The assertion is sometimes made that women are never cured of alcoholism. This is quite untrue and unjust, especially when applied to women who work. Idle and self-indulgent people, whether men or women, are difficult to cure unless one can reorganize their lives. The following case shows what can be done by hypnotic suggestion when one has good material to work upon:

Mrs. S------, aged forty, married, was sent to me by her doctor in 1899. He had tried everything, but nothing had done any good, he said. Mrs. S------is a very capable and hard-working woman, supporting her husband as well as herself by teaching music.

She had drifted unconsciously into the alcohol habit, at first taking beer or spirits, when hurried, instead of food, until she came to rely upon them. When made aware of her condition, she found, to her horror, she couldn't cure herself. She went to her doctor, and he prescribed tonics, etc., without result, so he sent her to me. She proved a very good hypnotic subject, and was soon cured. She has only had one relapse, in 1900, when she had a bad attack of indigestion, and took some advertised nostrum, which consisted largely of alcohol.

The advantage of hypnotic treatment was well shown in this case, for Mrs. S------was enabled to continue her work without a day's break. For a woman in her position enforced idleness in a retreat would have been disastrous to her character and ruin in her profession.