HYPNOTISM.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 11646, 25 August 1905, Page 6

HYPNOTISM.

Fpp a Dental Patient.

Lady's Tedth Extracted

, The value of hypnotism as a curative 1 agent, or as a substitute for chloroform, has been somewhat obscured 'by the unworthy use made of. the art by showmen. An interesting exhibition of its utility in; the place of an anaesthetic was given - at -Melbourne recently by Mr E. Bonner, a resident of the city, who has, within a comparatively short period, found that he, possesses the hypnotic power of suggestion,' or whatever one may choose to call- the mysterious and unexplained' gift. He states that he employs his power solely for purposes of healing, and that, among others, he has cured a drunkard of 20 years' standing of his craving for alcohol, and has greatly modified the paralysis with which a young man has been, afflicted almost from the time of his birth.

A •small p^rty, consisting of Mr Bonner; Dx E. A.' Grahasi, and onero* two other interested observers, a young lady • who, had to part with- two of h«r teeth, and a" representative of The Melbourne Herald assembled at the rooms of Mr W. Bowen "May, dentist, Grand Hotel. The patient seated herself in the operating chair, and the hypnotist gently placed his hands on her head.

"Now you are going ( into a sound sleep. You are feeling very tired, ;-yery. tired," said he, t and the lady^s "appearance\signified her acquiescence in his- words. -"Put your hands on the arms of the. chair," he continued. "Now you cannot move them. You are going sound asleep." v , The patient put her .head back, , and appeared to be fast asleep. ' '•''.'" ' r ' ' "Now open your mouth wide." The patient obeyed, and, after a little more suggestion of sound" sleep by the hypnotist, she was ready for the dentist. The first tooth came out readily, biit the second was of the unyielding, order, being, as it afterwards proved, solidly embedded in the alveolar process. However it came out, and, even in its defeat, was the very picture of an obstinate, and malignant tooth.

"Wake lip ! Wake up !'-' said the hypnotist, and the young lady sat up, and looked around at the company. Making use of what he described as posthypnotic suggestion, <Mr Bonner said, "Your mouth will be all right; it won't pam you." Immediately the^patient was quite well again. She rose up with a smile from the chair that usually makes the boldest shudder, asked if both teeth were out, and joked about -having them set in gold. When questioned afterwards, Mr Bonner said that he was without- any theory of his own as to the power. All he was sure of was that he "could do it."

"There is just one absurd notion that I wish to correct," he said. "'Novelists and play- writers have set* going the idea that when once a person" has , been hypnotised he or she can be' made to do anything the hypnotist wishes, beconies enslaved, in fact. It is nonsense. No one ' can be hypnotised without' willingly submitting to it. After that the power, of the hypnotistis circumscribed within narrow limits. But I really can give the drunkard a distaste for whisky. One man at my suggestion is sick whenever he smells whisky. 1 can cure vices. ' A furious temper in a child should be allayed by hypnotism. All kinds of pain, too, can be eased." "What is the power" itself?" ' - "That I do not know. It, is, and I have .it; and that ifl all' I 1 can "fell you."