The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1899-05-30
AUro.suGGES TON AND HYP.
NOTISM,
Mr.. sossaman Confirms the Opinion Ex-
pressed by The Progressive Farmer
on Page 7 L asst Week.

pressed by The Progressive Farmer
on Page 7 asst Week.
correspondence of the Progressive Farmer.
In your issue of 10Th inst. you quote
from Pittsboro Record: "And while
hypnotism may thus be made useful,
It may be made also hurtful or harm.
full and used for unlawful and Grim
inal purposes"
Now all writer's on the science of
hypnotism admit the wonderful infu
ences an Auto suggestion or a subjects
true character and trained habits has
over q person while under the hypnotic
spell or influences. The public per
formances on the stage is to great ex
tent responsible for the idea being
prevalent among the people not versed
in the science of %hypnotism that a per
son while under the influences of hyp
notism q be made to obey any sug,
gestion whether repulsive to him in
his normal state or not. True, you
sec on the stage a friend, whom you
know personally and have a great
deal of confidence in imprf So d with
all manner of incongruous ideas; made
to believe he is a clog dancer, a dog. a
rope walker, or a great orator and
then and there the idea is left with
you, that if my friend can be made to
act a fool before a large audience, then
a person can be made to do anything
while under the hypnotic irf1ences,
whether repulsive or not in his nor
NAL state. But such is not the case.
When q person goes on the stage to be
hypnotiZ9d, he goes with tho idea of
being rid cllous and max ing fun for
his friends, for he is fully aware before
hand what he going to do and that he
will also receive applause.
In other words, whatever is most
strongly impressed on the mind to do
before going under the spell, that will
the sub set do with the greatest zeal.
And whatever is repuIsive to him be
fore going under the spell, will be re-
pulsive to him while under the hy p
MOTTO influences. If two contrary sug,
gestions are Cffe red to the hypnot c
subject, the strongest will prevail
Then again almost equally plain, is
that auto suggestion as a factor in
hypnotis is eq1al in potency, other
things being Cql1l, with the sugges-
tion OF another.
There have been thousands of dem.
onstrRtions made shO wing the impos- |
Of controlling the hypnotic
subj 3ct so far as to cause him to do
that which is repulsive to him or
which he believes to be wrong. A
common platform experiment is that
of causing subjects to get drunk on
water under the suggestion that it is
whiskey. It frequently happens that
one or more Of the subjects are cor
scientiously opposed to the use of
drink as a beverage. Such per
son4 invariably decline in the most EN-
manner to indulge in the sug-
spree.
Thomas Jay Hudson, Ii D, mas
the folio wing to say in regard to an
auto suggestion, and what it is: In
it's broad Specification it embraces not
only the assertions of the obi ctive
mind OF an individual, addressed to
his own subj 3ctlve mind, but also the
habits of thought of the Individual, |
and the settled prin ciples and convic-
tions of his whole life and the more
rooted are those habits OF
thought, principles, and convictions,
the stronger and more potent are the
u to-suggestions, and the more diff
cult they are to overcome by the con
trary suggestions OF another. 1t ia, in
fact, impossible for a hypnotist to
impress a suggestion 60 strongly upon
a subject as to cause him actually to
an act in violation of the set
tied principles of his life. If this were
not true, suggestion would mean moth
ing it would have no place in psyche
science. because it would not be
a law of universal application. The
strongest suggestion must prevail
Expressions OF the will which
TIT ~ --