The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1894-11-23
TRICKS OF A HYPNOTIST.
A PrOfe ssional Subject Fools a
Number. Of Physicians.
He Goes Through All the Catalogue OF
Manifestations and Laughs at the Eff
forts of the Mesmerizers-In-
sensibility to Pain.

MT. Ernest Hart. editor OF the Lon
don Medical Journal, reveals many of
tic tricks of professional hypnotists in
an article in the Century, entitled The
Eternal Gullible.' After quoting lit
orally from the confession made to him
by hypnotic subject, L., Mr.. Hart
continues:
Being curious to study the technic Of
so exceptionally gifted an artist as
L.. | accepted his offer, to use his
own elegant language: To give show
at my house" | invited several med
zeal acquaintance interested in hyp-
notism. including DR.. J. Milne Bram-
well. Dr.. Hack luke, DR.. Outterson
Wood. Surgeon Colonel j. b. Hamilton,
Nh. Wing1cld and others, to be present
on the occasion. l.. brought two other
subjects with him, one of these was in
PRODUCED by him as his cousin, but
there was SO strong family likeness
between the three that they might
easily have passed for brothers. There
are few people who. as Sydney Smith
aid of Francis lIorner, have the ten
commandments written on their faces"
II is. therefore. not the fault of these
ingenious youths that their physiog-
nDmy IS not exactly, to put it delicate
such as would generally be accept
Il a guarantee OF good faith. They
went through all their ordinary plat
rln" business Stimulating the hypnotic
Iacp, performing various antics under
CONTROL and in particular going
trough catalepsy," to use my friends
W. phrase.
.,Ot the least interesting part of the
''s!loNg was the preliminary hypnoti-
zltion Of l.. by the demonstration of
PHYSIOLOGY already referred to, whose
yes had not yet been opened to the
fac. that he had been imposed upon.
,th22 he commanded l.. to sleep" the
latter obcdicntly did SO, with all the
usual appearances % profound hypno-
tizatiOn. muscular relaxation, facial
congestion, upturned eyeballs, not
:aDvill.; when touched. apparent insen-
;';Diiity. atcrtor insensibility to sound,
iHht, and external stimuli. The per-
iornlancc was splendid and complete.
Mr.. -- c,ii .Tcd Il moments triumph.
But l.. instantly woke up again with a
leer as soon as the operator announced
that he was under influence" Mr..
- made several further attempts to
hypn0ti2c his former subject, each time
with the same result. Tie situation
was conic. yet had in it an clement of
p2thos: the operator was so earnest a
believer that the shock of his awaken
ing was almost painful to witness.
H. performance was not destitute of
merit, but To The critical Judgment it
left Il good deal to be desired. lie over
':ii his part, the congestion of his face
tc;ns exaggerated to a degree almost
suggestive Of impending apoplexy,
while his snoring somewhat over
stepped the moue3ty OF nature. These
points were dyyelt on by more than one
Il the nc2tlcnCn present, but L am not
altogether free from a suspicion that
i'll some Of the cases at least the OBJ
Scrvation was of an eX-post-facto ma
ture. .
One of l.. S companions seemed to me
to simulate the hypnotic sleep better
than he did, but l.. at once dispelled
any illusion there might have been by
unexpectedly gripping him behind the
motto suggestion given by the two
were well calculated to tickle the
EroUndlings in music hall, but could
hardly have deceived any serious OBJ
server. The ''catalepsy business had
more artistic merit. SO rigid did l..
make his muscles that he could be
lifted in one piece like an Egyptian
mummy. He lay with his head on the
back of one chair. and his heels on
another, and allowed a fairly heavy
man to sit on his stomach: it seemed
to me, however. that he was here with
IN straw or two of the limits of his
endurance. The blister trick spoken
OF by Truth as having deceived some
medical men. was done by rapidly bit
ing and sucking the skin of the wrist.
i. did manage with some difficulty to
raise slight swelling, but the marks
OF the teeth were plainly visible
One point in LIS exhibition which
was undoubtedly genuine was his re-
markable and stoical endurance of
pain. lie stood before us smiling and
opcn-cycd while he ran long needles
into the 1lcshy parts of his arms and
legs without llinching, and he allowed |
one OF the gentlemen present to pinch
his skin III different parts with strong
cfeEatcd plnccrs in q manner which
bruised it, and which to most people
would have caused intense pain. l..
allowed no sign OF suffering or discom-
Tort to appear: he did not set his teeth
or vince: his pulse was not uuicl1cned.
and the pupil CT his eye did not dilate
as Psychologists tell us it does when
p;lla passes . certain limit. 1t NAV be
SAT- that this merely shows that in l..
the limit OF endurance was beyond the
normal standard. or, in other words.
that his senaitiveness was less than
that OF the average man. At any rate.
III, performance in this respect was so
remarkable that some of the gentlemen
rr'~'cnt were fam to explain it bv a
supposed 'post-hypnotic suggestion"
The theory apparently being that J..
anu his comrades hypnotized one an
other, and thus made themselves in
sensible to pain.