Another disappointing case is that of a boy aged ten, who was brought to me to be treated for nocturnal enuresis. He was a natural somnambulist, but hypnotism only induced Liebeault's fourth state. Suggestions were made that he should sleep lightly at night and that he should leave the bed. The suggestion was realized the first night, but completely failed afterwards, and the parents gave up the treatment at the end of a week. I think it very likely that with perseverance and change of method this patient might be cured by suggestion; but it was disappointing not to have succeeded at once in a malady which is claimed by all authorities as affording convincing proof of the efficacy of hypnotism.

Consideration of the following cases may be useful:

1. Mrs. A------, aged forty, came under my care in the beginning of 1890 for intemperance. She had indulged to excess for seven or eight years, and was a confirmed drunkard. Her home was not very happy, and her husband and children were uncongenial. She was naturally a clever woman, but for many years had entirely given up useful employment, and devoted her whole time, when sober, to reading novels. She was in the habit of drinking anything she could get in the way of wine, beer, or spirits, and showed great cunning in procuring them. She had completely lost all interest in life, and had become thoroughly hardened and reckless. My success had been so gratifying that I undertook the case with some confidence, and named three weeks as the time it would probably be necessary to keep her under restraint and in the hands of a nurse. Mrs. A-----proved a good subject, and was influenced to the third degree. Suggestions were made in the direction of loss of craving and dislike for alcohol, and were repeated daily for three weeks. The patient was by that time quite a changed woman, had regained an interest in life, spoke affectionately of her husband and children, and had altogether softened to a surprising extent.

She went away to stay with friends, and during her absence was always bright and cheerful; and though she had easy access to wines and spirits, she showed no inclination for them, but, on the contrary, proclaimed her intention of never touching them again. She returned to her home after being away altogether four weeks, and she continued to keep steady for four or five weeks, during which time she paid me bi-weekly visits. Then I ceased to see her, and soon heard that she had returned to her old ways. This case is a typical one, and I now know the reason hypnotism failed to exert more than a transitory effect. It was a bad case, and the home associations were antagonistic. Instead of keeping her away for only three weeks, she ought to have been under the charge of a nurse for at least three months, with only occasional visits to her home during that time. I have little doubt but that, if this course had been followed, the woman might have returned to her house and been temptation-proof in spite of ennui and opportunity.

The change that was effected by three weeks' treatment justifies this inference, and the case is a warning against expecting too rapid results in difficult cases of dipsomania.

* The subsequent history and death of this patient proved the case to be one of disseminated sclerosis.

The following case is one of the most successful and typical examples of curative hypnotic suggestion I have ever seen; and I record with it the story of a failure:

2. E. M------, aged forty-five, a gentleman in good position, came under treatment in 1891. He had been a dipsomaniac for fifteen years. He used to have periodical bouts of drinking, during which he would disappear from his home and frequent the lowest haunts until brought back a wreck by the police. He was easily hypnotized, and success immediately followed on suggestion. With the exception of one slight relapse he has kept well ever since. In 1901 he brought his son, aged nineteen, to me. The youth had recently fallen into bad company and taken to drink, though most carefully brought up; for the father and mother were well aware of the dangers of evil heredity, and did their best to counteract them. He proved a good hypnotic subject, and I undertook to treat him, with confidence of success. But suggestion had no effect on him, and he rapidly went from bad to worse, until he was sent abroad, where I suspect he soon drank himself to death. I think this was the saddest and most disappointing case I have seen.

One has only the melancholy satisfaction of knowing that no other treatment would have had a chance of success.

3. Mrs. W------, aged thirty, married, and with three children. She has been a patient for several years, and is fairly susceptible to ordinary medical treatment. One symptom, however, has always resisted the usual remedies. There was almost constant pain in the right ovarian region, which was tender on pressure; but examination by a specialist did not reveal anything abnormal, and the case was one, apparently, of ovarian irritation. I proposed hypnotism, and Mrs. W------consented. She proved susceptible to the third degree, and I hypnotized her six times during three weeks. She completely lost the pain and tenderness, and though she has had ups and downs the last ten years, this particular symptom has never returned.

4. Mrs. B------, aged thirty-three, married, and with two children. She is of an anxious temperament, and has an invalidish husband who causes her great anxiety. She has a well-marked systolic bruit dependent on mitral regurgitation, following an attack of rheumatic fever thirteen years before. She was very short of breath, had pain and palpitation on exertion, and was so nervous as to be unable to drive in a hansom or use a lift. There were incessant spasmodic movements of the hands, and many other signs of nervous breakdown.

After various remedies, such as bromides, valerian, and digitalis, had been tried without much result, hypnotism was suggested and agreed to. Mrs. B------was a good subject, though not a somnambulist. The heart's action became more regular and slower, and the twitching of the hands ceased. The treatment was continued daily for ten days, and the patient was then fairly well. She went abroad with her husband, and I hear she rides, cycles, and goes about generally like a healthy woman. The valvular trouble is, of course, still there, but compensation is good, and the morbid nervous element has been suppressed by suggestion.

Mrs. B-------is one of several ladies who tell me that hypnotic suggestion has increased their courage and enabled them to cycle freely in traffic.