Herbert Arthur Parkyn (December 24, 1870 – December 22, 1927) was a Canadian psychologist, teacher, and author who became a leading figure in the New Thought movement. He founded the Chicago School of Psychology, the first institution in America to teach suggestive therapeutics and established The Hypnotic Magazine and Suggestion magazine. His book Auto-Suggestion, was one of the first to introduce the study of self-suggestion through affirmations, preceding by decades the international recognition later given to the work of Émile Coué.

Parkyn was also a distinguished college athlete, winning championships in both hockey and football and is credited with organizing the first international hockey game.

Family and early life

Parkyn was born in Goderich, Ontario, Canada, to Margaret Beale Atkinson and Colonel James Parkyn. His paternal grandfather, William Parkyn, launched the first iron steamships on the St. Lawrence River and harnessed the hydraulic power of the Lachine Canal for his Mount Royal Mills and the development of Cote Saint Paul, including constructing Saint Paul's Union Church.Jackson, Samuel N. (Samuel Nelson) (1911). A branch of the Jacksons and correlated families, 1730-1911. Boston Public Library. [New York : Bartlett-Orr Press]. The Jackson Chronicles, by Fred Kinney Jackson, Burlington Vt 1949

His father, James Parkyn, was involved in the milling industry and oversaw the construction of the Lake of the Woods Mills, which at the time was one of the largest milling facilities in the world, in Keewatin, near Winnipeg, Manitoba.Montreal, its history, to which is added biographical sketches, with photographs, of many of its principal citizens by Borthwick, J. Douglas (John Douglas), 1831-1912 page 245 On his mother's side, his uncle William Kirby Atkinson served as mayor of Ailsa Craig, Ontario, and later was the owner and editor of Leader-Telegram, a daily newspaper in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.Guide to Wisconsin newspapers, 1833-1957History of Eau Claire county, Wisconsin page 502

Parkyn was close to his relatives on his paternal aunt's side. Rev. Samuel Nelson Jackson, the husband of Parkyn's aunt Mary Ann Parkyn, was a physician and Congregational minister who led the Congregational Union of Ontario and Quebec, headed the Congregational Publishing Company, and was a faculty member of the Congregational College at McGill University, where he wrote A Handbook of Congregationalism.A Handbook of Congregationalism, by Rev. Samuel Nelson Jackson CONGREGATIONAL PUBLISHING COMPANY, 1894

Parkyn grew up with his Jackson cousins, including Horatio Nelson Jackson, the first person to drive across the United States; John Holmes Jackson, a two-term mayor of Burlington, Vermont; and Samuel Hollister Jackson, who was Lieutenant Governor of Vermont and who married Parkyn's sister, making them both cousins and brothers-in-law.

Parkyn's exposure to the ideas that would later shape the New Thought movement were influenced by Henry Wood, who was a foundational figure of the movement. Wood was a close family friend to Rev. Samuel Nelson Jackson and his two brothers—having graduated with Joseph Addison Jackson from the Barre Academy—and his cousin, Cora Augusta Wood, who was married to John Henry Jackson. The Jackson and Wood families were both prominent in Barre, Vermont, where they held civic positions and shared business ventures.

Medical education In 1888, Parkyn entered Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario. After graduating in 1891, Parkyn passed the examinations of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario and received his medical degree from the Queen's University Faculty of Medicine.

After graduating, Parkyn pursued postgraduate studies at McGill University and later continued at the University of Toronto Medical College, where he studied mental sciences and anesthesia. While completing postgraduate work in Toronto, Parkyn, from 1892 to 1894, operated a private medical practice focused on hypnotic therapeutics, reporting over 240 successful cases. During this time he also formed and managed the Incandescent Gas Light Exchange with his father. In 1894, he enrolled at the University of Minnesota, where he began collaborating with the dean of the Dental School, Dr. W. Xavier Sudduth, on hypnotism experiments.The Chicago School of Psychology and Hypnotic magazine 1895-1910

Sporting career During his years in medical school Parkyn was also active in collegiate hockey and football as a player and as president and secretary of several clubs.

In Canada

Hockey

While at Queen's University, Parkyn organized one of the first recorded hockey games in North America, an 1886 match against the Royal Military College on Kingston Harbour. It's been called the first organized game between two Ontario teams and the beginning of the oldest rivalry in hockey. In 1888, as captain and secretary of the Queen's University Hockey Club, Parkyn led the squad to the first Kingston championship, facing the Rideau Hall Rebels, a team that included two of Lord Stanley's sons.

He continued his hockey career at the University of Toronto, captaining both the Varsity and University College clubs and as secretary of the newly formed Ontario Hockey Association, where he helped establish rules for Ontario's participation in the Stanley Cup and coordinated intercollegiate and club play across the province.

Football Parkyn was also a standout football player in the rugby-style Canadian game, playing center halfback and fullback. He was Queen’s leading scorer and helped the team reach the 1890 Ontario Rugby Football Union (ORFU) Cup final. In 1892, he played for the University of Toronto "Varsity" team that won the ORFU Cup, and in 1893 he returned to Queen’s as honorary vice president, helping them win both the ORFU Cup and the Dominion Football Championship while also playing for the Toronto Athletic Club. He was considered one of the best kickers in Ontario at the time.

His brother, William Parkyn II, also excelled at football, captaining the Windsor University team before his sudden death from malarial fever in 1885 shortly after returning from a game against the Michigan Wolverines.

In the United States

Minnesota Golden Gophers

In the fall of 1894, Parkyn joined the Minnesota Golden Gophers football team. Parkyn played fullback, handling most of the running, punting, and kicking duties, and was known for reliably drop-kicking goals from up to 40 yards. Parkyn led the team in scoring during the 1894 and 1895 seasons. His notoriety on campus as a hypnotist earned him the nicknames "the Hypnotizer" and "Svengali Parkyn".

After the Gophers' 1895 win against the University of Wisconsin, Harper's Weekly reporter Caspar Whitney accused the school of paying Parkyn $500 to play football, calling him a "tramp athlete." Although such payments were not yet banned, the claim fueled growing debate over amateurism. Minnesota denied it and urged Parkyn to remain silent.

The article, leaked days before Minnesota's game with the University of Michigan and placed Parkyn at the center of a national scandal. The article singled out Parkyn more than any other player, and even though Michigan was also criticized, the piece contained clear errors, including naming Roger Sherman, a close friend of Parkyn, as Michigan's manager, which he wasn’t, and listing a player no longer on the roster. The controversy sparked a national debate and became one of the events leading to the formation of the Big Ten Conference.

When Parkyn later gave his account, he stated that Minnesota had promised him $500 to return for the 1895 season to cover travel and medical research, since he had already relocated to Chicago. The university not only failed to honor this agreement but also publicly denied it. Harper's Weekly later exposed this breach and the university's attempts to silence Parkyn.

University of Minnesota In December 1894, Parkyn was selected to organize the University's winter sports program and focused on forming a hockey team. Using football players familiar with ice polo, he aimed to built a squad to compete with the best Canadian teams. He secured Athletic Park as a venue, and was elected director of Minnesota's first hockey team.Minnesota Golden Gophers hockey historyHockey in Minnesota

On February 18, 1895, Parkyn arranged for the Winnipeg Victorias to come to Athletic Park for the first international hockey match. Minnesota lost 11–3, but the game attracted many fans and hockey became a popular sport at the University. The Winnipeg team would shortly after claim the Stanley Cup and be crowned world champions.

After moving to Chicago in 1896, Parkyn continued organizing and leading new hockey teams. He formed a team with the Chicago Athletic Association, acting as both manager and captain. In 1901, he started another team, at the Kenwood Country Club, which competed regularly against club teams from across the Chicago area.

Research into hypnotism

While playing football at Minnesota, Parkyn was also conducting research into hypnotism. His earlier medical practice in Toronto had established his reputation, particularly for his ability to induce deep hypnotic states quickly and consistently, prompting the stage mentalist Newmann the Great to state: "there was no better hypnotist than Dr. Parkyn".

Parkyn went to Minnesota to join Dr. W. Xavier Sudduth. Sudduth was a noted scientist and lecturer who had studied at the Nancy School, trained in Europe, spent fifteen years researching hypnotism, and was also dean of the Dental School. Parkyn wanted to experiment with the use of hypnotism as an anesthetic during dental surgery. Parkyn and Sudduth connected through Dr. John Holmes Jackson, Parkyn's cousin, who had studied dentistry under Sudduth in Philadelphia.Unrivaled Chicago page 121CULTIVATING A“CHAIRSIDE MANNER”: DENTAL HYPNOSIS, PATIENT MANAGEMENT PSYCHOLOGY, AND THE ORIGINS OF BEHAVIORAL DENTISTRY IN AMERICA, 1890–1910 pg 239

Parkyn's and Sudduth's relationship extended into athletics, where Sudduth was president of the newly formed Minnesota hockey team and also traveled with the football team as its mascot.

In 1894, Sudduth and Parkyn secured permission to introduce hypnotic therapeutics into the University's public clinics, making it the first public clinic in America to use hypnotism. Over the following year, they conducted more than 1,000 experiments using hypnosis as an alternative to anesthesia for procedures that ranged from complex tooth extractions to tumor removals. They also applied hypnotism to alleviate mental conditions such as addiction and stammering.Operative Dentistry, Dr. Sudduth and the use of hypnotism in dentistry. Pages 185-189Suggestive Therapeutics 1886 by H. BERNHEIMThe “Chicago School of Psychology” and Hypnotic Magazine: Suggestive Therapeutics, Public Psychologies, and New Thought Pluralism, 1895–1910

Parkyn and Sudduth argued that acting under hypnosis could not be used as a legal defense, maintaining that moral awareness remains intact under suggestion. They cited several cases in which defendants claimed innocence on the grounds they had been hypnotized, including one in Eau Claire that had received national attention but was dismissed as hysteria after Parkyn investigated it. At a demonstration before 50 professionals, Parkyn and Sudduth showed how hypnotized subjects refused instructions to commit minor crimes; despite reacting violently to imaginary dangers such as from rats or wolves, they refused to harm a human figure, even when threatened with fake stage weapons.Dr. Parkyn and Dr. Sudduth on hypnosis and crime