Donato al Cosmopolitan Magazine (ca. 1890) — Autobiografia e Episodi/en

«Mesmerism: Its History, Phenomena and Present Status» is an article written by Donato in the first person and published in the Cosmopolitan Magazine around 1890. It is one of the most valuable documents in the entire literature on Donato: autobiographical, written in English for the American public, rich in specific episodes and dates not found elsewhere.

The version in the ISI-CNV archive also contains marginal notes by Marco Paret and Virgilio — operational comments that transform the text into training material.

ISI-CNV Drive Source: Cosmopolitan Article with Virgilio's Commentary

The Context: Donato in New York

The Cosmopolitan editorial note reveals that a member of the magazine's staff happened to be «one evening at Chickering Hall» where he witnessed Donato's demonstration. He was so impressed that he invited him to the magazine's office, where a private session was organized in Mr. Kurtz's photographic galleries to document the phenomena with the camera. The photographs produced that day (unfortunately the light was poor) accompany the article.

The witnesses: «More than a dozen people invited to attend, including members of the Cosmopolitan staff and men of science, had not the slightest doubt about the authenticity of hypnotism.»

The Account of the Discovery: In His Own Words

Donato recounts in the first person how his discovery arose from his character traits:

«I am quick, ardent, impetuous to excess. It is to these natural defects that I owe my discovery. Under the dominion of a fervent impatience I made my first experiment. 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 astonishing rapidity.»

Then progressively: three minutes, two, finally **a single minute**. Predecessors required 15-20 minutes of passes; Donato achieves induction in one minute.

The exact date: «In 1873, the time when I was in turn initiated into mesmerism by Canon Mouls of Bordeaux...» — confirming 1873/1874 as the year of the meeting with Mouls.

Donato's Psychological Theory Explained in His Own Words

This article contains the clearest theoretical explanation ever written by Donato:

«Somnambulism was explained by suggestion, by the dominion of a strong will, and not by the action of a fluid or by cerebral fatigue. The art consisted in capturing the subject's mind, in vividly striking their imagination, in seducing, fascinating, or subduing it. The phenomenon was not physical, nor physiological or pathological. I had to solve a psychic problem.»

The experimental proof that convinced him: «Not one of my subjects ever fell asleep, whatever process I used, unless they knew I intended to send them to sleep. And conversely, all subjects fell asleep when a witness persuaded them that I wished them to sleep, even if I was far away and not dealing with them in any way.»

Conclusion: the phenomena cannot be attributed to a fluid. The fixed gaze only puts to sleep the very rare people affected by special conditions like hysteria — and for those, any sudden stimulus (fear, joy, surprise, noise) produces the same effect.

Exclusive Biographical Episodes

Liège 1874: The First Spontaneous Public Experiment

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

This is Donato's first documented experiment of instantaneous fascination — born from anger and indignation, not from a planned demonstration.

Liège: The Paralysis of Mademoiselle Léonie

«Another time I was attending Madame Michele (also in Liège, my hometown) who had suffered a stroke. Her companion expressed doubts about the effectiveness of my healing power. Finally, somewhat irritated, I said: "Mademoiselle Léonie, to prove my power to you I will paralyze your legs with a gesture. You can no longer walk." In effect, Léonie, seized with terror, begged me to restore the use of her limbs.»

This episode illustrates the psychological mechanism of fascination: the paralysis arises from the announcement of paralysis, not from a physical action.

Paris 1881: Mounet-Sully, Sarah Bernhardt, and Jules Claretie

Three of the most famous figures of French theater attest to the authenticity of the phenomena:

Mounet-Sully, the greatest French tragedian of the era, after attending a session by Donato wrote to him: «If your experiments are not real, your subjects are comic geniuses worthy of being hired at the Comédie Française; because neither the great Talma nor the prodigious Frédéric Lemaître could have equaled them.»

Jules Claretie, director of the Comédie Française, made a similar statement in the newspaper Le Temps.

Sarah Bernhardt confessed she was incapable of assuming the ecstatic postures and expressions that Donato suggested to four of her friends during an impromptu session by the famous painter Louise Abbema.

Bordeaux 1887: The Lawyer and the Handkerchief

«In Bordeaux in 1887, in the presence of the entire press, I prevented Lawyer X. (whose name I have forgotten), the strongest man in the city, from lifting a handkerchief.»

December 1886: The Visit to Bernheim in Nancy

Donato visits Dr. Bernheim in his Nancy hospital. A patient, staring fixedly at him, «threw himself on me, to the great astonishment of Dr. Bernheim and his colleagues present.» Bernheim could not repeat the experiment. Donato comments ironically: «There is suggestion and suggestion!»

He then documents that Bernheim, in the second edition of his book on suggestion (Paris, Librairie Doin), correctly explains Donato's methods «in a way perfectly conforming to my ideas» — quoting verbatim the description of the hand technique.

Turin 1886: The Military School and the 30 Officers

«In 1886 at the war school of Turin, having fascinated about thirty young officers (out of about 100 who submitted), I made them perform their military exercises and participate in imaginary battles. I suggested to one that he was Garibaldi at Aspromonte; to another that he was the general commanding the school, etc. They assumed the bearing, gestures, and voices, and perfectly performed the roles of the characters they represented.»

Fundamental detail on the limitation of fascination: «Fascination, like hypnotism, cannot give anyone knowledge of the unknown.» The subjects play Garibaldi because they know him — they cannot play unknown characters.

Ostend August 1887: The Session for the Queen of Belgium

«At the request of the Queen of Belgium, I gave a session at the Théâtre d'Ostende on August 11, 1887, attended by the entire court. I had asked the commander of the naval school to bring me about twenty cadets to experiment on, to set aside any suspicion of trickery. That night I invented complicated scenes of fishing, swimming, sailing, and shipwreck.»

Paris 1882: Prince Luigi Murat and Count Maurice Fleury

«In 1882 in Paris, I had the idea of having Prince Luigi Murat serve at the table, having transformed him into a servant by the force of my will. And I forced Count Maurice Fleury, son of General Fleury, a gentle, reserved, and shy young man, to dance a visceral can-can before his astonished friends.»

Iași (Romania): The Court President Before Queen Natalia of Serbia

«In Iași (Romania) the judge was easily found, as I fascinated the president of the court in the presence of Queen Natalia of Serbia.»

The Confrontation with Lombroso

Donato denounces the exaggerations of Dr. Lombroso (whom he calls «the famous expert on madness, himself mad»): Lombroso had claimed to have seen a hypnotized woman read with her feet without eyes, to have made a student who did not know a note write music, and to have made another who did not know the language speak German correctly. Donato discovered that both cited students were his former subjects — and that they knew music and German perfectly. He adds: Lombroso «proceeded without method, without sincerity, and with a brutality from which the subjects suffered and complained.»

The Luys Affair

Newspapers had reported the experiments of Dr. Luys, a member of the Académie de Médecine, on two hypnotized women who reacted to medicines sealed in glass tubes. Donato vigorously denied them. An academic commission declared them false: the two patients had deceived Dr. Luys.

Milan, Bordeaux, Douai: Lawyers Transformed into Courts

«When I fascinated lawyers, as in Milan, Bordeaux, and Douai, I made them give political speeches, or I composed a court with judges, public prosecutors, defendants, etc.»

The Theory on the Safety of Fascination

This article contains the strongest defense ever written by Donato against the «dangers» of hypnosis:

«Hypnotism, omnipotent for good, is disarmed for evil. As fascination and magnetic somnambulism, it takes its source in trust, and cannot exist without voluntary surrender. No one can be fascinated or hypnotized against their will.»

He cites Braid, Bernheim, and Brouardel: all agree that subjects resist suggestions that contradict their natural moral instincts.

The metaphor of the drunk man: «A drunkard staggers, falls, seems incapable of understanding anything. And then someone shouts: "Fire! The house is burning!" — and the drunkard is the first one out. Fear has sobered him up.» No magnetism is more powerful than alcohol, passion, fear — and from these one always saves oneself.

Donato's Dream for the Future

The article closes with a prophetic vision:

«A great discovery in the so little explored domain of mesmerism perhaps holds for us the supreme manifestation of the scientific spirit of the twentieth century. As Victor Hugo wrote in a sublime verse: "The real is narrow, the possible is immense." Let us therefore work without wavering to remove the limits of the real and reach the limits of the possible.»

The Operational Notes of Marco Paret and Virgilio

The ISI-CNV document contains marginal notes in Italian that transform the text into practical training material:

«I could put you all to sleep if I wanted to, but then who would see the show. Good subjects are sensitive and intelligent (if I react badly, I make a bad impression)» — explains the logic of selection in a show
«They don't get to think. A tip: immediately lay down two or three. At least 3.» — the technique of immediate shock
«IF I PUT YOU TO SLEEP WITH MY HANDS YOU WON'T WAKE UP (explain that the hands will remain stuck). PULL NOW, PULL NOW. Speak harshly. You won't open them anymore (repeat two or three times)» — exact script for the hand-sticking suggestion

Documented Anecdotes

In the American autobiography, Donato presents his effectiveness as a matter of temperament more than learned technique: «I am quick, ardent, impetuous to excess. It is to these natural defects that I owe my discovery.» He also recounts having «questioned nature» instead of trusting books, citing self-taught great discoverers as models. On the level of the honest limits of the phenomenon, he specifies that fascination «cannot give anyone knowledge of the unknown»: the officers he made play Garibaldi did so because they already knew him. And he denies ever having produced abnormal visual faculties — he did achieve great tactile fineness in good subjects, «like the blind from birth», but «never the slightest increase in the faculties of sight», distancing himself from claims of double sight.

Source of the anecdotes: Donato, autobiography in the Cosmopolitan Magazine, complete translation (ISI-CNV Drive).