EXTRAORDINARY HYPNOTIC TREATMENT.

Ohinemuri Gazette, Volume XXVI, Issue 3453, 3 November 1915, Page 1

EXTRAORDINARY HYPNOTIC TREATMENT.

DR. VOISIN TRANSFORMS A . CRIMINAL. By hypnotism, a wild, vicious, criminal, i hysterical creature has been changed; into a good ■woman.

By-suggestion good ideas were con: veyed to her subconsciousness and anally conquered the' evil habits that had been acquired from bad surroundings and wly misfortunes. The once-abandoned girl of the gutters is now an excellent, devoted, nurse in a Paris hospital.

Her name is Jeanne Sonere, and the miracle of science has been wrought by Dr. Augusta Voisin, of the Salpetriere Hospital. The^casa is considered by doctors and-psycho-logists to be the most remarkable on record. /

Jeanne Sonere was born of the lowest class of in the; T£|jgpicking quarter of Paris, where'" the people live in plaster huts or shacks made of packing; boxes and other refuse. It is a lower life than that of' the animals. She saw little in her childhood but wickedness and brutality. , She went from bad to; worse, and finally found herself incarcerated in the Salpetri'ere, which is a combination of prison and iiospital. She was ia a deptorable condition—a criminal lunatic* V-filthiy,! with a life history of crime; ;;•■; ■

She r was at that time sbitiolent that she; could only be kept quiet by a strait jacket and an incessant. cold . douche on her head. Whil^ Dr. sin was, with her she rayed and spat at him like a wild animal.— But s heY persisted, and kept his face near, hers just in front of heri She: itried,; to avoid the gaze of hiseyes 'as^an^ animal would do, butl the doctor persisted, tirelessly: following her eyes with his. Finally his persistency wob, and she fell at once into a deep sleep and then passed into a som- 1 nambulistic state: The experiment .was repeated day,' after day. She * became sane while in the hypnotic condition, but still .raved while awake and showed all her evil tendencies. '.:.;.■'■■/.-"'• ■■;■-.'• '■.'. \-:\ -V";; •'■':■•■';■'■''." HOW TOEt MADE A WOMAN v Then knofher,; stage was reacheji; She commienced f^to accept hypnotic: suggestion, and would J obey -trivial orders given her while asleep. '''kVFox ;•■]■. instance, she would obey an order to make her room tidy. She obeyed suggestions given her-about her own personal i cleanliness and dress and regarding her general behaviour. , At last, while in the hypnotic condition, • she was taught to feel rev gret for, her \ past life and to form resolutions for reform*. Gradually she not only eipressed these ideas in the hypnotic. state but in iier' awakened condition^ In the end she : was made fully conscious of moral right conduct and what it meant tc lead a good, pure, cane life. ■ ;

She seemed as eager to do right after her' transformation as she had been to do wrong before * her/-better self was evoked. She took a pride in doing right for right's sake. She ; commenced to study and educated herself, and finally: took the nurse's ; course of training and became a very skilful and successful purse, particularly noted for her sympathy and earnestness. :■>■;£

In fact, she displays qualities vas marked on the moral side as she had; upon the depraved side, and is r shining example of all that is gov^ and fine. Her face has become swe»»> and intelligent, though always a lit tie serious, a s if she- were constantly conscious of the terrible fate . from which she was saved.

This case is important,, because the hypnotic experiment has been car? ried out t» '■■& much more useful direction tha» that fpUoWed in the; majority ,; of cases 'On record. In many cases 'of hypnoticexperiment > doctors have suggested to their subjects to. commit minor;crimes, say^ : ing, :"Gio and 1 steal Dr. So-and-Sos; b andkerchief, '•' or,, ''Go. andj strangle the cat," and the patients have obeyed* This must have left its to-:' fluence for evil on the patients as strongly as ttiie -suggestiohs of Dr. Voisin for good on Jeanne Spnere.— /Popular Science. Siftings.'^!