HYPNOTISM.

Gisborne Times, Volume VII, Issue 351, 27 February 1902, Page 3

HYPNOTISM.

It is now five years since Dr Edgar Berillon, Hie editor of the Revue de I’Hypnotism, raised this serious question of tiie employment of hypnotism as a means of-education, and until the reading of his paper before the congress of the French association for the advancement of science, no communication on tiie subject had been made to any scientific society. Strange sights are to be seen, and strange tilings are to be heard by those who are privileged to attend the consultations in Dr. Berillon's clinic. Patient after patient stepped forward to the long table at which Dr. Berillon, surrounded by medical men and his assistants, sat taking notes, and told his or her tale of suffering. A woman asked to be cured of delusions which made her life a misery. She firmly believed that people were burned in France for their sins, and she was in mortal dread that her turn I would come soon. Under the will of the doctor she was brought to admit I somewhat reluctantly, it is true, that she was under a delusion. A few seances of this kind and she would admit the fact without hesitation. Most of the children who are brought to Dr Berillon to be cured have contracted certain bad habits, such as the habit of biting the finger nails, and the method employed to effect a cure may be taken as a model of how he proceeds in nearly every case : “ Having hypnotised the patient in an arm-chair," I seize one hand and the ■wrist and hold them firmly. I then say to the subject, ‘ Try to raise your

hand to your mouth and bite your nails. You will find you cannot do so. The pressure which I place on your hand is an obstacle which you cannot overcome. Now, when you try to bite your nails in future you will feel in your hand the same sensation which you feel at present. Your arm will feel heavy. Only the resistance will come from your own brain, not from my hand. The force necessary to

overcome this resistance wilt give you time to think of what you are trying to do and will allow you to use your own will-power.’ I repeat this exercise several times in the case of each hand, and the seance is over. Generally, the subjects feel the sensations suggested. F or instance, .in the case of a child wiio bites its nails, each time it automatically raises- its hand it feels a distinct sensation in its fore-arm, which counteracts the movement. This sensation is so pronounced in many cases that a real numbness is experienced each time the band is raised, but tins is only a,

passing phenomenon and has no illeffects. In some cases J have found the arms raised in the air in a state of psychic paralysis. You will notice that, these faults in children, these signs of degeneration, are nearly always the result of some bad hereditary strain. Kleptomania is one of the surest signs of degeneration.” “ Will you give me an instance, Doctor” I asked, “ of your success in the curing of this troublesome habit V ” “Certainly. I think the most remarkable was that of a boy of fifteen belonging to one of tho most honorable Parisian families. At first he was very refractory to my treatment, but I succeeded at last in overcoming his resistance. His Kleptomania was soon cured ; but that was not all —he became the most exemplary of pupils. In a few weeks time the influence of pedagogic suggestions was manifest to such a degreo that he became the head boy of his class, whereas for several years before ho had been the last. I had him under my observation for four years and there was no falling ofl in his conduct. This eminent Paris doctor, in his application of hypnotism to education, keeps well before him certain great principles which I would impress upon those who intend to study this important subject of mental orthopedy. The first principle consists in the necessity of studying the natural suggestibility of the subject, in other words, the necessity of diagnosing his or her suggestibility. Before throwing the subject into the hynotic state the operator should suggest tho execution of a series of very simple acts, and the result will give the measure of his or her suggestibility. The fact that suggestibility is | in direct relation to the subject s intellectual development shows the importance of tliis experiment. Tho second prim eiple is to provoke a hypnotic state, or at least a passive state ; that is_ to say, a physiologic condition characterised by the suppression of diminution of the various centres of activity of the mind and by the increase of automatism. The third principle is, when the subject is in a hypnotic or in a passive state, to associate psychomechanical action with verbal suggestion. The fourth principle is to formulate suggestions with precision and clearness. The fifth principle is, after having brought about unconscious and automatic realisa-

tion ofj suggested acts, to awaken tho subject’s consciousness by means of suggestion, and to realise the same phenomena with his or her knowledge. Finally, when the subject is completely awakened, the only thing remaining to be done is to make sure that lie or she can realise the definite resistance to the impulse or tho complete execution of the mental act without any other help than the intervention of his or her own restraint.