The Spiritualist newspaper > No.264, September 14th 1877

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LONDON, FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 14th, 1877.
MESMERISM, AND HINTS FOR BEGINNERS.
BY CAPTAIN JOHN JAMES.
As some of the readers of The Spiritualist interested in
the subject of mesmerism may wish for information respect¬
ing the best method of inducing the mesmeric sleep, per¬
haps a few observations on that point may prove acceptable.
Many English writers have given valuable instructions for
beginners, but as most of their works are out of print and
difficult to obtain, it possibly may not be considered a work
of supererogation to offer the experiences • of one who has
devoted many years to a study of the subject. It may, how¬
ever, be useful to inquirers to draw their attention to two
books lately republished, viz., the invaluable work of Dr.
Gregory, late Professor of Chemistry at Edinburgh Univer¬
sity, and the lectures of Dr. J. Bovee Dods.
In the following observations on some of the methods
used by practitioners for the production of the mesmeric
sleep, it should be understood that the writer merely gives
the results of his own experience when he recommends any
particular procedure. Other methods, used by other mesme-
risers, have been found equally successful, and it is probable
that the real desiderata or requisites for a successful operator
are patience, perseverance, and an earnest desire to succeed;
the best frame of mind on the part of the patient is, if pos¬
sible, a state of perfect passivity.
The beginner will probably soon find that he must occa¬
sionally vary his method of mesmerising, according to the
habit or idiosyncrasy of each patient, and that any particular
formula, however efficacious in the generality of cases,
sometimes requires to be supplemented by other methods.
It is recommended that the mesmeriser should direct his
patient either to place himself in an easy-chair, or to lie
down on a couch, so that he may be perfectly at ease. The
mesmeriser then, either standing or seated opposite his
patient, should place his hand, with extended fingers, over
the head, and make passes slowly down to the extremities,
as near as possible to the face and body without touching the
patient, taking care at the end of each pass to close his hand
until he returns to the head, when he should again extend
his fingers and proceed as before. It is also useful after
making several of these passes to point the fingers close to
the patient’s eyes, which procedure, in many cases, has more
effect than the passes. This simple process should be con¬
tinued for about twenty minutes at the first seances^ and
may be expected to produce more or less effect according to
the susceptibility of the patient. Should the operator per¬
ceive any signs of approaching sleep, he should persevere
with the passes until the eyes close, and should he then
observe a quivering of the eyelids, he may be pretty certain
that his efforts will be successful.
Many experienced mesmerisers have come to the conclusion
that the will plays an important part in the production of
the sleep and in relief of pain. Whether this be the case or
not, it is recommended that the operator should concentrate
his energies, and earnestly will, or wish that his patient
should derive benefit from his exertions. Some very suscep¬
tible subjects, in the course of ten minutes, or even less time,
will suddenly fall back, apparently insensible, in which case
the following tests will prove whether or no the real mesmeric
coma has been produced. Raise the patient’s hand, and
should it fall immediately as a dead weight it is a good sign ;
then raise one of the eyelids, and should the eyeball be
observed to be turned upwards and wandering in its orbit,
there can be - little doubt of the operator’s success. In some
rare cases the eyeball will be found in its natural position
but with the pupil much dilated, no contraction taking place
on the approach of a lighted candle. Even at this early stage
the patient may bear the prick of a pin on the back of his
hand without betraying any symptom of pain.
Sometimes slow breathing, or placing the hand on the fore-
j head will deepen the sleep, but the beginner should, as a
| rule, avoid concentrating the mesmeric force on the head or
| region of the heart, and confine himself as much as possible
I to the passes “ aux grands courants” as the French writers
I term them, i.e., the long, slow passes from the head to the
feet. Should the above described signs of mesmeric coma
! not declare themselves at the end of twenty or thirty minutes,
i the mesmeriser should ask the patient whether he felt any
| peculiar sensations during the process, and if so, whether they
were more apparent during the passes, or when the fingers
i were pointed at the eyes. By these inquiries he will soon
j learn the best method of mesmerising, applicable to each
i particular case, and he should not be disheartened if he does
j not succeed in producing marked effects at the first or even
| after many successive seances. Pain may be removed and
| diseases cured or greatly alleviated without the production of
i sleep, and many patients succumb at length, who have for
| many weeks been apparently unaffected and proof against
I all the resources of their mesmerisers.
Supposing sleep to be at length induced, the next and very
| important question is, how to awaken the patient. With
| most sensitives this is a very easy process, for merely blowing
! or fanning over the head and face with a few transverse passes
| will at once dispel the sleep. Should, however, the patient
| experience a difficulty in opening his eyes, then with the
I balls of his thumbs the operator should rub firmly and
| briskly over the eyebrows from the root of the nose outwards
| towards the temples, and finish by blowing or fanning,
! taking special care, before leaving the patient that—judging
| from the expression of his eyes and other signs—he has
| evidently returned to his normal state; no patient should be
I left until the operator is perfectly satisfied that he is wide
| awake. Should the above methods fail, and there be a dif-
| ficulty in arousing the patient, the mesmeriser may fre-
| quently bargain with him as to how long the sleep is to last,
| and should he promise to awake in the course of one or two
| hours, he will generally{fulfil his promise by waking almost at
| the very minute named. The mesmeriser may also insist
I that his patient should awake at a certain time, and will in
| many cases be obeyed, but of course this does not answer
| with all patients.
This power of acting on or impressing the patient’s mind
I may be carried into and continued in the normal or waking
I state, and might be used with good effect in the treatment
| of dipsomania and other morbid habits, so that the patient
j would in many cases, in consequence of impressions made
I during his sleep, be led to entertain an actual disgust at the
j mere smell or taste of any alcoholic liquor.
The patient during his sleep can frequently give valuable
| directions to his mesmeriser, both as to the best method of
| mesmerising him, and the most effective means of termi-
I nating the sleep. In some rare cases the sleep is so pro-
j longed, in spite of all the operator’s efforts to dispel it, that
| he is alarmed, and the patient becomes infected by his fears,
j Above all things, the mesmeriser should preserve his presence
| of mind, and he may be assured that the longest sleep will
| end spontaneously.
It may as well be observed in this place that the patient
j should not be touched by any one but his mesmeriser, unless
| he wishes it, or at least gives his consent. He can, perhaps,
bear the touch of certain individuals, and may express a
repugnance to be touched by others, and this quite irrespec¬
tive of attachment or repulsion with regard to those indivi¬
duals in his normal state. With most sensitives it is quite
immaterial who or how many people touch them; but there
are occasionally cases when by so touching them a very dis¬
tressing state, called “cross mesmerism,” is produced, and
the more particularly in the cases of patients who are natu-