The true Democrat., 1898-01-22
HYPNO1'ISAL IN SURGERY.
USED SOMETIMES BY DOCTORS IN
PLACE OF ANESTHETlCS.


Operator-!Iypnotizins II Person ut q
Dist:nce-Thcories About uypnotism.
"Do you usc the hypnotic influence
in your practicc?" asked a New York
Sun reporter of Dr.. Robert A. Gum,
who is a firm believer in hypnotism.
eyes, said DR.. Gum. "Occasion
ally do. But not as often as used
to. 1t is not because I have less con-
fdenco in it, but because have been
too busy to experiment with it. l do
not think that the greatest tsuccess lies
in the use of tho hypnotic power by
the physician or surgeon himself. For
instance, in the case of surgical
operation tho better arrangement
would be to have o regular hypnotist
place the patient under control, just
rs we have doctor simply to give the
chloroform or ether. Then tho oper-
ating surgeon has no strain upon his
IOWA nerves, and can give his entire
concentrated attention to the opera
lion."
SIS the exercise of the hypnotic
power cxhausting to the operator?"
"Not exactly exhausting, but it does
take something from him. For in
stance, Oh one occasion invited
number OF friends to my house for the
purpose of showing them some expert
menss in hypnotism. [ spent about
three hours at the work, and after they
had all gone I sat down at my desk,
intending to prepare IN article to be
sent to the printer in tho morning.
The subject was one with which I was
perfectly familiar, and ordinarily /
could have prepared the paper in q
very short time. On this occasion,
however, + was incapable OF construct
ing single sentence. I had no par
ticular sense of exhaustion; I simply
felt like remaining perfectly quiet,
all I finally gave up the attempt to
write that night.
"i5ooa after that I wanted to devote
M 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 aad up to within a 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
total failures. I had evidently ex-
haastel my nervous energy by close
application to mental work, and there
had not been sufficient interval for
reouperation."
"Could you hypnotize q person in
the same room with you without max
ing al open attempt to do so?"
"Not unless I had hypnotized the
same person number OF times before.
1t is always more dificultto hypnotize
person the first time than it is after
ward. The more frequently is done,
the more susceptible the subject be-
comes"
'Have you ever hypnotizcd a person
OF q distauce:"
eyes, in one case. I had been
treating a 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 at
10 O'Clock exactly J. shall try to put you
to sleep just as if I were here The
next evening went home so that at
10 o'clock I could settle myself for O
concentrated effort to hypnotize my
patient. I coniured up the picture Of
the room, Of all her surroundings, of
herself, aud 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 good nights rest. Well,
of course, put it down to her imagina-
ton and concluded to test her. T told
her that would try again that night
at the same hour. But I did not. I
went out with q friend and did not
come home until late.
.. "Ihe next day she said: Doctor,
you didn't do as you said you would.
I was awake until 2 or 3 o'clock this
morning. assured 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 / q.
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 so until
o'clock, when she suddenly became
drowsy and soon went to sleep"
'Is hypnotism used in any of the
New York hospitals?"
II don't think so. 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 ore treated by
hypnotism every year, and wonderful
results are obtained"
GLOW long does it take to put diff
ferent subjects under hypnotic con-
trol?"
tsNe