Spiritualism and the New Psychology

therapeutics. The 'temple sleep' of ancient Greek medicine was a hypnosis, but in later days hypnotism fell into oblivion till the time of Mesmer,

e mysterious person who exercises it is able to lead his victims along any path. The fashion for public shows of Mesmerism has apparently died away,

ascribed alike to Lord Kitchener and the monk Rasputin, and presents a phenomenon unknown to physiologists. The 'will-power' of the hypnotis

e process the full co-operation of the subject is necessary, though with repeated sittings his su

is then led to think only of the operator and his remarks and directions, whilst generally some mechanical method is used which by tiring the eye

bad habits or modes of thought are more readily accepted than in the normal state of consciousness, the subject having afterwards a complete memory of the sitting. In deeper stages hypnotic sleep is produced, suggestions concerning the bodily functions-producing, for example, temporary rigidity or paralysis or loss of feeling-may

e a man in a dream who through a similar absence of standards of comparison sees no absurdity in the suspension of the laws of gravity. The unconscious of the subject is now accessible to suggestions which may be planted there and will bear fruit even if the subject is

ome one is sitting in a chair, and is directed to stab him with an imaginary knife, he will perhaps do so, for he would not object to doing so in his waking state; but suggest to him that

produce nausea, he congratulated himself on a cure, but to his annoyance the patient came home one day cheerfully intoxicated with beer. Further hypnosis was tried and, although the hyp

king state a recollection of the events in a previous hypnosis shows that the dissociation may be continuous or abrupt (see Chapter IV). The substituted stream is made up of suggestions from the operator and of material from the unconsciou

ect is able to see or hear or feel what is unobserved by the ordinary man. He possesses a hyper?sthesia such as we see in a sleeping dog who wakes at the approach of a footstep inaudible to the human ear and recognises whether it belongs to friend or stranger. A similar alertness and its opposite can be se

ung quotes experiments[13] of Binet, who says: 'According to the calculations I have been able to make, the unc

imes more acutely than the average normal individual. It was possible to carry on a conversation with him by whispering in one corner of the ward when he was lying

nes and could not only hear a plane long before his comrades but could tell at once by the hum of the e

med to be affected when far-away doors were open, and showed a most uncanny and accurate knowledge as to whether they were op

es quoted above refer to the sense of hearing; but other senses, such as touch and sight

ion of the senses we already possess. Its importance lies in its common alliance with a dissociated r