Practical Lessons In Hypnotism | by Wm. Wesley Cook
Containing complete instructions in the development and practice of hypnotic power, including much valuable information in regard to mental healing, mind reading, and other kindred subjects
| Title | Practical Lessons In Hypnotism |
| Author | Wm. Wesley Cook |
| Publisher | Thompson & Thomas |
| Year | 1901 |
| Copyright | 1901, Thompson & Thomas |
| Amazon | Practical Lessons In Hypnotism |
By Wm. Wesley Cook, A.M., M.D., Professor of Physiological Medicine in the National University of Chicago.
Author's Preface- This book has been written for those who are anxious to know the truth concerning hypnotism and who desire to learn the best methods of hypnotic practice. It is written in plain language for intellect...
- Introduction
- Hypnotism is the most practical science of the age. It enters into our everyday life, and confers advantages that cannot be acquired through any other medium. Its practice is no longer a mere pastime ...
- History Of Hypnotism
- The germ of the science of hypnotism was recognized by the ancient Greeks and Romans, who derived their knowledge of it from the early Egyptians. There is also evidence that the Chinese practiced the ...
- Definitions
- Hypnotism is the science and art of mentally controlling the thoughts and actions of others. Its study embraces a knowledge of the methods best adapted for developing personal mental power and directi...
- Chapter I. Philosophy Of Hypnotism
- Practical understanding of the subject - Hypnotism one of the exact sciences - Relationship to other sciences - Analysis of hypnotic phenomena - Practical illustrations - Explanation of hypnotic influ...
- Analysis Of Hypnotism
- The initial point of our knowledge of hypnotism is the fact that we can practically observe that it is possible for one person to mentally control the thoughts and actions of another person; and that ...
- Basis Of Hypnotic Influence
- In order to intelligently perform any action it is necessary to have an understanding of what it is proposed to do. The act of hypnotizing others is entirely a mental process; but just what that proce...
- Practical Illustration
- Another practical method of illustrating hypnotic control may be of great service to beginners in forming a figurative idea of what must be accomplished and how it must be accomplished. Object lessons...
- Chapter II. Qualifications Of A Hypnotist
- Natural talent and special adaptability - Hypnotic power unknowingly possessed by many - Bodily health and strength - A sound mind in a sound body - Self-confidence - Determination to succeed - Exerci...
- Concentration Of Thought
- It is always absolutely necessary for the hypnotist to be able to fix his mind wholly upon one train of thought. Many fail in their first attempts, because they allow a multitude of thoughts to flit t...
- Perception
- Quick perceptive powers will enable a hypnotist to instantly realize the peculiar characteristics of his subjects and to notice the effect his efforts are having upon them. All subjects cannot be hypn...
- Chapter III. Qualifications Of A Subject
- Percentage of persons capable of being hypnotized - Natural antagonisms - Discordant and harmonious vibrations - Who are good subjects - Feeble-minded not always easily hypnotized - Strong-minded pers...
- Chapter IV. Favorable And Unfavorable Influences
- Circumstances and surroundings - Hypnotizing stubborn subjects - Influence upon others - Avoidance of failures - New experiments - The experimenting room - Influence of light and darkness - Sunlight a...
- The Experimenting Room
- In conducting experiments, especially with beginners, it is best to have a room isolated as much as possible from the rest of the house, so as to avoid interruptions and the distraction of the subject...
- Infuence Of Light
- A mild, subdued light aids the hypnotic influence, while a strong and bright light is a pronounced hindrance. Red and yellow are especially unfavorable colors and such globes or lamp shades should not...
- Influence Of Temperature
- A comfortable temperature, between 68 degrees and 78 degrees, will be found most favorable for inducing hypnosis; and, as a rule, the farther the departure from these limits the more difficult it beco...
- Influence Of Odors
- Unpleasant odors in a room may delay or entirely prevent the production of hypnosis. Tobacco smoke is especially antagonistic to those not accustomed to it, and even after such subjects have been hypn...
- Influence Of Music
- If music hath charms to soothe the savage breast it also has the power to soothe the minds of all subjected to its influence. A few soft, melodious tones repeated over and over again, in lullaby fas...
- Influence Of Quietude
- It is useless for a beginner to try to hypnotize a new subject in the midst of noise. Occasionally this can be done when the subject is very susceptible or when he sees before him a number of hypnotiz...
- Influence Of Ease And Comfort
- The subject should be placed in an easy chair - one that is cushioned is best. The feet should touch the floor with comfort and there should be no possible cause for any feelings of uneasiness. If the...
- Influence Of The Emotions
- Fear of the operator renders the subject more pliable. Persons who are not easily hypnotized will often readily yield when they see others in the hypnotic state. That is why it is comparatively easy f...
- Condition Of The Body
- The operator as well as the subject should not be in a state of fatigue, if the best success is desired. It is true that deep hypnosis may be secured in a person who is completely tired out - exhaus...
- Chapter V. Precautions To Be Observed
- Reputation and safety of the operator - Welfare of the subject - Dangers of hypnotism no greater than ordinary - Little evil and great good - Compared with dangers of other branches of science - Exagg...
- Presence Of A Third Party
- It is always best for an operator to have an assistant present whenever practicing upon subjects, and for personal safety this is imperative where the operator is a man and the subject a young girl or...
- Avoid Sudden Shock
- In health, under most favorable circumstances, shock is injurious to the mind and body. The sudden announcement of the death of a relative or the loss of fortune has been known to cause death in perso...
- Physical Injuries
- It is not true, as many claim, that the subject's body can be made to resist the destruction of heat, cold, blows, injuries, etc., while under hypnotic influence. He can be rendered insensible to the ...
- Suggestions About Dying
- It is a well known fact that an operator can often control the pulse rate of his subject by some such suggestion as the following: Your pulse is beating very slowly. Feel it and notice how slow it i...
- Hypnotizing The Feeble-Minded
- It is a common belief that feeble-minded persons make the best subjects. This is not true, but nevertheless persons of weak mind may perhaps be readily induced to submit to hypnosis, and an inexperien...
- Suggestions Of Insanity And Crime
- It must be admitted that the mind may be injured by making positive hypnotic suggestions of insanity. It is unwise, to say the least, to cause a subject to consider himself insane. Such an impression,...
- Chapter VI. How To Hypnotize
- Mental condition of the operator - Certainty of results - Mental strain upon the operator - Principle of action - First steps In producing hypnosis - Concentration of thought - Impressing the subject ...
- The First Step In Producing Hypnotism. Concentration Of Thought
- ----By words and manner the subject must be made to realize that he is about to be hypnotized and that the operator fully understands how and is perfectly able to accomplish the act. The least doubt i...
- Objects Used To Attract Attention
- The orientals employ various ingenious devises. Among their favorites is a mirror upon which are fastened strips of paper and on these strips of paper are written various characters said to be the nam...
- The Sense Of Hearing
- Next to riveting the attention upon some object through the sense of sight, the use of sound is the most important aid in producing the condition of hypnosis. In fact, very few hypnotists are able to ...
- The Sense Of Touch
- Many persons can be directly hypnotized by the sense of touch, without suggestion or the employment of any other means, and when a subject has been frequently brought under control it will not be diff...
- The Sense Of Smell
- When it is possible to perform initial hypnotic experiments in a room especially prepared and best adapted to the purpose, it will be found most advantageous to have the room pervaded by some agreeabl...
- The Sense Of Taste
- The eating or drinking by the subject, just before the seance, of anything that will leave a pronounced taste in the mouth, will make hypnosis more difficult. On the other hand, with some persons, esp...
- Chapter VII. Degrees Of Hypnosis
- Arbitrary division - Power of the operator - Susceptibility of the subject - Drowsiness - Light sleep - Profound sleep - Absolute obedience - Somnambulism - Catalepsy - Lethargy. The extent to which ...
- Chapter VIII. Clairvoyance
- Second sight - Oriental power - Clairvoyance compared with electrical means of communication - No restriction upon sight of clairvoyants - Distance not considered - Familiar manifestations - Illustrat...
- Chapter IX. Self-Hypnotism - Auto-Suggestion
- Hypnotism a natural endowment - Keeping appointments - Blind men telling time - Going to sleep is natural self-hypnotism - Self-iiypiiotisrii easily learned - How to practice sell-hypnotism - Prolonge...
- Going To Sleep
- In the matter to going to sleep we perform the act of self-hypnotism and without any thought of this fact we place ourselves under the influences most favorable to hypnosis and yield to them. We seek ...
- How To Produce Self-Hypnosis
- The production of self-hypnosis can be easily cultivated by anyone of determined will and ordinary intelligence. First choose the best surroundings obtainable, as mentioned in the chapter on Influence...
- Disease By Self-Hypnotism
- It is a well-known fact that a person can so completely concentrate his thoughts upon his liability to sickness that the least suggestion will produce in him all the discomforts of actual disease and ...
- Imaginary Skill And Ability
- The constant dwelling of the mind upon any one subject is very apt to produce a concentration of thought that results in self-hypnotism. Some persons invent wonderful tales of what occurred to them on...
- Advantages Of Self-Hypnotism
- Self-hypnotism is a most interesting study and the benefits to be derived from auto-suggestion are numerous. It is a good plan to realize that we possess such power within ourselves and to cultivate i...
- Chapter X. Accidental Development of Hypnotic Power
- Case of Gertrude Pennington - Playing while asleep - Case of Mr. varies Gardner - Put the baby to sleep - Couldn't wake the baby - Mothers naturally hypnotize their babies - Case of Marguerite McAllis...
- Case Of Charles Gardiner
- Another instance of the accidental discovery of hypnotic power was the case of Mr. Charles Gardiner, living in a suburb of Cincinnati. He and his wife had planned to attend an evening entertainment, a...
- Case Of Marguerite M'Alister
- Miss Marguerite McAlister, of Chicago, for years had a great reputation for being a most successful nurse, and commanded the highest salary for her services. She was often spoken of as a woman who had...
- Chapter XI. The Hypnotist's Secret
- Unpublished facts - How hypnotic power is developed - Focusing the mind - Forcing subjection - Expelling thoughts - Overcoming the subject's resistance - Practicing on dummies - Useless efforts - Prac...
- The Hypnotist's Secret. Continued
- Practice Self-Contbol If you cannot control yourself you must not expect to control others. Persons who are unable to exclude unpleasant thoughts or to keep their minds upon one thing at a time canno...
- Chapter XII. Developing A Subject
- Do not attempt too much at once - Choosing a subject - Avoid mental superiors - Lead gradually to submission - The best subject for beginners - Privacy desirable - The first seance - Drowsiness - How ...
- Developing A Subject. Continued
- Make passes over the head, from the back forward. Keep telling him to sleep and sleep soundly. Use a drawling tone of voice and enter into the spirit of drowsiness. Keep him in this condition at least...
- Chapter XIII. Animal Magnetism - Magnetic Healing
- Long recognized by physicians - Dr. Alva Curtis - Philosophy of animal magnetism - Neuraura - Impressibles - Distinguishing mental power - How to recognize impressibles - Metal rod - Organs not equall...
- Magnetic Healing
- How To Relieve Headache Ascertain where the pain is. Place yourself on the opposite side; put the points of the fingers of both your hands on the seat of the pain. Then brush quickly, but lightly, fr...
- Doctrines Of Magnetic Healing
- 1. Every person is susceptible to magnetic influence, and also capable of successfully resisting a degree of it equal to his own magnetic power, and of sustaining a higher degree, so far as to be litt...
- How To Magnetize A Person
- Place the subject on a chair before you, a little lower than your own, if convenient, and in a perfectly easy position with his feet near together. Request him to relax his whole system and to look st...
- How To Examine Diseased Persons
- In order to diagnose disease through the influence of animal magnetism, three persons, must be present at the sitting, namely, the operator, the subject and the patient. It is the duty of the operator...
- Chapter XIV. Overcoming Habits By Hypnotism
- Nature of habits - Drugs of no avail - Suggestion the basis of sanitarium treatment - Morphine and alcohol cures - How hypnotism overcomes habits - Currents of nerve force - Memory and post-hypnousm -...
- Cured The Tobacco Habit
- A gentleman from Iowa, Mr. John T. Boyer, a few years ago called upon me for the medical treatment of his wife, which necessitated their remaining in the city for several weeks. He was an inveterate c...
- As A Cure For Stuttering
- When deformities of the organs of speech cause stuttering, hypnotism cannot be utilized as a means of cure; but when stuttering is due to habit or nervous conditions, then hypnotism can confidently be...
- Chapter XV. Criminal Hypnotism
- Hypnotism does not corrupt morals - Sensational newpaper articles - Stole while hypnotized - Melancholy induced by a discarded suitor - Elopement due to hypnotic influence - Sensational reports - Trai...
- Stole While Hypnotized
- A peculiar case came up in Justice Pelham's Court yesterday. Otto Fischer, a young man twenty-five years old, was arraigned upon the charge of burglary. He was arrested Thursday night by Officer Ma-l...
- Remarkable Hypnotic Power
- Minnie Teufel, aged nineteen, was yesterday sent to the insane asylum, suffering from profound melancholia, induced by the hypnotic power of a former suitor whom she had rejected. She has been in thi...
- Home Wrecked By Hypnotism
- 'A sad case of the evil influence that can be exerted by an unscrupulous hypnotist has lately startled the aristocratic suburb of Clifton, and while it serves well to illustrate the danger to society...
- Chapter XVI. Hypnotism And Disease
- Influence of mind over health - Resisting contagious diseases-Immunity of nurses - Concentration of thought - Dispensations of Providence - Protection a natural law - Mental determination - Case of ...
- Chapter XVII. Anaesthesia During Hypnosis
- Freedom from pain through hypnosis - Religious ecstasy - Queen Jezebel's priests - Ghost dances - Oriental devotees - Burning of martyrs - Catalepsy produced by savage rites - Religious fervor subduin...
- How To Produce Anaesthesia
- Whenever it becomes desirable to produce insensibility to pain by mental influence, first place the subject in the somnambulistic state by any one of the various methods, and then gradually suggest to...
- Chapter XVIII. Hypnotism And The Insane
- Maniacs not easily hypnotized - Melancholia - Weak-minded persons not good subjects - Hypnotism the rational method of curing insanity - Concentration of thought - Insane on the subject of perpetual m...
- Chapter XIX. Hypnotizing Animals
- Hypnotic power possessed by animals - Hypnotizing animals-Training dogs and horses - Teaching tricks to dogs - Trained elephants - Bringing wild animals under subjection - Man the god of animals - Pro...
- Chapter XX. Hypnotism In Business And Society
- The successful business man - Driving a bargain - Executive ability - Controlling employes - Soliciting insurance - Canvassing - Auctioneering - The air of prosperity - Diplomacy - Social popularity -...
- Hypnotism In Business And Society. Continued
- Entertainers - The secret of entertaining lies in the ability to concentrate the thoughts of others upon the conversation or objects presented for entertainment. A lecturer must have his audience wi...
- Chapter XXI. Hypnotism In The Professions
- Professional success impossible without hypnotic powers - Personal magnetism - Popularity and success - Hypnotism and the law - Pleading before judge and jury - Criminal lawyers - Following hypnotic m...
- Chapter XXII. General Hypnotic Influence
- Lasting impressions made upon passive minds - Learning to spell - Expectancy a hypnotic influence - Seeking pleasure - Determined to be gloomy - Sunset Cox and his postponed lecture - Public gatheri...
- Chapter XXIII. Post-Hypnotism
- Suggestions carried out after awakening - Somnambulistic state - Practical illustration - Awake at four o'clock in the morning - Post-hypnotic suggestions always obeyed - Honorable persons will not co...
- Chapter XXIV. Awakening A Subject
- Mistaken belief - Subject can always be awakened - Accidental injury or death of the operator - Extreme lethargic condition - Common method of awakening - Display of alarm - No harm from delayed awake...
- Chapter XXV. Mind Reading - Telepathy
- Communication of thought - Natural power - Birds and animals - Thoughts of children - Betraying the emotions - Guilty conscience - Detection or crime - criminal demeanor - Attracting attention - Schoo...
- How To Transmit Thought
- To successfully practice telepathy, the operator must possess a sound body and an evenly balanced mind, free from bad habits and at peace with all mankind. There must be no emotions or revengeful feel...
- Chapter XXVI. Hypnotic Miscellany
- Signs of hypnosis - Fascination - CataL-psy - Lethargy - Exaltation of the senses - Muscular contortions - Singing and speaking - Speaking in foreign languages - At the prize fight - Hunting and fishi...
- Catalepsy
- A favorite demonstration of profound hypnosis made in public exhibitions is the production of catalepsy. The subject is brought into this condition by the method explained in Chapter VII (Degrees Of H...
- Public Exhibitions
- When giving public exhibitions of hypnotic power, it is well to plan beforehand amusing performances that will be positive proofs of hypnotic influence. First put the subject in the somnambulistic sta...
- Chapter XXVII. Self-Anaesthesia
- Self-anaesthesia a natural power - Exhibited by animals - ' Common examples in human beings - Heroism of children - Daughter of Mr. French - Case of Earnest Gunther - Remarkable power of Hakim Abdel S...
- Hakim Abdel Sureddin
- A most remarkable illustration of the power of self-hypnotism and the voluntary endurance of injury without pain was lately given during the author's clinic hour before the students and members of the...
- Chapter XXVIII. Methods of Producing Hypnosis
- General directions - Objective method - Fascination - The candle method - Moutin's method - The Nancy method - Mesmeric method - Exercise of will power - The rotary mirror of Dr. Luy's method - The Hi...
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