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LEFT HYPNOTISM 102 HYPOPHOSPHITES withstanding he has been perfectly quiet and apparently asleep, the patient re- members all that has been said. In the last three degrees the patient, on wak- ing, remembers nothing. Strange as it may seem, however, a person may be more influenced by suggestion in the lighter degrees of sleep than in the more profound degrees, and vice versa. This is due to the patient's suggestibility. Generally, if the subject be made to reach any degree of somnolency he can be re- lieved by suggestion. No person can be hypnotized unless he be willing. No per- son can be hypnotized at a distance, un- less by telephone, or if he be a good and willing subject, by letter; and the patient must first have been hypnotized by the writer at some previous time. Otherwise the operator cannot influence him at a distance in the slightest degree. It is an absolutely safe and beneficent form of aid. It may not always bring relief, but never in the hands of a com- petent operator has it done harm. The method of the operators of the school of Nancy is wholly verbal. The patient is talked to sleep and on waking he is delighted by the changes in himself which are apparent and he has become convinced of the agreeable effects of the treatment. Formerly a bright object was held be- tween and above the patient's eyes, and he was directed to fix his eyes upon it. This created sleep. But it was found that nervous distress was apt to follow this method, and it has been abandoned by followers of the school of Nancy. If a sleeping person be assured by the oper- ator that he will lose his craving for alcohol, or opium, or cocaine, or, that his pain will cease, that he will sleep at night, that his nervous unrest will dis- appear, that his power of will or a men- tal concentration will increase, and so forth, in nine out of ten cases the desired result will follow. There are scores of popular forms of relief which act wholly through the pa- tient's mind and in themselves literally have no value. The effect of the mind cure and Christian Science is due to a weak form of suggestion, behind which an intelligent knowledge of anatomy, physiology, and disease is wholly lacking. The results are owing to influences pro- duced upon the minds of those who seek these forms of relief, which thus have accomplished a degree of benefit but are dangerous aids where serious disease exists. With reference to causation of crime by means of hypnotic suggestion : few or no scientific men believe it possible. Habit is as strong as death. If a man's habit of mind be honest, no suggestion, sleeping or waking, can cause him to commit crime of any sort. If he be dishonest, naturally or by inclination, the suggestion would be unnecessary. The hypnotic sleep is a natural sleep. Those who claim that it is not natural are not intelligent in the matter and their opinions are based upon pure and uninformed theory. As has been shown by scores of thou- sands of cases, treated by brilliant and educated physicians, the treatment is absolutely innocuous. It either relieves or produces a neutral effect, and is use- ful in a multitude of ailments which baffle ordinary means of relief. But the operator must be educated in the use of this valuable method of treat- ment. Hypnotism should be used only by physicians, and amateurs should by no means experiment with it as a means of amusement. HYPNTJM, a genus of mosses belong- ing to the order Bryineas. Archegonia and capsules are borne on special lateral branches. The sexual organs are formed in August and September, and the cap- sules take from 10 months to a year to ripen. HYPOCH^RIS (hip-6-ke'-ris), a genus of plants of the natural order Compositse, sub-order Cichoracese, of which one species, H. radicata, or long rooted cat's ear, is extremely common in meadows and pastures in Great Britain. Its leaves and flowers resemble the dan- delion. HYPOCHLOROUS ACID, HCIO, the acid contained in bleaching powder. It can only be obtained as a dilute solution, as in the concentrated state it is very liable to decomposition. HYPODERMIC INJECTION, a forc- ing of some substance beneath the skin; a method adopted in medicine when the condition of the stomach or other organs renders the use of drugs by the mouth objectionable, or when rapidity of action is desired. HYPOG^IC ACID (hip-6-ga'ik), CioHsoOs. A monatomic fatty acid con- tained as a glyceride, together with pal- mitin and arachin, in the oil of the earthnut Arachis hypogxa. Hypogaeic acid crystallizes from ether in needles which melt at 33°. HYPOPHOSPHITES, salts of hypo- phosphorous acid, especially certain me- dicinal salts, chiefly the hypophosphites of potassium, sodium, and calcium. They have been used with considerable advan- tage in disorders of the blood and the di-