platform, and avoided any leave-taking;
but unfortunately in walking up and down it seems that I twice passed the window
of the young lady’s carriage. She was again self-mesmerized, and fell into a
sleep which lasted throughout the journey, and recurred at intervals for some
days afterward.”
In commenting on this, Dr. Hart notes that in reality mesmerism is self-
produced, and the will of the operator, even when exercised directly against it,
has no effect if the subject believes that the will is being operated in favor
of it. Says he: “So long as the person operated on believed that my will was
that she should sleep, sleep followed. The most energetic willing in my internal
consciousness that there should be no sleep, failed to prevent it, where the
usual physical methods of hypnotization, stillness, repose, a fixed gaze, or the
verbal expression of an order to sleep, were employed.”
The dangers of hypnotism have been recognized by the law of every civilized
country except the United States, where alone public performances are permitted.
Dr. Cocke says: “I have occasionally seen subjects who complained of headache,
vertigo, nausea, and other similar symptoms after having been hypnotized, but
these conditions were at a future hypnotic sitting easily remedied by
suggestion.” Speaking of the use of hypnotism by doctors under conditions of
reasonable care, Dr. Cocke says further: “There is one contraindication greater
than all the rest. It applies more to the physician than to the patient, more to
the masses than to any single individual. It is not confined to hypnotism alone;
it has blocked the wheels of human progress through the ages which have gone. It
is undue enthusiasm. It is the danger that 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; in some cases to affirm decidedly, in others to insinuate
gently; for in the condition of sleep, just as in the waking condition, the
moral individuality of each subject persists according to his character, his
inclinations, his impressionability, etc. Hypnosis does not run all subjects
into a uniform mold, and make pure and simple automatons out of them, moved
solely by the will of the hypnotist; it increases cerebral docility; it makes
the automatic activity preponderate over the will. But the latter persists to a
certain degree; the subject thinks, reasons, discusses, accepts more readily
than in the waking condition, but does not always accept, especially in the
light degrees of sleep. In these cases we must know the patient’s character, his
particular psychical condition, in order to make an impression upon him.”
Bad Habits.–The habit of the excessive use of alcoholic drinks, morphine,
tobacco, or the like, may often be decidedly helped by hypnotism, if the patient
wants to be helped. The method of operation is simple. The operator hypnotizes
the subject, and when he is in deep sleep suggests that on awaking he will feel
a deep disgust for the article he is in the habit of taking, and if he takes it
will be affected by nausea, or other unpleasant symptoms. In most cases the
suggested result takes place, provided the subject can be hypnotized al all; but
unless the patient is himself anxious to break the habit fixed upon him, the
unpleasant effects soon wear off and he is as bad as ever.
Dr. Cocke treated a large number of cases, which he reports in detail in his
book on hypnotism. In a fair proportion of the cases he was successful; in some
cases completely so. In other cases he failed entirely, owing to lack of moral
stamina in the patient himself. His conclusions seem to be that hypnotism may be
made a very effective aid to moral suasion, but after all, character is the
chief force which throws off such habits once they are fixed. The morphine habit
is usually the result of a doctor’s prescription at some time, and it is
practiced more or less involuntarily. Such cases are often materially helped by
the proper suggestions.
The same is true of bad habits in children. The weak may be strengthened by the
stronger nature, and hypnotism may come in as an effective aid to moral
influence. Here again character is the deciding factor.
Dr. James R. Cocke devotes a considerable part of his book on “Hypnotism” to the
use of hypnotism in medical practice, and for further interesting details the
reader is referred to that able work.
CHAPTER X.
Hypnotism of Animals.–Snake Charming.
We are all familiar with the snake charmer, and the charming of birds by snakes.
How much hypnotism there is in these performances it would be hard to say. It is
probable that a bird is fascinated to some extent by the steady gaze of a
serpent’s eyes, but fear will certainly paralyze a bird as effectively as
hypnotism.
Father Kircher was the first to try a familiar experiment with hens and cocks.
If you hold a hen’s head with the beak upon a piece of board, and then draw a
chalk line from the beak to the edge of the board, the hen when released will
continue to hold her head in the same position for some time, finally walking
slowly away, as if roused from a stupor. Farmers’ wives often try a sort of
hypnotic experiment on hens they wish to transfer from one nest to another when
sitting. They put the hen’s head under her wing and gently rock her to and fro
till she apparently goes to sleep, when she may be carried to another nest and
will remain there afterward.
Horses are frequently managed by a steady gaze into their eyes. Dr. Moll states
that a method of hypnotizing horses named after its inventor as Balassiren has
been introduced into Austria by law for the shoeing of horses in the army.
We have all heard of the snake charmers of India, who make the snakes imitate
all their movements. Some suppose this is by hypnotization. It may be the result
of training, however. Certainly real charmers of wild beasts usually end by
being bitten or injured in some other way, which would seem to show that the
hypnotization does not always work, or else it does not exist at all.
We have some fairly well known instances of hypnotism produced in animals.
Lafontaine, the magnetizer, some thirty years ago held public exhibitions in
Paris in which he reduced cats, dogs, squirrels and lions to such complete
insensibility that they felt neither pricks nor blows.
The Harvys or Psylles of Egypt impart to the ringed snake the appearance of a
stick by pressure on the head, which induces a species of tetanus, says E. W.
Lane.
The following description of serpent charming by the Aissouans of the province
of Sous, Morocco, will be of interest:
“The principal charmer began by whirling with astonishing rapidity in a kind of
frenzied dance around the wicker basket that contained the serpents, which were
covered by a goatskin. Suddenly he stopped, plunged his naked arm into the
basket, and drew out a cobra de capello, or else a haje, a fearful reptile which
is able to swell its head by spreading out the scales which cover it, and which
is thought to be Cleopatra’s asp, the serpent of Egypt. In Morocco it is known
as the buska. The charmer folded and unfolded the greenish-black viper, as if it
were a piece of muslin; he rolled it like a turban round his head, and continued
his dance while the serpent maintained its position, and seemed to follow every
movement and wish of the dancer.
“The buska was then placed on the ground, and raising itself straight on end, in
the attitude it assumes on desert roads to attract travelers, began to sway from
right to left, following the rhythm of the music. The Aissoua, whirling more and
more rapidly in constantly narrowing circles, plunged his hand once more into
the basket, and pulled out two of the most venomous reptiles of the desert of
Sous; serpents thicker than a man’s arm, two or three feet long, whose shining
scales are spotted black or yellow, and whose bite sends, as it were, a burning
fire through the veins. This reptile is probably the torrida dipsas of
antiquity. Europeans now call it the leffah.
“The two leffahs, more vigorous and less docile than the buska, lay half curled
up, their heads on one side, ready to dart forward, and followed with glittering
eyes the movements of the dancer. * * * Hindoo charmers are still more
wonderful; they juggle with a dozen different species of reptiles at the same
time, making them come and go, leap, dance, and lie down at the sound of the
charmer’s whistle, like the gentlest of tame animals. These serpents have never
been known to bite their charmers.”
It is well known that some animals, like the opossum, feign death when caught.
Whether this is to be compared to hypnotism is doubtful. Other animals, called
hibernating, sleep for months with no other food than their fat, but this,
again, can hardly be called hypnotism.
CHAPTER XI.
A Scientific Explanation of Hypnotism.–Dr. Hart’s Theory.
In the introduction to this book the reader will find a summary of the theories
of hypnotism. There is no doubt that hypnotism is a complex state which cannot
be explained in an offhand way in a sentence or two. There are, however, certain
aspects of hypnotism which we may suppose sufficiently explained by certain
scientific writers on the subject.
First, what is the character of the delusions apparently created in the mind of
a person in the hypnotic condition by a simple word of mouth statement, as when
a physician says, “Now, I am going to cut your leg off, but it will not hurt you
in the least,” and the patient suffers nothing?
In answer to this question, Professor William James of Harvard College, one of
the leading authorities on the scientific aspects of psychical phenomena in this
country, reports the following experiments:
“Make a stroke on a paper or blackboard, and tell the subject it is not there,
and he will see nothing but the clean paper or board. Next, he not looking,
surround the original stroke with other strokes exactly like it, and ask him
what he sees. He will point out one by one the new strokes and omit the original
one every time, no matter how numerous the next strokes may be, or in what order
they are arranged. Similarly, if the original single line, to which he is blind,
be doubled by a prism of sixteen degrees placed before one of his eyes (both
being kept open), he will say that he now sees one stroke, and point in the
direction in which lies the image seen through the prism.
“Another experiment proves that he must see it in order to ignore it. Make a red
cross, invisible to the hypnotic subject, on a sheet of white paper, and yet
cause him to look fixedly at a dot on the paper on or near the red cross; he
wills on transferring his eye to the blank sheet, see a bluish-green after image
of the cross. This proves that it has impressed his sensibility. He has felt but
not perceived it. He had actually ignored it; refused to recognize it, as it
were.”
Dr. Ernest Hart, an English writer, in an article in the British Medical
Journal, gives a general explanation of the phenomena of hypnotism which we may
accept as true so far as it goes, but which is evidently incomplete. He seems to
minimize personal influence too much–that personal influence which we all exert
at various times, and which he ignores, not because he would deny it, but
because he fears lending countenance to the magnetic fluid and other similar
theories. Says he:
“We have arrived at the point at which it will be plain that the condition
produced in these cases, and known under a varied jargon invented either to
conceal ignorance, to express hypotheses, or to mask the design of impressing
the imagination and possibly prey upon the pockets of a credulous and
wonder-loving public–such names as mesmeric condition, magnetic sleep,
clairvoyance, electro-biology, animal magnetism, faith trance, and many other
aliases–such a condition, I say, is always subjective. It is independent of
passes or gestures; it has no relation to any fluid emanating from the operator;
it has no relation to his will, or to any influence which he exercises upon
inanimate objects; distance does not affect it, nor proximity, nor the
intervention of any conductors or non-conductors, whether silk or glass or
stone, or even a brick wall. We can transmit the order to sleep by telephone or
by telegraph. We can practically get the same results while eliminating even the
operator, if we can contrive to influence the imagination or to affect the
physical condition of the subject by any one of a great number of contrivances.
“What does all this mean? I will refer to one or two facts in relation to the
structure and function of the brain, and show one or two simple experiments of
very ancient parentage and date, which will, I think, help to an explanation.
First, let us recall something of what we know of the anatomy and localization
of function in the brain, and of the nature of ordinary sleep. The brain, as you
know, is a complicated organ, made up internally of nerve masses, or ganglia, of
which the central and underlying masses are connected with the automatic
functions and involuntary actions of the body (such as the action of the heart,
lungs, stomach, bowels, etc.), while the investing surface shows a system of
complicated convolutions rich in gray matter, thickly sown with microscopic
cells, in which the nerve ends terminate. At the base of the brain is a complete
circle of arteries, from which spring great numbers of small arterial vessels,
carrying a profuse blood supply throughout the whole mass, and capable of
contraction in small tracts, so that small areas of the brain may, at any given
moment, become bloodless, while other parts of the brain may simultaneously
become highly congested. Now, if the brain or any part of it be deprived of the
circulation of blood through it, or be rendered partially bloodless, or if it be
excessively congested and overloaded with blood, or if it be subjected to local
pressure, the part of the brain so acted upon ceases to be capable of exercising
its functions. The regularity of the action of the brain and the sanity and
completeness of the thought which is one of the functions of its activity depend
upon the healthy regularity of the quantity of blood passing through all its
parts, and upon the healthy quality of the blood so circulating. If we press
upon the carotid arteries which pass up through the neck to form the arterial
circle of Willis, at the base of the brain, within the skull–of which I have
already spoken, and which supplies the brain with blood–we quickly, as every
one knows, produce insensibility. Thought is abolished, consciousness lost. And
if we continue the pressure, all those automatic actions of the body, such as
the beating of the heart, the breathing motions of the lungs, which maintain
life and are controlled by the lower brain centers of ganglia, are quickly
stopped and death ensues.
“We know by observation in cases where portions of the skull have been removed,
either in men or in animals, that during natural sleep the upper part of the
brain–its convoluted surface, which in health and in the waking state is
faintly pink, like a blushing cheek, from the color of the blood circulating
through the network of capillary arteries–becomes white and almost bloodless.
It is in these upper convolutions of the brain, as we also know, that the will
and the directing power are resident; so that in sleep the will is abolished and
consciousness fades gradually away, as the blood is pressed out by the
contraction of the arteries. So, also, the consciousness and the directing will
may be abolished by altering the quality of the blood passing through the
convolutions of the brain. We may introduce a volatile substance, such as
chloroform, and its first effect will be to abolish consciousness and induce
profound slumber and a blessed insensibility to pain. The like effects will
follow more slowly upon the absorption of a drug, such as opium; or we may
induce hallucinations by introducing into the blood other toxic substances, such
as Indian hemp or stramonium. We are not conscious of the mechanism producing
the arterial contraction and the bloodlessness of those convolutions related to
natural sleep. But we are not altogether without control over them. We can, we
know, help to compose ourselves to sleep, as we say in ordinary language. We
retire into a darkened room, we relieve ourselves from the stimulus of the
special senses, we free ourselves from the influence of noises, of strong light,
of powerful colors, or of tactile impressions. We lie down and endeavor to
soothe brain activity by driving away disturbing thoughts, or, as people
sometimes say, ‘try to think of nothing.’ And, happily, we generally succeed
more or less well. Some people possess an even more marked control over this
mechanism of sleep. I can generally succeed in putting myself to sleep at any
hour of the day, either in the library chair or in the brougham. This is, so to
speak, a process of self-hypnotization, and I have often practiced it when going
from house to house, when in the midst of a busy practice, and I sometimes have
amused my friends and family by exercising this faculty, which I do not think it
very difficult to acquire. (We also know that many persons can wake at a fixed
hour in the morning by setting their minds upon it just before going to sleep.)
Now, there is something here which deserves a little further examination, but
which it would take too much time to develop fully at present. Most people know
something of what is meant by reflex action. The nerves which pass from the
various organs to the brain convey with, great rapidity messages to its various
parts, which are answered by reflected waves of impulse. If the soles of the
feet be tickled, contraction of the toes, or involuntary laughter, will be
excited, or perhaps only a shuddering and skin contraction, known as goose-skin.
The irritation of the nerve-end in the skin has carried a message to the
involuntary or voluntary ganglia of the brain which has responded by reflecting
back again nerve impulses which have contracted the muscles of the feet or skin
muscles, or have given rise to associated ideas and explosion of laughter. In
the same way, if during sleep heat be applied to the soles of the feet, dreams
of walking over hot surfaces–Vesuvius or Fusiyama, or still hotter places–may
be produced, or dreams of adventure on frozen surfaces or in arctic regions may
be created by applying ice to the feet of the sleeper.
“Here, then, it is seen that we have a mechanism in the body, known to
physiologists as the ideo-motor, or sensory motor system of nerves, which can
produce, without the consciousness of the individual and automatically, a series
of muscular contractions. And remember that the coats of the arteries are
muscular and contractile under the influence of external stimuli, acting without
the help of the consciousness, or when the consciousness is in abeyance. I will
give another example of this, which completes the chain of phenomena in the
natural brain and the natural body I wish to bring under notice in explanation
of the true as distinguished from the false, or falsely interpreted, phenomena
of hypnotism, mesmerism and electro-biology. I will take the excellent
illustration quoted by Dr. B. W. Carpenter in his old-time, but valuable, book
on ‘The Physiology of the Brain.’ When a hungry man sees food, or when, let us
say, a hungry boy looks into a cookshop, he becomes aware of a watering of the
mouth and a gnawing sensation at the stomach. What does this mean? It means that
the mental impression made upon him by the welcome and appetizing spectacle has
caused a secretion of saliva and of gastric juice; that is to say, the brain
has, through the ideo-motor set of nerves, sent a message which has dilated the
vessels around the salivary and gastric glands, increased the flow of blood
through them and quickened their secretion. Here we have, then, a purely
subjective mental activity acting through a mechanism of which the boy is quite
ignorant, and which he is unable to control, and producing that action on the
vessels of dilation or contraction which, as we have seen, is the essential
condition of brain activity and the evolution of thought, and is related to the
quickening or the abolition of consciousness, and to the activity or abeyance of
function in the will centers and upper convolutions of the brain, as in its
other centers of localization.
“Here, then, we have something like a clue to the phenomena–phenomena which, as
I have pointed out, are similar to and have much in common with mesmeric sleep,
hypnotism or electro-biology. We have already, I hope, succeeded in eliminating
from our minds the false theory–the theory, that is to say, experimentally
proved to be false–that the will, or the gestures, or the magnetic or vital
fluid of the operator are necessary for the abolition of the consciousness and
the abeyance of the will of the subject. We now see that ideas arising in the
mind of the subject are sufficient to influence the circulation in the brain of
the person operated on, and such variations of the blood supply of the brain as
are adequate to produce sleep in the natural state, or artificial slumber,
either by total deprivation or by excessive increase or local aberration in the
quantity or quality of blood. In a like manner it is possible to produce coma
and prolonged insensibility by pressure of the thumbs on the carotid; or
hallucination, dreams and visions by drugs, or by external stimulation of the
nerves. Here again the consciousness may be only partially affected, and the
person in whom sleep, coma or hallucination is produced, whether by physical
means or by the influence of suggestion, may remain subject to the will of
others and incapable of exercising his own volition.”
In short, Dr. Hart’s theory is that hypnotism comes from controlling the blood
supply of the brain, cutting off the supply from parts or increasing it in other
parts. This theory is borne out by the well-known fact that some persons can
blush or turn pale at will; that some people always blush on the mention of
certain things, or calling up certain ideas. Certain other ideas will make them
turn pale. Now, if certain parts of the brain are made to blush or turn pale,
there is no doubt that hypnotism will follow, since blushing and turning pale
are known to be due to the opening and closing of the blood-vessels. We may say
that the subject is induced by some means to shut the blood out of certain
portions of the brain, and keep it out until he is told to let it in again.
CHAPTER XII.
Telepathy and Clairvoyance.–Peculiar Power in Hypnotic
State.–Experiments.–”Phantasms of the Living” Explained by Telepathy
It has already been noticed that persons in the hypnotic state seem to have
certain of their senses greatly heightened in power. They can remember, see and
hear things that ordinary persons would be entirely ignorant of. There is
abundant evidence that a supersensory perception is also developed, entirely
beyond the most highly developed condition of the ordinary senses, such as being
able to tell clearly what some other person is doing at a great distance. In
view of the discovery of the X or Roentgen ray, the ability to see through a
stone wall does not seem so strange as it did before that discovery.
It is on power of supersensory, or extra-sensory perception that what is known
as telepathy and clairvoyance are based. That such things really exist, and are
not wholly a matter of superstition has been thoroughly demonstrated in a
scientific way by the British Society for Psychical Research, and kindred
societies in various parts of the world. Strictly speaking, such phenomena as
these are not a part of hypnotism, but our study of hypnotism will enable us to
understand them to some extent, and the investigation of them is a natural
corollary to the study of hypnotism, for the reason that it has been found that
these extraordinary powers are often possessed by persons under hypnotic
influence. Until the discovery of hypnotism there was little to go on in
conducting a scientific investigation, because clairvoyance could not be
produced by any artificial means, and so could not be studied under proper
restrictive conditions.
We will first quote two experiments performed by Dr. Cocke which the writer
heard him describe with his own lips.
The first case was that of a girl suffering from hysterical tremor. The doctor
had hypnotized her for the cure of it, and accidentally stumbled on an example
of thought transference. She complained on one occasion of a taste of spice in
her mouth. As the doctor had been chewing some spice, he at once guessed that
this might be telepathy. Nothing was said at the time, but the next time the
girl was hypnotized, the doctor put a quinine tablet in his mouth. The girl at
once asked for water, and said she had a very bitter taste in her mouth. The
water was given her, and the doctor went behind a screen, where he put cayenne
pepper in his mouth, severely burning himself. No one but the doctor knew of the
experiment at the time. The girl immediately cried and became so hysterical that
she had to be awakened. The burning in her mouth disappeared as soon as she came
out of the hypnotic state, but the doctor continued to suffer. Nearly three
hundred similar experiments with thirty-six different subjects were tried by Dr.
Cocke, and of these sixty-nine were entirely successful. The others were
doubtful or complete failures.
The most remarkable of the experiments may be given in the doctor’s own words:
“I told the subject to remain perfectly still for five minutes and to relate to
me at the end of this time any sensation he might experience. I passed into
another room and closed the door and locked it; went into a closet in the room
and closed the door after me; took down from the shelf, first a linen sheet,
then a pasteboard box, then a toy engine, owned by a child in the house. I went
back to my subject and asked him what experience he had had.
“He said I seemed to go into another room, and from thence into a dark closet. I
wanted something off the shelf, but did not know what. I took down from the
shelf a piece of smooth cloth, a long, square pasteboard box and a tin engine.
These were all the sensations he had experienced. I asked him if he saw the
articles with his eyes which I had removed from the shelf. He answered that the
closet was dark and that he only felt them with his hands. I asked him how he
knew that the engine was tin. He said: ‘By the sound of it.’ As my hands touched
it I heard the wheels rattle. Now the only sound made by me while in the closet
was simply the rattling of the wheels of the toy as I took it off the shelf.
This could not possibly have been heard, as the subject was distant from me two
large rooms, and there were two closed doors between us, and the noise was very
slight. Neither could the subject have judged where I went, as I had on light
slippers which made no noise. The subject had never visited the house before,
and naturally did not know the contents of the closet as he was carefully
observed from the moment he entered the house.”
Many similar experiments are on record. Persons in the hypnotic condition have
been able to tell what other persons were doing in distant parts of a city;
could tell the pages of the books they might be reading and the numbers of all
sorts of articles. While in London the writer had an opportunity of witnessing a
performance of this kind. There was a young boy who seemed to have this peculiar
power. A queer old desk had come into the house from Italy, and as it was a
valuable piece of furniture, the owner was anxious to learn its pedigree.
Without having examined the desk beforehand in any way the boy, during one of
his trances, said that in a certain place a secret spring would be found which
would open an unknown drawer, and behind that drawer would be found the name of
the maker of the desk and the date 1639. The desk was at once examined, and the
name and date found exactly as described. It is clear in this case that this
information could not have been in the mind of any one, unless it were some
person in Italy, whence the desk had come. It is more likely that the remarkable
supersensory power given enabled reading through the wood.
We may now turn our attention to another class of phenomena of great interest,
and that is the visions persons in the ordinary state have of friends who are on
the point of death. It would seem that by an extraordinary effort the mind of a
person in the waking state might be impressed through a great distance. At the
moment of death an almost superhuman mental effort is more likely and possible
than at any other time, and it is peculiar that these visions or phantasms are
largely confined to that moment. The natural explanation that rises to the
ordinary mind is, of course, “Spirits.” This supposition is strengthened by the
fact that the visions sometimes appear immediately after death, as well as at
the time and just before. This may be explained, however, on the theory that the
ordinary mind is not easily impressed, and when unconsciously impressed some
time may elapse before the impression becomes perceptible to the conscious mind,
just as in passing by on a swift train, we may see something, but not realize
that we have seen it till some time afterward, when we remember what we have
unconsciously observed.
The British Society for Psychical Research has compiled two large volumes of
carefully authenticated cases, which are published under the title, “Phantasms
of the Living.” We quote one or two interesting cases.
A Miss L. sends the following report:
January 4, 1886.
“On one of the last days of July, about the year 1860, at 3 o’clock p.m., I was
sitting in the drawing room at the Rectory, reading, and my thoughts entirely
occupied. I suddenly looked up and saw most distinctly a tall, thin old
gentleman enter the room and walk to the table. He wore a peculiar,
old-fashioned cloak which I recognized as belonging to my great-uncle. I then
looked at him closely and remembered his features and appearance perfectly,
although I had not seen him since I was quite a child. In his hand was a roll of
paper, and he appeared to be very agitated. I was not in the least alarmed, as I
firmly believed he was my uncle, not knowing then of his illness. I asked him if
he wanted my father, who, as I said, was not at home. He then appeared still
more agitated and distressed, but made no remark. He then left the room, passing
through the open door. I noticed that, although it was a very wet day, there was
no appearance of his having walked either in mud or rain. He had no umbrella,
but a thick walking stick, which I recognized at once when my father brought it
home after the funeral. On questioning the servants, they declared that no one
had rung the bell; neither did they see any one enter. My father had a letter by
the next post, asking him to go at once to my uncle, who was very ill in
Leicestershire. He started at once, but on his arrival was told that his uncle
had died at exactly 3 o’clock that afternoon, and had asked for him by name
several times in an anxious and troubled manner, and a roll of paper was found
under his pillow.
“I may mention that my father was his only nephew, and, having no son, he always
led him to think that he would have a considerable legacy. Such, however, was
not the case, and it is supposed that, as they were always good friends, he was
influenced in his last illness, and probably, when too late, he wished to alter
his will.”
In answer to inquiries, Miss L. adds:
“I told my mother and an uncle at once about the strange appearance before the
news arrived, and also my father directly he returned, all of whom are now dead.
They advised me to dismiss it from my memory, but agreed that it could not be
imagination, as I described my uncle so exactly, and they did not consider me to
be either of a nervous or superstitious temperament.
“I am quite sure that I have stated the facts truthfully and correctly. The
facts are as fresh in my memory as if they happened only yesterday, although so
many years have passed away.
“I can assure you that nothing of the sort ever occurred before or since.
Neither have I been subject to nervous or imaginative fancies. This strange
apparition was in broad daylight, and as I was only reading the ‘Illustrated
Newspaper,’ there was nothing to excite my imagination.”
Hundreds of cases of this kind have been reported by persons whose truthfulness
cannot be doubted, and every effort has been made to eliminate possibility of
hallucination or accidental fancy. That things of this kind do occur may be said
to be scientifically proven.
Such facts as these have stimulated experiment in the direction of testing
thought transference. These experiments have usually been in the reading of
numbers and names, and a certain measure of success has resulted. It may be
added, however, that no claimants ever appeared for various banknotes deposited
in strong-boxes, to be turned over to any one who would read the numbers. Just
why success was never attained under these conditions it would be hard to say.
The writer once made a slight observation in this direction. When matching
pennies with his brother he found that if the other looked at the penny he could
match it nearly every time. There may have been some unconscious expression of
face that gave the clue. Persons in hypnotic trance are expert muscle readers.
For instance, let such a person take your hand and then go through the alphabet,
naming the letters. If you have any word in your mind, as the muscle reader
comes to each letter the muscles will unconsciously contract. By giving
attention h the muscles you can make them contract on the wrong letters and
entirely mislead such a person.
CHAPTER XIII.
The Confessions of Medium.–Spiritualistic Phenomena Explained on Theory of
Telepathy.–Interesting Statement of Mrs. Piper, the Famous Medium of the
Psychical Research Society.
The subject of spiritualism has been very thoroughly investigated by the Society
for Psychical Research, both in England and this country, and under
circumstances so peculiarly advantageous that a world of light has been thrown
on the connection between hypnotism and this strange phenomenon.
Professor William James, the professor of psychology at Harvard University, was
fortunate enough some years ago to find a perfect medium who was not a
professional and whose character was such as to preclude fraud. This was Mrs.
Leonora E. Piper, of Boston. For many years she remained in the special employ
of the Society for Psychical Research, and the members of that society were able
to study her case under every possible condition through a long period of time.
Not long ago she resolved to give up her engagement, and made a public statement
over her own signature which is full of interest.
A brief history of her life and experiences will go far toward furnishing the
general reader a fair explanation of clairvoyant and spiritualistic phenomena.
Mrs. Piper was the wife of a modest tailor, and lived on Pinckney street, back
of Beacon Hill. She was married in 1881, and it was not until May 16, 1884, that
her first child was born. A little more than a month later, on June 29, she had
her first trance experience. Says she: “I remember the date distinctly, because
it was two days after my first birthday following the birth of my first child.”
She had gone to Dr. J. R. Cocke, the great authority on hypnotism and a
practicing physician of high scientific attainments. “During the interview,”
says Mrs. Piper, “I was partly unconscious for a few minutes. On the following
Sunday I went into a trance.”
She appears to have slipped into it unconsciously. She surprised her friends by
saying some very odd things, none of which she remembered when she came to
herself. Not long after she did it again. A neighbor, the wife of a merchant,
when she heard the things that had been said, assured Mrs. Piper that it must be
messages from the spirit world. The atmosphere in Boston was full of talk of
that kind, and it was not hard for people to believe that a real medium of
spirit communication had been found. The merchant’s wife wanted a sitting, and
Mrs. Piper arranged one, for which she received her first dollar.
She had discovered that she could go into trances by an effort of her own will.
She would sit down at a table, with her sitter opposite, and leaning her head on
a pillow, go off into the trance after a few minutes of silence. There was a
clock behind her. She gave her sitters an hour, sometimes two hours, and they
wondered how she knew when the hour had expired. At any rate, when the time came
around she awoke. In describing her experiences she has said:
“At first when I sat in my chair and leaned my head back and went into the
trance state, the action was attended by something of a struggle. I always felt
as if I were undergoing an anesthetic, but of late years I have slipped easily
into the condition, leaning the head forward. On coming out of it I felt stupid
and dazed. At first I said disconnected things. It was all a gibberish, nothing
but gibberish. Then I began to speak some broken French phrases. I had studied
French two years, but did not speak it well.”
Once she had an Italian for sitter, who could speak no English and asked
questions in Italian. Mrs. Piper could speak no Italian, indeed did not
understand a word of it, except in her trance state. But she had no trouble in
understanding her sitter.
After a while her automatic utterance announced the personality of a certain Dr.
Phinuit, who was said to have been a noted French physician who had died long
before. His “spirit” controlled her for a number of years. After some time Dr.
Phinuit was succeeded by one “Pelham,” and finally by “Imperator” and “Rector.”
As the birth of her second child approached Mrs. Piper gave up what she
considered a form of hysteria; but after the birth of the child the sittings,
paid for at a dollar each, began again. Dr. Hodgson, of the London Society for
Psychical Research, saw her at the house of Professor James, and he became so
interested in her case that he decided to take her to London to be studied. She
spent nearly a year abroad; and after her return the American branch of the
Society for Psychical Research was formed, and for a long time Mrs. Piper
received a salary to sit exclusively for the society. Their records and reports
are full of the things she said and did.
Every one who investigated Mrs. Piper had to admit that her case was full of
mystery. But if one reads the reports through from beginning to end one cannot
help feeling that her spirit messages are filled with nonsense, at least of
triviality. Here is a specimen–and a fair specimen, too–of the kind of
communication Pelham gave. He wrote out the message. It referred to a certain
famous man known in the reports as Mr. Marte. Pelham is reported to have written
by Mrs. Piper’s hand:
“That he (Mr. Marte), with his keen brain and marvelous perception, will be
interested, I know. He was a very dear friend of X. I was exceedingly fond of
him. Comical weather interests both he and I–me–him–I know it all. Don’t you
see I correct these? Well, I am not less intelligent now. But there are many
difficulties. I am far clearer on all points than I was shut up in the prisoned
body (prisoned, prisoning or imprisoned you ought to say). No, I don’t mean, to
get it that way. ‘See here, H, don’t view me with a critic’s eye, but pass my
imperfections by.’ Of course, I know all that as well as anybody on your sphere
(of course). Well, I think so. I tell you, old fellow, it don’t do to pick all
these little errors too much when they amount to nothing in one way. You have
light enough and brain enough, I know, to understand my explanations of being
shut up in this body, dreaming, as it were, and trying to help on science.”
Some people would say that Pelham had had a little too much whisky toddy when he
wrote that rambling, meaningless string of words. Or we can suppose that Mrs.
Piper was dreaming. We see in the last sentence a curious mixture of ideas that
must have been in her mind. She herself says:
“I do not see how anybody can look on all that as testimony from another world.
I cannot see but that it must have been an unconscious expression of my
subliminal self, writing such stuff as dreams are made of.”
In another place Mrs. Piper makes the following direct statement: “I never heard
of anything being said by myself while in a trance state which might not have
been latent in:
“1. My own mind.
“2. In the mind of the person in charge of the sitting.
“3. In the mind of the person who was trying to get communication with some one
in another state of existence, or some companion present with such person, or,
“4. In the mind of some absent person alive somewhere else in the world.”
Writing in the Psychological Review in 1898, Professor James says:
“Mrs. Piper’s trance memory is no ordinary human memory, and we have to explain
its singular perfection either as the natural endowment of her solitary
subliminal self, or as a collection of distinct memory systems, each with a
communicating spirit as its vehicle.
“The spirit hypothesis exhibits a vacancy, triviality, and incoherence of mind
painful to think of as the state of the departed, and coupled with a pretension
to impress one, a disposition to ‘fish’ and face around and disguise the
essential hollowness which is, if anything, more painful still. Mr. Hodgson has
to resort to the theory that, although the communicants probably are spirits,
they are in a semi-comatose or sleeping state while communicating, and only half
aware of what is going on, while the habits of Mrs. Piper’s neural organism
largely supply the definite form of words, etc., in which the phenomenon is
clothed.”
After considering other theories Professor James concludes:
“The world is evidently more complex than we are accustomed to think it, the
absolute ‘world ground’ in particular being farther off than we are wont to
think it.”
Mrs. Piper is reported to have said:
“Of what occurs after I enter the trance period I remember nothing–nothing of
what I said or what was said to me. I am but a passive agent in the hands of
powers that control me. I can give no account of what becomes of me during a
trance. The wisdom and inspired eloquence which of late has been conveyed to Dr.
Hodgson through my mediumship is entirely beyond my understanding. I do not
pretend to understand it, and can give no explanation–I simply know that I have
the power of going into a trance when I wish.”
Professor James says: “The Piper phenomena are the most absolutely baffling
thing I know.”
Professor Hudson, Ph.D., LL.D., author of “The Law of Psychic Phenomena,” comes
as near giving an explanation of “spiritualism,” so called, as any one. He
begins by saying:
“All things considered, Mrs. Piper is probably the best ‘psychic’ now before the
public for the scientific investigation of spiritualism and it must be admitted
that if her alleged communications from discarnate spirits cannot be traced to
any other source, the claims of spiritism have been confirmed.”
Then he goes on:
“A few words, however, will make it clear to the scientific mind that her
phenomena can be easily accounted for on purely psychological principles, thus:
“Man is endowed with a dual mind, or two minds, or states of consciousness,
designated, respectively, as the objective and the subjective. The objective
mind is normally unconscious of the content of the subjective mind. The latter
is constantly amenable to control by suggestion, and it is exclusively endowed
with the faculty of telepathy.
“An entranced psychic is dominated exclusively by her subjective mind, and
reason is in abeyance. Hence she is controlled by suggestion, and, consequently,
is compelled to believe herself to be a spirit, good or bad, if that suggestion
is in any way imparted to her, and she automatically acts accordingly.
“She is in no sense responsible for the vagaries of a Phinuit, for that
eccentric personality is the creation of suggestion. But she is also in the
condition which enables her to read the subjective minds of others. Hence her
supernormal knowledge of the affairs of her sitters. What he knows, or has ever
known, consciously or unconsciously (subjective memory being perfect), is easily
within her reach.
“Thus far no intelligent psychical researcher will gainsay what I have said. But
it sometimes happens that the psychic obtains information that neither she nor
the sitter could ever have consciously possessed. Does it necessarily follow
that discarnate spirits gave her the information? Spiritists say ‘yes,’ for this
is the ‘last ditch’ of spiritism.
“Psychologists declare that the telepathic explanation is as valid in the latter
class of cases as it obviously is in the former. Thus, telepathy being a power
of the subjective mind, messages may be conveyed from one to another at any
time, neither of the parties being objectively conscious of the fact. It follows
that a telepathist at any following seance with the recipient can reach the
content of that message.
“If this argument is valid–and its validity is self-evident–it is impossible
to imagine a case that may not be thus explained on psychological principles.”
Professor Hudson’s argument will appeal to the ordinary reader as good. It may
be simplified, however, thus:
We may suppose that Mrs. Piper voluntarily hypnotizes herself. Perhaps she
simply puts her conscious reason to sleep. In that condition the rest of her
mind is in an exalted state, and capable of telepathy and mind-reading, either
of those near at hand or at a distance. Her reason being asleep, she simply
dreams, and the questions of her sitter are made to fit into her dream.
If we regard mediums as persons who have the power of hypnotizing themselves and
then of doing what we know persons who have been hypnotized by others sometimes
do, we have an explanation that covers the whole case perfectly. At the same
time, as Professor James warns us, we must believe that the mind is far more
complex than we are accustomed to think it.

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