As a matter of fact, if we are to satisfy the indicatio causa/is when treating progressive paralysis we must insist on absolute mental rest from the moment premonitory symptoms of the disease appear, not merely because the diseased organ requires rest, but because mental influences may have helped to cause the disease. As already pointed out, psycho-therapeusis is specially indicated for treating the symptoms of organic disease. But we have further to consider how such diseases react on the patient's mental life. We must endeavour to minimize the feeling of ill-health - for example, by recommending a tabetic patient to engage in some congenial occupation, not merely because that is desirable from a domestic point of view. And mental treatment is all the more indicated when we have to deal with such concomitant troubles as sleeplessness, loss of appetite, and an unhappy frame of mind.

Having thus thoroughly discussed the indications for hypnotic treatment, I must now add a few words on the contraindications. In some cases the treatment may be contra-indicated if auto-suggestion produces unpleasant results which cannot be counteracted, and which outweigh the benefits to be expected from hypnosis. Fear of hypnosis often prevents hypnosis, or puts it off until the fear has subsided. As we have already seen, a patient who is afraid of being hypnotized often exhibits unpleasant symptoms. In the same way care should be exercised when hypnotizing excited or weak-minded patients, and we should even desist when the subject is hysterical and has a tendency to morbid auto-suggestion. Of course I do not profess that any unimportant disturbance of auto-suggestive origin should prevent us from employing hypnosis. On the contrary, the good results which we expect from hypnosis must be compared with the possible evils of auto-suggestion, and a definite conclusion thereby arrived at in the manner customary in medical practice. It should be evident from what I have already said, that such contretemps as a feeling of vertigo caused by auto-suggestion, or an occasional attack of hysteria, should not lead us to abstain from hypnotic treatment.

But it is only the medical specialist who can appreciate the significance of such concomitant symptoms and draw a correct conclusion from them. The fact that medical men have described hypnotic treatment as harmless does not justify its use by quacks. The harmlessness of hypnosis depends on the special knowledge and experience of the physician - m capacity for appreciating the significance of auto-suggestions.

I shall now proceed to give cases in which I have observed hypnotic treatment prove of use.

Case 1. Cephalalgia and cardialgia

Mrs. X., at. 30; her mother and sister often suffer from headache; similar trouble herself, and also attacks of cramp in the stomach since she was sixteen. She is said to have vomited blood once. The whole region of the stomach is painful on pressure, but there are no typically sensitive spots on the head. Certainly several nerve trunks seem sensitive to pressure on both sides of the head, but not to a greater extent than is met with in nervous persons. The attacks of headache affect the whole head; they are accompanied by nausea, though vomiting is rare. The attacks of headache do not seem to synchronize with the pains in the stomach. The head is seldom entirely free from pain, and the patient has an almost constant feeling of oppression in the head.

For a long time she was treated by drugs and also by static electricity, but without effect. The good effects of hypnotic treatment were soon apparent; moderately deep hypnosis removed the feeling of pressure, and post-hypnotic suggestion suppressed the attacks of pain. Even when an attack did occur it was possible to suppress it almost momentarily by means of suggestion. I have followed this case for many years, and although it has occasionally been necessary to repeat the hypnosis every two or three months the immediate benefit has always been extraordinary. The patient has not had a severe headache for three years, and all attacks of pain in the stomach are easily cut short by suggestion.

Case 2. Nervous cough

Miss X, at. 22; temperament nervous and somewhat hysterical. Has suffered from nervous cough for the last eight months; I could hardly see her for a quarter of a minute without her coughing. The coughs are short, sharp, and regular in sequence. The patient had been treated with many medical preparations. Neither local treatment of the larynx, nor cold rubbing, nor the pack applied to the body produced any effect. A water-cure at Lippspringe and electricity were also ineffectual. But after a few days of hypnotic treatment the cough began to yield and had quite disappeared at the end of a fortnight.

The patient has been two years without treatment, and the cough has not reappeared.

Case 3. Attacks of hysteria

X., a labourer, at. 25; has suffered from convulsions for seven years. According to his own account he partially loses consciousness during the attacks, but not completely; he has a semi-• notion of what is going on around him. He does not bite his tongue, which is free from scars. He once seriously injured one of his eyes during an attack. When the attacks are on he lies flat on his back and his whole body is convulsed; the attacks last from three to ten minutes, and generally recur once a week. Drugs and other remedies have proved useless. The patient can be thrown into deep hypnosis; during the second stage he has sense-delusions, and there is loss of memory on waking. He has not had an attack since the first day of hypnotic treatment, and was still free when I saw him two years later.

Case 4. Traumatic paraplegia

X., a girl aged ten. Fell downstairs six weeks ago, and is said to have lain unconscious for a quarter of an hour. Shortly afterwards she was found to have lost her speech; a day later spasmodic movements of a slight nature were observed, chiefly of the tongue and legs, the hands being unaffected. Ten days after the fall there was complete paralysis of both legs, and the child doubled up directly she tried to stand. Hypnosis was then tried, and although only the first stage was reached the child was able to walk in a quarter of an hour, and is still free from paralysis although many years have elapsed.