The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-06-30

living with her father, was hypnotized by
Casteilan, vagaoond mesmerizer to whom
they gave shelter. He compelled her 10
leave her home, follow him aud live with
MIN; She was rescued, all the facts fully
established, and CASTELAR, sentenced To
twelve years bard labor. In court he
onerea 70 give proof Of his powers. All she
remembered was being compelled to submit
to him by an irresistible power.
Or. Esdaile, a Scotch surgeon in India.
ana an exoert mesmeriZer The established
under the government in 1915 a hoSDital at
hooghly, In which he performed several
hundred operations under hypnotic auass-
theslal, had reason TO suspect a native
barber OF kidnapping boy under hypnotic
influence. His suspicious were aroused by
the boys appearance. He tried EXPERT
ments, which were repeated in court and
found he could make natives follow him in
voluntarily. The man vas condemned to
nine years labor IN irons. A similar cqss Is
related In Malacca journal of 1879. These
cases are particularly interesting. as chill
dren are extremely sensitive to hypnotism.
AT Nancy there has not geen a single failure
with children under IL years of age.
AN AGENT OF CRIME.
Hypnotized persons may be made. bv
means of suggestion the unconscious and
involuntary agents of crime. With regard
TO this point, which is the most interesting
or all, 1t is only right TO say that the brill
lant and scientific body OF Paris physicians
VINO practice hypnotism, do not greatly be-
ileve in tne danger. They maintain that
hypnotism is morbid condition allied TO
hysterla, which can only affect in its higher
manifestations a small number of people.
and they deny the all-important part
ascriced by the Nancy doctors to
the power OF suggestion. In
this they labor under the disad-
vantage of having to maintain a negative
position, which may easily be overtarown
by more extended experience, ana are
prooably-we may say undoubtedly
wrong. The susceptibility to suggestion
may not be so universal as it is thought to
be at Nancy; but its danger, when it does
exist, can hardly be exaggerated. AS Prof.
Beaunis says, ut is Of no use to try and
minimize the gravity of this fact. aud il is
lar better to recognize it as it really is, that
Is to say, the absolute power in certain cases
of the hypnotizer over his subject. The
history of mesmerism is full of instances of
persons in the higher mesmeric, hypnotic,
or somnambulastic states-the word does
sig aify-perfor ming acts in obedience
to the will of another, with
complete abolition of consciousness, of vo-
htion, and Of subsequent recollection.
There is nothing new in this. AS early as
loif lie fuysegur, uesmerS pupil, pointed
out the danger of the magnetic condition,
as IL was then called, being turned to crimi-
nal purposes in INSCRIPTIONS hands: and
Teste, writing about 1910. declared that
subject belongs body and soul to the mag
neither If he is base and dastardly enough TO
use the power" The Nancy doctors have
discovered nothing new, but they have de-
veloped the phenomena with greater full
ness and exactness than their predecessors,
and have lent the cachet of scientific obser-
walton to facts which have been previously
received with suspicion or openly secuted as
ridiculous or impossible.