The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1899-06-08


ever they took me. and then he'd wake me
out of my hypnotic influence and 1t would
come out that he'd hypnotized me and l
had wandered away from him before he
had chance to take me out Of the sleep.
I've done these things for other physicians.
The reason l didn't do 1t for this fellow
was that thought he was mean.
When Santanelli gave his exhibition be-
fore the physicians in the Marlborough ho-
tel l did the hardest work almost of my
whole life. Those doctors punished me
awfully I was stripped and then they
stuffed my ears with cotton, and l went
through all the tests. 1 even took the
poisons. and there very few hypnotic sub
jects that will do that. OF course, there is
only one way to do the poison test, and
that is to get out of sight in time and
take the emetic or the antidote that is
waiting for you. Anything else. like the
toxic dose of cayenne pepper, is easy enough.
How do l do that? Like everything else
by being used to it. You start in by TAX
ing grain at time, and then two grains,
and then three grains and so on till you
can take mouthful and not show any sign
OF pain or anything else, and your tongue
is all scared. Santanelli used to make a
strong play on that.
when it comes to the hardest and most
painful tests, like holding lighted cigars
and cigarets on the back of your hand, there
is only one thing that will carry you through
flame of a match till the matched burned out
many times that it's nothing to me now
but there's more than the pain to think
about when you're doing these tests for
doctors. physician can tell that you feel
pain by seeing the pupil of your eye di-
late. Well l learned to control the pupils
OF my eyes so they never moved 1t took
year to do it. though. Physicians used
to laugh and say: Well he's a corker to
stand pain 1 can laugh now myself when
I'm holding burning match to my finger.
l was nailed to the cross hands and feet
in the Grand opera house in Trenton, three
years ago, and Santanelli made me sing
funny song while l was there. The lead
ing physicians of the town thought it was
on the level. One Of them drove the nails
in and Santaneli drew them out. 1 bled
pretty bad. though. How did l stand the
pain. 1 had to stand it, that's all; and 1
made up my mind to it. That sort of thing
has been my living for IA years.
"Once Santanell pulled a penknife out
of his pocket and jabbed it in my cheek
1t didn't bleed. The doctors thought that
was wonderful thing, but it was simple
enough. 1 knew it was coming, and for
years I've had every muscle of my body I'M
der absolute control. My heart action was
lowered at the time and my blood was cir
culating very slowly. 1 can raise or
lower my heart action at will. That's
another thing that always stumps the doc
tors How can 1 do it? Well. to depress
the heart action l put my whole mind to
thinking CT just one thing-that I'm tired
out and feeling very sleepy. 1 imagine
that I'm sick and want rest, and my heart
begins to beat more and more slowly l
can't explain it any better than that
The doctors say that the mind controls
the body. That's true enough My normal
pulse beat is 70 to the minute. l can get it
down as low as As, and l can raise it above
100. The way l raise it is to think intently
a hnro 10
under the wire and the crowds yelling and
the jockeys using whip and spur, and the
horse I've bet my last cent on sticks his
nose ahead and wins. Of course, you work
up a scene like this beforehand in your
mind, with a VIII Ne lot of details about be-
ing broke if your horse doesn't win, and
maybe having to cut your throat. Then
when the proper time comes you recall the
whole thing to your mind, and you think it
all right, and your heart is humping right
away.
with all these doctors who want to pose
as hypnotists, it's conceit and vanity They
want people to think that they do things
nobody else can. One of the best times
ever had was two years ago, when l spent
three weeks at the Hotel Kaaterskll in the
Catskills, at DR.. HIS expense. He's a
Bridgeport doctor l got acquainted with and
he showed his friends what wonderful
things he could make me do when under
his hypnotic control. He asked me to go
up to the mountains, and 1 showed up at
the hotel as an agent for a cigar house.
Then he came and began to talk about his
hypnotic powers, and 1 was introduced to
him in the hotel He began to hypnotic
me, and for three weeks he was the big
gest man in the hotel, and l was living
on the fat of the land. l didn't sell any
cigars. He paid me we'll, besides paying all
my expenses.
I've made 81 900 in my life from doctors
by forgetting my name. You see. it helps a
doctor a lot in his practice if it's thought
he knows something about hypnotism. 1t
brings him patients, women especially. You
know doctors give bread pills sometimes
when patient imagines there's something
the matter with him and he's perfectly
well. He imagines the pills are going to
cure him. and he forgets to think he is
sick. Imagination is big thing. 1 use it
myself to raise or lower my heart and lower
my respiration, and in lots of other ways.
But, of course, I do it deliberately and as
a matter of business, and I've got it down
to a system. With the doctor, he's got to
make a suggestion that will lead the pa
tents imagination on Bread pills are one
thing"
''Were you ever really in a hypnotic
state? Did any one ever hypnotise you?"
the young man was asked
why, CT course not" he replied prompt
ly. Il don't believe there is any such thing
as possessing hypnotic power. If there is
I've never seen any one who had it, and
I've met the best of them in my fourteen
years in this business