Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1889-03-05
SUGGESTIVE HYPNOT1SM.
A SYSTEM OF HEALING OF Al
MOST UNLIMITED SCOPE


led the suh5scs-wishal Il L Ayssssy
ssiu-Excerps from IN Article b. . sksP-
ticaa Physician Who Investigated.
What Is the explanation Of these phenom-
email In the various scientific treaf'ses on the
subject several theories are advanced 70 40
count for them-theories differing mAeeaAuy
from each other and yet agreeing On some
important points The Nancy schooi nAs Ton
lowed the example Of Braid, the celebrated
Manchester surgeon, who was tne nrss 70
formulate rational explanation of the mes
meric and kindred states It's disciples reject
all theories of supernatural and mystic in
nuence; they deny the presence OF mag
netic 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 q 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, a reader may
insist, some emanation, some magnetic or
electric current must have passed from one
organism to the other" Not %; 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 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 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 a
strange bed, perhaps, or we feel some bodily
discomfort, or an agitating or perpexing
thought enters our mind and the slumber we
have tried TO WOO is banished. Auto-sugges-
ton has failed, just medical suggestions
may fail il 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, 10 be effective, must generally be sup
piled by another person.
Professor Bernheim defines the hypnotic
state as a psychical condition in which the
subject is influenced by suggestion to an in
creased degree. In this state he is in relation
with the operator, whose suggestions he &C.
cepts and obeys unquestioningly. These sug-
gestions may be trivial and useless, or they
may be and in treatment are serious and hene-
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-
fetal tendency. Thus some morbid habit Is
for the time controlled by a command or
suggestion acting through the imagination.
A patient is subject to periodical attacks of
some complaint-say asthma or neuralgia.
His system has accepted the morbid condi-
ton, which has become as much a habit as
waking in the morning or eating at regular
hours.
Such 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 n transient
difficulty of breathing in the one case, slight
pricking or burning in the other; but the
morbid habit is weakened, and a few repe-
titions Of the treatment suffice to overcome
it. In cases where the complaint is of long
standing little, of course, can he done without
perseverance, as a complete change Fas to be
effected in the constitution.
IT REMAINS A MYSTERY.
And still, though we see and record such
results, We cannot tell why or how a patient
in tho hypnotic state is influenced to his cure
We may theorize on this subject, but as yet 1t
remains mystery. Whether human intel
hgence will ever compass 1t is doubtful,
though great neurologists, among others
Professor Charcot, of Paris, are at work try
ing to make it clear. In the meantime the
friends of treatment by suggestion accept IT,
as we all accept much that we cannot under.
stand.
In what hands is vested this poweri What
gifts of mind and body must It's possessor be
endowed with With none that can be called
exceptional Magnetizers and mesmerists
used to hold that TO obtain an influence over
his subjects the operator should be in robust
health, as the process was extremely ex
hausting for both mind and body. They
no doubt found it so, as they considered
it necessary to concentrate their every faculty
upon each subject; to strain their will power
to the utmost; to employ much muscular force
in making passes" The Nancy school, be
ievlng that the condition they produce is q
simple result of psychical and physiological
laws, find that no special effort of will is re-
auired, and dispense altogether with passes
There is no physiological reason why the ma
jority of people should not possess the power,
to hypnotic, but there are the strongest
reasons why that power should be exercised
only by approved persons and within strictly
regulated limits
The continental physicians who practice
this system are wisely careful to protect
themselves and their patients with such pre-
cautions as they would use in administering
anesthetics, never hypnotizing any patient
without his own free consent or that of his
natural or legal guardian and insisting on
some third person being present--if possible
friend or relative of the patient The more
cultured and broad minded of them regard
the treatment not as a universal specific, to
be used against all diseases and with all pa
tients to the exclusion of other means of heal
ing, but rather as a valuable adjunct to these
in certain cases They choose not to be limo
vators but improvement to take away but
to add; and they work with firm conviction
that it should be the aim Of me,lical science
and Of its opponents TO press all remedial
agents into the service of humanity-C Lloyd
Tucke, NJ D., in Nineteenth Century.
Young Doctors Uar,iships.