Hypnotism: Its History, Practice and Theory

 

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a case of chronic alcoholism being brought to me for treatment by suggestion. The patient had been accustomed to consume enormous quantities of alcohol daily. On the first few occasions that I hypnotized him, he made frantic efforts to drink any glass of wine I suggested. In the course of time, however, I not only succeeded in making him a total abstainer, but even created in him such an aversion to alcoholic drinks that his friends could not but laugh at his quaint behaviour. The change was also very noticeable during hypnosis. At first he drank every glass of wine suggested with avidity, but later on he would push the imaginary glass of wine away with a gesture of disgust, sometimes even attempting to dash it to the ground.

Besides which, the deception, if it is thorough, is clearly reflected in the subject's expression and gestures. No gourmand could wear a more delighted expression over some favourite dish than does a subject over a suggested delicacy. The fear depicted on the face of a subject when he believes he is about to be attacked by a tiger is most impressive. A subject will drink several glasses of wine by suggestion, will become red in the face, and then complain of his head. I give a piece of cork to a subject for an onion; he smells it and his eyes fill with tears.

By means of suggestion, we can place a subject in any situation we please, and from his behaviour draw conclusions as to what his conduct would be under analogous circumstances, and also as to his character (Morselli). But it is


I04 HYPNOTISM.

necessary to exercise great caution in drawing such conclusions, since the subject nearly always has some dim consciousness of his real surroundings, however completely he may seem to be transported into the imaginary ones.

Some authors (Dumontpallier, B&illon) have particularly directed attention to the suggestions which take effect on one side of the body only. For example, we can cause a bird to be seen on the right side, a dog on the left; but this appears to be only a matter of suggestion and training. The case mentioned by Magnin is connected with this: a person affected by weak sight of the left eye, of hysterical origin, believed that he saw with the right eye things which he really saw with the left, and so thought they were on his right side when they were really on his left (allochiria).

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