The Eye in its Relation to Health
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By Chalmer Prentice, M.D.
Chicago, A.C. McClurg & Company, 1895
Transcription (c) A. Wik, 2004

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        | Chapter XV |  pages 195-207
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IN refutation of the possible claim that the
results in the foregoing clinics are due to
"suggestion," I deem it advisable before conclud-
ing this work to say something on the subject of
hypnotism, although it is a digression from the
subject under consideration.  I do not propose to
enter any denial as to the remarkable phenomena
that are exhibited in various hypnotized subjects.
These are established and undeniable fasts.  The
entire investigation of the subject of hypnotism
has been confined to a study of its effects on
the hypnotic subject.  Prevailing through all of
this has been the general superstitious idea that
some mysterious force passed from the operator
to the person operated upon, or from the stronger
to the weaker mind; while there has been little or
no effort in the direction of determining what the
actual physical causes were that brought about
these results.  The easiest subject for hypnotism
is the neurasthenic, whose general supply of vital
force for various functions is very limited.  Like
a dynamo, the nerve-centers are capable of gen-
erating a given amount of vital force.  In persons
suffering from nervous debility, the supply of

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nerve-force is restricted and is not sufficient to
carry on with vigor the various functions through-
out the animal economy.  We must remember
that thought or ideation, of whatever nature it
may be, is a process that requires nerve-impulse
for its performance; also, that a pain consists of
an abnormal nerve-impulse.
  "Suggestion" that gives rise to the so-called
hypnotic, psychologic or mesmeric condition may
act through the medium of any one or more of
the five senses.
  If a person in possession of a valuable treasure
were to enter at night an isolated house which he
had every reason to believe was unoccupied by
any other person, and while slowly feeling his
way in the dark, from room to room, should sud-
denly feel a hand placed on his shoulder, a radi-
cal change would at once take place in his
nerve-centers, and such a change would be
greater or less according to his condition and
surroundings.
  If a person who was familiar with the taste of
various poisons were to enter a dimly lighted
apothecary shop and carelessly swallow a dose of
something supposed to be a sweet cough mixture,
and the dose suddenly proved to be intensely
bitter, he might at the time think he had taken a
dose of strychnine, and a change in the action of
the nerve-centers would take place, commensurate

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with the condition of the person and his sur-
roundings.  I have known such an accident to
produce complete prostration; but when it was
learned that the bitter dose was quinine, the re-
covery was rapid.
  The smell of smoke in a high building with
insufficient means of egress might suggest the
idea of a horrible death by fire, and varying con-
ditions would result in the nervous systems of the
persons so frightened.
  Through the medium of the sense of hearing
very potent changes in the nervous system are
brought about.  One Sabbath morning many
years ago I was sitting on the veranda of a hotel
in the South, when suddenly I heard a most ter-
rific and unnatural sound, the building trembled
violently, the air seemed dense and oppressive.
For the moment I was helpless, I could not think,
I could not move; the horrible, weird strangeness
of the sound had suspended my functions of
volition and reason.  The time was but a
moment, but it seemed many to me; then I saw
falling by me to the ground the mutilated form
of a man.  This recalled me somewhat to my
senses.  There had been an explosion.
  Remarkable changes are aroused in the nerve-
centers through the medium of vision; intense
feelings of pleasure, pain or fear are introduced by

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"suggestion" through this medium.  The lover
of nature is hypnotized as he looks upon some
strangely grand or beautiful scene; "suggestion"
from the inanimate surroundings has influenced
the action of his nerve-centers.
  Complete prostration and often unconscious-
ness are introduced by something that is seen.  The
changes that are wrought in the nervous system
by the strange and fantastic "passes" or "move-
ments" that are made by the so-called mesmerist,
hypnotist or psychologist are no more due to a
force or entity that passes from the operator to
the subject, or from the stronger to the weaker
mind, than the similar mental conditions men-
tioned above are due to the transference of a
similar entity or force.  Inasmuch as similar
effects are brought about by inanimate surround-
ings, it is evident that there need be no transmis-
sion of a force to produce the hypnotic state.
The interesting and amusing phenomena that are
brought about by "suggestion" are commensurate
with the weakness or excitability of the nervous
system of the subject.
  After the "suggestion" all the changes or
phenomena that take place in the subject are due
to the action of forces in his nerve-centers.  A
belief that there is some mysterious force sent
out by the operator or the stronger mind is very

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foolish and dangerous, for persons so believing
are easy subjects, and become victims of persons
of evil design.
  When the imagination is sufficiently excited
by "suggestion" there is so excessive a call upon
the nerve-centers for vital force to sustain the
exalted ideation, that all other functions for the
time being are robbed of the limited vital impulse
with which they were previously supplied.  The
nerve-impulses that gave rise to the functions of
feeling, motion and reason are perverted; and
where pain existed the abnormal impulse that
gave rise to it has been turned aside and utilized
in the strong imagination that has been awakened.
The subject is utilizing all his feeble vital forces
to maintain an excited mental condition that has
been aroused by "suggestion," which may be by
the word of mouth, motion, general surroundings
or exciting events.  Where pain is relieved by
hypnotism, it is because the impulse that gave
rise to it has been perverted into this new channel.
Where the function of feeling is suspended, it is
because the vital forces have been so drawn upon
that there is not sufficient left to give rise to the
function of feeling.  Where the reasoning fac-
ulties are so perverted that one can be made to
believe and apparently see things as they are not,
it is because the excitation has so utilized the
vital forces that there is not sufficient left to

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assert reason, and whatever is suggested is ac-
cepted as truth.  Hypnotism or "suggestion" is
the diversion into other channels of those nerve-
impulses that give rise to feeling, motion or
reason, the turning of them aside from the per-
formance of normal functions to execute another
kind of work.
  It is on this principle that a mustard plaster
or any other counter irritant acts: it turns aside
the nerve-impulses that gave rise to pain and
utilizes them in the secondary or induced irri-
tation.
  "Some ideas are suggested to the mind by all
the ways of sensation and reflection."--(Locke.)
  "Suggest:  To introduce indirectly to the
thoughts; to cause to be thought of, usually by
the agency of other objects."--(Webster.)
  When a person steps upon a tack it suggests
thoughts and sometimes words that are very em-
phatic; the savory smell of a broiling mutton
chop will often suggest hunger; the whistle of
a locomotive suggests that more haste will have
to be made or the train may be missed; whenever
I hear a certain piece of music it always suggests
to me the lovely Jepsom Gardens and the Holly
Walk at Leamington on the river Leam, for it
was there that I first heard this music; the taste
of some delicious viand often suggest some other
time and scene where this flavor awakened a

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more than ordinary degree of pleasure; seeing
another put on his gloves and hat might suggest
to a man that it was time to go home.  "Sug-
gestion" in its fullest sense is susceptible of a
very broad definition.
  "Hypnotism," a word of Greek derivation,
and meaning sleep, is at present used in almost
as broad a sense as the word "suggestion," and
many of the mental states that result from "sug-
gestion" are denominated "hypnotic."  The
average mind is quite as open to "suggestion" in
the present day as it has been in all ages past.
It is not capable of reasoning for itself.  It gen-
erally follows out certain lines of action because
they are conventional or have been "suggested"
by others.  A collegiate training is valuable to
those minds that are capable of receiving it, for
it imbues them with formulated methods of
analysis and action, which methods are the pro-
ducts of reasoning minds that have thought for
the benefit of others.  What is called original
thought comes to but few.  "The power of step-
ping out of the beaten track of thought, of
bursting by a happy inspiration through the
bonds of habit and originating a new line of re-
flections, is most rare, and should be welcomed
in spite of its sometimes becoming extravagant."
  At present the people in several sections of
our great republic are running wild over the

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question of hypnotism.  Many of these unthink-
ing minds have been led to believe that when-
ever a buffoon raises his hands and makes
certain meaningless motions, they are bound to
become helpless and follow whatever suggestions
he may make.  Excessive fear and awe are the
results of this belief, and an exalted excitation of
the nerve-centers results, which may actually pro-
duce what is called the "hypnotic" state; but
where this belief does not exist, and where there
is an unbelief as to this mysterious force, however
weak the subject may be, these methods fail to
hypnotize.
  I remember a mesmerist who several years ago
was lecturing in a small town in Ohio.  He had
succeeded in exciting quite a large number of the
community.  The audiences of his nightly lectures
grew until the opera house would barely hold
them.  He was very much reassured by his success
and invited the opinion of any member of his
audience.  A professional gentleman walked to
the rostrum and set forth, in a very clear and con-
cise manner, opinions similar to those given in
this chapter.  From that time his so-called hyp-
notic power ceased, and of the ten subjects on the
stage who had been obeying his suggestions, there
were but two who continued to do so.  These
were strangers to the community, and I afterwards
learned from one of them that they were both

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under his pay at a salary of $15 per week.  It is
not necessary for a hypnotist to resort to this
trickery, for if a firm belief in the mysterious force
exists in a person with a weak nervous system, he
can undoubtedly be hypnotized.  It is now high
time for thinking professional men to come to the
assistance of the unthinking masses, and teach
them that it is as unnecessary to yield up reason
and thought to the gyration of the hypnotist's
arms as to the whirling of a merry-go-round.
  Horses are almost universally hypnotized when
a barn takes fire.  Invariably they refuse to leave
their stable.  It has always been their place for
feed, drink and rest.  In their thoughts it is most
safe and comfortable of all.  Under the exalted
excitement of the nerve-centers of the animal, all
other instincts vanish.
  I have a number of chickens which were
hatched last spring and had never seen the snow
until this winter.  On a Friday evening one
perched itself on an elevated portion of the hen
house.  During the night a heavy snow fell.  On
the following Tuesday evening my neighbor came
in to tell me that there was a hen standing on top
of my hen house and that it had been standing
there for four days.  At least, every time any-
body looked out the window, the hen was seen
standing in the same position, and it was inferred
that she must have been standing there all that

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time.  I became interested, at once went into the
back yard, crawled on to the roof, and approached
the hen.  She paid not the slightest attention to
my presence; she seems perfectly unconscious
of all surroundings.  As I stretched my hands
toward her, she did not move, but after I seized
her, she at once began to squawk.
  In looking from a high tower or precipice some
people experience a feeling allied to hypnotism.
Wonder, awe and fear so utilize the vital forces
that reasoning and self-control are temporarily
gone.  The many so-called suicides committed
by jumping into Niagara Falls or from high towers,
are acts committed in the hypnotic state; at least,
I believe a great mistake is made in indiscrimi-
nately calling such acts suicide.  It is a notable
fact that all high towers have to be protected
so that people cannot jump from them.  The
Washington Tower, the London Monument, the
Eiffel Tower, the dome at the Capitol of Wash-
ington and many other have had wire network or
other apparatus put up to prevent persons from
jumping from them.  I think it is a grave injus-
tice to call all such acts suicide.
  It is perhaps a mistake to allow the word hyp-
notism to assume as broad an application as is now
popular.  In this sense every speaker, every
preacher is a hypnotist.  Each suggests his good
thoughts from the pulpit or the rostrum and

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endeavors thereby to influence his hearers.  The
successful jurist by rhetoric, oratory, earnestness
and gestures, hypnotizes the jurymen until tears
mark the result.  Every business man, every
solicitor utilizes, to his utmost, his power of sug-
gestion, for the sake of influencing his customers.
  What I wish particularly to point out in this
chapter is that there need be no transference of a
mysterious force from the operator to the subject
to bring on hypnotic states, inasmuch as inanimate
surroundings can produce a similar effect.
  Considered in the line of the above hypothesis,
the changes that take place in so-called "faith
cures" are easily accounted for.  It is probably a
fact that many deranged functions have been
restored to more normal action through an effect
on the nerve-centers brought about by "sugges-
tion" in the form of Christian Science, hypnotism,
or faith cure.  We are fully aware that fright is
often the exciting cause of deranging the nerve-
centers to the extent of disturbing some important
function.  Fright has also been known to restore
to normal action a disturbed function.  In
aphonia, which is of frequent occurrence in cer-
tain individuals suffering from nervous debility,
the power of speech has often been restored by
some person approaching the patient unobserved,
suddenly making a loud sound close the the ear,
and so causing fright.

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  This switching or transference of nerve-
impulse may possess some value in scientific
hands, but in no way does it fulfill the require-
ments of enfeebled or insufficient nerve-centers.
The true end to be sought is vigor and equilib-
rium of action in all the nerve-centers, so that all
functions may receive a normal share of nerve-
impulse for their performance; a result which is
hardly to be expected from suggestion or faith
alone.  A fair average of success in this direction
is illustrated in Walter Scott's "Waverley," where
the Scotchman tried to teach his mule to do
without food.  He gradually reduced the poor
animal's feed until he ate but one straw a day,
when he died.
  Again I repeat, hypnotism or "suggestion" is
the diversion into other channels of those impulses
that give rise to feeling, motion and reason; it is
the turning of them aside from the performance
of their normal functions to execute another kind
of work.
  That the favorable results brought about by
repression are not due to "suggestion" is evident
from the following illustration.  A person requir-
ing a prism in a certain position for repression is
materially relieved while the prism is in the
proper position.  If, without the knowledge of the
patient, the prism be reversed, all the unfavorable
symptoms will be materially aggravated, while

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the "suggestion" to the patient is the same with
the prism in one position as the other.  Such
tests can be repeatedly made on patients under
repression, and the results are uniformly the same.
The proper position of the prism always relieves,
and the reverse always aggravates the symptoms;
consequently "suggestion" is not the source of
the relief.  Adverse "suggestion" and ridicule from
those unfamiliar with the philosophy of this sub-
ject have exerted their fullest influence in dis-
couraging patients and counteracting the favorable
results.  I believe and do not hesitate to say that
many people have sacrificed their lives through
following the advice of persons who were ignorant
of the science of the subject.  It is always unwise
to give advice without first possessing the neces-
sary information.  We should never accept and
act upon advice until we have settled in our mind
the qualifications of the person giving it.  Has
he grounds for his claim to a superior knowledge
of the matters on which he advises?
  When the philosophy set forth in this work is
more generally understood, it is certain to be
generally practiced, and its benefits will be shared
by many sufferers.  For his years of labor, the
author deems himself well rewarded by the results
already obtained, although he looks upon these
results only as the earnest of greater things to
come.





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        | End of Chapter XV |  pages 195-207
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