CHAPTER I.

HOW TO HYPNOTIZE.


Dr. Cocke’s Method—Dr. Flint’s Method—The French Method at Paris—at
Nancy—The Hindoo Silent Method—How to Wake a Subject from Hypnotic
Sleep—Frauds of Public Hypnotic Entertainers.


First let us quote what is said of hypnotism in Foster’s Encyclopedic
Medical Dictionary. The dictionary states the derivation of the word
from the Greek word meaning sleep, and gives as synonym “Braidism”.
This definition follows: “An abnormal state into which some persons may
be thrown, either by a voluntary act of their own, such as gazing
continuously with fixed attention on some bright object held close to
the eyes, or by the exercise of another person’s will; characterized by
suspension of the will and consequent obedience to the promptings of
suggestions from without. The activity of the organs of special sense,
except the eye, may be heightened, and the power of the muscles
increased. Complete insensibility to pain may be induced by hypnotism,
and it has been used as an anaesthetic. It is apt to be followed by a
severe headache of long continuance, and by various nervous
disturbances. On emerging from the hypnotic state, the person
hypnotized usually has no remembrance of what happened during its
continuance, but in many persons such remembrance may be induced by
‘suggestion’. About one person in three is susceptible to hypnotism,
and those of the hysterical or neurotic tendency (but rarely the
insane) are the most readily hypnotized.”

First we will quote the directions for producing hypnotism given by Dr.
James R. Cocke, one of the most scientific experimenters in hypnotism
in America. His directions of are special value, since they are more
applicable to American subjects than the directions given by French
writers. Says Dr. Cocke:

“The hypnotic state can be produced in one of the following ways:
First, command the subject to close his eyes. Tell him his mind is a
blank. Command him to think of nothing. Leave him a few minutes; return
and tell him he cannot open his eyes. If he fails to do so, then begin
to make any suggestion which may be desired. This is the so-called
mental method of hypnotization.

“Secondly, give the subject a coin or other bright object. Tell him to
look steadfastly at it and not take his eyes away from it. Suggest that
his eyelids are growing heavy, that he cannot keep them open. Now close
the lids. They cannot be opened. This is the usual method employed by
public exhibitors. A similar method is by looking into a mirror, or
into a glass of water, or by rapidly revolving polished disks, which
should be looked at steadfastly in the same way as is the coin, and I
think tires the eyes less.

“Another method is by simply commanding the subject to close his eyes,
while the operator makes passes over his head and hands without coming
in contact with them. Suggestions may be made during these passes.

“Fascination, as it is called, is one of the hypnotic states. The
operator fixes his eyes on those of the subject. Holding his attention
for a few minutes, the operator begins to walk backward; the subject
follows. The operator raises the arm; the subject does likewise.
Briefly, the subject will imitate any movement of the hypnotist, or
will obey any suggestion made by word, look or gesture, suggested by
the one with whom he is en rapport.

“A very effective method of hypnotizing a person is by commanding him
to sleep, and having some very soft music played upon the piano, or
other stringed instrument. Firm pressure over the orbits, or over the
finger-ends and root of the nail for some minutes may also induce the
condition of hypnosis in very sensitive persons.

“Also hypnosis can frequently be induced by giving the subject a glass
of water, and telling him at the same time that it has been magnetized.
The wearing of belts around the body, and rings round the fingers, will
also, sometimes, induce a degree of hypnosis, if the subject has been
told that they have previously been magnetized or are electric. The
latter descriptions are the so-called physical methods described by Dr.
Moll.”

Dr. Herbert L. Flint, a stage hypnotizer, describes his methods as
follows:

“To induce hypnotism, I begin by friendly conversation to place my
patient in a condition of absolute calmness and quiescence. I also try
to win his confidence by appealing to his own volitional effort to aid
me in obtaining the desired clad. I impress upon him that hypnosis in
his condition is a benign agency, and far from subjugating his
mentality, it becomes intensified to so great an extent as to act as a
remedial agent.

“Having assured myself that he is in a passive condition, I suggest to
him, either with or without passes, that after looking intently at an
object for a few moments, he will experience a feeling of lassitude. I
steadily gaze at his eyes, and in a monotonous tone I continue to
suggest the various stages of sleep. As for instance, I say, ‘Your
breathing is heavy. Your whole body is relaxed.’ I raise his arm,
holding it in a horizontal position for a second or two, and suggest to
him that it is getting heavier and heavier. I let my hand go and his
arm falls to his side.

“‘Your eyes,’ I continue, ‘feel tired and sleepy. They are fast
closing’ repeating in a soothing tone the words ‘sleepy, sleepy,
sleep.’ Then in a self-assertive tone, I emphasize the suggestion by
saying in an unhesitating and positive tone, ‘sleep.’

“I do not, however, use this method with all patients. It is an error
to state, as some specialists do, that from their formula there can be
no deviation; because, as no two minds are constituted alike, so they
cannot be affected alike. While one will yield by intense will exerted
through my eyes, another may, by the same means, become fretful, timid,
nervous, and more wakeful than he was before. The same rule applies to
gesture, tones of the voice, and mesmeric passes. That which has a
soothing and lulling effect on one, may have an opposite effect on
another. There can be no unvarying rule applicable to all patients. The
means must be left to the judgment of the operator, who by a long
course of psychological training should be able to judge what measures
are necessary to obtain control of his subject. Just as in drugs, one
person may take a dose without injury that will kill another, so in
hypnosis, one person can be put into a deep sleep by means that would
be totally ineffectual in another, and even then the mental states
differ in each individual—that which in one induces a gentle slumber
may plunge his neighbor into a deep cataleptic state.”

That hypnotism may be produced by purely physical or mechanical means
seems to have been demonstrated by an incident which started Doctor
Burq, a Frenchman, upon a scientific inquiry which lasted many years.
“While practising as a young doctor, he had one day been obliged to go
out and had deemed it advisable to lock up a patient in his absence.
Just as he was leaving the house he heard the sound as of a body
suddenly falling. He hurried back into the room and found his patient
in a state of catalepsy. Monsieur Burq was at that time studying
magnetism, and he at once sought for the cause of this phenomenon. He
noticed that the door-handle was of copper. The next day he wrapped a
glove around the handle, again shut the patient in, and this time
nothing occurred. He interrogated the patient, but she could give him
no explanation. He then tried the effect of copper on all the subjects
at the Salpetriere and the Cochin hospitals, and found that a great
number were affected by it.”

At the Charity hospital in Paris, Doctor Luys used an apparatus moved
by clockwork. Doctor Foveau, one of his pupils, thus describes it:

“The hypnotic state, generally produced by the contemplation of a
bright spot, a lamp, or the human eye, is in his case induced by a
peculiar kind of mirror. The mirrors are made of pieces of wood cut
prismatically in which fragments of mirrors are incrusted. They are
generally double and placed crosswise, and by means of clockwork
revolve automatically. They are the same as sportsmen use to attract
larks, the rays of the sun being caught and reflected on every side and
from all points of the horizon. If the little mirrors in each branch
are placed in parallel lines in front of a patient, and the rotation is
rapid, the optic organ soon becomes fatigued, and a calming soothing
somnolence ensues. At first it is not a deep sleep, the eye-lids are
scarcely heavy, the drowsiness slight and restorative. By degrees, by a
species of training, the hypnotic sleep differs more and more from
natural sleep, the individual abandons himself more and more
completely, and falls into one of the regular phases of hypnotic sleep.
Without a word, without a suggestion or any other action, Dr. Luys has
made wonderful cures. Wecker, the occulist, has by the same means
entirely cured spasms of the eye-lids.”

Professor Delboeuf gives the following account of how the famous
Liebault produced hypnotism at the hospital at Nancy. We would
especially ask the reader to note what he says of Dr. Liebault’s manner
and general bearing, for without doubt much of his success was due to
his own personality. Says Professor Delboeuf:

“His modus faciendi has something ingenious and simple about it,
enhanced by a tone and air of profound conviction; and his voice has
such fervor and warmth that he carries away his clients with him.

“After having inquired of the patient what he is suffering from,
without any further or closer examination, he places his hand on the
patient’s forehead and, scarcely looking at him, says, ‘You are going
to sleep.’ Then, almost immediately, he closes the eyelids, telling him
that he is asleep. After that he raises the patient’s arm, and says,
‘You cannot put your arm down.’ If he does, Dr. Liebault appears hardly
to notice it. He then turns the patient’s arm around, confidently
affirming that the movement cannot be stopped, and saying this he turns
his own arms rapidly around, the patient remaining all the time with
his eyes shut; then the doctor talks on without ceasing in a loud and
commanding voice. The suggestions begin:

“‘You are going to be cured; your digestion will be good, your sleep
quiet, your cough will stop, your circulation will become free and
regular; you are going to feel very strong and well, you will be able
to walk about,’ etc., etc. He hardly ever varies the speech. Thus he
fires away at every kind of disease at once, leaving it to the client
to find out his own. No doubt he gives some special directions,
according to the disease the patient is suffering from, but general
instructions are the chief thing.

“The same suggestions are repeated a great many times to the same
person, and, strange to say, notwithstanding the inevitable monotony of
the speeches, and the uniformity of both style and voice, the master’s
tone is so ardent, so penetrating, so sympathetic, that I have never
once listened to it without a feeling of intense admiration.”

The Hindoos produce sleep simply by sitting on the ground and, fixing
their eyes steadily on the subject, swaying the body in a sort of
writhing motion above the hips. By continuing this steadily and in
perfect silence for ten or fifteen minutes before a large audience,
dozens can be put to sleep at one time. In all cases, freedom from
noise or distractive incidents is essential to success in hypnotism,
for concentration must be produced.

Certain French operators maintain that hypnotism may be produced by
pressure on certain hypnogenic points or regions of the body. Among
these are the eye-balls, the crown of the head, the back of the neck
and the upper bones of the spine between the shoulder glades. Some
persons may be hypnotized by gently pressing on the skin at the base of
the finger-nails, and at the root of the nose; also by gently
scratching the neck over the great nerve center.

Hypnotism is also produced by sudden noise, as if by a Chinese gong,
etc.

HOW TO WAKE A SUBJECT FROM HYPNOTIC SLEEP.

This is comparatively easy in moot cases. Most persons will awake
naturally at the end of a few minutes, or will fall into a natural
sleep from which in an hour or two they will awake refreshed. Usually
the operator simply says to the subject, “All right, wake up now,” and
claps his hands or makes some other decided noise. In some cases it is
sufficient to say, “You will wake up in five minutes”; or tell a
subject to count twelve and when he gets to ten say, “Wake up.”

Persons in the lethargic state are not susceptible to verbal
suggestions, but may be awakened by lifting both eyelids.

It is said that pressure on certain regions will wake the subject, just
as pressure in certain other places will put the subject to sleep.
Among these places for awakening are the ovarian regions.

Some writers recommend the application of cold water to awaken
subjects, but this is rarely necessary. In olden times a burning coal
was brought near.

If hypnotism was produced by passes, then wakening may be brought about
by passes in the opposite direction, or with the back of the hand
toward the subject.

The only danger is likely to be found in hysterical persons. They will,
if aroused, often fall off again into a helpless state, and continue to
do so for some time to come. It is dangerous to hypnotize such
subjects.

Care should be taken to awaken the subject very thoroughly before
leaving him, else headache, nausea, or the like may follow, with other
unpleasant effects. In all cases subjects should be treated gently and
with the utmost consideration, as if the subject and operator were the
most intimate friends.

It is better that the person who induces hypnotic sleep should awaken
the subject. Others cannot do it so easily, though as we have said,
subjects usually awaken themselves after a short time.

Further description of the method of producing hypnotism need not be
given; but it is proper to add that in addition to the fact that not
more than one person out of three can be hypnotized at all, even by an
experienced operator, to effect hypnotization except in a few cases
requires a great deal of patience, both on the part of the operator and
of the subject. It may require half a dozen or more trials before any
effect at all can be produced, although in some cases the effect will
come within a minute or two. After a person has been once hypnotized,
hypnotization is much easier. The most startling results are to be
obtained only after a long process of training on the part of the
subject. Public hypnotic entertainments, and even those given at the
hospitals in Paris, would be quite impossible if trained subjects were
not at hand; and in the case of the public hypnotizer, the proper
subjects are hired and placed in the audience for the express purpose
of coming forward when called for. The success of such an entertainment
could not otherwise be guaranteed. In many cases, also, this training
of subjects makes them deceivers. They learn to imitate what they see,
and since their living depends upon it, they must prove hypnotic
subjects who can always be depended upon to do just what is wanted. We
may add, however, that what they do is no more than an imitation of the
real thing. There is no grotesque manifestation on the stage, even if
it is a pure fake, which could not be matched by more startling facts
taken from undoubted scientific experience.