WONDERS OF HYPNOTISM.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXII, Issue 9991, 30 November 1895, Page 2 (Supplement)

WONDERS OF HYPNOTISM.

;y, \i)\ ~ •—; ■» v ' ,':v • \i -}"'f ALLEGE)) STRANGE RESULTS. ' Dr. .liUYSf»' one of tho most) remarkable men in Paris (writes a reporter to a Continental paper). His private workshop in Jihe Charity Hospital, of which he is the head, is a pari of his home. Hi? study is a little room far! tif ; bob Us. That is where he receives his private patients. He took up hypnotism about 12 years ago. That was about the 'tiril'e of 'the begllming of its revival in France. He has devoted almost all jijs time to it and to thjs study of the human brain ever* since. The results of tho latter are to bo seen by the favoured visitor in a 'cabinet in the little'bjul'ding." There are more tlmn 300 tiiuifiraifieil human brains in that cabinet, and each one of them has taught the world a lesson under the investigation of Dr. Luys. Most of the doctor's discoveries have - been brought about by his work with two especially pood hypnotic subjects named Gabrielle and Esther. Both came to him at tho hospital to be cured of norvous' diseases; Esther was cured, Gabriolle was not. Esther had been suffering from convulsions. Tho doctor placed Iter in a hypnotic trance.' It was necessary for him to drt thin many times, but 1 he eventually succeeded in' driving them away; Six brothers and sisters of this girl had died of them. But Esther still lives and now is entirely well.

J'ltr.N'O.MF.N'A OF COLOURS. One of the first things which tho doctor discovered "through his' work with Esther was that to' the hypnotised subject each human being is separated into two parts. TliesA aro'identified by colours. While tho subject is in the state known technically as "lucid somnambulism," tho person whom Bho looks at is marked by a yellow line which begins at tho top of the head and runs down the middle, dividing the individual in half. Then, if this porson be in good health, the right aitlo is distinguished by blue flames issuing from tho right nbstril. the right 'ear, the right eye; while the left aiders'similarly marked by red flames. Thus in the parlance of hypnotism people aro now said to havo thoir red and their blue sides. What this strange phenomenon meant was for a long time a most puzzling question. Then it developed that if the person were in bad health the colours varied. A consumptive, for instance, sliowod green flame. A man who hnd' been wounded in the eye was distinguished in the sight of Esther and other hypnotised watchers by a little orange flame issuing from that member. A woman badly affected by hysteria showed purple on the side which would have been red in a healthful person, and so on. Dr. I..uys was as greatly surprised as anyone, lie did not then, and does not how, know why these things are true. They form one of the most baffling mysteries of science. Apparently diseases may be expocted in future to identify themselves to the person who is in a certain hypnotic state, TAKING MEDIOISF. IIY SUfiC.BSTION'.! Professor Luys has found a way of hypnotically administering medicine?—that is, he is on a path which he thinks will end in his being able fco'admlnister the " influence" of a drug without administering the drug itself. Dp. Luys more than a year ago found that certain substances, placed in glass tubes, affected hypnotised subjects strangely, even when they were held' at a distance: One of the most extraordinary of tho many effects v which Dr. Luys has obtained by this impersonal presentation of drugs is where the esjence of thyme is tho drug used. This 'caused extreme fear, and added a strange swelling of the thyroid gland of the neck to a size more than three inchos above'the normal. Extremo anger is caused by a tube of chlorydiato of morphine. When presented to the other ?idc' of the subject saiiio tube caused a pleasant sleep. Extravagant fear is the expression worn by another subject, caused by the action of a tube of sulphate of sparteine. These examples might be multiplied indefinitely. What all this means has not yet boon determined. Just as the hypnotised person can hear sounds and see sights which tho normal human being cannot, so it seems to be true that the hypnotised human being can feel influence'' of drugs which do 'not exist to tho person in a normal state. And now we come to what 1 have already referred to when I said that in this article would be wade the'first announcement of one of the most amazing scientific discoveries of the time. The doctor lifted from the shelves a piece of iron curved into the shape of a horseshoe big enough to fit over a human lioad and fitted with straps adjusted so that when it is in place they lot it fall about as low as tho temples and no lower. He placed this on his own head and came forward. " This," said he, "is » wonderful tank. It is a tank for THE STOP. 10 OF TF.MPEKAMKXT. Yet you see it js very simple. It is merely a big horseshoo magnet. Yet I can anger you'aud draw your"anger from you to lock it up in this bit of curved iron. 1 can please you and then steal your pleasure away to store it in this queer thing. I can find you melancholy, and with this I can relieve your melancholy. I can find you an optimist, and in half an hour can filch your good nature, transferring it instead to this inanimate piece of metal. But that is not the most wonderful thing about it. After I have made you angry and have drawn your anger out and into this magnet I can transfer it from the magnet into the first person who happens to come in. Your molanpliolycan lie shifted toother shoulders wholly irresponsible for it and ignorant of its cause by the simple use of this headpiece. Your pessimism can be turned over to somo jolly fellow who was never anything but happily hopeful before in his life. In other words," continued t|ie doctor, "it is now quite possible to remove mental energy from one porson, store it up, and then transfer it to another person after the lapse of a* much or as little time as you choose. It the energy is that of happiness, then the person to whom it is transferred becomes happy. Tho (liscovery is in its infancy yet, but it is destined, I think, to bo ono of tho most wonderful things in the world. See what it means! You are a sufferer from that strange disease, melaucholia. And if tho world could bo fid of that one affection of the nerves and brain a greater good would be done thart most people realise. You go to your physician for treatment. He has in his cabinet the mental energy of a happy person—ono of those persons who are naturally happy. He gives ib to you as simply as he would give you an ordinary electrical treatment. You havo now tho temperament of a happy person. Tho discovery came about in a strango way. I had under treatment a young womin who was in no sense insane, but who was suffering from one species of melancholia. Sim felt an aversion for tho persons whom nature and her life ought to have made her care most for. ' She met her mother and her father, her sisters and her brother, with feelings of displeasure. Finally sho came to mo and asked me to see if I could nob do something for her." For years, says tho reporter, a group of men, made up of Pasteur, Charcot, Reid, Luys, anil others, have been sfsncting out scientific news from Franco which startled the world. Bub never has any discovery so amazing as this groat one of Dr. Luys been announced.