COUEISM STRONGLY CONDEMNED.

Hokitika Guardian, 26 February 1924, Page 1

COUEISM STRONGLY CONDEMNED.

AMERICAN DOCTOR’S VERDICT. LONDON, Jan. 1. A ev-'i'e and closely reasoned criti-ti.-iu ol M, Cone's methods anil teachin • i- eonl nbiited to the January number Hi the English Review by J)r Axel Gmd Gib-on, a distinguished American am lim ity. The first point which ho makes is iliaL “there is no difference between ihe methods oi M. Cones ■auin-suggesGon’ and the method of Hie old ‘Nallev School’ ol Hypnotism. The will of the patient is overborne until lie Finds his mind rendered as plastic and responsive to the command of the hypnotist as wrought cla\ to the hands o! Hie modeller. The mischief ol this is that: In ease ol healing, Hie mind is made in icgi>tvr a denial oi the disease—a mental attitude by which the subconscious levers of human physiology are revel'led back SO a- to lorce the diseased cell-lile back upon it- biologic basis. Hut to cure a disease means something mure than to drive it back into Hi,. s ysieiu, ils force-eddies must bo di-xipitcd. Philosophically considered, ••,-uro” means redemption ot the illsDr Gibson next argues that Dr Cone's method is tot ally different from •healing through faith.” The Cone palienl, in place of being admonished in “go and sin no more,” moves away with his mind stereotyped by the ■unreasoning Cone formula, that lie is “getting better and better.” But. then- is an even graver count against the Cotie sysienl:

The deeper menace in the Cone movement- lies in his altitude to the individual live will. I lie patient is valued and deal: with only in his capacity of a feeding, sleeping working, and placing animal, with a desire as force and imagination as guidance, while the most important part of the nil the functions of human imlividunlit v—conscience and good will—are mu on I v ignored hut denied. And it is here . . . that M. Coolie is going more towards the degradation and demoralisation of the human race than all tile superstition and devil-worship of the dark ages. .M. Cone is charged with confounding “in a most hopeless way the relationship between will and imagination.” RISK OF CATALEPSY. The value of M. Cone’s cures K liar ply challenged : Placed un,bn- the influence of the holder's mind, the patient is not in a position to take in the full logic of the situation, hut gels his judgement i,ml mental perspective, with regard :o his physiological condition seriously -trained. For tlm deeper reason, for life is not only to get well, but, by an understanding ol the laws ol health ai-u to learn to live well and hence to remain well. There are, fin tiler, serious risks in the Cone treatment: It has been proved that the dislodg,nent ami substitution of the willing faculty in the patient by the hypnotic impulse followed by the inevitable abasement of his free will, has led to the appearance of severe neuropathic phenomena, in connection with which the rapid increase of the mysterious affliction known as catalepsy is perhaps the most alarming. The disease which brings into pathologic prominence the collapse of the willing faculty of the mind, is manifested in the loss bv the individual of his ueuro-muscul-ar control.

Cases are referred to of the most emllarassing and pitiable situations when an individual suffering front cataleptic disorders may suddenly find himself unable to take another step, to rise from a seat, or to utter a syllable. From a general medical point of view the cause of this disordei is yet debatable, though an association with outside control of freedom of will cannot he doubted. Tile final conclusion is emphatic against C’oueism: Surely the situation is grave enough to call for warning against practices which may lead to the greatest tragedy that can happen to human nature —the collapse of individuality and the debasement, of will. Self-conseions-ness must, be the aim of human evolution, and as self-consciousness has its basis in the efface of a free, unhampered will, our duty to mankind is plain and unmistakable; the unceasing protest against any practice which evolves a weakening of the forces that go to create character and individuality-, self-respect, self-know-ledge, and self-control.