Hypnotism and Hypnotic Suggestion; A Scientific Treatise on the Uses and Possibilities of Hypnotism, Suggestion and Allied Phenomena

General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1900 Original Publisher: New York State Pub. Co. Subjects: Hypnotism Therapeutics, Suggestive Medical / Allied Health Services / Hypnotherapy Psychology / General Psychology / Hypnotism Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. Excerpt: ANIMAL HYPNOTISM. By ROBERT M. TBRKES, A. M., of Harvard University. Whether there is in animals a state which may properly be called hypnosis is a disputed question. Opinions on the subject range between two extremes; on one hand Czermak,1 a careful investigator of the phenomenon, holds that many animals may be brought into a condition essentially like the hypnotic state of man; or the other Verworn, the author of the most important recent work on the subject, believes that there is only a superficial similarity in the states. He therefore calls his book2 "The so-called Hypnosis of Animals." But so far as our present consideration of the peculiar and interesting abnormal state in which many animals may easily be placed is concerned it matters little whether it be identical with human hypnosis or entirely unlike it, for it is to an examination of the nature and symptoms of the condition, rather than its relationships, that we shall turn after a brief review of the history of the subject. It is commonly known that fowls, frogs and various other animals may be made inactive for long intervals by holding them firmly in one position for a short time. After an animal which- has been thus held is released, it frequently remains almost motionless for a period varying from a few seconds to several hours; it then, in most cases, jumps up suddenly, as if startled in sleep. It is this state of immobility in animals to which the...