THE TORTURED HYPNOTISTS DEPARTMENT
Practical Lessons in Hypnotism – Dr WM Wesley Cook
A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. And there’s nothing quite like reading a vintage hypnotism book by an American medical doctor to appreciate how transatlantic public perceptions of hypnosis were not helped by these ‘prophetic’ US hypno-health ‘experts’.
Our author, Dr WM Wesley Cook (1859-1936), was professor of physiological medicine at University of Chicago, and states ‘AM’ as well as MD post-nominals. I assume he means ‘Alternative Medicine’, and it’s interesting that this is prioritised over MD. Who knows whether Dr Cook was even practising as a medical doctor, with or without hypnosis as an adjunct, around the time of writing. But these credentials got his hypnosis nous published both in 1901, and again in 1947 in this posthumous reprint.
Assuming we’ve bought into his prestige, Dr Cook makes a convincing champion of hypnosis as we read of this “great blessing to mankind” and of the rich rewards of following “persistent study” in his introductory pitch. But any reader expecting Dr Cook to focus on common bodily and mental health matters, as might befit his credentials, is instead treated to electrifying language beyond good and evil. Consider this rousing polemic:
“Prejudice, bigotry, avariciousness and narrow-minded sophistry have until lately succeeded in smothering the great science of hypnotism. Men who were bold enough to make known the marvelous [sic] nature of the hypnotic power they were able to manifest, were denounced as wizards, charlatans, imposters and mountebanks. But now the tables are turned. Those who were formerly denounced are now regarded as scientific investigators; and the doctrines they taught are being eagerly learned by the most noted scientists. What was held up for ridicule is now regarded as dignified science. What was attributed to evil machinations is now regarded as one of the greatest of blessings to the human race.”
Dr Cook is, alas, smitten with the magic of hypnotism – not the science of it. He is one of myriad voices who got lost in the crossover between mesmerism and hypnotism, so he writes confusingly and interchangeably of them, citing mysterious scientific “laws” that don’t apply to “physiology, chemistry, physics or magnetism” in distinguishing hypnosis. Essentially, it is science’s job to catch up with this new-fangled hypnotism – and him, as an expert in it – rather than vice-versa.
This makes for an often amusing perspective. For instance, Dr Cook takes stage hypnotism feats, the Indian rope trick, and newspaper stories on hypnotic crimes on face value. Much of his medical advice on simple curatives, say, for a headache, require a decent working knowledge of phrenology. Indeed, any layperson hoping to become a hypnotist would be bamboozled by the specificity of detail on subject selection: as well as the usual musings on gender, age, class, intellect, and race, etc, he eschews those with… dry complexions. This is precisely the jumble of big-small beefs hypnotists compile into these vainglorious books, as if cracking a bad case of facial flaking for $500 is the only thing standing between them and their rightful ascendancy to god-like status. I particularly enjoyed the juxtaposition of a stern caution against sewing people’s tongues together “for mere sensational effect” (as if there is good case for doing this?!) with a chapter on how to hypnotise the insane.
Yes, after you’ve stitched a couple of hypnotised pals together by their tongues, why not have a crack at a case of religious insanity?! Dr Cook suggests placing the ‘possessed’ person in a somnambulistic sleep and invoking an angel to dissuade them of their delusions. That, for me, is the hypocrisy of hypnotists preaching a post-God gift to the world… without first finding appropriate atheist or agnostic (or co-created generative but joined) suggestions to solve the problem..? If hypnotism really was a panacea, then surely a paper cut-out of Dr Cook’s trusty hypnotic disk (pictured, left) glued to a stick would suffice in warding off a demon? Cook segues to his next chapter on hypnotising animals, so if I ever find myself assisting in an exorcism I shall be proficient in gently rubbing frogs into an apparent slumber – if not the person possessed.
I’m not certain I’d conclude hypnotism is the vocation for me if I’d only read this book by way of introduction, though. Dr Cook’s opening may appeal to one’s ego; anyone can “exercise hypnotic power over others to greater or less degree, according to their natural ability”, but “few become expert hypnotists”. He compares it to the art of painting, “which is taught everywhere, but in which the most arduous study and practice cannot give the soul-inspiring results which follow the touch of the true artist’s brush.”
That ‘tortured artist’ romance of hypnotism is Trilby’s legacy, and seems mostly absent from modern memes. But Dr Cook impresses upon us again and again that hypnotism is a lofty, serious – dangerous – profession. Take a subject ‘too deep’ (not possible) into hypnosis and risk them falling into the clutches of ‘Death Himself’! Yes, the Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey Grim Reaper lurks in many worst-case scenarios for Cook, in fact… He is prone to listing every conceivable imaginary calamity that could befall a hypnotist and/or a subject; that the hypnotist might suddenly die, become paralysed, or go insane during hypnosis is a recurring anxiety he addresses. Don’t be quite so reliant on ‘em, might be the sensible conclusion, of course! One can feel the man in him wrestling with his childhood demons and bogeymen in these biblical ‘tells’. Fortunately, modern science has defused and dispersed The Hypnotist archetype of His ‘power’, fuelled as it is by glaring biases and mommy and daddy issues.
Ultimately, I find myself wishing Dr Cook had written the book – in all its vicarious glory – as the tourist that he is, rather than as the MD-scientist he was not. There’s such creativity and poetry in how he writes about hypnotism, it is spoiled by the ‘science’. Here he riffs on the wonders of stage hypnosis in the ‘Hypnotic Miscellany’ chapter:
“Subjects can be made to believe that chairs or tables or other articles of furniture are various animals. A girl will take a silk hat as a bucket and proceed to milk the table as a cow. A man will jump astride a chair and urge his imaginary horse to full speed. Books become cats or dogs or anything else the operator may desire the subject to believe them to be. Again, the subjects themselves may, upon suggestion, assume the role of various animals.
“A beautiful exhibition of supreme happiness follows the suggestion to a group of hypnotized subjects that they have taken a trip to heaven and are enjoying its glories. Such a trip may be commenced by suggesting to the party that they are to travel heavenward in a balloon. The caution they will portray and the emotions they will evince become very realistic.”
I suppose that is an enduring pitfall for hypnotism; people attracted to it position themselves as ‘experts’ to financially and reputationally support their pursuit – often from behind a cloud of scientific, medical, and academic ‘credibility’. It’s Kev’s job to scold the anti-science brigade of modern hypnotherapists and gurus propagating misinformation and pseudoscience. My job is just to lament the loss of curiosity, creativity, and artistry in hypnotism since Trilby set the world’s imagination ablaze in 1894.
“Hypnotism has triumphed,” Dr Cook writes in his opening pages. “It occupies the position of a dignified science; and with its present impetus and its future certainty of development, it is destined to startle the world by its marvelous [sic] revelations.”
Perhaps Dr Cook would, today, fear that mankind squandered this great gift from God. Are revelations as to the net worth of Richard Bandler (‘Daddy Bandler’, as I like to call him) as ‘marvellous’ as hypnosis is ever gonna get..? Men – “wizards, charlatans, imposters and mountebanks” – using their power to make money is hardly “startling”. Geez, let’s assemble our ‘hypnotic eye’ paper cut-outs, glue, scissors, and pointy sticks and do some proper magic, fellow hypnotists! Rub some frogs! Run a French kiss through a sewing machine! Get biblical with a crazy woman!
That’s the sort of thing God had in mind, I’m sure.
