Western Hypnosis Arcana

by Roland John Chester, Ph.D  

Present-day Western and Western-trained hypnotists almost exclusively use the method of conscious co-operation of the subject, combined with verbal suggestion and the use of the expectancy of the subject.

A large number of less prominent investigators, however, have held that (1) there are physical as well as psychological methods of producing hypnotic states; (2) hypnosis can be produced with or without the co-operation of the subject.

A representative selection of the more unfamiliar methods used or recommended - or noted - by these and other workers is included here in summary, for the purposes of study and comparison. The selection is unusually wide: combining as it does such techniques as the primitive hypnosis of the Tonga islands, the technique known as Mesmerism and the Indian method of hypnosis by command, following expectancy, used by Faria. Virtually all the more common techniques are also included.
 

Dr. Wetterstand of Stockholm: HYPNOTISING SLEEPING PERSONS
 

This worker notes that ordinary sleep can be changed into the hypnotic state by a simple process.

Method:

Wetterstand laid one hand gently upon the sleeper’s forehead, and stroked the body lightly with the other. The subject was told in a low voice to continue sleeping. As soon as the subject replied to the hypnotist’s questions, he was in a state of ‘rapport’ (co-operativeness), and suggestions to deepen the trance could be given. Dr. Wetterstrand indicates that this technique is especially effective with children.
 

Dr. Pavlov, Fr. Kircher, Dr. Clark: THE HYPNOSIS OF ANIMALS  

A. Kircher, S.J. (c.1646) demonstrated the production of cataleptic states in animals. He placed a hen with its beak touching the ground, and legs tied, and drew a chalk line from the beak. The bird was unable to move. In the 1840s, the mesmerist Lafontaine is said to have mesmerised’ lions in London and elsewhere, by fixed gazing and ‘magnetic passes’ (see Mesmer’s Method). Pavlov claims that animals can be hypnotised by holding them rigid and helpless for a time, and cites cases discovered accidentally while working upon conditioned reflexes. 
Dr. Franklin Chase Clark believes that this state occurs through fear (being ‘rooted to the spot’) and cites the serpent’s apparent power over some animals. The victim fears that he can not move: and thus can not.
 

Dr. Voisin: HYPNOTISING THE INSANE 

Voisin claimed that he could produce the hypnotic state - including trance - without the co-operation of the subject. Working with insane people (maniacs) he hypnotised them by having their eyes held open for up to three hours, and compelling them to gaze into a magnesium lamp. He was able to exercise curative suggestions, and has recorded cases in which virtually hopeless patients were kept asleep for very long periods and to all intents and purposes, cured.
 

Professor Bernheim: HYPNOSIS BY EXPECTANCY AND SUGGESTION 

The subject was given an account of the sensations which he could expect under hypnosis: that he would feel tired, would obey the operator, would respond to suggestions. Then he had to look at the hypnotist and think of sleep. Suggestions were now given that his eyelids were heavy and his eyes tired; that his eyes were closing; that they had closed. In most cases, the imagination and expectancy plus attention to what was being said produced the hypnotic state. Those who did not actually ‘sleep’ were assured that sleep was not necessary: and proved susceptible to suggestion while in the waking state.
 

Dr. Burcq: THE USE OF METALS (METALOSCOPY)  

Dr. Burcq of Paris carried out extensive experiments which he claimed proved that cataleptic trance states could be produced in hysterical subjects by brass applied to the surface of the skin. Different metals produced, he contended, varying results, some of them curative. He was supported by the neurologist Dr. Charcot in this contention. Working at the Salpetriere, in Paris, the workers inspired by Burcq followed up his researches (known as ‘Metaloscopy’) and were themselves convinced that this method of hypnosis could be exercised by the mere application of metals to the hysterical. This method has been energetically attacked by modern workers, as illusory.
 

Dr. Charcot: HYPNOTISING BY MEANS OF UNEXPECTED NOISE, BRIGHT LIGHTS.   

Charcot believed that hypnosis was allied to hysteria. It was, he stated, induced by: intense and unexpected noise, looking fixedly at any object, or a brilliant light. This produced Catalepsy. The subject becomes ‘fascinated’ (according to this School) when the eyes are forcibly opened at this stage. The Lethargic State was produced by (i) fixed gazing at a distant object; (ii) after the cataleptic state, by closing the eyelids, or merely subjecting the patient to darkness. 
The Somnambulistic State (very deep automatism) was created by fixed gazing or by pressure upon the scalp of a subject in one of the first two states. Charcot, a noted neurologist at the Salpetriere in Paris, was energetically opposed by the School of Nancy, who believed that all hypnosis was caused by suggestion. Charcot, on the other hand, believed that hypnosis could be produced by physical methods (as above), with or without the co-operation of the subject. His system is generally thought to be based upon faulty observation and an insufficient number of patients.
 

V. Greatrakes: HYPNOSIS AND TREATMENT BY STROKING 

Known as the ‘stroking doctor’, Valentine Greatrakes was an Irishman who dreamt that he could heal by the ‘laying-on of hands’. Working in Ireland and London, he ‘stroked the illness’ from the body, by ‘working’ it towards the extremities: merely by massage. The many cures which are authentically recorded make it unlikely that he was an impostor. It is noted that the extremities often lost their sense of feeling for a time. Similar techniques and results are reported by workers in Central America and Persia. The true mechanism may well have been the expectancy of the subject.
 

Dr. liesmer: MESMERISM. TRANCE, ‘CRISIS’ AND ‘MAGNETISM’  

Mesmer used a tub (the ‘Baquet’) filled with bottles of water and iron-filings. A rope reaching from a lid on the Baquet was placed loosely around the patient’s limbs. Both the bottles and ropes had been ‘magnetised’ by holding them between the hands and ‘willing’ power into them. Music was played during public sessions of healing. The subjects were touched with an iron rod. Fits were engendered, including convulsions (the 'crisis' after which the illness was said to disappear). Mesmer. . . “gazing steadily into their eyes, while he held both their hands in his, bringing the middle fingers in immediate contact, to establish the communication. At another moment he would, by a motion of open hands and extended fingers, operate with the ‘great current’, crossing and uncrossing his arms with wonderful rapidity to make the final passes”. Mesmerism became a tremendous vogue, and fell into disuse only when Braid introduced the simpler technique of hypnotism. At the same time, many of the phenomena reported by the mesmerists cannot be duplicated by hypnotists. Among them are included: clairvoyance, telepathic hypnosis and community of sensation. In the latter the subject feels, tastes, etc., everything that is experienced by the operator. Virtually no modern or controlled research has been done in this field.
 

Dr. Braid: “BRAIDISM” - FIXED GAZING  

Braid first showed that some of the phenomena produced by the mesmerists could be duplicated by a process which he called hypnotism. Method: 
A highly-polished object was held 10 to 15 inches from the face, above the forehead. The subject had to concentrate upon it. As soon as the pupils were seen to contract, dilate and oscillate, the fingers were held before the eyes, and opened and closed. The lids then closed with a vibratory movement. This occasioned the hypnotic state. Present-day hypnotists claim that these phenomena are all produced merely because of the expectation of the subject, and cannot be obtained in someone who does not know what is expected of him.
 

Dr. Tuckey: ON FASCINATION - LOOKING INTO THE SUBJECTS EYES  

Tuckey believes that the method of gazing steadily into the subject’s eyes produces deep hypnotic sleep, but warns that it may cause the hypnotist himself to succumb, and become hypnotised himself. Some authorities state that this procedure causes the subject to become a helpless automaton. Method:

“Practised by looking fixedly and pertinaciously into the subject’s eyes at a distance of a few inches, and at the same time holding the hands. In a few minutes all expression goes out of the face, and the subject sees nothing but the operator’s eyes, which shine with intense brilliancy.”
 

Dr. Esdaile: USING A THIRD PARTY TO PRODUCE THE HYPNOTIC STATE  

Esdaile, when working in the Government  established ‘mesmeric’ hospitals in India, used third parties to mesmerise his patients. He discovered that anyone could apply his methods. He claimed that the subject needed to know nothing of mesmerism. The subject lay down in a darkened room. The operator (in most cases Indian youths recruited by Esdaile) sat at the head of the bed, and made passes, without contact, from the head to the epigastrium, breathing upon the head and eyes all the time, and occasionally resting his hands for a minute upon the pit of the stomach. “This often induced the coma deep enough for the severest surgical operations in a few minutes” though the patient was examined for depth of trance in an hour.
 

Dr. Esdaile: THE HYPNOTIC TRANCE PRODUCED AT A DISTANCE   

Esdaile (who pioneered a form of mesmerism in India) states that the hypnotic state can be produced even in the blind: and when they are not aware that they are being influenced. This is how he describes his technique: “....I have also entranced a blind man, and made him so sensitive, that I could entrance him however employed (eating his dinner for instance), by merely making him the object of my attention for ten minutes. He would gradually cease to eat, remain stationary a few moments, and then plunge, head foremost, among his rice and curry”. Esdaile does not believe that there is any inherent or cultivated ability in this and other processes: anyone, he thought, can do it.
 

Abbe Faria: HYPNOSIS BY SIMPLE COMMAND  

In the Paris of 1813, Father Faria operated a simple yet most effective method, which he was said to have imported from India. He closed his subject’s eyes, and made him sit in complete quiet. In a few moments, he loudly commanded the subject to “Sleep!” This, it is claimed, invariably worked upon people in a state of physical fitness. This method very possibly depended for its success upon the suspense and expectancy of the subject. The technique was formerly much used by travelling hypnotists in rural areas.
 

G. Sandby, M.A.: WILLPOWER AND THE USE OF THE HAND  

Sandby, one of the expounders of mesmerism, claims that the ‘mesmeric’ state can be produced merely by using the willpower and by placing the hand before the patient’s face for a few minutes. He cites cases in which this was successful in treating illness. The patients were completely ignorant of hypnotism, or even that they were being influenced.
 

Dr. Luys: PRODUCTION OF THE HYPNOTIC STATE BY MEANS OF MIRRORS 

Dr. Luys of Paris used the revolving mirror method. The subject was told that this apparatus would make him enter an hypnotic trance - and it did. The mirror was essentially composed of revolving arms upon which were mounted small pieces of looking glass. This very effective method is believed to have proved efficient because it excited the imagination of the subject, concentrated his attention, and held him in a state of expectancy: the three essentials for success.
 

Dr. Tuckey: HYPNOTISING BY ATTENTION AND VERBAL SUGGESTION  

The subject reclined on a chair or sofa. Tuckey held two fingers about twelve inches from the eyes, at such an angle as to strain the gaze upwards. The subject had to look steadily at the tips of the fingers, making his mind as nearly blank as possible. After staring thus for about half a minute, the expression was seen to change: a far-away look coming into the eyes. The pupils contracted and dilated several times, eyelids twitching spasmodically. If the eyes did not close spontaneously, Tuckey closed them gently. The progress of sleep was helped by verbal suggestion: “You will be fast asleep in a few minutes”.
“In ordinary cases, the operator will find that the hypnotic condition has by this method been induced in from one to three minutes.”
 

Captain Cook: RHYTHMICAL BEATING  

That massage and/or tapping can cause sleepiness leading to the hypnotic state appears from the opinions of many observers of primitive peoples. Captain J. Cook’s Voyages describes the ‘Tooge-Tooge’ system of the Tongas: Method: 

Two women beat briskly the body and legs with both fists until the subject falls asleep. They continue all night, with short intervals. Once the person is asleep, the strength and rapidity of the pounding is reduced. If he appears to be waking, however, the operation is resumed.
 

FRACTIONAL HYPNOSIS FOR PRODUCING AND DEEPENING THE HYPNOTIC STATE  

Unusually deep trance, it has been found, may be engendered by repeatedly hypnotising and rousing a subject. He is put to sleep by any of the conventional methods; then immediately roused by being told to wake up. Now he is hypnotised again. It has been found that people who are resistant to the induction of deep hypnosis may react favourably to this technique.
 

USES AND REALITY OF MASS-HYPNOSIS - IMITATION AND ATTENTION

Oriental storytellers are said to exercise, in some cases, mass-hypnosis by concentrating their attention and suggestions on one member of the audience at a time. Hitler was reputed to use this method in conferences: never ceasing to project his words and ideas at a person until he seemed to agree with what was being propounded. Mass hypnosis is often possible in an audience which has already seen several persons hypnotised: their suggestibility is greatly enhanced by this experience. Mass-hypnosis depends for its efficacy upon attracting attention, holding it, directing it to some subject or idea, producing expectancy of some 'change' in the individual: and commanding the hearer to ‘see or feel something. 
It is probably by this means that most of the strange mass-delusions and illusions of history have been engendered. Each practitioner uses a routine best adapted to the audience with which he is working; playing upon their susceptibilities, credulity, prejudices, etc. An ingredient common of some forms of oratory.