The daily morning journal and courier., 1905-11-16

First KnOwn-Freatment in Medical
 Cases.
 Tt is perhaps unnecessary to state that the word hypnotism brings to the mind of the average person timid recol- lections of many criminal acts" says Harold M. Hays, in the Popuar Science Monthly. That is because few people hear of hpynotism in it's proper sphere, It is clothed with the garb of shame; it is surrounded with all the horror belonging to the age of witchcraft. Newspapers delight in depicting its bad sides, in painting to the world the crimes that have been committed under its influence, the fearful results of its all-powerful spell. To most it means a giving up of ones will to another who is superior, the crushing of ones entity by the power of another, the total abstinence of individual self-con- trol, the entire weakening of ones high CT intelligence. Vivid imagination sup plies the result-suffering hardship, la Dor and total subservience.
 ''The question arises, Why should hypnotism have been thus derided?' Simply and plainly because the ignor- ance of people in general has given it no opportunity to show it's good sides. Unfortunately people are always look ing for the eternal guIlible' and are not satisfied until they get taste of it. And as hypnotism was first practiced solely and is now practiced mostly by men who have made the world their dupes, the world has had to suffer in the advancement of hypnotism on a scientific basis. But it has been so with other sciences. Astrology and all cfteny are now things of the past; but astronomy and chemistry are their re- sUlts-two great and everlasting seien- ces. There is, therefore, still great hope for hypnotism; for, although known under different names for so many hundreds of years, it is still in it's in fancy, and the scientific aspect of the subject is yet in embryo"
 Mir Hays then goes on to revefw the history of hypnotfsm up to the present day, declaring that ever since the be- ginning of the world, call it what we may, hypnotism has been practiced- the influence of one man over another by a certain innate quality or by per- SOIAcdl dSIlOLlSAh udN1uS dEWdyS US6ILs He traces the hypnotfsm through the Chaldeans, BabyEonians, Persians, Hin- dus, and other ancient peoples, tell of its use in the Greek Church in the eleventh century, it's practice byPara- celsius in the middle ages, and by the faith heaIers" of the seventeenth cen- tury, in the British Isles and all over the continent, and declares that the rea- son why hypnotism was not studied scientifically until the middle of the eighteenth century was because there was too much of an air of mystery surrounding the workings Of the phe- nomenas, Whenever hypnotic power was discovered In a person, he at once considered himself as one who possess ed attributes which placed him above the plane of society. Suggestion was practiced as 1t always had been, but the true idea of what the power con- sisted of was unknown. At last, to- ward the close of the century, Freder- ick Anton Mesmer had risen before the world as the disciple of a new force which was destined to turn the scale on the side of science and forever after to present hypnotism i'll a new light. MT. Hayes then tells of the career of Mesr1er, and his experiments, which are well known. speaks of those who followed him, among them being Braid, surgeon of Manchester, England, who was born in 1795, and was a graduate of the University of Edinburgh. He watched the methods of Lafontaifle, a travelling mesmerist, and the methods used by Braid now prevail among those who practice the art nowadays, In watching the first exhibition by Lafon- taine, the inability of the patient to open his eye-lids attracted his atten- ton. He considered this a real phe- nomenon, and was anxious to discov- the physiological cause of it.
 BAIRD AND HTS CAREER.
 Tn two days afterwards, Baird says, I developed my views to my friend, Captain Brown, as I had previously done to four other friends; and in his presence and that of my family and another friend, the same evening, in- stituted a series of experiments to prove the correctness of my theory namely, that the continued fixed stare, by paralyzing nervous centres in the eyes and their .appendages, and des- fr0ying< the equilibrium of the nervous system, thus proved the phenomenon referred to. The experiments were va- ried so as to convince all present that they fully bore out the correctness of my theoretical views. My first object was to prove that the inability of the patient to open his eyes was caused by paralyzing the upper muscles of the eyes, through their continued action during the protracted, fixed stare, and thus rendering it physically impossible for him to open them. With the view of proving this, requested MT. Walk CT, young gentleman present, to sit down, and maintain fixed stare at the top of wine bottle, placed so much above him as to produce a considerable strain on the eyes and eyeids, to enable him to maintain a steady view of the object. In three minutes his eyelids closed, a gush of tears ran down his checks, his head dropped, his face was slightly convulsed, he gave groan and instantly fell into profound sleep, the respiration becoming slow deep, and sibilant, the right hand and arm being agitated by slight convulsfve move ments. At the end of four minutes, considered it necessary, for his safety, to put an end to the experiment.
 Baird became so convinced that his