which degree has been reached. This advice is given
because nothing interferes with the progress of hypnotic influence so
badly as the constant testing. It must naturally often lead to a point
where the subject finds that he can very well still do what the
hypnotizer told him not to do. If the doctor assures him that he can no
longer move his arm and the patient is yet able to move it, the doctor
secures the very superfluous knowledge that this special degree of
suggestibility has not been reached, but the patient is sliding backward
and the lower degree which actually had been reached will be less
accessible later. The physician might rather resort to the opposite
course and assure the patient, even after the first treatment which
might have been a slight success, that he saw from definite symptoms
that hypnosis had set in. That will greatly smooth the way for real
hypnotic effects the next time.

The best method of hypnotizing is the one which relies essentially on
the spoken word, awakening through speech the idea of the approach of
sleep. If the hypnotizer assures the subject in monotonous words that a
feeling of fatigue is setting in, that he is feeling a tiredness
creeping over his shoulders and arms and legs, that his memories are
fading away and that he is now hypnotized, for not a few all is done
that is needed. The hypnotic state will come and will hold until the
verbal suggestion takes it off again. Perhaps the hypnotizer says that
he will count three and at three the subject is to open his eyes and
feel perfectly comfortable. It is wise to tell the patient beforehand
that he will not lose consciousness and that he will remember afterward
whatever happens as many people believe that loss of memory belongs to
the hypnotic state, and that they were not hypnotized if they can
remember what happened. Such a skeptical after-attitude can seriously
interfere with the success of the treatment.

Yet in most cases, it will be safer not to rely on words only but to
supplement them by manipulations which all converge towards the effect
of increasing the suggestibility and thus of overcoming the resistance
to the suggestions introduced. It is well known that for this purpose it
is advisable to begin the influence with some slight fatiguing
stimulations. The effect is most easily reached when the patient fixates
perhaps a shining button held over his eyes or listens to monotonous
sounds. A particularly strong effect belon