The Sunday herald and weekly national intelligencer., 1890-05-25
From the st. Louis Republic.

From the st. Louis Republic
Many persons consider hypnotsm sovereign
cure for many of the ills that flesh is heir to,
and its study has brought to light peculiar phe-
nomena resultant upon its employment as
curative, especially where women are the sub
iects. The remarkable rapidty with which
hypnotism has sprung into favor with many
physicians has allowed but little time for thor
ough study of these phenomena, or even for
their discovery, so that no attempt has been
made to explain them, while but a few have as
vet been brought to light, though it is believed
that many now remain unrevealed, which VIII,
perhaps, cause some prejudice to rise against
the art, leaving out of consideration the dan
gers that lurk within it when practiced by the
laity.
The phenomenon that is now attracting par
ticular attention as pointed out to a Republic
reporter by prominent physician of st. Louis,
who has dabbled in the mysterious power to
some extent, is the remarkable property it pos
sesses of causing women who have been hypno-
tized to any extent to become enamored OF the
operator. The opportunity afforded thereby
for amusing and sometimes serious rivalries
between fair damses who have been mes
merized by the same operator is apparent.
Cold and scornful beauties, who have resisted
the Establishments Of many men, by this agency
become so fired by the living Goals OF love that
they shadow their cruel deceiver with the per-
.sistance of a Nemesis, and encountering an
other equally assiduous and determined in the
pursuit of the object of their affection, immedi-
ately light upon her with the ferocty born OF un-
reuuited love, and the consequences are the more
serious because Of the length OF time their al
fections have been smothered beneath cold
aud passionless nature That the results OF
this most embarrassing power have not been
overdrawn is proved by a couple OF cases. re-
lated in all confidence by the physician referred
to, who expressly stipulated that no names be
used.
There is a young physician in st. Louis who
has become so enthusiastic over the study Of
hypnotism that he employs 1t as treatment
wherever possible. He has experimental with
itin the treatment of nearly every disease known,
and as q cure for headache, earache, corns, and
other ills he regards it as unequaled, and great
is his fame among the fair sex as healer, for 1t
is among the ladies that he has practiced with
hypnotism with the greatest success. lie little
knew, however, the nature OF the power with
which he was dallying, and perhaps 1t was his
youth that caused him to continue working
marvellous cures that have at last resulted in
placing him in most embarrassing position
Among his fair patients were two very attrac-
tive young ladies, both unmarried, who were
victims Of oft recurring headaches. Resortlng
of the young ladies, he soon drove the headaches
away and collecting nice fee from the papas
of each, discontinued the treatment. and, con-
sequently, his visits. What was his surprise
few days later, while in his office. to perceive
the presence of one of the patients, who tloated
gracefully in, and regarding the young physician
with rapturous delight and gaze alive with
affection, pleaded that she had little headache,
which she desired him to hypnotize away. The
unsuspecting doctor complied and the damsel
departed with one last long-lingerng, loye-lit
glance that embarrassed the physician exceed
ingly But that was by no means the last Of it.
Not only did the young lady repeat her visits,
but the other that had been afflicted with pain
in the forehead also commenced the same con-
duct, and one day they met by chance and
scene ensued, the particulars of which are Sc
curely locked up in the heart of the physician,
and which, accordingly, it will be impossible to
describe. 1t has been noticed, however, by the
young doctors friends, that since that time he
has lacked the buoyancy of spirits that was
formerly part of him, and that he is often
caught deep in abstraction, devising, perchance,
some plan of extrcating himself from his d-
lemma. Luckily, he is not married man, and
perhaps by leading one of the young ladies to
the altar, and sacrificing himself in this way to
the cause of science, he can secure some peace
of mind. He does not advocate hypnotism as a
treatment for ladies so enthusiastically, how
ever, as of yore.
Here is another incident, rather more serious
in its consequences, although the lady in the
case apparently had no rival for the affections
OF her aQOreQ, ana the cause or true love ran
quite smoothly for lover and beloved. The scene
is laid in little town in Iowa. young stu"
dent just graduating from the medical college of
which the town boasts hung out his shingle and
waited for patients. They came in gratifying
numbers, and one of them bosom friend
of the physician, recently married, who wished
his wife treated for sick headache, The young
doctor was an advocate of hypnotism, and i'm
mediately began to use it as treatment for the
wife of his friend. The result-a ruined home,
a divorce, and the subsequent marriage of the
faithless wife and the young doctor, who are
now living in the college town, While the de-
serted husband is roaming the wide world over
seeking surcease Of sorrow into which he has
been plunged by the too reckless use Of hypno-
tism.
''You may be sure" said the prominent physi-
clan lust referred to, 'that | would not allow
any doctor to hypnotic my wife or any female
relative or friend that was dear to me. 1t gives
the operator too great power, and the results
are not to be calculated or anticipated. The OPP
portunity afforded by this power for running
lives and homes in most cases, perhaps entirely
involuntary on the part of the operator, is APP
paling, and no matter how honorable physi-
clan may be, results embarrassing to himself
and unfortunate to families almost sure to
follow the indiscriminate employment of this
treatment where women are the subjects.
''By the way, did you ever hear of hypnotic
ing by means of the phonograph ?" continued
the physician. 'Well it is said it can be done
and that's another of the phenomena that have
been discovered in relation TO the mysterious
art The matter has not yet been widely dis
cussed, and perhaps not even broached else
where than in st. Louis. At the American