Complete Hypnotism: Mesmerism, Mind-Reading and Spiritualism (1903)

How to Hypnotize: Being an Exhaustive and Practical System of Method,
Application, and Use

by A. Alpheus

This well-organized survey includes the history of hypnotism, current (1903) theories about hypnotism, and its stage and medical applications. Apparently, very little has changed in the past one hundred years in terms of a scientific explanation of what hypnotism is. Moreover, the exact same techniques used by Vaudeville stage hypnotists can be found in the acts of stage hypnotists today.

Once one knows the story of Alfred Lawson's brother George Herman Lawson, the sections in this book on criminal use of hypnotism become especially intriguing.

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This digitization effort has also been uploaded to Project Gutenberg.