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Hypnosis Hits the Herd Ceccarelli in C3

On Tuesday, June 29, Room C8 was crowded with Psychology and Education students who were admitted (by ticket only) to see Professor Ceccarelll give a demonstration of hypnotism. Introduced by Professor Beaglehole, he commenced almost immediately with his maws test—swaying in response to the professor's command. The best came to the front for a further test. The fourteen or so who remained were given the arm-raising test. The effect was uncanny, as arms rose in various positions and were lowered again at the professor's commands. On being told they were very cold, the subjects snuggled down into their coats; on being told they were very hot, two of the girls removed their jackets. This test, and the pricking with a pen of the outstretched arms, brought the number down to eight—four men and four girls.

Further experiments were tried on two of the men, writing a word after a given period of time. This apparently worked with one who caused a laugh with his question: 'How do you spell 'Psychology' Professor Beaglehole?"

The most successful and interesting experiment was the retrogression of one girl, a particularly good subject, to the age of seven years. She wrote her name on the board in childish letters, and reacted to words of blame from her "teacher." On being asked to sing, she immediately commenced "Sing a Song of Sixpence."

The Professor demonstrated telepathy by writing a command on the board—for the audience's benefit—and making the subject carry it out without spoken words. In this way she walked to a vase of flowers, took a jonquil, and walking back across the room, presented it to Professor Beaglehole. Then, again, without any command, she wrote the correct time on the board.

The effect on the hypnotized students, and their memory of the process, was very interesting. One gathered that the only after-effect was a feeling of tiredness on the part of some of the girls. The memories varied. Two girls had no recollection of anything they had done or said. Two more were conscious of what they were doing but were without power to prevent themselves. Two men in particular presented interesting cases. They appeared to be completely hypnotized, but afterwards stated that they were only very partially so. One man said that he had gone to the front ready to co-operate, but seemed unable to do so, and, not wanting to disturb the act, performed the actions under his own volition. Another girl said that the effect of the hypnotist seemed to be lost when he diverted his attention, indicating the importance of the hypnotist's concentration.

There was however, no doubt that several of the students were completely hypnotized. There seems to be no doubt, also, that given time and smaller numbers, others could have been hypnotized. The fact that some who were not really hypnotized appeared so, even to careful observers, is interesting as an indication of the care that is needed to distinguish between genuine and non-genuine cases, although in this case no deception was intended.

The hour and a half of the demonstration was felt to have been profitably used, and the students are grateful to Professor Beaglehole for arranging it and to Professor Ceccarelli, whose undoubted powers convinced his audience that hypnotism is no hoax.