The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-08-13

had taken up the study ot bvpnotism and
 had investigated spiritualism. He conceived l the notion that by putting bis daughter in
 a hypnotic state he coaii communicate | through her with the dead He hypnotized !, her two or three times a week At the end of two weeks he began to question her | when hypnotized. Do you see anything
 he would ask She would describe persons ! whom he believed to have dled
 Idiocy and Crime Ikduced.
 1 Up to this time the girl had always been at the head of her class in school Her
 father continued to hypnotize her at inter | vals for year. Little by little the girl grew morose and stupid. 1t times she | would refuse to eat. She lost interest In
 her school work ard no longer cared to
 mingle with her former companions Many l of her fathers friends warned him against
 persistine further with the experiments When last heard from the family he was l still carrying on his experiments through
 his daughter, refusing to believe that she was in any way affected by them.
 '"The case of MT. Washburn, O wheat deal 1 CT of Buffalo. who killed his wife and | daughter and then committed suicide Is | surely food for thought to the seeker after truth. In appearance he President
 RooseveIts double. even to glasses. He was | a hard-headed business man. but somehow he got the idea that he could help the dis | embodied spirits of the dead. He thought it mission imposed upon him. He
 finally found medium. who agreed to
 bring him into communication with the
 spirits. She imposed upon him the con
 dition. however. that he should always come
 alone. I finally persuaded him to let me
 accompany him on one of his visits I was | somewhat frightened by my experience. I
 am not believer in spir!tualism. but I certainly heard twenty-five or thirty voices around me MT. Washburn continued these seances for two three years. Then he 1 shot his daughter. his wife and himself I can not account for his act in any other
 way than that he was hypnotized into his
 belief and that his mind affected.
 Hypnotized at Q seance.
 : Cases of hypnotism have come within my knowledge that suggest that a person may become hypnotized by attending se- } ances or by being in the neighborhood of one While in Columbus, O., a youth came to me for treatment. He about 19 } years old. He said that he had desire to kill some one, but no In particular. questioned him as to how long he had felt this way He said he had not been pos l sessed with this desire until one night when { persons in the next room had a seance with a spiritualist. He was invited into the room. g but did not go He said: That night I B was very much troubled in my sleep. I would get up and walk tke floor There l seemed to be presence in the room. It seemed to have form. This form i'm K pressed upon me the desire to commit mur- |. der, but indicated no one in particular l He believed this inclination to be the l result of the seance in the next room That e would indicate that seance held in an ad- r joining room could influence the mind per ]. haps hypnotze, and that there is danger
 of becoming hypnotized by attending a se- ance. This young man seemed to be all 2 right otherwise. There is no doubt that r many people placed in a state of obses-
 sion through seances.
 Got Rid of His Wife.
 "A case which came to my knowledge in , 1893 illustrates to what extent hypnotism } can be put A certain man desired to get
 rid of his wife He believed that by hyp- | not yine haF aha he indH Iaax
 him of her own volition. He persuaded . her to permit herself to become a subject. 5 telling her that 1t would benefit her health, . He hypnotized her systematically every few
 days. On each occasion he suggested to
 her that she should dislike him very much
 and that she should make an effort to leave
 him of her own free will. In the course [ | of few weeks she actually conceived the , Idea that her husband was no longer ncces-
 sary to her existence and left him. She
 was not heard of for several weeks Sud- . denly, and without being able to give any account of her whereabouts during hor
 absence, she reappeared at the home of a sister As she refused to return to hGr hus- 5 band her sister invited her tu remain with her. Apparently she was we'll Within two or three weeks however, she began to ex- v | hibit signs of insanity. few weeks later l she was taken to sanitarium at the ex-
 pense of her husband and she remained there some time. Her husband, becoming . terrified at the resdlt of his work. attempted | sanity and returned 70 his home. but always seemed averse to his presence.
 Made Subjects Steal.
 "A colored man called Box Brown trav- 3 eled in England in the years of 1884 and
 1885, giving demonstrations of his skill as l hypnotist to large audiences. pres ent on the occasion of his visit to a town in Lancashire I saw him send hypnotized men out of the hall to a store near by. . where they were to steal certain articles . and return with them to the hall This | they did. Toward the close of the week of bis engagement many people in the town
 became afraid of his powers and refused ] to witness his exhibitions
 "I firmly believe that a man equipped y with such powers do much harm, bring s ing about a condition conducive to insanity, ! without being aware of the fact Many up- e orators. unaware of the condition which has
 been set up in the subject, are not In a posi- , ton to and do not know how to remove 2 | the danger.
 There are only two classes of persons | who can not be hypnotised. They are in-
 sane persons and idiots Persons can be = controlled by others of stronger will. per n son. however, who has no criminal inclna> t tions can not be induced 70 commit a crime.
 IL is important that a person should main - tain a positive attitude One should not 2 l accept what others state. but should in - vestiga for himself. We can escape all !; | evil influence by avoiding evil thinking. n Persons may be hypnotizsd. not only by per
 l sons who are present. but by those who are
 not. Business men are proof against inyoI- 7, | untary hypnotism because they are accus- VI omed to accept nothing except on it's merits e and their minds arc likely 10 be absorbed Il in whateyG they doing. They are = therefore, in a positive attitude"
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 r A Japanese marine <" s ex-