The “magnetism” demonstrations of the Danish “show-magnetist” Carl Hansen reached a special importance for Germany around 1879-1880. Hansen appeared in Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Russia, France, Austria, and Great Britain, and Germany. To induce trance, he had his test persons fix their gaze on a polished piece of glass, made some sweeping motions with his hand over their face, closed their eyes and mouth, and ended the induction with some sweeping motions over the forehead. Frequently he laid his stiff subject across two chairs and stood on top of the rigid horizontal body (the “human plank feat”). In German-speaking countries, his demonstrations impressed a series of scientists, and excited a corresponding flow of publications: In Chemnitz, the physicist Weinhold published “Hypnotic Experiments, 1879”. In Breslau, the physicians Heidenhain and Berger were influenced to begin studies of hypnosis, as were Preyer and Eulenberg in Berlin, Rieger in Würzburg, Möbius and Wundt in Leipzig, and Krafft-Ebing and Benedikt in Vienna.

The magnetic performances of the Danish hypnotist Carl Hansen (1833-1897) impressed a series of medical scientists in Germany, and excited the scientific controversies about the phenomenon of “hypnosis”.

Around the end of the 19th century, the center of activity related to clinical and theoretical/empirical hypnosis shifted from France to Germany (Gauld, 1992, p. 421). This is shown somewhat by the contributions in the “Journal for Hypnotism”, which was distributed since 1892 by Grossmann, then from 1895 by Oskar Vogt and the Swiss August Forel – both prominent scientists of their time. Vogt was the director of the Institute for Brain Research of the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Society (the equivalent of the modern Max Planck Institute); Forel was the director of the famous “Burghölzli” of the psychiatric clinic of the University of Zürich.

Oskar Vogt (1870-1959)

Sources:

1) Gauld, A. (1992). A history of hypnotism. Cambridge: University Press.

2) Heidenhain, R. (1880). Der sogenannte thierische Magnetismus. Physiologische
Beobachtungen. Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel

Just as in Germany, there were also important physicians in Austria who helped bring the study of hypnosis into the world of practical science. Principal among them was Richard Freiherr von Krafft-Ebing (1840-1902), who is considered the founder of the study of sexual pathology (his greatest work is “Psychopathia Sexualis”; the terms “sadism” and “masochism” were coined by him). Krafft-Ebing’s interested in hypnosis was also awoken by the influential demonstrations of the magnetist Hansen. Along with the therapeutic potential of hypnosis, he was interested in the physiological aspects of hypnosis. In his book, “An Experimental Study of the Field of Hypnotism along with Remarks about Suggestion and Suggestion Therapy” from 1893, he published his experiments on Ilma Szandor, a hysteric patient who could engender blisters of the skin and skin redness as a reaction to suggestions 1). In this book, he also reported on the successful hypnotic treatment of an 18-year old patient (hysteria gravis).

Book from Krafft-Ebing

Sources:

1) von Krafft-Ebing, R. (1893). Eine experimentelle Studie auf dem Gebiete des Hypnotismus nebst Bemerkungen über Suggestion und Suggestionstherapie. Stuttgart: Ferdinand Enke.

2) Walter, H. & Martin. M. (2002). Zur Geschichte der Hypnose in Österreich. Hypnose und Kognition, 19, 177 - 195.

Richard Freiherr von Krafft-Ebing (1840-1902)

Another important representative of the ‘established’ doctors of Austria, who studied hypnosis, was the psychiatrist Wagner-Jauregg, who received the Nobel Prize in 1927 for this discovery of the healing powers of fever for paralysis. The following passage from Wagner-Jauregg displays the contemporary understanding of the relationship between therapist and patient during a hypnosis treatment. Wagner-Jauregg describes the process of suggestion as

“a man’s uncritical acceptance of ideas from the consciousness of another, with the basis that the subject believes in the supremacy of the therapist, so that he’s inclined to accept the suggestions as truth” (quoted in Walter & Martin, 2002, p. 188)

As with the mesmerisers and magnetists of the 1800’s, Wagner-Jauregg also describes a force that works from the outside and is controlled by the therapist. Except in his view, the quasi-physical energy of the magnetist is replaced by the “powerful therapist-figure”. This idea would finally be given up with the introduction of Milton Erickson’s ‘resource-oriented’ approach.

(In the period of the history of hypnosis discussed here, the work of Sigmund Freund is absent. Please refer to the corresponding article in haal 7).

Julius Wagner-Jauregg (1857-1940)

Probably the most important work on hypnosis around the turn of the twentieth century was the book “Hypnotism; or Suggestion and Psychotherapy” from the Swiss psychiatry professor August Forel (1848-1931). Forel, known for his studies of brain anatomy, was a professor at the University of Zürich, and the director of the “Burghölzli” there. Interested by the reports of therapeutic success from the School of Nancy (see hall 7), he visited Nancy in 1887. After his return, he began to use hypnosis and to publish his results 1). From the initially quite small writing entitled “Hypnotism: it’s Meaning and Application”, the above-mentioned book came into being and had a great impact on the German-speaking world throughout its 12 reprintings.
Forel also used hypnosis not just for his patients, but also for his medical staff. He suggested to the nurses and caregivers that they would be able to sleep deeply despite the noise from the agitated patients; in the case of a threat or emergency, however, they would awake. 2)

The book from August Forel that became widely known in the German-speaking world and went through 12 reprintings.