Complete Hypnotism, Mesmerism, Mind-Reading and Spiritualism

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 entertainments.

CHAPTER II Amusing experiments—Hypnotizing on the stage—“You can’t pull your hands apart!”—Post-hypnotic suggestion—The newsboy, the hunter, and the young man with the rag doll—A whip becomes hot iron—Courting a broom stick—The side-show

CHAPTER III The stages of hypnotism—Lethargy-Catalepsy—The somnambulistic stage—Fascination

CHAPTER IV How the subject feels under hypnotization—Dr. Cocke’s experience—Effect of music—Dr. Alfred Warthin’s experiments

CHAPTER V Self hypnotization—How it may be done—An experience—Accountable for children’s crusade—Oriental prophets self-hypnotized

CHAPTER VI Simulation—Deception in hypnotism very common—Examples of Neuropathic deceit—Detecting simulation—Professional subjects—How Dr. Luys of the Charity Hospital at Paris was deceived—Impossibility of detecting deception in all cases—Confessions of a professional hypnotic subject

CHAPTER VII Criminal suggestion—Laboratory crimes—Dr. Cocke’s experiments showing criminal suggestion is not possible—Dr. William James’ theory—A bad man cannot be made good, why expect to make a good man bad?

CHAPTER VIII Dangers in being hypnotized Condemnation of public performances—A commonsense view—Evidence furnished by Lafontaine; by Dr. Courmelles; by Dr. Hart; by Dr. Cocke—No danger in hypnotism if rightly used by physicians or scientists

CHAPTER IX Hypnotism in medicine—Anesthesia—Restoring the use of muscles—Hallucination—Bad habits

CHAPTER X Hypnotism of animals—Snake charming

CHAPTER XI A scientific explanation of hypnotism—Dr. Hart’s theory

CHAPTER XII Telepathy and Clairvoyance—Peculiar power in hypnotic state—Experiments—“Phantasms of the living” explained by telepathy

CHAPTER XIII The Confessions of a Medium—Spiritualistic phenomena explained on theory of telepathy—Interesting statement of Mrs. Piper, the famous medium of the Psychical Research Society

INTRODUCTION.

There is no doubt that hypnotism is a very old subject, though the name was not invented till 1850. In it was wrapped up the “mysteries of Isis” in Egypt thousands of years ago, and probably it was one of the weapons, if not the chief instrument of operation, of the magi mentioned in the Bible and of the “wise men” of Babylon and Egypt. “Laying on of hands” must have been a form of mesmerism, and Greek oracles of Delphi and other places seem to have been delivered by priests or priestesses who went into trances of self-induced hypnotism. It is suspected that the fakirs of India who make trees grow from dry twigs in a few minutes, or transform a rod into a serpent (as Aaron did in Bible history), operate by some form of hypnotism. The people of the East are much more subject to influences of this kind than Western peoples are, and there can be no question that the religious orgies of heathendom were merely a form of that hysteria which is so closely related to the modern phenomenon of hypnotism. Though various scientific men spoke of magnetism, and understood that there was a power of a peculiar kind which one man could exercise over another, it was not until Frederick Anton Mesmer (a doctor of Vienna) appeared in 1775 that the general public gave any special attention to the subject. In the year mentioned, Mesmer sent out a circular letter to various scientific societies or “Academies” as they are called in Europe, stating his belief that “animal magnetism” existed, and that through it one man could influence another. No attention was given his letter, except by the Academy of Berlin, which sent him an unfavorable reply.