49. J.R. Minde - On hypnotism

Lecture. Munich 1891

Short summaries of the main facts of hypnotism and suggestion, when made with perfect mastery of the subject, are very useful at the present time. They meet a burning interest of the time. The fact that all scientific requirements are fulfilled in the writing in question is vouched for by the name of its author. The fact that it is aimed almost exclusively at doctors and less at the educated lay public is not to be held against it. The latter has in Forel's excellent work a means of quick and all-round orientation that fulfills all requirements. But for those who have enough scientific knowledge to understand it, the Minke brochure also offers an excellent opportunity to gain knowledge of the scope of the phenomena involved in hypnotism. That it warns against the dangers which might arise if, in the opinion of some uninitiated hot-spurs, hypnotism and suggestion were to be used as a means of education or for the retention of moods for artistic purposes, we find quite justified. It seems to us appropriate to point out that with the physiological solution of the riddle that envelops sleep, the problem of hypnotism will also appear closer. Every reader will also be grateful for the compilation of data at the end, which provides a clear overview of when and by whom related phenomena - those we call hypnotic - have already been observed and attempted to be explained in the past.