Mr. N------was brought to me in 1905 by a medical relation, as he found his cousin's case quite beyond him. And no wonder, for the young man was afflicted with those peculiar perverted sexual ideas Krafft-Ebing calls fetishism. Mr. N------is a solicitor, of good appearance and manners, of excellent disposition, and first-rate prospects; but his life was ruined by his unhappy tendency, and hypnotic suggestion offered the only chance of cure. He proved a good subject, and suppression of the abnormal desires was suggested. Success was immediate and complete. The patient is cured and contemplates marriage. I kept him under treatment for six months, seeing him about ten times, for it seemed too much to expect that a deep-seated and long-lasting tendency of that kind could be cured at once. I should say that the family history is bad, the father being a general paralytic at sixty, and the mother morbid and hysterical to the last degree. Mr. N------has been twice to me for other nervous troubles since: first, increased dependence upon and fondness for alcohol; and, secondly, for an insuperable dislike to his profession, and especially for his particular office. For each trouble suggestion has proved curative, and he is now working cheerfully and is a total abstainer.

It may be said that his position and health are precarious, and any day may see the development of a new nervous trouble. Granted; but in that case hypnotism will again help him in the future, as it has done in the past. At the worst, Mr. N------ is no worse off than another friend of mine who was cured of myxoedema a few years ago by thyroid extract, but gets ill again if he leaves off the tabloids for a time. I should feel myself equally culpable if I refused hypnotism in the one case or the thyroid extract in the other. Moreover, in the former case one hopes as the patient gets older his nervous system will become more stable, and that he will be rendered independent of outside help.