THE PROFESSOR'S FORGETFULNESS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 11734, 16 August 1901, Page 3

THE PROFESSOR'S FORGETFULNESS.

They were discussing hypnotism in the barparlour of the Pig and Whistle, at Tuttleford, and discussing it as only an abstruse subject could be discussed there— hot spirits and water. A thick mist had hung about the town all the evening, forming an excuse for those half-a-dozen townsfolk who had hung about the Pig and Whistle for the same period. They were all bachelors, and what need was there to grope home to their lonely firesides while there were light, warmth, and intellectual conversation in the bar-parlour? The present conversation had arisen through a remarkable case reported in the weekly paper. Some one had been hypnotised and then victimised, and the law courts had been asked to open people's eyes and set the matter right. "Justice, it is a pleasure to think" (said the Tuttleford Sentinel) " can never be hypnotised Tho real question at issue was: "What is Hypnotism?" And though all the assembled Tuttlefordians agreed it was "summat," yet no ono could tell precisely what. Each one, however, believed in the mysterious science, and spoke of it with awe, devoutly hoping it would never find its way down to those parts ! Suddenly the stranger who had been asleep by the fire woke up. "You don't mean to say that any of you enlightened people believed in that darned , bogey business?" ho loudly interrogated. No one among the enlightened answered immediatelythe interruption was so sudden, so unexpected. Presently Jim Bugshaw recovered sufficiently to offer the newspaper to the man and say, Read that, mister." "Bali!" snapped the stranger with much disgust, "what do I care about the weekly paper the accumulated lies of the previous six days? The papor can't tell me anything about this subject. 1 know, and don't you • forget it." The Tuttlefordians were not likely to; if this man knew, he held a great advantage, for they certainly did not. " Um—then you don't agree as to liyprio hypno —tits— being what you may call genuine, sur?" Bob Kiddle ventured to ask —the rest of the company sitting stonily holding their peace and their grog-glasses. "Genuine!" tho stranger sneered, "well, I should smile." But he did not. Did you never hear of Professor Fortuno?" All had to confess ignorancetruly they were going to learn things! " There was a man who earned more money —for a —by what's called ' Hypnotism' than any doctor that ever lived, and I could tell you something about him that would show you tho ' genuineness' of tho business my word, yes!" and the stranger winked with ono eye, while tho other seemed to roam significantly in the direction of tho bar. "Well, sur, we should be main glad to hear it." Bob Kiddle .was again the spokesman. "All of us is interested, as one might say"—("Hear, hear," from tho company)— " and if you would moisten your lips beforehand like, why, you're welcome, surely." 'You're very kind just what you're having yourself—with sugar and lemon," was tho gracious reply. The steaming glass having been brought ] the stranger began: — " This Professor Fortuno was an American and ono of the cutest, I thought. At the timo I first came across him ho was creating a sensation in the show-business in towns out West. Crowds flocked to see him whoreever ho went, and what do you think 'drew them? Why, this very same hypnotism. The professor was a great hypnotist. Understand he had never learned the science at college, or hospital, or anywhere; it had simply, miraculously, come to him, so he said. And tho way he made use of it to charm the dollars from tho pockets of the public to his own was a marvel, for everybody believed in him— the biggest doctors and scientists in the country; while the ladies, in addition, just adored him. That wasn't difficult to understand, for his influence over everybody was so great, and he was a deuced goodlooking fellow into the bargain. Ah I" and here the speaker sighed reflectively, " it was his lady-killing propensities that upset tho professor's show at last!" "Ayo, aye," ejaculated one Job Honeysett at this point. " Whnmcn in alius at the bottom o' most things. I'll alius stick to that." "Hear, hear," chorussed the company, who wore all, as has been said, bachelors.. "It was this way, you sec," the stranger wont on. "In a certain town called Bloomville, in Kansas, the professor found his fate, or ho thought he found it, for he woe*'*? most undecided, absent-minded man, the hypnotic business being a. great strain upon his brain and system generally. His fate was a young woman named Clara Chesapcke, and she fell in love with tho professor at one of his seances and at first sight. "She was not exactly what you would call beautiful; in fact, she had hitherto been known as a rather strong-minded female, and strong-minded females ain't, as a rule, Venusos; but when Fortuno came along she discovered that, compared to his etrongth of wdl-power and mental capacity, hers wore as naught, and, like most females, she immediately placed her affection with the man sho considered her superior—' lord and master,' don't they call it? Well, ono morning, while the professor was in Bloomville, he went and made Miss Chesapeko his wife. Not a soul knew of it till after the event, but, as I have intimated, Fortuno had so many things to think about I don't suppose it occurred to him to mention the news. However to resume. A great ' sensation' and the thing that caused the very valuable preliminary excitement was tho manner of the professor's arrival first of all in a town. tits coming was announced in all the local papers beforehand, and hundreds of people used to go to the railway station to meet him, for among his baggage, labelled just the same as ordinary luggage, was a large, glass coffin; and in the coffin was a man —a man in a trance ! He- had been placed in that state by the Professor in the previous town, and brought on as an advertisement." If the stranger paused hero for effect he certainly did not pause in vain.' The Tuttlefordians gasped; and, after taking a sip of his grog, the man continued; "Now, my friends, you can, perhaps, understand what a draw the Professor was. No mistake about there was tho fcjass case, as advertised, with the human being inside, who could only bo awakened or brought back to consciousness by the hypnotist who had placed him in that cataleptic state ! "The awakening took place at the finish of tho Professor's engagement in the place of entertainment where lie performed—-1 beg pardon. I should say held—his seances. Till that time the casket was placed in the centre of the building, in the pit seats, and could bo inspected there by any one of the audience without extra payment. " The ordinary part of the Professor's programme was startling and marvellous, and, of course, . was what had made his name. He would select subjects each evening from the audience, requesting those who would like to bo hypnotised (some people are mad on new sensations, you know !) or those who were scoffers and unbelievers to step upon the platform. Then he would pick out half-a-dozen likely ones, and with the local doctors round (they were always invited and invariably came, as they got a free show and, their names being read out, a free advertisement thrown in) to see fair and diagnose the cases, he would proceed to send the people to sleep in the sight of the audience and he very seldom failed. The doctors would feel the pulses of the hypnotised patients, turn up their eyelids, and examine tho eyes through glasses, and go through all the professional antics, finally shaking their heads gravely, and saying 'Wonderful,' and, you bet, it wasunless you knew ! Then the Professor had to bring the subjects all back to life again as he had contracted to do (all but tho man in the casket, he was a fixture till the weekend, you know), and that in some cases proved xcry difficult, and tho audience used to get awfully excited, asking itself whether the person had gone for good, and, good heavens ! whit would happen if the Professor wore not on hand ? But everything came all right at last, because* there's no doubt Fortuno was a master of his business, and so his success was never in danger. "Now it happened that when he left Bloomville for the next town on his tour — which was Hollovillc, 200 miles off—he forgot 'ill about his wife; which was perhaps excusable in a man whose brain was so taken up with scientific matters, and who was so newly acquainted with the marriage state. Even when he arrived at Holloville it didn't occur to him to send a wire saying where he had gone, and asking Mrs. Fortuno (Miss Clara Chesapcke that, was) to come on; but there was such a huge crowd at the depot to meet him. I suppose the excitement of business drove all family matters out of his head ! "That night the Grand Opera House, Holloville, was crammed, packed and jammed with the biggest audience it had ever known. (It wasn't very grand, by the way, except in name, being a sort of disused horse repository built of wood, with a temporary stage erected at one end of the building and in the centre a rough-hewn dais on which was the crystal casket and the man asleep in it.) The Professor looked around on the vast sea of faces with great satisfaction when he came upon the platform to commence his seance— reckoned he could count on a

very profitable week. After the usual preamble he invited those among the audience who oared to be experimented upon to step up. Quito a crowd did go, but only the usual number were selected for subjects. Those wore quickly put in a state of catalepsy by a few mysterious passes, pressure on the eyelids, temples, etc., and the audience sat spellbound in utter amazement; not a sound was heard. "Suddenly, at this particular period, a tall, bearded man, dressed in a rough-looking cowboy costume, conspicuously showing a belt with a nasty-looking revolver in it, pushed his way unceremoniously through the crowd on the stage, followed by two unwashed, evil-eyed individuals of the Wild West type. Striding up to Fortuno the bearded giant exclaimed, in a voice that everybody in the Opera House could hear: ' Say, Mr. Perfessor, I guess I'll trouble you to come along of us—at once—instanter, so to speak !' " The Professor couldn't take it all in for a moment, and while he was trying to size it up the two fellows accompanying the speaker threw themselves on to him, and began dragging him off the platform and in tho direction of the exit-door with all their force. He just managed to gasp out, 'What does this outrage mean ?' and tho bearded man promptly replied: 'It means that we've just got two minutes to catch the last train back to Bloomville, and that you ain't got to lose it; it means that I'm the sheriff of that thar city, and I hold a warrant or what's equivalent' (and ho tapped his revolver) 'for your arrest for wife desertion. So come along. Perfessor Fortuno will be anxious— git.' "Poor Fortuno was hauled off the stage as quickly as I can tell you, and out of the place before tho audionce recovered from its surprise, and that only shows how carefully ono must conform to the usual rules and regulations when married even though you are of a scientific turn of mind there is some kind of forgetf that cannot be excused." , The stranger stopped and took up his glass. He tossed off tho remains of his toddy, then leisurely rolled a cigarette <md lighted it. The company waited in silence for some moments, then suddenly Jim Bagshaw anxiously asked: — "But I say, Mister, what became of them subjects—them that was hpy— or— —put to sleep, in a. trance, you know? You didn't say 1" "Oh, them ! Why, they simply got up and walked out with the audienceyou couldn't expect them to stay there all night, could you '(" " How do I know so much about it, you'll say ? Well, I was one of them —the man in the coffin, in fact, and the Professor owes me a week's salary to this day ! " Hypnotism—bah ! You take it from one who knows, gents, it's all a fraud—a ghastly, humbugging fraud !"