Neurypnology Chapter V

Neurypnology Chapter V

WHEN I had ascertained that Hypnotism was important as a curative power, and that the prejudices existing against it in the public mind, as to its having an immoral tendency, were erroneous; and the idea, that it was calculated to sap the foundation of the Christian creed, by suggesting that the Gospel miracles might have been wrought by this agency, was quite unfounded and absurd, I felt it to be a duty I owed to the cause of humanity, and my profession, to use my best endeavours to remove those fallacies, so that the profession generally might be at liberty to prosecute the inquiry, and apply it practically, without hazarding their personal and professional interest, by prosecuting it in opposition to popular prejudice. It appeared to me there was no mode so likely to insure this happy consummation as delivering lectures on the subject to mixed audiences. The public could thus have demonstrative proof of its practical utility; and, when it was proved to proceed from a law of the animal economy, and that the patient could only be affected in accordance with his own free will and consent, and not, as the animal magnetizers contend, through the irresistible power of volitions and passes of the mesmerizers, which might be done in secret and at a distance, the ground of charge as to my agency having an immoral tendency, must at once fall to the ground. I have reason to believe my labours have not been altogether unsuccessful, in removing the popular prejudices; adint I hope that the more liberal of my professional brethren, now that they I;iiuw my true motives of action, in giving lectures to mixed audiences, instead of confining them to the profession only, iiid especially as I made no secret of my modes of operating, will be inclined to approve rather than blame me, for the course I have taken in this respect. From some peculiar views, I .was led to make experiments, by which I hoped to obtain natural or refreshing sleep, and the results were quite satisfactory. I have thus succeeded in making a patient, who, when operated upon in the usual way, was highly susceptible, afiii disposed to become strongly cataleptic, with rapid pulse and oppressed breathing, remain in a sound sleep for upwards of three hours, with all the muscles flaccid, and the pulse and respiration slower than natural, when operated on in this manner. All this difference arises from the simple circumstance of the position into which the eyes are placed during the operation, namely, closing the eyelids, and bringing the eyes Inosely upwards, as if looking at an object at a great distance, the eye-balls being turned up only gently, so as to cause dilatation of the pupil, as already explained; and the limbs placed so as to relax the muscles as much as possible, and thus prevent acceleration of the pulse.

I was led to the adoption of this method from the following train of reasoning. If, as I inferred was the case, the spasmodic tendency was reflected to the muscular system generally, from the semiparalyzed state of the branches of the third pair of nerves (which supply the levatores palpebrarum (the muscles that lift the eylids - Dylan) and irides (muscles that contract the pupil - Dylan)) during the continued fixed stare and straining of the eyes, I thought, were I to insure all the other concomitant requirements for procuring hypnotism, minus the strain on the levators and irides, I ought to procure refreshing sleep, without rigidity of muscle or quickened circulation. By closing the eyelids, the first could be obtained, and by turning the eyes up loosely, which dilates the pupils, the other would also be attained; I therefore tried the experiment, which, as already noted, proved most successful.

I think the plan I have just pointed out is quite as simple, and I feel assured it will prove as efficacious in procuring "sleep at will" as that of Gardener, lately published by Dr Biuns. I may add, that I publicly stated my plan at my lectures in LoTidoI1, un tile lst and id lliaieh, 1842, which was at least five or six months prior to the publication of Dr Binns's work. I bad also done the same at my lectures in Liverpool, about six weeks before that last period. Mr Barrallier, an intelligent surgeon, of Milford, who investigated the subject of Hypnotism with much zeal and success, and published some interesting experiments on the subject in the Medical Times, also referred to the case of a gentleman in that town, whom he had heard, of as having been in the habit of procuring sleep immediately 'by keeping his eyes fixed' for a few minutes iii one direction. Until he adopted this method be scarcely slept at all. For various modes of procuring sleep see pages 58-60 of this treatise.

In reference to my original theory, Dr Binns, at page 372, calls in question the justice of my allegation, that during Hypnotism, natural or artificial, there should be any imperfect arterialization of the blood, notwithstanding the suppressed or modified respiration and circulation. He has adduced no arguments, however, to convince me to the contrary; and I again repent my conviction, that such condition of the blood does exist, and is a cause of ordinary sleep; and that the still more intense state of torpor, iixi a certain state of Neuro-Hypnotism, results from a still less perfectly purified blood; and, on the other hand, that the dreamy and exalted states arise from different degrees of stimulating properties of the blood, from being more highly arterialized at various stages, together with the velocity of circulation, and pressure or tension on the brain during the cataleptiform state.

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