The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1897-12-29
HYPNOTISM IN SURGERY.
USED SOMETIMES BY DOCTORS IN
PLACE OF ANESTHETIcS.

in your practice?" asked New York
Sun reporter of DR.. Robert A. Gum,
who is a firm believer in hypnotism.
eyes," said DR.. Gum. Occasion
ally I do. But not as often as I used
to. 1t is not because I have less con-
fidence in it, but because I have been
too busy to experiment with it. I do
not think that the greatest success lies
in the use Of the hypnotic power by
the physician or surgeon himself. For
instance, in the case of surgical
operation the better arrangement
would be to have regular hypnotist
place the patient under control, just
as we have doctor simply to give the
chloroform or ether. Then the oper-
ating surgeon has no strain upon his
own nerves, and can give his entire
concentrated attention to the opera
tion."
els the exercise of the hypnotic
power exhausting to the operator?'
"Not exactly exhausting, but it does
take something from him. For in
stance, on one occasion I invited
number of friends to my house for the
purpose of showing them some expert
ments in hypnotism. I spent about
three hours at the work, and after they
had all gone I sat down at my desk,
intending to prepare an article to be
sent to the printer in the morning.
The subject was one with which I was
perfectly familiar, and ordinarily I
could have prepared the paper in a
very short time. On this occasion,
however, I was incapable of construct
ing a single sentence. I had no par
ticular sense of exhaustion; I simply
felt like remaining perfectly quiet,
and I finally gave up the attempt to
write that night.
"Soon after that I wanted to devote
an evening to hypnotic experiments,
so concluded to do my writing in the
afternoon and have it out of the way
before evening. Iwrote for over three
hours and up to within few minutes
of the time set for the experiments.
Although I had the same subjects as
before, all of my experiments were un-
satisfactory and some of them were
tatal failures. I had evidently ex-
hausted my nervous energy by close
application to mental work, and there
had not been a sufficient interval for
recuperation."
'fCould you hypnotize person in
the same room with you without max
ing an open attempt to do so?"
''Not unless I had hypnotized the
same person number of times before.
1t is always more difficult to hypnotize
a person the first time than it is after
ward. The more frequentlyitis is done,
the more susceptible the subject be-
comes" ..... -
"Have you ever hypnotized person
at distance?" ,...,
"Yes, in one case. !. had been
treating woman for insomnia. Ihad
on repeated occasions put her to sleep
through hypnotic influence. One
evening I said to her: lam not COM
ing tomorrow night, Mrs., but OF
10 O'Clock exactly shall try to put you
to sleep just as if were here The
next evening I went home so that at
10 O'Clock I could settle myself for
concentrated effort to hypnoti my
patient. I conjured up the pic.,-re of
the room, of all her surroundings, of
herself, and then I tried to put her to
sleep. The next day, she told me that
she had gone to sleep soon after 10 and
had enjoyed a good nights rest. Well,
of course, put it down to her imagina-
tion and concluded to test her. told
her that I would try again that night
at the same hour. But 7 did not. I
went out with friend and did not
come home until late.
"The next idsy she said: Doctor,
you didn't do as you said you would.
was awake until or o'clock this
morning. Iassured her that I had
tried to influence her and that I would
try again that night. Again, however,
I did not. I wrote until about la.
M, and then I concentrated my mind
on-my patient and tried to put her
asleep. In the morning she told me
that at 10 o'clock she was perfectly
wide awake and remained 80 until l
o'clock, when she suddenly became
drowsy and soon went to sleep"
"Is hypnotism used in any of the
New York hospitals?"
81 don't think 80. It is in France
and Italy that the greatest experiments
have been made. In the famous
hospital at Nancy, in France, thou
sands of insane patients are treated by
hypnotism' every year, and wonderful
results are obtained"
"How long does it take to put diff
ferent subjects under hypnotic con-
trolk"
"Of course that varies greatly.
Some persons can be hypnotized in
two or three minutes. With others
several attempts, of half an hour at
a time, are necessary. It grows easier
with repetition Some are susceptible
at the very start. I had one patient,
a woman, who had an obstruction of
the tea-rduct, so that the tears con-
tinually ran down her checks. had
repeatedly asked her to let me operate
on it, but she would not listen to the
idea. Finally small abscess formed
and she came to me again. urged
her to let me operate, but she would
not consent. I had noticed that when
I treated her eye I seemed to have a
soothing effect on her, so without-say-
ing ANYTHING to her I began stroking