A new phase of criminal hypnotism has come to the surface in a most sensational manner, and in a way to startle society in general. A Brockport (N. Y.) State Normal School girl is reported to have suddenly cried out in agony in church, that a certain young man had hypnotized her. The fact that the young woman who thus gave rise to a strange sensation and scandal is also reported to be a cousin of Miss Frances E. Willard1 will also direct added public attention to her eccentric deed. Her remarkable accusation against a youth of good repute may be set down as a freak of simple hysteria, especially, as the young man enjoys the reputation of having dabbled in this modern black art of hypnotism. A knowledge of this amateur propensity of his may have easily wrought upon the perfervid imagination of an excitable miss.
Nevertheless, the serious question remains as to what this queer outburst may lead. The public imagination has itself been decidedly agitated recently by the many romantic and weird tales of hypnotic mystery and crime. There can be no doubt in the mind of the more than casual observer that the theory of crime through the agency of hypnotic suggestion is gaining ground in public sentiment, if not in the courts. Clark Bell’s paper on “Hypnotism and the Law,” read before a recent session of the Medico-Legal Society of America, reveals the fact that this belief of criminal hypnotism is entertained by a number of eminent physicians. It is but a step from the accusation after a crime to this Brockport phase of accusation before a crime. Is it possible that the close of the nineteenth century is to witness a hypnotism superstition It is the fashion to sneer at the old Puritans for their witchcraft delusion; but what record as regards superstitious beliefs is this generation to leave for the scrutiny of posterity?–Philadelphia Record.
- I’m not sure what this has to with anything — perhaps the association with “an army of 250,000″?[back]