The Indianapolis journal., 1894-03-17
Pettis Co
TALK ON HYPNOTISM
DIR. w. B. Fletcher's Address at a
Medical College Commencement.
The Central College of Physicians and
Surgeons Graduates a Glass
Programme of Music.

Commencement exercises OF the Central
College OF Physicians and Surgeons were
held at English's Opera House last night.
The lower floor and galleries were crowded.
On the stage sat the graduates, members
Of the faculty and board Of trustees. The
stage was decorated with potted plants
and bright flowers. The invocation by the
Rev. c. N. Sims was followed by a pleas
ing musical program 4e interspersed with
selections by the ;>eissenherz orchestra.
The first number rendered was the song
"Diletto" by Mrs. LOttie Adam-Raschig.
Prof. VIM Il. Fletcher NJ D., followed
with an address on behalf or the faculty,
choosing as his topic Facts and Fallacies
OF Hypnotism." DR.. Fletcher said in part:
you have observed that more is spoken
and written about things of which we know
nothing, and that which no one can know,
than about the things with which we are
more familiar: As my subject is among the
be required TO state the known. OF the
three professions that OF medicine alone
admits OF fads and fashions; the cut of a
clergymans coat or the shape OF a lawyers
vest may change now and then, but the law
and gospel remain the same. Fashions in
medicine are much like other fashions;
they move In cycles and come around now
and agasn-as the hoOpskirts affected by
the ladies of the court two hundred years
lines: , go " ' ~ ~
-lnS present and most popular medical
fad is known to-day under the name of
hypnOtism. 1t came up over one hundred
years ago under the special cultivation OF
magnetism. but eventually received the
name OF mesmeriSm. Under it's former
name some five hundred treatises some
OF them of many volumes, had been writ
ten up to century ago, but under the
lash OF ridicule and because OF its claims
esoteric doctrines the subject faded almost
into obscurity until the latter half of the
the present name and placed upon a basis
OF scientific investigation, which il had been
denied by the learned academicians of
"HyDnOtism Is a word l might say used
by the materfalist. mesmerism and animal
believe that there is fluid-a spirit or
psychical essence-which goes out from the
by which the person may be influenced,
controlled and communicated with. HypnOt-
Ism, on the contrary. Is regarded as mere
gestiOn Of one mind and the following out
of the suggestion by another. In mesmer-
ism there were passes and various cere-
monies to bring the person under the infiu-
ence though Mesmer himself found this
unI ecessary, for, as he could not find time
he placed basket filed with broken glass,
bits OF tinsel and shining bodies in his
ception room, around which the eager crowd
gathered and mesmerized themselves, and
were In state for the doctors examina-
THE history OF hypnotism as given by
numerous writer's goes back to the early
Egyptians In the oracles of Esculapius
people were cured by putting them TO sleep.
The Greeks, Romans Persians and other
Eastern nations practced 1T.
There is no doubt but that most OF the
my steries of religion and religio-medical
practice Of the ancients were due to this
suggestive power. No doubt but the ma
Jority of men have natural desire to be-
lieve in the mysterious and inexplicable
on the one hand, while the ambition, Gu
pidity or egotism Of the few play upon
them One of the laws of hypnotism is
that once hypnotized the more readily does
one again fall into that state
FIRST HYPNOTIC STEP.
1.-The first step toward inducing the hyp-
motto state is to strongly fix the attention
OF the subject, and whether this be done by
q sharp word OF command causing the
eyes 10 be fixed upon the point of the nose,
a revolving mirror any one object for a
few minutes. the physical change in the
brain is the same. What that change is no
one can explain. and it is enough to say
that an effect is produced. The roar of the
lion, the believing of the bull and the wall
Of the bittern will awaken a physical
change in his kind miles away. yet there
was nothing but the vibrations q the at
mosphere between them; Ii was a mere
suggestion that may end in terrific strife,
bloOOdshed and death. Undoubtedly when
ever two persons are brought near each
other there is an effect produced IL Is be-
word or motion. IL Is through this relation
OF suggestion that the worlds business is
carried on, that society is established. One
man has more suggestive influence than
another, hence we have leaders in politics,
IN affairs of church and state. II is by the
influence OF suggestion that juries are
cause TO bring in verdicts against both law
and evidence BY powerful suggestion the
evangelist brings an audience under his
control. making them TO weep for their sins
or shout for their salvation; by il peaceful
men are drawn into brawling mObs ready
to Kill. burn and destroy; by 1t the physi-
patients by his cheerful words OF encOur-
agement The scientific method of inves-
tigating hypnotism has not explained all.
neither has scientific investigation OF cleo
tricity light or heat told US all. We can
comprehend the forces. we can control them
under certain laws, but the causes remain
and ever will remain as hidden to the mind
of man as his own origin
The first condition TO induce the hyp-
notic state Is the consent Of the individual
to be hypnotized. hence ii is not possible
70 hypnotic criminals, insane persons or
any one not willing 10 be hypnOtiZed, but a
person who has once been hypnotized is
always easy subject for the experiment
er Another curious law is that the most
able experinenter may be unable TO hyp-
notze a certain person, and yet that per
son fall readily into that state under the
troll OF a subject a physical condition may
D. produced I'm some which is known as the
lesser hypnotism. which is a semi-eonscious
state. wherein every suggestion OF the eX-
perimenter is followed, or the greater hyp-
nOtism may be produced, wherein the sub
1ect IS unconscious. yet follows suggestion
bindly, and stih another stage may be
reached. wherein the person is In a pro-
found sleep
1T is presumed that most persons could
be hypnotized II they would consent and
submit 10 frequent and prolonged sittings.
The time consumed In producing the con-
dition in some is but fraction OF a min
ute, by the spoken suggestion or the point
ing OF the finger. while others require from
five to fifteen Ininutes. 1t is a fact that
fewer persons IN America can be hypno-
tiZed than in Europe, more In France than
anywhere. more in Germany than in Great
Britain, more among soldiers than civil
lans. An average ~ all the cases I can col
lect OF the last ten years shows that in
Europe about ten la one hundred and in
America about one ia hundred can be
brought into the hypnotic state
The hypnotized knows nothing that the
hypnotizer does not suggest or know. BY
personal experience / may say that / have
known patient TO undergo surgical
aDeration when water was used instead OF