The "Aaron’s rod" of medical science

Suggestive Therapeutics was described as "the Aaron’s rod of medical science," asserting that psychology is present in every effective system of healing and that no method of treatment is complete without an understanding of mental law. Parkyn criticizes both traditional physicians for neglecting the body's natural recuperative force and metaphysical healers for rejecting the legitimate use of medicine, stating that "the wise man is he who bends all things to his service in the evolution of good." ^[27]

The purpose of The Chicago School of Psychology is outlined as teaching patients the practical use of their own mental forces, stating that the school instructs individuals on "how to heal themselves" by placing the body in the right mental condition for nature to complete recovery. The school emphasized that mental power alone is not relied upon in every case, giving the example that if "a man’s hand were dirty, all the faith in the world would not cleanse it" and that physical means remain necessary. Similarly, the body is compared to an electric railway in which the brain is the dynamo and the organs the streetcars; if the trouble lies in the dynamo, psychological treatment is required, but if the obstruction is mechanical, then local physical treatment must be used, stating that "psychology and medicine together are well nigh invincible, and the one acts as a support and a stay to the other." ^[27]

The "free" public clinic

A central feature of the institution was its free public clinic, which operated three mornings a week. Patients attended from Chicago and distant cities, as well as visiting physicians who often observed or brought their own chronic cases. The clinic averaged twenty-five patients per session. All cases were treated exclusively through verbal suggestion, with no concurrent use of medicine or electricity. Clinic records showed high success rates. Treatments were conducted using verbal suggestion, with the patient seated or reclined, and usually without the use of deep hypnosis. Emphasis was placed on the use of "normal" or waking suggestion. ^{[29] [26] [30] [31] [32]}

Instruction

Instruction at the clinic was hands-on, with students observing live treatments and participating in discussions of diagnoses and suggested interventions. The operating room was designed to create a quiet, chapel-like atmosphere with dim lighting that was most conducive in achieving a highly suggestible state. The treatments were typically delivered in a tone described as steady and prayer-like, aiming to evoke physical and mental relaxation. The methodology differed markedly from the more dramatic techniques of stage hypnotists or earlier schools of mesmerism. Instead of focusing on trance like somnambulistic displays, the Chicago School emphasized a clinical, rational process to induce a suggestible state. ^{[26] [30] [31]}

Unlike older methods of hypnosis involving eye-fixation or physical manipulations, the school's approach was subtle and respectful, inducing immediate suggestibility with minimal overt effort. The Chicago School was one of the first to promote auto-suggestion as a scientific method for influencing health and behavior through repeated, self-directed affirmations. Dr. Parkyn taught that focused mental repetition could shape physical and emotional conditions by acting directly on the subconscious. Parkyn distinguished auto-suggestion from hypnotism by emphasizing voluntary, internal influence rather than external control. The method required concentration, emotional conviction, and consistency. ^{[26] [30] [31]}

• 
  Dr. Parkyn using suggestion as an anesthetic
• 
  Demonstration of the cataleptic state

Diploma and degree of "Doctor of Psychology"

The Chicago School of Psychology conferred the degree of Doctor of Psychology to students who completed the full course of instruction in Suggestive Therapeutics and passed an examination prepared and approved by the school's management before receiving their credential. ^{[33] [34]}

In an era when the organized medical profession, often referred to as the "medical monopoly," was actively lobbying to limit or eliminate drugless healing practices, the Chicago School's credential became especially significant. Conventional physicians viewed practitioners of suggestive therapeutics as a direct threat, since it was producing notable results in functional and nervous disorders that traditional medicine struggled to treat and that made up a substantial part of their clinical work. As a result, graduates required a credential able to withstand scrutiny from medical boards and licensing examiners. ^{[35] [14]}

To meet this regulatory pressure, the school issued a diploma designed to project both authority and academic legitimacy. Each graduate was awarded an engraved diploma printed on sheepskin, measuring fourteen by eighteen inches. It bore an elaborate steel-engraved heading, formal language certifying the successful completion of examination, the signature of Dr. Herbert A. Parkyn as the medical superintendent, and sealed with a prominent embossed rosette ribbon. It served as the official credential used by graduates when applying for state licenses or legal recognition of their practice. Its reputation grew quickly, and across the country it became known as one of the strongest documents available to legitimize practitioners of Suggestive Therapeutics and hypnotism during a period of intense regulatory pressure. ^{[35] [14] [36] [37]}

Voluntary, involuntary, and "involuntary-voluntary"

According to Dr. Parkyn, auto-suggestion operated through three distinct forms: voluntary, involuntary, and involuntary-voluntary. Voluntary auto-suggestion referred to the conscious and deliberate repetition of constructive thoughts or affirmations intended to reshape habits, behavior, or bodily function. Involuntary auto-suggestion occurred automatically, through impressions absorbed from one's surroundings, experiences, and emotions, without any deliberate effort. The third form, which Parkyn called "involuntary-voluntary auto-suggestion," combined both processes. It arose when a person consciously performed an action or followed instructions that unconsciously reinforced a mental impression. Parkyn illustrated this with the example of a patient who takes medicine prescribed for sleeplessness. Each time the dose is taken, the thought arises, "This medicine will quiet my nerves and help me sleep," regardless of whether the patient is aware of using suggestion. Similarly, individuals receiving "absent treatment" or "magnetic healing" engage in the same process by expecting beneficial results, thereby producing the therapeutic effect through their own suggestive belief. ^[44]

Parkyn explained that this hybrid form of suggestion could be deliberately employed to achieve results even with skeptical patients. By assigning simple daily tasks, such as sipping water slowly or performing physical exercises, while emphasizing that these actions would bring improvement, the practitioner caused the patient to generate involuntary-voluntary auto-suggestions each time the task was performed. In this way, Parkyn showed that suggestion could operate at multiple levels of awareness and that much of what appeared to be external healing was, in fact, the individual's own mind responding to inner conviction. ^{[45] [44]}

Parkyn’s teaching marked one of the earliest systematic methods for consciously using auto-suggestion as a scientific tool. He taught that "anything that suggests is a suggestion," meaning that every sensory perception, spoken word, or environmental influence affects the subconscious mind. Because of this, he cautioned against the use of negative suggestions, explaining that repeating what one wishes to avoid, such as "I will not fail" or "I cannot be nervous," tends to reinforce the very condition one intends to overcome. Instead, he urged his students to affirm what they desired directly, using positive, rhythmic statements such as "I can and I will." ^{[47] : 51}

The methods taught at the Chicago School emphasized the disciplined use of repetition, emotional conviction, and concentrated attention to implant affirmative thoughts in the involuntary mind. Once impressed upon it, these ideas manifested naturally in behavior and bodily function. This systematic approach to auto-suggestion, developed more than two decades before Émile Coué popularized the term, became one of the most influential elements of Parkyn's teaching and laid the conceptual foundation for much of the later New Thought and self-mastery literature produced by his students and affiliated schools. ^[44]

Campaign to investigate telepathy

One of the best-documented sessions was a privately arranged telepathy experiment conducted at the school by Dr. Parkyn and Sydney B. Flower. The event was attended by students, several visiting physicians, and invited guests, including psychologist Henry H. Goddard of Clark University. The tests involved both hypnotized and conscious participants attempting to guess numbers and letters, locate hidden objects, and reproduce drawings transmitted mentally from one room to another. In several cases, participants appeared to respond correctly, such as one hypnotized woman who identified a number after a period of silent concentration, and another subject who correctly named the letter "S" that was being visualized by a second participant. Parkyn also experimented by touching the heads of hypnotized subjects while mentally transmitting numbers, correctly matching three out of six figures. Later trials attempted to transmit actions and simple images, with two of four producing recognizable similarities. ^[49] While the results were mixed, Parkyn concluded that some outcomes pointed to genuine thought transference beyond chance, suggesting a need for continued, systematic investigation of telepathic phenomena within a scientific setting. ^[50]

Hypnotism and Hashish

In 1897, Dr. Parkyn conducted an experimental demonstration to test the effects of hashish on hypnotized subjects. Assisted by Dr. L. Hamilton McCormick, he placed five men into deep hypnosis and administered measured doses of hasheesh to each. The goal was to determine whether the drug could compel confessions or reveal hidden thoughts when combined with hypnotic suggestion. The responses varied. One subject experienced terror and believed he was falling. Another reported seeing devils. A third appeared to confess to theft. One shifted between laughter and weeping without coherence, while another remained largely unaffected. ^[51]

Parkyn reported that hasheesh intensified emotional and hallucinatory reactions, destabilizing the hypnotic state. He concluded that while the drug could heighten suggestibility, it rendered subjects unreliable and unpredictable. As he summarized, "the experiment proves not that truth may be extorted under such influence, but that the mind becomes more unstable, more fantastic, and far less reliable." Parkyn ultimately affirmed that pure suggestion, without narcotics, was the safer and more effective approach for both therapeutic and investigative purposes. ^[52]

Psychological analysis of religious and occult practices

Parkyn's experiments at his school also focused on the scientific investigation of ideas associated with occult and esoteric teachings, based on his belief that emerging scientific methods were approaching the ability to provide tangible explanations for these traditions. According to Parkyn, psychology was expected to "furnish the guides to lead us toward the truth" in the study of the occult sciences. His stated objective was "to find a basis of fact on which to govern all theories regarding metaphysical and psychical processes and to account for all occult phenomena on purely scientific lines." His research included observations on the parallels between religious and ceremonial practices and therapeutic suggestion. He studied elements of Catholic, Evangelist, and ceremonial rituals, such as repetition, posture, music, incense, and sacramental rites, as structured techniques that induced a suggestible mental state, functioning in ways comparable to methods used in psychological therapy. ^{[53] [14] [54] [55]}

Experimental study of negative newspaper suggestions

After observing and documenting how readers reacted to sensational news reports, Dr. Parkyn argued that newspapers exerted a direct and harmful psychological influence on the public through negative suggestion. He maintained that repeated exposure to vivid descriptions of murder, suicide, assault, and other violent acts implanted mental images in readers, especially those he regarded as highly suggestible. Parkyn claimed that such individuals often imitated what they encountered in print, producing measurable increases in similar crimes. He cited cases in which multiple razor blade murders and wire strangulations occurred shortly after newspapers printed detailed accounts of similar crimes, noting that the use of such devices in those days had become infrequent. He further observed that clusters of murders and suicides appeared in direct proportion to the influence of recent newspaper suggestions. ^[56]

Dr. Parkyn argued that newspaper reporting shaped public attitudes as well as behavior. He maintained that prolonged exposure to war coverage and accounts of revolutionary violence reduced the perceived value of human life and created a demand for sensational material. When newspapers stopped reporting on war events, he stated, public interest dropped immediately, and editors responded by supplying domestic violence, scandal, and criminal trials to satisfy the appetite they had helped create. ^[56]

Dr. Parkyn further claimed that newspapers harmed health through suggestive advertising. Patent medicine advertisements persuaded readers that common sensations were signs of a serious disease, inducing symptoms through auto-suggestion and fostering long-term debility or drug habits. He cited a kidney-cure promotion titled "A Silent, Unseen Foe," which presented ordinary changes in urine or back pain as certain signs of kidney disease, and the laxative advertisement "TOO LATE?," which used the image of a mother at a dying child's bedside and claimed that many childhood illnesses were caused by constipation and was marketed as a "fragrant little candy tablet," that was aimed at encouraging habitual laxative use in both mothers and their children. ^[56]

Parkyn also identified "Lost Manhood" advertisements as a source of severe psychological distress, arguing that fear-based sexual-health ads caused many young men to suffer silently for years under the belief that they were irreparably damaged. ^[56]

• 
  "A Silent, Unseen Foe," ad by Doan's Kidney Pills
• 
  "TOO LATE?," ad by Cascarets laxative pills
• 
  Ads for patent medicine cures for "Lost Manhood"

As a remedy, Parkyn urged the removal of detailed crime reporting and deceptive medical and sexual-health advertisements. He proposed public education on the effects of suggestion and recommended postal or legal restrictions, such as denying second-class mailing privileges, to curb what he saw as widespread social harm created by the press. ^[56]

Recorded Suggestions for patients

Parkyn was the first physician to use the phonograph as a tool for delivering therapeutic suggestions. He would record repeated affirmations and curative phrases onto wax cylinders, allowing patients to listen to them regularly and even use them at home as part of their treatment. This method was designed to reinforce mental conditioning through consistent exposure to spoken suggestions. Parkyn also found that the vibrations of the recorded voice attuned directly to the vibrational frequency of the patient carried strong psychological influences that acted directly on the involuntary mind. ^{[57] [58] [55]}

With the constant exposure to the recording and repetition of suggestions at the school, the students themselves would be influenced by them, many of whom reported unintended physical and sensory effects, that reinforced the institution's teaching of the mind's direct impact on bodily processes. ^{[26] [30] [59] [60] [61]}

Harmony, vibration, sound, color, and light

Dr. Parkyn conducted extensive experiments on the relationship between sound, vibration, light, and mental states at the school. Building on ancient Greek ideas that harmony was the fundamental principle of nature, he sought to demonstrate that both mind and matter operated according to universal vibratory laws. Using a phonautograph to record musical tones onto prepared plates, he observed that each note produced a distinct geometric pattern, often resembling flowers or shells. These forms appeared to grow more complex with each rise in pitch, which demonstrated visual evidence of nature's underlying harmony and order. This led to the development of a therapeutic system based on the theory that every individual possesses a unique vibrational frequency, or "keynote," to which the mind and body naturally respond. Through controlled breathing, rhythmic movement, and vocal exercises, patients were guided to restore balance by harmonizing their personal vibration. Parkyn would then use the phonautograph to measure the frequency of the human voice and adjust it toward equilibrium, asserting in 1898 that he had conclusively demonstrated that each person was attuned to a specific note. ^{[62] [57] [58] [63] [64]}

Color and light were also incorporated into treatment. Parkyn used McIntosh electro-thermal cabinets equipped with colored incandescent bulbs, applying different hues according to their psychological effects. Red was used to stimulate, blue to calm, and green to reduce activity. ^{[62] [57] [58] [63]} The McIntosh Battery and Optical Company, located in Chicago, made the latest equipment for Electro-Therapeutics, X-Rays, and other experimental work. Parkyn used these devices in his research and they were heavily advertised in his magazines. ^[65]

• 
  Ad for the McIntosh Battery and Optical Company in Parkyn's magazine
• 
  Ad for the McIntosh Battery and Optical Company in Parkyn's magazine

The Parkyn Table

Dr. Parkyn's clinical work at the Chicago School of Psychology was closely associated with the use of the Allison physician's table and chair, manufactured by the W. D. Allison Company of Indianapolis. Parkyn used the adjustable Allison table in his daily practice, reclining patients during suggestive treatment sessions to improve circulation and induce relaxation. His methods combined gentle physical positioning with verbal suggestion, emphasizing increased blood flow to affected areas. ^{[66] [14]}

Parkyn praised the Allison, describing it as the best available and "an absolute necessity" for undertaking suggestive therapeutics. Recognizing its value in the emerging fields of psychological medicine, the W. D. Allison Company collaborated with Parkyn to design a new model specifically suited to his methods. The company introduced this specialized version as "The Parkyn Table", intended for use in suggestive therapeutics and osteopathic treatment. The first table produced was placed in the Chicago School of Psychology as a demonstration model for students and visiting physicians. The table soon became recommended equipment for practitioners of suggestive therapeutics and osteopathy throughout the United States. ^[66]

"Thought takes form in action"

One of Dr. Parkyn's most widely repeated maxims was the phrase "Thought takes form in action." It became a defining statement of his system of Suggestive Therapeutics and appeared throughout his teachings, including extensive use in his A Mail Course in Suggestive Therapeutics and Hypnotism. Dr. Parkyn employed the phrase to express the principle that mental states, once impressed upon the involuntary mind, inevitably manifest outwardly in behavior, bodily function, and everyday life. Through its repeated use across a wide network of New Thought authors, suggestion-based journals, and affiliated schools, the phrase became one of the most widely recognized statements in early American mental science. ^[45]

As advertising schools, business colleges, and salesmanship institutes began to formalize psychological training in the early twentieth century, many drew directly from Dr. Parkyn's teachings and from graduates who had studied under him at the Chicago School of Psychology. Parkyn himself was affiliated with The Sheldon School of Scientific Salesmanship in Chicago, which incorporated his methods into its instruction on influence, buyer psychology, and persuasive presentation. Across these programs, the principles of suggestion were treated as the foundation of effective salesmanship, emphasizing that the same mental laws governing therapeutic change also shaped attention, persuasion, and consumer behavior. Parkyn's maxim, "Thought takes form in action" became one of their most frequently cited examples, used to illustrate how repeated ideas structure behavior. ^{[69] [68] [70]} Building on this momentum, Parkyn's phrase was adapted into a national marketing campaign for banks that promoted what was called the "savings habit" or "cash habit," which encouraged the public to open and maintain savings accounts, framing it as a trainable habit shaped through repetition. The campaign became the earliest large-scale applications of suggestive therapeutics in American advertising, demonstrating how Parkyn's psychological system could be translated directly into commercial behavior-shaping strategies. Other phrases that Dr. Parkyn popularized within the New Thought movement, that became widely used in commercial campaigns, included, "I can and I will," "Do it Now," "Are you a Thinker," and "Health, Happiness, and Success." ^{[71] [72] [73]}

• 
  Various ads with "Thought takes form in Action, repeated actions become habits"
• 
  Various ads using Dr. Parkyn's campaign of "Do it now"
• 
  Various ads using the campaign of "Are you a thinker"

The Chicago School on Personal Magnetism, Magnetic Healing, and Distant Treatment

Dr. Parkyn acknowledged that among all related fields, none had drawn more interest than Magnetism and Telepathic distant healing. He chose to address both by devoting a chapter to each in his course. While noting that these fields were still in their infancy, he allowed that future technological developments might one day detect how magnetic energy could influence the mind and aid healing. However, he emphasized that, at present, the observable results attributed to these practices were entirely due to suggestion. ^{[47] [74] : 270–286}

On Personal Magnetism, Dr. Parkyn said it was a matter of pleasing the five senses and satisfying the caprices of those with whom one comes in contact. That "personal magnetism is a delicate consideration for others, a kind of cultivated sympathy to the feelings, likes and dislikes of those with which we come in contact, a subjugating of the self in every direction that would be distasteful to the feelings of another." But ultimately it is created by suggestion, stating "Thoughts take form in action. The converse of this is true also, for our actions take form in the thoughts of others...Think the right thoughts and desirable actions will follow." ^{[74] : 270–273}

Regarding Magnetic Healing and distant treatments, Parkyn demonstrated that these methods were essentially forms of Suggestive Therapeutics. He cited the common practice among such healers of instructing patients to "lie down several times a day, relax all over, and rivet their attention upon any part of the body which is in trouble, claiming that by so doing the circulation flows freely to that part and heals it." To this, Parkyn responded, "What is this but a very sensible and potent suggestion?" ^{[74] : 278} He also included a letter from a former student who had become a Magnetic Healer. In it, the student acknowledged that his healing technique was fundamentally Suggestive Therapeutics, but noted that framing it as magnetic force made the curative idea more persuasive to patients, thereby enhancing the suggestion's effect on the involuntary mind. ^{[74] : 277}

Dr. Parkyn endorsed this dynamic and explored it more directly in 1899 with his patented invention of "The Magnetic Healing Cup," a device which he promoted as both a scientific instrument and a controlled experiment in applied psychic research. The cup was developed as a tool to test whether a physical object could enhance the therapeutic effects of suggestion by providing patients with a tangible medium through which belief and expectation could be concentrated. Dr. Parkyn distributed the cups free of charge from offices at 4000 Cottage Grove Avenue, as part of a structured effort to collect feedback on their use. ^{[75] [76] [77] [78]}

The Magnetic Healing Cup, marketed as "The last and greatest discovery of the nineteenth century." ^[79]

• 
  Patent for The Magnetic Healing Cup ^[80]
• 
  Ad by Partlow Designs of Chicago ^[81]
• 
  "Drink Liquid Life"

Parkyn originated several methods for inducing the suggestive state that were taught at the school.

Parkyn developed several original and effective methods for inducing the suggestive state that were taught at The Chicago School of Psychology and in his Mail Course book. One involved striking a match and having the subject stare at the flame until it nearly burned out, repeating this three times. On the third match, the subject was told their eyes would become stuck shut after closing them and in most cases they could not reopen them, soon entering a deep suggestive state. Another method required the subject to hold both hands in front of their face and slowly count each fingernail from one little finger to the other, inducing drowsiness or sleep by the tenth finger. A third technique had the subject hold a pencil in their teeth and run their gaze slowly up and down its polished surface. Combining these techniques with simple verbal suggestions such as "your eyelids are very heavy, you are very drowsy, you are going to sleep. Sleep-sleep-sleep," it would swiftly complete the induction. ^{[82] [47] [45]}

The many methods for inducing hypnotism taught at The Chicago School of Psychology. ^[74]

• 
  Staring at the end of a pencil
• 
  Gazing at Svengali's picture
• 
  "You can't open your eyes"
• 
  Gazing into the eyes
• 
  Smelling imaginary fumes
• 
  Counting time
• 
  Gazing at a flame
• 
  Crystal gazing

The "two quart a day habit"

At the time, this framing of "life essentials" was novel and Dr. Parkyn was the first in the West to promote the drinking of water as a fundamental necessity for health. He emphasized it as one of the most vital of the "life essentials" and asserted that well-being depended largely on its proper use. Parkyn specified that the proper amount of water to drink daily was two quarts. To reinforce this practice, he developed a series of auto-suggestions designed to instill what he called the "Two Quart a Day Habit.". ^{[84] [85] [86] [45]}

The Hermetic doctrine of the five elements and the five Platonic solids

Parkyn connected his "life essentials" teaching to the ancient Hermetic doctrine of the five elements, which taught that all matter and processes in nature arise from Air, Fire, Water, Earth, and Aether or Spirit. He regarded these elements as both physical and spiritual forces within the human being. Each life essential was presented as corresponding to one of these principles, with air linked to breathing, fire to sunlight, water to purification, earth to nourishment, and spirit to movement and mental exercise. When these forces fell out of balance, disease and disorder were believed to result. ^{[14] [87]} He also related these ideas to the concept of the five geometric Platonic solids, which symbolized the pure forms of the elements. For Parkyn, this ancient framework demonstrated that true health depended on harmony between the visible and invisible forces of life. ^[88]

Christian Science is a "masked suggestion"

While Christian Science claimed to cure illness through spiritual means, Dr. Parkyn argued that any therapeutic results observed in Christian Science healing were not the result of spiritual realization or divine intervention, but rather what he termed, "masked suggestion," a subconscious mental process that unintentionally improved bodily conditions.

Criticism of Christian Science and Mary Baker Eddy

Parkyn directed much of his criticism of Christian Science toward Mary Baker Eddy's, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures . He noted that the book lacked logical coherence, was filled with contradictions, and departed from both science and theology. He objected to its denial of matter, disease, and death, and that physical conditions arise solely from false belief and are corrected through spiritual understanding rather than through any material process. He questioned how Christian Science accounted for illnesses in those incapable of belief, such as infants, animals, or the mentally ill. He pointed out that if suffering and sickness were mere illusions, there should be documented cases of Christian Science curing amputations or restoring lost limbs, yet no such evidence existed. ^[97]

Parkyn also criticized Christian Science's theological implications, finding it contradictory that the book denied the existence of sin and evil, while simultaneously warning its followers that they would be persecuted and suffer for their beliefs. He also took issue with Eddy's control over the movement, noting that she discouraged independent writings and declined to treat patients herself, yet insisted her books were the exclusive source of curative knowledge. Parkyn viewed Christian Science not as a coherent medical or theological system but as a superstition built upon an unacknowledged psychological foundation, stating "that while Christian Science may have produced results, it did so through unrecognized mental influence, not through the metaphysical doctrines it professed." ^[97]

The Bangs Sisters Exposed

Elizabeth and May Bangs, known as the Bangs Sisters, were Chicago spiritualist mediums celebrated for producing supposed "spirit messages" during slate-writing séances. In their performances, the sitter wrote questions on paper, sealed them in an envelope, and watched the medium bind the envelope between two slates held together with string. The bound slates were covered with a larger slate but kept in view while the medium would announce received mental impressions from a spirit or claim to see clairvoyantly initials floating in the air. After twenty to thirty minutes, taps signaled that the spirits had replied. When the slates were opened, the sitter's sealed letter appeared to have been answered in a different handwriting, giving the illusion of automatic writing by a spirit. ^{[101] [102] [100]}

Between the summer of 1899 and the spring of 1900, Dr. Parkyn, Sydney B. Flower, and Stanley L. Krebs conducted controlled investigations showing the results were produced through deception. Flower first attended fifteen sittings using slates he tightly sealed himself with screws, string, or wax. Whenever the slates were truly secured, no spirit writing ever appeared. Upon conferring with Flower, Dr. Parkyn conducted a more controlled test and observed the actual method, in which a concealed wedge created a small gap between the slates that allowed the sealed letter to slide into the medium's lap before being pushed under a door to her sister in the next room. The sister opened the envelope by steaming or moistening the flap, copied the questions, prepared replies, resealed the letter, and returned it to be slipped back between the slates without detection. ^{[102] [100]}

• 
  A letter is placed between two bound slates ^[100]
• 
  The bound slates are then covered by a single larger slate ^[100]
• 
  A hidden wedge is then used to pry the letter out ^[100]

To formally document the method, Parkyn asked Stanley L. Krebs to attend a séance and advised him to come equipped with a concealed mirror that he could discreetly place on his lap to watch everything happening under the table. Krebs confirmed each stage of the trick for the International Society for Psychical Research, describing it as a coordinated system of misdirection, mechanical manipulation, and assistance from an accomplice. ^[100]

• 
  Krebs using a mirror in his lap to see the trick
• 
  The Bang Sisters exposed

On April 11, 1900, Parkyn publicly reproduced the entire process before fifteen students at The Chicago School of Psychology. While his students watched, he sat at a table with slates and an envelope containing a question. His father, James Parkyn, was hidden in a back room to play the role of the accomplice. During the demonstration, Parkyn used a black linen thread with a loop in the middle rather than a wedge to remove and return the letter more smoothly. This improvement allowed him to avoid turning sideways in the chair or performing any obvious motions. The letter was passed to the adjoining room, opened, answered, and replaced in the slates in about half an hour. None of the observers detected how it was done. Parkyn noted that by simplifying the mechanism, he could perform the trick faster and with less chance of discovery. ^[100]

The Telepathy Duel with Miss Maud Lancaster

In one of the most widely publicized examinations of psychic claims in America, Dr. Parkyn entered into a public telepathy duel with Miss Maud Lancaster of London, known in the press as the "Lady Sherlock Holmes." Lancaster claimed she had assisted Scotland Yard with her psychic abilities and was touring the United States demonstrating what she called genuine telepathy. ^{[103] [104] [105]}

After Dr. Parkyn and William Walker Atkinson attended her exhibition at the Chicago Press Club on January 24, 1901, where she performed a series of blindfolded feats including identifying people who had touched objects, locating an imaginary murder weapon, and reading the serial number on a banknote, Parkyn publicly stated that the results could be explained by natural means such as refined sensory awareness, involuntary cues, and crowd reactions. Miss Lancaster and her manager quickly took offense and issued a formal challenge for a second test under strict scientific conditions. ^{[106] [107] [108]}

The duel was held on February 12, 1901, at the Palmer House Hotel before seventy invited doctors, scientists, journalists, and officials. Parkyn personally blindfolded Miss Lancaster with multiple layers of surgical cotton and cloth and required complete silence to eliminate any sensory cues or suggestive signals. Under these conditions, Lancaster failed to reproduce any of her earlier feats, misidentified participants, and could not determine the banknote number. She blamed her failure on the audience and later claimed that Parkyn had "hypnotized" her. ^{[14] [106]}

The event received extensive press coverage and became a landmark example of a public psychic claim tested under controlled observation. Although Lancaster continued her tour, the Chicago duel marked a turning point in how her abilities were regarded. Parkyn was praised for demanding proper test procedures and showing that dramatic stage results were not evidence of telepathy. He and Atkinson nonetheless acknowledged Lancaster's remarkable skill as a performer, noting that her techniques offered insight into suggestion, sensory discrimination, and audience influence. ^{[14] [106]}

The tricks of mentalists

In 1900, Dr. Parkyn anonymously authored the Mind Reading course for the Psychic Research Company. Writing anonymously allowed him to present material that would have been inappropriate to publish under his own name within a formal medical or scientific context. The Psychic Research Company had been founded by Sydney B. Flower and financed by Jay Van Tuyl Daniels and his cousin Van Ness Daniels Smith of Minneapolis. The Daniels family had been associated with Dr. Parkyn since back when he was at the University of Minnesota. ^{[109] [110] [111] [112]}

The course drew directly from Parkyn's systematic investigations into the techniques used by traveling clairvoyants and stage mentalists. Parkyn demonstrated that the mentalists were not using telepathy, clairvoyance, or supernatural powers in their stage displays but it was the art of muscle reading. Parkyn framed muscle reading as an expression of "thought taking form in action." Just as emotions such as fear, anger, or excitement naturally manifest through facial expressions and bodily reactions, focused attention produces imperceptible but reliable muscular responses. A skilled mentalist does not read minds, but interprets these involuntary indicators with precision, by training themselves to detect subtle unconscious cues from the guide's hand, body posture, and direction of attention ^[114]

The course also disclosed the mechanics behind more dramatic exhibitions like the blindfold carriage drive act. Parkyn explained that the performer typically used a specially folded black silk handkerchief that appeared to obstruct the eyes completely but left one thin layer positioned to permit limited vision. When folded from opposite corners short of the center, the cloth created the illusion of a secure blindfold while providing a narrow but effective line of sight. Parkyn supplied detailed folding instructions so students could reproduce and experiment with the method themselves. ^[109]

Although Parkyn showed that these performances relied on practiced technique rather than clairvoyance, he also emphasized that the skills involved required significant mental discipline. Years of practice had given stage hypnotism performers heightened concentration, refined sensory awareness, and strong personal influence over audiences. Parkyn regarded these developments as genuine psychological accomplishments. He maintained that students who practiced muscle reading, blindfold work, and similar techniques were not merely learning stage tricks but training the mind to focus, interpret subtle cues, and direct attention with accuracy. For Parkyn, this practical training cultivated mental faculties that had value in self control, perception, and the study of suggestion. ^{[115] [109]}

Graduates that used stage hypnotism acts to educate the public about the Law of Suggestion

Since the mid 1800s, stage performers had used the art of muscle reading and simple acts of mesmerism to present shows billed as amazing displays of supernatural powers and mystical forces. With the advent of scientific investigation and a clearer understanding of hypnotic suggestion, these charlatan performers were seen as detrimental to the public’s acceptance of the therapeutic properties of suggestion, because they continued to perpetuate a mysterious and dark image of hypnotism. To counter this, and to make use of the extreme popularity of such performances as a platform for education, several of Dr. Parkyn’s students became involved in stage hypnotism in order to explain the true nature of the law of suggestion. ^{[116] [117]}

Dr. Parkyn’s fellow Canadian, Thomas F. Adkin, played an important role in shaping these efforts. Born the same year as Parkyn in Bothwell, Ontario, Adkin helped to develop the stage acts and instructed performers in the art of muscle reading. He had already been involved for several years in stage hypnotism shows. He began in 1892 as a subject and performer for the famous stage hypnotist Dr. Herbert L. Flint, singing at his shows and for being hypnotized to see the devil and hell. He later became Flint’s business manager and assistant. In 1893, Adkin would then serve as manager for another famous stage hypnotist, Sylvain A. Lee. ^{[118] [119] [120] [121] [122] [123] [124] [125]}

Unlike earlier mentalists who concealed their methods, these later shows openly explained and demonstrated the techniques used in each effect as part of the performance. The programs were designed to be family friendly, and the combination of disclosing the techniques while still fooling the audience produced a wildly funny show that became hugely successful, while at the same time illustrating the practical operation of suggestion. ^{[126] [127] [128]}

These graduates included:

• E. Virgil Neal, who created the stage persona of X. Lamotte Sage and would tour with his wife as the wildly successful, "The Sages." Thomas Adkin would serve as their manager. ^{[129] [130] [131] [132] [133]} Neal would declare as X. Lamotte Sage, that the good Dr. Parkyn has accomplished by his scientific application of Suggestive Therapeutics is incalculable. ^[129]
• Dr. Sanders Lee Butler, who first served as business manager and assistant to the established stage hypnotist Sevengala and later to Dr. Herbert L. Flint. Butler introduced the modern theories of the Law of Suggestion taught at the Chicago School into these performances and was called upon to explain these concepts to audiences. He subsequently developed his own successful stage hypnotism program, performing with his wife as "The Butlers." ^{[124] [134] [135] [136] [137] [138] [139]}
• C. A. George Newmann, would become known professionally as "Newmann the Great," and would tour the country performing all the same feats popularized by stage mentalists but built entirely around exposing the tricks, creating a highly successful and comical performance that continued for more than forty years. ^{[140] [141] [142] [143]} Newmann declared in 1949 that there was no better work on hypnotism and suggestion than that done by Herbert Parkyn. ^{[144] : 10}
  • 
    Sylvain A. Lee in his wonderful hypnotic performances
  • 
    Hypnotist Herbert L. Flint performed with his wife as "The Flints"
  • 
    Newmann, the great American hypnotist and mind-reader
  • 
    Dr. S. L. Butler performed with his wife as "The Butlers"
  • 
    Sevengala the hypnotist was Dr. Walter C. Mack
  • 
    X. Lamotte Sage performed with his wife as "The Sages"

Another figure who incorporated the teachings of the Chicago School was the stage hypnotist Alexander J. McIvor-Tyndall, who toured widely across Canada, the Midwest, and the West Coast. McIvor-Tyndall had adopted the performance style of Washington Irving Bishop, showcasing feats such as locating hidden objects, opening locked safes, and conducting the celebrated blindfolded carriage drive. Dr. Parkyn had intersected with him several times and had observed his show. They had both been involved in a few widely reported criminal cases where hypnotism was claimed to play a role, including the infamous Minneapolis Hayward murder case. ^{[145] [146] [147] [148]}

• 
  The blindfolded carriage drive and opening safe tricks from Parkyn's "A Complete Course in the Art of Mind Reading," ^[113]
• 
  Newmann the Great, doing the blindfolded drive demonstration
• 
  An ad for Alexander J. McIvor-Tyndall doing the famous blindfolded carriage drive in 1895.

The Hypnotic Magazine

In August 1896, Dr. Parkyn and Sydney B. Flower founded The Hypnotic Magazine as the unofficial organ of the Chicago School of Psychology. Parkyn directed its philosophical and scientific focus, while Flower served as editor. It was published through their joint enterprise, the Psychic Publishing Company. ^{[149] [150] [14]}

Aimed primarily at medical professionals, the magazine sought to bridge the gap between physical and psychical methods of treatment at a time when mainstream medicine largely ignored the role of mental states in health and disease. It was the first journal dedicated to hypnotic suggestion and its stated purpose was "an investigation of the science of hypnotism, its uses and abuses, and its therapeutic possibilities." ^{[24] [14]}

The Hypnotic Magazine quickly gained a strong reputation and came to be recognized within the liberal medical community and the New Thought movement as the leading voice for serious, scientific investigation of the mental sciences. Dr. Parkyn and Sydney Flower also used the publication to defend hypnotism against both scientific skepticism and popular misunderstanding. They described themselves as being at war with professors, physicians, and scientists who attempted to discredit hypnotism by associating it with mesmerism, clairvoyance, mind reading, fortune telling, and fakirism. They argued that such critics either misunderstood or deliberately misrepresented hypnotism, preventing its recognition as a legitimate scientific practice. ^[151]

Each issue of the magazine featured contributions from physicians, correspondences, and case studies drawn directly from Parkyn's daily clinic at the Chicago School. Regular contributors included some of the most prominent names in the field at the time, including Dr. Thomson Jay Hudson, Dr. W. Xavier Sudduth, Dr. George Wyld, Clark Bell (President of the Medico-Legal Society), Henry H. Goddard, William Lee Howard, Xenophon LaMotte Sage, and Edward B. Warman. ^[24]

The Journal of Medical Hypnotism

In January 1898, The Hypnotic Magazine was officially renamed The Journal of Medical Hypnotism. Dr. Parkyn and Flower made the change to distinguish their publication from the growing number of untrained practitioners and stage performers who were portraying hypnotism as a mysterious or dangerous power. They emphasized that their work represented a clinical, scientifically grounded approach to hypnotic suggestion, not popular entertainment or occult speculation. The new title was intended to signal that the journal was an authoritative "medical" periodical devoted to legitimate therapeutic practice rather than a sensational publication trading in curiosity or superstition. ^{[153] [154] [155] [156]}

The name change also marked an important shift in the magazine's function. Because The Hypnotic Magazine had been so widely recognized as the publication of the Chicago School of Psychology, its identity was closely tied to the original institution. Renaming it allowed the periodical to broaden its scope and become the unofficial organ for all the expanding schools of Suggestive Therapeutics being opened by Dr. Parkyn and his graduates across the country. ^{[157] [14]}

To support rapid expansion and counter the spread of sectarian systems such as Christian Science, both Sydney B. Flower and W. J. Chatterton were sent to selected cities to organize local institutions and put trained graduates in place as instructors. Chatterton, worked at the Chicago School and had previously conducted extensive experimental work with Thomson Jay Hudson and Prof. William James of Harvard, played a key role in this effort. As these affiliated schools multiplied, the Journal of Medical Hypnotism became the central publication reporting on their activities, progress, and development, serving as the unified voice for Parkyn's national system of suggestive therapeutics. ^{[158] [159] [160]}

Suggestive Therapeutics

In June 1898, only six months after its previous rebranding, The Journal of Medical Hypnotism was renamed Suggestive Therapeutics. The instruction at the Chicago School and the affiliated schools was centered on treatments carried out through verbal suggestion rather than through deep hypnotic states. The emphasis was placed on “normal” or waking suggestion, and the new title identified this approach as the primary focus of the system. With this change, the magazine aligned itself directly with the affiliated schools and marked its role as the unofficial organ of the many institutions teaching the Chicago School's methods. ^{[162] [161]}

The new name also represented a further distancing from the word hypnotism and the confused and often negative associations it carried. Dr. Parkyn explained the shift as follows: "We use the term hypnotism only with considerable hesitation as it's important for students to understand both the word and the state it describes. That said, based on hard-earned experience, we strongly encourage students of suggestion to avoid using the term hypnotism in both public and private settings. At the Chicago School of Psychology, the word has been deliberately abandoned and is used only during lectures for educational purposes. We have had many patients who would have avoided us entirely had they known we used hypnotism. Just as the word love evokes a web of associations, the word hypnotism triggers, for most people, ideas of the strange, sinister, or even evil. For that reason, most individuals instinctively avoid anyone labeled a hypnotist. You should never allow yourself to be described that way." ^[47]

In June 1900, Suggestive Therapeutics would be investigated by postal authorities after a complaint from a competing Chicago magazine The Star of the Magi. Although the inquiry did not result in fraud charges, the detailed probe into the magazine lead investigators to conclude that the publication operated chiefly as a promotional outlet for the Chicago School of Psychology and Dr. Parkyn's related enterprises. As a result, in July 1900, the postal authorities revoked the journal's second-class mailing privilege. Without access to the discounted mailing rate, the journal was effectively forced to cease operations at the end of 1900 after fulfilling its existing subscriptions. ^{[163] [14] [164] [165] [166]}

Suggestion

With Suggestive Therapeutics serving as the unofficial organ for the affiliated Schools of Suggestive Therapeutics, Dr. Parkyn launched a second publication in August 1898 titled Suggestions, later shortened to Suggestion. This new journal functioned as the organ of the Chicago School of Psychology and was presented as the official continuation of The Hypnotic Magazine. Together, Suggestive Therapeutics and Suggestion allowed for the authoritative control over the public's impression of the terms "suggestive therapeutics" and "suggestion." This was a deliberate strategy to stay ahead of the many untrained practitioners and opportunistic publishers entering the field and to ensure that the true "Law of Suggestion" was always at its core. ^{[168] [169] [170] [167]}

Dr. Parkyn served as editor, publishing what he called "choice literary gems by the world's best known Mystics." Parkyn stated that while most journals on similar topics failed to distinguish between natural and supernatural causes, Suggestion aimed to investigate mental phenomena scientifically, excluding spiritism and mediumship while maintaining openness to unexplained forces. ^{[168] [169] [170] [167]}

The magazine quickly became a leading forum for serious study of the mental sciences. Its contributors included many of the most influential researchers and teachers in the field, including Stanley LeFevre Krebs, Thomson Jay Hudson, Prof. William James , Dr. W. Xavier Sudduth, William Walker Atkinson, George W. Carey, Edwin Hartley Pratt, and Prof. Elmer R. Gates. ^[167]

William Walker Atkinson

William Walker Atkinson, one of Parkyn's most accomplished students and collaborators, was appointed the first instructor at the University of Psychic Science. Atkinson was charged with teaching Parkyn's system of the Law of Suggestion and extending its application beyond therapeutic use into the domains of self culture, thought-force, and psychic phenomena. Under Parkyn's direction, Atkinson offered series of lessons at the university that blended practical psychology with the emerging theories of vibration, thought-transference, and mental polarity. The material that Parkyn and Atkinson developed for these lectures was compiled into the book A Series of Lessons in Personal Magnetism, published through Parkyn's University of Psychic Science with Atkinson listed as the author. This was the first book issued by William Walker Atkinson and marked the beginning of his long literary career and collaboration with Dr. Parkyn in psychological and metaphysical studies. The book was soon retitled Thought=Force in Business and Everyday Life to reach a broader readership. ^{[180] [164] [181] [182] [183] [184] [185]}

• 
  Lecture series of lessons in Personal Magnetism by Atkinson at the University of Psychic Science
• 
  A series of Lessons in Personal Magnetism by William Walker Atkinson, 1901 University of Psychic Science ^[184]
• 
  The lecture series book was rebranded to Thought = Force in Business and Everyday Life.

The Edison College of Electro-Therapeutics

The Edison College of Electro-Therapeutics operated from the same offices as the University of Psychic Science, just around the corner from the Chicago School on Cottage Grove Avenue. It was directed by P. H. Blackmarr, M.D., formerly professor of Electro-Therapeutics at Hahnemann Medical College in Chicago, with Charles H. Treadwell, B.S., a former physics instructor at Syracuse University. ^{[81] [186]}

Ads for The Edison College of Electro-Therapeutics in Dr. Parkyn's Suggestion magazine

• 
  The Edison College of Electro-Therapeutics
• 
  The Edison College of Electro-Therapeutics

The National School of Osteopathy

Directly across the street at 4000 Cottage Grove Avenue, Parkyn organized The National School of Osteopathy. It began as a correspondence branch affiliated with the National Schools of Osteopathy based in Missouri, and then was converted into a full resident teaching center once additional space was secured. Lectures and clinical instruction were conducted by E. A. Russ, D.O. ^{[81] [186]}

Ads for The National College of Osteopathy in Dr. Parkyn's Suggestion magazine

• 
  The National School of Osteopathy
• 
  Ad by Partlow Designs of Chicago
• 
  The National School of Osteopathy

Combined courses at The Chicago School of Psychology

Parkyn promoted combined classes that brought students from all three programs together for concentrated instruction and clinic work at the Chicago School. This arrangement allowed graduates in psychology, electro-therapeutics, and osteopathy to share a unified approach grounded in suggestion while gaining practical skills that were in high demand among the public. ^{[81] [186]}

Ads for combined courses of Suggestive Therapeutics, Eltro-Therapeutics, and Osteopathy at the Chicago School of Psychology in Dr. Parkyn's Suggestion magazine

• 
  Combined courses at the Chicago School of Psychology
• 
  Combined courses at the Chicago School of Psychology

The Natural Healer magazine

In July 1900 to support the effort in unifying natural healers across the country, Parkyn launched The Natural Healer magazine as the League's official organ. Printed from the same Cottage Grove offices, the magazine presented drugless healing as a unified field, explained the psychological basis behind its successes, and published statements by physicians and professors in support of non-drug therapeutics. ^{[187] : 32–40}

The United States Confederation of Medical Rights Leagues and Our Home Rights

With each state facing its own form of legal pressure against natural healers, separate local leagues were required, which created significant management challenges. To coordinate these efforts on a national level, the United States Confederation of Medical Rights Leagues was established in January 1901. Its official organ, launched in May 1901, was a new publication titled Our Home Rights. Founded and edited by Dr. Immanuel Pfeiffer of Boston, the magazine would continue the same mission as Parkyn's League but on a larger scale. ^{[190] [191]}

Dr. Pfeiffer had served for several years as president of the American College of Psychical Science, an affiliate of the broader network of Colleges of Psychical Science established by J. C. F. Grumbine. The first of these colleges was created in Chicago, where Dr. Parkyn held the chair of Suggestive Therapeutics in 1899. ^[192] Pfeiffer was already fully engaged in the medical rights struggle, having organized the Medical Rights League of Massachusetts in April 1900 with figures such as Henry Wood, working in parallel with Parkyn's Chicago initiative. Because of this background, he was regarded as the ideal figure to lead the expanded national effort. ^[190] Dr. Pfeiffer maintained the central emphasis on the Law of Suggestion by naming Parkyn's graduates E. Hood Corson as editor of the Therapeutic Suggestion department and R. Swinburne Clymer as editor of the Medical Freedom department. ^{[193] [191] [194] [195] [196] [197]}

The Natural Healer magazine was discontinued, and its subscription list was absorbed into Our Home Rights. After the headquarters of the movement shifted east, an Illinois League was established and overseen by A. Diefenbach from offices at 4012 Cottage Grove Avenue. ^[189] Through the League and its publications, the Natural Healers Protective League became the first truly organized national effort to defend the legal rights of natural healers.. The goal was not only to resist unfair medical legislation but to stabilize and legitimize the entire drugless healing movement before it fractured or was overtaken by charlatan practitioners.