The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-03-24


 of the power of quiescent concentration faith.
 The amount of good that may be ac- complished by projecting the right thought-waves is beyond the power of the human mind to conceive.
 Hyr-Otism.
 Shy away from these things that end in Ism, my boy. From skepti- cism to rheumatism there's an ache or pain in every joint" (old GorRan Gra- ham to his son).
 desire at the very outset to dis abuse your minds of many errors that have crept in concerning this much abused subject, and to state few of the fundamental principles of hypno- tism.
 l. No one can be hypnotized against his will; the travelling stage hypnotist and the pseudo professor to the con- trary notwithstanding.
 2. No one, wLsn under hypnotic in- fiuence, can be made to do that which Is contrary to his settled principles.
 3. No one. when under hypnotic in- fluence, can be made to reveal a se- cret
 {. Impure or improper suggestions made to one under hypnotic influence will find no Judgment in uncongenial soil.
 5. Resistance to hypnotic influence is not due to ones strength of will but to the mental attitude.
 6. Hypnotic suggestion, properly ap- piled, is the most powerful brain build- ing agency known to man.
 2. Hypnotism is not, necessarily, sleep, but a state of suggestibility be- yond the normal, and may occur even though consciousness and memory re- main unaffected
 8. While hypnotism is the result of suggestion (not necessarily spoken), all suggestion is not hypnotism.
 9. Hypnotism, rightly defined, is an induced quiesence of the objective fac ulties followed by increased activity of the subjective faculties.
 Hypnotic sleep. says Bernheim, does not diHer from ordinary sleep. The one, like the other, is due to the flxa- tion of the attention and of the nerv- ous force upon the idea of sleep.
 The individual who wishes to sleep isoiates his senses, moditates and re- mains motionless, The nervous force concentrates itself. so to speak. at one point of the brain upon a single idea and abandons the nerves of sen- sation, motion and special sense. The concentration of the whole thinking being upon a single idea gives rise to the inertia of the will, which eonsti- tutes the basis of the hypnotic condi- tion.
 Hypnotism does not really create a new condition. Some persons are nat uraliy susceptible to suggestion. From a physiological point of view they are normally in the condition called hypotaxfc or charmed. In this condition they are less capable-or, at least, less desirous of resisting hypno- tic influence.
 A Brief History of HypnOtism.
 Hypnotism was preceded by what is still known as mesmerism. am not speaking of the thing itself, but of the name. For that which is now known as "hypnotism" we could trace back as far as the writing of Paracel- sus and even to a more remote period and then not discover It's true origin. In fact, hypnotism, although not known by that name, antedates the Christian era. But to Dr. Franz Anton Mesmer. is due the credit of having first brought the subject to the att tention of the scientific world-for which he paid dearly.
 After becoming imbued with the spirit of astrology and attributinE his cures to an electrical and planetary in- fluence, he changed his views and called 1t magnetism"
 At that time (1776), he discarded the use of artificial magnets with which he stroked the body, seeing that the same results were being &C., compIished by one Gasener, a Catholic priest, simply by manipulation, Dr.. Mesmer saw fit to call this animal magnetism" but his followers prefer the term 'mesmerism."
 Two years later all Paris was thrown into a state of the widest excitement by the marvellous effects of his method Of treatment and the many wonderful cures that resulted.
 While the medical fraternity and committee of investigation were obliged to acknowledge the cures he had wrought, they denounced him most bitterly because of his "flufdic" theory, and claimed that the cause was purely imagination" ..
 All this trouble and annoyance caused by mere theory and--an in- fringement on the sole right of the regulars" This status Of affairs has not changed much even to this day and generation. What mattered either theory or cause providing 1t was harm less and the results beneficial2 Facts are facts, the how but mere incident. The final outcome, as far as Dr. Mes mer was concerned, was disastrous to him as he was forced into exile and died in 1915.
  which time the subject was agitated again and again but without definite or satisfactory results until Dr. Braid, of Manchester. England, discredited the magnet fluid" theory and. by plac- ing the cause on a physical basis, gain ed the confidence of the public (and the physicians), to such an extent that the subject was at last acknowledged to be within the domain of the exact sciences.
 The next important step was to find a name to fit the theory and to meet the prejudices of the medical profess sion. masmuch as the result of the mode of treatment produced sleep, or a condition thereof, the word sleep" proved a key to the solution; hence the word "hypnotism," from the Greek radix "hypnos," signifying sleep.
 From this beginning various schools have sprung up, each with It's own theory but the results practically the same. The two best known and thor oughly established are the Nancy (founded by Liebault), and the Paris (by Charcot). The one known as the Mesmeric also has many followers
 To Liebault, more than to any other man, is due the credit of discovering the underlying principle, the masterkey to the whole situation. It Is summed up in that one word Suggestion" This word, Dr. Hudson claimed, will unlock the secrets of every psychological mys- tery. All hypnotic phenomena are the result of suggestion" in some form. Dr. Braid's method of hypnotizing was to cause the subject to gaze