Hypnotism and
mental suggestion, though constantly being "rediscovered" by men
like Mesmer and Coue, have been known and practiced for many centuries. From
early times they have been exploited, by leaders of primitive cults,
medicine men, fakirs of India, Greek oracles, and the sybils of Rome alike.
In many savage
regions of the earth, in dense jungles and caves, a crude and unscientific
form of mass hypnotism is a frequent phenomenon. Men and women of primitive
tribes crouch around fires. The light of the flames, rising and falling,
walls them off from the impenetrable darkness around them. Some of the men
rub the palms of their hands over taut goatskin drum-heads, producing a
deep, rhythmic roar which surges with the mounting excitement of the
hearers. One by one the squatting figures rise and start bobbing up and down
on the balls of their feet, in time with the haunting, maddening rhythms of
the drums. Faster and faster they sway, until their eyes protrude, their
lips are covered with foam, and their bodies glisten with rolling sweat
under the ruddy firelight.
Performances of
this kind, wholly unreasonable, but charged with emotional ecstasy, are
demonstrations of hypnotism. Usually they are regarded by the people thus
affected as having a supernatural origin. The tom-tom dancers of Africa and
Haiti, no less than the cultists of more civilized nations, feel that they
have been pervaded in body and soul by powerful forces, divine or
diabolical. In the past such phenomena were often believed to be induced by
the devil , and people, who fell into hypnotic trances were sometimes
executed as witches and sorcerers.
Let us follow the
progress of this "black art" to the year 1777 in Paris. The world
of fashion is throbbing with excitement. A new thrill has been discovered by
a former Viennese physician, one Friedrich Anton Mesmer.
Let us enter
Mesmer's elegant parlors in the Place Vendome. Mirrored walls flash blinding
rays; huge and complex tubs are set into the floor, filled with bottles of
"electrical fluid". From these bottles extends a complicated
system of wires with handles, held by semi- hysterical men and women crowded
close together. Into this tense expectancy steps Mesmer the Master in a robe
of embroidered silk. He walks about stroking patients soothingly, stares
fixedly into their eyes, makes mysterious passes in the air, and relaxes
their nervous tension with a few deft touches. Within a very short time
every brand of emotion is on display. Men and women laugh, weep, and embrace
each other.
At that time the
star of Mesmer the Magnetizer was at its zenith, but was not to remain there
long. A group of learned men, including a distinguished American visitor,
Benjamin Franklin, reported that Mesmer was a charlatan. After having been
exiled from Vienna for practicing his mystic art, Mesmer was similarly
treated by the government of France.
It was not until
1842 that James Braid, an English surgeon, took Mesmer's
"magnetism" out of the dark region of necromancy. Braid discovered
that hypnotism was produced by [1] concentration of the visual powers, [2]
absolute repose of the body, and [3] a fixing of the attention [1-2-3!!!
THIS DESCRIBES EXACTLY WHAT STATE PEOPLE ARE IN WHEN THEY ARE WATCHING
TELEVISION].
Braid also found
that hypnotic sleep is not always of the same quality, but varies from a
light dreaming state to a deep coma. This produced a revival of interest in
France in the whole subject of hypnotism and suggestion. After extensive
study, a famous school of hypnotism was founded at Nancy, at which many of
its fundamental principles were established.
Hypnosis Put To Work
It was not long
before the medical uses of hypnotism were discovered. The reports from
far-off India that a certain Dr. Esdaile was using hypnotism as a means of
anesthesia were verified by men of science. Dr. Esdaile performed the most
painful and delicate operations by inducing the cataleptic state. Tumors
were removed, legs were amputated, and portions of bone were sawed away. All
this was accomplished without signs of pain, during the hypnotic trance.
Shortly after such operations the patients would awaken in the most natural
manner, stretch their arms, yawn, and rub their eyes. In reply to questions
they would say that they had enjoyed a good sleep and felt rested, and were
surprised to learn they had just been operated upon.
[THIS IS TOTALLY
INCREDIBLE. THIS COULD EASILY EXPLAIN THE RECENT "BLACK TRENCH COAT
MURDERS". THESE BOYS WERE HYPNOTIZED AND THE TELEVISION AUDIENCE IS
HYPNOTIZED TO BELIEVE THE MEDIA'S VERSION OF THE HORRIFIC INCIDENT.]
In a typical
hypnosis session as practiced at present, the subject sits upright in a
straight chair, fixing his eyes on the hypnotist's face, or on a point of
light. In the hush of the room is heard the monotonous, droning voice of the
hypnotist: "You are
falling into a deep, deep sleep. You are falling into a deep, deep
sleep...deep, deep sleep..."
The sitting subject
blinks at first, then his face loses all expression, and at last his eyes
become glazed and his body rigid. With will almost completely obliterated,
[DO YOU GET THIS???] his mind and body are blank pages on which the
hypnotist can write the emotions and sensations that he desires the
unconscious person to experience [MURDER YOUR CLASSMATES THEN COMMIT
SUICIDE].
The hypnotist says
to him: "Wipe the insects off your face," and he attempts
to comply. When told that the room is filled with glorious music, he listens
in rapt attention; and applauds wildly when told the concert is ended.
"Now you will eat this delicious apple," the hypnotist tells him,
and hands him a raw onion. He eats it with evident relish, showing no signs
of discomfort. All these phenomena are produced by the mental suggestions of
the hypnotist. [DO YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT THIS MEANS??? HOW CAN CHILDREN DEFEND
THEMSELVES AGAINST THIS WHEN THEIR OWN PARENTS CANNOT EVEN SEE WHAT IS
HAPPENING??? THE PARENTS THEMSELVES ARE HYPNOTIZED BY TELEVISION.]
If the subject is
told that his flesh is insensible to pain, his skin may be pierced with pins
without his flinching or crying out. If his arm is raised to a horizontal
position and he is told that he cannot move it, it remains rigid as an iron
bar for much longer periods than he could normally hold it up without
excruciating pain. Or the subject's power of mental concentration is
immensely enhanced at the suggestion of the hypnotist. He is told, for
example, that he must retain in mind a long series of fifteen or more
unrelated digits, so as to be able to repeat them in the same order later.
As they are recited to him, the subject listens intently, with an effort of
memory that is almost painful to watch. Then, after a considerable interval
during which other demonstrations occur, if the subject is asked to repeat
the list of numbers, he names them rapidly and correctly, with the glib
accuracy of a phonograph. [Note: this was written in 1938, hence the
reference to phonograph.]
One of the most
interesting phenomena of hypnotism is post-hypnotic suggestion, by means of
which psychiatrists often treat their patients. During hypnosis the
patient's mind is given so strong an impression that his beliefs and
behavior are affected for hours or days after he is restored to normal
consciousness. [THIS IS MORE POWERFUL THAN ANY DRUG.]
For instance, a
drunkard is told that he no longer craves alcohol, in fact that it is now
distasteful to him. After the hypnosis session is at an end, he finds that
he has indeed been freed of alcoholism, at least for some time after the
treatment. The same therapeutic means may be used to help patients afflicted
with abnormal fears and obsessions.
Though hypnotism is
neither as mysterious nor as difficult to induce as the general public
thinks it, yet is should be borne in mind that it is a bad toy to play with
[A BAD TOY TO PLAY WITH. OUR CHILDREN HAVE BECOME TOYS THAT VERY EVIL PEOPLE
ARE PLAYING WITH]. It may be dangerous in the hands of the inexpert, and
anyone who permits himself to be hypnotized by a person who is not a
competent and reliable psychologist or doctor is inviting trouble. [HOW CAN
A CHILD STAND UP AGAINST THIS?]
(end of
article #2)
Both articles are
taken from: Amazing Facts in a Marvelous World, Vincent Starrett, Editor;
The University of Knowledge Wonder Books, Glenn Frank, Editor-in-Chief;
University of Knowledge, Inc., Chicago (1938/1941)
