lighter
forms of partial insanity, hypnotism may help many patients, though not
all; but when the disease of the brain has gone farther, especially when
a well developed lesion exists in the brain, mental treatment is of
little avail, even if it can be practiced at all.

A few general remarks by Dr. Bernheim will be interesting. Says he:

"The mode of suggestion should be varied and adapted to the special
suggestibility of the subject. A simple word does not always suffice in
impressing the idea upon the mind. It is sometimes necessary to reason,
to prove, to convince; in some cases to affirm decidedly, in others to
insinuate gently; for in the condition of sleep, just as in the waking
condition, the moral individuality of each subject persists according to
his character, his inclinations, his impressionability, etc. Hypnosis
does not run all subjects into a uniform mold, and make pure and simple
automatons out of them, moved solely by the will of the hypnotist; it
increases cerebral docility; it makes the automatic activity
preponderate over the will. But the latter persists to a certain degree;
the subject thinks, reasons, discusses, accepts more readily than in the
waking condition, but does not always accept, especially in the light
degrees of sleep. In these cases we must know the patient's character,
his particular psychical condition, in order to make an impression upon
him."

Bad Habits.--The habit of the excessive use of alcoholic drinks,
morphine, tobacco, or the like, may often be decidedly helped by
hypnotism, if the patient wants to be helped. The method of operation is
simple. The operator hypnotizes the subject, and when he is in deep
sleep suggests that on awaking he will feel a deep disgust for the
article he is in the habit of taking, and if he takes it will be
affected by nausea, or other unpleasant symptoms. In most cases the
suggested result takes place, provided the subject can be hypnotized al
all; but unless the patient is himself anxious to break the habit fixed
upon him, the unpleasant effects soon wear off and he is as bad as ever.

Dr. Cocke treated a large number of cases, which he reports in detail in
his book on hypnotism. In a fair proportion of the cases he was
successful; in some cases completely so. In other cases he failed
entirely, owing to lack of moral stamina in the patient himself. His
conclusions seem to be that hypnotism may be made a very effective aid
to moral suasion, bu