HYPNOTISED CHILDREN.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue LXVIII, 13 July 1912, Page 9

HYPNOTISED CHILDREN.

A teacher named Boennecker has (says the Central News correspondent at Berlin on May 9) been sentenced to ten days' imprisonment at Elberfeld for making experiments in hypnotism with the pupils in his charge. Boennecker, who was greatly interested in hypnotism, decided that he might use it for the purpose of improving the manners of his pupils, who were rather an unruly band drawn from the lower working classes. He wished to cure them of habits of disobedience and deceit, and, for this purpose, he hypnotised them one after another, before he attempted to teach them. Then, when they were in a trance, he impressed upon them first of all the necessity of saying nothing of what had' occurred,, and then the importance of telling the truth and of being very polite to him when they awoke. Some of the children yielded to hypnotic suggestion almost immediately, but others were not such good subjects. The latter told their parents of what had occurred, and investigations were made. It was found that the hypnotised children were doing exactly as they were told, and that their" manners had improved to a very great extent. The Court, however, took the view that the experiments were dangerous to the health of the children, and Boennecker was convicted.