Hypnotism / by Francis R. Cruise.

  • Francis Cruise
Date:
1891
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Hypnotism / by Francis R. Cruise. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    of a decided opinion, favourable or the reverse. This he rightly attributed to the power of the mind and nervous system upon the physical condition. None of us are ignorant of it. Oftentimes we see patients die of fright, whilst others are saved because they are courageous and determined to recover if they can. Pondering over this problem, Liebault came to seek in what way he could apply suggestion of cure with the utmost possible advantage. After many trials he made the discovery that in induced sleep— hypnotism, in other words—when the personality of the subject is partially or nearly completely extinguished, and the imagination hicrhlv exalted, suggestion becomes infinitely more powerful than in the waking state. This was his point of departure—this is the essence of modern hypnotism. The careful study of his remarkable essay, Le Sommeil Provoque, published in 1889, will amply repay all unbiassed students. In it he summarises the result of all his published contributions to the subject, which date back to the year 1868. Despite ridicule and neglect, Liebault, with the earnestness of a true scientist, and the concentrated disinterested devotion of his compatriots, worked and worked until he proved to many observers that he had struck upon a mine of wealth in therapeutics, and his method came to be tested and adopted by numbers in France and elsewhere. His most remarkable pupil, Dr. Henri Bernheim, Physician to the Hopital Civil at Nancy, ami Professor of the Faculty of Medicine there, took the matter up, and utilised his vast field of observation. The result of his labours is embodied in his exhaustive work, De la Suggestion, et de ses Applications a la Therapeutique, published in 1888, and also in his later essay already quoted. The study and practice of hypnotism has gradually spread in France and elsewhere, and now reckons amongst its advocates many illustrious names in Germany, Belgium, Holland, Switzerland, America, England, and elsewhere. It seems to me that it is full time for us in Ireland to investigate the matter. Now, to proceed, let us suppose ourselves in M. Li^bault's con- sulting rooms—Dispensary in fact—in the Hue Bellevue, at Nancy. From seven in the morning till noon he works, or rather, I should say, used to work, for since the time of my visit he has retired. He is a bright, intelligent, old gentleman—simple, kindly in manner, and sympathetic with all his patients, who stream in to seek his aid, mostly when all other means of cure have failed.
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