HYPNOTISM EXTRAORDINARY

Evening Post, Volume LXXVI, Issue 138, 10 December 1908, Page 4

HYPNOTISM EXTRAORDINARY

PECULIAE EFFECT ON A MEDIUM A REMARKABLE SEIZURE. j A case which excited much comment this week at Gilgandra, New South Wales, is that in which Theodore Burton, son of the late Dr. Burton, was the principal figure, says the Melbourne Age of 30th November. He and several others one evening attended a rehearsal in connection with a forthcoming entertainment, in company with a young fellow said to possess some power as a mesmerist. Tho latter, by pre-arrange-ment, practised this on a lad present, with the idea, of mystifying the uninitiated, as a joke. Apparently he succeeded admirably. Theodore Burton was completely entranced by what he had witnessed, and offered himself as a subject to the amateur mesmerist, who at first declined, but eventually yielded. He put Burton on a chair, made the orthodox passes over him, and commanded him to sleep. The subject proved wonderfully passive, and was in a state of repose in a few seconds. The user of the occult power thought Burton had caught the spirit of the joke perpetrated in the first instance ; but when he tried to awaken Burton, and could not do so, there was consternation. "One — two — three," he counted, clapping his hands, and commanding his victim to wake, but to no purpose. Every one present was dismayed, and it was said that some young ladies fainfced. This was intensified when Burtozi showed signs of interest in the surroundings, and immediately behaved like a person suffering from a delirium. No device that was tried brought anything coherent from him, and he was taken home on a stretcher. There he suffered such fits of violence that he had to be held down by main force. A medical man was called in, and, ignoring the story about mesmerism, came to the conclusion that BWton was the victim of a seizure of some kind, and administered sedatives. Next morning the patient was apparently so far recovered that he went to his employment at M'Donagh's store. Before midday, however, evidences of the attack returning became, pronounced, and that night the youth was worse than ever. The doctor then -feared a serious mental breakdown, and treatment was resorted to. As it did not provp effective, the doctor advised the removal of the patient to the Dubbo Hospital for observation. This advice was followed on Saturday evening, and there Burton has been since. The latest reports are that he is on his way to recovery from an attack of acute hysteria. While Burton was in a state of delirium, he kept calling on the young companion to whom he submitted himself to awaken him. and alternately appealed to the persons in attendance to arrest the mesmerist. He recounted with minute accuracy the leading events of his own life, and a most painful scene was enacted when he repeated a demonstration of grief, to which he gave way at his father's deathbed three years agp. He seemed to live through the whole sorrowful experience again, even to the shock he received on being acquainted of his father's death, which was sudden.