532 B. In the Revue de l'Hypnotisme, July 1899, p. 11, Dr. Vlavianos reports a case of agoraphobia cured by hypnotic suggestion.

Victor L., fifty-two years old. Bad hereditary conditions. His father was very irritable; his mother also; she besides had a tic and frequent headaches. Grandfather died at Bicêtre asylum. L. is one of nine children, seven of whom died of convulsions. He has had two children, one of whom died of convulsions; the other has kleptomania. From the age of twenty-one L. drank immoderately; after various accidents, paraplegia set in; this passed off at the end of six months. The first time he attempted to go out after his recovery he found he could not remain on his terrace nor look at the horizon without giddiness and terror. He could not cross an open space or a bridge. He was equally afraid of going in a tramcar or a carriage. His terror was much more intense in lonely than in busy streets. He was also afraid of remaining alone. At church the sound of the organ terrified him. In this case we see agoraphobia, musicophobia, etc. Strange to say, he had no fear of empty space in the country, but only in the town. Besides this, there were delusions of persecution and all sorts of eccentricities. Six séances of hypnotic suggestion removed the agoraphobia, so that the patient could walk about the boulevards in comfort, even unaccompanied. The other phobies were successively removed.

The cure was complete.

See also Vlavianos, Revue de V'Hypnotisme, April 1899, p. 299; Godorichze, Revue de l'Hypnotisme, 1893, p. 53; Gélineau," De l'Hémato-phobie," Revue de l'Hypnotisme, 1893, p. 39.

532 C. In the Revue de l'Hypnotistne, June 1893, Dr. Mavroukakis reports a case of agoraphobia cured by hypnotic suggestion.

Jules J., sixty-four years old. No hereditary antecedents. Venereal excesses from the age of fourteen. Has always smoked immoderately. Contracted yellow fever in Brazil. No physical stigmata of degeneration; fairly good intellect and memory; frequent giddiness, probably due to the use of tobacco. At the age of ten he had morbid aversions for knives, scissors, etc. Later these fears waxed more intense; he could not venture into the street unaccompanied. At the same time appeared impulsive obsessions. Thus, while on a steamer, he suddenly felt an impulse to jump overboard and drown himself, which he was only just able to inhibit. In his own words: "he is afraid of extended space." He cannot cross a square, nor walk alone in the streets; he is afraid of fear, even in his dreams. He does not dare to go out alone, lest some accident should happen. He fears the unknown. And yet he is in other ways a very courageous man. He will rush through flames to save people from burning alive. He has in Brazil nursed many cases of yellow fever without giving a thought to his own danger.

He is of an inquiring turn of mind, tries to discover reasons for everything, but cannot find any for his morbid fears.

Suggestion in the waking and the hypnotic state brought about a marked improvement, which gave hopes of a complete cure. After thirteen hypnotic séances he was able to go out alone, cross the streets and the squares, travel on the top of an omnibus without any impulse to throw himself over the side.