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The Science of Hypnotism

Alexander Cannon

Preface

The use of hypnotism - its place in science - its explanation of spiritualism, "Christian Science," faith - healing, occultism and clairvoyance and crystal-gazing - hypnotism and its uses in insanity - production of hallucinations - destruction of hallucinations - delusions and suggestion - uses in anxiety states, worry, etc., and in the psychoses (insanity) - suggestion and the hypnotic state - hetero - suggestion - auto-suggestion

I HAVE endeavoured to place before you the facts, and the great scientific opportunities in the subject of hypnotism, mesmerism and Luysism, which is indeed a forgotten, all-important branch of medicine.

In all branches of medicine, hypnotism is invaluable, and I use it daily. Only those who use it regularly can fully appreciate its value. It is important, however, that for the treatment of physical diseases, at any rate, it should be employed only under the supervision of a duly qualified and registered medical practitioner or practised by doctors themselves, as its therapeutic effects arc so certain in the relief of symptoms, that grave damage might be done by obscuring those warning symptoms of some serious surgical condition.

Once, for example, the physical state has been diagnosed by a competent physician, who will keep a watching brief in the case, then hypnotism is a very safe and effective weapon, but to use it as a panacea for all ills would be as absurd as prescribing one type of medicine independent of the cause, course and nature of the disease: this is tantamount to saying that hypnotism should be controlled by the medical profession. It must be admitted that the range of medicine covered by hypnotism is far greater than is often credited in medical circles. The practice of this art is based upon science (as I have endeavoured to show in this little work), and will produce results which are beyond criticism.

It is interesting to relate that spiritualism, ''Christian Science," faith-healing, occultism, scientific clairvoyance, crystal-gazing and the like, can all be fully explained by the study of the various phenomena which can be produced, at will, in the hypnotic, mesmeric and psychic states, and this by no means belittles these effective therapeutic methods of healing. The references to Lloyd-Tuckey are taken in general from his book on Hypnotism and Suggestion, which the publishers, Messrs. Baillière, Tindal and Cox, kindly permit me to refer to. Also the works of Vogt, Forel, Bernheim, Charcot, Liebeault, Volgyesi and numerous others from the Continental libraries, have been of great assistance to me.

Those who wish carefully and extensively to study the workings of the mind in health and disease, in waking and sleeping states, including the absorbingly interesting study of dreams, mental mechanisms, mental states and the like, will do well to read The Principles and Practice of Psychiatry, which is published by Messrs. William Heinemann (Medical Books), Ltd. The oriental philosophy of mind is well described in The Invisible Influence (Rider & Co.) and Powers That Be (Francis Mott & Co.).

Hypnotism is the master key to the mind of man, and living kind, and will be shown to unlock the door to the rooms of insanity in this house of man, for can we not produce hallucinations and delusions in mankind identical with those found in the insane, by hypnotism, and in a number of the insane disperse their hallucinations ? And in time we should learn with greater practice and experience to disperse the delusions of the insane, which are one of the main foundations of mental disorder: Even delusions are based on suggestion in the earlier stages, and surely what has been suggested there, can be suggested away. In anxiety states, worry in general, the psycho-neuroses and the neuroses, the results are speedy and often miraculous, but in the psychoses often considerable skill and patience is required, but in the end the result is well worth while.

Suggestion is most powerful in its action upon the mind of man in the hypnotic state, and it must not be forgotten that we live by suggestion. We dress according to the clothes suggested by advertisements; we try to keep up with the times; all this means that we act upon the suggestion of others (hetero-suggestion); I have found the bottle of medicine do as much good to a patient when a chemist has accidentally omitted to place in it the "all-important ingredient " as it did when it contained it. Of course, there are some important exceptions, but facts cannot be altered. It is usually thought that hypnotism and mesmerism are synonymous terms, but this is not so! I have studied the methods of Braid and of Mesmer. Braid's form of hypnotism is what I describe as Occidental Hypnotism" in Chapter VII of Powers That Be (Francis Mott & Co., Ltd.), and mesmerism is a modification of " Oriental Hypnotism " (Chapter I of Powers That Be). In occidental hypnotism the patient is really thought to send himself to sleep by the effort of his own will under the direction of the hypnotist (hetero-auto-suggestion). In mesmerism the mesmerist uses his own will over that of the patient, and also uses an "etheric vibration" of untold potency. Luysism (pronounced Lewis-ism) is a method whereby disease is transferred from the sick to the already hypnotised, and the sick person sees another suffering from identical signs and symptoms: mimicry, if carried out to perfection, is a very potent weapon in the cure of disease: mimicry, in some way, links up with the unconscious mind and brings about complete cure of disease.

The fields are white unto harvest, but the labourers, with the required qualifications, are few; into the hands of the labourer is now placed an instrument which will more than repay his efforts of a long-spent season of sowing - for in some cases, patience, as well as kindliness of heart at all times, in addition to the practising of this art to perfection, is required to secure a success, when many another would have "thrown up the sponge." Hypnotic-suggestion is irresistible suggestion and is the key to the mastery of man's mind.

ALEXANDER CANNON.

38, Harley Street,

London, W1.

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Introduction

Definition - the principle upon which hypnotism works - reason for " fixing" the patient's attention - explanation of symptoms produced and how hypnotism acts - types of hypnotic sleep: light, deep, somnambulism - the meaning of en rapport - the difference between ordinary sleep and Hypnotic sleep - how paralysis of many years' standing is cured - treatment of aphonia (loss of voice) - force of suggestion - the test of the hypnotic state demonstrated to the critic - the criterion as to whether hypnotic suggestion will bear forth good results - registration of suggested warmth by the thermometer - crime and the hypnotic state - the conversion of natural sleep into hypnotic sleep: suggestion somnique of Farez

HYPNOTISM is the production of a psychical condition in which the faculty of receiving impressions by suggestion and the power to act upon and carry out the suggestions is greatly increased.

The less the mind is occupied with ideas, the more easily can thoughts be directed into any given channel. If nothing holds our attention, the nervous system, for want of that gentle stimulation which is necessary to it, falls into a state of semi-activity inseparable from want of tone in the nervous system, and a form of sleep is produced.

The purpose of "fixing" the patient's attention on a certain bright point, as, for example, the bright light of the author's hypnoscope (see illustration) [None was provided - DM], at a strained angle of one foot in front of, and one foot above, the eye level, is used in order to strain the accommodation of the eyes and tire the sight. The effect of the strain is to cause dilatation of the pupils and resultant dimness of vision. The feeling of heaviness in the eyelids results from the fatigue of keeping them open in a strained position. The assertion, by suggestive words in a monotonous tone, that the eyes are becoming tired and the sight dim, is therefore founded on physiological data. The eyes being tired, the natural impulse is to close them, and this act calls up a previous association of ideas connected with confused sight or fatigue.

That association points to sleep, towards which the patient is rapidly led, aided by the monotonous tones of the hypnotist-physician suggesting it to him, and by his mind being free from all disturbing thoughts, and his nerves being free from all external stimuli. The patient falls asleep, in fact, much in the same manner as one does when reading a dull book. The sleep may be (i) light, (ii) deep, (iii) or that of the state of somnambulism. The light and deep sleep closely resemble ordinary sleep, but the somnambulism is different and resembles mesmerism.

If an ordinary sleeper is spoken to, he is usually aroused by the stimulating effect of the sound conveyed to the brain, through the auditory nerves, but in the somnambulic state, he can be spoken to without being disturbed, and, on the contrary, the effect is actually soothing. Whereas in natural sleep the patient is en rapport (in touch with) only his own consciousness, in somnambulism he is, in fact, in touch with (en rapport) the outer world. In the somnambulic state all the senses are more or less inactive, and in abeyance until called into play by the hypnotist. Whereas normal sleep is the result of fatigue and habit, and during this state the body is closed for repairs; as soon as all these repairs are done, the normal healthy person wakes up with renewed energy. The hypnotic state may be brought about at any time of the day, and long before any perceptible inroad has been made on the store of nerve energy laid up during previous natural sleep. It follows that during this artificially produced sleep which is the hypnotic state, there may be great accumulation of an excess of energy, all of which can be concentrated and directed into any channels the hypnotist-physician desires.

The concentrated and directed nerve force must naturally affect the system more powerfully than any ordinary sensory nervous impression; and this explains the sensation of warmth usually experienced in any part to which the attention has been drawn - the rapid production of congestion to a given part; and it also may explain the success of this treatment in some cases of paralysis of many years standing. In this state suggestions have all the force of commands, and the patient will strain every nerve to obey them, as they are received as true, and the idea tends to be realised and to be carried into execution as actions. When the patient is told to move a paralysed limb, or to speak after months of aphonia (loss of voice), it will be noticed that he puts extreme intense effort into the attempt to comply with the hypnotist's suggestions or dictation (a better term); the hypnotist is the dictator and the commander.

We are all familiar with the stammerer under hypnosis making such an effort that he then speaks fluently; and the deaf person who will hear a whisper. The force of the suggestion does not, in fact, depend on the depth of the sleep, as all that is necessary is a state of increased receptivity of ideas suggested by the hypnotist, and, at the same time, an ignoring of all other sensory impressions, which is accomplished even in the lighter states of hypnotism.

While it is true that only about half the population can be hypnotised to the somnambulic state, when they can be made to act and relate a dream, or scene dictated by the hypnotist, and in which state very accurate post-hypnotic suggestion can be made to bear fruit at the appointed time, threequarters of the population can be hypnotised into a deep sleep, and practically everybody into the first stage of light "sleep": in this first degree many will deny having even been hypnotised, as they are conscious of movements in the outside world, but suggestions will frequently act as powerfully. To show the critic that he is hypnotised in such a light state, first tell him that he will find it impossible to open his eyes, and to his surprise he will find that he is not able to do so until commanded to open them.

The one criterion as to whether hypnotic suggestion will bring forth good results, can be determined at the beginning by passing the hypnotist's hand over the seat of pain (or by rubbing the epigastrium, and stating that he feels it getting warmer and warmer), when the patient will be conscious of a glow of reflex warmth (in fact this can often be registered by a thermometer); this is an all important point.

It must not be forgotten that crime can be committed by a few people in the hypnotic state: I was able to demonstrate this at a famous oriental murder trial in a British High Court of Justice a few years ago. My friend, Dr. Leopold Thoma of Vienna University, who is over in this country now, also demonstrated this force before President Altmann in the Vienna Criminal Court, and I have shown the photographs taken of this case in a lecture-room at South Kensington.

Farez, of Paris, and I have found that natural sleep can frequently be changed into hypnotic sleep by making a few passes over the sleeper (stroking the forehead lightly and hardly touching it, or stroking the limbs in a like manner downwards), and whispering softly, telling him not to wake up. This method succeeds extremely well in the aged, in the psychoses, psycho-neuroses, neuroses and in children. Farez gave the name suggestion somnique to this form of hypnotism.

A most ingenious method of hypnosis is by the use of gramophone records made specially for this purpose under my special supervision. My friend, Dr. C. de Radwan of Vienna University, and I have been developing and using this method with great success in this country. (See Appendix, for type of records used in my research and pure hypnosis, etc.)

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Theory

Heidenhain's - monotonous gentle stimulation of a sense causing inhibition of the cortical cells, with consequent suspension of the higher cerebral functions - the physiological tiring of a sense - reduction of a person's mental state of polydeism to one of monodeism and thence to vacuity - the power of hypnotic suggestions upon this "vacuity" state - its complete control of the hypnotist - immediately opposite changes which can be produced

Bernheim's suppression of the ego - the two sides of personality - the " practical out-door " test of suggestibility

Lauder Brunton's theory of occurrence of hypnotic phenomena analogy afforded in physics by the interference of rays of light and sound with one another when they meet in certain relationships to each other - the whole nervous mechanism and a mutual check system - maintenance of balance between sensory and motor nerves - explanation of reflex movements - when sensory strong irregular impulse is disseminated into channels of different lengths the reaction ceases to be merely reflex - the check system only works effectively up to a certain point - inhibition is then produced - what inhibition is - the application of the theory of interference to the induction of hypnosis - inhibition is an interference phenomenon and not an abolition of function, as proved by its immediate production and removability - dynamogenesis explained - inhibition the foundation of hypnotism

The heart is an example of the close association of neuro-regulating arrangements and their action upon each other - the three principal ganglia of Bidder, Remak and Ludwig - how they act, together and separately - hypnotism and the capacity of determining inhibition compared - hypnogenic zones

Liébeault's rules - suitable witness - suggestions to all somnambulists of hypnotist's omnipotent power - spoken permission - therapeutic suggestions

HEIDENHAIN attributes the hypnotic state to monotonous gentle stimulation of a sense, causing inhibition of the cortical cells, with consequent suspension of the higher cerebral functions. A monotonous sound or scene will thus produce drowsiness or sleep; and a sudden intense stimulation, such as a sudden noise or flash of light, will cause an awakening.

What happens when a person is profoundly hypnotised for the first time by a fixation of the eyes upon a brilliant object? As his attention is exclusively directed to one sensory impression, he becomes more and more withdrawn from other conditions of the environment, until at last he sees only the object, and is conscious of nothing else. But in time, as the optic centers become exhausted and cease to respond to continued stimulation, the visual sense likewise becomes extinct, and the subject is left in a condition of mental vacuity and " senselessness." He has been reduced from a state of polyideism (many thoughts), which is normal in healthy people who are constantly receiving and balancing multi-form impressions derived from all avenues of sense, first to a state of. monoideism (one thought) - the idea of a fixed image, upon which he must keep his eyes and attention; and finally to a state of vacuity in which there is complete absence of ideas. Into this swept and garnished chamber of the mind, ideas can be implanted by the hypnotist; and as a ray of light thrown into a darkened room will show forth with exaggerated force and brilliancy from the contrast with the surrounding darkness, and the exclusion of the conflicting rays, so will the ideas suggested to the imagination of the profoundly hypnotised subject operate with immensely increased effect from the whole environment.

Whereas in the coma of disease the paralysis is absolute and complete, in induced somnambulism it is partially or entirely removable at the command of the hypnotist. He can arouse any center to more than its normal functioning activity, so that the subject or patient, who a moment before was insensible to the fumes of strong ammonia held close to his nostrils, will now recognise the faintest odour; and he who now lies in a condition of muscular impotence, will, at the word of the operator, perform extraordinary feats of strength.

The same holds good with the expression of the emotions. From a state of abject misery the subject may be suddenly transported to one of bliss, and be it noted that he shows both conditions far more markedly than be would if he were awake; for, in the normal state, his emotions are subject to that inhibitory influence which we call self-control, and which is non-existent in the somnambulic subject or patient, over whom each passion, each emotion that is called up, has, for the moment, undivided sway.

BERNHEIM THEORY

Bernheim believes that hypnotism suppresses the ego, or the rational, volitional and deliberate side of mental activity; the other side is automatic and instinctive, and therefore allows full play to the instincts.

The more a man's actions are the result of impulse rather than reason, the more susceptible he is to external impressions, and therefore to suggestion treatment. He who obeys his instincts, says Lloyd-Tuckey, and instantly knocks down a man who has insulted him (this being a purely automatic action), would thus be a better subject for hypnotism than he who deliberately calls a policeman and goes in for damages.

LAUDER BRUNTON THEORY

Lauder Brunton has founded a theory of the occurrence of hypnotic phenomena, on the analogy afforded in physics by the interference of rays of light and sound with one another when they meet in certain relationship to each other. when two rays of light are combined so that the crests of the waves of which they consist coincide, the light becomes brighter; but if they are thrown together so that the crests of the waves in the first ray correspond with the hollows of those in the second ray, mutual interference is the result, and they so neutralise one another that darkness is then produced.

This theory applied to the nervous system by hypothesis implies that nervous impulses travel like waves along the nerve tracts, and as long as they coincide - crest to crest and hollow to hollow - sensation or movement is the result of the impulse; but if the coincidence be interfered with, we get more or less complete neutralisation of the impulse and inhibition. The way in which waves of light may be made to mutually interfere is by causing them to pass through channels of different lengths, so that when they meet, one may be half a length behind the other, the crest of the first corresponding with the hollow of the second.

In the nervous system it is a matter of constant occurrence that the impulse waves of nerve energy are travelling towards the centres through channels of different length, and it follows ex hypothesi that they are interfering with each other in different degrees. The whole nervous mechanism is subjected in its normal state to a mutual check system, so that a balance is automatically maintained between sensory and motor nerves, and they are influenced to a greater or less degree by impulses arriving from the higher centres, such as those concerned with volition.

In tickling, convulsive movements are set up by gentle continuous irritation over a sensory surface. An impulse made up of waves is promulgated to the sensory centres, and reflected from them down the motor tracts. The stimulation being monotonous, continuous and consisting of currents of the same intensity, there is no wave interference, and the motor movements resultant are reflex. But let the pressure be increased, so that, instead of tickling, pain is produced, then in place of a weak current travelling up one nervous channel, we have a strong irregular impulse disseminated into channels of different lengths. When it arrives at the centres which have been subjected to interference a different condition will result and the reaction will cease to be merely reflex.

Up to a certain point the action of the will may be called forth to check the convulsive movements, and this will operate by interference, the waves constituting the impulse from the highest centres so impinging upon the excito-motor waves as to cause interference and inhibition. Inhibition is, therefore, not a special function of certain cells and nerve fibres, but may be produced through any sensory or motor cell and depends not on the properties of the cell, but on its relationship to other cells or fibres.

Motion, sensation, inhibition, or stimulation are not positive, but simply relative terms; and stimulating or inhibitory functions may be exercised by the same cell, according to the relation which subsists between the wavelengths of the impulses travelling to or from it, the distance over which they are propagated showing the effect of sufficient inducement to overcome what we almost call reflex action. Lloyd Tuckey mentions a physician of his acquaintance who found his little daughter extraordinarily ticklish, and used to tease her by tickling her; but he called up such a strong inhibitory action by giving her sixpence when she bore the tickling without wincing, that she soon became quite callous about it.

Now, applying this theory of interference to the induction of hypnosis, we find that it serves to explain several points. Take hypnotisation by the method of fixation: an intense and unusual stimulus is applied to the optic nerve, and by it, carried to the optic centres in the form of an afferent current of abnormal form and intensity.

The effect of such strong stimulation is not confined to the receiving centre, but overflows it and acts upon neighbouring and associated ones. The nerve impulse thus sent through the communicating nerve fibres is composed of waves which meet the normal currents traversing these channels in such a way as to interfere with and neutralise them, and hence we arrive at inhibition, either complete or in part, of the functions of many or a few of the cortical centres.

The condition, once produced, its reproduction is rendered easy by the setting up of a nerve habit. Psychical processes such as auto- or hetero-suggestion may be supposed to cause hypnosis by originating a nerve impulse, starting from the ideational centres. Inhibition, therefore, is interference, and not abolition of function; and its distinguishing characteristic is its immediate production and removability.

By suggestion, we may be supposed to start an impulse from the higher centres, the waves of which are propagated to the centres it is sought to influence, and which either coincide with and strengthen the efferent waves proceeding from these (dynamogenesis), or by interfering with them, cause inhibition which is the foundation of hypnotism.

The heart affords one of the best examples of the close association of neuro-regulating arrangements and their action upon each other. If the heart is removed from a cold-blooded animal; it will continue to contract rhythmically owing to its containing within itself ganglia derived from the sympathetic system. But these ganglia have not all the same functions. The principal ganglia are three in number, named those of Bidder, Remak and Ludwig. The two former are excitor centres, while Ludwig's ganglion is inhibitory. This is well shown by experiment. Let the heart be cut into two unequal portions, one consisting of the right ventricle (with Remak's ganglion), and the other of the two auricles and the left ventricle containing Ludwig's and Bidder's ganglia).

The first portion will continue to beat, but the second portion will remain quiet. Let this second portion be again divided and the auricles (containing in their septum Ludwig's ganglion) will be found to remain quiet, while the ventricle will recommence to beat again. Ludwig's ganglion has thus proved strong enough to counteract one excitor ganglionic centre, but not sufficiently strong to control two.

It is probable that all sensory and sensorial nerves are capable of determining inhibition, and the study of hypnotism affords a valuable confirmation of this theory. The highest centres may be inhibited by acting on several sensory areas and tracts, and the position of these seems to vary in different individuals For instance, gentle friction of the forehead will, in many people, speedily determine cortical inhibition and hypnosis; some people have inhibitory and hypogenic zones, such as the vertex (of the head), the nose, malar bone of the cheek, the clavicle or collar bone, the mammary region, the bend of the elbow, and the upper and outer parts of the thigh, the knee and the outer and inner side of the ankle; in these people the touching of one of these zones has sent them frequently into the lethargic or first stage of hypnosis of Charcot.

LIÉBEAULT'S RULES

(i) Insist on having one suitable witness to every hypnotisation, as a protection for the hypnotist as well as for the persons hypnotised.

(ii) Give the suggestion to all very suggestible persons (somnabulists), that no one else can hypnotise them (to prevent them ever falling into the hands of undesirable people who misuse hypnotism for their own ends).

(iii) Only give suggestions for therapeutic purposes so long as legal, scientific, or didactic purposes do not enter into the question.

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Methods

Lloyd Tuckey's Method - the testing of the degree of hypnotisability of the patient - finger fixation - verbal monotonous - toned suggestions - response to local warmth - method of awakening - testing of stages of hypnosis - cataleptic stage, automatic stage, somnambulic stage - testing for en rapport - production of negative hallucinations

Bernheim's Method - eye to eye fixation - monotonous verbal commands - thumb and finger imperceptible movements - how to assist a difficult patient - speed with which repeated hypnosis call be made, and how

Grossman's Method - a hint in how to over - come the sceptic - suggest suggestibility to each patient - insensibility of the eyeballs - the half-sitting position and its hints - the dazed expression - how to succeed with an obstinate patient - treatment of pain - persistence until success - talent for invention - induction of anaesthesia and amnesia immediately on awakening the patient - prevention of harmful results of auto-suggestion

The Author's Occidental Method - importance of comfortable position of patient in easy chair - all - important explanations to the patient - what the hypnotist will do - what the hypnotist must expect - what the hypnotist expects of the hypnotised - mental state of rest - automatic verbal and motor obedience - signal for awakening - insensibility of eyes test - the tiring of the sense of sight by the bright light of the ophthalmoscope (or other light), or by other methods described - the wording of the all-important detailed suggestions of sleep - the automatic closing of the eyes - complete relaxation - the dreamy state - the sleepy state - the production of the cataleptic state by stroking the limb - the automatic state - the somnambulic state- the acting of dreams - the acting to command - the carrying out of post-hypnotic suggestion - the method of awakening - how to command the awakening with certainty .

Liébeault's Method - the making the mind as blank as possible - fixation of the eyes on any object - sleepy suggestions - tests for suggestibility - en rapport

Erskine's Method - eye fixation whilst patient relaxes fully in an easy chair - eyelids to close with each verbal count - command to sleep - suggestions made - method of awakening - evading the conscious mind

Binet and Féré's Method of Fascination - its advantages - its objections and dangers - tendency to induce a state of complete automatism with entire suppression of the patient's personality - the hypnotist's eyes - appearance of intense brilliancy - patient attracted by those eyes - success of this method with the insane persons upon whom the other methods have failed - cutting short maniacal attacks - successful treatment of various intractable mental conditions - the first sign of reversed hypnotism - tendency to fatigue of the hypnotist

The treatment of refractory cases

Bernheim - Coué Method - the patient relaxes on a couch, the head of which is raised - the room is flooded with a beautiful blue light - patient asked to either look at light reflected from ceiling or at a print of the hypnotist's eyes - a special gramophone record is played to produce hypnotic sleep - hypnotist energetically moves his hands and arms in certain directions of magnetic line of force - advantages of the method

The Author's Artificial Eye Method - a Dr. Millauro artificial eye used - instructions of a suggestive nature given to patient - patient relaxes in ordinary chair - patient carries out hypnotist's commands - method of lighting up the room and the artificial eye - subsidiary use of the Cannon Hypnoscope

Treatment by transfer of illness from the sick to one already profoundly hypnotised - Luys' clinic method - the " adoption " is not only of the disease, but also of the patient's personality, by the profoundly hypnotised - its experimental value

Hypnotisation of animals - illustrations - hypnotisation of the victim of animals

The Author's Method of using suggestion with hypnosis - patient must relax completely - close his eyes - pay NO attention to what is said to him - election of words - how to use these selected words in therapeusis - cycle of repetition and rest - Method of Silence used when patient will listen and pay attention to what is said to him

Delboeuf's- Yogism - so-called occult and Indian fakir practices explained

Auto-suggestion - Napoleon and Coste de Lagrave - "will-power" - essence of faith - healing and " Christian Science "

Carl Wickland Modified Method of Depossession - medium - static current - how to ''de-possess" a patient - the author's modified method - how to produce a static current

LLOYD TUCKEY'S METHOD

(i) PATIENT reclines on a couch, or in an easy chair.

(ii) I stand or sit beside him (the personal pronoun is used so that the reader will identify himself with the " I ").

(iii) I hold the first two fingers of one hand at a distance of about twelve inches from his eyes, at such an angle that his gaze shall be directed upwards in a strained manner.

(iv) I direct him to look steadily at the tips of those fingers, and to make his mind as nearly blank as possible.

(v) After he has stared fixedly for about half a minute at the fingers, his expression will undergo a change; a far away look coming into his face.

(vi) His pupils (eyes) will contract and dilated several times, and his eyelids will twitch spasmodically. These signs indicate a commencing induction of the desired psychical condition.

(vii) The progress of sleep is generally helped by verbal suggestion, such as "Your eyelids are becoming heavy; they are getting more and more heavy; my fingers seem indistinct to you (this is said when it is noticed that the pupils are dilating and contracting); and a numbness is stealing over your limbs; you will be fast asleep in a few minutes; now sleep." If the eyelids do not close spontaneously, I shut them gently.

It is sometimes an assistance to lay one's hand gently, but firmly, on the forehead. (One to three minutes are usually required by this method to produce the hypnotic condition.)

(viii) Before awakening the patient, I gently rub the epigastrium and suggest a feeling of warmth in that part of the body, a general sensation of comfort and well-being, and agreeable awakening. The response to suggestion of local warmth is an excellent test of vital force and reaction, and it varies with the health of the patient.

(ix) After a few minutes, I tell the patient that he has rested long enough, and that he can now open his eyes and arouse himself. (The patient generally obeys at once and states that he feels refreshed.)

At the next sitting:

(i) The patient enters the hypnotic state more rapidly, and its degree will very likely be found to be intensified.

(ii) Therapeutic suggestions may now be made.

(iii) If desired the extent of hypnotic influence may be tested. This is generally done by:

(a) raising the arm at an angle to the body, and telling the patient to keep it there;

(b) if the cataleptic state has been reached, it becomes stiff and rigid in that position, and will remain in it for an indefinite time, corresponding to the subject's muscular development;

(c) if the arm shows no tendency to drop, a rotary motion may be given to it, and the patient told to continue this movement;

(d) if the third degree is reached, the patient will continue to do so until he is ordered to desist it.

(iv) The tests for somnambulism are now applied:

(a) speak to the patient and get him to reply;

(b) another person is then told to address him, and if the questions he may put fail to elicit any response, it will be evident that the subject is en rapport with the hypnotist only, and other tests may be used, such as tickling the nostrils to demonstrate that anaesthesia exists and prove the depth of somnambulism;

(c) posthypnotic suggestions may be made;

(d) negative hallucinations and delusions of the senses can be suggested (for example, the patient is told that when he wakes up he will not see Mr. A, in the room, nor hear what he says, and will not feel him touch him).

BERNHEIM'S METHOD

(i) I request the patient to sit in an armchair.

(ii) And to look straight into my eyes for a few seconds, but not longer than one minute.

(iii) I declare loudly and firmly, in a monotonous tone of voice that he is:

(a) going on famously;

(b) that his eyes are already moist;

(c) that his eyelids are heavy;

(d) that he feels a pleasant sensation of warmth in his legs and arms.

(iv) I tell the patient to look now at the thumb and index finger of my left hand (which I depress unnoticeably so that the eyelids follow).

(v) If the eyelids fall of their own accord soon, I have gained my end.

(vi) If not, I say: "Close your eyes!"

(vii) I lift up one of the patient's arms and lean it against the wall, or against the patient's head, declaring that it is rigid, that it will be drawn irresistibly against his head, as if his head was a magnet.

(viii) Should this not succeed, I must help a little.

(ix) I become very definite and intent in suggesting.

(x) I suggest at the same time, disappearance of thought, obedience of the nerves, feeling of well-being, rest and slumber.

(xi) As soon as one or other of these suggestions begins to work, I must use it and lay emphasis on it. At times it will be desirable to get the patient to state his experience by movements of the head (nodding for yes, and shaking the head for no!).

(xii) Every suggestion which elicits the reply "yes" in the early stages is an important achievement, and I must use it for all the following suggestions: "You see, it is working well; your slumber is getting sounder; your arm gets more and more rigid; you cannot depress it now."

(xiii) If the patient tries to do so with some result, I resist him and say: "On the contrary, if you try to bring it down, it only moves towards your head. Look here, I attract it towards your head."

(xiv) It is wise to avoid the suggestion of catalepsy of the arm at the first two or three sittings, in very critical and refractory people. After some practice one soon can recognise when it is safe to risk this.

(xv) It is a mistake to make the patient fix his eyes on an object too long, as a rule. A minute is usually sufficient:

Later on it is sufficient to look at the person to be hypnotised for one or two seconds, and to give the suggestion of sleep at the same time. As a rule I simply declare: "You are asleep" making a movement of my hand in front of the patient's eyes and the subject is immediately hypnotised.

GROSSMAN'S METHOD

(i) I suggest suggestibility to every patient. I deal with the sceptic as follows. I say to him: " I am going to press on your conjunctivae (eyeballs) with my fingers, and although you will scarcely believe it, I will do so without you blinking your eyes." The experiment nearly always succeeds, because the conjunctivae of almost every person become anaesthetic by the person fixing, at the same time, the attention on this sort of suggestion.

(ii) The fact that the suggestion has succeeded, frequently increases the suggestibility to such an extent that the command to sleep, simply following at once on this, suffices to cause hypnosis to appear forthwith.

In other cases:

(i) The patient sits in a chair, without leaning back, or still better, rests on a sofa in a half-sitting, half-lying position;

(ii) And is told to fix me intently with his eyes for a few seconds.

(iii) I then suggest to him that he feels a sensation of warmth traversing his limbs, and especially that his arms which are resting on his knees are becoming as heavy as lead.

(iv) Having said this, I raise the arms a little, catching hold of them by the wrists, and cause them to fall suddenly by a slight push of my hands.

(v) They fall back on the knees, apparently as heavy as lead, and the patient actually feels a marked tiredness in his arms, in every case.

(vi) If I do not observe the somewhat dazed expression, or traces of it, which may only last for a few seconds, I then employ the principal "trick":

(vii) I ask the patient to close his eyes, or I close them myself quickly; then

(viii) I seize the wrists, the forearms being flexed upwards, and suggest that he is becoming so tired that he can no longer sit up, but must sink back.

(ix) I gradually press him backwards myself by imperceptible pushes, until his head is resting on the back of the chair, and provided that it is still necessary, give the command to sleep.

(x) It is best to touch the painful part with the right hand, and to declare at the same time that. the pains are disappearing.

(xi) I then ask the patient during the hypnosis about the result, and, if possible, do not leave off until this is complete - at all events for the moment.

(xii) I often have to use several suggestions, and should possess talent for invention. Everything succeeds at once with persons who are very suggestible, while one has much difficulty with others.

(xiii) I must first see that I induce anaesthesia and amnesia (loss of memory) as rapidly as possible, after awakening the patient.

(xiv) It is important to prevent the harmful results of certain auto-suggestion. Because people fear harmful results from hypnosis, they wake up giddy after the hypnosis; one should emphatically and with the utmost firmness and confidence state the stupidity of such ideas. All these things must be suggested away by a renewal of the hypnosis. Remember that anything produced by suggestion can be removed by suggestion.

THE AUTHOR'S OCCIDENTAL METHOD

(i) I place my patient in a comfortable chair, or lay him down flat on a couch.

(ii) I see that the limbs and neck are in comfortable positions.

(iii) I tell the patient:

ALL-IMPORTANT -

(a) What I am going to do.

(b) What to expect.

(c) What I expect of my patient.

(1 ) That it is necessary for the patient to pass of his own accord into a state of restfulness and extreme mental comfort;

(2 ) In which the patient will automatically carry out verbal requests, unless he objects;

(3 ) The patient may think he is falling to sleep, but that in actuality he is very mentally alert; but I then say to him: "I want you to think of nothing at all."

(iv) I give him a signal for awakening, usually: " You will hear me count seven, and when I have counted up to seven, you will be able to open your eyes, and awaken."

(v) "I am going to press my fingers on the whites of your eyes, and although you will scarcely believe it, your eyes will not close, but will remain wide open; they won't blink. You see your eyes have already lost their power of feeling (and are anaesthetic)."

(vi) If very successful, as is usual, I can at once command sleep, and hypnosis is produced.

(vii) If (v) was not successful (an unusual occurrence), or even if successful and I wish to further suggest sleep and tire the senses, with a view to producing profound hypnosis, I fix the patient's eyes for a few seconds with my own eyes, and then replace this method by one of the bright coloured lights of my hypnoscope (for use of colours, see the section on the " Spectrone " Lamp), at a distance of one foot in front of and above the level of the patient's eyes. If the room is very bright, I use a large plated vibration fork, which I vibrate in the same position (in which case the patient is asked to look at the space between the two vibrating ends).

(viii) I then say: "Look steadily at this light (or other object), but do not strain your eyes; you will soon see two lights and a glow or halo will form around them: think of nothing; and let your. mind go blank. Your sight is growing dim and indistinct; your eyes will soon feel heavy, very heavy, and your eyelids will tend to close. Keep your eyes open as long as you can, and so try to resist the feeling of tiredness. (Pause.) Numbness is creeping over your limbs, your arms and legs. (Pause.) My voice seems muffled to you; it is becoming more muffled to you. (Pause.) You are getting more sleepy; you cannot keep your eyes open. You now breathe slowly and deeply, slowly and deeply, slowly and deeply, slowly and deeply."

(ix) "Now as I pass my hand (now resting on the patient's forehead lightly) over your eyes, your eyes will close; your arms and legs, especially your arms, are becoming warmer and warmer, and more heavy. They are becoming heavier and more and more numb." (I sometimes use at this stage the method described as Erskine's Method.)

(x) "Relax more; let yourself go! Just go to sleep, but remember that you are not really asleep, and will hear all that I say to you. As you sleep more deeply you will only hear what I say, and you cease to hear anyone else speak, and therefore do not know how to answer them; keep your eyes closed tightly; let go!" (The patient is now in a dreamy state.) " Gradually you forget everything, forget everything, everything, everything. Your thoughts like birds in the distance are vanishing, vanishing, vanishing."

(xi) I then say: "You are unable to lift your eyebrows, and you cannot open your closed eyelids. The more you try to raise your eyebrows in your effort to open your eyes, the more tightly will your eyes be closed."

(xii) A few seconds later say: " You cannot move your hand." (Usually the patient cannot; if he can, resist it and say that he is actually making his hand go the opposite way to which he wants it to go.)

(xiii) Pause, and then tell the patient to move his hand if he can. (He struggles to do so, and at most makes little headway.)

(xiv) I then stroke an arm or leg from the top to the bottom (even if covered with clothes) and suggest: "The arm is becoming stiff and stiffer, stiffer and stiffer, stiffer and stiffer, and whatever position I place it in, it will remain fixed there." (Catalepsy.)

(xv) I then move the arm in a certain direction, telling the patient to continue the movement, and if it continues to move then, of its own accord, until I stop it, I suggest it is becoming heavy and just like lead, and that when I let go it will drop into his lap, heavily, just like a stone. I then suggest a dream, and ask the patient to relate it and act it for me. If the patient is definitely in the state of somnambulism) as the psycho-physical test would indicate, the patient will faithfully reproduce all these things. I can suggest acting such as " You are a general, leading an army to victory " and the patient immediately faithfully reproduces that role. I can also suggest post-hypnotic actions, now, at a future date which will be carried out at the exact time stated.

(xvi) Now I make the necessary therapeutic suggestions, and may ask the patient to nod in affirmation. Lost memory can also be recalled with a faithfulness and accuracy almost incredible.

(xvii) I then command the patient to repeat silently in his mind certain suggestions, so turning the hetero-suggestion into autosuggestion under extremely potent psychic conditions. I say: ''Repeat in YOUR mind, my disease will pass - it will pass - it will pass - it will pass - my unconscious mind now works for my health, my success, and my happiness; my health, my success, my happiness. I overcome everything with the greatest of ease - I overcome everything with the greatest of case - I overcome everything with the greatest of ease; I have renewed energy, courage, and confidence. I am full of health and the joy of living. I am calm, harmonious and confident; calm, harmonious and confident; calm, harmonious and confident. I have a new and powerful personality and I am in harmony with the Universe and at peace with myself - at peace with myself. I am ever so well and ever so happy." (For further suggestions see wording of Author's gramophone suggestion records in the Appendix)

(xviii) I then count very slowly, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. The patient may have to make a strong effort, but usually succeeds in opening his eyes at the time appointed. In unusual cases blowing upon the eyelids and suggesting awakening will succeed. Should even this fail, which is extremely rare, or should you be called in to deal with a case which has been hypnotised, and whose hypnotist has, through want of skill, failed to awaken the person, you will speak as to a third person, and say: "'Mr. (or Miss) X will wake up refreshed, and without any headache or tiredness, in exactly five minutes time." This method will always succeed.

LIÉBEAULT'S METHOD

(i) I sit my patient in an armchair.

(ii) And tell the patient: "Make your mind as blank as possible. Think of nothing at all."

(iii) "Fix your eyes on this" (pointing to some object anywhere in the room).

(iv) I suggest that: "Your eyelids are getting heavy; the eyelids will soon close; your vision is getting dim and misty; your arms and legs are getting heavy; numbness is creeping over your limbs; my voice is becoming muffled to you; you are getting more and more sleepy; you now cannot keep your eyes open." (Here the patient closes the eyes almost automatically, or the eyes are closed by me.) The patient is indeed asleep.

(v) About two minutes of this talk about sleep usually produces an hypnotic effect on a new patient; and on subsequent visits even less time is required.

(vi) I then proceed with the proper suggestion treatment.

(vii) To test the power of susceptibility, Liébeault placed his hand over the epigastrium, and applied gentle friction, suggesting as he did so, a sensation of warmth; he regarded a responsive glow as almost essential to the success of subsequent treatment, and it is the first link in the chain which constitutes rapport (psychical contact: "in touch with"), between the physician and the patient. The warmth is not merely imaginary, for it is appreciable to the touch, and can often be registered by the thermometer, and is, in fact, analogous to blushing.

(viii) When the hypnotic sleep has been profound, it may be necessary twice or thrice to repeat the order to wake up, and even to enforce it by fanning the patient or blowing gently upon his eyes; but the simple command is usually enough.

ERSKINE'S METHOD

(i) The patient sits in an easy chair and relaxes.

(ii) Say: " Look at me! " (The hypnotist looks into the left eye of the patient for about a minute.)

(iii) Say: " Now close your eyes each time I count: when I have counted up to ten, you will not be able to open your eyes."

(iv) If this suggestion works, the hypnotist now commands: " You are fast asleep, fast asleep! "

(v) Suggestions are now made.

(vi) The patient is awakened by the hypnotist " snapping " his fingers.

(vii) Should (iii) not be effective and the patient can open his eyes, the hypnotist now commands: " You are glued to the scat and you cannot get up." This suggestion is usually effective and the patient is so surprised that the mind at once passes into the psychic state, however light a hypnosis it may be.

BINET AND FÉRÉ'S METHOD OF FASCINATION

In ordinary medical practice it is unwise to use this method as it introduces too much personal element into the hypnotism, and induces a state of complete automatism in which the subject's personality or ego is entirely suppressed.

(i) The hypnotist asks the patient to fix his eyes on the hypnotist's right eye, and the hypnotist then looks fixedly and pertinaciously into the left eye of the patient at the distance of a few inches.

(ii) At the same time he firmly holds both the patient's hands.

(iii) In a few minutes the patient's face becomes expressionless.

(iv) The patient sees nothing but the hypnotist's eye, which will appear to shine with intense brilliancy; and to which the patient is attracted like a nail drawn to a magnet.

This method frequently succeeds with insane patients, when all other methods have failed.

Any means to obtain the hypnotic state are permissible in dealing with the insane, as by using hypnotism and suggestion, attacks of mania can be cut short, and various intractable mental conditions cured.

The objections to this method from the hypnotist's point of view are twofold:

(i) If the patient is refractory and the hypnotist is tired, the hypnotist may be hypnotised by the patient. This happened to both Braid of Manchester, and Liebeault of Nancy.

The first sign of the hypnotism being reversed is very unpleasant (the hypnotist being hypnotised by the patient), and a curious inhibiting influence steals over the oral muscles. (These particular muscles are less under the control of the higher centres than the muscles of other parts of the body, and this is often well observed in G.P.I. (dementia paralytica), chronic alcoholism, and allied conditions. )

(2) The hypnotist becomes fatigued. In cases refractory to hypnotism:

(i) Hold one of the patient's hands with your left hand.

(ii) Stroke his forehead with your right hand.

(iii) At the same time suggest the symptoms of sleep. Remember that manipulations about the head have in many persons a most soporific effect.

Another method is also used, even when the usual methods have occasionally lost their effect (and in addition to them):

(i) Stroking the patient's forehead and head gently in one direction.

(ii) Whilst the patient's gaze is fixed on some distant object.

(iii) It must also be remembered that sometimes (in a few cases only) verbal suggestions regarding the onset of sleep may actually tend to keep the patient awake.

BERNHEIM-COUÉ METHOD

(i) The patient is made to relax fully on a couch, the head of which is raised. (The room is flooded with a beautiful rich blue light, which is reflected on to the ceiling, and concentrated on one spot.)

(ii) The patient is now commanded to look at the part of the ceiling where the greatest concentration of light is focused, for almost one minute;

(iii) or, alternatively, with the room flooded with light, the patient is asked to concentrate his attention upon a large photograph of the hypnotist's piercing eyes, held at a distance of three feet, for one minute.

(iv) A specially prepared record is played, usually with the Author's suggestions on it, which now gives all the various commands necessary to produce hypnotic sleep.

(v) In addition, the hypnotist frequently gives out his magnetic force by stretching out his arms in front of him, with palms downward, and the thumbs touching.

(vi) Then the arms (outstretched) sweep down over the patient and to the hypnotist's side with a rapid sweeping rhythmic action, until the patient is in trance.

(vii) (The great advantage of this method is that the patient can afterwards hypnotise himself by the use of a similar record, only with auto-suggestions also recorded on the gramophone record, so that the patient not only gets the benefit of the hypnotic sleep, but also of the potent suggestions, made out in the form of a telegraphic wire, using a self-stopping gramophone, when he will afterwards fall into a natural sleep, when all the suggestions which are on this particular record - as each patient has a special record made for himself under expert supervision - will be reiterated again and again until the patient wakes up from a natural sleep in from ten to twenty minutes, feeling refreshed, happy and contented. The Author also uses this method which he perfected for his friend Dr. de Radwan).

THE AUTHOR'S ARTIFICIAL EYE METHOD OF INDUCING HYPNOTISM

A very good, heavy-looking artificial eye is required with a blue iris and a medium sized pupil; it should be so well made that the pupil appears to dilate when one gazes at it for a minute or so. (The Author prefers the artificial eyes made by the daughter of Dr. O. Millauro of 43 Tavistock Square, London, W.C.1, at two guineas each. Only one eye is needed and with reasonable care will last a lifetime.)

(i) The patient is commanded to relax in the chair, and then you place a piece of black cloth on the palm of the patient's left hand and put the eye on the cloth, so that the pupil slopes towards you. Now place the patient's right hand underneath his left hand, and let these hands so rest comfortably in the patient's lap,

(it) Say: "You will look at the pupil and notice that it dilates, and varies in size. In fact the whole eye varies in size, and tends to appear to become misty and large and occasionally disappear."

(iii) Command: "You will be fast asleep in less than two minutes."

(iv) If the patient is not asleep at the end of this time, pass your right hand down from his eyes to the artificial eye (his eyes invariably follow your hand) and command the patient to sleep. Usually the patient is hypnotised and potent suggestions can then be made.

(v) Where the room is very dark I have a small light, preferably green or blue, shining upon the eye which is in the patient's left hand, and concentrate the purple ray of my hypnoscope upon the glabella. Often very rapid hypnosis is thus induced.

N.B. In this method no suggestions of sleep are given beyond the preliminary. explanation and the command (if necessary) when the hand is passed over the eyes of the patient, down to the artificial eye, when the patient's eyes close. If they do not, command the eyes to close. (The cue is "close your eyes.")

TREATMENT BY TRANSFER OF ILLNESS FROM THE SICK TO ONE ALREADY HYPNOTISED : THE POWER OF EXACT AND DETAILED MIMICRY

(i) The patient is directed to sit down and grasp the hands of a profoundly hypnotised subject. (Luys' Clinic in Paris.)

(ii) The hypnotiser then passes a heavy magnetised bar of steel up and down both sitters' bodies, especially pressing on the cardiac and epigastric areas: the hand will do.

(iii) A shiver passes through the hypnotised subject's frame, and he begins to complain of suffering from the same symptoms as the patient has experienced.

(iv) The doctor questions him as to the symptoms, and then assures the patient that he will be cured.

(v) In the meantime the patient looks on and sees the transference writhing in his pains, and imitating his voice, gait and demeanor, to a detailed degree which is extremely impressive.

(vi) When the doctor thinks that this state of exact mimicry has been sufficiently demonstrated, he wakes up the subject and tells him to feel no more pain (in fact the hypnotised subject has usually no recollection of what has happened in the somnambulic state, and goes away rejoicing in the fee which the hypnotist or the cured patient has given him for the sitting).

(vii) Luys, of Paris, believed that the sitter not only took on the disease, but also the personality of the patient, imitating a female by her exact female voice, and a male by his male voice, etc. This is a rather ancient method which need hardly exist in this age of science, as Luys intended it and interpreted it to be; but from an experimental point of view it has many lessons to teach those who are willing to study these phenomena. The Author uses it on many occasions because he realises the great value of perfect mimicry; the effect upon the conscious and subconscious mind is enormous. One has only to recall how a habit can be cured in oneself by seeing another do the same thing, and susceptibility to illness of mind and body is really a bad habit (habits can be subconscious as well as conscious) Many bad habits and illnesses can be cured if only a mirror of the mind and its resultant actions can be effectually portrayed. to the sufferer. The only perfect way we know of at present, apart from coincidental identical sufferers (as a person with a peculiar facial tic, seeing by chance another person with an identical tic, will frequently never suffer from that tic again, in degree to his suggestibility, which explains the greater cures of this kind in children who are very suggestible) is the use of a somnambulic hypnotic subject as the perfect mimic.

ANIMALS AND HYPNOTISM

Animals can be hypnotised, by "fixing" their gaze, by stroking their heads, their bodies, and so forth. The method of changing the nest of a sitting hen, familiar to poultry farmers, depends on hypnotism for its success. The fowl's head is firmly held under its wing for a few minutes first, and then she is carried from one nest to the other, and appears to be quite ignorant of the change. The drowsiness induced in many animals by gentle friction of the forehead is a matter of common observation. In South America negroes are reduced to a condition of drowsiness by the gentle stroking of the head and manipulation of the hair, which they seem to be so fond of, at the hands of their women-folk.

On the other hand, tigers, lions and snakes, etc., first hypnotise their victims. Note the vacant ("frightened") stare in the victim attacked (even well portrayed in pictures).

THE AUTHOR'S METHOD OF USING SUGGESTION WITHOUT HYPNOSIS

(i) I look at the upper part of the sternum or breast-bone (whether it is covered with clothes or not) and achieve a dominant note in my voice and say emphatically: "Rest, relax, let yourself go!.. Close your eyes. . rest on! . . pay no attention to my words! . . You will have no more difficulty, no more feeling of doubt, no more feeling of incompetence, no more nervousness . ." etc. etc. etc.

(ii) If the patient stammers, I say: " I can assure you that you can talk perfectly, and, furthermore, that you will have absolute self-confidence. You will stammer no more, and will speak fluently, in fact, you will become an orator; you will have no more difficulty whatsoever, and will feel at perfect ease; you will no longer feel nervous, but will feel absolutely self-reliant and competent. You will always succeed," etc. To save repetition the reader is referred to the gramophone record section for suitable "auto-suggestion." (See Appendix.)

(iii) This talk will occupy somewhere about five minutes; after which I say: " Keep your eyes closed, and just think of nothing." "Keep your eyes closed until I tell you to open them."

(iv) I now walk away and return in about ten minutes, and repeat (i), (ii) and (iii).

(v) I repeat (iv) (resting period), but only repeat afterwards (i) and (ii), telling the patient to return in three days' time (if not cured at the first visit).

Ten or twelve visits are often curative. In cases where the patient will listen to what I say, the above method will, of course, fail. It is essential that the patient does NOT listen to what I say, as by not listening, the words hold sway, in some way or other, with the unconscious mind, and not with the conscious. These people are usually extremely nervous persons. In these cases, I simply close their eyes for them with my fingers; SAY NOTHING; rest my hand upon their forehead, and stroke it gently and continue to do so for about seven minutes, at the same time holding one of the patient's hands. At the end of this "say nothing" consultation, I shake hands with the patient, but do not speak. If the patient is not cured, I let my secretary or someone in the household make the next appointment for me. What happens I do not quite know, but the sick become well; the worried become restful and carefree; hysterical paralytics, who have been brought in chair or ambulance, walk; hysterical aphonias (loss of voice) will, the next time (if not already cured), submit to the suggestion method with formula as stated under (i), (it), (iii), (iv) and (v).

Delboeuf explains Yogism and some practices of the so-called occult and Indian fakirs in this way.

We can hear the heart beating when we lie in bed at night, when all is quiet and our ordinary senses are cut off, and we can to some extent increase or decrease the beats at will, under these circumstances. We can think of our cold feet becoming warm, very warm in fact, and after several minutes of such concentrated thought, they actually do become warm. To further this point, a person by imagining that he has a certain disease (which he then has not), can in time so produce a disturbance of the vegetative phenomena, that he will not only suffer from that disease, but may actually die of it.

As regards autosuggestion, Napoleon and also Coste de Lagrave were able to sleep at will, and awaken at a specified time. This was done by lying down, fixing their attention upon sleep, and on the idea that they would awaken after a certain number of minutes (the unconscious mind is a remarkably accurate time-keeper).

They could produce dreams of the character they desired, and evoked sensory hallucinations and delusions to such an extent that they at times became greatly alarmed lest the condition thus induced might remain permanent

By auto-suggestion they could cure themselves of colic, gastrodynia, sciatica, and the like. This was done by closing their eyes and concentrating their thoughts on the organ they wished to affect. One quarter of an hour was the longest period required to completely remove such pain. This is the essence of faith-healing, psychic-healing, and the like, and the reader, by persistent and intense practice, can have the same powerful control over his body: the Orient has long known the value of this auto-mind-power-control in which many Yogis, fakirs and Buddhists are Past-masters.

THE CARL WICKLAND MODIFIED METHOD OF DE-POSSESSION AS USED BY THE AUTHOR

Dr. Carl Wickland of America has for many years used his wife as an excellent medium and placed the patient in an insulated chair. Then a Static current is switched on and the medium removes the entity from the patient. (Whether this theory of "possession" is believed in or not, matters not; the resulting cures are the telling factors.)

For some time the author has used this method, and was the first person to introduce it into England, only using a deep trance hypnotic subject or a very reliable trance medium, and at the same time playing a potent purple ray on to the eyes of the patient sitting on the insulated chair, so producing at least mild hypnosis in the patient and thereby facilitating the process of de-possession.

The detailed procedure is as follows:

(i) Sit the patient in an insulated chair.

(ii) Place the one pointer of the static machine within an inch of the solar plexus and the other within an inch of the nape of the neck.

(iii) Now set the Wimshurst machine working and close the spark-gaps between the Leyden jars.

(iv) A static current remains all over the patient. (This can be tested by nearly touching the patient at any part of the body, when a spark will pass between the patient and the operator.)

(v) The current is kept on for ten minutes.

(vi) Now switch off the current and place one pointer near to the glabella and the other pointer at the bottom of the spine, within an inch of the lower part of the sacrum:

(vii) Repeat (iii), (iv) and (v).

(viii) Now switch off the current.

(ix) Place one pointer within an inch of the nape of the neck and leave the other near the sacrum (see (vi)).

(x) Now repeat (iii), (iv) and (v).

(xi) At the end of this time place a somnambulist in deep trance and get him to hold the hands of the patient (at which moment a slight shock is felt by the patient) and then command the subject to "remove the possessing entity "; which he does, sometimes peacefully and sometimes with much struggling.

(xii) Switch off the current - give helpful suggestions to the somnambulic subject, after which you awaken him and send the patient home.

The patient is frequently cured the first time. If not, at the most, six such treatments suffice to cure the patient of his malady.

N.B. A large Wimshurst machine is driven by dynamo and discharges constantly into two Leyden jars which are allowed to constantly discharge, giving a ten-inch spark of about 220,000 volts (but no amperage).

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Classification

 Charcôt's - lethargy, catalepsy, somnambulism - how these methods are tested - neuro-muscular activity and its tests - production of the cataleptic state by the hypnotist opening the eyes of the patient - the emotional attitudes produced - one-sided catalepsy - the production of the somnambulic state by gently rubbing the top of the head

Liébeault's - first stage of drowsiness - second stage of suggestive catalepsy - almost complete retention of consciousness in the first and second stages - third stage of oppression by great sleepiness - hypotaxis - fourth stage of complete en rapport with the hypnotist; the patient ceases to be in relation with the outer world - the fifth stage of somnambulism with indistinct and difficult recall of what happened during hypnosis - the sixth stage of complete amnesia for the period of hypnosis; in this stage all post-hypnotic phenomena can be accurately produced

CHARCÔT'S Classification of hypnotic sleep:

 (i) Lethargy; (ii) Catalepsy; (iii ) Somnambulism.

 He believed that there was a regular sequence of these, and that according to the hypnotist, one or other of these states can be produced.

 (i) He obtained a state of lethargy by fixing the patient's eyes on a given point, or by gentle pressure on the eyeballs. This state resembles natural sleep, but it is distinguished from it, and all other conditions, by the characteristic feature of neuro-muscular hyper-activity. This is demonstrated by pressing on a nerve, whereupon the muscles supplied by that nerve will soon be put in action; and if a muscle is stroked or pressed it contracts. For example, pressure on the ulnar nerve produces flexion of the ring and little fingers, abduction of the thumb, extension and separation of the first and second fingers.

 (ii) When the eyelids are opened by the hypnotist, the patient passes into the second stage of cataleptic rigidity; and this may now be produced in a limb, which may be bent in any position.

 (1) The emotion now is according to the attitude in which the patient is placed:

(a) in the pugilistic attitude the patient's expression becomes fixed and determined;

(b) in the attitude of prayer, the patient's expression is an aspect of devotion, etc.

 (2) If one eye only is now kept open, one-sided catalepsy is produced.

 (iii) The third stage is produced from either the first or second stage by gently rubbing the top of the head, when the cataleptic condition will vanish and other characteristics will appear, the chief among which are abnormal acuteness of the senses and obedience to suggestion.

 I believe that these particular manifestations only occur in certain hysterical subjects, and I have only produced them in cases of hystero-epilepsy.

 Liébeault's classification of hypnotic sleep:

First Stage: the patient feels a heaviness of the eyelids and a general drowsiness.

Second Stage: characterised by suggestive catalepsy. When the hypnotist places the arm in a certain position, and says that it is to remain there, it is impossible for the patient to pull it down. The arm remains rigid and fixed for a much longer time than would be possible in the natural state.

 In the first and second degrees or stages, consciousness remains almost complete, and often the patient denies having been in the hypnotic state because he has heard and remembers every word which has been spoken to him. A very large proportion of people never pass beyond this stage.

Third Stage: the subject is also conscious of everything going on around him to a certain extent, and hears every word addressed to him; but he is oppressed by great sleepiness. An action communicated to a limb is automatically continued. If the arm is rotated to begin with, it goes on rotating until the operator directs its stoppage. The term hypotaxis is applied to these second and third stages.

Fourth Stage: the patient ceases to be in relation with the outer world. He hears only what is said to him by the hypnotist.

 Fifth and Sixth stages: these constitute SOMNAMBULISM.

In the fifth stage what occurred during sleep is indistinct and recalled with difficulty. In the sixth stage the patient is unable to recall spontaneously anything which has occurred while asleep. All the phenomena of post-hypnotic suggestion can be induced in this stage.

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Treatment

Therapeutic value of hypnotism in mental disorders - the almost insurmountable obstacle of auto-suggestion - suggestion per se with special drugs - note on the ten established facts regarding hypnosis and its uses

Liébeault and others - consumption of large doses of poison without harm in the hypnotic state - control of nerve centre excitability - treatment of tetanus and other spasmodic diseases - treatment of dysuria of Bright's disease, diabetes, stricture, prostate enlargement - painless childbirth - regulation of menstrual (monthly period) flow

THE THERAPEUTIC VALUE OF HYPNOTISM

EPILEPTIC insanity, hysterical insanity, melancholia, mania and hypomania are hypnotisable, but it. is doubtful if other forms of insanity are. Even in these, fascination may have to be resorted to as practised by Binet and Féré.

Morbid auto-suggestion is an almost insurmountable obstacle, first against the success of hypnotism, and secondly against the fulfilment of curative. suggestion.

But in lunacy, suggestion per se, especially under the influence of tincture of cannabis indica, m. xx. (and with hyoscine hydrobromide, 1/100 gr., if possible), is extremely valuable. Mate tea is also of value in large doses. Suggestion is a power for good or evil ; let no one, therefore, even hint at anything bad, either by word or action, to an insane person!

Hypnosis is most readily obtained in hysterical insanity and in many cases of epileptic insanity.

NOTE

(i) A suggestive hypnotic therapeusis cannot be established as a means of cure in many mental cases, as the greater number are those of dementia praecox and allied conditions.

(ii) Hypnosis is effective exclusively in cases in which the psychopathic phenomena are connected with an hysterical neurosis, in dipsomania, and the psychoneuroses (and of course in practically all normal people, to some degree or other).

(iii) Hypnosis is notoriously easy and successful in alcoholics (when not in the drunken state).

(iv) Hypnotic suggestion should always be employed when the insane submit to it of their own accord, for they do derive benefit from it.

(v) Where the fascination method fails in mental disorder, therapeutic suggestion made in the waking state is the most reliable and effective means of cure in mental diseases, and this is much increased with the use of tincture of cannabis indica, m. xx., and hyoscine hydrobromide, 1/100 gr., three times a day or four-hourly. It should be remembered that hyoscine has no effect on respiration, and is an actual stimulant of the heart and circulatory system in small doses (Martindale). It should also be .remembered that in many casts of post-encephalitis lethargica (epidemica), cannabis indica may just have the opposite effect, and cause the behaviour to be such as would make them appear to have the "very devil in them."

(vi ) In cases of melancholia with delirium, cases of fixed ideas, cases of alcoholism, and in slight forms of stupor, suggestion methodically repeated in the waking state, in order to combat the morbid phenomena, may prove effectual.

(vii) In chronic paranoia, I have not is yet found either hypnotism or suggestion of outstanding use, but suggestion has appeared to "quieten down" the delusions; and I have successfully hypnotised true paranoiacs With very good results, which have stood the test of three and four years time. Mesmerism has produced very good results.

(viii) Obsessions can definitely be dealt I with.

(ix) Hypnotism determines the manifestation of the latent emotional states, in the same way as chloroform does.)

(x) Hypnotism can relieve pain in pleurisy, sciatica, lumbago, neuralgia, encephalalgia, cancer, tabes dorsalis, and even in gastric ulcers, duodenal ulcers, and appendicitis, etc.; in the latter three it would be a crime to hypnotise away the pain, until one was certain of what procedure is definitely to be taken in the patient's interest, e.g. operation. It should be borne in mind that for years, hypnotism has been used for local anaesthesia, and with some very experienced . hypnotists, even for major operations,

Experimental Work

Liébeault and others have pointed out that in the hypnotic state, whether induced spontaneously or by external means, the hypnotised are able to ingest without evil results much larger doses of poison than can be taken in the normal state, and that the bites of venomous serpents are very much less likely to prove fatal than in the waking state. The action of hypnotism here is probably similar to that exerted by chloral in the treatment of tetanus, and of large quantities of alcohol as a remedy for snake-bites. The excitability of the nerve centres is controlled, and excessive and exhausting discharge is prevented until the poison has been eliminated.

Hypnotic treatment is also itself extremely useful in the treatment of tetanus, and other spasmodic diseases, depending on an increased reflex excitability of the brain or spinal cord - not, be it understood, to the neglect of other treatment, but as an auxiliary. The dysuria of Bright's disease, or diabetes, stricture and even prostatic enlargement in some cases, can be relieved by hypnotism. Childbirth can also be made painless. The menses can not only be regulated, but, if absent, frequently brought on.

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Colour

[I regard most of what is in this chapter as almost complete rubbish, and really has nothing to do with hypnosis, except insofar as it shows examples of the placebo effect: if you believe something will work it will work. However I am leaving it in for completeness, as an example of some of the weird and wonderful ideas that seem to float around this subject! - Dylan Morgan]

The secret of the Atlanteans and the Aryan Hindoos - Deighton-Patmore's work - Research of the Colour Centre of Blackpool - etheric vibrations and colours, sound and perfume - some spiritualistic misconceptions - disease and vibrations - the colour spectrum - the value of colours - the secret of making thoughts things - green and the Psalmist - clairvoyance and the spectrum - healing and colour - simplicity is the soul of learning - the Heaven of success out of a Hell of failure - the "etheric double" - B.B.C. and slumber colour-music - the "spectrone" lamp and its multi-colours and multi-jewel-facet fog defiant lens - the Great White Lodge - its lens - its aims - its psychic lamp - colour and sex - the etheric " tuning fork" of the body - great truths from Atlantis - life begins where books end

The "Spectrone" Colour Lamp - colour combination - the use of colours - their effect upon the psyche and physical organism

The Great White Lodge Lamp - use mat-black walls, and ceiling - black, blue or dark red furniture - height of lamp from floor - in centre of room - timing of revolutions according to heart-beat - silence of mechanism - direction of revolution - combination of colours on the globe - use of perfumes and sounding of certain notes by the voice - powerful psychic effect

THIS is a science known only to the Atlanteans and a few of the Aryan Hindoos. It is a science which practised in the West will speedily bring about a "New Heaven and a New Earth" for the world is as we see it, and the Kingdom of Heaven or happiness lies in our own hearts, within us, by the hypnotic suggestions we absorb from others, selecting only those which are beneficial.

In this country of my many friends who have seriously taken up the study of colour I would mention Deighton-Patmore of London who has made a few charmingly coloured lamps with definite therapeutic effects, and The Colour Centre at Blackpool, headed by Whitehead, Walmsley and Hunt who have done some real valuable research upon this work as is destined by the Great White Lodge of the Himalayas. In this work Ivah Bergh Whitten of the United States of America has taken an active part in the interests of humanity.

Seven is the perfect number. In Powers That Be I have referred to the seven stars, the seven planets, the seven notes of music in each octave, the seven colours of the spectrum, and so on. In the same way that the seven colours of the spectrum (Violet, Indigo, Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange, Red), when properly combined and balanced, produce pure white light.

These colours are vibrations, as are notes of music, and the perfumes of the air; the first is a vibration of certain ether rays interpreted as light in science; the second a vibration of other etheric rays of a slower nature and known as sound waves, travelling nearly 18,000 times slower than light vibrations; [DM: actually 900,000 times.] perfume is an etheric vibration which effects the sense of smell and X. It is this X factor which is also affected in the other two vibrations and upon which a new science awaits its birth through hypnotic effect.

To the ancient Atlanteans of 254,000 B.C. and prior to that period, this was a highly developed science, and they have taught us one great lesson, that there is a limit to which one can develop such a science in a particular age, without causing insanity to those who would peer into the unknown. Vibrations must be developed slowly and with a technical skill which only those who are masters of this science know how to do.

In the training of mediums this science of colour and the contacting of certain vibrations is completely overlooked, with the result that many faulty readings are given.

In Spiritualism too much reliance is placed on "the other side" (referring to the world of spirits), who are not, as we are, so foolish as to believe that they are omnipotent in many ways and can train mediums for us. They distinctly tell us who know these things that they cannot properly train mediums because they have not the control of the coarser vibrations which can alone be fully controlled from the earth-plane by scientists who have been trained by the Highest Masters in the perfect technique of hypnosis. Colour vibrations per se can induce sleep, hypnotism, mediumship, clairvoyance (which should not be mistaken for the telepathy of mediumship), health, wealth and happiness.

In disease the discomfort is produced by a deficiency in certain vibrations, including visual and auditory vibrations, and this means that the tuning-fork of the body, the etheric-double (which holds the astral to the physical body and should not be mistaken for the etheric body which is still finer than the astral body) is "out of tune" and needs adjustment. The correct colour is found which is required for the replenishing of the deficiency of the spectrum, and the correct sound should also be dealt with, by the use of gramophone records, choosing the right type of music which corrects the deflected auditory vibrations.

The etheric vibrations of the higher realms are still unaffected and can be adjusted by hypnosis or such state induced by colour vibrations alone, auditory vibrations alone, or better still, the two combined.

Perfumes, all of which are smell vibrations, also affect the human vibrations for good or evil. This can be observed in daily life. The constant smell of animals has often cured certain forms of insanity. I have used the Irwin colour filters for producing sedative, recuperative and stimulative influences upon the mind of man. The Deighton-Patmore psychic light (which consists of a red lamp surrounded by an orange bowl) brings out latent mediumship and hypnophilia.

Colour can help or hinder mankind. It can modify a man's disposition, alter his career, cure his disease, prevent lack of presence of mind and so save him from accident. Colour is to be seen everywhere: in clothing, decorations, and in Nature which knows how highly sensitive our psychic organisms are to vibrations of colour.

Red stimulates; blue soothes; purple heals; green pleases; orange brightens; yellow pierces; grey deadens; violet kills abnormal growth of tissues; brown rests; pink develops; these references are to the effect of colour upon the mind-power of the individual.

White is not a colour and reflects all colours. Black is not a colour and absorbs all colours. It is a fact that white reflects all thoughts and black absorbs all thoughts which produce colour vibrations: this power has long been known to the Aryan Hindoos who use black to so absorb their many thoughts that a person produces monoideism or a state of a single thought which can be made so powerful that its power is all-powerful. (Most people forget the analogy that if a man has a dozen things to do he can only give a limited time and power to each: if he has only one thing to do he can give it undivided attention with most effective results.) There is much more in the parrot adage: "One at a time, gentlemen . ." than most people can appreciate.

Bright colours in clothing and decorations have a wonderful stimulating effect upon backward and even mentally defective children, all producing mild hypnotic effects. Offices of all descriptions should have specific light tints.

Yellow pierces the mind-power machine of man and so drags him out of the slough of mental sluggishness and gives him renewed energy and inspiration. In Thibet the religious heads wear the golden-yellow robes for lofty meditation and inspiration.

Find out the colours which people like and let them wear those colours and live under such tinted surroundings, and in the few cases where such makes a person worse, owing to the fact that the wrong personality has over-developed (everyone having a double personality: a Dr. Jekyll of good and a Mr. Hyde of evil), then use the opposite colours and the result is dramatic and successful.

Luther Burbank and Stevens have shown that colours have a great influence in the life of plants and of animals.

The ancients and the psalmist or mantramist knew the value of colours. Nature destined the twenty-third psalm to be taught as one of the esoteric teachings of the Far East to the populus of the West. Green pleases because it stands for peace and harmony, possessing a soporific effect upon the nervous system.

Have you ever thought of the hidden meaning of those magic words: "He maketh me to lie down in green pastures." This means the habitation of the planet earth, with its green fields, green trees, in contrast to man's effort at stimulation by red bricks in the city and deadening grey stones of his castles which crumble to dust as the ether is removed by the vibrations which wear away anything in the physical realm; the mastery of the ether is the discovery of wireless-radio, levitation, materialisations and dematerialisations, and last, but by no means least, the power of making ease out of dis-ease, and comfort out of discomfort.

The Colour Centre at Blackpool is not only inventing some excellent colour-therapy lamps, but making the Great White Lodge psychic lamp which is hitherto an Himalayan secret, which can control the mind-body of mankind and has wonders yet to reveal through its mechanism to produce hypnotic lasting beneficial effects.

Right colour leads to right thinking, right living, and to a better and brighter world.

There are some persons who have trained their detection of visual and etheric vibrations to such an extent that they can detect colours beyond the forty-ninth octave of physical colour vibrations which comprise our visible spectrum, and can see in the ultra-violet direction of the spectrum where the etheric and astral vibrations are visible and so are called "clairvoyante."

This faculty belongs to our psychic body which is much less dense than our physical body, and is known as the astral and etheric bodies according to the fineness of the vibrations (the etheric being finer than the astral), and people trained or naturally gifted in these senses can see these vibrations which are described in the Eastern term, "Aura," which Kilner (referred to in The Invisible Influence, Rider & Co.) discovered could be detected by the use of special indigo and other specially chemically prepared screens.

Reverting to colour-music which I have perfected during recent years with the help of some famous composers and musical directors who have kindly given me the use of their halls, stage lighting and selection of music for experimental purposes - Wagner, Cyril Scott (also author of the "Initiate," etc.) and Scriabine show a knowledge of this science, and Eaglefield Hull in his "Prometheus" symphony has written a special colour keyboard, as has also been done for Wagner's "Lohengrin" and "Tristan and Isolde."

Pythagoras, who flourished about B.C. 562, showed an intimate knowledge of colour-music and vibrations, of which his work is the earliest I have so far been able to trace in our literature.

Thibet also used the "healing tone," which I have also had demonstrated at Grove End, Chiswick, last year; Xenia d'Orso, the Swiss singer with the "healing voice," has been described by persons in deep hypnosis and by reliable mediums as sending out a healing colour from the mouth and from the whole of her aura (etheric and astral bodies) when she sang. Good music produces good thoughts, and these are revealed in colour- flashes (detected by the clairvoyant) which can be interpreted by colour-symbiology.

My hypnotic experiments in tracing the life of an individual back prior to his existence upon earth in the "highly evolved" personalities show that during part of their astral life they develop a still finer vibration and become purely etheric without even astral bodily form, and are as flamed-shape streaks of light which can and do communicate with each other by colour signals, grey meaning "forbidden," blue "hope" and "mental development," indigo "spirituality," red "irritation" and "excessive stimulation," green "peace and calm."

Colour and picture language is the one Universal language which can be understood by the most elementary and primitive mind. Simplicity is the soul of learning. I have cured many insane patients and brought them to normality by carrying out the instructions given to me by the Universal Mind through the unconscious deeply hypnotised subjects I use, by the use of sound, colour and perfumes, producing miraculous results.

To-day colours used at theatres and dance-halls are vivid, the music has marked rhythm (going back to primitive music) and the effect of the sound-colour vibrations as colour, sound and perfume have a very much greater influence upon us than most people realise. Study colours, sound and scent and you will learn some of the greatest secrets of all ages. These alone can produce the complete harmony which your life was intended to have.

Thoughts produce definite colours and so does music, hence the science of colour-music which I first introduced into the West many years ago. Colours affect our mental outlook and our behaviour.

A few facts should be known regarding colour. People who are quarrelsome in a red room, become amiable in a grass-green-coloured room, and most affectionate in a rose-coloured (salmon-pink-orange like a pink) room. Grey is associated with fear, and therefore people who are afraid of things and of life itself, should wear clothes of a rich deep blue and golden brown alternately. Brown itself indicates selfishness and should be counteracted by the unselfish colour of rose-pink. Therefore study colour schemes in your furnishings, in your dress and in your surroundings and you will make life a Heaven of Success out of a Hell of failure.

Colours affect odours. Disease can be diagnosed by its odour, every ailment having a different odour. This has long been known to the East. Therefore colours can affect disease by alternating the odours of the human body. Colour affects appetite, energy and power of mind over body. The clairvoyant(e) can see your soul-colour of inspiration emanating from you, and science has testified to these facts. Ivah Bergh Whitten says that colour is the chrysalis of Divine understanding, and that colour will attune your harp to the golden harmonies of the spheres; that a butterfly is but a worm become colour conscious.

Colours affect the functions of the body through the "etheric double" which I have previously described, thereby affecting the autonomic nervous system, and in turn the endocrine glands which by their internal secretions control the body of man and make him young or old, strong or weak, healthy or ill. Herein lies the key to health, wealth and happiness.

I could write a massive tome upon colour, sound and perfume and their hypnotic effects, but the time is not yet ripe, and I must only give the elementary clues so that those who have understanding will read, mark, learn and inwardly digest these great truths.

I am looking forward to the time when the B.B.C, and music-halls will give their half- hour of SLUMBER MUSIC with appropriate colour combinations (used in television). I have already experimented in this direction with great success. Whilst the music played softly "My Heart Was Sleeping" amid the ruby light of the stage, two green-lit eyes peered through the black curtain of the back of the stage, and from behind the curtain I have put over the "ether" my suggestions of sleep to the audience (who were in darkness except for the reflection of the red light from the stage) until all felt drowsy and several fell fast asleep, awakening feeling more refreshed than they had done for many months. The effect of this upon the mind of man is miraculous, especially if used with a hall perfumed with rose (a much more simple thing to do than is imagined).

THE SPECTRONE LAMP

This consists of a jewel faceted lens in a large triangular box, behind which is a multi-ray lens which thereby together refract the light-combinations through thousands of jewel-facets projecting tiny penetrating rays inseparable with the naked eye. The ranges of the entire spectrum giving every possible variation of colour-tone and mixture of colours such as can be seen in the glorious sunset, and the sky at all times. Two revolving colour-filters work from either side, and the lamp is at the back behind which is a good reflector. At the present moment this lamp system is being improved upon according to information received from hypnotic and mediumistic sources.

THE GREAT WHITE LODGE PSYCHIC LAMP

This is a great secret of the "White Lodge" which as Master-the-Fifth, I am now permitted to make known to all, but to ensure that it gets into the right hands, have placed the powers of patent in the hands of The Colour Centre of Blackpool, under the direction of Mr. Roland Hunt and others. The power of this lamp can only be appreciated by those who use it and see it used. It is used in the "Magick" of the Lodge's three golden rules:

(1) Learn to build intelligently. (See Chapter One of Powers That Be. )

(2) Give the impulse through the correct word which will animate that which he (the builder) has built: the thought-form then conveys the intended idea with force.

(3) Send this thought-form correctly oriented to your goal: being truly directed it will reach the objective and accomplish that which it was sent forth to do.

To accomplish these three golden rules, the great rule of the Lodge must be obeyed in order that the rule may obey you. It is wrapped up in one word, SECRETIVENESS: Jesus Christ the great sage of two thousand years ago, when He cured the sick said.: "Go thou thy way and TELL NO MAN." He knew that the telling of it to others would make the rule non-operative, and the cure of the sickness would not be permanent. All the great men in history have brought their plans to fruition by being secretive about them: to even mention them to your nearest friend causes them to lose their effect. For those who live in doubting castle, I counsel them to try practising this law as I have directed, knowing that it will be proved to the hilt.

The following rules are subsidiary and are directed towards the training of right thinking against wrong thinking (as the East puts it: to prevent the disciple from the harmful force of Black Magic).

1. View the world of thought and separate the false from the true, retaining only the true.

2. Learn the meaning of illusion (see Chapter One of Powers That Be which fully explains this), and in its midst locate the golden thread of truth: the real meaning of truth.

3. Control the emotions of thy mind and soul, for the waves that rise upon the stormy seas of life engulf the swimmer, shut out the sun as he sinks and so render all his plans futile.

4. Discover that thou hast a mind, and a dual personality, and learn to use the duality of thy mind.

5. Concentrate on the principle of thought-power and be master of thy mental world.

6. Learn that the thinker and his thought and that which is the means of thought are diverse in their nature, yet one in ultimate reality.

7. Act as a powerful thinker and learn the error of selfish thought, and that whatsoever man wishes for another he wishes for himself. Think success to another and success also comes to the thinker.

8. Picture. the thought-form before constructing it and ascertain its goal and verify its

motive.

9. Think only good of others: if thou canst not say good of another never say evil of them, for as thou speakest of others so do others speak of thyself.

Bar fast the doors of thought to hate and pain, to fear, jealousy and low desire. Take heed lest thou fall!

10. Watch close the gates of thought. Physical life is mostly centred on the plane of concrete life, and so thy words and speech will indicate thy thought. Pay close attention to these facts.

11. Speech has a triple nature: idle, selfish and hateful words.

Idle words if good it matters naught, but if evil the speaker is sooner or later adversely affected thereby.

Selfish words sent forth with strong intent build around its speaker a wall of separation and loneliness.

Hateful words spell ruin to the speaker of them, for he falls into the grip of their poisonous fangs: and these words kill the flickering impulses of the soul, and cut at very roots of life itself, bringing in their train the Angel of Death. All thoughts, words and deeds sent out to others sooner or later return to their owner with increased power.

12. Never ask another to do anything that thou thyself wouldst not do. "Don't trouble trouble 'till trouble troubles you, you'll only double trouble and trouble others too.'' The secret formula is OM MANI PADME HUM. If spoken between the hours of midnight and two of the clock in the early morning, under the deep red ray or infra-red ray, the thought sent out by him is most potent for good or evil according to the mind of the commander.

These are the twelve so-called "Laws of Magick" which in the East is not associated with conjurors and jugglers, but with real science as many have borne witness thereto. This Great White Lodge of the Himalayas is the remnant of the Great University of Atlantis which was sunk by the selfish powers of mankind about the year 254,666 B.C. This Great Seat of Learning knows secrets which are ours for the searching, for the of study, for the ability to learn the power of persistent concentration (practically unknown in the West). It is in this ancient University that the real science of colour, sound and perfume values and their hypnotic effects are fully known and understood.

I felt it necessary to give this introduction to my Lodge before describing its psychic lamp, lest anyone might not appreciate its value and therefore never even inspect it and test it out to his own advantage.

THE ROOM

The walls must be black.

The ceiling must be indigo.

The floor and furniture blue.

The door black with red panels and golden edges to the panels. The whole room can be black if daylight is excluded and artificial blue and red lights are used, first.

THE LAMP

The globe must be twelve inches in diameter, and be composed as follows: seven horizontal strips, the upper, middle and lower bands of colour being RED. Between the upper red and the middle red band there are two bands of colour, the upper being violet, and the lower orange. Between the middle band of red and the lower band of red the two bands of colour are violet and orange.

Therefore it will be seen that from above downwards the colours are red, violet, orange, red, violet, orange, red, in horizontal strips.

A mechanism (actually a silent clockwork is used in the Lodge) similar to that I adopted for my psychostethokyrtographmanometer drum (the "thought-reading machine"), and the globe is made to revolve from right to left (anti-clockwise) at the rate of the individual pulse (or where crowds are assembled at seventy-five revolutions a minute). (It should be remembered that the normal rate of respiration-ratio to pulse is 1 to 4; that is, the heart beats four times to every one respiration or cycle of breathing. It can be seen how, in this way, the heart-beat can be controlled by altering the rate of respiration by will-power.)

The Lodge also make special note of the fact that the person should be exactly one and a half English feet away from the lamp for individual treatment or experiment, and in cases where crowds are present to have multi-lenses to cast the beams upon the crowd, and Walmsley's multi-gem lens is the best.

The effect upon the health and thought of the individual has to be witnessed to be believed, so wonderful are its results.

To divert for a moment, the G.W.L. of the Himalayas, have shown that a steady green light and green paper or walls, should be in the bedrooms of young male children as this colour raises the male-sex urge to a higher level, and is generally a good colour for children and prevents nervousness.

As regards disease it is interesting to note that in health the "etheric double" or etheric "tuning-fork" of the body is like diagram A, with its long negative and short positive poles standing out erect, but in disease, as in diagram B, with its negative poles curved in to the positive poles so that "short-circuiting" occurs. The use of the G.W.L. psychic lamp for an hour a day soon straightens out permanently those bent in negative poles and so ensures health - one of the secrets of happiness in this short and fleeting earthly life.

In conclusion may I give you a few of the great truths which arc to be found in that ancient University of Atlantis, the Great white Lodge of the Himalayas.

1. "As the shadows begin to lengthen . .' The simile in life: the shadow you see represents your earthly life. As the shadow begins to lengthen so does the day shorten and soon night will begin to lower. When a man sees his earthly fame increasing and begins to carefully notice this fact, his own power of mind is beginning to decrease.

2. Good humour, self-respect and sympathy, sincere estimation and goodwill from all towards all, are basic principles of life.

3. The brain is the organ of the soul.

4. It is a general habit of man to overvalue his intellectual world and to underestimate his emotional life.

5. As the tower is watched from without and from within, so shalt thou watch over thyself.

6. He who conquers himself is a greater conqueror than he who vanquishes a multitude in battle.

7. Ex oriente lux: (Out of the Orient comes light. )

8. Changes in the soul, its health and sickness spread from one man to another.

9. It is essential for the curing of any wound that complete peace and calm be enforced: this applies to the mind and soul as well as to the body.

10. Nothing is lost, not even the sound of man's speech (of his voice), for everything has its own place in Nature.

11. Without confidence and self-command no success can be achieved in life.

12. If the gold standard of materialism were replaced by the happiness-standard of the soul, disease would vanish for evermore.

13. The three magic gifts are courage, self-confidence and perseverance.

14. Everything is probable, but nothing is certain.

15. Ideas are things which you hold, but convictions are things which hold you.

16. Memory depends on relaxation; if a person is tense in attitude the memory fails.

17. The circulation in the brain itself is synchronous with the rate of respiration and not the heart-beat, as is the circulation of the extremities and trunk; thought and respiration are very closely connected. (The autonomic nervous system controls the arteries.)

18. Mind is ever the ruler of the Universe.

19. The basic law underlying all magical work is that ENERGY FOLLOWS THOUGHT.

20. Jealousy is the poison ivy that grows around the tree of love, chokes its branches and withers its roots.

21. Love cannot exist except between equals.

22. The three great human problems of life are work, society and sex.

23. Life begins where books end.

This book has now ended, but see to it that your life begins, developing your latent powers of which I have told you, that you may become successful in life, full of health and the joy of living, and happy throughout life and in eternity.

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Experimental Records

DR. CANNON'S EXPERIMENTAL RECORDS

[These are typical of scripts that might be found today, full of positive thoughts. But today they would be on tape rather than records. - Dylan Morgan]

These records have been chosen as best illustrative of his best method from a very large selection which has been recorded by the author, which includes treatment for disease, alcoholism, sleeplessness, cure of smoking, stammering, stuttering, asthma, epilepsy, etc.

DR. CANNON'S "REJUVENATION RECORD."

Music.

"Life is a song: let's sing it together. I feel full of health and the joy of living! I awaken to the new day with a new body, a new mind, and a renewed soul. There is sunshine in my soul to-day! The clouds have rolled away and I now feel confident reassured, happy and ever so contented. The very air I breathe has a wonderful vitalizing force and I can just sing with joy! I have confidence and self-command! I know the secret of happiness. which lies within my soul. I feel young, ever so young: every day in every way I feel younger and younger. My unconscious mind is now rejuvenating my arteries, revitalising my blood, strengthening the power of my endocrine glands, increasing my mental and physical vitality and rejuvenating me entirely. I am a new and a powerful being and I now remain young, courageous and energetic. I wish without worrying, wish without worrying, wish without worrying. I shall live long and in perfect health and happiness to enjoy the fruits of my labors and know that every day I am one day younger in my soul.

Music. " I feel wonderful: simply marvelous."

SPECIAL " HAPPY THOUGHTS" RECORD.

NO. 25.

Music. " God Bless You "' (Waltz).

"As the tower is watched from without and within, so shall I watch over myself, for he who conquers himself is greater than he who vanquishes a multitude in battle. Without confidence and self-command no success can be achieved in life. Something attempted is something done, and if a thing is worth doing it is worth doing well. No effort is ever in vain, for nothing is lost, not even the sound of man's voice, for everything has its own place in Nature. Everything is probable, but nothing is certain. Mind is ever the Ruler of the Universe. We are the playthings of the suggestive influences from the outside world, as a nutshell is tossed on the waves of the vast ocean. Everything that operates with the laws of suggestion is capable of performing miracles. Goodness floods our being, brightens our faces, alleviates the suffering of the multitude, and creates great things out of nothing. Happiness is the harmony of adaptability, love and self-discipline. The ability for happiness lies hidden deep in our souls. The rejuvenation of the soul is the most important matter in the world, for there is no conjuror like the human soul. The three magic gifts are courage, self-confidence and perseverance. Ideas are things which you hold, but convictions are things which hold you."

Music. " God Bless You " (Waltz).

SPECIAL " GREAT THOUGHTS " RECORD.

NO. 26.

Music. " My Moonlight Madonna."

"We must study great thoughts and inwardly digest the truths contained therein. We must persevere in our efforts, bearing in mind that perseverance is the world's greatest ruler and is the price of success. Mushrooms spring up in a night and wither soon afterwards: so it is with shallow knowledge. The tree takes years and maybe centuries to grow, but its roots are deep and its branches are great: so be it with much knowledge! Cultivate the tree of knowledge; prune, water and be careful not to let it wither in solitude! Wishing is not attainment unless one adds to it purpose. Willing is the act of concentration. It is the concentrated holding together of the whole conscious faculties of the mind and determining a result to be achieved. To know mind is to know God! Therefore respect all, but fear no man. Mind is greater than matter. Fear is failure and the forerunner of failure. Impossible is the adjective of fools. We must know life as well as books: the bones and sinews do not make a man, but just a corpse. Except for mind, the body would be only a piece of mechanism. There is no purpose without mind and there is no effect without cause, either in the creation of the Universe or in man. This mighty power has conquered the destiny of man, making the word greater than the sword."

Music. " My Moonlight Madonna."

Under the hypnotic state the patient is extremely sensitive to your suggestions, and you must select your words; for remember that words are greater than the sword, and that then - every word has magic power.

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