1 00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:07,320 Speaker 1: An inquiry into certain phenomena, and now for our public 2 00:00:07,400 --> 00:00:16,960 hypnotic performance. Take your seats, please the hypnotic performance. The 3 00:00:17,079 --> 00:00:22,239 audience is seated, and the hypnotist appears. He makes a 4 00:00:22,320 --> 00:00:26,519 nice little introductory speech in which he gives the history 5 00:00:26,559 --> 00:00:31,920 of hypnotism and mesmerism. He avoids the scientific side of 6 00:00:31,960 --> 00:00:35,960 the subject, accept such parts of it as serve to 7 00:00:36,039 --> 00:00:41,280 arouse the interest of the audience. He points out to 8 00:00:41,359 --> 00:00:45,520 the audience that the commonly accepted opinion of the subjects 9 00:00:45,560 --> 00:00:51,079 being weak, willed, et cetera, is erroneous, and that so 10 00:00:51,280 --> 00:00:55,200 far from this being the fact, no one accepts persons 11 00:00:55,280 --> 00:00:59,960 having will power and the ability to concentrate may be hypnotized. 12 00:01:02,000 --> 00:01:05,799 He mentions the time worn tale that idiots and insane 13 00:01:05,799 --> 00:01:11,439 people and very young children are not amenable to hypnotic influence, 14 00:01:12,599 --> 00:01:16,159 and from these things he draws the moral that the 15 00:01:16,200 --> 00:01:19,760 ability to be hypnotized is an honor and a proof 16 00:01:20,040 --> 00:01:26,840 of one's strong mentality, rather than otherwise. This, of course, 17 00:01:27,200 --> 00:01:32,560 flatters the hyper impressionables, who always flock to a public 18 00:01:32,680 --> 00:01:36,680 hypnotic performance, being drawn there by their love of the 19 00:01:36,799 --> 00:01:42,040 curious and the fascination that such exhibitions seem to have 20 00:01:42,120 --> 00:01:49,519 for these people the call for subjects. The hypnotist then 21 00:01:49,640 --> 00:01:54,519 calls for volunteer subjects. The audience does not seem to 22 00:01:54,519 --> 00:01:57,920 be in a hurry to respond, although some are found 23 00:01:58,040 --> 00:02:01,959 to be fidgeting in their chairs and a few almost 24 00:02:02,040 --> 00:02:06,599 rise from their seats as if to go forward. The 25 00:02:06,680 --> 00:02:12,400 hypnotist encourages and commands come on, come on, now, write 26 00:02:12,479 --> 00:02:17,439 up this way, come right up, et cetera, and the 27 00:02:17,560 --> 00:02:23,000 inclination to come forward grows stronger. Then a young man 28 00:02:23,000 --> 00:02:27,000 starts forward with a rush, and then another from the 29 00:02:27,039 --> 00:02:30,159 other side of the house. Then may be a third 30 00:02:30,319 --> 00:02:35,199 or a fourth, and then comes the grand rush. These 31 00:02:35,240 --> 00:02:38,719 first people to move forward are usually the paid performers 32 00:02:38,759 --> 00:02:42,319 who travel with the hypnotist, and their coming to the 33 00:02:42,360 --> 00:02:47,680 front starts up the impressionables and hyper impressionables among the audience, 34 00:02:48,919 --> 00:02:55,159 and perhaps a few curiosity seekers. These paid performers act 35 00:02:55,199 --> 00:03:01,080 as bellwethers for the flock of human sheep, testing and 36 00:03:01,159 --> 00:03:08,400 selecting subjects. The volunteer subjects, including the paid ones, are 37 00:03:08,479 --> 00:03:11,280 now grouped around the back of the stage in a 38 00:03:11,360 --> 00:03:16,840 large semicircle, and then the hypnotist proceeds to test them. 39 00:03:18,080 --> 00:03:21,919 He usually starts off by bidding the semicircle gaze at 40 00:03:21,919 --> 00:03:26,280 their hands or upon some bright object placed in their fingers. 41 00:03:28,159 --> 00:03:31,479 After they have quieted down and have been rendered passive 42 00:03:31,520 --> 00:03:34,960 and attentive, he calls them one by one to the 43 00:03:34,960 --> 00:03:40,879 front and gives them a test for impressionability. He usually 44 00:03:40,919 --> 00:03:44,520 begins with the paid subjects, for he knows just what 45 00:03:44,599 --> 00:03:48,439 they will do and to their actions have a powerful 46 00:03:48,479 --> 00:03:52,599 impression on the others. Along the lines of imitative suggestion, 47 00:03:54,800 --> 00:03:59,039 he usually tries the falling backward and forward test, and 48 00:03:59,240 --> 00:04:04,319 perhaps the fastening of the hands or some other simple 49 00:04:04,400 --> 00:04:10,039 muscular test. Those who respond readily to these tests are 50 00:04:10,080 --> 00:04:14,520 accepted and instructed to sit down again, while those who 51 00:04:14,560 --> 00:04:17,720 fail to respond are told that they are not needed 52 00:04:18,519 --> 00:04:24,040 and resumed their places in the audience. The hypnotist must 53 00:04:24,040 --> 00:04:27,839 have reasonably sure things to work upon for his success 54 00:04:28,360 --> 00:04:32,399 upon producing a quick result, and he cannot afford to 55 00:04:32,439 --> 00:04:36,839 devote the time to developing subjects that the experimenter in 56 00:04:36,879 --> 00:04:42,480 the laboratory does. Finally, he has weeded the goats from 57 00:04:42,519 --> 00:04:46,680 the sheep, the former being retired to the audience and 58 00:04:46,800 --> 00:04:50,720 the latter exalted to places of honor on the stage. 59 00:04:51,000 --> 00:04:56,480 Having successfully passed their initiation and now being accepted subjects. 60 00:04:59,120 --> 00:05:05,160 The story of the paid subjects now just a moment here. 61 00:05:05,399 --> 00:05:09,920 About the paid subjects, Some of them are genuine hyper 62 00:05:09,959 --> 00:05:14,360 impressionables who are fascinated by the mysterious nature of the 63 00:05:14,439 --> 00:05:19,199 business and flattered by the position of prominence given them 64 00:05:19,240 --> 00:05:23,240 in the performance, and to travel around with the hypnotist 65 00:05:23,600 --> 00:05:28,759 on a small salary and board paid. The horses are 66 00:05:28,839 --> 00:05:32,519 different kinds of people. They are out for the money 67 00:05:32,680 --> 00:05:39,399 alone and are generally fakirs all the way through. They 68 00:05:39,439 --> 00:05:43,199 have trained themselves to stand pain and to allow needles 69 00:05:43,199 --> 00:05:46,639 to be thrust through their cheeks and similar rough treatment 70 00:05:47,040 --> 00:05:51,439 to be accorded them. They learn to act out their 71 00:05:51,480 --> 00:05:54,920 parts with a surprising degree of ability in some cases, 72 00:05:55,879 --> 00:05:59,680 and many of them in time graduate into the cheaper 73 00:05:59,680 --> 00:06:03,800 grades of variety actors, and a few mount even higher 74 00:06:03,959 --> 00:06:11,319 up and develop genuine talent as actors. The majority of them, however, 75 00:06:12,000 --> 00:06:16,399 belonged to the cigarette type of youth who is out 76 00:06:16,439 --> 00:06:19,279 for a good time and who is glad to play 77 00:06:19,279 --> 00:06:23,680 his part in the performance for his board, traveling expenses, 78 00:06:24,160 --> 00:06:28,839 cigarette money, a little loose change, and the cheap notoriety 79 00:06:29,199 --> 00:06:34,319 of public performance. Some of The more expert of them 80 00:06:34,600 --> 00:06:38,680 demand and receive larger salaries as they advance in the scale, 81 00:06:39,839 --> 00:06:43,319 and the few star performers in the business receive quite 82 00:06:43,399 --> 00:06:50,040 good salaries and earn it too. These horses often display 83 00:06:50,160 --> 00:06:54,959 considerable ability in the line of suggestion and really lead 84 00:06:55,000 --> 00:06:59,360 the volunteer subjects through their acts, the latter obeying the 85 00:06:59,439 --> 00:07:04,199 line of least resistance along the general lines of imitative suggestion. 86 00:07:06,480 --> 00:07:11,279 These star performers among the horses are often just as 87 00:07:11,360 --> 00:07:16,759 expert hypnotists as their employers, and consequently much of the 88 00:07:16,839 --> 00:07:24,519 success of the entertainment is due to their efforts producing sleep. 89 00:07:26,519 --> 00:07:29,800 The next stage of the performance is to induce sleep 90 00:07:30,279 --> 00:07:35,279 in the subjects. This is done by first inducing fixation 91 00:07:35,720 --> 00:07:40,399 of the eyelids along the lines of muscular control of 92 00:07:40,519 --> 00:07:46,120 which I have spoken. Then suggestions of sleep are given 93 00:07:46,160 --> 00:07:52,480 by the hypnotists, such as, you are getting drowsy, drowsy, drowsy, 94 00:07:53,959 --> 00:07:59,399 your eyelids are heavy, heavy, heavy as lead, you are 95 00:07:59,439 --> 00:08:05,439 falling as sleep, falling asleep, et cetera. And soon the 96 00:08:05,519 --> 00:08:09,759 heads of the horses and the hyper impressionables are nodding. 97 00:08:11,639 --> 00:08:16,040 The impressionables, who are not affected by the sleep suggestions 98 00:08:16,399 --> 00:08:20,399 are sorted out and sent back to the audience, until 99 00:08:20,439 --> 00:08:25,720 there is left only the horses and hyper impressionables, including 100 00:08:25,759 --> 00:08:30,199 the paid performers among the latter, as well as those 101 00:08:30,199 --> 00:08:36,200 who have volunteered. Then the hypnotist has obtained that what 102 00:08:36,279 --> 00:08:40,080 he has tried for, he has a circle of hyper 103 00:08:40,120 --> 00:08:44,879 impressionables and horses who will accept every suggestion that he 104 00:08:44,919 --> 00:08:49,240 may give them, and be responsive to every demand upon 105 00:08:49,279 --> 00:08:55,320 their negative imagination that he may induce in them the 106 00:08:55,399 --> 00:09:00,840 day dream condition. But are they not really asleep, you 107 00:09:00,919 --> 00:09:07,399 may ask, No, they are not asleep. Their condition is 108 00:09:07,519 --> 00:09:11,320 one of a drowsy day dreamy state, such as many 109 00:09:11,360 --> 00:09:16,200 of us have felt when lost in revere or absent mindedness. 110 00:09:17,879 --> 00:09:21,120 They have had the feeling of drowsiness induced in them 111 00:09:21,320 --> 00:09:25,679 by the suggestions and influence of the hypnotist, and have 112 00:09:25,759 --> 00:09:30,080 had their negative imagination acted upon by him until they 113 00:09:30,080 --> 00:09:34,840 are in a state of day's day dream. They know 114 00:09:34,960 --> 00:09:38,159 what is going on about them and realize the illusion 115 00:09:38,320 --> 00:09:42,240 which they are acting out, but are so passive that 116 00:09:42,320 --> 00:09:46,480 their imagination is partially beyond their own control and is 117 00:09:46,519 --> 00:09:50,840 induced and managed by the hypnotist through his positive imagination 118 00:09:51,159 --> 00:09:56,879 and his suggestions. It is a queer state. I have 119 00:09:56,919 --> 00:09:59,720 talked with many of these people, and I think I 120 00:09:59,759 --> 00:10:03,840 have measured the mental state existing in them. They are 121 00:10:03,919 --> 00:10:09,399 living in two worlds. Their wills are passive, and the 122 00:10:09,519 --> 00:10:14,679 negative imagination or fancy is most active and under the 123 00:10:14,720 --> 00:10:23,399 control of the hypnotist. The playing bear explanation, an illustration 124 00:10:23,519 --> 00:10:25,919 that I have used in some of my lectures on 125 00:10:26,000 --> 00:10:29,639 this subject, may give you a clearer idea of the matter. 126 00:10:31,200 --> 00:10:35,639 It is as follows. A party of children are playing bear. 127 00:10:36,960 --> 00:10:40,440 One of them is the bear and goes growling, wagging 128 00:10:40,440 --> 00:10:43,840 his head and showing his teeth in a ferocious manner. 129 00:10:45,440 --> 00:10:48,840 The other children pretend to be frightened, but after a 130 00:10:48,840 --> 00:10:52,360 bit they induced in themselves a feeling of real terror. 131 00:10:53,679 --> 00:10:59,519 The assumed becomes almost real to them. Children have very 132 00:10:59,600 --> 00:11:04,679 vivid negative imaginations and often suffer great torture by foolish 133 00:11:04,759 --> 00:11:11,080 suggestions of Boogeyman, big bear, catch you, something will grab 134 00:11:11,120 --> 00:11:16,279 you when you go upstairs, et cetera. An understanding of 135 00:11:16,360 --> 00:11:21,159 suggestion which show the folly and criminality of such things. 136 00:11:22,480 --> 00:11:26,440 The terror among the children grows more acute, and tears 137 00:11:26,799 --> 00:11:31,960 mingle with laughter as they run from the bear. At last, 138 00:11:32,399 --> 00:11:35,000 one of the youngest runs with a shriek to its 139 00:11:35,039 --> 00:11:39,039 mother and buries its little face in her lap, crying out, 140 00:11:40,000 --> 00:11:45,039 make him go away. Why that isn't a bear, Mary, 141 00:11:45,720 --> 00:11:49,240 That's only Johnny dressed up like one, says the mother, 142 00:11:50,080 --> 00:11:54,879 endeavoring to quite the little one. Yes, I know it is, 143 00:11:55,639 --> 00:12:01,080 sobs little Mary, venturing a frightened glance behind her. But 144 00:12:01,159 --> 00:12:07,120 I'm scared anyhow. Well, that is the condition of the 145 00:12:07,200 --> 00:12:13,360 hyper impressionable who is hypnotized. He knows it's only Johnny, 146 00:12:13,919 --> 00:12:18,399 but he is scared anyhow. It is not all a 147 00:12:18,480 --> 00:12:24,759 make believe, as some radical iconoclastic investigators have affirmed, it's 148 00:12:24,799 --> 00:12:30,360 half real and half unreal. The hypnotized hyper impressionable is 149 00:12:30,440 --> 00:12:34,559 not a fakir or a wilful deceiver. He is a 150 00:12:34,639 --> 00:12:39,440 make believe whose illusion seems half real or even more so, 151 00:12:40,480 --> 00:12:44,120 although less than half in some cases, the degree of 152 00:12:44,200 --> 00:12:48,600 reality varying with the degree of impressionability on the one hand, 153 00:12:49,360 --> 00:12:52,679 and the vividness of the negative imagination on the other, 154 00:12:55,039 --> 00:13:00,679 opposing views reconciled. I have gone into this matter of 155 00:13:00,720 --> 00:13:04,279 the mental state of the genuine hypnotic subject rather fully 156 00:13:05,279 --> 00:13:08,159 for the reason that the statements of the two schools 157 00:13:08,159 --> 00:13:12,080 of investigators are diametrically opposed to each other on the subject. 158 00:13:13,879 --> 00:13:18,399 The old school of mesmerists and hypnotists insists that the 159 00:13:18,399 --> 00:13:22,279 subjects are in a true sleep condition and are absolutely 160 00:13:22,320 --> 00:13:26,399 oblivious to all that goes around them outside of their 161 00:13:26,399 --> 00:13:30,639 allusions that they are acting out dreams suggested to them. 162 00:13:32,879 --> 00:13:36,720 The new school of suggestion, on the other hand, claims 163 00:13:36,759 --> 00:13:39,960 that the subjects are wide awake as usual and merely 164 00:13:40,080 --> 00:13:44,519 acquiesce in the suggestions made them, just as they would 165 00:13:44,679 --> 00:13:48,399 in any other and are fully conscious of what they 166 00:13:48,399 --> 00:13:51,960 are doing and are make believe all the way through, 167 00:13:52,559 --> 00:13:58,039 from beginning to end. I think that my theory or 168 00:13:58,120 --> 00:14:04,000 explanation will supply the reconciliation or missing link between these 169 00:14:04,039 --> 00:14:08,039 two opposing views, and I believe that it will meet 170 00:14:08,159 --> 00:14:12,159 with the approval of many, who, like myself, have had 171 00:14:12,200 --> 00:14:16,080 the opportunity of examining these people and getting close to 172 00:14:16,120 --> 00:14:20,440 the heart of the matter. It is true that many 173 00:14:20,559 --> 00:14:23,399 of these subjects will tell you that they were totally 174 00:14:23,480 --> 00:14:27,360 unconscious of what they were doing, but that is because 175 00:14:27,399 --> 00:14:31,799 in so doing they are carrying out the suggestions expressed 176 00:14:31,879 --> 00:14:36,000 or implied of the hypnotist who tells them that they 177 00:14:36,039 --> 00:14:42,000 are hypnotized and know nothing else. A funny thing about 178 00:14:42,039 --> 00:14:45,240 these subjects is that each one of them thinks that 179 00:14:45,279 --> 00:14:48,919 he is the only one who was half awake, and 180 00:14:49,080 --> 00:14:53,120 that all of his companions were completely under the influence. 181 00:14:55,200 --> 00:14:59,960 Remember now, I am now talking of transconditions which belong 182 00:15:00,039 --> 00:15:03,320 lung to another phase on the subject. Nor am I 183 00:15:03,399 --> 00:15:07,720 talking about the horses on the stage, who are fakirs 184 00:15:07,919 --> 00:15:11,919 all the way through. Although contributing much to the interest 185 00:15:11,960 --> 00:15:16,559 and action of the show, My description of the mental 186 00:15:16,559 --> 00:15:20,200 state of the subject applies only to the genuine cases 187 00:15:20,399 --> 00:15:27,039 of hyper impressionability in the day dream state the hypnotic show. 188 00:15:28,679 --> 00:15:31,120 I shall not take up your time and space by 189 00:15:31,159 --> 00:15:35,360 describing the many features of the public hypnotic performance, the 190 00:15:35,360 --> 00:15:39,840 barbershop scene, the balloon trip, the baseball game, the hive 191 00:15:39,919 --> 00:15:44,240 of bees, the school session, as the thousands of variations 192 00:15:44,720 --> 00:15:49,240 shown by the many hypnotic exhibitors and performers, some of 193 00:15:49,279 --> 00:15:53,679 whom are artists in their line and show a wonderful 194 00:15:53,759 --> 00:15:58,840 ability in the direction of making their performances interesting and 195 00:15:58,960 --> 00:16:04,960 akin to a Vaudeva. Nearly everyone who reads these lines 196 00:16:05,240 --> 00:16:08,279 has seen a performance of this sort and will know 197 00:16:08,440 --> 00:16:13,039 to what I refer Their principle is the same in 198 00:16:13,080 --> 00:16:17,799 all of these acts or performances. The horses and the 199 00:16:17,919 --> 00:16:23,639 hyper impressionables, except the suggestions and the latter are also 200 00:16:23,720 --> 00:16:29,080 impressed by the hypnotist's positive imagination acting upon their negative 201 00:16:29,120 --> 00:16:35,360 imagination through mental currents by induction. But even the most 202 00:16:35,440 --> 00:16:40,759 startling and complicated experiments are but combinations of the experiments 203 00:16:41,159 --> 00:16:45,919 in induced sensation mentioned in Chapter nine of this book, 204 00:16:46,600 --> 00:16:51,039 raised to a superlative degree by means of induced imagination. 205 00:16:53,360 --> 00:16:56,679 The experiments I have given you, and others of the 206 00:16:56,720 --> 00:17:00,759 same kind, are the building blocks by which the mismatic 207 00:17:00,840 --> 00:17:07,359 structures are built. The style, variety, decoration, and stability depending 208 00:17:07,440 --> 00:17:11,680 upon the art of the operator or manager. There are 209 00:17:11,680 --> 00:17:15,559 many books on stage hypnotism that instruct the performer in 210 00:17:15,680 --> 00:17:20,759 constructing effective scenes. It is a matter of stage art 211 00:17:21,599 --> 00:17:28,039 rather than of scientific knowledge. The successful hypnotist must be 212 00:17:28,119 --> 00:17:32,799 a man of strong suggestive ability when able to focus 213 00:17:32,799 --> 00:17:37,400 his force in his tones, and also of strong active 214 00:17:37,640 --> 00:17:43,000 positive imagination, and thus able to form a clear, vivid 215 00:17:43,160 --> 00:17:46,319 mental picture of the seme he wishes to be enacted 216 00:17:46,359 --> 00:17:51,079 on the stage before him. By forming this mental picture, 217 00:17:51,480 --> 00:17:54,640 and by using his will to project and focus his 218 00:17:54,720 --> 00:17:58,880 menative energy upon the subjects, he is able to induce 219 00:17:58,920 --> 00:18:04,559 in them the feelings and daydreams desired. His success as 220 00:18:04,599 --> 00:18:09,799 an entertainer, of course, requires ability as an originator of scenes, 221 00:18:10,039 --> 00:18:13,559 et cetera, which have nothing whatever to do with his 222 00:18:13,640 --> 00:18:19,920 ability as a hypnotist. When both qualities are combined, the 223 00:18:20,000 --> 00:18:26,000 man comes to the front as a financial success. Whith 224 00:18:26,000 --> 00:18:30,720 the above has dealt solely with public performances of hypnotism, 225 00:18:31,039 --> 00:18:35,119 still the principles called into play in the private psychological 226 00:18:35,279 --> 00:18:40,119 experimental work are the same. In the latter, there is 227 00:18:40,160 --> 00:18:44,039 no audience to be entertained, and much more time may 228 00:18:44,079 --> 00:18:49,000 be devoted to developing a subject and producing interesting phenomena, 229 00:18:49,839 --> 00:18:51,720 and the horses are eliminated.