WONDERS OF HYPNOTISM.

Bruce Herald, Volume XXIX, Issue 2956, 29 April 1898, Page 3

WONDERS OF HYPNOTISM.

AMAZING j HOSEITAL PBACXICE. • Otic of the:; most iii teres ting places in , Paris, but a place wliioh comparatively few t can have the* privilege of visiting, is the " Clinique des Majladje^ one may behpldvp^ of suggesbion;;i|iStfi^ state of practicaffij|^plic^i^ there is nol^t^lbpi^^ or the crude expeYiineiits of amateurs, bub bhe highesb results of the skill and knowledge of some of "bhe^ioremosb metf of science. in' France. 1 Imagine yourself in a large square room nob brightly illuminated, where you are surrounded on all four sides by- chairs and' sofas containing a variety of people," well : dressed , anoV jjoorly dressed,; men and women, adults and children, all in a more or less advanced stage of hypnotic sleep. Some drowsily open_ tlieir eyes and close them again. Soma tiav.e,. apparently completely lost, consciousness, yet there is a certain {indefinable -look about bhem which j assures you bhab there is a mysterious and ] uncommon, element—u ncanny some would say — in their sleep. Their fades are nob bhe faces of people slumbering in their beds. In a high chair sits a fair-faced lit tie girl wibh her head drooped over ; her shoulder, her long hair falling to one side, her eyes closed, and a curious shuddering motion occasionally visible in her lips. Next to her is a strong, big-breasted man, wearing rough clothes, wibh weather- beaben face, sleeping bolt upright and holding his arm, stiff and inflexible, high in the air, with the open palm of his hand firmly planted upon the top of his head. On the opposite side of the room anobher man, wibh a rather hard, shrewd face, sits in a low chair, fixing his eyes wibh an upward slanb upon bhe singular rotating machine, nob unlike the governor of a small sbsam engine which, as-it swings round and round, sho-we rhythmic spangles of light, well calculated to fascinate the beholder. The man is a new patient who has proven refractory to the hypnotic influence. He has received orders to keep his eyes on bhe machine, bub when the woman next to him falls into a hysterical fit, the man suddenly drops hie attention to the machine and burns with an expression half of fear and half of suspicion to his writhing neighbour. One of the docbor'sassistants seizes the woman's wrists, making soothing suggesbions in her ears, and in a libtle while the terrible look passes from her face, her twisted limbs straighten and she sinks into a peaceful slumber. Meanwhile all round the room sit the sleepers, and the doctor passes now to this one and now to that, testing their condition One of bhe patients is a boy of vicious tendencies, representing a class of cases the breatmenb of which has been attended with very gratifying success. Sitting in his chair sound asleep, yet instantly responding to the suggestions of the docbor, he does not look like an incurably bad boy, and ib may be that the taint of vice will be complebely eliminated and that he will grow up an ornament to France. Dr. Berillon presents bhe phobograph of another boy who came to him suffering from a most exaggerated tendency to balk in his sleep. Every bhoughb that passed bhrough bhe poor little fellow's brain in his slumber, found instant expression from his lips. His sleep was an endless chatter that lasted bhe livelong nighb. Thrown into the condition of artificial sleep, the suggestion nob to talk in his sleep was impressed again and again upon his mind, and to-day he slumbers until the morning sun shines into his window as noiselessly and soundly as a person whose nerves have never been disordered. In another room Dr. Berillon showed far more interesting and indeed startling experiments. At these Dr. Dumonbpallier, bhe presidenb of bhe Society of Hypnology and Psychology, and Dr. Maurice Zeligzon, of Cleveland, were present. A young woman, formerly subject to violent hysterical attacks and now cured by means of suggestion was put inbo a hypnotic sbite by a few passes of bhe hand, occupying hardly more than ten seconds. Dr. Berillon placed his hands upon the patient's arm.*, and, speaking to her in her sleep, told her she was about bo experience an attack of catalepsis. Instantly and wi'h startling vehemence she responded to the suggestion, threw herself backward, uttered afeaiful cry, and began to contort her body and limbs in a pitiful manner. Ib was im. possible to entertain for a moment the idea bhab these things were simulated. It would havo been far beyond the power of Bernhardt or any great actress to imitate the utterances and acts of this unconscious girl who made the blood of the onlooker? throb in their veins with her awful contortions. Yet it lasted only a few seconds, for Dr. Berillon, grasping her arms, spoke the majric words that controlled her !? us tie tilled mind, and the crisis uassed in a breath, and she stood again upright and calm. Marvellous Experiments. Another series of experiments, still more surprising, followed. The patient was caused to seat herself in a chair. " I shall now show you, "said Dr. Berillon, " that the two halves of a person's brain — that is bo say the right half and bhe lef 'j half — act independently of ooe another when the person is in an hypnotic state." Thereupon tlie doctor turned to the patient, whose eyes were closed, and suddenly indicating me wibh his finger, said to her. speaking in her left ear — " Look out for him. Keep him away '. " The girl's left hand was instantly extended towards me with a gesture of repulse, while the corresponding side of her face as*-ume:l a severe and repellaut expression. Immediately the doctor, speaking in the patient.'*: right ear, uttered some friendly words, and began throwing kisses at her. Astonishing as it may seem, the right half of her face instantly assumed a smiling aspect, und with her right hand she began to throw kisses in return. All this \ lime, remember, the left side of the face retained its repe.Hant expiessiou and the left arm its gesture of repulse. The effect was , wonderful. The expression of the eyes, and even of the iwosides of bhe mouth, differed. In order to see the effect more clearly let the reader place a card over each side of the face alternately, the edge of the card ( followii>L r the ridge of the nose. j i JSext, these experiments tn prove the doiible action' of the braitrweie varitd by opening tiie patient's eyes while she sfciltremained in hypnotic slumber, and pre- 1 sent in-' two picttues to her. the one on tlie riu-ht bung a eomic.il scene which caused her to smile with the light side of her face, and the picture on bhe left presenting a distressing "^'ecttv-lu which produced a

corresponding expression on the left side of her face. Still a third variation of the I experiments was tried. While the doctor placing himself on the patient's: right, , whispered asad and touching story into her { ear one of his assistants amused .the other side of her temporarily disconnected brain, by telling a good joke to her left ear, "The expression of her face may be said simultaneously to laugh on one - side arid weep r on the v other. M But to what end are all these experiments ?" some one may ask. '•/They may be amusing, but what good Uo they do ? " The reply is thab they all' tend to an increase of our knowledge concerning the action of tbe brain and the .nervous system, and the more complete thab knowledge becomes the greaber is bhe power placed in bhe bands of bbc physician bb control and master disease. The welfare of humanity demands thab the springs of human action shall be uncovered as far as man 'can uncover them. At the meeting of the Society of Hyp- j nology and Drychology on July 20, Dr. Gorodiohze reported various cases of a predisposition to seasickness which had been cured by means of hypnotic suggesbion. In four cases he had breabed persons who were always violently sick ab sea, but since their course of " poyohio vaccination," as he happily termed ib, they had: all made rough voyages withoub experiencing a symptom of the old trouble. This is surely good news. Ab bhe same meeting Dr. Volsin reported the case of a girl descended from degenerate parents, who was an inveterate liar and bad a tendency to suicide, and who was cured of her evil propensities after six months of treatment by bhe mebhod of hypnobic suggesbion. Dr. Dumonbpallier, the presidenb, described the case of a woman afflicbed wibh violenb nervous disorders affecbing the stomach and other organs, and who had lost conbrol over her limbs. Other methods of treatment failed with her, bub by means of hypnotic suggestion she was cured within three