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WOOD LIBRARY-MUSEUM

OF ANESTHESIOLOGY

HYPNOTISM MADE PLAIN

By A. M. Hutchison, M.D.

CHAPTER I

HISTORY OF HYPNOTISM

A few words are necessary to establish thegenealogy of hypnotism, and in so doing totrace its connection with suggestion and withall modern mental treatment which is classedunder the heading of psycho-therapeutics(mind treatment).

The phenomena of hypnotism or magnetismfirst became popularly known towards the endof the eighteenth century (1778), when AntonMesmer, an Austrian physician, came to Paris,and under the patronage of Marie Antoinettepractised the art of healing by magnets. Hencearose the term mesmerism or magnetism. Mes-mer claimed that he effected his cures by'theapplication of magnetic plates, amulets, rings,and collars, which were charged with magneticfluid, and that it was in his power to directthe flow of the magnetised fluid through thebody by means of manipulations and passes.Mesmer held seances to which flocked peopleof all classes of society, among them many dis-tinguished men and women of the court ofLouis XVI. These seances were held in adimly lighted room to the accompaniment ofmusic, the proceedings being directed by Mee-mer himself clad in yellow robes and bear-

2 HYPNOTISM MADE PLAIN

ing a wand in his hand. In order to facilitateproceedings on account of the numbers, a largemagnetised tub or "baquet" was placed in thecentre of the room, those desiring treatmentbeing arranged round it in a circle and con-nected to it by means of iron wires capable ofapplication to various parts of the body. Inthis way large numbers of people could betreated at the same time. Mesmer regardedcrises or convulsions as a necessary part ofthe cure, and these were indeed only too easilyproduced in an atmosphere so surcharged withexcitement. By degrees Mesmer and his workfell into disrepute, he himself was ridiculed inburlesque poems and songs, and finally thedeath-blow was given to his cures by the con-demnatory report of a body of scientific menwho had been appointed by the Royal Academyof Medicine to enquire into them. Mesmertherefore shook the dust of Paris from hisfeet. His teaching however was repressed inappearance only, and the French Revolutionwhich followed soon after was the means ofspreading it in several countries, in conse-quence of the forced expatriation of many ofhis devoted followers. Though it is the customnow to decry Mesmer as a humbug and animpostor, we cannot afford to forget that inspite of the errors of his teaching he wasthe first pioneer of all modern psychotherapy.

In 1784 a pupil of Mesmer, the Marquis dePuysgur, revived his teaching, but carried outthe cures in more normal and healthy fashion.The Marquis, a man of gentle and kindlynature, aimed at effecting cures not by soe-

HYPNOTISM MADE PLAIN 8

vulsions, but by magnetic sleep. It is reportedthat patients came to him from great distances,and were thrown into gentle sleep while seatedround a magnetised tree in his domain, and thatnumbers went away relieved of various ills.

In' more recent times there have been tworival French schools of hypnotism, representedrespectively by Charcot and Richet at theSalpitribre Hospital in Paris, and by Liebaultand later by his pupil Bernheim at Nancy;Charcot and Liebault being now both dead.According to Charcot and his disciples, thehypnotic state is merely a manifestation ofhysteria, and it with its accompanying phen-omena of anesthesia, catalepsy, exaggeratedsuggestibility, &c., can only be evoked in hys-terical subjects. This view has been con-troverted and shown to be absolutely erroneousnot only by Liebault and Bernheim, but by allmodern hypnotists, who have amply demon-strated the fact that these phenomena can beinduced in perfectly normal individuals of bothsexes, not only during the hypnotic trance, butto a certain extent in the waking state. Weshall dwell upon this in greater detail in asubsequent chapter.

Liebault, the exponent of the Nancy school,may be regarded as the founder of all modernpsycho-therapeutics, and to him is due thehonor of having cleared this branch of medicinefrom the opprobrium which Mesmer's methodshad unfortunately cast upon it.

Liebault settled in Nancy in 1864 and fortwenty years worked quietly, simply, andignored by the medical profession at his dis-


pensary, which was daily thronged by crowdsof suffering people. He was beloved by hispoorest patients, and to this fact doubtless heowed much of the wonderful influence heexercised over their diseases. He would ac-cept no fees, lest it should be said that hepractised hypnotism in order to make mcney.It is reported that he said to his patients:"If you want drugs I will give them, but youwill have to pay me; if you will allow me tohypnotise you, I will do it for nothing."

Liebault's contention was that it is sug-gestion that induces this so-called hypnoticsleep and the phenomena evoked during it, andnot either a magnetic fluid or the psycho-phy-sical effect of concentration of mind and eyeson a bright object. This latter theory, as weshall see later, had been already advocatedby Braid. Therefore in order to induce hyp-nosis, Liebault availed himself of neither mnip-ulations nor of fixation of the eyes on abright object, but instructed the patient togaze steadily into his eyes, whilst he suggestedthe phenomena of sleep in detail: "Your eye-lids are heavy; you can hardly keep your eyesopen," and so on. Having by this means in-duced sleep, he proceeded to give curative sug-gestions -which varied according to the maladyof body or mind to be treated.

To Bernheim (1882), a pupil of Liebault, isdue the honor of having realised the value ofthe work that was being done so quietly andunobtrusively at Nancy, and of having madeLiebault and his work known to the world.Bernheim has still further modified the teach-


ing of Liebault by pointing out that the pheno-mena of anaesthesia, suggestibility, &c., whichthe latter regarded as being peculiar to thestate of hypnotic sleep, can be induced withequal readiness during the pre-hypnotic orslightly drowsy state. Bernheim has thus ad-vocated and carried out treatment by sugges-tion without the previous induction of deephypnotic sleep, and in this many have followedhis lead, adopting it as the basis of modernpsycho-therapy. Even this method has beenstill further modified, due to the teaching ofDr. Dubois of Berne, so that now persuasionby clear and convincing reasoning in the wak.ing state and without hypnotism has taken itsplace as a branch of modern psycho-therapeutics.

We thus see that the term psycho-therapeu-tics must be accepted as covering several formsof treatment: suggestion during the hypnoticsleep, suggestion in the pre-hypnotic or slight-ly drowsy state, persuasion in the waking state,and we might add, re-education in its variousforms.

We must now turn our attention to the workof various English physicians who during thissame period were doing pioneer work in Eng-land on the same lines as those of the Frenchworkers, and with the same opposition. Thefirst name of note is that of John Elliotson,who was led to interest himself in mesmerismin 1837 through the influence of a Frenchnobleman, at whose house leading members ofthe medical profession had met, to witness vari-ous experiments. Elliotson was at that time

6 HYMNOTISM MADE PLAIN

one of the foremost physicians in London andPresident of the Royal Medical and ChirurgicalSocieties. He availed hinself of his positionon the staff of University College Hospital touse mesmerism in treating patients sufferingfrom various diseases, and had special successin treating hysteria and allied nervous states.Soon, however, a storm of opposition was raisedby his colleagues, who heaped ridicule uponhim and finally made matters so uncomfortable,that Elliotson was called upon by the hospitalauthorities to desist from using mesmerism.This he refused to do and was therefore forcedto resign his position as hospital physician.He continued however to use mesmerism inhis private practice, and widely spread hisviews with the help of several sympathisers,by the publication of a journal, the Zoist, whichcontinued to appear quarterly for thirteenyears.

James Esdaile, a surgeon in the service ofthe East India Company, was led in 1845 tointerest himself in mesmerism by reading ofElliotson's work and views in the Zoist. Hewas at that time in charge of the native hos-pital at Hooghly, and welcomed the use ofmesmeric sleep for operative work, chloroformbeing then unknown. As a result of the greatsuccess which followed his first attempt hewas able to report seventy-five painless op-erations to his Medical Board, who howeverignored the letter. Later, after an investiga-tion of his work by a specially appointed com-mittee, he was placed by Government in chargeof a larger hospital at Calcutta. In spite


of his splendid success here, and in spite of aninfluential petition testifying to this and pray-ing that the hospital should remain open, it wasat the end of a year closed by Government.Esdaile continued his work in a hospital whichwas specially opened for him by numerous In-dian admirers and sympathisers. At the endof six months however, Government once againappointed him to the Sarkea's Lane Hospital inCalcutta, and he continued to work there, do-ing thousands of painless operations, till heleft India in 1851. Esdaile's closing years, af-ter his return to Scotland, were saddened andembittered by the antagonistic attitude of themedical profession and by the refusal of medi-cal journals to publish the results of his op-erative work under mesmerism.

There is yet a third name of note to bementioned, that of James Braid, a surgeon ofManchester, whose pioneer work, begun in 1841,was of great value as it concerned itself notonly with the practical application of hypno-tism, but with an attempt to study and under-stand its phenomena. It was as a result ofhis work that in England the word mesmerismnow gave place to hypnotism, from hypnosis-sleep. Braid was unfortunately regarded byElliotson and Esdaile as an opponent becausehe maintained that the phenomena of hypno-tism were due neither to the action of magnetsnor to any peculiar fluid or force.

Braid discovered that hypnotic sleep couldbe induced in a patient by causing him to fixhis eyes intently on a bright object held at ashort distance above the head, with accompany-


ing concentration of the mind on the sameobject. He also noted that the depth of thesleep varied in different people from slightdrowsiness to a state of complete unconscious-ness, and suggested limiting the term hypnoticsleep to those cases where on awakening entireforgetfulness of all that had transpired duringsleep was acknowledged. Braid laid the founda-tion of the theories elaborated later by Myersand Carpenter, in which an attempt is madeto explain the phenomena of hypnotism by anacceptance of the view of subliminal conscious-ness. Like his predecessors, Braid received butsmall encouragement from the medical profes-sion in this country, but was held in high honorby the German workers who were at this timeinteresting themselves in hypnotism and in itspractical application in medical practice.

Among the German pioneers of note mustbe mentioned Heidenhain, a contemporary of

'Braid, Krafft-Ebing, Preyer and Eulenburg,Wetterstrand, and more recently Forel andMoll, but it is not within the compass of thissmall book to take special note of their work.

At the present time treatment by hypnotismis fully recognised on the Continent as a branchof medicine, and dispensaries exist in France,Germany, and Switzerland where such treat-ment is given at popular prices. In Britainno such dispensaries have yet been opened, butthe use of hypnotism has spread greatly in'private practice, and in miost of the largetowns in England one or more hypnotists maybe found. A society exists, the Psycho-MedicalSociety, whose object it is to unite all workers


and to further the study of hypnotism bothfrom the scientific and the practical side.

CHAPTER II

METHODS OF INDUCING HYPNOSIS

Modern methods of inducing hypnosis arebased upon either the method of Braid or thatof Liebault, or a combination of the two, andvary according to the individuality of thehypnotist. Some hynotists still in certain casesemploy passes to endeavor to deepen hypnoticsleep, when such deepening is deemed necessaryfor treatment.

These various methods may be classed as (t)Physical methods and (b) Psychical methods,though in ordinary practice, as we have seen,such varied combinations of the two are used,that a rigid classification is not always pos-sible. Among the Physical methods we mightinclude all those where sleep is induced byholding a finger or any bright object at an un-comfortable angle above the eyes, the operatormeantime stroking the patient's forehead andsuggesting sleep; or again, the employment ofany form of revolving clock which inducessleep by its continuous monotonous noise in thesame way that waves breaking on the seashoreor the throbbing of the ship's engines at seahave the power to do; or again, the employmentof Luy's revolving mirror, a modification ofthe bird-catcher's device for hypnotising andanaring birds, which doubtless owes some of


its efficacy to the directions and suggestionswhich are given during its use. Passes mayalso be included here, and it may not be amissto give a word of explanation about them.Passes are commonly used to test a person'ssusceptibility to hypnosis. In order to do thisthe operator places himself at the patient'sback, and slowly makes passes with both handsfrom the back of the head to end of the spine.This causes in many people a distinct inclina-tion to sway backward, which is accepted as apositive indication. When usi;n passes withthe purpose of inducing hypnosis, it is custom-ary to first place the patient in a relaxedposition on a couch, and then to draw bothhands from the crown of the head over the pitof the stomach to the feet, avoiding actual con-tact. These movements are repeated untildrowsiness is induced, this drowsiness being insome people accompanied by a sensation ofwarmth and prickling.

Under Psychical methods we may include allmodifications of Liebault's method, which wasas follows: The patient was placed in an arm-chair, instructed to think of nothing and togaze at the operator. In this way attentionwas arrested. The phenomena of sleep werenow suggested in detail, and if the eyelids didnot close spontaneously, they were closed andthe following suggestions were given: "Youreyelids are heavy; your limbs feel numb; yotare getting more and more drowsy," &c. Thiswas continued for a minute or two till the de-sired degree of drowsiness was induced.

In all attempts to induce hynosis for sUg-


gestion treatment we would emphasise the fol-lowing points as being of importance:

It is necessary that all fears and nervous-ness on the part of the patient should first bedissipated by a frank and friendly talk, andthat the operator, by the exercise of all the tact,sympathy and insight at his command, shouldnot only create a sympathetic atmosphere, butshould make the patient feel that he has com-mand of the situation, and is capable of notonly entering into the peculiar difficulties ofeach case, but is also confident of being able togive the help which is sought. The furtherobject of such a talk is to allow the operatorto grasp the patient's character, so that hemay not only get at the causes which thepatient puts forward as being responsible forhis illness, but may read for himself the deepercauses of defects of temperament and character-the fundamental causes so to speak, whichmust be attacked if a permanent cure is to beattained.

It is customary to insist upon monotonousenvironment and absence of noise as necessaryto induce hypnosis. While we fully realise thatin most cases these are of great help, it hason the other hand been our experience thatthe majority of patients if instructed to dis-regard noises are fully capable of doing so, andthat deep hypnosis can be induced amid theclatter of pots and pans in a poor dwelling.

It is of the utmost importance to instructthe patient how to relax his limbs and his wholebody, even to unclenching his jaw, and to dothis in some little detail, so that he may realise

81


the importance of practising such relaxation forhimself. There is no doubt that many of us,by our inability to relax our muscles and joints,rob ourselves of some of the rest which weso greatly need in this life of rush and hurry.

Of equal importance is it to instruct thepatient how to relax his mind, either by at-tempting to cut off all inflowing thoughts andto make his mind as nearly as possible a blank,or by letting the mind dwell drowsily on apleasant thought or on the details of a pleasantscene.

These points having been attended to, it iscustomary and helpful to prepare the patientstill further by explaining that gradually as hecontinues to steadfastly gaze at the operator'sfinger, his eyelids will become weighted andtired, a sensation of heaviness will pass overhis body, and he will finally feel impelled toclose his eyes and to rest. Attention is thenarrested by making the patient fix his eyes onthe operator's fingers and the preceding di-rections are repeated. It has been found thatstroking the skin of the forehead and templesis in most people of great service in quietingany nervousness or excitement and in inducinga state of drowsiness.

Hypnotic sleep is a means to an end, which isthe giving of suggestions suitable to the diseasefor which treatment is sought. As we shallsee in a later chapter hypnosis greatly in-creases the suggestibility of the patient andso facilitates the work of cure. During thispassive state of body and mind the working ofthe conscious mind is for the time being in


abeyance, and suggestions penetrate direct tothe subconscious mind and are received andacted upon.

Varying figures are given in estimating thepercentage of people who are hypnotisable,some estimating these at 90 per cent, others at10 or 20 per cent; these differences being how-ever readily explained by the fact that the oneestimate includes cases showing every degreeof sleep, while the other refers to cases of deepsleep only. It is calculated that only about oneperson in every ten reaches the state of deepsleep or somnambulism.

There have been numerous classifications ofthe stages of hypnosis, but for present purposesit will be sufficient to give the short practicalclassification of Forel.

1. Somnolence or sleepiness, in which the in-fluenced person can resist suggestions and openhis eyes.

2. Light sleep, in which the eyes cannot beopened and obedience to suggestions is obliga-tory, but there is no loss of memory on awaken-ing.

3. Deep sleep or somnambulism with amnesia(loss of memory), and fine post-hypnoticeffects.

The first stage is as a rule all that is requiredfor medical treatment, and with this degree ofhypnosis alone, many cases of marked benefitand cure have been reported. So slight areits effects, that it is common for those whohave experienced it to maintain that they havenot been in the hypnotic state, as they heardand remembered everything that was said

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though they were conscious of a quieting andsoothing influence. Two points may be men-tioned which differentiate this slight state ofhypnosis from ordinary restfulness: (a) thatduring it the patient shows an extraordinaryimmobility, making no movement of his limbsnor attempting to change his posture, and (b)that during it suggestions are accepted andacted upon which were not accepted in thewaking state.

It is so commonly believed that people canbe hypnotised against their will, that we feelit necessary to state clearly that this is not so,and that on the other hand any resistance onthe part of the patient must first be removed-he must, so to speak, be encouraged to givehimself up-before the operator can hope forsuccess. Equally erroneous is the belief thatsusceptibility tb hypnotic influence is the signof a weak will, the truth being rather that thebest subject for hypnosis is the person who iswilling to be hypnotised, who has the intelli-gence to understand what is asked of him andthe ability to concentrate his mind upon it.Insane people are for this reason notoriouslydifficult to hypnotise, since they are quite un-able to concentrate their attention upon thedesired train of thought and action. The ideathat it is possible to learn to hypnotise oneselfis novel to most people, but Dr. Hollander hasshown that many people do this habituallywithout their own knowledge, and that the"vacant" state with which some of us arefamiliar in ourselves and from which we areconscious of suddenly rousing ourseives with


a start is but self-hypnotisation. The practicalvalue of the point is that one can cultivate sucha tendency by placing oneself in a relaxed posi-tion, until one gradually drops into a state ofwhat Dr. Hollander calls "'fascination," andthat one can utilise such a state for allowinghelpful self-suggestions to sink deeply into thesubconscious mind.

What is hypnotic sleep? and what is itsrelation to natural sleep?

To the first question no satisfactory reply hasyet been given, and this is hardly to be wonderedat when we think that similarly no adequateexplanation can be given of ordinary sleep.Hypnotic sleep in some points is very dissimilarfrom ordinary sleep, but in other respectsshows great resemblance to it. It can be in-duced by suggestion alone at any hour of theday, and is quite independent of fatigue orphysiological changes in the brain such as makeordinary sleep a necessity for every person.During it consciousness is never entirely lost,although there may be complete amnesia onwaking, and this fact is proved by the readyresponse to commands given y the operatorto be executed either at the time or later.Ordinary sleep on the other hand is so deepthat consciousness is entirely lost, and it is notonly impossible to have commands carried out,but the phenomena of hypnotism (catalepsy,anesthesia, &c.) cannot be elicited. We havea great point of resemblance between hypnoticand ordinary sleep in dreams and in sleep-walking. It would seem that in both there isa great heightening of the faculties, with

1


ability to perform feats which are beyond one'spower in the waking state, as we shall see inChapter III. This heightening of the facultiescan be more readily demonstrated in the hyp-notic state, as the subject though apparentlyasleep, responds to commands given with thepurpose of eliciting such a heightening, andby means of post-hypnotic suggestions we canstill further amply prove its existence.

The great value of hypnotic sleep lies in thefact that during it there is a state of height-ened suggestibility, and that the conscious mindbeing in abeyance, suggestions are acceptedwithout criticism by the sub-conscious mindand are put into action.

A few words may be said here about thedangers of hypnotism. The argument mostcommonly used against hypnotism by those whohave no knowledge of its medical use, is, thata hypnotist acquires complete control over hissubject, destroys his will-power and reduceshim to a mere automaton. The aim of all hyp-notic medical treatment, however, is to developand strengthen not only a man's will-powerbut his whole moral fibre, so that he is enabledto rid himself of slavish habits which had previ-ously mastered him. This will be clearly shownin Chapter VII. to be not only the aim butalso the practical outcome of hypnotic medicaltreatment, as shown in the results of drinkcases and also in those illustrating re-education,where slavishness to thoughts and emotionshas by constant effort and practice given placeto an increasing mastery over them. Our dis-patant may then argue that while this is quite

. HYPNOTISM MADE PLAIN 17

possibly the case as regards the medical useof hypnotism, it is nevertheless true that thereis nothing to prevent unprincipled people fromusing it for the perpetration of crimes. Tothis we reply, that in order to avoid any suchrisks, it is the duty of the State to limit theuse of hypnotism (as it has already limited theuse of chloroform), so making its employmentfor public entertainments illegal and limitingits use to purposes of re-education by those dulyqualified to exercise it.

As regards the element of danger which mayin the lay mind be associated with hypnoticsleep itself in its deeper forms, we would pointout what has been already mentioned, that lighthypnotic sleep is now preferably used for medi-cal treatment by all hypnotists, the deeper sleepbeing induced on rare occasions only. Eventhough it were customary tor hypnotists to usedeep hypnotic sleep without reservation, thissupposed risk is negligible in comparison withthat associated with the employment of chloro-form. In spite of every care and precautionin the administration of chloroform, no oneattempts to deny the element of risk in everycase, the existence of such a risk being broughthome practically by an occasional death, where-as not a single death has been reported duringhypnotic sleep in spite of the fact that it hasbeen extensively in use since the eighteenthcentury.

CHAPTER IIIPHENOMENA OF HYPNOTISM

We propose now to consider the main phe-nomena observed during the state of hypnosis,


and following the lines of Bernheim, to attemptto link these with phenomena closely analogousto them which are observed in everyday life. Indoing this we fully realise that deep hypnoticsleep is a thing by itself, resembling ordinarysleep in some points, but quite dissimilar fromit in other points, and that no theories succeedin explaining it satisfactorily. In spite of thiswe feel that it is both interesting and helpfulto realise that many of the phenomena ofhypnotic sleep have their parallel in everydaylife. Hypnotism is thus robbed of some ofits mystery, greater encouragement is givento use persuasion in the waking state wheneversuch is practicable, and treatment by hypnoticsleep is held in reserve for selected cases. Wehope to bring out this point more clearly inthe chapters on Suggestion and on Education.

Catalepsy or rigidity is a striking phenome-non of deep hypnotic sleep. If the arm of thehypnotised person be raised it often remainsraised when the operator's hold is released.Should this not happen at once it suffices forthe operator to grasp the arm firmly, raise itagain and suggest that it will remain upraised.that the patient is in fact unable to lower it,when such a position will be maintained forfrom twenty minutes to half an hour withoutany appearance of strain or fatigue. The armis then extremely gradually lowered andbrought to rest on the couch. The patient mayalso be placed in an attitude expressive of fear,anger, or other emotional state with a like re-sult, or rotatory movements of arms or legsmay be started, which are kept up for a con-


siderable time. Any of these movements maybe interrupted by a suggestion from theoperator that the subject is unable to makethem. The more frequently a subject has beenhypnotised for scientific experiment, the morereadily and quickly does he respond to thesesuggestions. In hysterical patients such a con-dition of rigidty of the limbs is frequently in-duced by self-suggestion, and without anyhypnotic interference.

Under what circumstances is the phenome-non of catalepsy seen in everyday life? It is acommon experience that should a patient'shand or arm be lifted while conversing ordi-narily, it frequently remaits upraised whenthe supporting hand is withdrawn, as if thefact of having had the arm lifted had actedunconsciously upon the patient as a suggestionto keep it in that position. Further, it is theexperience of all hypnotists that nine people.out of ten seldom if ever "relax" except insleep, and are quite unaware of the truth ofthis fact until it is proven to them by the oper.ator's ineffectual attempts to induce full relax-ation. To test relaxation one has only to graspthe patient's hand and arm, while requestinghim to let them go so that they may be bent,raised, or put through any movement the op-erator may desire. The average person isquite unable to give up his arm in this way.If one suddenly withdraws one's hand whilethe arm is raised, it remains stiffly in the air;if one then attempts to lower it, one does soagainst a certain amount of resistance.

Other and possibly more familiar' instances

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St HYPNOTISM MADE PLAIN

of catalepsy in everyday life are seen occasionally under the influence of strong emotion,though here it generally only lasts for a fewseconds. One may thus under the shock of astrong emotion remain petrified and immobile,while in the middle of performing some action,or "paralysed by fear" as we say, we may failto act at the critical moment in an emergency.

Just as catelepsy may be induced by hypnot-ic suggestion, paralysis of any limb may sim-ilarly be induced, the arm or leg remaining atthe command of the operator flaccid, inert, andincapable of performing any action. A patientmay similarly feel powerless to open his eyes,should it be suggested that he is incapable ofdoing so, until permission is given by the op-erator.

In the deeper stages of hypnosis the patiententirely loses consciousness of the outer world,he hears and obeys the operator alone and onwaking has partially or completely forgottenall the incidents of his sleep. This phenomenonof deep sleep is called somnambulism. In spiteof loss of consciousness the patient's eyes mayremain open; he will rise, walk, and carry outall commands given by the operator, and willanswer when spoken to by him, but fails toreply to any other person. This is called beingen rapport with the operator; and if the pa-tient is being hypnotised for medical treatment,it is customary for the operator to suggestthat no other person will have the power tohypnotise him unless he expressly desires it.This state of deep sleep is still for us shroudedin mystery, and therefore of intense interest,


but we have so far but very limited powers ofunderstanding what it really is.

It is during this deep sleep that many sub-jects show themselves extraordinarily suscep-tible to hallucinations, and consequently affordmuch merriment at a public show by respond-ing to any suggestions, even the most farcicaland ridiculous if given by the operator. Need-less to say all experimentation which aims atthe ridiculous has no place in the medical useof hypnotism.

Somnambulism has its counterpart in sleep-walking. A sleep-walker, as we know, is ca-pable not only of wandering about from roomto room, but of doing many strange and evendangerous actions in a state of entire uncon-sciousness, and of these actions he has no recol-lection whatever on awakening the followingmorning.

During the state of deep sleep it is commonfor patients to show an entire insensibility topain, for which insensibility the term anaes-thesia is used. So complete is it that a pinmay be pushed through the skin in any part ofthe arm without the slightest movement fromthe patient, and on awakening he finds it im-possible to believe that this could have beendone without his knowledge. We have alreadymentioned how Esdaile and others took advan-tage of this marked anesthesia in pre-chloro-form days to carry out large numbers of majorand minor operations. In recent times tooth-extraction has been painlessly done on morethan one occasion with the aid of hypnoticsleep. This anvesthesia can also be induced by


suggestion in the state of light sleep, when thepatient is fully conscious, and has allowed oftooth-extraction being done so painlessly thatonly the sight of the extracted tooth has car-ried conviction to the patient.

It is a well-known fact that such profoundantesthesia is constantly noted in cases of acci-dent, when cuts or graver injuries are sus-tained and where consciousness has never beenlost. The injured person will maintain that hefelt no pain at the time of the accident, andthat the presence of blood was the first indica-tion that he had of his injury. It would seemthat in these cases the sudden shock paralysessensation, since such injuries if inflicted in coldblood could not have been borne without greatsuffering. We believe that similarly the mar-tyrs, as a result of the state of intense exalta-tion into which they fell in anticipation ofmartyrdom, were to a great extent oblivious oftheir physical injuries and sufferings. Wehave also the classical instance of Archimedes,who was found in his tower all unconsciousthat he had been mortally wounded and thathis life-blood was flowing away, because of theintense concentration of his mental facultiesin working out the solution of a deep problem.Hysterical persons on account of their extremesuggestibility are capable of producing areasof anaesthesia by strong self-suggestion, andmay show a complete insensibility to deep pin-pricks over these areas.

As regards the other special senses, it is sim-ilarly possible during the hypnotic state torender a person incapable for the time being


of exercising his faculties of seeing, hearing,tasting, or smelling, except in so far as theoperator allows him to do so. At the commandof the operator strong ammonia may be pro-nounced to be odorless, a bitter drink may beaccepted as tasteless, and any article of furni-ture or a person in the room may for the timebeing be non-existent for the patient.

Many such symptoms of an unhealthy typecan be and are produced by strong self-sugges-tion in hysterical patients, and considerableskill and even strategy is often necessary onthe part of the doctor to differentiate betweena case where there is a genuine physical causefor them and that where no such cause exists.It may be necessary sometimes to trap a pa-tient into betraying himself when he is off hisguard, and so to convince him of and destroyhis self-suggestion.

Another well-marked feature of deep hypnot-ic sleep is the readiness with which in somepeople we can create illusions and hallucina-tions. An illusion may be defined as a wronginterpretation of an existing object. One maythus offer a patient a glass of water as a glassof wine. He will sip it and taste it as if itwere not water but in reality wine. A halluci-nation is the perception of an object wherenone exists. Thus one may offer a patient animaginary glass of wine, which he will drinkwith the utmost gravity as if he really had inhis hand a glass of choice wine. One may in-duce a very suggestible subject to play a variedrole of characters with the skill and the art ofan actor. At one time he is a child of six play-

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24 ~I YPNOTISM MADE PLAIN <ing games with imaginary children and withimaginary toys; at another he is the bashfulyoung girl of sixteen, and at still another ageneral at the head of his forces.

The carrying out of such experiments is ofcourse only justifiable when its object is to ar-rive at a fuller understanding of the phenome-non of hypnotic sleep.

The parallel of these phenomena in everydaylife and in sleep is extremely interesting, andcan be readily illustrated. If we are accus-tomed to regard a certain blend of tea as su-perior to any other, is it not true that manyof us are quite capable of imagining thesequalities to exist in an inferior blend, shouldwe be under the impression that we are drink-ing the superior blend? If a patient is con-vinced that a drug called calomel invariablyupsets her, one need in certain cases only callit subchloride of mercury and all the disagree-able effects vanish as if by magic, because thepatient believes a different drug has been pre-scribed. Once again, how explain the magicaleffects of some patent medicine tonics, when weknow, thanks to recent investigations, thatmany of them contain a farthing's worth ofdrugs? Is the person who drinks such a tonicand finds himself rapidly improving in health,in any different position from the hypnotisedperson who sips and enjoys a glass of waterunder the impression that it is a choice wine?

Dreams afford many instances of illusionsand hallucinations. Our dream self, our sub-conscious self, lives through many imaginaryscenes, acts many imaginary parts, and some-


times acts them with such intensity that weawake in terror from a gruesome nightmare, orin laughter over some amusing incident, or intears over a tragic occurrence. Even in day-dreams we often live through past or futurescenes, seeing places and people almost asclearly as if they were really existent, andsometimes so vividly that we awake with astart to realise that these were mere hallucina-tions.

We must now discuss the question of post-hypnotic hallucinations and suggestions in re-gard to their importance in medico-legal cases.Post-hypnotic hallucinations are such as re-tain their hold on the subject after he has beenwakened, and which can only be dispelled byre-hypnotising the patient, and suggesting con-trary ideas. A hypnotised person may thus bemade to believe that he has been robbed of hispurse, or that he has been witness of a terriblecrime, the details of which he is made to see.If questioned about these after waking, he willdescribe the details with the utmost confidenceand would be capable of giving evidence to thateffect in a court of law.

It is familiar to us all how readily somepeople can similarly fabricate the details of ascandal, can so to speak create for themselvesthe hallucination of a scandal, every incidentof which they believe themselves to have seen.For this it suffices simply that some one personshould rest under slight suspicion, that a slightrumor should be set afloat, and ere long idleonlookers create the details which are wanting,and which they implicitly believe they have

5


founded on fact. Nowhere are more strikinginstances of this seen than in law courts, whenan attempt is made to sift evidence. It is awell-known fact that a clever counsel may leada witness into accepting and affirming mostcontradictory statements, by merely suggestingwith an air of conviction that certain eventshad or had not been witnessed by him.

In carryifg out experiments to test this mat-ter, it has been found that in order to convincesome people that certain things have been doneor witnessed by them, it is only necessary tocontinue to insist strongly and with convictionthat such is the case in order to succeed in theend. Cannot most of us recall occasions whenit has been so insistently suggested to us thatwe had done a certain thing, that in the end wehave hesitated, doubted, and wondered whetherafter all we might not have done it and quiteforgotten the fact?

It will be interesting to dwell at this pointupon another phenomenon of the deep hypnoticstate, which has a very practical application inall medical treatment by hypnotism. This isthe phenomenon of post-hypnotic suggestions.

These are suggestions given to the patientduring the hypnotic sleep, to take effect afterthe lapse of a certain interval of time, it maybe hours or days or weeks. It has been shownthat in certain subjects specific commands canbe given which are executed with the greatestexactness, though the subject is himself quiteunaware why he has done the action, and ifquestioned may attempt to explain it away ormaintain that he did it of his own accord.


Many experiments have been carried out by Dr.Milne Bramwell and others on the followinglines. It was suggested to a woman of pooreducation that after the lapse of so manythousand minutes she would write on a pieceof paper her name, the hour of the day and thedate. At the appointed time she noted name,hour and date as commanded, in spite of thefact that she was mentally incapable of calcu-lating the time. Other subjects were command-ed to deliver messages at a fixed tinte at a cer-tain house, and they too succeeded, in spite ofobstacles purposely put in their path, in carry-ing out these commands.

The working of these post-hypnotic phenom-ena can only be explained by allowing for theexistence of a subconscious self which receivesthe command when the conscious self is asleep,and at the appointed time causes the consciousself to execute it. Thus we may before fallingasleep will ourselves to wake at a certain hour,when we shall either wake exactly at that houror pass a restless night in our endeavor to doso. Similarly, we may promise to do a certainthing, and then go upon our way and apparent-4y forget our promise. But some days later,for no reason that we can understand, the re-membrance of the promise suddenly comes backto us in much the same way as a hypnotic com-mand which has been heard and forgotten.

The practical value of post-hypnotic sugges-tions lies in their bearing on medical treatmentby hypnotism. Thus a person suffering fromsleeplessness may be given very definite direc-tions as to the hour at which he will get drowsy

K7


and the number of hours which he will sleep.In some cases these suggestions are respondedto literally, in other cases a gradual improve-ment in sleeping occurs. Similarly, definitesuggestions may be given in a case of obstinateconstipation to act later in the form of a post-hypnotic suggestion, and so to lead after a fewtreatments to the complete cure of the consti-pation. The various secretions may be influ-enced on the same lines, and so appetite andthe ability to digest any food can be success-fully suggested in a person suffering from lossof appetite and who may have refrained fromsolid food for weeks or months. Again, a pa-tient's entire character may be modified bysuggesting an entirely new set of ideas and anew outlook, these suggestions gradually form-ing more and more of the patient's wakingthoughts and so modifying and changing hislife.

Amnesia or forgetfulness, which, as we haveseen, is a phenomenon of deep hypnotic sleep,is of peculiar interest, not only because of' itsparallel in the waking state, but because of itsbearing on the interesting question of loss ofmemory and of dual or multiple personality. *

In deep hyynotic sleep, as we have seen, asubject may do extraordinary things and actvarious r61es, and yet have no remembrance ofthis on awaking, or only a partial and hazy re-membrance. On being re-hypnotised, however,he recalls the minutest details of these acts.We frequently find as regards our dreams, thatwe entirely fail to recall them on awaking, orthat we can only recall them in a disconnected


and confused fashion.Again, we may perform a certain action with

our thoughts perhaps concentrated on othermatters, and then be quite unable to recallwhether we have done it or not. Perhaps themost interesting instances of this phenomenonare furnished by sleep-life as recorded in sev-eral well-known cases. It is known that onmore than one occasion feats have been per-formed during sleep which were beyond thewaking powers of the individual and of whichno recollection remained on waking, and onlythe evidence of actual work done carried con-viction. Thus Paganini woke one morning tofind his famous Sonate du Diable written inscore by his bedside, and attributed this, as thetitle of the piece shows, to the devil. Problemswhich have baffled the intelligence in wakingmoments have sometimes, so to speak, solvedthemselves during sleep, and these may beeither mathematical problems or problems ofdaily life and conduct. So familiar are we withthis fact that we often deliberately decide to"sleep over a thing" before acting, and awakeoften to find some solution presenting itselfclearly to our mind.

As regards sudden loss of memory, we haveinstances, well-authenticated, mysterious andinteresting, of people who have suffered a sud-den loss of memory with complete obliterationof their own personality and life up to thatpoint. In this state they may travel to a dis-tant town, settle there under an assumed name,and continue to carry on business in a perfectlyrational and normal way for months or years.

so


Then one day memory returns with the samesuddenness that it vanished, and the unfortun-ate person can give no explanation of how hecomes to be in these unfamiliar surroundings.Strange, too, is the fact that with loss of mem-ory a totally different character often showsitself, while with the return of memory theformer character reasserts itself. Such a phe-nomenon has been called dissociation of per-sonality, and of it we have many instances inhysteria and in a modified form in daily life.Instead of the individual showing himself aunited whole of ideas, feelings, and mentalstates, one idea, feeling, or mental state maybe split off or dissociated and may for the timebeing most unduly and unnaturally dominatethe individual's life. In hysteria an emotionalcause most commonly determines such a disso-ciation. The most familiar instance of such adissociated personality is that of F4lida re-ported by Dr. Azam of Bordeaux.

At the age of thirteen F4lida changed froma bright, active girl into a reserved, melancholyand suffering creature, and had already beenthree years in this state when she first cameunder the notice of Dr. Azam. From time totime, after what might be called a slight faint,she suddenly resumed her original characterfor varying periods, while losing no recollectionof her second character. But on relapsing intoher old state of melancholy and suffering sheinvariably lost all recollection of her brightand happy periods. Fortunately for F6lida, aslife went on state No. 1, which we might callher normal state. predominated more and more,


and practically filled her life. In slighter de-gree we have numberless such instances of al-ternating personality in everyday life. Justsuch a dual personality has Stevenson por-trayed in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: Dr. Jekyll,the respectable and much respected West-Enddoctor, and Mr. Hyde, the creature more beastthan man, who, transformed by a drug, grovelsin his laboratory, drawn to his bestial state asirresistibly as the drunkard to his drink. Havewe not a similar alternating personality in theman or woman addicted to drink or drugs. Thesober man, freed from the influence of drink,shows himself a respected business man and anexemplary husband and father; the same mayunder the influence of drink being, like Mr.Hyde, more a beast than a man. Do we notalso recognise these dual or multiple personal-ities in ourselves, strongly marked in some, lessstrongly marked in others? Thus we speak ofour "better self" and our "worst self." Someof us have many sides to our character, andthough we are fortunately able to regulatethem as a rule in a unified whole, any profoundshock or emotion may in a nervously unstablecharacter lead to a dissociation of any one side,which will then predominate for the time beingas our character. Fortunately such dissociatedmental states are often transitory. Dissocia-tions of personality may also lead people tojourney as the prodigal son did, into a far coun-try, where after a time they "come to them-selves" and cannot explain what led them there.

In no direction has more valuable service


been rendered by the use of hypnotism than inthe unravelling of these mysterious states ofloss of memory and of dual and multiple per-sonalities. In cases of loss of memory it hasbeen found possible during the hypnotic sleepto revive memory as regards the details of theformer life, and to obliterate the second phaseof existence, so allowing the person to resumehis former life. As regards dual personalitiesand allied states, invaluable work has beendone by eliciting from the person, during hyp-notic sleep, the details of the shock or emotionalstate which had determined the dissociationand which it was often found impossible toelicit in the waking state. Such work hasbrought out the fact that the real cause hadoften to be sought in the subconscious life, inburied and possibly disagreeable memories ofchildhood. Once these are brought to light,talked over and viewed in their proper propor-tions, and their bearing on the present illnessmade clear, it is possible in very many cases tounify the dissociated personality and build up anormal controlled life.

CHAPTER IV

SUGGESTION

Suggestion has been variously defined as "Asuccessful appeal to the subliminal self" (F.W. H. Myers); "A process of communicationof an idea to the subconscious mind in an un-obtrusive manner carrying conviction, whenconsciously there is no inclination for its ac-


ceptance and logically there are no adequategrounds" (Hollander); or, "The aptitude ofthe brain to receive or evoke ideas, and itstendency to realise them and to transform theminto acts" (Bernheim).

Suggestion is thus associated with the sub-conscious mind, and as a great part of our life.is subconscious, suggestion is at work in in-numerable ways at almost every moment ofthe day. We are constantly receiving sug-gestions, many of which may lie hidden andapparently lost in the subconscious mind andyet be hourly and daily shaping our characters.These may eventually lead to acts of greatimportance. We can prove this to ourselves bytracing back and back, to an almost forgottenimpression of childhood perhaps, some of thefeelings which dominate our lives. As we aremost open to suggestion during childhood, itfollows that the impressions stamped upon achild's life are often of momentous importance,and this will therefore be further discussed inthe chapter on Education.

Let us in some detail go into the working ofthe conscious and of the subconscious mind,or borrowing the phraseology of the author ofBody and Soul, we may speak of them as theOvermind and the Undermind; the Overmindfor our present purpose covering everythingwhich we are accustomed to speak of as Vol-untary or conscious thought or action, andthe Undermind covering involuntary or sub.conscious action and the whole domain of sub-conscious thought. The necessity for differ-entiating our self into a conscious and a sub-

S


conscious element arises from the fact that somuch of our life is lived below the threshold ofconsciousness. There are many sensations,thoughts and emotions which do not mingle inthe current of our everyday life, and whichyet influence and direct it to an extent ofwhich we are only partly aware.

In dreams, in delirium and in insanity thissubconscious element sometimes reveals itselfin strange and startling fashion. It is doubt-less true that much of what is submerged inour minds and which we have inherited fromancestral times, existed then above the thresh-old of consciousness, and that so there is aconstant shifting of threshold. The under-mind or subconscious mind controls actionswhich are done by habit, in some cases by habitlearnt since birth-walking, talking, &c., inother cases habit which we have acquired be-fore birth, as a result of its exercise by gen-erations of ancestors-digestion, respiration,&c. The undermind can work entirely in-dependent of the overmind, as instanced bythe constant action of the heart or stomach,without our conscious knowledge, or the over-mind may interfere by the action of variousthoughts. Thus worry may interfere with the4nanufacture of the digestive juices, upset thedigestive action, and the first intimation thatthis has occurred is the danger signal,of pain.Again, thoughts of fear traveling down thenerves to the heart may upset its normal un-conscious action by causing violent palpita-tion, or they may even in rare cases entirelyarrest its action and so cause death. Let us


consider very shortly the general arrange-ment of the nervous system and its connectionwith the blood-vessels, organs, &c. The humanbody is covered with a network of nerves,which are connected with every organ andwith every tissue in the body, these nervesbeing united in the lower brain, and fromthere connected with the cortex or outer sur-face of the brain. The brain itself consistsof millions of cells in which our thoughts andmemories are registered, while from themmessages are constantly being sent out by thenerves to control the working of the body andthe mind. The seat of the undermind is in thelower brain, and the seat of the overmind inthe cortex, the overmind having the power tocontrol the undermind, though for the mostpart the latter is capable of working in-dependently of the overmind. Further, thissystem of nerves called the Central NervousSystem, because connected with brain andspinal cord, is linked with a second system ofnerves and works in partnership with it. Thislatter is called the sympathetic system, and itspecially controls the bloodvessels and the vari-ous secretions of the body. In physiologicallanguage it is easy, perhaps too easy, to givesatisfactory and understandable explanationsof how this dual system of nerves works inconjunction with the brain: how it is able toalter the blood flow constantly, now to con-centrate it specially in a muscle or group ofmuscles to produce muscular action, again inthe stomach to produce the juices necessary forthe digestion of the food, yet again in the

a

s6 HYPNOTISM MADE PLAIN

brain to work out some difficult problem. Butif we leave the domain of physiology we findourselves utterly unable to explain how thesedaily miracles are worked. We ask ourselveshow does a thought travel along these nerves?how has it power to alter the flow of the bloodso that a thought of shame has the power tocause a sudden rush of blood to the face? andwe have no answer to give. We ask ourselvesagain, how is the process of thought carried onby these millions of brain cells, how is it pos-sible that no memory is ever lost, but is storedin our subconscious mind, from which we aresometimes able to evoke it either by a consciouseffort of the will, or with the help of another,while we are in a slightly hypnotic state?How is it that these thoughts which we think,and that these memories which we have storedin the subconscious mind, are capable of modi-fying the outlines of our faces or altering theexpression of our eyes or changing the tones ofour voices? Is it not true also that thoughtslead often to most characteristic attitudes andgaits, and that it is sometimes so easily possibleto read the salient points in a man's characterby a study of his back view in motion, that wehave no need to see his face? Old age alonedoes not bow a man down, thoughts of sorrowor shame have also the power to entirely alterhis physiognomy and general appearance. Evenif we accept without further questioning theworking of the undermind in carrying on cir-culation, respiration and digestion, we findourselves caught in a mnaze if we attempt tograsp the working of the overmind in its con-


stant interchange with the undermind. Weknow that it comprises our voluntary actionsand our conscious thoughts, but we know thatit comprises far more than this, more eventhan can be classed under the heading of"psychic": all the "thoughts hardly to bepacked into a narrow act," all the "fancies thatbroke through language and escaped," all theintangible things expressed in a sonata of Bee.thoven, or in a sunset of Turner, and all thatwe class under the heading of "spirit." Itmight seem as if we were wandering far fromthe subject of suggestion, but we are in realityonly approaching it at closer quarters, since tounderstand the action of suggestion both ineveryday life and as medical treatment wemust have spent a little thought on the actionof mind, overmind and undermind, on the body.

It is a fact of common experience that weconstantly accept many facts without wonderand without any sensation of witnessing themiraculous at play, simply because they havebecome so familiar to us. And yet if we seethem in a slightly different and therefore un-familiar setting our attention is at once ar-rested, and we may even marvel or assume anattitude of frank incredulity. That shame oreven pleasure should cause such a flow of bloodto the face that the skin becomes hot to thetouch, we are so familiar with that we do notwonder at it. But to be told that in the hyp-notic state an area of redness with blisteringhas been produced is to state what by mostpeople is received with utter incredulity; whilethe fact that St. Francis of Assisi and others


were able by intense concentration of thoughtto reproduce the stigmata of Christ in theirown bodies, is regarded as a mere fable and im-position. Again, we are familiar with the factthat in some people worrying thoughts have thepower to send messages to the intestine, alterthe secretions, possibly quicken the normal ac-tion and produce diarrhoea; but many peoplefind it impossible to believe that if suitablesuggestions be given in the hypnotic states,these suggestions have similarly the power toaffect the secretions and movement of thebowels, and so to cure constipation, sometimeswith startling suddenness, at other times moregradually. To understand how cures areworked in the hypnotic state it is therefore onlynecessary to study the ordinary phenomenawith which we are familiar, and to realise thatin the hypnotic state these phenomena aresometimes greatly exaggerated on account ofthe greater suggestibility of the subject, be-cause in that state the subconscious mind exer-cises full control over us.

It is with the overmind and the undermindthat we are concerned in our attempt to un-derstand suggestion in its everyday aspect andin its medical aspect. Although we regardthem as, so to speak, controlling different de-partments-the one controlling voluntarythought and action-there is yet a constant in-terchange and blending of their work. For in-stance while learning the elements of walkingor of piano playing, every movement is madewith a painfully voluntary effort, but once theelements are mastered the undermind is capa-


ble of undertaking the work of thought send-ing, and we can not only do these actions withgreat ease but we can if necessary relegatethem to the undermind. So little need have weindeed of voluntary effort that we can thinkout puzzling thoughts which demand the great-est concentration while we walk on and on, for-getful even of our destination. Many otherinstances could easily be cited to show howmany actions which are at the commencementperformed by the overmind and undermind to-gether can in time be with ease relegated tothe undermind. We are also aware, if we in-terest ourselves in studying and in analysingthese, of intrusions of our subconscious lifeinto our everyday consciousness. Such intru-sions may sometimes be produced with the aidof our various senses; thus a sound, an odor,the falling of the glance on an apparently in-significant object, are sufficient. It may bethat in the hilarity of a picnic party we aresuddenly dissociated from our conscious sur-roundings, and for the space of a moment welive vividly in quite other scenes. Why? Mere-ly because a sudden waft of peat smoke haswakened and forced up into our consciousthoughts almost forgotten memories, which layhidden in our subconscious mind and which cen-tered round the smell of peat smoke. At othertimes these intrusions or uprushes are so in-tangible and elusive that we should find it hardindeed to explain in words what we had ex-perienced. We only know that in some unac-countable way we have for a short space hadan insight into things which lie below the

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4e BYPNOTISM MADE PLAIN

threshold of ordinary consciousness, and thatlife has been the better for such an insight.Our subconscious mind reigns supreme duringsleep, that state which we so little understand,which we are accustomed to regard as a nega-tive part of our existence, in contrast to thepositive evidence of our waking hours, butwhich we should rather reckon as an extremelyimportant influence in our daily life. In it, aswe have seen in treating of the phenomena ofhypnotism, there is sometimes an extraordinaryheightening of the mental faculties, and astudy of dreams has shown that these are notonly a reflex of the thoughts and actions of theday but also a reflex of our subconscious life,where are stored many things which our con-scious mind entirely failed to apprehend.Dreams again lie buried in our subconsciousmind, influencing our daily thoughts and ac-tions and sometimes acting as strong self-sug-gestions.

We have dwelt sufficiently on the consciousand subconscious mind to allow of our pro-ceeding further to see how they are constantlyand at every moment of the day being acted onby suggestions from outside and by self-sug-gestions, and how these are modified often bycounter-suggestions. Suggestions are constant-ly pouring in upon us from the sights we see,the sounds we hear, the people we associatewith, the work we do, the books we read, thelectures we hear, and plays and concerts towhich we go. Suggestions are in fact influenc-ing us the whole day long, some of them to beaccepted and acted upon, some of them to be


resisted by counter-suggestions, many to be al-most at once apparently forgotten, but to bestored for all eternity in our subconsciousminds, there to act as subconscious suggestionsinfluencing our lives momentously. They arehanded on to generations of descendants, eitherto help in a higher evolution of the race or tohinder that evolution, even though that hinder-ing be so trifling that we might compare it tothe resistance offered by one grain of sand tothe onward flow of the wave. What one grainof sand is apparently powerless to do, a massof many grains has a certain amount of influ-ence to effect. So though we may feel that thestored subconscious impressions of one mindare apparently powerless to help or hinder theevolution of the race, we realise that the im-pressions of several minds have great power todo so. We again are enormously influenced bythe store of subconscious memories which wein turn have inherited from centuries of ances-tors; we fear the dark because of the subcon-scious memory of prehistoric days when thefall of night necessitated great caution, lestbehind any wayside bush there might be hiddenan enemy ready with club in hand to attack theunwary. To the stored subconscious memoriesof generations of ancestors the rabbit owes itspitcher-like ears, admirably adapted to catchthe faintest sound of approaching danger so asto escape death, a death which overtook onlytoo easily the rabbits of the centuries previouswhich had not yet developed such a protectionagainst danger.

How do we normally deal with suggestions

41


offered to us ? The suggestion is carried to thebrain, where it becomes an idea, and the idea isthen transformed into an act. Such a normalcourse of events may be interrupted at anypoint, just as an electrical machine may fail togenerate electricity through a break in con-tinuity of any of its parts. Thus a suggestionmay fail to reach the brain, in which case anidea is not created, or the idea when createdmay not be transformed into an act, eitherfrom lack of power or through strong counter-suggestions. To instance this take the familiarexample of a beggar at the street corner offer-ing in his person to each passer-by the power-ful suggestion of almsgiving. In many peoplesuch a suggestion, perhaps through the dullinginfluence of familiarity, fails to create the ideaof almsgiving. In others the idea is createdmd at once transformed into the act of alms.Fiving, while in yet others the act is prevented

iy strong counter-suggestions regarding theharmfulness of indiscriminate almsgiving orthe inadvisability of parting with one's penny,or it may be that the idea fails to become anact through lack of power.

Such instances could be endlessly multiplied,and have as a rule no interest to the onlookerbeyond the psychological. But when the on-looker is a physician, and when such instancesoccur in his medical practice, and, further,when the consequences of failure of a sugges-tion to act may lead to disastrous consequences,then indeed the question is one of more thanpurely psychological interest. Here then stepsin treatment by hypnotism and suggestion,


since we have shown in a previous chapter howwhen all other means fail, an appeal to thesubliminal mind while the subject is in a slightly hypnotic state will carry conviction. Nu.merous instances of such successful appealswill be discussed under the heading of medicaltreatment. Fortunately hypnotism, though in-valuable for many obstinate cases, is not theonly way in which a suggestion effects an en-trance into the subconscious mind and trans-forms itself into an act. Interesting and insome cases -most unexpected are the ways inwhich suggestion sometimes acts both in thedaily round of life and medically. Happiness,sudden and unexpected happiness, under thevarious forms in which it comes, is a most po-tent health-giving factor. When all medicalremedies have failed to act and to banishnervous ills and ailments, happiness has thepower of making an immediate and convincingappeal to the subconscious self, and in thespace of a few days we see the external signsof ill-health gone, the eye bright, the complex-ion clear, digestion normal, sleeplessness van-ished; in fact health, restored as by a miracle;of such happiness the most potent is undoubt-edly that which is commonly called "falling inlove." Further we are familiar with the far-reaching influence of one personality on an-other, and of the power which such an influ-ence may have to completely alter habits andcharacter in a comparatively short space oftime. This very question of personality, ofability to inspire confidence and to give potencyto even the simplest suggestion, is as we shall

41


see of great importance in all hypnotic treat-ment. Certain circumstances again act as pow-erful suggestions, which sink deep and aretransformed into acts without delay. This sug-gestive power of circumstances is often unac-countable and capricious. A man is capable ofwasting his weekly earnings in drink in spiteof the deprivation thereby caused to his wife,gravely ill with consumption and barely able todrag herself through the day's work. But acase is known where the removal of his wife tohospital has acted as such a powerful sugges-tion to the drunkard that drink has been givenup, and on her return a life of complete so-briety has been led. Not circumstances alone,and not the influence of a particular personal-ity alone, but stranger still a chance wordheard in a certain mood has sometimes thepower to alter the current of an entire life. Wehave again the suggestion cures effected bypatent medicines, since a farthing's worth or ahalf-penny's worth of drug in six or ejghtounces of water can claim no power beyonathat of sending healthful and hopeful thoughtstravelling down the nerves to the various or-gans. There is the suggestion element, notonly in all varieties of mental healing, but inmuch of hydropathic, electrical, and other med-ical treatment. Every physician both con-sciously and unconsciously uses suggestion inhis medical practice; the more outstanding thepersonality, the greater part does suggestionplay. Why not then use it in a more organisedand methodical way, so that its usefulness maybe still further extended, and so that everv year


increasing numbers may receive mental heal-ing, as they ought to, from the medical pro-fession.

CHAPTER V

THEORIES YF HYPNOTISM

We propose now not only to sum up the va-rious theories of mesmerism and hypnotismwhich have been touched upon in the precedingchapters, but to elaborr ~e some of them furtherand to give more ret ._ theories.

Mesmer (1778) believed that health and sick-ness depended on the flow of a magnetic fluidthrough the body, and that by the applicationof magnetic plates of various sorts it was inhis power to increase the magnetic fluid incases of disease and to direct it to various partsof the body by manipulations and passes. Thisview was shared by other workers of his time.

Elliotson (1837) and Esdaile (1845) bothheld that the phenomena of mesmerism weredue to a peculiar fluid or force which theycalled "odylic." Esdaile expressed the thera-peutic action of mesmerism in the followingquaint words: "There is good reason to believethat the vital fluid of one person can be pouredinto the system of another. A merciful Godhas engrafted a communicable life-giving cura-tive power in the human body in order thatwhen two individuals are found together de-prived of the aids of art the one in health mayoften be able to relieve his sick companion byimparting to him a portion of his vitality."

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Braid (1841) made a great step forward inthe study of hypnotism by setting himself tostudying its phenomena in a scientific spirit, aswell as to make practical use of it in the treat-ment of disease. By his earlier method of hyp-notising, by concentrating the gaze on a brightobject, he got results which no other workerhad got up to that time. He regarded themesmeric trance as an artificially producedsleep, and invented for it the term hypnosis.He regarded this state as due to mental con-centration on one idea, this concentration lead-ing to a suspension of activity of other nervecenters, and so inducing sleep. Later Braidentirely altered his views, as he observed thatanything approaching to deep sleep was onlygot in about 10 per cent. of those who recov-ered under his treatment, also that violitionwas not abolished, and that a patient couldeven resist attempts to hypnotise him. He thenelaborated the theory that the phenomena heelicited were entirely due to suggestion, andthat the effect of magnets and other suchmeans of inducing the hypnotic state were alsoexplicable by the same theory. He thereforeabandoned his method of producing the hyp-notic state by concentration of the mind andeyes on a bright object, and relied entirely onverbal suggestion just as Liebault did. Braidwas the first to note that some people have thepower of self-hypnotisation. He also laid thefoundation of theories elaborated later byMyers, Carpenter, and others, in which the phe-nomena of hypnotism are explained -by the ac-ceptance of the view of subliminal conscious-


ness. He was led to these vie-ws by reason ofseveral experiments which he carried out inthe hypnotic state, and which led him to a be-lief in the existence of "double consciousness."Thus having taught hypnotised subjectsGreek, Latin, French, or Italian, he found thaton recovering the normal state they had en-tirely forgotten this knowledge; but on beingre-hypnotised it returned to them again. Notonly was he impressed with the heightening ofmental activity in the hypnotic state, but alsowith the heightening of the moral sense.

Liebault (1864) advocated the view that sug-gestion and suggestion alone explains all thephenomena of hypnotism. In'order to producethe hypnotic sleep he used neither magnets,passes, nor concentrated gazing. By instruct-ing the patient to gaze at him he arrested hisattention, and then induced a state of drowsi-ness by suggesting in detail the phenomena ofsleep. Suggestions were then given to curethe special complaint for which the patient hadcome, suggestions for the amelioration of painwhere neuralgia had to be cured, suggestionsas regards the person's ability to walk wherea hysterical paralysis was in question, and soon.

Bernheim (1882) has advanced psycho-thera-peutics by demonstrating how far the pheno-mena of hypnotism can be produced without in-ducing hypnosis, that is to say, he has re-duced hypnotic treatment to simpler elements,and shown how far hypnotism can be dis-pensed with. "Hypnotic trance," says Bern-heim, "is ordinary sleep; hypnotic suggestion

47


is ordinary command. You tell the patient togo to sleep and he goes to sleep; you tell himto get well and he gets well immediately." Un-fortunately it is the experience of all thosewho interest themselves in psycho-therapeuticsthat most cures are not effected so readily asthis, that in some cases it is only after a longand patient process of re-education that manystates of ill-health are thrown off, that badhabits are broken and conditions of slavery areended.

Charcot and the Salpitriare School (1878).--Although we have shown that the views of thisschool are now entirely discredited, they mustreceive a note of mention here. Charcot, as wehave seen, believed that all the phenomena ofhypnotism were pure "hysteria," and thereforeonly demonstrable in hysterical people. Healso believed wit h the early mesmerists thatthese phenomena could be induced by metalsand magnets. Were Charcot's views correct itwould logically follow that about 90 per cent.of people are hysterical.

Heidenhain's theory (1880) may be men-tioned in passing, though it has not much gen-eral acceptance now. He elaborated the viewthat as a result of the monotonous stimulationof certain nerves by fixed gazing the activityof the higher brain cells is arrested. As a re-sult, actions which are generally performed un-der the control of these higher cells are in thehypnotic state controlled only by the lowercentres, and the hypnotised subject is there-fore a pure automaton.

Theory of Subliminal Consciousness or


double consciousness elaborated in recent timesby Frederic Myers, Gurney, Carpenter, andothers.

This theory is founded upon the belief whichwe have already spoken of, that we have asit were two streams of consciousness, the oneabove the threshold called the supraliminal,and the other below the threshold called thesubliminal. We commonly speak of these asour conscious self and our subconscious orpartly conscious self, and a combination of thetwo constitutes our real self. The two halvesof us may act in co-operation or there may beindependent action of the subconscious half.Familiar instances of the independent workingof our- subconscious self are best seen duringsleep life, as we have already noted. Ourconscious self then being in abeyance, the sub-conscious self has sometimes the power to workout problems, to walk safely in dangerousplaces, and to act r8les which our consciousself would be quite unequal to. By strong self-suggestions before falling asleep, R. L. Steven-son was able to direct his dreams and utilisethem as motives for fresh and stirring roman-ces. Certain phenomena in everyday life givean indication of the working of this subcon-scious self. Thus we have the sudden remem-brance of a lost name which our conscious selfhad tried in vain to recall, and which only camewhen we gave up searching for it. We are sofamiliar with this phenomena that we oftensay: "If I stop thinking about it, it is sureto come to me." Again, if we are acquiring anew branch of learning have we not often

49


found, when baffled by a difficulty, that if weput our work away and think no more of it fora few days, when we face the difficulty again ithas so to speak resolved itself.

As this subconscious self shows itself in nat-ural sleep, so it shows itself in that alliedstate, hypnotic sleep, and its working can, aswe have already shown, be studied in the latterstate as it cannot in ordinary sleep. After con-siderable study of this subconscious self dur-ing the hypnotic state Myers and others areagreed that it has a greater range of activity,both physiological and psychical, than has theconscious self. It can thus show a quite extra-ordinary degree of control over the nervoussystem and over the heart and blood-vessels.More than this, it shows a superior intellectualand mental activity and a heightened moralsense.

What we call inspiration and genius are mostlikely, as Myers has shown, also manifestationsof the working of the subconscious mind, andtherefore cannot consciously be called into ac-tion; rather we must await the stirring of thepool by we know not what intangible power erethat uprush of the one stream into the otheroccurs.

When the conscious half of a subject sleepsin the hypnotic state the subconscious half isalert, and all suggestions are made directly toit, and by it they are accepted and acted out,it may be at the time, it may be hours or dayslater.

These suggestions may bear upon physio-logical changes which we wish to effect, as for


example in matters relating to digestion, con-stipation, or any other ailments. On the otherhand they may be directed to increasing mentalactivity, as in backward children. Still moreimportant, they may be aimed at heighteningthe whole moral tone of the individual, so thathe may live above temptation which previouslymastered and enslaved him.

While we are fully aware in our own experi-ence and in the light of the experience of otherswho are competent to express an opinion, thatduring the hypnotic state appeals are oftenmade to the subconscious mind with startlingsuccess which had been repeatedly made in vainto the conscious mind, we are yet constantlyimpressed with the fact that similarly, out-standingly successful appeals are often wit-nessed which are made to the conscious self byappealing to its reason. This fact is of theutmost importance in all psycho-therapeutics.

CHAPTER VI.

SELF-SUGGESTIONS.

Self-suggestions are a factor of such para-mount importance in producing health or dis-ease, happiness or unhappiness, that we feelwe cannot do better than devote a chapter tostudy them in some detail. Self-suggestions, asthe name indicates, are suggestions which wegive to ourselves. The material from whichwe fabricate them may be either in our con-scious or our subconscious life. Unfortunatelymost of us, unless we have given some thought

51


to the matter, are not aware of the fact thatwe do give ourselves suggestions, and thereforewe are unable to avoid or to encourage theirinfluence. To once fully realise the importanceof this matter is not only to ensure to one-self a greater measure of health but to havefuller control over one's life in many directions.

We have for the most part far too low astandard of health, many of us being contentto accept freedom from disease as a substitute,and a poor substitute indeed, for health. Wesimilarly are content to accept freedom fromvice as a substitute for virtue. Health, likevirtue, is however a positive not a negativestate, and only by realising this shall we ap-preciate the vital importance of self-sugges-tions and of thought-control.

In attempting to picture perfect health one'sthoughts instinctively turn to Browning's Saul,and to the song which David sang in his en-deavour to rouse Saul from his state of de-pression and lethargy. He bursts out: "Oh,our manhood's prime vigour!" Then he de-scribes in warm and vivid colouring the joyof living, the delight of feeling that not a mus-cle is stopped in its playing nor a sinew un-braced, the keen pleasure of jumping fromrock to rock, of hearing the strong rending ofboughs, of feeling the "cool silver shock" of aplunge in the pool, and so on. How differentis this from the picture Epictetus gave of him-self as "a spirit bearing about a corpse."

Let us set before us such an ideal of perfecthealth, every muscle and nerve exercising fullplay, every faculty on the alert, virility in


every detail of it, and then let us see to whatextent it is in our power to contribute to sucha state of health.

We feel that it is impossible to discuss self-suggestions proper without first spending a lit-tle time in attempting to controvert the popu-larly accepted view of nerves and nervousness,since such a view leads to a lowered vitality ofbody and mind in numberless lives.

In a previous chapter we said a few wordsabout the nervous system, and showed thatnerves are constantly carrying messages fromthe overmind or the undermind all over thebody. We dwelt upon the fact that they arewonderful in their structure and marvellous intheir manner of working. How different isthis from the popular conception of them asshown in the phrase "an attack of nerves." Weare indeed too accustomed to regard nerves asa malignant influence in our lives, to heap uponthem opprobrium, and to make them the scape-goat for many things for which we ourselvesare entirely responsible. We do this, I fear,because it is always comforting to have a scape-goat which we can eventually lose sight of inthe wilderness of self-deception. If we wish,however, to attain to fuller health of body andmind we must be prepared to accept full re-sponsibility ourselves and to realise that notour nerves are at fault but we, because of ourinability to control them. Let us rid ourselvesof the idea that nerves are malignant; let usrather, in the light of the chapter on sugges-tion, realise that it is the nervous matter inour body which carries on the important work

58


of thought-sending to keep our bodily functionsin constant normal activity, that in it residesall intellect, and through it those higher moralimpulses which we designate our spiritual lifefind expression for themselves. To speak of aperson as nervous thus means literally that heis full of nervous force. Just as we use andrightly use muscular to mean a healthy de-velopment of the system of muscles, so thatthey have full and free play, so let us use ner-vous to indicate a condition of tone, balanceand force in our nervous system, so that it re-sponds to an exercise of will-power as a horseanswers to the hand of a practised rider. Oncewe realise that this is the genuine use of theword nervous, we shall be loath to use it in theold way in speaking of ourselves, for we shallrealise that by so doing we advertise the factthat we have failed to cultivate control whenwe had most need to do so.

Let us not make the mistale of assumingthat those who show a controlled exterior (analtogether different thing from a placid ex-terior) are fortunate in not possessing our dif-ficult temperament. Let us rather rest as-sured that a calm and controlled exterior is asure sign that control has had to be greatlyexercised in that life. On the other hand, ifwe have attained to outward control alone, letus not pride ourselves upon that as though ourtask were ended. It is of great value to haveacquired the art of showing outward controlof nerves, but our work is only half done ifcontrol ends there and we allow worrying

HYPNOTISM 'MADE PLAIN 55

thoughts to reduce us to a state of bodily andmental ill-health.

We shall now pass on to discuss self-sugges-tions in a little detail.

Fear and worry are two kindred self-sugges-tions which work havoc in many lives, and leadnot only to nervous breakdowns but to actualdisease and even insanity. Just as courage hasthe power to act as a tonic and an invigorator,so fear paralyses all the bodily forces and sapsthe vitality out of a life. It has been trulysaid that we have great power to attract thethings we fear and to repel those of which wehave no fear, because fear lowers the bodilyresistance and courage raises it.

The following story is much to the point:"Where are you going?" asked an Eastern pil-grim on meeting the plague one day. "I amgoing to Baghdad to kill five thousand people,"was the reply. A few days later the same pil-grim met the plague returning. "You told meyou were going to Baghdad to kill five thou-sand people," said he, "but instead you killedfifty thousand." "No," said the plague, "Ikilled five thousand as I told you I would; theothers died of fright."

Many people live in constant apprehension,one might almost say in constant expectationof developing some bodily ailment, and so areready at any moment to interpret trifling symp-toms as having a grave significance. Shouldthey have slight indigestion they convince them-selves by self-suggestion that they have heartdisease, and promptly suffer palpitation andbreathlessness. Fortunately in some cases


such symptoms vanish with wonderful hasteafter a medical examination and an assurancethat no heart disease exists, and consequentlythe harm done has been slight. In many cases,however, a cure is not so easily effected, sincethe type of mind that wastes its nervous energyin unhealthy self-suggestions has generally thecapacity for either holding on to these in spiteof every effort to displace them or of constant-ly creating fresh ones.

Worry is responsible for more cases of ner-vous breakdown than any amount of hard work.We worry in some cases over our daily work,because we either feel unable to cope with it orare too conscious of our own errors. We worryover the past which cannot be altered, andwaste precious moments in vain regret, insteadof utilising the lessons of the past to build upa worthier future. By worrying self-sugges-tions we positively create obstacles which donot exist, or we magnify to such gigantic pro-portions those which do exist that we are ter-ror-stricken at sight of them. Much need havewe to fully realise the extent to which we aredominated by such suggestions and to attemptto exercise a certain measure of control overthem.

In still other directions have we evidence ofthe influence which self-suggestions exerciseover us, though we are generally only too loathto admit that certain things came to pass be-cause we courted them by our expectant atti-tude. If an article of diet once under specialcircumstances upset our digestion we are tooapt, prompted by strong self-suggestion, to feel


sick or be sick every time we chance to renewour acquaintance with it, until we finally de-cide that it does not agree with us. If we belovers of fresh air the lack of an open windowwill cause us to suffer agonies, and such suf-ferings are often quite disproportionate to theatmosphere of the room we enter.

Fortunately for ourselves, should we beamong those who wish to progress to greatercontrol, we are sometimes trapped by this veryattitude of expectancy. It may be that one daywe find we have suffered most unnecessarilyfrom lack of ventilation, since we learn that awindow had unknown to us been open while webelieved it to be closed. Worse still, on theeve of a voyage we may retire to rest preparedto be sick according to our usual custom, andmay succeed in being so in spite of the factthat the vessel, owing to unavoidable delay,does not lift anchor till morning. Humiliatingas such experiences are, they are still mosthelpful in demonstrating to us practically whata small measure of control we have over bodyor mind.

Self-suggestions have sometimes the powerto so dominate a mind that they become a veri-table obsession, and life is rendered unendur-able. Many such cases which have been suc-cessfully treated by hypnotism were alreadyso to speak on the borderland of insanity.Others again cross the borderland and areeventually certified insane.

Such obsessions show themselves under veryvarious forms, and often elude all attempts atcure until the original baneful self-suggestion

67


is searched for and eradicated. Such obses-sions will be discussed in the next chapter.

The harmful power of self-suggestion isshown in its most exaggerated form in hys-teria. In this diseased state, as we have seen,there is such complete lack of control that thepersonality is for the time being dissociated,and one thought or emotion dominates mostunduly. A hysterical person is so extraordi-narily open to self-suggestions that, as Dr.Bernheim has shown in his book De la Sugges-tion, the mere fact of testing such a person forloss of sensation or diminished power of a limbis in itself sufficient to induce the very symp-tom which is being tested for. It is also ofcommon occurrence in hysteria to find com-plete blindness or loss of voice due entirely toself-suggestion and extending over a length-ened period. A person may even spend monthsor years in bed in the conviction that he iscompletely paralysed.

Having dwelt upon the harmful influencewhich unhealthy self-suggestions have thepower to exercise in a life, let us turn our at-tention to the remedy, thought-control.

It behooves us to examine our power ofthought-control honestly and with brutal can-dour, since only by attaining to a high degreeof perfection in this, can we hope to enjoy afull measure of health and vitality. Havingsatisfied ourselves that we are far from touch-ing that high-water mark of perfection whichwe would wish to have as our ideal, let us setto work patiently and earnestly day by day inan endeavor to improve such a defect. This


we can do both by following any system ofconcentration exercises and by putting theseinto practice at every moment of the day whenwe find ourselves urgently in need of self-control or thought-control. It is not possiblein the small space at our disposal to enumeratein detail the various forms of concentrationexercises which have been advocated, but weshould like to suggest the following methodas one which has been helpful to many, both asa means of practising thought-control and ofgiving oneself suggestions.

Complete relaxation is first induced by re-clining either on a couch or in a comfortablechair, then with eyes closed, the thoughts areconcentrated upon describing in detail a well-known room, scene, or object. The experienceof many people at a first attempt will be thatlong before five minutes are up the thread oftheir thoughts has been broken. Any formof exercise, therefore, to be effective must becarried out daily with the utmost regularity,while gradual improvement in thought-controlis shown by an ability to concentrate withouta break for longer and longer periods.

As we have repeatedly used the word con-centration we shall make its meaning clearwith the help of a familiar illustration, i. e.,the effect which a convex lens has upon thesun's rays. If on a hot day the rays be al-lowed to fall directly upon the hand a sensa-tion of warmth is experienced, but if a lens beinterposed, so greatly is their power increasedby the focussing action of the lens, that blister-ing is soon produced. Thus when by interpoe-

69

so HYPNOTISM MADE PLAIN

ing our will-power we concentrate, we so in-tensely focus our thoughts upon one point thatmany things which had previously seemed im-possible are accomplished with ease. The"point" upon which we concentrate may bework we have in hand, a quality we wish toconcentration exercises, we are in a positiondevelop, a special power we wish to acquire,or a bad habit we desire greatly to break.

Having thoroughly practised some form ofto put them to practical use in our daily lifeand to give ourselves suggestions. Having re-laxed as before and closed the eyes, we focusour thoughts upon the "point" in question. Wethen express clearly to ourselves what it is wedesire to effect, even saying it aloud and re-peating the words over and over with calmnessand assurance. We need not reaffirm thatsuch an exercise to be 'effective must be oftenrepeated.

Many people while under treatment by ahypnotist have been able to reinforce his sug-gestions and hasten their own cure by follow-ing some such plan.

In carrying out these exercises we should dowell to set before us the great truth expressedby Emerson, that kingship is in reality not anattribute of those who sit on thrones but ofthose who rule their thoughts.

CHAPTER VII.

MEDICAL TREATMENT.

We indicated in a previous chapter that the


word psycho-therapeutics, due to the gradualevolution of mental treatment, has at the pres-ent day acquired a wide interpretation, and wedoubt not that with increased knowledge andinsight this interpretation will be still furtherextended.

It has been seen that, though the hypnoticstate is regarded as one in which the subcou-scious mind is peculiarly receptive to suggep-tions, it is yet a fact of everyday experienlethat suggestions have the power to reach thesubconscious mind in many other ways. Everyyear this fact is brought home to us more andmore forcibly, and in consequence psycho-therapy becomes proportionately modified.Treatment by hypnotic sleep, valuable andhelpful though it is, thus comes to be regardedas but one department of mental healing, anamuch discrimination and judgment are exer-cised in the use of it, freer play being given toall forms of re-education by an appeal to threason.

We feel strongly and wish to state clearlythat all curative attempts are to be depre-cated which aim at treating a particular ail-ment only, without at the same time treatingthe deeper cause where such exists, since sucha cure leaves the patient in unstable equilib-rium, and therefore liable to a relapse. Thusin a case of hysterical paralysis it is possibleto effect a cure with or without hypnotic treat-ment, by persuading the patient that he hasmore power over the limb than he believeshimself to have, by encouraging him to carryout gentle movements and so restoring his

ft


walking powers to him. But only half the cureis effected unless hand in hand with such treat-ment we attack the condition of defectivethought-control and dissociated personality,which has permitted an unhealthy self-sugges-tion to rule supreme for weeks or months, thusreducing the individual to a state of invalid-ism. If on the contrary we concentrate our ef-forts on attempting to re-educate and reunifysuch a dissociated personality and to force thepatient to work out his own salvation, then in-deed we have done work which was worth do-ing.

Psycho-therapeutics thus comprises everyform under which an attempt is made to act onthe body through the mind for the cure ofvarious bodily ailments, and also all efforts atre-education by breaking injurious and slavishhabits, by inculcating thought-control and bybuilding up a controlled and stable character.

It is self-evident that the more fully one hasrealised the defects of one's own character iblack of thought-control and deficiency of will.power and the keener the fight has been toovercome such defects, the greater will be one'sinfluence, especially in difficult cases. To urgeself-control and thought-control upon a patientas moral precepts only, and without the stampof personal conviction through experience oftheir great value, must inevitably hamper allone's efforts. Particularly will this be thecase with patients who are sensitive to anylack of genuineness and who are at once ad-versely influenced by it.

It can only be by carrying on the education


of oneself at the same time that one attemptsto give a helping hand in the education ofothers, that one earns the right to speak withauthority. Such is also the surest way to con-vince the patient that one has an expert knowl-edge of the difficulties to be overcome throughintimate personal experience of them.

A deep and growing knowledge of humannature coupled with a certain sensitiveness tothe moods of others is of great value both inguiding one to an accurate diagnosis and ininfluencing one as to the line of treatment to befollowed in each individual case. Beyond thisare necessary a big sympathy, much tact, andinfinite patience.

As regards the patient we should like to in-sist again that the fundamental aim of psycho-therapeutics is to rouse every dormant powerin him and to convince him that only by draw-ing upon and developing these powers will heeffect his cure. It is in addition of the utmostimportance that he should be made to realisethe fact that to a great extent he is himselfresponsible for the state of lowered health andvitality, which he has so far regarded as beingdue to causes entirely beyond his control. Weshall touch upon these points in more detailin discussing individual cases.

In all medical treatment two dangers con-front the physician, the danger of overlookingthe mind in treating the body, and the dangerof overlooking the body in treating the mind;the harm which may result from such an omis-sion beino fully as great in the one case as inthe other. The physician who interests him-

63


self in psycho-therapeutics uses at the sametime every ordinary method, both for arrivingat a correct diagnosis of the physical conditionof the patient and for treating the physicalcondition where such treatment is necessary.He thus in no way regards psycho-therapeuticsas replacing other forms of medical treatment,but as an additional weapon in his hands, aweapon that has often proved of incalculablehelp in difficult cases. Failures and partialsuccesses there are in psycho-therapeutics, asin every other form of treatment, but great in-deed is the joy of being able to effect a cure incertain cases where all other means have beentried without success. As regards the.failuresand partial successes, the question constantlyarises whether, with an increased developmentof insight and of spirit in the physician usingmental healing, fresh powers may not be setfree in him and so the number of failures bediminished year by year.

We propose now to deal with the varioustypes of ailments and mental states for whichpsycho-therapeutics has been found useful andto illustrate these in so far as space will al-low, in order to show the line of treatmentwhich has been followed.

Among the class ol' cases which have givengood results with treatment by psycho-therapyare neurasthenia, hysteria, obsessions, consti-pation, sleeplessness, drink habits, drug habits,bad habits, stammering, sea sickness, musculartremors, headaches and neuralgia of nervousorigin, and the endless variety of similar af-factions.


Neurasthenia and Hysteria figure largely inevery, physician's practice, and in some casesone's resources are taxed to the utmost to re-store the patient to perfect health, in spite ofprolonged rest treatment, massage, electricity,change of surroundings, &c. A cure has, how-ever, in many cases been fairly rapidly effectedonce it was realised that all these means weremainly directed to the improvement of thebodily tone, and that a more direct attemptmust be made to investigate and treat the men-tal state.

Miss first came under observation inthe summer of 1908, suffering from a break-down due to overstrain. She was prescribeda rest cure with massage, and returned to workafter six weeks feeling greatly improved inhealth. The improvement, however, was onlytemporary, and during 1909 she was forcedto leave her work for varying periods. In theinterval she had developed symptoms and signspointing to slight heart disease, and was, there-fore, again treated by rest in bed, massaging,electricity, &c., and finally sent to the countryfor a complete change. She then returned towork and succeeded in keeping at it, butpresented herself periodically at the consult-ing hour to complain about her palpita-tions, sleeplessness, tiredness, and generalill health. By this time it was fully realizedthat there was a big mental elementin the symptoms she complained of, andseveral attempts were made to reason withher, in order to lead her to realise this for her-self and exert her will-power to pull herself

8


together. She always professed that she feltmuch better after such talks, and invariablyleft with a determination to try and effect herown cure, but in a few days relapsed into herformer state, On May 14, 1910, hypnotic treat-ment was begun, the patient never passing be-yond the state of light sleep. In all, fourteentreatments were given, first thrice weekly,then twice weekly, then weekly, fortnightly,and monthly. At each treatment suggestionswere given to meet the various symptoms ofsleeplessness, constipation (previously thor-oughly treated by ordinary medical means),tiredness, nervousness, &c., after which thepatient was left to rest for half an hour. Soonthese suggestions were extended, the wholeonus of her recovery being thrown upon her-self, concentrated effort at self-control andthought-control being strongly urged, with thedisplacement of self from the centre of her life.Improvement showed itself after the first oneor two treatments, the constipation and sleep-lessness yielding first. The patient thenceased to think or talk about the heart palpita-tions, gradually attained to greater and great-er control in every direction, and in conse-quence to greater calmness and happiness. Itwas commented upon by her friends that sheshowed more consideration for others and wel-comed any opportunity for unselfish acts. Dur-ing the two years which have followed thiscourse of hypnotic treatment the patient hasnever lost a grip of herself, though it hassometimes cost her a hard fight not to do so.As she has expressed it herself more than once,


the state of mental misery she was in beforethe treatment began has always acted as themost powerful detdrrent, when in moments ofdepression she has been tempted to let herselffall back.

Miss - , a typical case of hysteria, wastreated entirely without hypnotism, as the onlyoccasion on which hypnotism was attempted,her usual state of excitement was greatly ex-aggerated. She was first seen on January 17,1910, when she was most excited and uncon-trolled. She was convinced that she was quiteincurable and was in danger of becoming in-sane. She had been going from bad to worsefor the past year or more, medical treatmentwith drugs, scaldings, &c., having been of noavail. The patient was put in restful surround-ings in a nursing home for two or three weeks,in order to quieten her and help her to moreeasily make a fresh start. The mental treat-ment she was given consisted entirely of at-tempts to reason with her in a clear and con-vincing way in order to force her to realisethat lack of self-control had brought her to thispass and that therefore cultivation of self-con-trol was the only way to restore her to health.The question of thought-control and self-sug-gestions was also discussed with her in detail,and she was given exercises in concentrationto be done daily. Every effort was made tooccupy her attention and time by suitable workand suitable literature, and she was encouragedin every way to interest herself in others so asto displace self from the centre of her life.To do her credit it must be stated that she

67


pretty soon got a fair measure of outward con-trol, and was ashamed of the occasions whenthis failed her. After returning to work therewas however a hard fight to be gone throughfor about a year before she arrived at thestage when she had full control and objectedto have any reference made to this period ofuncontrol. This fight she for the most partcarried out alone, only turning up at intervalsof a few weeks or a month or two when thestrain became too great.

Obsessions or imperative ideas have thepower not only to cause such misery and de-spair that suicide has on more than one oc-casion been contemplated or carried out, butthey may also and often do lead to insanity.The root cause of obsessions is such a lack ofthought-control that an idea which in the ma-jority of people would have the power to causeworry for a time and would then be thrownoff, becomes instead the dominant idea in alife and eventually leads to a complete loss ofbalance and of sanity.

Miss - came for consultation on June 28,1910.. At that time she was truly on the bor-derland of insanity. She had for some timehad a trifling eruption on her cheeks, and withincreasing insistence the thought had grownthat on account of it she was infectious to allthose who spoke to her or sat beside her. Onattempting to trace back the origin of such athought to its source, it was found that oneday when conversing with a friend she noticedthis friend raise her hand to her cheek as ifon account of some irritation there. The


thought then took birth that she (the patient)had somehow infected her friend, and fromthat day onwards she found herself watchingfor such a gesture on the part of any personwhom she chanced to be beside. Should evenher neighbor in a tramcar raise a hand to hercheek, the patient at once concluded that in-fection had somehow been transmitted fromherself. She was so haunted and obsessed bythis thought, that life was a burden and itseemed as if it would be no light task to ridher of her obsession. In the course of a longtalk an attempt was made to attack the ob-session from every side by making common-sense deductions from facts known to herself,and she was in the end restored to a calmerstate of mind and left expressing herself per-fectly satisfied of the extreme foolishness ofher thoughts and promising to report shouldthere be any relapse. In a fortnight she re-turned, more miserable, and agitated than ever,to report that relief from her obsession hadbeen temporary only and that it seemed nowto have taken a firmer hold than ever. It wastherefore decided to give suggestions duringhypnosis, in addition to attempts to convinceby reasoning, but only a very slight degree ofsomnolence could be produced. She had sixtreatments on these lines, the point which wasstrongly and unfailingly insisted upon beingthat if she had even had an average amount ofthought-control she could have kept such anobsession at bay or conquered it. It thereforefollowed that cultivation of thought-control byevery means in her power was the only way to

SO


succeed in curing herself, and to this end exer-cises in concentration were prescribed for her.The unreasonableness of her obsession was alsopressed home, as shown by the. fact that shehad failed to infect a single person of all thosewith whom she was in daily and hourly con-tact. In the course of the treatment the patientshowed definite signs of becoming more normalin her outlook, and so it was decided, with somehesitation, to allow her to keep to plans origi-nally made for a seaside holiday, on the under.standing that she would relax no effort to ef-fect a reliable cure and would at once reporta relapse. In a fortnight she wrote to say shewas still "keeping all right," and two or threemonths later reported that she was now notonly free from the obsession, but that herpowers of thought-control were so much im-proved that she could even banish pleasantthoughts if they interfered with her work.

Constipation has various causes and so de-mands a varied treatment in individual cases,and there is no doubt that in some formshypnotic treatment is of great value, as in-stanced by the following case:-

Miss - sought advice on June 7, 1910, forvery obstinate constipation. All ordinarymethods by dieting, exercises, massaging, &c.,had been tried without success, and so hypnotictreatment was suggested and gladly agreed to.In all, eighteen treatments were given-dailyfor nine days, then twice weekly. At eachtreatment clear and definite suggestions weregiven for an evacuation of the bowels at thesame hour every day. It was also suggested


that concentration of the patient's thoughts onthe subject was of importance, and that be-fore the end of the treatment a regular habitwould have been acquired which would ensuresuccess after the treatment ceased. At firstthe results were slightly erratic, very satisfac-tory some days and disappointing other days,but before the daily treatment was changedto twice weekly, things were steadily improv-ing, and three weeks after the last treatmentthe patient reported herself as quite normal.Recent reports have confirmed this.

Drink habit.-In no class of cases has hyp-notic treatment shown more striking resultsthan in those associated with the drink habit.For such cases every kind and variety of treat-ment is to be welcomed, since not only in-dividual lives but homes are wrecked throughslavery to drink. The following two historiesillustrate the line of treatment which has beenfollowed in such cases:

Mr. - was seen in his own home on De-cember 14, 1911. He had been drinking heavi-ly for some time and was in a state of greatdistress and misery, and suffering in conse-quence of the heavy drinking from symptomsof palpitation and breathlessness due to heartdisease, which he had known himself to havehad from boyhood as a sequel of scarlet fever.He stated that he had begun to drink in amild way as a boy of sixteen, but that duringlater years (he was then thirty-four) it hadtaken such a hold of him that in spite of manya hard fight, a month or six weeks was thelongest time he had managed to keep sober.

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Treatment by hypnotism was commenced thefollowing day, the patient falling into a fairlydeep sleep, though not to the degree of som-nambulism. Suggestions were given to the ef-fect that he would not only lose desire fordrink, but that the smell of it would create afeeling of repugnance and disgust in him. Itwas further suggested that he must avoidevery place or person associated with drink,and in order to entirely free himself from thepower of temptation he must live above it bycreating a higher moral atmosphere as regardshis home obligations and his obligations to hisbrother-man. At each visit these and all othersuggestions given were discussed with him andhis criticism of them invited, and fresh incen-tives were thought of and given in the form ofsuggestions. From first to last it was insistedthat, in spite of the help he got from the treat-ment, assured success would only come as aresult of personal effort. He had in all ninetreatments, and from the first treatment com-pletely lost all desire for drink in a way andto an extent that he could not explain. On hisword, verified by that of his wife and others,he has never touched it since.

Mr. - was first seen on January 19, 1912,in his own home. He had begun drinking in amoderate way as a young man, and even afterthe drink habit had fairly taken hold of him hehad on more than one occasion been able to pullhimself up and keep free from it for varyingperiods, the longest being two years. Of lateryears however (he was forty-two years at thetime of commencing treatment), he realised

IYPNOTISM MAtE PLAIN t

that his physical state was getting steadilylowered, and that the control which he had oncebeen able to exercise was completely forsakinghim. When first seen he was so thoroughly illand unstrung from heavy drinking that he hadbeen forced to remain in the house in an at-tempt to pull himself together with more drink.After a preliminary talk, in which he agreed togive himself up to the treatment, all drinkwhich he had in the house was thrown awaybefore his eyes and with his consent. He wasthen hypnotised, falling at once into a state ofsomnambulism, and the usual suggestions weregiven. In all, eleven treatments were given.He stated, that the day following his first treat-ment, when he still felt physically ill dnd de-pressed, he hurried home from town on a carrather than risk having to face temptation inany form. From this time on he felt that thedesire for drink was gone, and when a fewweeks later temptation (as a mental picture)once presented itself definitely and vividly tohim, it vanished in a way he could not explainthe moment he faced it. Still later he wentthrough a period of depression in his businesswhich would in former times have most cer-tainly led him to seek relief in drink, but henow felt no such temptation, realising ratherthat the only way to face his difficulties was tokeep sober. As in the former case, drink hasnever been touched since the first treatment.

Sleeplessness.-In treating sleeplessness byhypnotism the same line has been followed asin other cases, combining the giving of suitablesuggestions with an effort to rouse the dormant


powers in the patient. Thus it is not only sug-gested that the patient will experience a desireto sleep at a certain hour, but that he can byconcentration learn the art of sleeping, so thatin the future, should sleeplessness recur, hehas learnt how to treat and overcome it.

Miss - had been a bad sleeper more orless all her life, almost regarding it as herusual habit to lie awake till two or three o'clockevery morning, and was therefore given specialsuggestions for sleeplessness while undergoinghypnotic treatment for other reasons She wascounselled not to worry about sleeping badlyand not to retire to rest dreading lest sheshould lie awake, but rather to adopt an atti-tude bf indifference. Suggestions were givenduring hypnotic sleep to the effect that sleepi-ness follows complete relaxation of body andmind, that she should therefore deliberatelypractise relaxation of her body aidd mind everynight on lying down, and that in consequencesleep would come quickly to her, and that shewould so realise that it was in her power toacquire the art of always sleeping well. Greatstress was laid on the necessity for complete'relaxation of the mind by so to speak switch-ing off the current of worrying thoughts or ofany definite train of thought, and allowing themind to dwell restfully on a pleasant thoughtor a pleasant scene, should it not be possible tocreate a state of absolute mental blankness.The first night after treatment began she feltsleepy before bedtime came, slept at once ongoing to bed, and did not awake till her usualrising time. Such a result was not kept up to


quite the same pitch on succeeding nights andshe once or twice even had a wakeful nightagain, but she nevertheless gradually acquiredthe art of sleeping well, which has stood her ingood stead through periods of stress and worry.of great help when given as ordinary directionsfor sleeplessness and without the aid of hyp-notic sleep.

Indigestion is so often due to an underlyingmental cause that time and money may bewasted without effecting a cure, unless such amental cause be sought for and removed. Thetwo following cases illustrate this truth:

Miss - , who had had hypnotic treatmentfor neurasthenia two years previously, soughtadvice for ill-defined symptoms of indigestion.She allowed that she was having rather a wor-rying time at her work, but did not think itwas sufficient to cause the indigestion, as shefelt she was quite able to keep her worries un-der outward control. She was put on ordinarymedical treatment, but as she could report noimprovement on two subsequent visits, sheagreed to try hypnotic treatment, on the as-sumption that the mental influence was greaterthan she was capable of appreciating. Duringhypnotic sleep it was suggested that the in-digestion was in reality due to worry, and thattherefore she must face her work with greatercalmness, since the most that could be expectedof her was to genuinely do the best she wascapable of. Two days later the patient re-ported herself as greatly improved, both as re-garded the indigestion and also as regarded herattitude to her work, and after a second treat-

95


ment complete recovery was reported.Though the cure in such a case might have

chanced to be pure coincidence, it was acceptedby the patient as a clear indication that shehad still something to learn about the extent towhich the mind is capable of influencing thebody.

Miss - sought advice for very acute in-digestion with occasional vomiting, which hadlasted for some days. After a careful physicalexamination, inquiry as to diet, &c., wascoupled with an inquiry as to any mental worry.The patient was, as a result, put on ordinarymedical treatment, but reported no improve-ment on two subsequent visits. The possibilityof a mental cause was then still more closelyinvestigated, when a big and genuine worrywas acknowledged. The patient was thereforeadvised to face the worry and talk it out athome, and then try to put it from her as beingthe possible or even probable cause of her in-digestion. She came a day or two later to saythat she believed the advice to have been on theright lines, since talking over things had con.siderably cleared the atmosphere and the in-digestion had vanished.

The following two cases, treated by Dr.Milne Bramwell, are of great interest, as show-ing practically that hypnotism can be and isof immense value in treating defective anddifficult children and in enabling them to growup to be useful members of society.

"Miss - , aged fifteen, January 22, 1894.Her mother, who had a family history of in-sanity, was morally insane and lived a vaga-


bond drunken life. Her father and uncle bothdrank and died insane. I was informed thatthe patient was deceitful, rebellious, and mis-chief-making. She frequently complained ofqueer feelings in her head, but it was difficultto tell how much was real and how much pre-tence. She was quick and intelligent, and coulddo her lessons in about a quarter of the timemost children took. She was impatient of re-straint; she had been sent to two or threefamilies and one school, but in each instancehad been dismissed as she was so insubordinateand unmanageable. I was also informed thatthe patient lied, stole, and had frequent out-bursts of violent passion. I found her strong,muscular, and well-developed; palate normal,menstruation regular.

"On January 22, 1894, after consultationwith the late Dr. Hack Tuke, she was placedin a nursing home and regularly treated for amonth. This was followed by marked improve-ment, and for the next three years she was seenoccasionally but at distant intervals. She grewinto a bright, healthy, attractive woman, whoin 1903, with the exception that she was stillsomewhat emotional, showed no trace of herformer defects. Recovery confirmed by laterreports."

"Miss - , aged 13, March, 1894. Bad fam-ily history. Before the patient was born hermother suffered from melancholia. The childherself had been mentally peculiar from in-fancy; she was persistently untruthful, deceit-ful, insolent, and dirty in her habits. She hadbeen addicted to self-abuse since the age of

77

ft 1YPNOTISM MADE PLAIN

seven. On several occasions she had stolenmoney from servants and others, sometimesconsiderable amounts. She had been expelledfrom school, and had to be kept at home. Shewas strong, healthy, and well-grown, withnothing abnormal about the head or palate.

"After consultation with Dr. Savage the pa-tient was treated three times a week fromMarch to May, 1894; this was followed bymarked improvement. She was seen at inter-vals during the next two years, and completerecovery took place. Up to the present time(1909) there has been no relapse."

These cases, though few in number owing tolack of space, serve to illustrate the lines onwhich mental treatment is carried out, some-times with the aid of hypnotism, at other timeswithout it. They also serve to show how hyp-notic treatment has sometimes proved of im-mense value in cases where other forms ofmedical treatment and all attempts at reason-ing had failed. At no time has the value ofpsycho-therapeutics been more insistently feltthan in attempts at re-education, whether it bethe re-education of difficult and defective chil-dren or the even more difficult task of the re-education of those who have allowed themselvesfor years to go through life blind to the fact,that in themselves lie d6rmant powers which,if drawn upon at every moment of the day, caneffect a profound change and lead to the de-velopment of a sane and controlled character.


CHAPTER VIII.

EDUCATION OF CHILDREN.

As we have just seen in the preceding chap-ter, the importance of psycho-therapeutics hasbeen nowhere more strikingly shown than inthe treatment of bad habits in children, andalso of difficult and backward children, who hadJresisted all other methods ranging from gentlepersuasion to corporal punishment. Such re-sults have opened up a most hopeful outlookfor the education of children, especially as re-gards the possibility of modifying or eradicat-ing hereditary defects. We fef- that whilemany parents are fully alive t their respon-sibility in this matter, others seem content toprovide food, clothing, school education, and astart in life for each child, and trouble them-selves but little with the bigger and more vitalquestion of the education and development ofeach individual character. This chapter hastherefore been written for the latter class ofparents, in the earnest hope that the value ofeducation may be brought before them in anew light, and that they may be led to interestthemselves in it practically, as the biggest anddeal with many questions relating to crime andmost momentous question of this age and ofevery age. We feel confident that education,and education alone, is the only radical way toimmorality, which we at present attempt tosolve by Acts of Parliament. Acts of Parlia-ment but lop the branches, so t, speak; educa-

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tion alone strikes at the root of the tree. Over-whelming then is the responsibility of everymother, since on the mother rests the onus ofmuch of the early education of her children.

Each child is born into the world resemblingin outer appearance either one or other parent,or it may be a near relation or an ancestor,and bearing in itself the elements of the goodqualities or the defects of its forbears. Somechildren start life with a generous dower of

The above suggestions have often been foundgood qualities, othere heavily handicapped byunlovely hereditary traits. While the sameeducation may be given to any six children itis fully realised that each one of the six chil-dren will absorb and utilise it differently, ac-cording to the individual drift of its character.To wish to have this otherwise would be towish to repress and obliterate all originality,which would be a retrograde step. There ishowever an overwhelming difference betweenrealising that one cannot have anything ap-proaching to full control in shaping each child'scharacter and, on the other hand, to allowthat character to develop the best way it canwith no wise guidance. Perhaps fully as harm-ful as indifference and neglect is the inculca-tion of a set of hard and fast beliefs and deadprecepts which have not the support of a liv-ing example. It is possible, even probable, thatan education carried out on these lines is re-sponsible for many wrecked lives.

Hypnotism has strikingly brought out thefact that every h uman being is suggestible to agreater or les-er extent, but at no time more


suggestible than during childhood, and thatfor this reason all edcuation given during ourearliest years is of untold value. So indeli-bly indeed are the impressions of childhoodstamped upon us that they influence our livesfor good or for evil to an extent that is onlynow being practically realised. In consequencethose who have attemptedthe task of re-edu-cating a warped or twisted character, with orwithout the help of hypnotic treatment, havebeen constantly impressed with the necessityfor seeking the cause of the warp or the twistin the half-forgotten experiences and memoriesof childhood.

We therefore urge the fact that this age ofextreme suggestibility is the chosen time fordeliberately making deep and' lasting impres-sions on a child, that much suffering may besaved if bad hereditary traits be deliberatelywatched for, and if one set oneself patientlyand earnestly to modify them before they ac-quire a firm hold. Babyhood and childhood are,above all, the time for forming life habits,which will in later years ensure happiness toourselves, and which will to some extent mini-mise suffering in others.

Those who have set themselves to train ababy have often marvelled at the ease withwhich the average baby learns quite uncon-sciously the habits of regular feeding, regularsleeping, regular motion of the bowels, &c.These habits are taught as it were by sugges-tion only, and we would urge the fact that itis similarly possible to instil the elements ofcontrol, obedience and consideration for others

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during the earliest years of a child's life. Bya lack of wise influence during these earlyyears much suffering is laid up for the childin after years, when in the hard school of ex-perience it learns slowly and laboriously andwith much kicking against the pricks. To agreat extent it is true that we must all learnby experience, but how much easier it is to ac-quire that learning if we have some fundamen-tal principles to guide us. How much easier isour task if we start out into the world realis-ing that we and our affairs are not the centralpoint of the universe, realising that the onlyway to have happiness is to develop it in our-selves, and above all realising our great re-sponsibility to every soul whose life touchesours.

Having insisted so strongly upon the enor-mous value of early impressions and early edu-cation, we would venture to dwell now uponsome points in that education which we feel arenot sufficiently emphasized, and which yet areof paramount importance in helping to shapea character to high and useful ends.

No question claims our attention more ur-gently than the necessity for giving knowledgeconcerning the functions of the body to grow-ing boys and girls, so that they may realisesomething of the meaning of manhood'-andwomanhood. It has been found that the ele-ments of this knowledge can be given most eas-ily and naturally by first interesting the childin plants and the method of propagation ofplants, and so on through bird life and animallife to human life. It is imperative that such


knowledge should be given to every child, pre-ferably by the parents, or, should they feelthemselves unequal to the task, by some com-petent person. Such knowledge wisely given isthe greatest protection that a growing boy orgirl can have. For lack of it not only has manya sensitive nature suffered terrible distress ofmind, but many a life has suffered shipwreck.Triply armed is he who starts out in life witha deep sense of the high purpose of creation,respecting his body as the temple of his soul,accepting his manhood as a sacred gift whichhe dare not barter for a mess of pottage, butwhich he holds as dearer than life itself andclosely linked in its rise and fall with allwomanhood. Degradation of manhood mustthen mean to him degradation of womanhood,and elevtion of manhood must mean elevationof womanhood.

We would next plead that during the sug-gestible age of youth every effort should bemade to stamp a broad and sympathetic relig-ious outlook on children, so that they mayrealise that unity of purpose is all-importantand that differences of detail are of the ut-most insignificance. The thing of vital im-portance may surely be regarded as being theattitude of every human soul to Goodness,Truth, and Beauty, as shown, not in any specialset of creeds but in all acts, even the mosttrivial, of daily life and conduct. To loveone's fellow-beings in vague theory brings tothem no sense of warmth or comfort, and canbave no practical value except in so far as thattheory translates itself into acts of considera-


tion and kindness.We feel that it is impossible to set too high

a price on truthfulness, sincerity, and highmoral courage, as the fairest flowers that anylife can show. It surely cannot be too deeplyimpressed upon a child that never do we dis-play a greater grandeur of soul than when westand upon our feet to acknowledge our errorsand to accept full responsibility for them, naymore, that not to do so is to stunt all moralgrowth within us. Great need is there also toemphasize the value of having the moral cour-age to dare to be ourselves, and to regard alldeliberate self-deception as a lie, to dare toset aside all conventions which cripple ourthoughts and actions, to dare to throw off thedead hand of a false respectability whichglosses over wrong-doing, but which dgeads anyfalse step which may reveal it to the world.

Above all, in all efforts at early education letus put in the forefront the divine quality offorgiveness, not a grudging and churlish for-giveness, but a forgiveness that "droppeth likethe gentle dew from heaven," a forgivenessthat we give in good measure pressed downand running over.

CHAPTER IX

EDUCATION OF ONESELF.In the preceding chapters we have attempted

to show the extent to which psycho-theraneu,tics, with or without hypnotismn, has modified


medical treatment, how it has thrown a floodof light on the mental origin of many diseasesand put a fresh weapon in the hands of themedical profession. Through the knowledge ithas given us of how characters may be trans-formed, of how bad habits may lose their holdand a more balanced and controlled life bebuilt up, we are led to turn our thought toconsider the extent to which this may be ap-plied in the education of oneself. How seekto change the characters of others unless onehas first learnt and appreciated to the full thedefects of one's own character, and set one-self with might and main to carry out the edu-cation of oneself with a view to building upjust such a balanced and controlled characteras one would fain help others to attain to.Too common is the tendency to regard a man'scharacter as something quite beyond his con-trol, as something he was born with and mustcarry unaltered to his grave; and this tend-ency finds expression in the oft-heard phrases,"I have always had a quick temper," "Mynerves always get the better of me," "I amemotional; I was made so," pronounced in atone of fatalistic acceptation of the fact, andas it were with a refusal to accept any respon-sibility for the consequences which may accrueto others from such defects. To talk to suchpeople of the possibility of educating oneselfpo as to eradicate such defects is to suggestwhat seems to them something entirely outsidethe practical politics of daily life, somethingtoo cloudy and vague to be considered prac-ticable.

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The question of the education of oneself isindeed a vital one, since it is intimately boundup with the whole question of human happi-ness. To find happiness is the desire, the crav-ing of every human creature, whether expressedin words or only vaguely felt as a somethingthat is lacking. We set out by very various pathsto search for happiness, and but few, I fear,return from the search satisfied. Many of us,like Noah in Ibsen's Doll's House, awake oneday to find that we have only been "merry,"not "happy," and well is it for us if we thenrealise as she did and with deep conviction,that we shall only find happiness by settingout afresh, on the more steep and thorny pathof self-education:

"Does the road wind uphill all the way?Yes, to the very end."

Life seems but ill-adapted for happiness to befound in worldly success, in the enjoyment ofpleasure or even in the joys of home life, ifwe, as it were, stake our all on finding it andholding it there. Fortune with one turn of herwheel may destroy the worldly success whichonly yesterday seemed so assured, may dash'the cup of pleasure from our lips, or may cloudthe home life with sorrow and leave us lament-ing our lost happiness. Further, if we pauseto think for a few moments we are bound torealise, as a profound truth, the fact that weourselves create much of the suffering we en-dure, and for which we blame others, ourtemperament, our environment, our ill-luck, infact anything and everything except our un-


disciplined selves. We feel certain that in othersurroundings and with other work we shouldbe happy, forgetting that we largely createour own environment and carry it about withus wherever we go, so ensuring to ourselveseither a great measure of happiness or a greatmeasure of misery. Were it only we ourselveswho suffered from this neglect that were sadenough, but sadder still is the fact that thosewith whom we come in daily contact suffer per-haps more, since life is not lived alone but incompany with other human souls. Life beingso full of uncertainties and much of what wecount happiness being held on such an un-ceitain tenure, we ourselves creating so muchof our unhappiness, it would seem that themost sane and rational thing to do would beto face these facts, and to set ourselves to thetask of self-education by developing those quali-ties which will be a shield and buckler to us,and by modifying and even eradicating everydefect which would lend additional difficulty toan already all too difficult life. So and so onlyshall we find happiness, a happiness that existsin the depths of ourselves, a happiness thatgrows in fulness as our life grows, a happinessthat enables us to meet the rebuffs of life withgreater equanimity and that expresses itself ina sane and controlled life. N or can such ameans of finding happiness be termed egotis-tical or selfish, since individual progress im-plies the progress of the race, since everythingthat leads to greater control in one life leads toa diminution of suffering in numberless other

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lives, and since the cultivation of the Good, theTrue, and the Beautiful in one human beingleads inevitably to such a profound change inhim that life is counted of but small worth, ex-cept in so far as it is spent in service for others.

The education of oneself may be expressed inother words as the formation of one's charac-ter, and the formation of one's character is in-contestably the most important business in life.In attempting to navigate the difficult seas oflife without having devoted any time to wvhatwe might call the laws of moral navigation, weshow the same appalling foolishness as wouldbe shown by any man who attempted to crossthe Atlantic alone with not a vestige of nauti-cal lore. Such a man would be indeed con-demned as mad, and yet numbers of us are inmuch the same position without realising it.Happy indeed are those to whom this knowl-edge comes before their frail bark suffers ship-wreck.

What then is character, the attainment ofwhich is the ultimate object of all attempts toeducate oneself? The Greek word from whichcharacter is derived at once gives us the keyto its meaning, that word signifying a markengraved or impressed, as on a coin. To quotean American author, character is "an epitomeof a man's past and a forecast of his future."

From these definitions we realise that as aresult of our attitude to life, as a result chieflyof the manner in which we have acted in timesof storm and stress, we set a mark upon our-selves which is visible to others, and whichconstitutes our character. Character, however,


is not a fixed and stationary thing; it changesfrom day to day, it possibly suffers infinitesi-mal modification from hour to hour, fromminute to minute, according to the great lawof transformation, and it is because of this lawthat we dare to urge with confidence and hopethe task of the education of oneself. We seethe law of transformation at work both in theanimal kingdom and in human lives, andthough these transformations are for the mostpart gradual there are some which startle usby their suddenness, or shall we rather say bytheir apparent suddenness, for a sudden changeor crisis is after all only the outward evidenceof changes which have been at work invisiblyfor an indefinite period. As we are concernedat present with individual lives we shall notdwell upon transformation in the animal king-dom And in nature, fascinating as such a studywould be. We would only indicate one or twoinstances in passing, such as the wonderfullesson of triumphant progress contained in thelife history of the nautilus, which in its spiralhome "ceaselessly leaves the past year's dwell-ing for the new," and which inspired Holmes towrite "The Chambered Nautilus." Most won-derful of all perhaps is the miraculous trans-formation of the Mayfly, so fascinatingly de-scribed by Edward Carpenter. In the twink-ling of an e P. "the brown scaly creatur*,clumsy an,! sluggish, that crawls about thebottom of running streams, or hides itself insmall semicircular burrows in the banks,"burst- its bonds, leaves its scaly husk on the


water, and flies into the air "a little fairy withfour pearly lace-like wings, and whitey-greenbody about an inch long, and tail of three longhairs." Wonderful as these are, is there afterall any transformation more wonderful or moremiraculous than the "ungaped-at Pentecostalmiracle" of spring?

No less interesting and no less wonderful isthe study of transformation in human livesduring the development of the embryo to per-fection and during each life history from in-fancy to old age, gradual evolution beingmarked at intervals by apparently suddencrises. Our bodies alter from day to day, asthe result of a combined process of decay andregeneration; each morning sees us subtlytransformed by the preceding night's sleep;our ideals suffer modification as from year toyear life opens out more vast and more end-lessly full of hidden possibilities, and there maycome sudden crises altering the whole currentof a life. We dare to affirm that in a fargreater measure than many of us realise it isin our power to direct these successive de-velopments, to take command at the time of acrisis, and so to build up a stronger and morebalanced character than we started with atbirth. It is but our bare duty to bravely un-dertake this task, this herculean task of theeducation of oneself, in the interest of ourfellow-creatures, since they suffer in a greaterdegree even than we do from our neglect of thisduty.

The keynote to all sane, healthy, and happylife is control, control in every direction, con-


trol of our bodies, control of our thoughts, ofour emotions, of our acts. As our thoughts arethe mainspring of our lives, all efforts at con-trol must first be directed to them.

It is impossible to enter here into a discus-sion of freewill versus determination, to dis-cuss the question of whether under certaingiven circumstances we act as we do by choice,or merely because certain powerful motivesdraw us in that direction and so cause us tohave the illusion that we act by choice. Whilewe fully appreciate the fact that the objectof all education is to create in us such an in-tensie enthusiasm for the Good, and the True, andthe Beautiful that these shall draw us upwardpowerfully with magnetic force and away frombaser motives, it is yet the experience of all ofus that even such an intense enthusiasm doesnot save us from exclaiming many times andoft with Paul, "The good that I would, I donot, and the evil that I would not, that I do."When we come to realise that thought-control,with control of our emotions and acts, is some-thing that we cannot merely be enthusiasticabout at a distance, but which must be putinto practice at every moment of the day if weare seriously to pursue Goodness, Truth, andBeauty; more than that, when we realise atclose quarters the appalling difficulty of ourtask, then we awake to the fact that hand inhand with enthusiasm there must be concen-tration of our will-power in constant dailypractice. It seems strange that while werealise that to master the piano, a new lan-guage, or any new branch of learning, steady


practice day by day is necessary, we expectthought-control, a far more elusive and diffi-cult pursuit, to come as it were by intuition.

We have in a previous chapter dwelt on theenormous influence of the thoughts we think tocause ill-health. Equally great is their in-fluence to cause happiness or misery, and vastnumbers of us doom ourselves to a loweredstate of bodily health, to daily unhappiness, tonervous breakdowns, and even to temporary orpermanent mental derangements, by our lack ofcontrol over the thoughts we think. We areobsessed by fears and apprehensions-fear forourselves, fear of life and of the vague future,fear of death, fear for others, fear of publicopinion and conventions. We live through inapprehensive imagination many trying andpainful moments which we are never calledupon to face, we torture ourselves by broodingover things which cannot be altered, and atevery step we magnify our sufferings by self-pity. Comforting indeed is the thought thatmany of the real difficulties of life have to befaced at a moment's notice, and come upon usoften most unexpectedly. While it is true thatall day long thoughts come pouring into ourminds against our will, that we cannot will tothink one thought and and not to think an-other, it is on the other hand forcibly truethat by constant and unceasing practice we cangradually acquire the habit of controlling ourthoughts and of banishing from our mindsworrying trains of thought.

The necessity of opening our eyes wide to thefar-reaching influence of our thoughts in caus-


ing health or disease, happiness or unhappi-ness, cannot be too strongly urged. Still morestrongly would we urge the duty of everyhuman being to set himself to gain thought-control by persistent and patient effort, by de-voting to it some of the time, energy, and in-terest which are cheerfully given to pursuitswhich have but little bearing on the great ques-tion of the art of living and the art of happi-ness.

Much help may be got in acquiring thought-control by altering our outlook on life, byrealising that an altered point of view oftenhas the power to rob thoughts of their stingand their worrying quality, and so to make iteasier for us to banish them. If a trdin orsteamship accident occurs regrets alone are notindulged in, but an inquiry is instituted withthe object of providing greater safeguards forthe future. So with the "accidents" of life,either those which are past or those whose ad-vent we dread, much help may be got by re-adjusting our point of view, so that self doesnot fill the whole horizon.

The greatest safeguard we can have is to ac-cept limitations and to dwell upon and makethe most of compensations, that is, to acceptlife as a compromise, for a compromise it isfrom beginning to end. Many of us wasteprecious years in pursuing a will-o'-the-wisp;"mine be some figured flame, which blends,'transcends them all," we cry. Many of us goabout from day to day with our eyes upon "theends of the earth," losing all the joy which istored in near and familiar objects. Happy

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indeed are those who learn in time, not merelyto accept life as a compromise, but to accept itgladly and joyfully, to realise that in doing sowe escape much fruitless fretting and worry-ing, that we open many doors which had other-wise remained closed, and set free fresh ener-gies to make that compromise a supreme suc-cess.

Another priceless safeguard against "acci-dents" is the conviction that our temperamentscause half our sufferings, and that tempera-ments are wonderfully subject to modification,if we choose to pull ourselves together and willthat we shall effect this modification, howeveruphill and difficult the task may be.

Again, we have great need to learn the truththat suffering, if met with a courageous andundaunted spirit, has the power of effectingsweeping reforms in ourselves, of putting intoour hands the keys of many locked doors, andof giving a wonderful strength and dignity tolife.

Lastly, many of us refuse to realise the greatfact that, however much we may wish to, wecannot live to ourselves alone, that during ourprogress from cradle to grave we touch and in-fluence hundreds of other lives, and that there-fore we are responsible in an appallingly widecircle for all our thoughts and acts, and thatthis responsibility does not expend itself in avague theory to that effect, but must hold forevery thought we think, and every act we do inthe trivial round of our daily duties.

We have dwelt at length on thought-control,since thoughts are the mainspring of acts, but


a few words must now be said on the practicalapplication of self-control and exercise of will-power in everyday life by the formation ofhabits. It has certainly been the experience ofmany that we leave our habits to form them-selves, and often first become aware of theirexistence when they obtrude themselves pleas-antly or unpleasantly into our daily life. Howoften we hear, "I have got into the habit ofdoing so-and-so"; how comparatively seldomwethear, "I have formed the habit of doing so-and-so." And yet our habits form our char-acters, just as our habits are an outcothe ofour thoughts. It is, however, when we turnour thoughts to the question of self-suggestionsthat the necessity for thought-control pressesitself home. A self-suggestion, as we haveseen, is a suggestion which we give to ourselveseither consciously or unconsciously. It hasbeen shown that most of us are dominated byour self-suggestions to an appalling extentwithout realising it, and therefore withoutrealising that it is in our power to turn thetables by dominating them and to deliberatelygive ourselves suggestions of a healthy and in-vigorating character.

Let us frankly realise the extent to whichwe are ruled by unhealthy self-suggestions; letus indulge in a good laugh at ourselves aftereach fresh discovery, since no healthier form ofexercise exists than that, and let us set our-selves not only to make counter-suggestions,but to deliberately suggest to.ourselves eachmorning strong and healthy thoughts which,shall dominate our day. In this way we shall

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find not only that it is in our power to exercisea great control over our bodies and minds,but that we can train ourselves to many thingswhich we had previously regarded as quite be-yond our control. To many people the idea isnovel that one can train oneself to sleep well,should one have previously been a bad sleeper,and yet as we have shown in a previous chap-ter the failure to do so is often due to a re-fusal to use the powers we have.

We believe that similarly by exercise of wtfi-power, and by constantly drawing upon thespiritual forces around us and in us, it is pos-sible for every sane man and woman to modifyand even eradicate defects of character, andto deliberately cultivate qualities which arelacking and which they would fain acquire. Webelieve that for this, not only is a great faith inthe existence of, and an equally great enthus-iasm for, Goodness, Truth, and- Beauty neces-sary, but a constant and unceasing effort, liter-ally the same constant and unceasing effortwhich we put forth to acquire a new branch'Of learning, a new accomplishment or a newsport. The direction which the fight takes willdepend on the individual character, since theweak points of one person may be the strongpoints of another.

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