5
Such are the facts of this case. Margaret Corray
is now my wife. She has never seen Auburn, and during the weeks whose history as it shaped itself in
my brain I have endeavoured to relate, was living
at her home in Oakland, wondering where her lover
was and why he did not write. The other day I saw
in the Baltimore Sun the following paragraph:
'Professor Valentine Dorrimore, the hypnotist,
had a large audience last night. The lecturer, who
has lived most of his life in India, gave some marvellous exhibitions of his power, hypnotizing anyone
who chose to submit himself to the experiment, by
merely looking at him. In fact, he twice hypnotized
the entire audience (reporters alone exempted),
making all entertain the most extraordinary illusions.
The most valuable feature of the lecture was the
disclosure of the methods of the Hindu jugglers in
their famous performances, familiar in the mouths
of travellers. The professor declares that these
thaumaturgists have acquired such skill in the art
which he learned at their feet that they perform
their miracles by simply throwing the "spectators"
into a state of hypnosis and telling them what to see
and hear. His assertion that a peculiarly susceptible
subject may be kept in the realm of the unreal for
weeks, months, and even years, dominated by whatever delusions and hallucinations the operator may
from time to time suggest, is a trifle disquieting.'
