CLIMATE.—Residents of warm and tropical climates are said to be more eas ily hypnotized than inhabitants of colder countries. I have had no experience with the former except after they have immigrated to Colorado. Among our foreign population here the French and Italian are the most susceptible.
In estimating the proportion of per sons who are hypnotizable many modify ing circumstances have to be taken into consideration. Not the least of these is the personal influence of the hypnotist. Some may be hypnotized by one person and not by another of equal experience. He who succeeds in getting his subject en rapport with himself will usually be able to induce the hypnotic state.
It is, in the employment of hypnotism as a therapeutic agent, as it is in the use of other aids to effect a cure, the per sonal equation of the hypnotist that plays a part of no small importance.
As a general rule, it may be stated that the oftener a person has been hypnotized the more easily subsequent hypnoses will be effected. In very nervous, self-con scious, and hysterical subjects, when only the suggestive method to induce hypno sis is employed, it often happens that the first attempt at hypnosis nearly succeeds, and that at every subsequent effort of the operator the failure is more and more pronounced, until finally no approach to hypnosis can be obtained. It is probably best not to rely entirely upon the sug gestive method in inducing hypnosis in this class of subjects.
[In those cases in which I have suc ceeded at the first sitting in getting the patient thoroughly hypnotized, never have 1 failed of complete success in a subsequent attempt at hypnosis, pro vided the subject was in a good condi tion. It is a curious experience with me, it may not be new to others, that dipsomaniacs, during the time the in tense desire for alcohol has been upon them, have not completely yielded to the influence of hypnotism nor have followed suggestions made at these times, not withstanding I had often succeeded in completely hypnotizing them between their periodic drinking-bouts. J. T. ESK RIDgE.] As TO WHETHER A PERSON CAN BE HYPNOTIZED WITHOUT HIS KNOWL EDGE OR CONSENT OR AGAINST HIS DESIRE.—If the suggestive method only
is employed in inducing hypnosis we are justified in affirming that a person can not be hypnotized without his consent and voluntary co-operation. When one or a combination of the so-called phys ical methods is used in inducing hypno sis the subject may not only be tized without his consent or desire, but against his wish in the matter.
[Pertinent to this subject Bjornstrom says: "It certainly is true that a con scious and willing co-operation promotes sleep, but a number of cases are on record where the sleep appears unex pectedly, unconsciously, and against One's will.' J. T. ESKP,IDGE.] Hypnosis: its Degrees and Variations. —A clean-cut and terse description of hypnosis is very difficult, as the condition varies in different subjects, being modi fied to some extent by the normal tem perament of the subject, his mental and physical condition at the time, the depth to which the hypnosis is carried, and the method employed to induce it. The or dinary subject, when hypnotized by the suggestive method, especially if every precaution is taken to soothe the patient and prevent his becoming nervous and excited, sits or lies as one in a quiet and peaceful sleep,—the somnambulistic state. Temperature, pulse, and respiration vary little from the normal; the face is usu ally slightly flushed; the voluntary mus cles are relaxed and the head and limbs assume the positions forced by gravity. If the subject is nervous, apprehensive, or excited, and one of the so-called phys ical methods is employed to hypnotize the patient, the limbs may become rigid —the cataleptic state—or he may go into a profound and stuporous sleep,—the lethargic state. The latter condition is not produced primarily by startling the patient, by means of striking a loud sounding gong, by the sudden flash of an electric spark, or by a stern command to sleep, such as will cause the cataleptic state suddenly to develop; but is pro duced by staring, or by pressure upon the eyeballs effected by means of the fingers held gently against the upper eyelids. Charcot recognized three stages, viz.: (1) the cataleptic; (2) the lethargic; (3) the somnambulistic.