The Holly chieftain., 1908-03-13
THE INDUCED TRANCE.
FRANK Anton Mssmsr and His Weird
Hypnotic Methods.

Hypnotic Methods.
Charlatan though he was. mankind
owes greater debt to Franz Anton
Mesmer than has generally been &C.
knowledged. AS the present writer has
elsewhere said. When Mesmer pub
lished in 1878 his account Of the mar.
velous cures effected by what be VISA
pleased to term animal magnetism. he
sowfd seed which was to render In:
evitable the diligent husbandry of to-
day" Grant that hypnotism had still
to be clarified by the researches of an
Esdaile. an Elliotson Braid, Char
cot. Liebeault. Gurney, before it he.
came what it is today-a wonderful
curative instrument and aid to psy-
Geological experimentation-gra all
this. and Mesmer remains the first of
a line OF psychotherapeutists and psy-
chopathologists whose fame. If belated.
is steadily growing. That he, should
have been rebuffed by the orthodox
practitioners of his day ls not sur
prising. When in 177S he went to
Paris he went with well. developed
sense Of the value of advertising. The
campaign he inaugurated was of
character to disgust the conservative
and thoughtful, but to take sensa-
ton loving populace by storm. Mosr
e1travagant tales of cures he had ac-
complished in Berlin. Vienna and else
where were noised abroad. Through a
convert he challenged the physicians
Of Paris to enter into a contest with
him. they to treat twelve patients by
the orthodox methods, he to treat twelve
by his. OF course this challenge was
rejected. and equally, Of course, its re-
lection was interpreted by the thought
less us an acknowledgment of the su-
periority of Mesmer's treatment. His
rooms were thronged; his purse waxed
constantly heavier.
The treatment he gave was such as
to appeal vividly to the imagination Of
the patient-in a word, to increase his
suggestibility. Suggestion, indeed, was
Its root element, although Mesmer
failed or pretended to fail to recognize
this and taught that its efficacy de-
pended upon the effluence of myste-
rious fluid. In room dimly lighted
and hung with mirrors the patients
were seated about circular vat of
considerable size covered with lid
and containing various chemicals. A
long cord connected the patients with
one another, while in the lid of the
tub were several holes, through each Of
which passed an iron rod bent In such
way that its point could be applied
to any part Of patients body. The
patients were requested not to speak,
the only sound in the room being
strains Of soft music. When expectan-
cy was at its food Mesmer would en-
ter clad In the robe of magician and
carrying an iron wand. At one pa
tient he would gaze intently; another
he would stroke gently with his wand.
Soon some would burst into laughter,
others into tears, while still others
would fall into convulsions, finally
passing into a lethargic state, out of
which, it is claimed, they emerged
cured or on the highroad to a cure.
Occasionally the treatment was given
outdoors, tree being "magnetized"
and the patient collapsing in swoon
80 soon as he approached it.
In such wise were Europeans first
made acquainted with the phenomenon
Of the induced trance."-From THE
Riddle of Personality" by h. Adding
ton Bruce.