Neurypnology Preface

Neurypnology Preface

THE circumstances which led me to engage in the investigation of hypnotism, are detailed in the introduction to this little work ; in the first part of the treatise I have endeavoured to give the results at which I arrived, in most instances sketching the route by which I travelled, and stating the inferences drawn from the various incidents which occurred in the course of my progress. Having furnished the data from which I drew my conclusions, the reader is thus prepared to determine, whether, on any occasion, I have come to these conclusions without what he would consider sufficient evidence, and in such case can institute additional experiments to any extent he may judge requisite, one circumstance, however, I may remark. From a fear of being misled, I have requested the most sceptical individuals I knew, both professional and merely scientific men, to scrutinize all my experiments in the most critical manner; and have also induced some of my most intelligent and respected friends to submit to the operations, in the hope that I might thus more certainly guard against being deceived. The results I now submit to the public, and to the kind and candid consideration of my professional brethren, whom I should wish to investigate the subject coolly, and with an honest desire to arrive at truth. Having myself been sceptical, I can make every reasonable allowance for others, on this point I fully subscribe to the propriety of the remark of Treviranus, the celebrated botanist, when speaking of mesmerism. He says, (I quote from memory,) "I have seen much which I would not have believed on your telling; and in all reason, therefore, I can neither hope nor wish that you should believe on mine." It is quite natural for any man to prefer the evidence of his own senses to that of all others, and I think no one who has the opportunity of examining the phenomena for himself should neglect to do so. However, there are some circumstances which ought to be particularly borne in mind, or very erroneous opinions may be formed by the uninitiated, from what is actually witnessed. First, there is a remarkable difference in the degree of susceptibility of different individuals to the hypnotic influence, some becoming rapidly and intensely affected, others slowly and feebly so. This is only analogous to what we experience in regard to the effects of medicines on different individuals, and especially as regards wine, spirits, and opium, and nitrous oxide. Whilst this is a recognized fact, as regards the latter, it appears to me somewhat surprising to find many, and even professional men too, who seem to expect as much uniformity ought to obtain, in regard to the phenomena during hypnotism, as if we were operating on inanimate matter. On the contrary, they ought to be ready to admit that a variety might be expected to arise, even in the same individual, according to the physical and mental condition of the patient at the moment the operation is performed. The next most important point for consideration is, the fact of all the phenomena being consecutive. We have thus the extremes of insensibility, and exalted sensibility, of rigidity and mobility, at different stages, and these merging into each other by the most imperceptible gradations, or in the frost abrupt manner, according to the mode of treating the patient. It is no unusual thing for different parties to be testing, or calling for tests, for the opposite conditions, at the same instant of time. These, of course, are incompatible, but, at a certain stage, the transitions from torpor of all the senses, and cataleptiform rigidity, to the most exalted sensibility, and flaccidity of muscle, may be effected almost with the celerity of thought, even by so slight a cause as a breath of air directed against the part. If left at rest it will speedily merge back again, and thus those unacquainted with such peculiarities, will be continually liable to think they discover discrepancies, which, however, only originate from their imperfect knowledge of the subject; just as an unskilful manipulator will be ready to suppose, from his different results, that the observations of other chemists have been erroneous. The third point meriting especial attention is, the condition of the mind at different stages. As results from opium, so also from hypnotism, At one stage it gives an extraordinary power of concentration of thought, or disposition to rapt contemplation, whereas, at another stage, the discursive, or imaginative faculties are excited into full play, and thus the most expanded, bright, and glowing scenes and images are presented to the fervid imagination. Such effects are quite analogous to those described as resulting from the use of opium, and detailed by the late Sir Humphrey Davy, as experienced in his own person, from the inhalation of the nitrous oxide. " I thus felt a sense of tangible extension, highly pleasurable in every limb, my visible impressions were dazzling and apparently magnified. I heard distinctly every sound in the room, and was perfectly aware of my situation. By degrees, as the pleasurable sensation increased, I lost all connection with external things; trains of vivid visible images rapidly passed through my mind. I existed in a world of newly connected and newly modified ideas." It must also be borne in mind, that these opposite mental conditions may glide into each other by the most imperceptible degrees, or by the most abrupt transitions, according to the modes of management, and thus consciousness or unconsciousness, sound sleep, dreaming, or somnambulism, will result, according as sensations or ideas predominate, or are equally vivid. See Hibbert's Philosophy of Apparitions, At a certain stage the same abruptness of transition may be realized in the mental phenomena, as were referred to in the last paragraph, in respect to the physical, and from equally slight causes. I presume it is from this cause that the phrenological manifestation may be so readily and characteristically exhibited at this period. At page 143 [towards the end of NEURYPNOLOGY CHAPTER VII] I have stated that, were it not that I should consider it an unnecessary waste of time to prosecute the inquiry farther, after the amount of evidence obtained by myself, and others, I had no doubt but I might soon obtain any number of additional cases I might desire. In proof of this, I may remark, that since that period, I was induced one day to try some fresh subjects, when I succeeded in eliciting the manifestations in the most satisfactory manner in the case of a man of forty years of age, and in three other male subjects upwards of twenty years of age. Of the latter, under the excitation of constructiveness and ideality, one wrote, and the other drew patterns, and neither of them had seen such experiments, nor expected to be so tested, nor remembered what happened. The same day I also manipulated three females, one 45 years of age, a young lady of 19, and a girl, all of whom exhibited the manifestations quite distinctly. Another day, to satisfy a number of intellectual friends, I hypnotized three of their personal friends, two of whom were entire strangers to me, and were quite sceptical as to the possibility of my being able to affect them at all. They all exhibited the manifestations most distinctly, two of them in a remarkable degree, and to the extent of twenty manifestations at first trial. Under "conscientiousness," one restored a reticule she had stolen, and burst into a flood of tears at the thought of her delinquency. The friends were alarmed at the intensity of her emotion, but by changing the point of contact, I had her changed from the grave to the gay in a few seconds. A few days after I had other two cases, and I feel assured that in most of the twelve cases here referred to the parties knew nothing of phrenology, and that not one of them could with certainty point to two of their own organs. I may also add, they were all tested before competent any observant witnesses, who can testify there was no prompting by any one. It appears quite evident, that whatever images or mental emotions or thoughts have been excited in the mind during nervous sleep, are generally liable to recur, or be renovated and manifested when the patient is again placed under similar circumstances. Notwithstanding the apparent conclusiveness of the cases recorded, that there exists a natural connection betwixt certain localities touched and the peculiar manifestations which follow, in order to determine this question in the most decided manner, it is my intention to institute a series of experiments on fresh patients, in order to ascertain to what extent it may be practicable, by arbitrary association, to excite the opposite tendencies from the same points; also, whether they can be exhibited in the same striking and natural manner by both methods, or by which points they can be elicited with the greatest facility and fidelity to natural expression. There will thus be both positive and negative proof to aid us in determining, whether there is any natural and necessary connection existing betwixt the points manipulated, and the manifestations excited; or whether it may depend entirely upon associations which have originated from some partial knowledge of phrenology, from arbitrary arrangements, or accidental circumstances or causes which have been entirely overlooked or forgotten; and which afterwards produce the results from " that ultimate law of the mind, which ordains, that the repetition of a definite sensation shall be followed by a renovation of the past feelings with which it was before associated." (Hibbert, page 316.) I am induced to adopt this course, from my anxiety to remove every possible source of error as to the cause of the original manifestation, and from the recollection of the remarkable circumstance of the woman who, during natural somnambulism, could repeat correctly large portions of the Hebrew Bible, and other books, in languages she had never studied, and was perfectly ignorant of when awake, but which was at length discovered to have been acquired from hearing a clergyman, with whom she resided when a girl, reading them aloud to himself; and also of some patients whilst labouring under disease remembering languages long forgotten. I wish to ascertain whether any such accidental circumstance may have been the cause of the remarkable manifestations arising in the minds of patients when first manipulated. Whatever are the results of my farther inquiry shall be carefully noted and published, as my object is neither to prove nor disprove the truth of phrenology, but to establish the value of hypnotism, and determine how best to apply it, as a means of meliorating the mental, and moral, and physical condition of man. That during the nervous sleep, there is the power of exciting patients to manifest the passions and emotions, and certain mental functions, in a more striking manner than the same individuals are capable of in the waking condition, no one can doubt who has seen much of these experiments. And it can in no way alter the importance of hypnotism, as a. curative power, and extraordinary means of controlling and directing mental functions, in a particular manner, by a simple association of impressions, whether we thus act on the brain as a single organ, or as a combination of separate organs; or whether the primary associations have originated from a special organic connection, or from some accidental and unknown cause, or from preconcerted arrangement and arbitrary association. In such operations as particularly require the use of the eyes, I have never seen patients in the hypnotic state perform what they attempted with the same celerity and accuracy as they were capable of doing when awake, and with the aid of sight. In short, I have never witnessed any phenomena which were not reconcileable with the notion that they arose from the abnormal exaltation or depression of sensations and ideas, or to their being thrown into unusual and varied ratios by the processes resorted to. Having heard it reported, that by establishing aconnection betwixt two patients by a chain or string, that manipulating one would manifest the same phenomena in both, I tried the experiment, but with the precaution that the patients should be in separate rooms, so that the one could not hear, nor feel, from the motion of the air, what the other was doing. I formed the connection by a cord in some cases, and in others by a copper wvire, and had parties stationed where their could observe the movements of both at same time. We could discover no such sympathetic influence as is asserted to have been realized by others. The experiments recorded at page142 [towards the end of NEURYPNOLOGY CHAPTER VII] of my having caused patients to hypnotize, manipulate, and rouse themselves, (by simply desiring them to rub their own eyes,) and which produced results precisely the same as when done by any one else, seem to me the most decisive proof possible that the whole results from the mind and body of the patients acting and re-acting on each other, and that it lids no dependence on any special influence emanating from another. My first experiments on this point were instituted in the presence of some friends on the lst May, 1843, and following days. I believe they were the first experiments of the kind which had ever been tried, and they have succeeded in every case in which I have so operated. With due attention to the points above referred to, and with that practice which is requisite to insure adroitness in experimenting in any department of art or science, and with an honest desire to view every fact having no bias to uphold some previous prejudice or opinion, I have no doubt that the facts and observations set forth in this treatise will soon be very generally confirmed. A perusal of the eases recorded in the second part will, I trust, render the importance of the subject sufficiently apparent to stimulate inquiry; and I hope it may be gratifying to others to read, as it is to me to be able to record, that the predication I had ventured to make at page 256 [towards end of book], as to the probability of hypnotism proving a cure for tetanus and hydrophobia, has already been happily realized in respect to the former intractable and generally fatal disease. After this treatise had been in the press the following case occurred, and its importance must be my apology for giving a brief detail of it here :- Master J. B., 13 years of age, was suddenly attacked with chilliness and pain ill over his body, on the evening of 30th of last March. I was called to attend him the following day, when I considered he had got a febrile attack from cold, and prescribed accordingly. Next day, however, it had assumed a very different aspect. I now found I had got a severe case of opisthotonos to deal with. The head and pelvis were rigidly drawn back, the body forming an arch, and the greatest force could not succeed in straightening it, or bringing the head forward, Whilst the spasm never relaxed entirely, it frequently became much aggravated, when the head was so much drawn back as to seriously impede respiration. The legs were also sometimes flexed spasmodically. The effect of the spasm in obstructing the respiration, and hurrying the circulation, was very great, and seemed to place the patient in great jeopardy. The pulse was never less than 150, but during the paroxysm was considerably increased. It was evident I had got a most formidable case to contend with, and that no time ought to be lost. I therefore determined to try the power of hypnotism, well knowing how generally such cases end fatally under ordinary treatment. He was quite sensible, and the only difficulty in getting him to comply with my instructions, arose from the recurrence of the severe spasmodic attacks. In a very few minutes, however, I succeeded in reducing the spasm so that his head could be carried forward to the perpendicular, his breathing was relieved, his pulse considerably diminished, and I left him in a state of comparative comfort. In about two and a-half hours after I visited him again, accompanied by my friend Dr Cochrane. The spasms had recurred, but by no means with the same violence. Dr Cochrane had no difficulty in recognizing the disease, but did not believe any means could save such a case. He had never seen a patient hypnotized till that afternoon, and watched my experiment with much interest and attention. He seemed much and agreeably surprised by the extraordinary influence which an agency so apparently simple exerted over such a case. The pupil was speedily dilated, as if under the influence of belladonna; the muscular spasm relaxed, and in a few minutes he was calmly asleep. Having ordered three calomel powders to be given at intervals, we left him comfortably asleep. Next day there was still spasm of the muscles, but by no means so severe. Whilst I determined to follow up the hypnotic treatment, which had been so far successful, I considered it would be highly imprudent to trust wholly to that in the treatment of such a ease. As I consider such cases are generally attended with inflanmmation of the medulla oblongata, and upper part of the spinal cord, I bled him, and ordered the calomel to be continued. The same plan was persevered in, hypnotizing him occasionally for some days, administering calomel till the gums were slightly affected, cold lotion to the head, and the antiphlogistic regimen till I considered all risk of inflammatory action past, when he was treated more generously, and I am gratified to say he is now quite well. I feel confident that without the aid of hypnotism this patient would have died. I sincerely wish it may prove equally successful in other cases of the kind, and also in that hitherto fatal disease, hydrophobia. My anxiety to see it fairly tried in the latter disease induces me to offer my gratuitous services in any ease of that disease occurring within a few hours' journey of Manchester. I consider it necessary to explain that my reason for having inserted some cases attested by the patients and others is, that most unwarrantable interferences have been resorted to by several medical men, in order to misrepresent some of them. In one instance, in order to obtain an attested erroneous document, the case was READ to the patient and others present, THE VERY REVERSE OF WHAT WAS WRITTEN. However extraordinary such conduct may appear, the fact of its occurrence was publicly proved, and borne testimony to by the patient and other parties present on the occasion when the document was obtained.

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