Hypnotism: Its History, Practice and Theory

 

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Hypnotism: Its History, Practice and Theory

THE CONTEMPORARY SCIENCE SERIES.

EDITED BY HAVELOCK ELLIS.

HYPNOTISM.

PREFACE

TO THE FOURTH EDITION.

MY numerous other duties have, unfortunately, delayed the appearance of this edition of my book, in spite of the fact that the third has long been sold out. In the present; fourth edition, I have completely revised my former woik and made many important additions thereto. I have endeavoured to bring it into line with our present-day knowledge, and have laid special stress on the universal importance which has become attached to hypnotism and suggestion during the last ten years. I have given the narrowest limits possible to the concept suggestion, with the view of better differentiating suggestion from other psychic process than was formerly done. Relatively speaking, the fewest alterations have been made in the chapters on symptomatology and post-hypnotic suggestion. Very little has been added to our knowledge of these questions during the last few years, and it would appear that this branch of hypnotic research is fairly exhausted, though, of course, it may one day happen that it will have to go through a searching revision which will prove instructive.
In the chapters which treat of the various theories of hypnotism I have endeavoured to throw fresh light on the experiments I originally made for the purpose of explaining the phenomena. But I adhere to the position I primarily assumed—to wit, that certain premises must be accepted if we are to explain

viii PREFACE.

hypnotism. We shall be far more likely to arrive at a proper conception of hypnosis by reasoning from analogy than by paying any attention to misty psychological concepts or physiological experiments which our present knowledge of ultimate cerebral processes is quite unable to explain. I have added a chapter dealing with the general influence that hypnotism and suggestion have had on medicine : the. first part of it is devoted to *theoretical medicine and the far-reaching

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