BY GRAMOPHONE

Gisborne Times, Volume LXXII, Issue 11453, 2 March 1931, Page 5

BY GRAMOPHONE

AUSTRALIAN FARMER CURED OF MELANCHOLIA MECHANISED TREATMENT .'t.'v- '-‘-'rZ-r PUT INTO TRANCE BY DOCTOR IN’BERLIN (U.P.A. By Elec:•'Tel. Copyright) (Received March 1, 5.5 p.m.) * . ~ BERLIN,. Feb. 23. ‘ A sensation has been caused in psychic circles by the announcement that a Svengali named Leo Thom a put a man'into a trance at a distance of twelve thousand miles by means of a gramophone record. Dr, Thoma, who is an. hypnotic experfc, was asked by an. Australian colleague' to help in treating/an Australian farmer who was suffering from acute melancholia. Dr. Tboma conceived the idea of recording words on a record, which were spoken as if the farmer had been in Berlin consulting him. Five records wejfo made and destroyed before D r . Thoma was satisfied that the modulation and resonance of the voice were properly reproduced.

- Then, he sent the record with a lifesized portrait of himself to Australia and the patient was instructed to gaze into the eyes of tho portrait and persuade himself that he was. listening to Dr. Thoma’s actual voice.

Dr. Thoma waited for two months and has now received a . cable that the. farmer is cured. The gramophone eliminated the complex which took the form of depression. Dr. Thoma believes! the experiment is the beginning of a new form of mechanised treatment for nervous diseases. .......