But a far more important objection than any of the above is the danger of hypnosis. Even if we cannot consider hypnosis absolutely safe, the dangers should not be exaggerated. "The best assertion that can be made about a remedy or method of cure

Let us now consider the dangers of hypnosis in detail, and at the same time the means of preventing them.

Mendel maintains that hypnosis induces nervousness; that nervous people grow worse, and sound people nervous through its use. But he was only led into this error because he was unacquainted with the harmless method of hypnotizing and making suggestions. It is quite true that prolonged fixed attention, as practised by Braid, may produce unpleasant sensations; but such discomforts are of no great significance. To avoid making exciting suggestions is of far greater importance, as Bertrand already knew. Whoever has seen the difference between a subject who has received an exciting suggestion and one who has received a therapeutic one will recognize how differently the two suggestions act. Judicious observers are right in warning against such sports, as Sawolsh-kaja did a long time ago. A man who makes an alarming suggestion - e.g., an imaginary fire - just to satisfy his own curiosity, need hardly be astonished if unpleasant results ensue. In this way we can explain the very serious effects that have often been observed, for example, by Nolan, Lombroso, Bremaud, Finkelberg, etc., after public exhibitions of hypnosis.

Hirschlaff Justly remarks in his essay entitled Laienhypnotismus und Arztliche Heilkunde that charlatans readily undertake experiments that cannot be carried out without a certain amount of danger to the subject, because they hope by so doing to impress the patient and gain his confidence. Experience also shows that patients are often worse on days following bad dreams. Consequently we can hardly be astonished when terrifying suggestions made in hypnosis produce like results. Such suggestions should not be made at all, or with the greatest caution, care being taken to do away with all suggestions that are not quite harmless before the waking. Even if a mistake is made during hypnosis, it is of little consequence provided the subject is properly wakened in the manner used at Nancy and by all who follow the prescriptions of that school. At the time when so much nonsense was talked about the dangers of hypnosis, most people knew nothing about removing a suggestion. They thought it enough to blow on the subject's face to waken him, and were astonished that he did not feel well afterwards. I am surprised that more mischief has not been done in consequence of insufficient technical knowledge.

That is the danger - not hypnosis.

To show how a suggestion should be done away with, I will suppose that an exciting suggestion has been made to a subject. One should say something like this: "What excited you is gone; it was only a dream, and you were mistaken to believe it. Now be quiet. You feel quiet and comfortable. It is easy to see you are perfectly comfortable." Only when this has succeeded should the subject be wakened; and this should not be done suddenly, as it is better to prepare the subject for waking (Sallis). Of course the experimenter will use his own method. I generally do it by saying: "I shall count slowly up to three. Wake when I say three. You will be very comfortable and contented when you wake."

With technical skill and care on the part of the experimenter there is no danger of rendering a subject nervous nowadays; and under such conditions there is less danger to be feared from hypnosis than from many methods of treatment that are termed harmless.

It is asserted that one of the special dangers of hypnosis is that it causes hysteria (Guinon), or at least brings it out in persons who have a latent tendency thereto (Jolly), or sets up hysterical convulsions even in persons who have never had them before (Anton). It is true that hystero-epileptics are sometimes thrown into hysterical convulsions in hypnosis, but I decidedly contend that the convulsions are not caused by the hypnosis. Like other similar occurrences, they are probably due to the mental excitement which often accompanies hypnosis. Some persons fall into them whenever anything excites them, such as a slight noise, for example, a falling book, a bell. Timid persons sometimes faint when they are electrified (E. Remak); others, especially hystero-epileptics, may even fall into convulsions. I also think it quite possible that exciting impressions may bring about such attacks in persons who have never had one before. Gorodichze tells of a lady who had her first and only attack of hystero-epilepsy while being chloroformed. Consequently we must not deny that the excitement caused by hypnosis may occasionally bring on such attacks.

Cases of this nature were described by Charpignon long ago, and later by Solow, Finkelnburg, Verneuil, Drosdow.

Although the danger of hysterical attack has to be taken into consideration, it ought not to be exaggerated. The chief question is not whether such an attack occasionally occurs or not, but rather whether or not permanent hysterical attacks are caused, or attacks to which a patient is subject are permanently aggravated by the process. Up to the present all known experience shows that such is not the case. Certainly we occasionally hear of a case in which permanent attacks have apparently resulted from the treatment, in spite of the use of proper methods. The nearest approach to such a case seems to be one published by Jolly, in which a girl who was suffering from progressive muscular dystrophy became permanently subject to attacks of hysteria after a hypnotizer had treated her by suggestion. But a careful examination of the case puts it in a somewhat different light; and Jolly himself admitted that the fatigue and exhaustion which follow hypnosis probably also helped to bring on the hysterical convulsions.