The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1900-05-06
|. CHAT ABOUT HyPNOTlsM.

York drawing room. Tho conversations in
ueigcd In will appear in Tho Post each
sunday and will DO discussions about sub
lects OF general interest At the last meet
ing tho club talked about hypnotsni. and the
conversation OF the members was as foilows
Miss Pfnhole--What dreadful thing this
| HyTnotlsm Isl A hypnotist they say. can
make YOU commit crimes. perjurs yourself
AMI do whatever he likes.
AZ. TaGker--You are frightened at Hyp-
notism because you do not understand It.
Miss Pinhole-lgnorane is the mother OF
Fcar
Miss Plntoio-Ignorance is also the mother
Of Temcrity, Mr. Tanker.
Frot. pumpkn--Tbe fact is that no one as
yet understands what Eiypuotism is; there
fore anyone who pretends 10 do SO Ia uecos-
4 sariy charlatan.
Or, ouanIuni-For that matter no one un-
derstands what SLEEP is; or what ANYTHING
else rs In itself. We can only tell how
things appear and act That. however, IS
all that practically concerns us; ANYTHING
more than that is pryipg into Natures
secrets We. who know chat water is COM
poss,d OF eNyrsn and hydrosSn, arr Just as
believed that whter is one OF the four "ele-
ments' of which al thtnss were made.
,a S3ioasi hastef-hypnotsm consists essen,
,rue Tho hSDuotist is s!;nply successful
Rev pr. sNlsh--A hypnots, makes his
subject believe something which he knows
to be untrue 20 believe against his VIII.
. The liar does hot say, II am going to tell
you lie but YOU have got to believe IT,
liypnoiism is the subiucation OF reason and
| the viii BY a simple process the rationale
Of which is not vet understood.
, ~
Miss Primroso-I thought that Hypnotsm
WINS putting people into peculiar kind of
r sleep. Does not "hupnos" mean sleep in
I Greek?
Mr.. Tauker--Yes; Hypnotism means Sleep
,, ysm but that docs not tell us mucl. Dr.
Braid who grve IIypnotism it's name, sent
a LIS sub:ecta TO sleep by making them stare
at a small. bright object; ho found that
/ sleep PRODUCED in that way passes into n
curious state OF 'sleep-walhng;" when the
sub1ect talks nationally. but believes all he
n IS told by the hypnotiIer, and docs whatever
, he Is bid bv HIM. II was soon discovered,
= however, that good subject may be ma"e
c is called 'sucgestiblc,' without bdng nut
? to sleen; the hypnotizer has only to look
$ intently at HIM. and make assertions or
= give commands in an authoritative tone. A
. true hypnotic effect is thsn produced while
a the subject Is to all appearance in his usual
Miss rlnhole-- Is 1t not necessary In every
- case to tire the muscles Of the eye by maxi
IL ing the subject look fxedly at a pointy
Mr.. Taukor-That Is generally part Of the
: process. Looking inteutly and continuously
, at roint acts In two ways; II causes con
=, ceruation OF the attention while IL leaves tn,
mind inactive aud 1t has some queer effect
,, upon the BRAIN probably by tlliug or strain
i. INK the optic rerNe. The Fakirs OF the Eas.
: are said to hypnotic Themselves by sduint'
! ing al the points Of their noses; and II yod
81 try that experiment you viii soon begl
~ TO foel rather queer. both physically and
- mentally.
~ ~ Prof. Pumpkin-Your idea of hypnotist
Nh tl.gp hN shs mn lt,sa
~ neople believe things that they know in thoii
" ordinary state to be untrue; but that covers
"a only uart cf the ground, The subject comes
under TIE control OF tho hypnoti2er botf
: physically and mentally, for a hypnotic sun
resbon creates both delusion of the MIND
ga and an Illusion of the senses hypnotize'
y person aeiuallv sees the thing you make hin
~ believe TO be there: II YOU show him
:, lair rush fot instance and tell him 1t Il
~ parrot, BIG viii actually see parrot there
~, not q Lair brush.
st Miss wingar-Then Mephls;opheles was I
IL hypnotizer when. in "Faust." he made thu
,h people mistake each others noses for punches
nd OF grapes and try to cut them of
OF Prof Pumpkin Undoubtedly he was. Hyp
notism gives us the explanation OF tho oil
stories OF maRicians and their dongs.
Miss Pinhole--Then q hypnotlst Is grea
n deal more than liar. might believe u liza
,s who said there was parrot there. not
&. hair-brush: but the moment looked
would SEQ that Ii was lie; whereas II i
"a looking that makes the hynnotzed aubiec
iai believe.
Of Mr. Tauker-lt is not only spht that 10 do
h I ceiyed. but elso the other senseS. VI yo'
asst make YOUR subject stroke the hair-brush, h
m you hit the brush he Will hear his patfo
ne scream, and perhaps even feel It BIKE.
TIA DR. Quantum--Therc is another importau
-he dinerence between tho liar and the hypnotlst
m the hypnotzed subject implicitly oolieye
IN everything his hypnotizer tells him, whethc
SO il DO true CT rot Tho suggestion may b
the q confirmation Of what he already believes
60 or a contradiction OF It. In word. tn
liar tells only lies; bat the hypnotist ma
el' tell either lies or truths. ana is equally be
IN. lieved without question, The hypGoust !
a popularity COMPOUNDED with tho liar. onl
low because lies not truths, are always used !
'itb experiments. since they give more strlkin
ellis result.
orc prof. pumpkin-Well. II hypnotist ID nc
Ing exactly the same thing as liar no IS, at a
ItoT events, rharlatan TIE chafiatal p,pte e.
and To have more knowledge than he really ma
nto He makes statements which may or may hs
ink be true but which. in every case. ne -
tie, serts to be true. The "harlntan. IN inc
precisely what the hypnotist does also Wh'
makes anyoLe hypnotist is the TACT thl
A act Without reflection, destroying their doul
-, ar hesitation by the strange bower whie
ttie confident assertion. called 'suggesuon"
go. hypnotiss has qDon p hno .np .uos, ever
a. thing We believe whether true or untrue,
M t taken on hearsav or faith; and most OF u
,,o l things we do whether good or bad, Wise
, tno FOOLISH arr done because we believe what
and are tui1' ~ ~ ,,ooe.tIonii iii tho time.
tide "re uuuer SAe
FIT.
Of Prof. Pumpkin-Precisely. A good maj
tl, peope have already perceived the great tru
zen that we are all under mild kind OF hYpnol
SAD influence from the cradle TO the grave Sin
Iays the days Of Adam. we have all been hypn
ana tizlng each other without suspeetins it, iu
ad. as Monsieur Jourdan in hollere's play h
rae, all his life been talking prose without kno
LII LII ing It. We are also continually hypnotizi
ssnit ourselves into all kinds Of pelicfs-what ID
,'rsl call auto hypnotism. But OF course, peoI
,,,e are 'suggestible" in very different degree
lion and they are not all equally able to 'su
ana gest' others.
~ ~ Mr. Tauker-The "bunco Eteerer,' for
IL stance, is 4 hypnotist but not one man
0.O00 would be a successful bunco steer'
nor perhaps one man In a hundred be 81
-, cessfully bunco steered
~" Mrs Jolliboy-I should imagine that wi
rom men call Vaccination" In women-su
hins women ! mean. as Lola Monies or Cleopa
TICK lis in reality hypnotic power