mind & bodyThe Public Domain Review1902 · Fort Wayne, Indiana, USA
A 1902 hypnotist's book claimed hypnotized people are simply machines that obey the same laws as everyone else
In 1902 the stage hypnotist James Hawthorne Loryea, performing as Santanelli, published a book arguing that hypnosis reveals how all people work. He claimed a hypnotized subject is like a slowed-down machine: its actions follow cause and effect, and he believed the conscious will played little role. His evidence came from years of nightly sessions with volunteers, who were made to act out suggestions such as believing a chair was red-hot or that they had hurt a foot. His most famous demonstration in 1896 in Fort Wayne, Indiana, put an assistant into a deep sleep for a week, during which he reportedly lost about 9 pounds and regained the weight within a day. Modern psychology does not accept his machine model, but hypnosis remains a real research topic about suggestion and attention.
Stage hypnosis of this period relied on suggestion, expectation and the willingness of the subject to follow the hypnotist's cues. Participants often responded to vivid instructions by experiencing the imagined sensation. Modern accounts treat such effects as the product of attention and expectation rather than a loss of control.
It is a useful window into the pre-Freud period, when suggestion was treated as a scientific tool rather than entertainment.
Claims that hypnosis reveals a hidden mechanical mind recur through the history of mesmerism and animal magnetism, from the 1700s onward. Later researchers in the 20th century tested these claims more carefully and found that hypnotic responses depend heavily on the subject's motivation and belief.
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