their licentious condition. The
hypnotic subject has at least the mind and will of the hypnotizer to
direct him. Here, however, appears the need of another caution, namely,
that the hypnotizer should be known to be a virtuous man; else the evil
that he can do to his subject, as is readily seen, may be even worse
than that resulting from a fit of drunkenness. And as men who occupy
even respectable positions may yet be vile at heart, it is very
desirable for prudence' sake to have no one hypnotized in private
without the presence of a parent, close relative, or some other party,
who will see to it that nothing improper be suggested during the trance.
For the scenes gone through during the hypnotic state, though not
remembered by the subject upon his return to consciousness, are apt to
recur to him afterwards like a dream, showing that they have left traces
behind them.

3. Legal writers and lawyers have serious charges against hypnotism.
This practice, they maintain, if publicly exhibited to old and young,
begets dangerous cravings for sensational experiments. Turning away
men's attention from the sober realities and duties of social life, it
prompts them to pursue the unnatural and abnormal. It was this craving
that in less enlightened ages led men to the superstitious practice of
astrology and witchcraft. At present it leads to such vagaries and
unchristian and often immoral practices as are connected with spiritism,
faith-cures, mind-reading, and similar foolish or criminal or at least
dangerous experimentations which dive into the dark recesses found in
the border-land of the preternatural. The atmosphere of that region is
morally unhealthy and should be barred off by the guardians of public
morals.

The most common objection of legal writers is directed against the
various crimes to which hypnotism is apt to lead men of criminal
propensities. They point to the statements of Dr. Luys, a respectable
authority on hypnotism, who says: "A patient under the influence of
hypnotism can be made to swallow poison, to inhale noxious gases. He can
be led to make a manual gift of property, even to sign a promissory note
or bill, or any kind of contract." Indeed, how can notaries or witnesses
suspect any fraud when even the Doctor needs all his experience and all
his skill to avoid falling into error? In criminal matters a man under
suggestion can bring false accusations and earnestly maintain that he
has taken part in some horr