The Rational Education of the Will: Its Therapeutic Value

London: William Rider & Son, 1918. Hardcover. Good+. Second printing (1918). Red cloth boards. Private library call number and label ghost on spine. Short gift inscription on front pastedown. xvi, 241, plus [6] pages publisher's advertising. Treatise on hypnotherapy, originally published in France in 1898. Preface by the medical professor at Nancy, Hippolyte Bernheim (1840-1919), who was himself a student of Ambroise-Auguste Liebeault, regarded as the father of modern hypnotherapy. Contents: [Part I: Theoretical Study]: [I] Statement of the Subject--Psychic Therapeutics. [II] The Fundamental Law of Psychotherapy; Every Idea is Action in a Nascent State. [III] Auto-Suggestion. [IV] Means of Strengthening Auto-Suggestion--Contemplation. [V] Psychic Gymnastics, or Auto-Suggestion in Action. [VI] Hetero-Suggestion: Its Relation to Auto-Suggestion. [VII] Moral Hygiene. [VIII] The Will--Conclusions: 1. Medical; 2. Philosophical and Moral. [Part II: Practical Suggestions]: [Some Observations]: - Moral and Intellectual Observations. - Tobacco Habit. - Insomnia. - Contemplation. - Sleep as a Means of Healing. - Various Troubles (Drowsiness, Swooning, &c. - Pains. - Ocular Troubles. - Circulatory and Respiratory Troubles. - Troubles of Digestion. - Sexual Troubles. [Various Reflections]: - Indications of Psychotherapy.