Part 2 (2/2)

From these facts any reasonable person may make a few clear deductions. First, repeated strain of excitement in hypnotic seances will wear out the const.i.tution 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 a.s.sociation 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 amus.e.m.e.nt, 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 amus.e.m.e.nt, 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 amus.e.m.e.nt, regarding him in the same light as we would one who intoxicated people on the stage for amus.e.m.e.nt, 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 gla.s.s held before the mouth. Moreover, the patient was stiff, his eyes were dull and gla.s.sy.” 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 a.s.sured 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 a.s.sured 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 pa.s.sed 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 pa.s.sed 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. c.o.c.ke 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. c.o.c.ke says further: ”There is one contraindication greater than all the rest. It applies more to the physician than to the patient, more to the ma.s.ses 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. c.o.c.ke 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. c.o.c.ke 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 ma.s.s 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 cla.s.s 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 ill.u.s.tration, 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 const.i.tution 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 p.r.i.c.ked. 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. c.o.c.ke 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. c.o.c.ke 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 c.o.c.ks. 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.

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