Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1897-12-18

"a kind heart" he said, would not
enable n man to cut open patient s
head and relieve the pressure on the
brain. all without particle of pain to
the patient That is what Charcot has
done. see" continued DIR. Gum, that
DR.. w. p. Wilkin contended, at the
Academy of Medicine discussion, that
IL was impossible for n person not
criminal by instinct to be made to COM
nit II crime through hypnotic inilu-
ence. think he Is mistaken. | know
! was experimenting one time with n
well known fruit dealer of this city
He is n most honorable ana upright
business man. Yet when | suggested to
| him. while he was under the hypnotic
| power, that he steal n watch from one
| of the company. he did so with great
readiness and as stealthily as If to the
manner born. May be-" laughed the
| doctor, che had an undcveloped instinct
| for stealing, but | doubt it."
How long does 1t take to put diff
| ferent subjects under hypnotic con-
| trol?'
"Of course that varies greatly Some
| persons can be hypnotized in two or
| three minutes. With others several at
tempts, of half an hour at a time, are
necessary II grows easier with
| repetition. Some are susceptible
| at the very starr | had one patient a
| woman who had an obstruction of the
ran down her checks. / had repeatedly
asked her to let me operate on 1t, but
| she would not listen TO the idea. Fin
| ally a small abcess formed and she
| came to me again. l urged her to let
me operate, but she would not consent.
| had noticed that when / treated her
| eye | seemed to have a soothing effect
| on her, so without saying anything to
| her began stroking her forehead and
| eyes, but only as If l were examining
| the afflicted part. She began to get
| drowsy and | quickly put her to sleep,
| made n slit and inserted "A probe. ex-
| tracted the matter, and fixed the thing
| up properly, then Weakened her.
"She wouldn't believe 1t when ] told
| her | had operated on her. so | turned
| the eyelid over and showed her the cut.
| oh, WELL she said. 1T was always that
way,' Then / put her to sleep again,
! inserted the probe, and left 1t there
! while / Weakened her. That convinced
| her, but when l went to take out the
| probe she screamed and wouldn't let
me touch her. ! had to put her to
sleep a third time in order to get the
probe out. After that she came every
morning for awhile, let me put her to
sleep. and insert the probe: then sat
| in the outer office for half an hour,
| with the probe in place, and after that
was put to sleep again to have it re-
moved"
Have you ever found that there are
| any after effects of hypnotism?"
NO, except beneficial ones"
what is your theory about hypnot-
ism?"
We'll. don't agree with number
| Of explanations, so called, which have
| been advanced. The physicians of the
German school ascribe all the phe-
| nomena to the influence of suggestion
hut they don't explain what causes the
condition in which subject becomes
susceptible to this suggestion. The
| physicians of the French school say
that all hypnotic subjects are in a
diseased condition and that the hyp-
notic state Is simply form of hys-
| terical seizure. l consider this an
error. / have hypnotized subjects
whom I consider normal and healthy.
| Hammond Beard and others who have
been compelled to acknowledge the
Genuineness of the phenomena explain
them as resulting from "a polarization
of the attention. whatever they may
mean by that.
II regard the hypnotic power as
concentration OF nerve force. Every
time we have a thought, an emotion,
a sensation, there is an explosion OF
nerve cells in us. 1t is this explosion
which produces nerve force. 1t is this
force, in n peculiar degree, which con-
stitutes personal magnetism. The
orator who sways his hearers to alter
nate tears and laughter possesses it in
| an usual degree. This nerve force has
| n particular character in different in
| diViduals. Like different chemical ele-
| ments, these auras' sometimes meet
and mingle, sometimes meet and repe!
| each other. When they are agreeable
| to each other there is friendship. When
| this is carried to n higher degree we
| have love. BY concentration of will
power we can direct the current of nerve
l r.,
| iiuence another person. by repeating
| this effort at concentration and direc-
| tion we gain more and more perfect
| control over the current and it be-
| comes constantly stronger. That seems
to me to be the secret of the hypnotic
| power.
II do not find any difference between
| hypnotism, mesmerism, animal magnet
| tlsm,or characterization of the ancients
| 'Hypnotism' is n term first used by
| Braid of England to denote the state
of sleep into which "a subject Is thrown.
Hypnotism means condition of sleep,
| nothing more. There are various
stages of the condition in which n sub
| tect may be placed. First-There is
the languor produced by the manipu-
| lations of the operator. If the subject
is made nervous and excited, instead
of quiet and drowsy, you may know it
is going to he difficult to hypnotic
| him. Second-Comes the magnetic
sleep. or hypnotism. In this stage the
| subject cannot be awakened by any
one except the operator, unless he, the
| subject, passes into a natural sleep
from which he will awaken of his own
accord. The magnetiZer however, can
awaken him at any time by word.
Artificial somnambulism is n further
stage, in which the subject may he
| apparently awakened and made to walk
! talk and act at the will of the operator.
This is the phase generally shown for
the entertainment of the public. Mag
netic anaesthesia is the next stage.
| In it the nervous senslbility is absent
and n surgical operation may be per
formed without the subject feeling a
particle of pain. The cateleptis stage is
tcle of pain. The cataleptic stage is
one in which every muscle in the body
becomes rigid; the hearts action is
materially diminished and respiration
Is almost suspended. Without close
examination the symptoms might he
mistaken for death. So profound Is
the stupor that the subject might he
literally cut to pieces without feeling
any sensation.
Magnetic clairvoyance Is n stage
Won mink If is because