The sun., 1897-12-05
IT HELPS THE SURGEONS.
HYPN0TIsM USED SOMETIMES Nv
PLACE OF IN.ESTRETIOs.

RE Womau who Cried-Sltss Hunt'n succes
as n mypnotIst-The suspicion OF = Bcsner
The doctors have been disagreeing again. ]
is not about anything new this time. Upoi
some subjects doctors disagree with moro IA
olity than upon others, and hypnotism ia ono o
these subjects. At q recent meeting OF th
Academy Of Medicine there was n lively discus
sion OF the merits of hypnotism as therapeutic
cal agent. Some OF tho learned gentlemen be
lieved In the hypnotic power, for tho eEcellen
reason that thoy Themselves possess II. SO thel
said. Some OF the learned gentlemen did moi
believe In this power. and their reason, appa
rently, was because they do not possess II, OF
don't know IL II they do. Every learned gentle
man thought that his reason was Just as good MS
that OF any body else.
There was also n learned lady present, and o
course sho had her own opinion about tho mat
ter Also. of course, her opinion was different
from that Of the learned gentlemen. Tho lady
was DIR. Mary Putnam jacob. and she said that
in her opinion women could never succeed in
hypnotizing a patient. She. too, had her reason
for thinking so. She had tried It and had failed
When reporter called upon DIR. jacob to ask
her something about her hypnotic experiment.
she declined to say anything about the mattor
She said that she did not consider Il q suitable
subject for discussion "in secular Journals u
She did not deny that she had attempted hyp
notism in certain cases without success, but she
deplored the fact that any mention of her re.
marks had been made in the daily papers.
DR.. Robert A. Gum. who is firm believer in
hypnotism, laughed at DR.. Jacobs remark
about feminine inability TO exercise the mystic.
rious influence. He said that Miss Chandos
Leigh Hunt, daughter Of Leigh Hunt, is one of
the most successful hypnotists in England.
miss Hunt is not physician" said DR..
Gum, "but she has been repeatedly sent for by
physicians, and has placed patients under tho
hypnotic influence while a surgical operation
was performed. do not know personally of
any woman physician who has made a profess
sional use Of hypnotism. 1t is not. however, be-
cause they cannot, but because they have not
given tho matter serious study and effort
"Do you. yourself. use tho hypnotic influence
In your practice ?" asked the reporter.
"Yes," said DIR. Gum. Occasionally do.
But not as often as used to. 1t is not because
Ihave less confidence In 1t, but because have
been too busy to experiment with 1t. I do not
think that the greatest success lies in the Of
she hypnotic power by the physician or surgeon
himself. For instance, In the case Of a surgical
operation. the better arrangement would be to
have O regular hypnotist place the patient under
control, Just rs we have doctor simply to give
the ohloroform or ether Then the operating
surgeon has no strain upon his own nerves, and
can give his entire concentrated attention to the
operation"
.Ja the exercise of tho bvnnotic nover ox.
hausting to tho operator
"Not exactly exhausting, but it does take
something from him. For instance. on one oc-
cason invited number of friends to my house
for the purpose of showing them some export
mcnts in hypnotism. spent about three hours
Mt tb, work and after thew had all zone sat
down at my desk. intending to prepare an ar
ticie to be sent to the printer in the morning
The subject was one with which was perfectly
familiar, and ordinarily could have nrepared
ths paper in q very short time On this occa.
sion. however, was incapable of constructing
a single sentence had no particular sonse of
exhaustion: I simply felt like remaining ner
fcctly quiet. and I finally pave IN tho attemnt
to write that night.
..Soon after that wanted tn dcvote an even.
ing to hypnotic exneriments en- concluded to do
nv writing in tho afternoon and b,ye ,t ont ~
tho way before evening. Iwrote for over tbrce
hoars ana up TO within Anew minutes Of the time
set for the experiments. Although had the
same subjects ms before. nil of nv exneriments
were unsatisfactory and some of them were
total failures. ! had evidently exhausted my
,,,u, 49,, g., ,pio ppo " 'uon'"i
work' ana thcre nad not been sufficient inter
v" i,. ns sp,"He pefsoh III INC salne
room win you without making an open attempt
to do sof'
.s "Hu '' p"o''Heu .he sahc person
n"n'oer vi tunes oeiore' IL Is always more
difficult to hypnotize n person the first time
than il is afterwnrd. Tho move freorontIr - 10
a., ,,,o 80. uo i,oFc irequeh'y II ID
uonu' lhe more susceptible the subject becomes"
Have you ever hypnotized person at a dis
..ys a., ~
iee' III one case naa neen treating wo-
nut hor IN s,oo,, ,hrn,,,., ,,I a
~. ~. "e, W. 1'oop .nr"uen hyphotic ihnuehcc.
ohe evening saia 10 her: am not coming to-
morrow night, Mrs. -, but at 10 o o'clock cx-
actly shall trv In mt Won m o,oo,, i,s, &c ~ !,
ware horo' sr, ,,,.t 'oa . w. ',"op .",' do II
were hcrc. Inc next evening went home SO
that at 10 o'clock ! could settle myself for n
concentrated effort IN brnn,,ivo ,,,, ,n,it T
.onimnSa wv, ,ns ~ ny p"o'iAo my patient.
cohJured up the picture OF the room. OF all her
surroundings. of herself and then tried to put
Ia -. ~ .H.' Wy one 'oiu 'ho '"a' sne
hau gone 10 sleep soon atter 10 and had enjoyed
n good nights rcst Well Of course 7 nut n
down to her Imagination and concluded to uv test
her. told her that i would try again that
night at the Same hour. But did not. / went