A professional career between Denmark and Chicago
A review in Light in 1894 describes him as a young Danish professional with fifteen years of experience. His book preserves reports of demonstrations in Copenhagen and testimony from Scandinavian physicians and consular officials, then turns to his practice and public reception in Chicago.
The preface is signed in Chicago in 1893. Newspaper pieces reproduced in the book describe the attention attracted by his office, experiments and claims about treatment. His family background, training and exact life dates are less securely established; the professional style “Professor” in reports should not be taken as proof of a university appointment.
Reminiscence, illustration and persuasion
In the preface to Hypnotism: Its Facts, Theories and Related Phenomena, Sextus promises to discuss the subject’s moral, legal and medical significance. He gives Puységur a central place in its history and moves between artificial somnambulism, suggestion, sleepwalking, alleged clairvoyance and animal magnetism. His own experiences share space with quoted authorities and contributions explicitly assigned to other writers.
He also thanks the artist Emil Biorn for drawing nearly all the illustrations. Pictures and testimonials help turn an account of disputed phenomena into a persuasive presentation of the operator’s work. The reported cures and extraordinary demonstrations remain claims made or collected in the book. The volume shows how testimonials, drawings and printed reports became part of his case for hypnotism’s public importance.
