Six Days In A Trance

A dramatic illustration of hypnotism accompanied by many grewsome features has been given in London by Prof. Morritt, who seems to possess extraordinary powers of a mysterious nature, says the New York World. He put a man to sleep in a coffin-shaped glaas case and kept him there nearly a week and at the end of that time awakened him in the presence of a large number of witnesses. The victim of this achievement, one Alfred Wootton, is a stained glas3-worker, 35 years of age. During the whole of the time he was asleep or in a trance he was exhibited in a public hall. When the experiment was ready to begin on Monday he had readily climbed into the coffin-shaped case, and many people watched the hypnotizer as he proceeded to exercise his mysterious power. Holding Wootton by the forehead and chin, the hypnotizer gazed steadily into his syes. He then made a few downwnrd passes from above the eyes along the side of the face, from time to time examining the pupils of thé eyes. The man, it was found, had by this time become rigid. O;e minute after the experiment began the hypnotizer asked Dr. Forbes to examine the man. He was found to be thoroughly unconscious. His pulse was 96, the exact number of beats it registered before he ecavne unconscious. His respiration was about 16, tia breathing chiefly abiominal. Tempe: r.'.ure was 9S.2, or nortnal. The pupils of the eyes were conracted almost to disappearance. Durng the following days the respiration, emperature and pulse changed slighty, but the man remained in a tranc? :ondition. His beard continued to grow. When he was awakened by Prof. Mor"itt the following Saturday evening, he :ould not be convinced that he had been n a hypnotic trance for nearly a week until he feit the thick growth of beard on his face. He said it seemed to him ;hat he had only been asleep for a few minutes. It did not take longer thau a. minute to wake him up. The professor made a few passes of his hand across the man's face and lifted hia lead and shoulders from the coffln3haped case. Wootton then opened hia ;yes and instantly recognized friends in he crowd about him, with whom he began to converse. The only notable seniation he experienced upon waking, he sald, was that of hunger. A short time after being awakened he put on his coat and walked out of the building with hls friends. He had been constantly watched during the whole ;lme in the trance and eviaced much nterest in the records of the doctors. Prof. Morritt had previously tried a similar experiment with one Henry violan, but the doctors who were watchng his case expressed the opinión that 'iolan was not physically strong enough to undergo the ordeal.