THE ALCOHOL AND DRUG BAIUT.— Although persons belonging to these classes ordinarily afford fair results, yet there are many discouragements and failures in their treatment by hypnotic suggestion. The subjects of these habits, except possibly the cocaine habitue, who is generally too nervous to become thor oughly hypnotized, are usually easily hypnotized, and for a prolonged period at first find little difficulty in following suggestions. One of the essential con - • ditions for these subjects to be benefited by the treatment is for them to have a strong desire to break off their vicious habits. Suggestions made contrary to their desires have little or no effect. The dipsomaniac is least influenced by hyp notism. In one instance of this class, however, I have apparently succeeded in getting rid of the inordinate desire for [Formerly, this patient was one of the worst dipsomaniacs that I have en countered. After treating him for nearly two years, and succeeding in lessening his bouts from ten or twelve to three or four a year, I then adopted the plan of suggesting to him that when he wanted alcohol he would ask his wife for it and drink at home. At the same time I
suggested that he would drink nothing but beer and would not want more than one or two glasses of this, as he would feel nauseated, and would vomit. • He now asks his wife for beer once or twice a month, takes one or two glasses, be comes very sick, but does not vomit. Subsequently the patient went to a saloon and began to drink, but he began to vomit and became so sick that he had his wife telephoned for to take him home.
In a number of cases I have succeeded in making the habitues vomit every time that they have taken alcohol in any form. J. T. ESKRIDGE.] I have been able in a number of in stances to remove slight functional men strual disorders in subjects that were easily hypnotized.
I have had no experience in treating nocturnal enuresis by suggestion. Others report success with these cases.