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. |
