GUNNER'S LOST MEMORY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVI, Issue 17294, 18 October 1919, Page 2 (Supplement)

GUNNER'S LOST MEMORY.

A REMARKABLE CURE. RESTORATION BY HYPNOTISM. A remarkable case of the return of memory following hypnotism was related by Dr. William Brown, during a discussion on the occasion of a joint conference of the Aristotelian Society, the British Psychological Society, and the Mind Association. The case was that of a gunner " knocked out" at Ypres two years ago. He regained the power of speech (which he had lost in consequence of his experience), but one symptoma trembling of the right armprevailed. As a result, he had been for two years unable to shave himself, and all he could remember of the incident was that he was knocked out. Dr. Brown said he hypnotised the man, and told him to go through his experience at Ypres. He did so, and what he said showed exactly wJiat the situation had been. He shouted to another man (using strong language), What do you mean by pulling the — pin out of that — fuse?" The shells were evidently getting nearer and nearer to him. He was laying the gun, turning the handle with his right hand, and another man, who had evidently quite lost his head, was providing him with ammunition. His patient was therefore under the influence of two strong emotions— fear and angerand these he showed during the hypnotism.

When he came to, the trembling, which had been very pronounced before, had stopped absolutely, and next morning he was ahde to shave himself far the first time for two years. The trembling did not return, and the patient felt convinced that it would not. Further, he was able to remember th» whole of the incident at Ypres. The man was thus normal again as soon as memory was restored, but it required hallucinatory vividness to bring it back.