The Cape Girardeau Democrat. (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) 1876-1909, 1896-12-05
MENTAL
III Medieval Man In a State OF Light
Hypnosis.

The Medieval Man In q State OF Light
Hypnosis.
II protest" says DR.. Mall, a great au-
thority in hypnotism. against the ter
minology which has been to 4 great ex-
tent adopted, and which many doctors
have helped to propagate. but which
is none the less erroneous. It Is often
said that ~hypnotized persons are
asleep and the two states have been
partly identified. l think this a mis-
use of words. since there are a whole
series of hypnotic states in which not
one symptom of sleep appears, and mis-
taken conclusions are often drawn from
the mistaken Technology, with result
ing confusion. Susceptibility to sug-
gestion is the chief phenomenon of
hypnosis" And he goes on to say that,
however strange and paradoxical the
phenomena of hypnosis may appear to
us at first sight. we may be sure there
is no absolute difference between hyp-
motto and non-hypnotic states"
Man carries within him the germ Of
the possible mob, of the epidemic. As
a social being he is naturally suggest
BILE; but when this susceptibility to
suggestion becomes under certain con-
ditions abnormally intense, we may say
that he is thrown into a hypnotic state.
We know that a limitation of volun-
tary movements induces light hypnosis,
which is characterized by inhibition Of
the will; the memory is unaffected;
self-consciousness remains intact, and
the subject is perfectly aware of all
that goes n a loss of voluntary move
ments is n of its chief phenomena
Keeping this in mind, we can under
stand to a certain extent medieval life.
The medieval man was in n state of light
hypnosis. This was induced in him by
the great limitation of his voluntary
movements, by the inhibition of his
will, by the social pressure which was
exerted on him by the great weight Of
authority to which his life was sub
jected.
The life of the medieval man was
regulated down to its least details. The
order, the guild, the commune, the
church, had minute regulations for all
exigencies of life. Nothing was left
TO individual enterprise. Even love had
it's rules; there were laws governing
love-making, and the treatment by a
man of the lady of his heart. There
were curious love-trials, one of the
lovers accusing the other of having
trespassed some fixed rule of love. So
ciety was divided and subdivided into
numerous parts, each having its w
fixed rules, each leading its own Sc
cluded, narrow, dwarfish life. Bound
fast by the strings of authority, medic
val men were reduced to the state of
hypnotic automata.
The religious ecstasy that animated
the medieval nan was especially favor
able to his spontaneous self-hypnotiza
ton; for. as Ribot points out, ecstasy
is mono-ideism, the intense concentra-
ton of attention on one object. an es-
sential condition of hypnosis.
The nSst striking phenomenon in
medieval history is that of crusades,
which agitated European nations for
about two centuries, and cost them
about 7.o0o.O COO men. People were drawn
by an irresistible longing toward the
Holy Sepulcher. which fascinated their
mental gaze, just as the butterfly is
tlindly drawn toward the candle. This
attraction of devout Christians by the
Holy Sepulcher manifested itself in Pill
grimages. which at first were rare, but
gradually spread. and became a univer-
.al mania. Bishops abandoned their
1iocesess princes their dominions. to
-isit the tomb of Christ. At the time
ST it's highest tide. the flood of pilgrims
vas suddenly stopped by Seljukian
Turks. who conquered Palestine about
1916. AS q maniac. when thwarted in
his purpose. becomes raving and r!o-
lent. 80 did Europe become when the
loodgates of the pilgrim torrent were
stopped. and only drops were left to
trickle through. European humanity
fell into a fit of acute mania which
expressed itself in the savage ecstasy OF
the first crusade.-Boris Sidis. in Cen
fury.