The suburban citizen., 1900-12-01
SCIENCE OF HYPNOTISM
SOME OF ITS ACHIEVEMENTS AND
USEFUL. POSSIBILITIES.

from certain grade or ncllOn III
which a favorite feature of the plot
is the involving Of an innocent per-
son in crime under the hypnotic con-
troll Of a villain. With only these
sources Of information it is little won
der that hypnotism is regarded by the
masses as something like a demonia
cal influence.
Among intelligent people it is well
known that serious study has been
given to this subject for years by en-
inent physicians and surgeons in
France, Germany, England and
America, and that hypnotism is now
being successfully used in the treat
ment of various functional and nery-
GUS diseases. Comparatively few,
however, are aware of the great inter
est with which leading psychologists
are studying the power Of suggestion
upon the mind. DR.. Sidis in his valua-
BILE work on "The Psychology of Sug-
gestion," speaks of having performed
5000 experiments in this line in the
psychological laboratory at Harvard.
One of the results Of the painstaking
investigations into the power Of sug-
gestion upon the mind both in the nor
NAL and in the hypnotic Ctate has been
to show the great use which can be
made of this influence for moral and
educational purposes.
Three years ago in one Of our large
cities there was high school boy who
had ability but dsliked study and was
at the foot of his class. The boy was
pursuing an English course of study
on account of his aversion to Ian
guages, He was in fis Junior year
and his parents were anxious to have
him remain in school until graduation,
but the boy wished to give up study
and go to work. The director OF a
gymnasium who knew the young man
put him into the hypnotic state and
told him that he was fond Of study,
that he was ambitious to stand well
in his class, and to have an education.
He also assured him that he was par
ticularly fond Of languages and mathe-
matics-two branches for which the
boy had shown n marked dislike. 1t
was expected that the treatment
would need to be repeated several
times to produce lasting results, but to
the surprise Of all acquainted with the
case, not excepting the operator, this
did not prove to be necessary. The
youth began to work and in short
time stood among the best in his
class. At the end of the year he told
his parents that he wanted to study
Latin and Greek, and dGring the long
vacation he made such progress in
those subjects that he was graduated
the next year from the classical
course of the high school. In his
senior year he took trlgonometry as
an extra study for the love of it. From
the high school he went to Yale, where
he is distinguishing himself as a
student
Pesons have been treated by sugges-
tion with evident good results to inn
prove the memory and to acquire the
habit Of mental concentration. Some
Of the applications of this influence
have been very ingenious. 1 was re-
Gently told of the device of two col
lege students who had overworked and
were in danger of breaking down be-
fore the end of the year. In this en-
ergency they resorted to a mental sci
ence healer who put them into n hyp-
motto sleep every day for a week. In
that state all of their lessons were
read to them with the injunction to
remember what they heard On awak-
ing they found themselves prepared
for the next days recitations without
any Of the usual labor. Having OBJ
tanned a weeks rest in this way they
were able to begin work again.
With the exception of the last, the
instances that have been mentioned
are examples Of a purely phllanthropic
use of the power Of suggestion for
moral and educational purposes. I'm
doubtedly there are professional hyp-
notists who are conscientious, but the
opportunity for imposture in the mat
ter is so great that people are justified
in being shy of a man who makes
hypnOtism his business. At least one
would wish to be sure that the opera
tor is an intelligent, educated person,
of well-balanced mind and Of good
moral character before trusting ones
self to his treatment.
The power to hypnotic is not as is
commonly supposed a gift belonging
to few people, but it exists in all in
different degrees. Like all other Ca
pacities, it needs training and practice
to develop it. Composed, self-rellant
natures are more successful than tim
i'd, hesitating ones. Physicians pos
sess the great advantage that patients
have faith in them and are in the
habit Of obeying their directions. This
natural attitude of the mind goes far
in itself toward enabling the physl-
clans to hypnotic a patient.
The susceptibility to suggestion
varies greatly in different persons, and
radical results are not to be looked for
in all cases from a single treatment.
But a sufficient degree of susceptible
ty exists in everyone to make this in
fiuence a valuable assistant in over
coming undesirable mental and moral
habits and i'm acquiring new ones. The