Hypnotism / by Francis R. Cruise.

  • Cruise, Francis Richard, 1834-1912.
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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    which I may relate here, as his division seems very simple and practical, although not adopted in all details by Bernheim and others:— 1st degree—Light sleep. 2nd degree—Deep sleep. In this, sensibility is so lost that a needle puncture or touch to the conjunctiva does not arouse. 3rd degree—Deep sleep, with the possibility of suggesting either catalepsy or automatic movement. 4th degree—Still deeper sleep, in which the patient loses relation with all the surroundings, and does not respond to any voice except that of the hypnotiser. 5th and 6th degrees—Different degrees of somnambulism, in which the patient becomes more or less completely an automaton in the hands of the hypnotiser, and when wakened is totally oblivious of all that has been said or done at the bidding of the operator. Interesting as all these gradations of hypnosis are, especially from a psychological point of view, I cannot now enter upon them. Suffice it to say that in all suggestion is potent for therapeusis. I shall not attempt to theorise or offer any explanation of this extraordinary fact. I have long since arrived at that period of mental development—for good or ill—at which I have ceased to attempt explanation. If a body set free falls to the earth, I call it, as I have been taught, gravitation. That word expresses a fact but explains nothing. I know that quinine lowers temperature and cures many neuralgias, that aloes purges, and opium stops the purging. Of the why and wherefore I know nothing. So also 1 must acknowledge of the power of suggestion in hypnosis. If I must theorise on this point I would do so by analogy. Quinine alters the circulation in the brain and in the nervous system, and thus, I presume, alters the condition of the brain, which is necessary for the sensation of pain, &c. May it not be so of hypnosis? Obviously this theory merely puts back the diffi- culty a stage. Explanation there is none; no more than of the countless processes of physical science which we see pass before us daily. It seems to me more profitable, with our present means of knowledge, to observe and treasure up facts, especially when they help us to cure or relieve. Behind all physical phenonema is the Almighty Power that works and directs them, and teaches us, if we are wise, how little we know beyond mere ultimate facts and the generalisation therefrom.