San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1889-04-05
SUGGESTIVE HYPN0TISM.
A SYSTEM OF HEALING OF AL
MOST UNLIMITED SCOPE.

MOS UNLIMl ! GD SCOPE.
Theories OF Eminent Men Who Have Stud
led the Subject-Withal, 1t Is a Mystery
stilI-Excerpt from an Article by skep-
teal Physician Who Investigated.
What is the explanation of these phenom-
ena9 In the various scientific treatiseS on the
subject several theories are advanced to ac-
count for them-theories differing materially
from each other and yet agreeing on some
important points. The Nancy school has fol-
lowed the example of Braid, the celebrated
Manchester surgeon, who was the first to
formulate a rational explanation of the mes
meric and kindred states. Its disciples reject
all theories of supernatural and mystic in
fuence; they deny the presence of a mag
netc fluid" and maintain that hypnotic and
natural sleep are analogous Professor Bern
helm quotes instances in which by speaking
to a patient who had fallen into a natural
sleep he has produced hypnotic sleep without
awakening him and without any visible sign of
transition.
The subject still slept peacefully; only his
mind had come into communication with
that of the physician. Then" reader may
insist, ''some emanation, some magnetic or
electric current, must have passed from one
organism to the other" Not SO; the relation
between was such a relation as may at any
moment exist between any two human be-
ings The sleeper obeyed the doctors voice
yes, because he heard it, and it was a voice
which he had perhaps been accustomed to
obey. Or he followed the doctors gestures
either because his intensified sense of hearing
conveyed to him the fainteSt sound heard in
producing them, his sleep being light or he
saw the movements from between his slightly
opened eyelidS a gesture made behind the
patient, and so cautiously as to produce no
sound, or made before, his eyes being kept
covered, says DR.. Bernhelm, produces no re-
spouse whatever.
A THEORY CONCERNING NATURAL SLEEP.
Dr. Liebault maintains that natural sleep
Is the result Of auto-suggestion. We retire
TO our room at the usual hour and make the
Usual preparations for the night. We put
out the light, lie down in our accustomed po-
sitiOns, close our eyes, try to compose our
thoughts. All this suggests Sleep which
presently comes, unless it is kept away by
some counteracting influence We are in
strange bed, perhaps, or we feel some bodily
discomfort, or an agitating or perplexing
thought enters our mind and the slumber we
have tried to WOO is banished. Auto-sugges-
ton has failed, just as medical suggestions
may fail if the conditions are adverse
DR.. Liebault tells me that he has frequently
employed mild suggestion as a means of self
cure; when suffering from some slight ailment,
such as an attack of neuralgia, he has lain
down, fixed his eye on some bright object
and wished to sleep for half an hour and
awoke free from pain. A true hypnotic
sleep has thus been induced, and he has
awakened at the suggested moment with the
pain gone. take it, however, that his case
is exceptional, and that the curative sugges-
ton, to be effective, must generally be sup
piled by another person.
Professor Bernheim defines the hypnotic
state as a psychical condition in which the
creased degree. In this state he is in relation
with the operator, whose suggestions he ac-
cepts and obeys unquestioningly. These sug-
gestions may be trivial and useless, or they
may be and in treatment are serious and bene-
fetal. But whatever be their nature the pa
TENTS mind is for the time being entirely
bent on carrying them out, and if SO directed
will act on the body to effect changes of bene-
IL
for the time controlled by a COMMIT md or
suggestion acting through the imagination |
patient is subject to periodical attacks of |
some complaint-say asthma or neuralgia |
His system has accepted the morbid condi |
ton, which has becoue as much a habit as |
waking in the morning or eating at regular |
hours
Such a one is put into the hypnotic Sleep
his mind is closed against impressions except |
the suggestion of the operator; it strives to |
obey this suggestion, that the pain shall not |
return at the usual time That time arrives
and the morbid habit tries to assert itself. /
There will be some uneasiness, a transient
difficulty of breathing in the one case, a slight
pricking or burning in the other but the
morbid habit is weakened, and few repe-
titions of 1.-THE treatment suffice to overcome
it. In cases where the complaint is of long
standing little, Of course, can be done without
as a complete change has to be
effected in the constitution.
1T REMAINS A MYSTERY
And still, though we see and record such
results we cannot tell why or how a patient
in the hypnotic state is influenced to his cure
We may theorize on this subject, but as yetit
'a'''ai'Os o "Nvstsrv Ayb.NthpE hrlIoau in..l.