Donato — L'Articolo del Cosmopolitan (con Note di Virgilio)/en

The Cosmopolitan article (late 1800s) is one of the most important texts written directly by Donato in the first person — in English — where he recounts his discovery, his method, his most famous demonstrations, and answers questions about the dangers of magnetism.

The document in the ISI-CNV archive also contains operational comments added by Virgilio T., an Italian hypnotist who annotated the text with practical observations on the theatrical use of fascination.

Primary source Drive: Cosmopolitan Article with Virgilio's Commentary (ISI-CNV Drive)

The Account of the First Discovery

Donato recounts in the first person how his fundamental intuition occurred:

"I am quick, ardent, impetuous to excess. It is to these natural defects that I owe my discovery. Under the dominion of a feverish impatience I made my first experiment. The minutes seemed like centuries to me. My will to finish quickly, energetically expressed by my gesture and my gaze, impressed the subject, who fell asleep with surprising rapidity. Excited by the success, I tried to provoke sleep ever more quickly — in three minutes, in two minutes, finally in a single minute, and my success was complete."

The discovery therefore arises from a character defect transformed into a method: Donato's impatience and intensity, impossible to contain, produce in the operator a state of total presence and incandescent will that the subject immediately perceives.

Donato's Theory in English

"The art consisted in captivating the mind of the subject, in striking vividly his imagination, in seducing, charming or subduing it. The phenomenon was not of a physical order, nor of a physiological or pathological. I had to solve a psychical problem."

This is the most concise definition Donato ever gave of his method: it is not physical, it is not physiological, it is not pathological — it is **psychical**. Fascination is a psychical problem, not magnetic in Mesmer's sense.

The experimental proof that convinced him: "None of my subjects ever fell asleep, whatever process I employed, unless they knew that I intended to send them to sleep. And conversely, all subjects fell asleep when a witness persuaded them that I wanted them to sleep, even if I was far away and not paying any attention to them."

The First Episode: Lawyer Cudell in Liège (1874)

"One evening in Liège (Belgium) in 1874, being in a café, I heard a young lawyer — Mr. Cudell — who denied my power and tried to make me look ridiculous. Indignant and furious, I placed myself before him, and without boasting but with a profound conviction I announced to him that with a single look I would make him fall backwards. My audacity paralyzed his mind and, yielding to the power of my will, he immediately rolled to the ground."

This episode is fundamental: it demonstrates that fascination can occur in a context of public challenge, without any preliminary preparation, without the explicit consent of the subject — thanks to ***surprise*** and the ***absolute certainty*** of the operator. The subject "yields to the power of the will" not because he believes in it, but because Donato's will is so concrete that it precedes any reflection.

The Technique Described in the Third Person (by Bernheim)

Donato quotes with approval the description that Professor Bernheim of the Faculty of Nancy gives of his method in the second edition of his book on suggestion:

"Donato asks the subject to place the palms of his hands on his own, held out horizontally, and to press downwards with all his strength. The subject's attention and all his physical strength are absorbed in this maneuver, while his innervation concentrated towards the muscular effort prevents his thoughts from scattering. Donato looks abruptly, quickly, and very closely; the operator then circles around the subject, continuing to stare at him and provoke him with his gaze; the latter, as if attracted and fascinated, follows him with wide-open eyes that can no longer detach themselves from his. It is a matter of suggestion by gesture."

Donato adds: "The art of hypnotism consists in striking the subject's imagination in such a way as to convince him that he attracts him like a magnet attracts iron; whereas in reality man possesses no physical magnetic virtue, but that, on the other hand, certain men are endowed with a prodigious moral magnetism and exercise an irresistible ascendancy over all the people who surround them."

The Most Famous Demonstrations

The article contains a series of revealing anecdotes about Donato's creativity:

**Turin War School (1886):** He fascinated about thirty young officers (out of about 100 who submitted to the test) and made them perform imaginary military exercises. To one he suggested being Garibaldi at Aspromonte; to another, the general commanding the school. "They assumed the gait, bearing, gestures, and voices of the characters they represented, and performed them perfectly."

**Sarah Bernhardt (Paris):** "She confessed to being incapable of assuming the ecstatic attitudes and expressions that I suggested to four of her friends in an impromptu session at the home of the famous painter Louise Abbema."

**Prince Louis Murat (Paris, 1882):** He transformed him into a servant and made him serve Donato.

**Ostend Theatre (1887), at the request of the Queen of Belgium:** He made twenty cadets from the naval school perform complicated scenes of fishing, swimming, sailing, and shipwreck.

**The most robust lawyer in Bordeaux (1887):** He prevented him from lifting a handkerchief.

**Mounet-Sully** (the greatest French tragic actor of the era) wrote after a session: "If his experiences are not real, his subjects are comic geniuses worthy of being hired at the Comédie Française; neither the great Talma nor the prodigious Frédéric Lemaître could have equaled them."

On the Question of Dangers

Donato is clear: "Hypnotism, omnipotent for good, is disarmed for evil. Like fascination and magnetic somnambulism, it draws its source from trust, and cannot exist without a voluntary surrender. No one can be fascinated or hypnotized against their will."

This principle is confirmed by Braid, Bernheim, and Charcot. Donato adds: "The fascinated subject vaguely feels that he is the sport of illusions, immersed in a sort of intoxication. He enjoys it as long as it flatters his taste or inclinations, but he recoils with all his energy as soon as he feels danger."

Operational Notes by Virgilio T.

In the ISI-CNV archive, the document contains practical annotations by Virgilio T. that comment on some of Donato's statements with operational techniques for theatrical work:

"Good subjects are sensitive and intelligent (if I react badly, I make a bad impression)"
"They don't get to think. A piece of advice: immediately lay down two or three. At least 3." — the principle of speed and cumulative effect
On stuck hands: "IF I PUT YOU TO SLEEP WITH YOUR HANDS YOU WON'T GET THERE ANYMORE — (explain that the hands will remain stuck) — PULL NOW, PULL NOW"
"speak harshly. you won't open them anymore (repeat two or three times)"
"If I wanted to, I could put you all to sleep, but then who would see the show?" — the hypnotic presupposition technique in the opening