Although the name 'hypnotism' was first coined in 1850, the idea of hypnotising someone is thousands of years old and can be traced back to Ancient Egypt and beyond. This fascinating volume contains a complete guide to hypnotism, looking at its history, various techniques, mesmerism, mind-reading, scientific explanations, and much more. Contents include: “History of Hypnotism”, “Mesmer”, “What is Hypnotism”, “Theories of Hypnotism”, “Animal Magnetism”, “The Neurosis Theory”, “Suggestion Theory”, “How to Hypnotise”, “Dr. Cocke's Method”, “Dr. Flint's Method”, “The French Method at Paris”, “At Nancy”, “The Hindoo Silent Method”, etc. “Complete Hypnotism” is highly recommended for those with an interest in hypnotism and related subjects, and it would make for a worthy addition to collections of allied literature. Many vintage books such as this are increasingly scarce and expensive. We are republishing this volume now in an affordable, modern, high-quality edition complete with the original text and artwork.

The Classic guide to Hypnosis and Self - Hypnosis.

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

There is no doubt that hypnotism is a very old subject, though the name was not invented till 1850. In it was wrapped up the "mysteries of Isis" in Egypt thousands of years ago, and probably it was one of the weapons, if not the chief instrument of operation, of the magi mentioned in the Bible and of the "wise men" of Babylon and Egypt. "Laying on of hands" must have been a form of mesmerism, and Greek oracles of Delphi and other places seem to have been delivered by priests or priestesses who went into trances of self-induced hypnotism. It is suspected that the fakirs of India who make trees grow from dry twigs in a few minutes, or transform a rod into a serpent (as Aaron did in Bible history), operate by some form of hypnotism. The people of the East are much more subject to influences of this kind than Western peoples are, and there can be no question that the religious orgies of heathendom were merely a form of that hysteria which is so closely related to the modern phenomenon of hypnotism. Though various scientific men spoke of magnetism, and understood that there was a power of a peculiar kind which one man could exercise over another, it was not until Frederick Anton Mesmer (a doctor of Vienna) appeared in 1775 that the general public gave any special attention to the subject. In the year mentioned, Mesmer sent out a circular letter to various scientific societies or "Academies" as they are called in Europe, stating his belief that "animal magnetism" existed, and that through it one man could influence another. No attention was given his letter, except by the Academy of Berlin, which sent him an unfavorable reply.