A History of Hypnotism

Full text

B
topped
and
tailed
like
a
Sunday
joint.
Ford's
points
about
the
functions
of
scientific
illustration
hold
just
as
well
for
these
illustra-
tions.-TONY
DELAMOTHE.
deputy
editor,
BMJ
The
Cambridge
World
History
of
Human
Disease
Ed
K
F
Kiple
Cambridge
University
Press,
£C75,
pp
1176
ISBN
0-521-33286-9
A
iming
to
provide
an
up
to
date
historical
review
and
reference
source
on
human
diseases
for
the
close
of
the
twentieth
century,
The
Cambridge
World
History
took
seven
years
to
complete
and
has
over
150
contributors.
It
is
a
fascinating
collection
of
essays
on
topics
including
concepts
and
origins
of
disease,
the
history
of
medicine
and
the
development
of
specialties,
measuring
"health,"
and
the
history
and
geography
of
disease
in
different
world
regions.
The
book
is
aimed
at
a
broad
readership
including
those
in
the
medical
and
related
professions,
social
scientists,
and
historians.
To
generalise
about
the
content
is
difficult
because
of
the
diverse
nature
of
the
subject
matter.
The
first
sections
on
concepts
and
history
vary
from
being
highly
referenced
and
detailed-although
perhaps
sometimes
difficult
to
digest
by
the
non-expert-to
being
more
superficial
and
relying
on
a
bibliography
only.
Although
very
informative,
most
of
these
initial
chapters
either
look
at
the
world
as
it
was
"discovered"
or
concentrate
on
Westem
approaches
to
our
understanding
of
disease.
This
is
understandable
since
most
of
the
authors
are
from
the
United
States,
and
only
around
10
are
from
outside
North
America
or
Europe.
A
difficulty,
which
is
acknowledged,
is
that
less
is
written
down
or
researched
about
Africa,
parts
of
Asia,
and
South
America;
but
to
consider
"sexual
deviance,"
for
example,
or
"measuring
infant
mortality"
almost
solely
by
using
examples
from
the
United
States
or
Europe
cannot
fully
reflect
a
world
approach
on
such
important
topical
issues.
The
chapters
on
health
and
disease
in
different
cultures
look
at
the
difficulties
of
definition,
and
the
sections
on
Eastem
medicine
probe
the
concepts
of
disease
being
a
part
of
normal
healthy
experience.
The
contribution
of
Christianity
to
the
develop-
ment
of
the
scientific
method
as
a
means
of
searching
for
the
truth
about
human
frailties
and
the
caring/sharing
approach
to
suffering
as
being
healthy
in
itself
are
not
explored
in
depth.
This
may
have
been
a
conscious
decision
by
the
editors
but
is
perhaps
sur-
prising
since
much
of
the
book's
approach
is
based
on
these
concepts.
A
greater
use
of
illustrations,
flow
charts,
maps,
and
even
cartoons
would
have
made
these
initial
chapters
easier
to
browse
Lunette
showing
the
plague
1143,
Cantone
oratory,
Modigliana
through,
which
is
likely
to
be
the
principal
way
in
which
the
book
is
used.
The
remainder
of
the
book
is
an
encylo-
paedia
on
158
selected
diseases
ranging
from
cholera
and
malaria
to
the
"black
death"
and
"sweating
sickness."
Some
of
the
diseases
are
discussed
in
detail
and
include
historical
and
geographical
information,
others
are
so
brief
and
"clinical"
that
you
wonder
why
they
were
included.
In
general,
however,
these
sections
will
fascinate
the
occasional
reader
looking
for
background
to
special
interests
and
be
a
useful
source
of
reference.
Care
should
be
taken
over
interpretation
of
some
of
the
clinical
data
regarding
modem
treat-
ments,
for
example,
which
are
already,
inevitably,
becoming
a
part
of
history.
I
am
sure
this
book
will
be
widely
used
and
become
a
must
for
college
and
university
libraries-not
just
in
the
medical
sections.
If
editors
can
keep
up
the
momentum
to
allow
future
editions
it
is
the
sort
of
book
that
could
be
developed
over
many
decades,
taking
into
account
new
knowledge
and
criticisms
and
hopefully
including
authors
and
material
from
other
world
regions.-ERic
WALKER,
consultant
physician/epidemiologist,
Communicable
Diseases
(Scotland)
Unit,
Glasgow
Hcuwid
4and
_
in;
Devised
by
Richard
Appleton,
consultant
paediatric
neurologist
at
Alder
Hey
Hos-
pital,
Hand
in
Hand
is
a
collection
of
letters
and
drawings
by
children
with
epilepsy,
explaining
how
it
affects
their
lives
and
how
they
feel
about
it.
Useful
for
encouragig
communication
with
child
patients
and
their
families,
the
book
is
available
to
doctors
from
Marion
Merrell
Dow
Ltd
and
to
the
general
public
from
all
British
epilepsy
support
associations.
A
History
of
Hypnotism
Alan
Gauld
Cambridge
University
Press,
,75,
pp
738
ISBN
0-521-30675-2
T
|
awo
centuries
after
its
debut
in
pre-
Revolutionary
Paris,
the
intrigue
of
mesmerism
lingers
on,
its
psycho-
physiological
mysteries
unresolved.
The
showmanship
may
be
all
but
dead;
the
once
strong
links
with
the
psychical,
spiritualist,
and
occult
movements
may
be
severed;
and
the
use
of
mesmerism
in
the
treatment
of
physical
ailments
and
as
an
analgesic
for
surgery-applications
that
by
threatening
to
undermine
medical
livelihoods
(at
literally
a
few
strokes)
once
drove
the
medical
profes-
sion
berserk-are
now
largely
things
of
the
past.
Even
the
popular
image
of
Freud
dangling
his
hypnotic
pocket
watch
has
lost
its
potency.
But
research
into
the
nature
of
hypnotic
phenomena
continues
apace.
Indeed,
according
to
Alan
Gauld,
a
psycho-
logist
at
the
University
of
Nottingham,
the
extent
of
the
experimentation
and
the
number
of
publications
since
the
1
960s
renders
the
present
something
of
a
"golden
age.")
BMJ
VOLUME
306
1
MAY
1993
1215

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The
operator
putting
his
patient
into
a
trance.
From
Sibley's
"Key
to
Physic
"
(1794)
It
is
very
much
from
this
contemporary
perspective
that
Dr
Gauld
approaches
the
history
of
hypnosis.
Although
he
provides
a
clear
and
cogent
survey
of
its
chequered
fortunes
across
the
whole
of
the
Westem
world,
his
main
interest
is
in
the
types
of
techniques
that
have
been
employed
in
the
past
for
inducing
hypnotic
states,
the
kinds
of
manifestations
produced
and
their
applica-
tions,
and
the
various
theories
expounded
in
explanation.
Except
for
the
period
from
the
first
world
war
to
the
1950s,
which
is
given
short
shrift,
Gauld
trawls
virtually
all
publi-
cations
on
the
subject,
the
titles
of
which
fill
80
pages
of
bibliography.
Few
practices
and
practitioners
are
overlooked,
and,
commend-
ably,
attention
is
paid
to
the
experiences
of
patients.
It
is
thus
with
authority
and
precision
that
Gauld
is
able
to
document
the
history
of
hypnotic
theories
and
practices,
and
to
correct
the
historical
record
at
several
points.
The
impression,
for
example,
that
the
hypnotic
movement
simply
disintegrated
after
its
heyday
between
the
mid-1880s
and
the
tum
of
the
century
is
shown
to
be
mistaken.
More
crucial
from
Gauld's
per-
spective
is
the
case
he
makes
for
previous
generations
of
hypnotists
not
simply
defining
the
phenomenon
circularly
as
a
state
charac-
terised
by enhanced
responsiveness
to
suggestion.
Previous
practitioners
had
under-
standings
which
were
sometimes
similar
to
those
of
today's
researchers.
Gauld's
approach
is
not
without
its
pitfalls,
however.
It
often
leads
him
into
anachro-
nistic
use
of
language
and
into
inappropriate
ahistorical
evaluations
of
past
"researchers."
More
worrying
is
the
presupposition
inherent
in
such
a
chronicle:
that
there
actually
is
a
connected
continuous
"history"
to
the
melange
of
ideas
and
practices
now
cate-
gorised
as
hypnotic.
It
does
not
occur
to
Gauld
that
the
widely
different
social
contexts
for
the
production
of
texts
on
mes-
merism
and
hypnosis
may
constitute
quite
different
histories,
rather
than
different
un-
foldings
of
the
same
one.
"A
history"
of
hypnosis
may
be
a
delusion
fabricated
and
sustained
precisely
by
the
act
of
focusing
chronologically
on
texts
and
seeking
connec-
tions
between
them.
Gauld's
history
is
thus
bound
to
appeal
more
to
those
narrowly
interested
in
past
theories
and
practices
of
hypnotism
than
to
those
seeking
fuller
historical
understanding
of
the
construction
of
such
theories
and
practices.
Even
so,
few
are
likely
to
be
completely
mesmerised
by
a
volume
weigh-
ing
in
at
around
a
half
a
million
words.
It
is
primarily
as
a
useful
reference
tool
that
this
book
will
deservedly
find
a
place.-ROGER
COOTER,
senior
research
officer,
Welkcome
Unit
for
the
History
of
Medicine,
University
of
Manchester
Predicting
the
Future
Ed
L
Howe,
A
Wain
Cambridge
University
Press,
,18.95,
pp
195
ISBN
0-521-41323-0
It
is
impossible
to
predict the
future,
but
that
has
not
stopped
us
from
trying.
Through
the
ages,
oracles,
seers,
soothsayers,
and
charlatans
have
provided
compelling
visions
that
have
sobered,
scared,
and
seduced
us.
The
term
prediction
suggests
foresight
so
clear
that
the
future
is
crystallised
into
a
single
vision
that
can
be
controlled,
manipulated,
or
avoided.
Yet,
even
in
an
age
of
supercomputers
and
endless
databases,
we
seem
no
closer
to
the
dream
of
prediction
than
were
the
ancients.
As
practising
futurists
my
colleagues
and
I
spend
our
time
trying
to
help
organisations
think
through
their
longer
term
future.
Our
various
approaches
are a
form
of
applied
social
science
aimed
at
informing
decision
makers
and
helping
them
make
better
choices.
One
cannot
predict
the
future,
but
A
surprise.
Lithograph
by
H
Daumier,
1853.
From
the
book
reviewed
here
that
does
not
mean
that
one
cannot
think
systematically
about
it
and
try
to
make
some
sense
of
trends,
developing
issues,
and
emerging
technologies.
Howe
and
Wain's
collection
of
essays
came
as
a
pleasant
surprise.
I
was
expecting
a
"how
to
do
it"
book
by
futurists
for
futurists
that
scraped
together
the
meagre
intellectual
roots
of
futures
research
into
one
slim
volume.
Instead,
I
was
treated
to
a
compilation
of
the
Darwin
College
lectures,
delivered
in
Cambridge
in
1991
under
the
title
"Predic-
tions."
The
contributors
are
eminent
scholars
from
diverse
fields
who
provide
the
reader
with
a
personal
view
of
predicting
the
future
that
is
rooted
in
their
own
discipline
and
perspective.
While
some
contributors
stay
closer
to
their
task
than
others,
all
of
them
provide
useful
insights
into
the
role
and
problems
of
prediction.
There
are
four
themes
that
run
through
several
of
the
contributions.
Firstly,
the
purpose
of
prediction
reflects
the
culture
in
which
it
is
embedded.
In
the
culture
of
science,
prediction
is
the
ultimate
test
of
theory.
In
the
culture
of
religion,
prediction
is
the
ultimate
test
of
faith.
Secondly,
prediction
is
the
purview
of
an
elite
that
has
a
clear
normative
view.
A
group
in
society
is
granted
or
grants
itself
the
right
to
predict.
The
basis
for
the
right
may
be
the
group's
ability
to
interpret
comets,
chaos
theory,
or
the
complexity
of
the
universe.
In
all
cases
the
predictor
brings
with
him
or
her
a
world
view
that
colours
the
prediction.
Even
among
pure
scientists,
where
you
start
affects
where
you end
up.
Thirdly,
prediction
is
in
tension
with
free
will.
Whether
it
be
the
tension
between
blind
faith
and
individual
temptation
or
the
tension
between
economic
theory
and
individual
action,
there
is
a
clear
confrontation
between
what
is
predicted
to
occur
and
what
indi-
viduals
with
free
will
or
leadership,
or
both,
will
end
up
actually
doing.
This
is
why
predicting
the
course
of
society,
technology,
and
the
economy
is
fraught
with
danger.
As
Frank
Hahn's
essay
points
out
with
regard
to
predicting
the
economic
future,
one
may
be
better
off
shooting
for
understanding
rather
than
prediction.
Finally,
prediction
is
seduced
by
the
cutting
edge
of
knowledge.
Scores
of
futures
organisations
were
founded
in
the
late
1960s
in
the
United
States,
at
a
time
when
the
quantitative
revolution
and
the
computer
were
hitting
social
science.
The
new
analytic
tools
dazzled
us
with
the
illusion
of
predictive
power.
We
run
the
risk
of
assuming
that
some
new
intellectual
force
(like
chaos
theory)
will
provide
us
with
true
predictive
tools.
Such
breakthroughs
help
improve
our
understanding
of
the
world.
But,
as
was
true
for
Newton,
Adam
Smith,
and
Einstein,
new
knowledge
does
not
provide
perfect
predictive
power.
The
future
hasn't
hap-
pened
yet,
so
we
shall
have
to
wait
and
see
what
it
brings,
or
go
out
and
create
it.-j
iAN
MORRISON,
president,
Institute
for
the
Future,
California,
USA
1216MBMJ
VOLUME
306
1
MAY
1993