Another and more satisfactory case of a somewhat similar but much more acute nature was that of a young lady who became obsessed by the idea that her brother-in-law was in love with her, and was influencing her by 'hypnotic telepathy.' She became very excited, and refused to eat food, so we had to take steps to certify her and send her to an asylum. As a last resource I tried hypnotic suggestion, and, much to our satisfaction, she proved a good subject. The result was immediate. She consented to take food, became quiet and reasonable, and in a few days ceased to think of the man. This was in 1900. The following year she had a return of the morbid obsession, but it was speedily controlled by suggestion. Since that time she has remained sane and well. This girl was undoubtedly saved from lunacy by hypnotism, and such a success justifies one in having recourse to it in recent cases with considerable confidence, especially in young people.

Telepathy is the latest 'force' knocking for recognition at the gate of science. Its explanation is still involved in mystery and doubt, and therefore appeals strongly to the imagination. So we find telepathic obsession is a common idea with the insane. It used to be telephony, and before that electricity. Hypnotic obsession is also a common delusion. I am acquainted with two cases where the patient possesses unusual and even brilliant talents. One, a retired army officer, was assured by his 'voices' that the late Dr. William Playfair was hypnotizing him for experimental purposes, and he actually called on that astonished physician on the subject. As he told me that he would shoot the man who thus tampered with him, were he quite sure of the voices, one can judge of the dangerous nature of such an obsession.

It is an interesting point that this patient kept his idea almost to himself for over ten years. He told me and one or two others in confidence, but it was only when nominated to a high position that he betrayed himself. He was of course superseded, and has now a very real grievance against the voices which made him give himself away. I tried hypnotic suggestion in this case, on many different occasions at long intervals, but quite unsuccessfully, Major A------ always saying, like the previous patient, that the opposing forces are too strong.

But there is a form of mental disorder which, though not amounting to insanity, causes intense suffering, and which is not uncommon. I refer to obsession by obscene thoughts. Students of the religious history of the early Church, and of the lives of Christian and other saints, know how common this form of derangement was. The temptations of St. Anthony materialized were popular subjects for the old masters. I have been consulted in many such cases, and have succeeded in several instances in removing the morbid ideas, and restoring the patient's peace of mind. I always begin by telling the patient that we are not responsible for our thoughts, but only for our actions.

Two of my best cases were clergymen of exemplary life, and I have frequently found that it was men of the purest life and with the highest ideals who were victims of these thoughts. An extremely intelligent patient who went abroad after a course of treatment which he said cured him came to see me recently for a renewal of the suggestions. He told me that he had been enabled to keep his imagination under control ever since, but that he felt that it was once more getting the upper hand. Renewed suggestion again had the desired effect. He was a middle-aged man, happily married, and had several children. In such cases it is Dr. Constance Long's practice to try hypnotism and suggestion, which she calls a short-cut, and if that fails she has recourse to the much more tedious and trying method of psycho-analysis (vide Chapter XI (Introduction To The Study Of Psycho-Analysis).).

In no country have the phenomena of hypnotism been more carefully studied than in Italy. The names of some of the principal investigators - Lombroso, Tamburini, Seppilli, Tanzi, Morselli, Vizioli, Bianchi - are sufficient guarantee of the thoroughness of the work done.

A Commission of Italian physicians has been considering the therapeutic value of hypnotism, with special reference to its applicability in insanity and mental affections. After exhaustive researches they have come to the conclusion that hypnotic suggestion may be efficacious in dipsomania and the psychoses which are based on hysteria, but that in other forms of mental disease favourable results are only obtainable in a few cases. The Commission put the matter to the test by experimenting with great care and patience on fifty-six mental cases - thirty-two men and twenty-four women. Of the men, eight were affected with slight mania, nine with melancholia, eight with epileptic phrenosis, two with fixed ideas, and three with paranoia. Only two of these proved hypnotizable - one epileptic and one lypemaniac. Of the twenty-four women, four were affected with slight mania, nine with melancholia, seven with epileptic phrenosis, two with fixed ideas, and two with paranoia. Only eight of these proved hypnotizable, and of these three were hysterical, one melancholic, and four epileptic. In the other cases no effect was produced. The degree of hypnosis produced was generally slight, and somnambulism only ensued in three cases - two of which were hysterical and one epileptic.

As regards therapeutic results very little was achieved in any of the cases. In the opinion of the Commission, morbid auto-suggestion is an almost insurmountable obstacle - first, against the success of hypnotism; and, secondly, against the fulfilment of the curative suggestion. The Commission came to the conclusion that hypnotism was therefore applicable in only a few mental diseases, but they experimented on and reported in favour of the systematic employment of therapeutic suggestions, without hypnotism, in the treatment of insanity. They found that suggestion made in the waking state is the most effective and reliable means of cure in mental diseases, and to it are due, almost entirely, the beneficial effects of the asylum - which represents a real suggestive surrounding.