Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-09-21

and the "hypnotist' who makes them do it
proudly boasts of his controlling will"
The fake hypnotist gets rid of troublesome
subjects with stunts like those I have explained.
When he comes to his more remarkable tests,
he employs confederates who are instructed
what to do. "Hypnotists" often have trouble
with inexperienced confederates. A story is
told of "hypnotist" who hired some subjects
and when they came on the stage they laughed
at him instead of obeying his instructions. The
audience began to hiss the "hypnotist, but his
assistant came to his rescue. He appeared be-
hind the subjects, carrying a gun, and told
them to go ahead with the act or be peppered
with shot. The assistant out of sight of
the audience behind a wing of the stage but
near enough to make his message known to
the subjects They obeyed instructions to the
letter and the show was a success
To avoid such embarrassing situations, fraud
ulent hypnotiSts have their own confederates,
known, in theatrical parlance, as horses"
These professional subjects are always in de-
mand. They will sleep" in windows hours at
a time; they will let the hypnotist push needles
into them-for they have become used to the
SEght paln-and they can act any part de-
manded of them.
The most convincing "test" performed with
the aid of horse" is the cataleptic trance.
The "hypnotist" commands his subject to be-
come rigid the man straightens out and be-
gins to fall. He is caught and placed, face up.
across two chairs or benches: one at his neck,
the other at his ankles. Then several per-
sons stand or sit upon his rigid body, which
supports their weight
possible for the mans body to withstand the
strain. 1t is assumed that the hypnotic in
huence has given the subject supernormal
strength, which is ridiculous. Actually the
subject grips his trousers just above the knees
in some instances he wears leather knee straps
to gain strong holland arches his back so
that he forms human bridge. He can then
support weight that seems unbelievable
The feats of Oriental wonder workers have
been accepted as exhibitions of hypnotism by
more than one man of scientific training. These
were brought into prominence by an Egyptian
fakir Rahman Boy, who came to America
One stunt is the stopping of the pulse The
faker causes his pulse beat to drop away to
almost nothing, test which surprises all who
witness it. Yet the trick is easily accomplished
by means Of block Of wood beneath the arm
pit. By pressing his arm against the wood,
the fakir makes his pulse become slower and
slower
These wonder workers push skewers through
their arms and cheeks and then withdraw them,
causing slight flow of blood. if desired,
none, If not desired This has been accepted
as a case of auto-hypnoSS, the fakir presum-
ably hypnotizing himself. Actually it is an old
stunt of the pretended hypnotists, performed
with the aid of horses" The skewers are
not painful to person who is not particularly
sensitive to pain, and the flow of blood de-
pends only on whether the skewer is with
drawn rapidly or slowl-
ONE of the most surprising tricks of the
hypnotic subject is that of lying on a
bed Of spikes and allowing a huge stone to be
broken on the body with a sledgehammer
This seems to require absolute immunity from
pain. In reality, the subject cannot suffer in
jury. The spikes are so numerous that they
are not uncomfortable, and the stone is so
large that it absorbs the blows from the sledge-
hammer and the man hardly notices them.
1 have witnessed many performances of this
type and have studied the methods used by
self-styled hypnotists: and have learned that
public performances of this nature are filled
With trickery and false claims
This is unfortunate because hypnotism is a
subject which demands sincere and reliable
Investigations. The idea that public demon
STATIONS OF hypnotism dangerous because
they may cause serious results to the subjects
is largely miSconception, for so many DEM
onstrations are full Of fraud that is not hypno-
tism at all
The only way to determine just how much
there is in hypnotism is to conduct scientific
experiments with all chances Of trickery elimi-
mated It Is claimed that unusual results have
been gained in this manner; and such inVeSti-
cations are highly commendable, for they are
useful.
But the itinerant Snowman who works his
wonders before gaping crowds is not concerned
with scientific experiments he is out to exploit
the public and to claim miraculous powers
which he does not possess.
tCopyTght, 1e3o.)