Complete Hypnotism - Mesmerism, Mind-Reading and Spiritualism

Table of Contents:

INTRODUCTION—
History of hypnotism
What is hypnotism?
Theories of hypnotism
Animal magnetism
The Neurosis Theory
Suggestion Theory

CHAPTER I—
How to Hypnotize
Dr. Cocke's method
Dr. Flint's method
The French method at Paris, at Nancy
The Hindoo silent method
How to wake a subject from hypnotic sleep
Frauds of public hypnotic entertainments

CHAPTER II—
Amusing experiments
Hypnotizing on the stage
Post-hypnotic suggestion
The newsboy, the hunter, and the young man with the rag doll
A whip becomes hot iron
Courting a broom stic
The sideshow

CHAPTER III—
The stages of hypnotism
Lethargy
Catalepsy
The somnambulistic stage
Fascination

CHAPTER IV—
How the subject feels under hypnotization
Effect of music

CHAPTER V—
Self hypnotization
How it may be done
An experience
Accountable for children's crusade
Oriental prophets self- hypnotized

CHAPTER VI—
Simulation
Deception in hypnotism very common
Examples of Neuropathic deceit
Detecting simulation
How Dr. Luys of the Charity Hospital at Paris was deceived
Impossibility of detecting deception in all cases
Confessions of a professional hypnotic subject

CHAPTER VII—
Criminal suggestion
Laboratory crimes - Dr. Cocke's experiments showing criminal suggestion is not possible
Dr. William James' theory — A bad man cannot be made good, why expect to make a good man bad?

CHAPTER VIII—
Dangers in being hypnotized
Condemnation of public performances
A commonsense view
Evidence furnished by Lafontaine; by Dr. Courmelles; by Dr. Hart; by Dr. Cocke
No danger in hypnotism if rightly used by physicians or scientists

CHAPTER IX—
Hypnotism in medicine
Anesthesia
Restoring the use of muscles
Hallucination
Bad habits

CHAPTER X—
Hypnotism of animals--Snake charming

CHAPTER XI—
A scientific explanation of hypnotism--Dr. Hart's theory

CHAPTER XII—
Telepathy and Clairvoyance
Peculiar power in hypnotic state
Experiments
"Phantasms of the living" explained by telepathy

CHAPTER XIII—
The Confessions of a Medium
Spiritualistic phenomena explained on theory
of telepathy
Interesting statement of Mrs. Piper, the famous medium of the Psychical Research Society

Short Extract from INTRODUCTION:

"There is no doubt that hypnotism is a very old subject, though the name was not invented till 1850. The word hypnotism means sleep, and the definition of hypnotism implies artificially produced sleep. Sometimes this sleep is deep and lasting, and the patient is totally insensible; but the interesting phase of the condition is that in certain stages the patient is only partially asleep, while the other part of his brain is awake and very active.

It has been demonstrated again and again that persons can and do frequently hypnotise themselves. If a person will gaze steadily at a bright fire, or a glass of water, for instance, he can throw himself into a hypnotic trance exactly similar to the condition produced by a professional or trained hypnotist. Complete insensibility to pain may be induced by hypnotism, and it has been used as an anaesthetic.

It has been noticed that persons in the hypnotic state seem to have certain of their senses greatly heightened in power. They can remember, see and hear things that ordinary persons would be entirely ignorant of. There is abundant evidence that a supersensory perception is also developed, entirely beyond the most highly developed condition of the ordinary senses, such as being able to tell clearly what some other person is doing at a great distance. It is on power of supersensory, or extra-sensory perception that what is known as telepathy and clairvoyance are based.

Persons in the hypnotic condition have been able to tell what other persons were doing in distant parts of a city; could tell the pages of the books they might be reading and the numbers of all sorts of articles. Such facts as these have stimulated experiment in the direction of testing thought transference. These experiments have usually been in the reading of numbers and names, and a certain measure of success has resulted...."