The herald., 1896-12-09
HYPNOTIzED BY MACHINERY.
Flashes From Revolving Mirrors Put
the Victim to Sleep.

And now we are to be hypnotized by
machinery! What horrid thought!
DR.. Arthur Macdonald, of the bureau
of education, government specialist in
! education as related to abnormalities,
has machine in his possession which
will throw persons at all susceptible to
mesmeric influences into the first stage
of hypnotic somnambulism. 1t is an in
nocent enough looking machine to those
uninitiated in its dread power, or to
those who have never felt the mysteri-
Gus, subtle, all-pervading force of hyp-
motto impressions.
DR.. Macdonald sails this machine the
mirror hypnotizer" Two slender.
black ebony bars ten inches long, three
eighths of an inch thick, by one and one
quarter inches in width. are inlaid on
the opposite broad sides with seven cir
cular mirrors to each face, about an
inch in diameter These bars are super
imposed upon rotating. vertical axes,
propelled by a powerful spring through
a clockwork train of whees.
In motion the mosaic mirror bars re-
volve in opposite directions. not at
very high rate of speed-perhaps as
many as 20 to so revolutions second.
With each whirl of the blades there are
thrown into the eye of the spectator
four binding flashes of light, which
seem to race in and out, now from the
ends of the blades out again, ii most
bewildering confusion.
A curious and startling optical illu
sion takes place If the blades are persist
emily gazed at. At first the two spacial
relations or the opposite circumferen-
tial revolving of the blades are readily
recognized. but in a snort time this
gives way to the sensation that the ma
chine is moving bodily toward you, with
e;,,r xroIA L la,... al
bright meteor in a summer sky.
To test the machine properly, with
view to producing hypnotic sleep. DR..
Macdonald assured me that it is neces
sary to suggest to the new subject the
idea of sleep being produced by the ma
chine, and to constantly repeat the sug-
gestion until sleep is produced for the
first time. The machine itself really pro-
duces a profound physiological disturb
ance, and, when viewed at point some
what above the eye, the scintilating,
binding flashes from the mirrows be-
come frightfully painful, and the head
swims and reels. and over all comes an
irresistible desire to close the eyes in
peaceful slumber. The new subject will
involuntarily withdraw his gaze from
the painful glare, unless repeated sug
gestion that the machine is making him
go to sleep is continued.
After the first successful effort to put
a subject into hypnotic sleep, through
the aid of the mirror hypnotizer, each
succeeding attempt beco:es much cas-
ier, and the individual soon is an auto
hypnotic subject. throwing himself with
ease into profound somnambulism or
a cataleptic condition by mere self-sug-
gestion, as he views the machine.
The machine just described has a
broader application than any other
known device in being able to produce
simultaneously upon large number of
subjects the necessary incipicnp. physi-
illogical effects which must prevede the
hypnotic condition. BY its aid such mas
ters of the mesmeric science as Charcot.
Forel and I.iegois could control entire
classes in their more exhaustive and
comparative studies, and gain deep and
valuable insight into what must ever
seem to the layman mysterious and
occult art.-New York Herald.