The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1894-11-15
TRICKS OF A T.!-PNOTIST.
A Professional S. o.: FOOLS a
Number Of oh. ..7:,r.
Hs Goes Through Ill thr Ca. iugue of
Manifestations and LaaghS At the En-
forts of the Mesmerizers-I1-
senS!bility to Pain.

the tricks of professional hypnotists il
an article in the Century, entitled The
Eternal Gullible." After quoting lit
orally from the confession made to him
by hypnotic subject, L., Mr., Eart
continues:
Being curious to study the tcchnic OF
so exceptionally gifted an artist as
a." accepted his offer, to use his
own elegant language: "To give show
at ny house" | invited several med
ical acquaintance interested in hyp-
Z. '~'0 olTding Dr. j. Milne Bran
~ 81; luke, DR.. Outterson
u Colonel j. b. Hamilton,
-5 nj others, to be present
.On {: n-'"'-~' other
sub ec,- .... was in
troduccd :, -..-. ., no cousin, but
there was so strong a family likeness
between the three chat they might
easily have passed for brothers. There
are few people who. as Sydney Smith
said of Francis Horner, "have the ten
commandments written on their faces"
1t is, therefore, not the fault of these
ingenious youths that their physiog-
nomy is not exactly, TO put it delicate
ly, such as would generally be accept
ed us guarantee of good faith. They
went through all their ordinary plat
form" business, Stimulating the hypnotic
sleep, performing various antics under
CONTROL" and in particular "going
through catalepsy," to use my friends
own phrase.
Not the least interesting part Of the
"show" was the preliminary hypnoti-
cation Of l.. by the demonstration of
physiology already referred to, whose
eyes had not yet been opened to the
fact that he had been imposed upon.
When he commanded L. to 'sleep," the
latter obediently did so, with all the
usual appearances of profound hypno-
tization, muscular relaxation, facial
congestion, upturned eyeballs, not
moving when touched, apparent insen.
sibility, stertor, insensibility to sound,
light, and external stimuli The per-
formance was splendid and complete.
Mr.. - enjoyed a moments triumph.
But L. instantly woke up again with
]eer as soon as the operator announced
that he was "undcr influence" Mr..
- made several further attempts to
hypnotic his former subject, each time
with the same result. The situation
was comic, yet had in it an element of
pathos; the operator was so earnest a
believer that the shock of his awaken
ing was almost painful to witness.
LIS performance was not destitute of |
merit, but to the critical Judgment it
left good deal to be desired. lie over
did his part, the congestion of his face
being exaggerated to degree almost |
suggestive of impending apoplexy, |
while his snoring somewhat over
stepped the modesty Of nature. These
points were dwelt on by more than one
of the gentlemen present, but am not |
altogether free from a suspicion that |
in some of the cases at least the OBJ |
Servatior was of an eX-post-facto ma
.ure.
One Of LIS 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
knee. Some exhibitions of "post-hyp-
notic suggestion" given by the two
were well calculated to tickle the |
groundlings 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 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.
L. 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. He stood before us smiling and
open-eyed while he ran long needles
into the fleshy parts of his arms and
legs without finching, and he allowed
one of the gentlemen present to pinch
his skin in different parts with strong
crenated pincers in a manner which
bruised 1t, and which to most people
would have caused intense pain. l..
allowed no sign of suffering or discom-
fort to appear; he did not set his teeth
or vince; his pulse was not quickened,
and the pupil of his eye did not dilate
as Psychologists tell us it does when
pain passes certain limit. 1t may be
said that this merely shows that in l..
the limit OF endurance was beyond the
normal standard or, in other words,
that his sensitiveness was less than
that of the average man. At any rate,
his performance in this respect was so
remarkable that some of the gentlemen
present were fain to explain it by u
supposed 'post-hypnotic suggestion"
the theory apparently being that l.
and his comrades hypnotized one an.
other, and thus made themselves in.
to pain.
Delaware Sturgeon,
Albany beef" is the euphuism on
the shores of the Delaware for Sturreon