The Penn's Grove record., 1893-07-07

md reiurn to his home in Prussia.
llthough the truth of his teachings
vas afterwards acknowledged publicly,
md honors were conferred upon him,
ie could not be induced to return to
Paris.
From 1872 till 1871, mesmerfsm was
oractised only by charlatans and to
Iuch an extent that. in Prussia, a law
vas passed, confDing the exercise of the
,ower to medical M n In 1887, it was
)ractised in London, and before 1910
lud been used in several hundred cases
n the hospitals in Iudia to produce
nsensibility to pain during surgical
operations. In 1871, DR.. James Braid
determined that th3re was no magnet
SIN, but simply q condition of the cub
ect, and it is he who suggested for it
he name ''hypnotis r."
In 1860, Liebanlt discovered the eff
ect OF audible suggestion upon persons
n this condition, and his researches
lave shown this to be the keynote to
The actions Of the hypnotic subjects.
Through his Investigations and patient
collection OF facts, a stimulus has been
yiven to research of this kind, and suf-
icient facts have been assembled to
permit of their discussion in a scien-
;ific way. Others have not | cen slow
10 follow this leader. In 1881, Dumont
md Bernheim attended the clinics of
Liebaalt, and since that time these
nen have been ardent workers in this
Geld. Bernheim has p t into p,rma.
nent form his own additions to this
science in his published book, "Sug-
FESTIVE Therapeutics"
Charcot, another French investi-
gator, has held an opinion that tho
hypnotic condition is one of nervous
disease, but the evidence adduced by
DR.. Bernheim in proof OF It's being
/ natural condition has forced Charcot
10 recede gradually from his former
assert We position. These researches
have been C rried on in Europe for
fifteen or twenty years. while in this
country they date back only about
I've years, and for this reason we are
to-day still dependent upon European
Investigators and institutions for our
most important facts.
H pnotism presents several different
aspects: first, the collection aud cIassi-
ication OF facts into u sc.eGc.; then
come the hypothe es, resultant from a
consideration of these facts; third, the
med cal value of this condition should
he discusse l; aud last, tho legal a pect.
The collection of facts has proceeded
50 efficiently far to allow of their discus
sion in o logical way, and from this
several hypothesis have sprung. That
Of Charcot has been rireidy noted, as
well as that of audible suggestion.
This, perhaps, needs a little explana-
ton.
In the hypnotic condition the senses
are sharpened. The hearing is. ren,
dered abno. mally acute, and for mary Of
the usual phenomena this affords suf'
icient explanation. A suggestion
which under normal conditions could
not possibly reach the subject is readi'
ly understood, and his actions follow
the suggestion.
The legal aspect of hypnotism, the
establishment of the responsibility fol
crime committed under suggestion OF
of evidence given while in this condi'
ton, has not yet been determined.
This will probably be properly fixed
when the courts shall have had more
experience with it.
As to the phenomena of hypnotism,
they are many and curious. Within
these must be placed clairvoyauce, fol
there can be no doubt of the existence
of this faculty OF condition. Among
professional mediums, there is lacking
a disro sition to submit to scientific
a~-1,t,ana Utha 1Anyaftn5 fAr narohTao
research have, however, found in Mrs.
Piper a subject who is willing to sub
init to any conditions. She possesses
4 peculiar power, the nature of which
she does not understand but is anxious
to learn about, and she has already
gwen about one hundred ard fifty
'seances' before scientific bodies in
europe and this country. 1t has been
Established, among other things, that
she has, IN her frances. a knowledge oil
facts not previously known to her, but
hose, except in very rare instances,
re Known to some persons Q al
hand.
A possible cause for some OF the
phenomena Of hypnotism is thus sug.
sested: The mind, through sight and
the other senses, is all the time taking
impressions. The different objects
which we pass in q walk along the
street are undoubtedly caught by the
eye, but the memory brings back tc
us only those few to which attention
vas especially called. But if some.
hing should render our mental per.
ception much more acute than It il
normally, then these other impressions
might be brought forward, and in this
condition we would remember things
which had passed before the eye but
which had been too slightly noted to
be remembered without stimulus.
Thus it is that there are two memories,
the active and the latent, and two con.
s~ciousnesses, the ~perceptive and the
sub-normal. In hypnotism, the inel
consciousness is brought into activity.
Prof. Fillebrown next discussed very
briefly soIae Of the peculiar phe'
nomens Of the hypnotic state, among
them, the curious feature of docking .
in which, when the subject is informed
that no other person can hypnotic
him, he remains always thereafter in
sensible to the influence Of other per,
sons; the brilliant results Of the rep
etition of the same experiment on the
same subject, a practice which adds t.
the striking nature of the shows o
professional mesmerists; the effect o
expected relations, such as the ap
proach OF a magnet contracting
muscle, q result which the known APP
proach Of any other object will secur,
equally we'll; and those other extraor
binary details of stion,
wherein a person influenced by q sug
gestion made during the hypnotic con
dition will at some specified tina