is an order given for a few seconds, at
most a few minutes, to an individual in a state of induced sleep. The
suggestion may be repeated; but it is absolutely powerless to transform
a criminal into an honest man, or vice versa." Here is an excellent
argument. If it is possible to make criminals it should be quite as easy
to make honest men. It is true that the weak are sometimes helped for
good; but there is no case on record in which a person who really wished
to be bad was ever made good; and the history of hypnotism is full of
attempts in that direction. A good illustration is an experiment tried
by Colonel de Rochas:

"An excellent subject * * * had been left alone for a few minutes in an
apartment, and had stolen a valuable article. After he had left, the
theft was discovered. A few days after it was suggested to the subject,
while asleep, that he should restore the stolen object; the command was
energetically and imperatively reiterated, but in vain. The theft had
been committed by the subject, who had sold the article to an old
curiosity dealer, as it was eventually found on information received
from a third party. Yet this subject would execute all the imaginary
crimes he was ordered."

As to the value of the so-called "laboratory crimes," the statement of
Dr. Courmelles is of interest: "I have heard a subject say," he states,
"'If I were ordered to throw myself out of the window I should do it, so
certain am I either that there would be somebody under the window to
catch me or that I should be stopped in time. The experimentalist's own
interests and the consequences of such an act are a sure guarantee.'"

CHAPTER VIII.

Dangers in Being Hypnotized.--Condemnation of Public Performances.--A.
Common Sense View.--Evidence Furnished by Lafontaine.--By Dr.
Courmelles.--By. Dr. Hart.--By Dr. Cocke.--No Danger in Hypnotism if
Rightly Used by Physicians or Scientists.

Having considered the dangers to society through criminal hypnotic
suggestion, let us now consider what dangers there may be to the
individual who is hypnotized.

Before citing evidence, let us consider the subject from a rational
point of view. Several things have already been established. We know
that hypnotism is akin to hysteria and other forms of insanity--it is, in
short, a kind of experimental insanity. Really good hypnotic subjects
have not a perfect mental balance. We have also seen that repetition of
the process increases the suscept