The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1890-07-24
TEMPERANCE NOTES.
HYPnoTlsM FOR lNEsRlETY.

Extract from Lecture by j. II. EolloGg,s
-. D.. Of tho Rattle Greek Ssnitsrlum.
1t is reported that Dr.. Bernhelm Of
Paris Is treating inebriates BY hypno-.
tism. He claims to be able to create 8
distaste for liquor by suggesting that 1t
be given up without really hypnotizing
the patient. But suggestion Of the
sort Is of no service unless hypnotism
is really employed. It is claimed that
. suggestion made will remain, but this
is not true in the majority Of cases. For
instance, young lady had q paralyzed
hand which was 50 lifeless that pins
could be thrust into it or it could be
scared with hot iron and she felt no
pain. In the hypnotic state she was
told that that hand was perfectly we'll
and it became sensitive to every touch.
She could count the number Of taps
given upon that hand when her eyes
were closed, but when out from under
the influence. her hand was just as
dead to sensation as at first and this
after repeated trials. DR.. Bernheim
claims not only to cure bodily ills, but
to make drunkards into sober men,
and swearing can only also be corrected
by hypnotism. He claims it is one of
the best means of moral reform, all
that is required being to give the sub
jects good instruction while in the hyp-
motto state. Z.
But as matter of fact, hypnotism is
not really to be relied upon for either
physical healing or moral reform. In
the first place it is only now and then
q person can be completely hypnotized
Or Influenced at all, and in the second
place, only small proportion of those
who are really good subjects retain sus-
gestions which are made after the hyp-
MOTTO state has been thrown of. There
is nothing mysterious about hypnotism;
the subject is not operated upon by the
mind of the operator, but the state is
produced by the workings of his own
mind. In persons who are subjects for
hypnotism, they bring their minds for
the time into sort of vacuity or equi-
librium, ready to receive impressions
from any source.
1t is something like the mind in a
dream which converts the slamming of
shutter into clap of thunder, the
difference being that in dreams sugges-
lions take no definite direction, while
in the hypnotic state they can be def
nitely guided. 1t is wholly the pecu-
liar operation of the mind of the sub
ject and not of the mind of the operator
1t is not possible for person to com.
municate intelligence except through
the senses. Prof. Carpenter. one of the
most noted mesmerists, confessed this
to me few years ago. The hypnotic
state always ends in sleep and the per-
son awakes in just the condition he was
before unless his Imagination still car
ries some idea forward.
Travelling mesmerists have 'horses''
engaged to follow them from place to
place who have schooled
themselves to endure the pain Of hav-
ing pins thrust in their flesh and sub
NIT to other similar tests without visi-
BILE emotion. This has an effect upon the
imagination of the audience and gener-
ally helps to secure two or three per.
sons who are ready subjects to hypnotic
influence. In London mesmerist be-
Oauo oaAhfupU lIOu LUCK VI patronage
and his "horse'' sued him for unpaid
salary and explained the whole manner
of procedure to the court.
Before the discovery of chloroform,
hypnotism was sometimes employed dur
ing surgical operations, but it was very
unreliable, and the patient was as like.
ly to awaken from the hypnotic sleep
in the midst of the opera ton as other
WiSe