Transcriber's note:

 In the Introduction, I have changed "yet is is a very literal truth" to "yet it is a very literal truth". Also in the Introduction, I changed the spelling of "faculities" to "faculties" (other spelling remains unchanged). Finally, while most of the proper names are capitalized, not all of them are, and I have left the uncapitalized names as they appeared in the original. 

THE MYSTIC WILL

A Method of Developing and Strengthening the Faculties of the Mind, through the Awakened Will, by a Simple, Scientific Process Possibleto Any Person of Ordinary Intelligence

by

CHARLES G. LELAND

American EditionPublished byThe Progress Company515-519 Rand McNally BuildingChicago, IllinoisEnglish Representatives:L. N. Fowler & Co. 7, Imperial Arcade, Ludgate Circus, London, E. C. 

In Memorium

Charles Godfrey Leland

AMERICAN AUTHORWHO DIED MARCH 20, 1903AT FLORENCE, ITALYAGED 79

"_The good that men do lives after them_. "

PUBLISHER'S NOTICE. 

This wonderful treatise was first published in England several yearsago, under the title of "_Have You a Strong Will_?" and has runthrough several editions there. In its original form, it was printedin quite large type, double-leaded, and upon paper which "bulked out"the book to quite a thick volume. Some copies have been sold inAmerica, but the price which dealers were compelled to charge for it, in its original shape, prevented the wide circulation that it merited, and which its author undoubtedly desired for it, for it seems tohave been a labor of love with him, the interest of the race in hiswonderful theories evidently being placed above financial returns byMr. Leland. Believing that the author's ideas and wishes would be wellcarried out by the publication of an American edition printed in theusual size type (without the expedient of "double-leading" unusuallylarge type in order to make a large volume), which allows of the bookbeing sold at a price within the reach of all, the publisher hasissued this edition along the lines indicated. 

The present edition is identical with the original English editionwith the following exceptions:

(1) There has been omitted from this edition a long, tiresome chaptercontained in the original edition, entitled "On the Power of the Mindto master disordered Feelings by sheer Determination. As Set forth byImmanuel Kant in a letter to Hufeland, " but which chapter had verylittle to say about "the power of the mind, " but very much indeedabout Hygiene, Dietetics, Sleep, Care of Oneself in Old Age, Hypochondria, Work, Exercise, Eating and Drinking, Illness, etc. , etc. , from the point of view of the aged German metaphysician, whichwhile interesting enough in itself, and to some people, was manifestlyout of place in a book treating upon the development of MentalFaculties by the Will, etc. We think that Mr. Leland's admirers willfind no fault with this omission. 

(2) The word "Suggestion" has been substituted for the word"Hypnotism" in several places in the original text, where theformer word was manifestly proper according to the present views ofpsychologists, which views were not so clearly defined when the bookwas written. 

(3) The chapter headings of the original book have been shortened andsimplified in accordance with the American form. 

(4) The title "The Mystic Will" has been substituted in place of thatused in the original edition, which was "Have You a Strong Will?" Thischange was made for the reason that the original title did not giveone the correct idea of the nature of the book, but rather conveyedthe idea of an inquiry regarding the "iron-will, " etc. , which theauthor evidently did not intend. The use of the Will, as taught in thebook by Mr. Leland, is not along the lines of "the iron-will, " but israther in the nature of the employment of a mystic, mysterious, andalmost weird power of the Human Will, and the title of the presentedition is thought to more correctly represent the nature of the book, and the author's own idea, than the inquiry embodied in the title ofthe original edition. 

(5) Several unimportant footnotes, references to other books, etc. , have been omitted after careful consideration. 

(Those who would wish to read the book in its original English editionwill be able to procure it from the English publisher, Mr. PhilipWellby, 6 Henrietta street, Covent Garden, London, W. C, England. )

To the few readers of this book who are not familiar with the author, Mr. Charles G. Leland, it may be said that this gifted man was anAmerican by birth, but who lived in Europe for many years before hisdeath. He died March 20, 1903, at Florence, Italy, at the ripe age of79 years, active until the last and leaving unpublished manuscripts, some not completed. He lived up to his ideas and profited by them. Hiswritings are spread over a period of nearly, or fully, fifty years, and his range of subjects was remarkable in its variety, style, andtreatment. 

Among his best known works were "Practical Education, " "Flaxius, " "TheBreitmann Ballads" (which introduced his well-known character "HansBreitmann"), "Gypsy Sorcery and Fortune Telling, " "Wood Carving, ""Leather Work, " "Metal Work, " "Drawing and Designing, " "The MinorArts, " "Twelve Manuals in Art Work, " "The Album of Repoussé Work, ""Industrial Art in Education, " "Hints on Self Education, " and manyother works along the lines of Manual Training, etc. , and theDevelopment of the Constructive Faculties; "Kulsop the Master, andother Algonquin Poems and Legends, " "The Alternate Sex, " and manyother works, some of which are now out of print, but a number of whichmay be purchased from, or through, any bookseller. There has beenrecently published a biographical work embodying his memoirs, writtenand edited by his beloved niece, Mrs. Pennell, to which volume alladmirers of this wonderful man are referred. 

Every subject touched upon by Mr. Leland was brightly illuminated bythe power of his marvellous mind. He seemed to be able to go right tothe heart of the subject, seizing upon its essential truth and at thesame time grasping all of its details. His mind was so full of generalinformation that it fairly oozed out from him in all of his writings. The reader will notice this phenomenon in the present book, in whichthe author has evidently had to fight his own mind in order to preventit from intruding all sorts of valuable and varied general informationin among the particular subjects upon which he is treating. While nota professional psychologist, Mr. Leland has given utterance to some ofthe most valuable and practical psychological truths of the last fiftyyears, his contributions to this branch of human thought is sure to berecognized and appreciated in the near future. It is hoped that thislittle book will carry some of his valuable precepts and ideas to manywho have never had the advantage and pleasure of his acquaintance upto this time. 

It is believed by the publisher that this popular edition of Mr. Leland's valuable work upon the Use of the Will, issued at a nominalprice, will carry the author's teachings to the homes of many of thosewhom Lincoln called the "plain people" of this American land, who needit so much, but who would not have been able to have purchased itin its original shape. This work has been well known in England, but here, in America, the birthplace of the author, it has beencomparatively unheard of. It is to be hoped that this edition willremedy this grievous fault. 

April 11, 1907 THE PUBLISHER. 

CONTENTS

 Introduction . . . 13

 Chapter I. --Attention and Interest . . . 19

 Chapter II. --Self-Suggestion . . . 28

 Chapter III. --Will-Development . . . 34

 Chapter IV. --Forethought . . . 48

 Chapter V. --Will and Character . . . 58

 Chapter VI. --Suggestion and Instinct . . . 66

 Chapter VII. --Memory Culture . . . 74

 Chapter VIII. --The Constructive Faculties . . . 81

 Chapter IX. --Fascination . . . 85

 Chapter X. --The Subliminal Self . . . 100

 Chapter XI. --Paracelsus . . . 109

 Chapter XII. --Last Words . . . 116

THE AUTHOR'S PREFACE. 

During the past few years the most serious part of the author's studyand reflection has been devoted to the subjects discussed in thisbook. These, briefly stated, are as follows: Firstly, that all mentalor cerebral faculties can by direct scientific treatment be influencedto what would have once been regarded as miraculous action, and whichis even yet very little known or considered. Secondly, in developmentof this theory, and as confirmed by much practical and personalexperience, that the Will can by very easy processes of training, orby aid of Auto-Suggestion, be strengthened to any extent, and statesof mind soon induced, which can be made by practice habitual. Thus, as a man can by means of opium produce sleep, so can he by a verysimple experiment a few times repeated--an experiment which Iclearly describe and which has been tested and verified beyondall denial--cause himself to remain during the following day in aperfectly calm or cheerful state of mind; and this condition may, bymeans of repetition and practice, be raised or varied to other statesor conditions of a far more active or intelligent description. 

Thus, for illustration, I may say that within my own experience, Ihave by this process succeeded since my seventieth year in workingall day far more assiduously, and without any sense of weariness ordistaste for labour, than I ever did at any previous period of mylife. And the reader need only try the extremely easy experiment, as Ihave described it, to satisfy himself that he can do the same, that hecan continue it with growing strength _ad infinitum_, and that thispower will unquestionably at some future time be employed withmarvellous results in Education. For, beyond all question--since anyhuman being can easily prove or disprove it by a few experiments--there is no method known by which inattention, heedlessness, ornegligence in the young can be so promptly and thoroughly cured as bythis; while on the other hand, Attention and Interest by assiduity, are even more easily awakened. It has indeed seemed to me, since Ihave devoted myself to the study of Education from this point of view, as if it had been like the Iron Castle in the Slavonian legend, untowhich men had for centuries wended their way by a long and wearisomeroad of many miles, while there was all the time, unseen and unknown, a very short and easy subterranean passage, by means of which thedwellers in the Schloss might have found their way to the town below, and to the world, in a few minutes. 

To this I have added a succinct account of what is, I believe, theeasiest and most comprehensive Art of Memory ever conceived. Thereare on this subject more than five hundred works, all based, withoutexception, on the _Associative_ system, which may be described as astream which runs with great rapidity for a very short time but issoon choked up. This, I believe, as a means applied to learning, wasfirst published in my work, entitled _Practical Education_. In it thepupil is taught the _direct method_; that is, instead of rememberingone thing by means of another, to impress _the image itself_ on thememory, and frequently revive it. This process soon becomes habitualand very easy. In from one year to eighteen months a pupil can bymeans of it accurately recall a lecture or sermon. It has theimmediate advantage, over all the associate systems, of increasing andenlarging the scope and vigour of the memory, or indeed of the mind, so that it may truly bear as a motto, _Vires acquirit eundo_--"itgains in power as it runs long. "

Finally, I set forth a system of developing the Constructive Faculty--that which involves Ingenuity, Art, or manual _making_--as based onthe teaching of the so-called Minor Arts to the young. The principlefrom which I proceed is that as the fruit is developed from theflower, all Technical Education should be anticipated. Or begunin children by practicing easy and congenial arts, such as lightembroidery, wood-carving or repoussé, by means of which they becomefamiliar with the elements of more serious and substantial work. Having found out by practical experience, in teaching upwards of twothousand children for several years, that the practice of such easywork, or the development of the constructive faculty, invariablyawakened the intellectual power or intelligence, I began to study thesubject of the development of the mind in general. My first discoveryafter this was that Memory, whether mental, visual, or of any otherkind, could, in connection with Art, be wonderfully improved, and tothis in time came the consideration that the human Will, with all itsmighty power and deep secrets, could be disciplined and directed, orcontrolled with as great care as the memory or the mechanical faculty. In a certain sense the three are one, and the reader who will take thepains, which are, I trust, not very great, to master the details ofthis book, will readily grasp it as a whole, and understand that itscontents form a system of education, yet one from which the old aswell as young may profit. 

It is worth noting that, were it for nervous invalids alone, or thosewho from various causes find it difficult to sleep, or apply the mindto work, this book would be of unquestionable value. In fact, evenwhile writing this chapter, a lady has called to thank me for thesubstantial benefit which she derived from my advice in this respect. And, mindful of the fact that Attention and Unwearied Perseveranceare most necessary to succeed in such processes as are here described, Ihave taken pains to show or explain how they may be rendered moreattractive, tolerable, and habitual to the fickle or light-minded;this, too, being a subject which has been very little considered froma practical point of view. 

But, above all things, I beg the reader, laying aside all prejudice orpreconceived opinion, and neither believing nor disbelieving what hereads, to simply _try it_--that is to test it in his own person towhat degree he can influence his will, or bring about subsequentstates of mind, by the very easy processes laid down. If I could hopethat all opinion of my book would be uttered only by those who hadthus put it to the test, I should be well assured as to its future. 

And also I beg all readers, and especially reviewers, to note that Iadvise that the auto-suggestive process, by aid of sleep, _shall bediscontinued as soon as the experimenter begins to feel an increase inthe power of the will_; the whole object of the system being toacquire a perfectly free clear Will as soon as possible. Greatinjustice was done, as regards the first edition of this work, by avery careless though eminent critic, who blamed the author for nothaving done what the latter had carefully recommended in his book. 

There are four stages of advance towards the truth: firstly, Disbelief; secondly, Doubt, which is, in fact, only a fond advancetowards Disbelief; thirdly, Agnosticism, which is Doubt mingled withInquiry; and, finally, pure and simple Inquiry or Search, without anypreconceived opinion or feeling whatever. It is, I trust, only in thespirit of the latter, that I have written; therefore I say to thereader, Neither, believe nor disbelieve in anything which I have said, but, as it is an easy thing to try, experiment for yourself, and judgeby the result. In fact, as a satisfactory and conclusive experimentwill not require more time, and certainly not half the pains whichmost people would expend on reading a book, I shall be perfectlysatisfied if any or all my critics will do so, and judge the system bythe result. 

INTRODUCTION. 

 "Unto many Fortune comes while sleeping. "--_Latin Proverb_. 

 "Few know what is really going on in the world. "-- _American Proverb_. 

It is but a few years since it suddenly struck the gay world of comicdramatists and other literary wits, that the Nineteenth Century wasdrawing to an end, and regarding it as an event they began to makemerry over it, at first in Paris, and then in London and New York, asthe _fin-de-siècle_. Unto them it was the going-out of old fashions insmall things, such as changes in dress, the growth of wealth, or "themighty bicycle, " with a very prevalent idea that things "are gettingmixed" or "checquered, " or the old conditions of life becomingstrangely confused. And then men of more thought or intelligence, looking more deeply into it, began to consider that the phrase did invery truth express far more serious facts. As in an old Norman tale, he who had entered as a jester or minstrel in comic garb, laid asidehis disguise, and appeared as a wise counsellor or brave champion whohad come to free the imprisoned emperor. 

For it began to be seen that this _fin-de-siècle_ was developing withstartling rapidity changes of stupendous magnitude, which would erelong be seen "careering with thunder speed along, " and that all therevolutions and reforms recorded in history were only feeble orpartial, scattered or small, compared to the world-wide unification ofhuman interests, led by new lights, which has begun to manifest itselfin every civilized country. That well nigh every person or realculture, or education guided by pure science, has within a very fewyears advanced to a condition of liberal faith which would have beenin my university days generally reprobated as "infidelity, " is not tobe denied, and the fact means, beyond all question, that according toits present rate of advance, in a very few years more, this reformwill end in the annulling of innumerable traditions, forms of faithand methods. _Upharsin_ is writ on the wall. 

More than this, is it not clear that Art and Romance, Poetry andLiterature, as hitherto understood or felt, are either to utterlyvanish before the stupendous advances of science, or what is perhapsmore probable, will, coalescing with it, take new forms, based on ageneral familiarity with all the old schools or types? A few years agoit seemed, as regarded all æsthetic creation, that man had exhaustedthe old models, and knew not where to look for new. Now the aim of Artis to interest or please, by gratifying the sense or taste for thebeautiful or human genius in _making_; also to instruct and refine;and it is evident that Science is going to fulfill all theseconditions on such a grand scale in so many new ways, that, when manshall be once engaged in them, all that once gratified him in the pastwill seem as childish things, to be put away before pursuits moreworthy of manly dignity. If Art in all forms has of late been quiet, it has been because it has drawn back like the tiger in order to makethe greater bound. 

One of the causes why some are laying aside all old spiritualism, romance and sentiment, is that their realisation takes up too muchtime, and Science, which is the soul of business, seeks in all thingsbrevity and directness. It is probable that the phrase, "but to thepoint, " has been oftener repeated during the past few years, than itever was before, since Time begun, of which directness I shall havemore to say anon. 

And this is the end to which these remarks on the _fin-de-siècle_ werewritten, to lay stress upon the fact that with the year NineteenHundred we shall begin a century during which civilized mankind willattain its majority and become _manly_, doing that which is rightas a man should, _because it is right_ and for no other reason, andshunning wrong for as good cause. For while man is a child he behaveswell, or misbehaves, for _reasons_ such as the fear of punishment orhope of reward, but in a manly code no reasons are necessary but onlya persuasion or conviction that anything is right or wrong, and aprinciple which is as the earth unto a seed. 

For as the world is going on, or getting to be, it is very evidentthat as it is popularly said, "he who will tell a lie will generallynot hesitate to commit perjury, " so he who cannot be really honest, _per se_, without being sustained by principle based only on traditionand the opinion of others, is a poor creature, whose morality orhonesty is in fact merely theatrical, or acted, to satisfy certainconditions or exigencies from which he were better freed. 

This spirit of scientific directness, and economy of thought andtrouble by making the principle of integrity the basis of all forms, and cutting all ethical theories down to "be good because you_ought_, " is rapidly astonishing us with another marvellous fact whichit illustrates, namely, that as in this axiom--as in man himself--there are latent undiscovered powers, so in a thousand othersayings, or things known to us all, used by us all, and regarded ascommon-place, there are astounding novelties and capacities as yetundreamed of. For, as very few moralists ever understood in full whatis meant by the very much worn or hackneyed saying, "we ought to dowhat is right, " so the world at large little suspects that such verydesirable qualities as Attention, Interest, Memory and Ingenuity, havethat within them which renders them far more attainable by man thanhas ever been supposed. Even the great problem of Happiness itself, asreally being only one of a relative state of mind, may be solved orreached by some far simpler or more direct method than any thinker hasever suggested. 

It all depends on exertion of the _Will_. There are in this world acertain number of advanced thinkers who, if they knew how to developethe _Will_ which exists in them, could bring this reform to pass in anincredibly short time. That is to say, they could place the doctrineor religion of Honesty for its own sake so boldly and convincinglybefore the world that its future would be assured. Now the man who candevelope his will, has it in his power not only to control his moralnature to any extent, but also to call into action or realize veryextraordinary states of mind, that is, faculties, talents or abilitieswhich he has never suspected to be within his reach. It is astupendous thought; yes, one so great that from the beginning of timeto the present day no sage or poet has ever grasped it in its fullextent, and yet is is a very literal truth, that there lie hiddenwithin us all, as in a sealed-up spiritual casket, or like thebottled-up _djinn_ in the Arab tale, innumerable Powers orIntelligences, some capable of bestowing peace or calm, others ofgiving Happiness, or inspiring creative genius, energy andperseverance. All that Man has ever attributed to an Invisible Worldwithout, lies, in fact, within him, and the magic key which willconfer the faculty of sight and the power to conquer is the _Will_. 

It has always been granted that it is a marvellously good thing tohave a strong will, or a determined or resolute mind, and great hasbeen the writing thereon. I have by me the last book on the subject, in which the faculty is enthusiastically praised, and the reader istold through all the inflexions of sentiment, that he _ought_ toassert his Will, to be vigorous in mind, _etcetera_, but unfortunatelythe How to do it is utterly wanting. 

It will be generally admitted by all readers that this _How to do it_has been always sought in grandly heroic or sublimely vigorousmethods of victory over self. The very idea of being resolute, brave, persevering or stubborn, awakens in us all thoughts of conflict ordramatic self-conquering. But it may be far more effectively attainedin a much easier way, even as the ant climbed to the top of the treeand gnawed away and brought down the golden fruit unto which theman could not rise. There are _easy_ methods, and by far the mosteffective, of awakening the Will; methods within the reach of everyone, and which if practised, will lead on _ad infinitum_, tomarvellous results. 

The following chapters will be devoted to setting forth, I trustclearly and explicitly, how by an extremely easy process, orprocesses, the will may be, by any person of ordinary intelligence andperseverance, awakened and developed to any extent, and with it manyother faculties or states of mind. I can remember once being told by alady that she thought there ought to be erected in all great citiestemples to the Will, so as to encourage mankind to develop thedivine faculty. It has since occurred to me that an equal number ofschool-houses, however humble, in which the art of mastering the Willby easy processes _seriatim_ should be taught, would be far moreuseful. Such a school-house is this work, and it is the hope of theauthor that all who enter, so to speak, or read it, will learntherefrom as much as he himself and others have done by studying itsprinciples. 

To recapitulate or make clear in brief what I intend, I would say_Firstly_, that the advanced thinkers at this end of the century, weary of all the old indirect methods of teaching Morality, arebeginning to enquire, since Duty is an indispensable condition, whether it is not just as well to do what is right, _because_ it isright, as for any other reason? _Secondly_, that this spirit ofdirectness, the result of Evolution, is beginning to show itself inmany other directions, as we may note by the great popularity ofthe answer to the question, "How not to worry, " which is briefly, _Don't! Thirdly_, that enlightened by this spirit of scientificstraightforwardness, man is ceasing to seek for mental truth by meansof roundabout metaphysical or conventional ethical methods (based onold traditions and mysticism), and is looking directly in himself, or materially, for what Immaterialism or Idealism has really neverexplained at all--his discoveries having been within a few years muchmore valuable that all that _a priori_ philosophy or psychology everyielded since the beginning. And, finally, that the leading facultiesor powers of the mind, such as Will, Memory, the Constructivefaculty, and all which are subject to them, instead of being entirelymysterious "gifts, " or inspirations bestowed on only a very few to anyliberal extent, are in all, and may be developed grandly and richly bydirect methods which are moreover extremely easy, and which are inaccordance with the spirit of the age, being the legitimate results ofEvolution and Science. 

And, that I may not be misunderstood, I would say that the doctrine ofDuty agrees perfectly with every form of religion--a man may be RomanCatholic, Church of England, Presbyterian, Agnostic, or what he will;and, if a form aids him in the least to be _sincerely honest_, itwould be a pity for him to be without it. Truly there are degrees informs, and where I live in Italy I am sorry to see so many abuses orerrors in them. But to know and do what is right, when understood, isrecognising God as nearly as man can know him, and to do thisperfectly we require _Will_. It is the true _Logos_. 

CHAPTER I. 

ATTENTION AND INTEREST. 

 "To the fairies, Determination and Good-Will, all things are possible. "--_The Man of the Family, by_ C. REID. 

It happened recently to me, as I write, to see one afternoon lying onthe side walk in the Via Calzaioli in Florence what I thought was acommon iron screw, about three inches in length, which looked as if ithad been dropped by some workman. And recalling the superstition thatit is lucky to find such an object, or a nail, I picked it up, when tomy astonishment I found that it was a silver pencil case, but made toexactly resemble a screw. Hundreds of people had, perhaps, seen it, thought they knew all about it, or what it was, and then passed it by, little suspecting its real value. 

There is an exact spiritual parallel for this incident or parable ofthe screw-pencil in innumerable ideas, at which well-nigh everybody inthe hurrying stream of life has glanced, yet no one has ever examined, until someone with a poetic spirit of curiosity, or inspired by quaintsuperstition, pauses, picks one up, looks into it, and finds that Ithas ingenious use, and is far more than it appeared to be. Thus, if Ideclare that by special attention to a subject, earnestly turning itover and thinking deeply into it, very remarkable results may beproduced, as regards result in knowledge, every human being willassent to it as the veriest truism ever uttered; in the fullest beliefthat he or she assuredly knows all _that_. 

Yet it was not until within a very few years that I discovered thatthis idea, which seemed so commonplace, had within it mysteries andmeanings which were stupendously original or remarkable. I found thatthere was a certain intensity or power of attention, far surpassingordinary observation, which we may, if we will, summon up and _force_on ourselves, just as we can by special effort see or hear far betterat times than usually. The Romans show by such a phrase as _animumadjicere_, and numerous proverbs and synonyms, that they had learnedto bend their attention energetically. They were good listeners, therefore keen observers. 

Learning to control or strengthen the Will is closely allied todeveloping Attention and Interest, and for reasons which will soon beapparent, I will first consider the latter, since they constitute apreparation or basis for the former. And as preliminary, I willconsider the popular or common error to the effect that everyone hasalloted to him or to her just so much of the faculty of attention orinterest as it has pleased Nature to give--the same being true asregards Memory, Will, the Constructive or Artistic abilities, and soon--when in very truth and on the warrant of Experience all may beincreased _ad infinitum_. Therefore, we find ignorant men complacentlyexplaining their indifference to art and literature or culture on theground that they take no interest in such subjects, as if interestwere a special heaven-sent gift. Who has not heard the remark, "He orshe takes such an _interest_ in so many things--I wish that I could. "Or, as I heard it very recently expressed, "It must be delightful tobe able to interest one's self in something at any time. " Which wasmuch the same as the expression of the Pennsylvania German girl, "_AchGott_! I wisht I hat genius und could make a pudden!"

No one can be expected to take an interest at once and by mere will inany subject, but where an earnest and serious Attention has beendirected to it, Interest soon follows. Hence it comes that those whodeliberately train themselves in Society after the precept enforced byall great writers of social maxims to listen politely and patiently, are invariably rewarded by acquiring at last shrewd intelligence, asis well known to diplomatists. That mere stolid patience subduesimpatience sounds like a dull common-place saying, but it is a silverpencil disguised as an iron screw; there is a deep subtlety hidden init, if it be allowed with a little intelligence, _forethought_, anddetermination towards a purpose. Let us now consider the mechanicaland easy processes by which attention may be awakened. 

According to ED. VON HARTMANN, Attention is either spontaneous orreflex. The voluntary fixing our mind upon, or choosing an idea, image, or subject, is _spontaneous attention_, but when the idea forsome reason impresses itself upon us then we have enforced, or _reflexattention_. That is simply to say, there is active or passiveobservation--the things which we seek or which come to us unsought. And the "seeking for, " or spontaneous action can be materially aidedand made persevering, if before we begin the search or set aboutdevoting Attention to anything, we pause, as it were, to determine orresolve that we _will_ be thorough, and not leave off until we shallhave mastered it. For strange as it may seem, the doing this actuallyhas in most cases a positive, and very often a remarkable result, asthe reader may very easily verify for himself. This Forethought is farmore easily awakened, or exerted, than Attention itself, but itprepares it, just as Attention prepares Interest. 

Attention is closely allied to Memory; when we would give attention toa subject for continued consideration, we must "memorize" it, or itwill vanish. Involuntary memory excited by different causes oftencompels us to attend to many subjects whether we will or not. Everyonehas been haunted with images or ideas even unto being tormented bythem; there are many instances in which the Imagination has given themobjective form, and they have appeared visibly to the patient. Thesehaunting ideas, disagreeable repetitions or obstinate continuances, assume an incredible variety of forms, and enter in many strange waysinto life. Monomania or the being possessed with one idea to theexclusion of others, is a form of overstrained attention, sustained bymemory. It is _enforced_. 

Mere repetition of anything to almost anybody, will produce remarkableresults; or a kind of Hypnotism Causing the patient to yield to whatbecomes an irresistible power. Thus it is said that perpetual droppingwill wear away stones. Dr. JAMES R. COCKE in his "Hypnotism, " inillustrating this, speaks of a man who did not want to sign a note, heknew that it was folly to do so, but yielded from having been "overpersuaded. " I have read a story in which a man was thus simply_talked_ into sacrificing his property. The great power latent in thisform of suggestiveness is well known to knaves in America where it ismost employed. This is the whole secret of the value of advertising. People yield to the mere repetition in time. Attention and Interestmay in this way be self-induced from repetition. 

It is true that an image or idea may be often repeated to minds whichdo not think or reflect, without awakening attention; _per contra_, the least degree of thought in a vast majority of cases forms anucleus, or beginning, which may easily be increased to an indefiniteextent. A very little exercise of the Will suffices in most cases tofix the attention on a subject, and how this can be done will be shownin another chapter. But in many cases Attention is attracted withlittle or no voluntary effort. On this fact is based the truth thatwhen or where it is desired, Attention and Interest may be awakenedwith great ease by a simple process. 

It may be remarked on the subject of repetition of images or ideas, that a vast proportion of senseless superstitions, traditions orcustoms, which no one can explain, originate in this way, and that infact what we call _habit_ (which ranks as second nature) is onlyanother form or result of involuntary attention and the unconsciouslygiving a place in the memory to what we have heard. 

From the simple fact that even a man of plain common-sense and strongwill may be driven to sleeplessness, or well nigh to madness, by thehaunting presence of some wretched trifle, some mere jingle or rhyme, or idle memory, we may infer that we have here a great power which_must_ in some way be capable of being led to great or useful resultsby some very easy process. I once wrote a sketch, never completed, inwhich I depicted a man of culture who, having lost an old manuscriptbook which he had regarded in a light, semi-incredulous manner as a_fetish_, or amulet, on which his luck depended, began to be seriouslyconcerned, and awaking to the fact, deliberately cultivated his alarmas a psychological study, till he found himself, even with his eyeswide open as an observer in terrible fear, or a semi-monomaniac. Therecovery of his lost charm at once relieved him. This was a diversionof Attention for a deliberate purpose, which might have been varied_ad infinitum_ to procure very useful results. But I have myself knowna man in the United States, who, having lost--he being an actor orperformer--a certain article of theatrical properties on which hebelieved "luck" depended, lost all heart and hope, and fell into adecline, from which he never recovered. In this, as in all such cases, it was not so much conviction or reason which influenced the suffereras the mere effect of Attention often awakened till it had become whatis known as a fixed idea. 

A deliberate reflection on what I have here advanced can hardly failto make it clear to any reader that if he really desires to take aninterest in any subject, it is possible to do so, because Nature hasplaced in every mind vast capacity for attention or fixing ideas, andwhere the Attention is fixed, Interest, by equally easy process, mayalways be induced to follow. And note that these preliminarypreparations should invariably be as elementary and easy as possible, this being a condition which it is impossible to exaggerate. In a vastmajority of cases people who would fain be known as taking an interestin Art begin at the wrong end, or in the most difficult mannerpossible, by running through galleries where they only acquire asuperficial knowledge of results, and learn at best how to _talk_showily about what they have skimmed. Now to this end a good articlein a cyclopædia, or a small treatise like that of TAINE'S "Æsthetic"thoroughly read and re-read, till it be really mastered, and thenverified by study of a very few good pictures in a single collection, will do more to awaken sincere _interest_ than the loose rangingthrough all the exhibitions in the world. I have read in many novelsthrilling descriptions of the effect and results when all the gloriesof the Louvre or Vatican first burst upon some impassioned andunsophisticated youth, who from that moment found himself an Artist--but I still maintain that it would have been a hundred times betterfor him had his Attention and Interest been previously attracted to afew pictures, and his mind accustomed to reflect on them. 

Be the subject in which we would take an interest artistic orscientific, literary or social, the best way to begin herewith is tocarefully read the simplest and easiest account of it which we canobtain, in order that we may know just exactly what it is, or itsdefinition. And this done, let the student at once, while the memoryis fresh in mind, follow it up by other research or reading, observations or inquiries, on the same subject, for three books readtogether on anything will profit more than a hundred at longintervals. In fact, a great deal of broken, irregular or disjointedreading is often as much worse than none at all, as a little coherentstudy is advantageous. 

Many people would very willingly take an interest in many subjects ifthey knew how. It is a melancholy thing to see a man retired frombusiness with literally nothing to do but fritter away his time onnothings when he might be employed at something absorbing and useful. But they hesitate to _act_ because, as is the rule in life, they seeeverything from its most difficult and repulsive side. There is no manwho could not easily take an intelligent interest in Art in some form, but I venture to say that a majority of even educated people who hadnever taken up the subject would be appalled at it in their secrethearts, or distrust its "use" or their own capacity to master it. Oragain, many put no faith in easy manuals to begin with, believing, intheir ignorance, that a mere collection of rudiments cannot have muchin it. We are all surrounded by thousands of subjects in which wemight all take an interest, and do good work, if we would, selectingone, give it a little attention, and by easy process proceed to learnit. As it is, in general society the man or woman who has any specialpursuit, accomplishment, or real interest for leisure hours, beyondidle gossip and empty time-killing, is a great exception. And yet Isincerely believe that in perhaps a majority of cases there is asincere desire to do something, which is killed by simple ignorance ofthe fact that with a very little trouble indeed interest in somethingis within the easy reach of all. 

I have dwelt on this subject that the reader may be induced to reflecton the fact, firstly, that if he wishes to learn how to develop hisWill and strengthen it, it is absolutely necessary to take an_interest_ in it. I beg him to consider how this art of acquiringattention and interest has been, or is, obscured in most minds, andthe difficulties of acquiring it, exaggerated. Secondly, I would pointout that the method of process for making a Will is so closely alliedto that laid down for Attention that it will seem like a deductionfrom it, both being allied to what may claim to be an original Art ofMemory, to which I shall devote a chapter in its due place. 

For as I hope clearly to prove it is an easy matter to create a strongwill, or strengthen that which we have, to a marvelous extent, yet hewho would do this must first give his _Attention_ firmly and fixedlyto his intent or want, for which purpose it is absolutely necessarythat he shall first _know his own mind regarding what he means to do_, and therefore meditate upon it, not dreamily, or vaguely, butearnestly. And this done he must assure himself that he takes a realinterest in the subject, since if such be the case I may declare thathis success is well nigh certain. 

And here it may be observed that if beginners, _before_ taking upany pursuit, would calmly and deliberately consider the virtues ofAttention and Interest, and how to acquire them, or bring them to bearon the proposed study or work, we should hear much less of those whohad "begun German" without learning it, or who failed in any otherattempt. For there would in very truth be few failures in life ifthose who undertake anything first gave to it long and carefulconsideration by leading observation into every detail, and, in fact, becoming familiar with the idea, and not trusting to acquire interestand perseverance in the future. Nine-tenths of the difficulty anddoubt or ill-at-easeness which beginners experience, giving them thefrightened feeling of "a cat in a strange garret, " and which ofteninspires them to retreat, is due entirely to not having begun bytraining the Attention or awakened an Interest in the subject. 

It has often seemed to me that the reason for failure, or the ultimatefailing to attain success, in a vast number of "Faith cures, " issimply because the people who seek them, being generally of a gushing, imaginative nature, are lacking in deep reflection, application, orearnest attention. They are quick to take hold, and as quick to letgo. Therefore, they are of all others the least likely to seriouslyreflect _beforehand_ on the necessity of preparing the mind topatience and application. Now it seems a simple thing to say, and itis therefore all the harder to understand, that before going to workat anything which will require perseverance and repeated effort we canfacilitate the result amazingly by thinking over and anticipating it, so that when the weariness comes it will not be as a discouragingnovelty, but as something of course, even as a fisherman accepts hiswet feet, or the mosquitoes. But how this disposition to grow weary ofwork or to become inattentive may be literally and very completelyconjured away will be more fully explained in another chapter. Forthis let it suffice to say that earnest _forethought_, and the more ofit the better, bestowed on aught which we intend to undertake, is athing rarely attempted in the real sense in which I mean it, butwhich, when given, eases every burden and lightens every toil. 

Mere _forethought_ repeated is the easiest of mental efforts. Yet evena little of it asserted before undertaking a task will wonderfullyfacilitate the work. 

"Hypnotism, " says Dr. JAMES R. COCKE, "can be used to train theattention of persons habitually inattentive. " But, in fact, forethinking in any way is the minor or initiatory stage ofSuggestion. Both are gradual persuasion of the nervous system intohabit. 

And on this text a marvelous sermon could be preached, which, ifunderstood, would sink deeply into every heart, inspiring some whilealarming others, but greatly cheering the brave. And it is this. There are millions of people who suffer from irritability, want ofself-control, loquacity, evil in many forms, or nerves, who would faincontrol themselves and stop it all. Moralists think that for this itis enough to convince their reason. But this rarely avails. A man may_know_ that he is wrong, yet _not_ be able to reform. Now, what hewants is to have his attention fixed long enough to form a new habit. Find out how this can be done, and it may in many cases be thesimplest and most mechanical thing in the world to cure him. Men havebeen frightened by a scarecrow into thorough repentance. "A questionof a few vibrations of ether, more or less, makes for us all thedifference between perception and non-perception, " or between sightand blindness. Accustom any such moral invalid to being Suggested orwilled a few times into a calm, self-controlled state and the habitmay be formed. 

And to those who doubt, and perhaps would sneer, I have only to say_try it_. It will do them good. 

CHAPTER II. 

SELF-SUGGESTION. 

 "In thy soul, as in a sleep, Gods or fiends are hidden deep, Awful forms of mystery, And spirits, all unknown to thee: Guard with prayer, and heed with care, Ere thou wak'st them from their lair!"

The records of the human race, however written, show that Man hasalways regarded himself as possessed of latent faculties, orcapacities of a mysterious or extraordinary nature: that is to say, transcending in scope or power anything within the range of ordinaryconscious mental capacity. Such for example is the Dream, in whichthere occurs such a mingling of madness with mysterious intuitions ormemories that it is no wonder it has always been regarded as allied tosupernatural intelligence. And almost as general as the faith indreams as being _weird_ (in the true sense of the much-abused word) or"strangely prophetic, " is that in _fascination_, or that one humanbeing can exercise over another by a mystic will and power a stronginfluence, even to the making the patient do whatever the actor orsuperior requires. 

However interesting it may be, it is quite needless for the purposewhich I have in view to sketch the history of occultism, magic orsorcery from the earliest times to the present day. Fascination was, however, its principal power, and this was closely allied to, or theparent of, what is now known as Suggestion in Hypnotism. But ancientmagic in its later days certainly became very much mixed withmagnetism in many phases, and it is as an off-shoot of AnimalMagnetism that Hypnotism is now regarded, which is to be regretted, since it is in reality radically different from it, as several of thelater writers of the subject are beginning to protest. The definitionand differences of the two are as follows: Animal Magnetism, firstformulized by ANTON MESMER from a mass of more or less confusedobservations by earlier writers, was the doctrine that there is amagnetic fluid circulating in all created forms, capable of flux andreflux, which is specially active or potent in the human body. Itsaction may be concentrated or increased by the human will, so as towork wonders, one of which is to cause a person who is magnetized byanother to obey the operator, this obedience being manifested in manyvery strange ways. 

Still there were thousands of physiologists or men of science whodoubted the theory of the action or existence of Animal Magnetism, andthe vital fluid, as declared by the Mesmerists, and they especiallydistrusted the marvels narrated of clairvoyance, which was too likethe thaumaturgy or wonder-working attributed to the earlier magicians. Finally, the English scientist, BRAID, determined that it was not amagnetic fluid which produced the recognized results, "but that theywere of purely subjective origin, depending on the nervous system ofthe one acted on. " That is to say, in ordinary language, it was "allimagination"--but here, as in many other cases, a very comprehensiveand apparently common-sensible word is very far from giving anadequate or correct idea of the matter in question--for what theimagination itself really is in this relation is a mystery which isvery difficult to solve. I have heard of an old French gentlemanwho, when in a circus, expressed an opinion that there was nothingremarkable in the wonderful performances of an acrobat on atight-rope, or trapeze. "_Voyez-vous monsieur_" he exclaimed;"_Ce n'est que la mathématique--rien que ca_!" And only theImagination--"all your Imagination" is still the universal solvent inPhilistia for all such problems. 

Hypnotism reduced to its simplest principle is, like the oldFascination, the action of mind upon mind, or of a _mind upon itself_, in such a manner as to produce a definite belief, action, or result. It is generally effected by first causing a sleep, as is done inanimal magnetism, during which the subject implicitly obeys the willof the operator, or performs whatever he suggests. Hence arose theterm Suggestion, implying that what the patient takes into his head todo, or does, must first be submitted to his own mental action. 

Very remarkable results are thus achieved. If the operator, having puta subject to sleep (which he can do in most cases, if he be clever, and the experiments are renewed often enough), will say or suggest tohim that on the next day, or the one following, or, in fact, anydetermined time, he shall visit a certain friend, or dance a jig, orwear a given suit of clothes, or the like, he will, when the hypnoticsleep is over, have forgotten all about it. But when the hourindicated for his call or dance, or change of garment arrives, he willbe haunted by such an irresistible feeling that he _must_ do it; thatin most cases it will infallibly be done. It is no exaggeration to saythat this has been experimented on, tested and tried thousands oftimes with success and incredible ingenuity in all kinds of forms anddevices. It would seem as if spontaneous attention went to sleep, but, like an alarm clock, awoke at the fixed hour, and then _reflex_action. 

Again--and this constitutes the chief subject of all I here discuss--we can _suggest_ to ourselves so as to produce the same results. Itseems to be a curious law of Nature that if we put an image or ideainto our minds with the preconceived determination or intent that itshall recur or return at a certain time, or in a certain way, aftersleeping, it will _do so_. And here I beg the reader to recall what Isaid regarding the resolving to begin any task, that it can be greatlyaided by even a brief pre-determination. In all cases it is a kind ofself-suggestion. There would seem to be some magic virtue in sleep, asif it preserved and ripened our wishes, hence the injunction in theproverbs of all languages to sleep over a resolve, or subject--andthat "night brings counsel. "

It is not necessary that this sleep shall be _hypnotic_, or what iscalled hypnotic slumber, since, according to very good authorities, there is grave doubt as to whether the so-called condition is a sleepat all. _Hypnotism_ is at any rate a suspension of the faculties, resembling sleep, caused by the will and act of the operator. Heeffects this by fixing the eyes on the patient, making passes as inMesmerism, giving a glass of water, or simply commanding sleep. Andthis, as Dr. COCKE has experienced and described, can be produced to adegree by anyone on himself. But as I have verified by experiment, ifwe, after retiring to rest at night, will calmly yet firmly resolve todo something on the following day, or be as much as possible in acertain state of mind, and if we then fall into ordinary naturalsleep, just as usual, we may on waking have forgotten all about it, yet will none the less feel the impulse and carry out thedetermination. 

What gives authority for this assertion, for which I am indebtedoriginally to no suggestion or reading, is the statement found inseveral authorities that a man can "hypnotize" another without puttinghim to sleep; that is, make him unconsciously follow suggestion. 

I had read in works on hypnotism of an endless number of experiments, how patients were made to believe that they were monkeys or madmen, orumbrellas, or criminals, women or men, _à volonté_, but in few of themdid I find that it had ever occurred to anybody to turn this wonderfulpower of developing the intellect to any permanent benefit, or toincreasing the moral sense. Then it came to my mind sinceSelf-Suggestion was possible that if I would resolve to work _all_ thenext day; that is, apply myself to literary or artistic labor withoutonce feeling fatigue, and succeed, it would be a marvelous thing fora man of my age. And so it befell that by making an easy beginning Ibrought it to pass to perfection. What I mean by an easy beginningis not to will or resolve _too_ vehemently, but to simply and verygently, yet assiduously, impress the idea on the mind _so as to fallasleep while thinking of it as a thing to be_. My next step was to_will_ that I should, all the next day, be free from any nervous ormental worry, or preserve a hopeful, calm, or well-balanced state ofmind. This led to many minute and extremely curious experiences andobservations. That the imperturbable or calm state of mind promptlyset in was undeniable, but it often behaved, like the Angel in H. G. Wells' novel, "The Wonderful Visit, " as if somewhat frightened at, orof, with, or by its new abode, and no wonder, for it was indeed anovel guest, and the goblins of "Worry and Tease, Fidget and Fear, "who had hitherto been allowed to riot about and come and go at theirown sweet mischievous wills, were ill-pleased at being made to keepquiet by this new lady of the manor. And indeed no mere state ofmind, however well maintained, can resist everything, and themildest mannered man may cut a throat under great provocation. Ihad my lapses, but withal I was simply astonished to find how, byperseverance, habitual calm not only grew on me, but how decidedly itincreased. I most assuredly have experienced it to such a degree as tomarvel that the method is not more employed as a cure for nervoussuffering and insomnia. 

But far beyond perseverance in labor, or the inducing a calmer andhabitually restful state of mind, was the Awakening of the Will, whichI found as interesting as any novel or drama, or series of activeadventures which I have ever read or experienced. I can remember whenmost deeply engaged in it, re-reading DE QUINCEY'S "Confessions of anOpium Eater. " I took it by chance on my birthday, August 15, which wasalso his, and as I read I longed from my very heart that he werealive, that I might consult with him on the marvelous Fairyland whichit seemed to me had been discovered--and then I remembered how Dr. TUCKEY, the leading English hypnotist, had once told me how easy itwas for his science to completely cure the mania for opium and othervices. 

And this is the discovery: Resolve before going to sleep that if therebe anything whatever for you to do which requires Will or Resolution, be it to undertake repulsive or hard work or duty, to face adisagreeable person, to fast, or make a speech, to say "No" toanything; in short, to keep up to the mark or make any kind of effortthat _you_ WILL _do it_--as calmly and unthinkingly as may be. Do notdesire to do it sternly or forcibly, or in spite of obstacles--butsimply and coolly make up your mind to _do it_--and it will much morelikely be done. And it is absolutely true--_crede experto_--that ifpersevered in, this willing yourself to will by easy impulse untoimpulse given, will lead to marvelous and most satisfactory results. 

There is one thing of which the young or oversanguine or heedlessshould be warned. Do not expect from self-suggestion, nor anythingelse in this life, prompt perfection, or the _maximum_ of success. Youmay pre-determine to be cheerful, but if you are very susceptible tobad weather, and the day should be dismal, or you should hear of thedeath of a friend, or a great disaster of any kind, some depression ofspirits _must_ ensue. On the other hand, note well that forming habitby frequent repetition of willing yourself to equanimity andcheerfulness, and also to the banishing of repulsive images when theycome, will infallibly result in a very much happier state of mind. Assoon as you actually begin to realize that you are acquiring suchcontrol remember that is the golden hour--and redouble your efforts. _Perseverando vinces_. 

I have, I trust, thus far in a few words explained to the reader therationale of a system of mental discipline based on the will, and howby a very easy process the latter may, like Attention and Interest, begradually awakened. As I have before declared, everyone would like tohave a strong or vigorous will, and there is a library of books orsermons in some form, exhorting the weak to awaken and fortify theirwills or characters, but all represent it as a hard and vigorousprocess, akin to "storm and stress, " battle and victory, and nonereally tell us how to go about it. I have indeed only indicated thatit is by self-suggestion that the first steps are taken. Let us nowconsider the early beginning of the art or science ere discussingfurther developments. 

CHAPTER III. 

WILL DEVELOPMENT. 

 "Ce domaine de la Suggestion est immense. Il n'y a pas un seul fait de notre vie mentale qui ne puisse être reproduit et exageré artificiellement par ce moyen. "--_Binet et Frère, Le Magnetisme Animal_. 

Omitting the many vague indications in earlier writers, as well asthose drawn from ancient Oriental sources, we may note thatPOMPONATIUS or POMPONAZZO, an Italian, born in 1462, declared in awork entitled _De naturalium effectuum admirandorum Causis seu deIncantationibus_, that to cure disease it was necessary to use astrong will, and that the patient should have a vigorous imaginationand much faith in the _praê cantator_. PARACELSUS asserted the samething in many passages directly and indirectly. He regarded medicineas magic and the physician as a wizard who should by a powerful willact on the imagination of the patient. But from some familiarity withthe works of PARACELSUS--the first folio of the first full edition isbefore me as I write--I would say that it would be hard to declarewhat his marvelous mind did _not_ anticipate in whatever was allied tomedicine and natural philosophy. Thus I have found that long beforeVAN HELMONT, who has the credit of the discovery, PARACELSUS knew howto prepare silicate of soda, or water-glass. 

Hypnotism as practiced at the present day, and with regard to itscommon results, was familiar to JOHANN JOSEPH GASSNER, a priest inSuabia, of whom LOUIS FIGUIER writes as follows in his _Histoire duMerveilleux dans les Temps Modernes_, published in 1860:

"GASSNER, like the Englishman VALENTINE GREAT-RAKES, believed himselfcalled by divine inspiration to cure diseases. According to theprecept of proper charity he began at home--that is to say on himself. After being an invalid for five or six years, and consulting, all invain, many doctors, and taking their remedies all for naught, the ideaseized him that such an obstinate malady as his must have somesupernatural evil origin, or in other words, that he was possessed bya demon. 

"Therefore he conjured this devil of a disorder, in the name of JesusChrist to leave him--so it left, and the good GASSNER has put it onrecord that for sixteen years after he enjoyed perfect health andnever had occasion for any remedy, spiritual or otherwise. 

"This success made him reflect whether all maladies could not be curedby exorcism . . . The experiment which he tried on the invalids of hisparish were so successful that his renown soon opened through allSuabia, and the regions roundabout. Then he began to travel, beingcalled for everywhere. "

GASSNER was so successful that at Ratisbon he had, it is said, 6, 000patients of all ranks encamped in tents. He cured by simply touchingwith his hands. But that in which he appears original was that he notonly made his patients sleep or become insensible by ordering them todo so but caused them to raise their arms and legs, tremble, feel anykind of pain, as is now done by the hypnotist. "'In a young lady ofgood family' he caused laughter and weeping, stiffness of the limbs, absence of sight and hearing, and _anæsthesia_ so as to make the pulsebeat at his will. "

M. FIGUIER and others do not seem to have been aware that a centurybefore GASSNER, a PIETRO PIPERNO of Naples published a book in whichthere was a special exorcism or conjurations, as he calls them, forevery known disorder, and that this possibly gave the hint for asystem of cure to the Suabian. I have a copy of this work, which isextremely rare, it having been put on the Roman prohibited list, andotherwise suppressed. But GASSNER himself was suppressed ere long, because the Emperor, Joseph II, cloistered--that is to say, imprisonedhim for life in the Monastery of Pondorf, near Ratisbon. One must notbe too good or Apostle-like or curative--even in the Church, whichdiscourages _trop de zéle_. 

But the general accounts of GASSNER give the impression, which has notbeen justly conveyed, that he owed his remarkable success in curinghimself and others not to any kind of theory nor faith in magnetism, or in religion, so much as unconscious suggestion, aided by a powerfulWill which increased with successes. To simply _pray_ to be cured ofan illness, or even to be cured by prayer, was certainly no novelty toany Catholic or Protestant in those days. The very nature of hisexperiments in making many people perform the same feats which are nowrepeated by hypnotizers, and which formed no part of a religious cure, indicate clearly that he was an observer of strange phenomena or anatural philosopher. I have seen myself an Egyptian juggler in Boulakperform many of these as professed _tricks_, and I do not think it wasfrom any imitation of French clairvoyance. He also pretended that itwas by an exertion of his Will, aided by magic forms which he readfrom a book, that he made two boys obey him. It was probably for thesetricks which savored of magic that GASSNER was "retired. "

Having in the previous pages indicated the general method by whichWill may be awakened and strengthened, that the reader may as soon aspossible understand the simple principle of action, I will now discussmore fully the important topic of influencing and improving ourmental powers by easily induced Attention, or attention guided bysimple Foresight, and pre-resolution aided by simple _auto_ orself-suggestion. And I believe, with reason, that by these very simpleprocesses (which have not hitherto been tested that I am aware of byany writer in the light in which I view them); the Will, which is thepower of all powers and the mainspring of the mind, can be by means ofpersuasion increased or strengthened _ad infinitum_. 

It is evident that GASSNER'S method partakes in equal proportionsof the principles of the well-known "Faith Cure, " and that of theWill, or of the passive and the active. What is wanting in it isself-knowledge and the very easily awakened _forethought_ which, whencontinued, leads to far greater and much more certain results. Forethought costs little exertion: it is so calmly active that theweakest minds can employ it; but wisely employed it can set tremendousforce in action. 

As regards GASSNER, it is admissible that many more cures of diseasecan be effected by what some vaguely call the Imagination, and othersMental Action, than is generally supposed. Science now proves everyyear, more and more, that diseases are allied, and that they can bereached through the nervous system. In the celebrated correspondencebetween KANT and HUFELAND there is almost a proof that incipient goutcan be cured by will or determination. But if a merely temporary orpartial cure can _really_ be obtained, or a cessation from suffering, if the ill be really _curable_ at all, it is but reasonable to assumethat by continuing the remedy or system, the relief will or mustcorrespond to the degree of "faith" in the patient. And this wouldinfallibly be the case if the sufferer _had_ the will. Butunfortunately the very people who are most frequently relieved arethose of the impulsive imaginative kind, who "soon take hold and soonlet go, " or who are merely attracted by a sense of wonder which soonloses its charm, and so they react. 

Therefore if we cannot only awaken the Will, but also keep it alive, it is very possible that we may not only effect great and thoroughcures of diseases, but also induce whatever state of mind we please. This may be effected by the action of the minds or wills of others onour own, which influence can be gradually transferred from theoperator to the patient himself, as when in teaching a boy to swim themaster holds the pupil up until the latter finds that he isunconsciously moving by his own exertion. 

What the fickle and "nervous" patients of any kind need is to have theidea kept before their minds continuously. They generally rush into anovelty without Forethought. Therefore they should be trained or urgedto forethink or reflect seriously and often on the cure or processproposed. This is the setting of the nail, which is to be driven in bysuggestion. The other method is where we act entirely for ourselvesboth as regards previous preparation and subsequent training. 

I here repeat, since the whole object of the book is that certainfacts shall be deeply and _clearly_ impressed on the reader's mind, that if we _will_ that a certain idea shall recur to us on thefollowing, or any other day, and if we bring the mind to bear upon itjust before falling asleep, it may be forgotten when we awake, but itwill recur to us when the time comes. This is what almost everybodyhas proved, that if we resolve to awake at a certain hour we generallydo so; if not the first time, after a few experiments, _apropos_ ofwhich I would remark that "no one should ever expect full success fromany first experiment. "

Now it is certainly true that we all remember or recall certain thingsto be done at certain hours, even if we have a hundred other thoughtsin the interval. But it would seem as if by some law which we do notunderstand Sleep or repose acted as a preserver and reviver, nay, as areal strengthener of Thoughts, inspiring them with a new spirit. Itwould seem, too, as if they came out of Dreamland, as the children inTIECK'S story did out of Fairyland, with new lives. This is, indeed, abeautiful conception, and I may remark that I will in another placecomment on the curious fact that we can add to and intensify ideas bythus passing them through our minds in sleep. 

Just by the same process as that which enables us to awake at a givenhour, and simply by substituting other ideas for that of time, can weacquire the ability to bring upon ourselves pre-determined or desiredstates of mind. This is Self-Suggestion or deferred determination, beit with or without sleep. It becomes more certain in its result withevery new experiment or trial. The great factor in the whole isperseverance or repetition. By faith we can remove mountains, byperseverance we can carry them away, and the two amount to preciselythe same thing. 

And here be it noted what, I believe, no writer has ever beforeobserved, that as perseverance depends on renewed forethought andreflection, so by continued practice and thought, in self-suggestion, the one practicing begins to find before long that his conscious willis acting more vigorously in his waking hours, and that he can finallydispense with the sleeping process. For, in fact, when we once findthat our will is really beginning to obey us, and inspire courage orindifference where we were once timid, there is no end to theconfidence and power which may ensue. 

Now this is absolutely true. A man may _will_ certain things ere hefalls asleep. This willing should not be _intense_, as the old animalmagnetizers taught; it ought rather to be like a quiet, firm desire orfamiliarization with what we want, often gently repeated till we fallasleep in it. So the seeker wills or wishes that he shall, during allthe next day, feel strong and vigorous, hopeful, energetic, cheerful, bold or calm or peaceful. And the result will be obtained just inproportion to the degree in which the command or desire has impressedthe mind, or sunk into it. 

But, as I have said: Do not expect that all of this will result from afirst trial. It may even be that those who succeed very promptly willbe more likely to give out in the end than those who work up fromsmall beginnings. The first step may very well be that of merelyselecting some particular object and calmly or gently, yetdeterminedly directing the mind to it, to be recalled at a certainhoar. Repeat the experiment, if successful add to it something else. Violent effort is unadvisable, yet mere repetition _without thought_is time lost. _Think_ while willing what it is you want, _and aboveall, if you can, think with a feeling that the idea is to recur toyou_. 

This acting or working two thoughts at once may be difficult for somereaders to understand, though all writers on the brain illustrate it. It may be formulated thus: "I wish to remember tomorrow at fouro'clock to visit my bookseller--bookseller's--four o'clock--fouro'clock. " But with practice the two will become as one conception. 

When the object of a state of mind, as, for instance, calmness all daylong, is obtained, even partially, the operator (who must, of course, do all to _help himself_ to keep calm, should he remember his wish)will begin to believe in himself sincerely, or in the power of hiswill to compel a certain state of mind. This won, all may be won, bycontinued reflection and perseverance. It is the great step gained, the alphabet learned, by which the mind may pass to boundless power. 

It may be here interesting to consider some of the states of mind intowhich a person may be brought by hypnotism. When subject to the willof an operator the patient may believe anything--that he is a mouse ora girl, drunk or inspired. The same may result from self-hypnotism byartificial methods which appeal powerfully to the imagination. According to Dr. JAMES R. COCKE many of his patients could induce thisby looking at any bright object, a bed of coals, or at smooth runningwater. It is, of course, to be understood that it is not merely by_looking_ that hypnotism is induced. There must be will or determinatethought; but when once brought about it is easily repeated. 

"They have the ability, " writes Dr. COCKE, "to resist this state orbring it on at will. Many of them describe beautiful scenes fromNature, or some mighty cathedral with its lofty dome, or thefaces of imaginary beings. " This writer's own first experience ofself-hypnotism was very remarkable. He had been told by a hypnotizerto keep the number twenty-six in his mind. He did so, and afterhearing a ringing in his ears and then a strange roaring he felt thatspirits were all round him--music sounding and a sensation as ofexpanding. 

But self-hypnotizing, by the simple easy process of trusting toordinary sleep, is better adapted to action delayed, or states ofmind. These may be:

_A desire to be at peace or perfectly calm_. After a few repetitionsit will be found that, though irritating accidents may countervene, the mind will recur more and more to calm. 

_To feel cheerful or merry_. 

_To be in a brave, courageous, hearty or vigorous mood_. 

_To work hard without feeling weary_. This I have fully tested withsuccess, and especially mention it for the benefit of students. All ofmy intimate friends can certify what I here assert. 

_To keep the faculty of quickness of perception alert_, as, forinstance, when going out to perceive more than usual in a crowd. Abotanist or mineralogist may awaken the faculty with the hope ofobserving or finding with success. 

_To be susceptible to beauty_, as, for instance, when visiting a sceneor gallery. In such cases it means to derive Attention from Will. Thehabitually trained Forethought or Attention is here a _great_ aid toperception. 

_To read or study keenly and observantly_. This is a faculty which canbe very much aided by forethought and self-suggestion. 

_To forgive and forget enemies and injuries_. Allied to it is theforgetting and ignoring of all things which annoy, vex, harrass, teaseor worry us in any way whatever. To expect perfect immunity in thisrespect from the unavoidable ills of life is absurd; but having paidgreat attention to the subject, and experimented largely on it, Icannot resist declaring that it seems to me in very truth that noremedy for earthly suffering was yet discovered equal to this. Igenerally put the wish into this form: "I will forget and forgive allcauses of enmity and anger, and should they arise I determine at onceto cast them aside. " It is a prayer, as it were, to the Will to standby me, and truly the will is _Deus in nobis_ to those who believe thatGod helps those who help themselves. For as we can get into thefearful state of constantly recalling all who have ever vexed orwronged us, or nursing the memory of what we hate or despise, untilour minds are like sewers or charnel-houses of dead and poisonousthings, so we can resolutely banish them, at first by forethought, then by suggestion, and finally by waking will. And verily there arefew people living who would not be the better for such exercise. Manythere are who say that they would fain forget and be serene, yetcannot. I do not believe this. We can all exorcise our devils--all ofthem--if we _will_. 

_To restrain irritability in our intercourse with others_. It will notbe quite sufficient as regards controlling the temper to merely will, or _wish_ to subdue it. We must also will that when the temptationarises it may be preceded by forethought or followed by regret. As itoften happens to a young soldier to be frightened or run away thefirst time he is under fire, and yet learn courage in the future, sothe aspirant resolved to master his passions must not doubt because hefinds that the first step slips. _Apropos_ of which I would note thatin all the books on Hypnotism that I have read their authors testifyto a certain false quantity or amount of base alloy in the mostthoroughly suggested patients. Something of modesty, something of amoral conscience always remains. Thus, as Dr. COCKE declares, Hypnotism has not succeeded in cases suffering from what are calledimperative conceptions, or irresistible belief. "Cases suffering fromvarious imperative conceptions are, while possessing their reasons, either irresistibly led by certain impulses or they cannot ridthemselves of erroneous ideas concerning themselves and others. " Thismeans, in fact, that they had been previously _hypnotised_ to adefinite conception which had become imperative. As in Witchcraft, itis a law that one sorcerer cannot undo the work of another withoutextraordinary pains; so in hypnotism it is hard to undo what isalready established by a similar agent. 

_One can will to remember or recall anything forgotten_. I will not beresponsible that this will invariably succeed at the first time, butthat it does often follow continued determination I know fromexperience. I believe that where an operator hypnotizes a subject itvery often succeeds, if we may believe the instances recorded. AndI am also inclined to believe that in many cases, though assuredlynot in all, whatever is effected by one person upon another canalso be brought about in one's self by patience in forethought, self-suggestion, and the continued will which they awaken. 

_We can revive by this process old well-nigh forgotten trains ofthought_. This is difficult but possible. It belongs to an advancedstage of experience or may be found in very susceptible subjects. I donot belong at all to the latter, but I have perfectly succeeded incontinuing a dream; that is to say, I have woke up three times duringa dream, and, being pleased with it, wished it to go on, then fallenasleep and it went on, like three successive chapters in a novel. 

_We can subdue the habit of worrying ourselves and others needlesslyabout every trifling or serious cause of irritation which entersour minds_. There are many people who from a mere idle habit orself-indulgence and irrepressible loquacity make their own lives andthose of others very miserable--as all my readers can confirm fromexperience. I once knew a man of great fortune, with many depending onhim, who vented his ill-temper and petty annoyances on almost everyoneto whom he spoke. He was so fully aware of this failing that he atonce, in confessing it to a mutual friend, shed tears of regret. Yethe was a millionaire man of business, and had a strong will whichmight have been directed to a cure. All peevish, fretful andtalkative, or even complaining people, should be induced to seriouslystudy this subject. 

_We can cure ourselves of the habit of profanity or using vulgarlanguage_. No one doubts that a negro who believes in sorcery, if toldthat if he uttered an oath, _Voodoo_ would fall upon him and cause himto waste away, would never swear again. Or that a South Sea Islanderwould not do the same for fear of _taboo_. Now both these forms ofsorcery are really hypnotizing by action on belief, and Forethoughtaided by the sleep process has precisely the same result--itestablishes a fixed idea in the mind, or a haunting presence. 

_We can cure ourselves of intemperance_. This was, I believe, firstestablished or extensively experimented on by Dr. CHARLES LLOYDTUCKEY. This can be aided by willing that the liquor, if drunk, shallbe nauseating. 

_We can repress to a remarkable degree the sensations of fatigue, hunger and thirst_. Truly no man can defy the laws of nature, but itis very certain that in cases like that of Dr. TANNER, and the Hinduascetics who were boxed up and buried for many weeks, there must havebeen mental determination as well as physical endurance. As regardsthis very important subject of health, or the body, and the degree towhich it can be controlled by the mind or will, it is to be observedthat of late years physiologists are beginning to observe that all"mental" or corporeal functions are evidently controlled by the samelaws or belong to the same organization. If "the emotions, say ofanger or love, in their more emphatic forms, are plainly accompaniedby varying changes of the heart and blood-vessels, the viscera andmuscles, " it must follow that changes or excitement in the physicalorgans must react on the emotions. "All modes of sensibility, whatevertheir origin, " says LUYS, "are physiologically transported into thesensorium. From fiber to fiber, from sensitive element to sensitiveelement, our whole organism is sensitive; our whole sentientpersonality, in fact, is conducted just as it exists, into theplexuses of the _sensorium commune_. " Therefore, if every sensation inthe body acts on the brain by the aid of secondary brains organglions, it must be that the brain in turn can in some way act onthe body. And this has hitherto been achieved or attempted bymagicians, "miracle-mongers, " thaumaturgists, mesmerists, and thelike, and by the modern hypnotizer, in which we may observe that therehas been at every step less and less mysticism or supernaturalism, anda far easier process or way of working. And I believe it may be fairlyadmitted that in this work I have simplified the process of physicallyinfluencing mental action and rendered it easier. The result from theabove conclusions being that _we can control many disorders or formsof disease_. This is an immense subject, and it would be impossiblewithin a brief sketch to determine its limits or conditions. That whatare called nervous disorders, which are evidently the most nearlyallied to emotions--as, for instance, a headache, or other troubleinduced by grief--can be removed by joy, or some counteracting emotionor mere faith is very well known and generally believed. But of latescience has established that the affinities between the cerebral andother functions are so intimately, extensively and strangelysympathetic or identical that it is becoming impossible to say whatdisease may not be temporarily alleviated or cured by new discoveriesin directing the nervo-mental power or will. The Faith-Cure, Magic, Mesmerism, Religious Thaumaturgy and other systems have given us avast number of authentic cures of very positive disorders. But fromthe point of view taken by many people what has been wanting in allis, _firstly_, a clear and simple scientific method free from allspiritualism or wonder, and, _secondly_, the art of _Perfecting thecures by Perseverance_. For what will relieve for an hour can be madeto cure forever, if we exercise foresight and make perpetuity a partof our whole plan. 

Now, as regards curing disorders, I beg the reader to speciallyobserve that this, like many other works, depends on the state of themind; nor can it be undertaken with hope of success unless theoperator has by previous practice in easy experiments succeeded inperfectly convincing himself that he has acquired control of his will. Thus having succeeded in willing himself to work all day withoutfatigue, or to pass the day without being irritable, let him begin toconsider, reflect and realize that he _can_ make himself do this orthat, for the more he simply induces the belief and makes himselffamiliar with it, the stronger and more obedient his Will will be. However, this is simply true that to any self-suggestionist whateverwho has had some little practice and attained to even a moderatecommand over his will, a very great degree of the power to relievebodily suffering is easy to develop, and it may be increased bypractice to an incredible extent. Thus in case of suffering by pain ofany kind in another, begin by calmly persuading him or her that reliefhas been obtained thousands of times by the process, and endeavor toawaken belief, or, at least, so much attention and interest that thefact will remain as _forethought_ in the mind. The next step should beto promise relief, and then induce sleep by the showing a coin, passeswith the hands, etc. , or allowing the subject to sink into a naturalslumber. If there be no success the first time, repeat the experiment. Gout, headaches, all forms of positive pain, severe colds, _anæmia, insomnia, melancholia_, and dyspepsia appear to be among the illswhich yield most readily to, or are alleviated (to the greatassistance of a regular cure), by suggestion. 

As regards curing disorders, producing insensibility to hunger andthirst, heat or cold, and the like, all are aware that to a man who isunder the influence of some great and overpowering emotion, such asrage or surprise, or joy, no pain is perceptible. In like manner, bymeans of persuasion, sleep, a temporary oblivion, and the skillfullyawakened Will, the same insensibility or ignoring can be effected. There is, however, this to be observed, that while in the vast libraryof books which teach mental medicine the stress is laid entirely onproducing merely a temporary cure I insist that by great Forethought, by conducting the cure with a view to permanence, ever persuading thepatient to think on the future, and finally by a very thoroughcontinuation and after-treatment many diseases may be radicallyremoved. 

To recapitulate and make all clear we will suppose that the readerdesires during the following day to be in a calm, self-possessed orpeaceful state of mind. Therefore at night, after retiring, let himfirst completely consider what he wants and means to acquire. This isthe Forethought, and it should be as thorough as possible. Having donethis, will or declare that what you want shall come to pass onawaking, and repeating this and thinking on it, fall asleep. This isall. Do not wish for two things at once, or not until your mind shallhave become familiar with the process. As you feel your powerstrengthen with success you may will yourself to do whatever youdesire. 

CHAPTER IV. 

FORETHOUGHT. 

 "Post fata resurgo. "

 "What is forethought may sleep--'tis very plain, But rest assured that it will rise again. "

 "Forethought is plan inspired by an absolute Will to carry it out. "

It may have struck the reader as an almost awful, or as a verywonderful idea, that man has within himself, if he did but know it, tremendous powers or transcendental faculties of which he has reallynever had any conception. One reason why such bold thought has beensubdued is that he has always felt according to tradition, theexistence of superior supernatural (and with them patrician) beings, by whose power and patronage he has been effectively restrained orkept under. Hence gloom and pessimism, doubt and despair. It may seema bold thing to say that it did not occur to any philosopher throughthe ages that man, resolute and noble and free, might _will_ himselfinto a stage of mind defying devils and phantasms, or that amid theinfinite possibilities of human nature there was the faculty ofassuming the Indifference habitual to all animals when not alarmed. But he who will consider these studies on Self-Hypnotism may possiblyinfer from them that we have indeed within us a marvelous power ofcreating states of mind which make the idea of Pessimism ridiculous. For it renders potent and grand, pleasing or practically useful, toall who practice it, a faculty which has the great advantage that itmay enter into all the relations or acts of life; will give toeveryone something to do, something to occupy his mind, even initself, and if we have other occupations, Forethought and Induced Willmay be made to increase our interest in them and stimulate our skill. In other words, we can by means of this Art increase our ability topractice all arts, and enhance or stimulate Genius in every way orform, be it practical, musical or plastic. 

Since I began this work there fell into my hands an ingenious andcurious book, entitled "Happiness as found in _Forethought minusFearthought_, " by HORACE FLETCHER, in which the author very trulydeclares that _Fear_ in some form has become the arch enemy of Man, and through the fears of our progenitors developed by a thousandcauses, we have inherited a growing stock of diseases, terrors, apprehensions, pessimisms, and the like, in which he is perfectlyright. 

But as Mr. FLETCHER declares, if men could take _Forethought_ as theirprinciple and guide they would obviate, anticipate or foresee andprovide for so many evil contingencies and chances that we mightsecure even peace and happiness, and then man may become brave andgenial, altruistic and earnest, in spite of it all, by _willing_ awayhis Timidity. 

I have not assumed a high philosophical or metaphysical position inthis work; my efforts have been confined to indicating how by a verysimple and well-nigh mechanical process, perfectly intelligible toevery human being with an intellect, one may induce certain states ofmind and thereby create a Will. But I quite agree with Mr. FLETCHERthat Forethought is strong thought, and the point from which allprojects must proceed. As I understand it, it is a kind of impulse orprojection of will into the coming work. I may here illustrate thiswith a curious fact in physics. If the reader wished to ring adoor-bell so as to produce as much sound as possible he would probablypull it as far back as he could and then let it go. But if he would inletting it go simply give it a tap with his forefinger he wouldactually redouble the noise. 

Or, to shoot an arrow as far as possible, it is not enough to merelydraw the bow to its utmost span or tension. If just as it goes youwill give the bow a quick _push_, though the effort be trifling, thearrow will fly almost as far again as it would have done without it. 

Or, if, as is well known, in wielding a very sharp saber, we make the_draw-cut_, that is if we add to the blow or chop, as with an axe, acertain slight pull and simultaneously, we can cut through a silkhandkerchief or a sheep. 

Forethought is the tap on the bell, the push of the bow, the draw onthe saber. It is the deliberate yet rapid action of the mind whenbefore falling to sleep or dismissing thought we _bid_ the mind tosubsequently respond. It is more than merely thinking what we are todo; it is the bidding or ordering self to fulfill a task beforewilling it. 

Forethought in the senses employed or implied as here described meansmuch more than mere previous consideration or reflection, which may bevery feeble. It is, in fact, "constructive, " which, as inventive, implies _active_ thought. "Forethought stimulates, aids the success ofhonest aims. " Therefore, as the active principle in mental work, Iregard it as a kind of self-impulse, or that minor part in thedivision of the force employed which sets the major into action. Now, if we really understand this and can succeed in employing Forethoughtas the preparation for, and impulse to, Self-Suggestion, we shallgreatly aid the success of the latter, because the former insuresattention and interest. Forethought may be brief, but it should alwaysbe energetic. By cultivating it we acquire the enviable talent ofthose men who take in everything at a glance, and act promptly, like aNAPOLEON. This power is universally believed to be entirely innate ora gift; but it can be induced or developed in all minds in proportionto the will by practice. 

Be it observed that as the experimenter progresses in the developmentof will by suggestion, he can gradually lay aside the latter, or all_processes_, especially if he work to such an end, anticipating it. Then he simply acts by clear will and strength, and Forethoughtconstitutes all his stock-in-trade, process or aid. He preconceivesand wills energetically at once, and by practice and repetition_Forethought_ becomes a marvelous help on all occasions andemergencies. 

To make it of avail the one who frequently practices self-suggestion, at first with, and then without sleep, will inevitably find ere longthat to facilitate his work, or to succeed he _must_ first write, asit were, or plan a preface, synopsis, or epitome of his proposed work, to start it and combine with it a resolve or decree that it must bedone, the latter being the tap on the bell-knob. Now the habit ofcomposing the plan as perfectly, yet as succinctly as possible, dailyor nightly, combined with the energetic impulse to send it off, willere long give the operator a conception of what I mean by Foresightwhich by description I cannot. And when grown familiar and reallymastered its possessor will find that his power to think and actpromptly in all the emergencies of life has greatly increased. 

Therefore Forethought means a great deal more, as here employed, thanseeing in advance, or deliberate prudence--it rather implies, likedivination or foreknowledge, sagacity and mental _action_ as well asmere perception. It will inevitably or assuredly grow with thepractice of self-suggestion if the latter be devoted to mentalimprovement, but as it grows it will qualify the operator to lay asidethe sleep and suggest to himself directly. 

All men of great natural strength of mind, gifted with the will to doand dare, the beings of action and genius, act directly, and are likeathletes who lift a tree by the simple exertion of the muscles. He whoachieves his aim by self-culture, training, or suggestion, is like onewho raises the weight by means of a lever, and if he practice it oftenenough he may in the end become as strong as the other. 

There is a curious and very illustrative instance of Forethought inthe sense in which I am endeavoring to explain it, given in a novel, the "Scalp-Hunters, " by MAYNE REID, with whom I was well acquainted inbygone years. Not having the original, I translate from a Frenchversion:

"His aim with the rifle is infallible, and it would seem as if theball obeyed his Will. There must be a kind of _directing principle_ inhis mind, independent of strength of nerve and sight. He and one otherare the only men in whom I have observed this singular power. "

This means simply the exercise in a second, as it were, of "the tap onthe bell-knob, " or the projection of the will into the proposed shot, and which may be applied to any act. Gymnasts, leapers and the likeare all familiar with it. It springs from resolute confidence andself-impulse enforced; but it also creates them, and the growth isvery great and rapid when the idea is much kept before the mind. Inthis latter lies most of the problem. 

In Humanity, mind, and especially Forethought, or reflection, combinedin one effort with will and energy, enters into all acts, though oftenunsuspected, for it is a kind of unconscious _reflex_ action orcerebration. Thus I once discovered to my astonishment in a gymnasiumthat the extremely mechanical action of putting up a heavy weight fromthe ground to the shoulder and from the shoulder to the full reach ofthe arm above the head, became much easier after a little practice, although my muscles had not grown, nor my strength increased duringthe time. And I found that whatever the exertion might be there wasalways some trick or knack, however indescribable, by means of whichthe man with a brain could surpass a dolt at _anything_, though thelatter were his equal in strength. But it sometimes happens that thetrick can be taught and even improved on. And it is in all casesForethought, even in the lifting of weights or the willing on themorrow to write a poem. 

For this truly weird power--since "the weird sisters" in "Macbeth"means only the sisters who _foresee_--is, in fact, the energy whichprojects itself in some manner, which physiology can as yet only veryweakly explain, and even if the explanation _were_ perfect, it wouldamount in fact to no more than showing the machinery of a watch, whenthe main object for us is that it should _keep time_, and tell thehour, as well as exhibit the ingenuity of the maker--which thing isvery much lost sight of, even by many very great thinkers, misled bythe vanity of showing how much they know. 

Yes, Foresight or Forethought projects itself in all things, and it isa serious consideration, or one of such immense value, that whenreally understood, and above all subjected to some practice--such as Ihave described, and which, as far as I can see, is _necessary_--onecan bring it to bear _intelligently_ on all the actions of life, thatis to say, to _much_ greater advantage than when we use it ignorantly, just as a genius endowed with strength can do far more with it than anignoramus. For there is nothing requiring Thought in which it cannotaid us. I have alluded to Poetry. Now this does not mean that a mancan become a SHAKESPEARE or SHELLEY by means of all the forethoughtand suggestion in the world, but they will, if well developed anddirected, draw out from the mystic depths of mind such talent as he_has_--doubtless in some or all cases more than he has ever shown. 

No one can say what is hidden in every memory; it is like the soundingocean with its buried cities, and treasures and wondrous relics of theolden time. This much we may assume to know, that every image or ideaor impression whichever reached us through any of our senses entered acell when it was ready for it, where it sleeps or wakes, most imagesbeing in the former condition. In fact, every brain is like amonastery of the Middle Ages, or a beehive. But it is built on agigantic scale, for it is thought that no man, however learned orexperienced he might be, ever contrived during all his life to so muchas even half fill the cells of his memory. And if any reader should beapprehensive lest it come to pass with him in this age of unlimitedsupply of cheap knowledge that he will fill all his cells let himconsole himself with the reflection that it is supposed that Nature, in such a case, will have a further supply of new cells ready, shenever, as yet, having failed in such rough hospitality, though itoften leaves much to be desired!

Yes, they are all there--every image of the past, every face whichever smiled on us--the hopes and fears of bygone years--the rustlingof grass and flowers and the roar of the sea--the sound of trumpets inprocessions grand--the voices of the great and good among mankind--orwhat you will. Every line ever read in print, every picture and faceand house is there. Many an experiment has shown this to be true; alsothat by mesmerizing or hypnotizing processes the most hidden images ormemories can be awakened. In fact, the idea has lost much of itswonder since the time of Coleridge, now that every sound can berecorded, laid away and reproduced, and we are touching closely on anage when all that lies _perdu_ in any mind can or will be set forthvisibly, and all that a man has ever _seen_ be shown to the world. Forthis is no whit more wonderful than that we can convey images orpictures by telegraph, and when I close my eyes and recall or imaginea form it does not seem strange that there might be some process bymeans of which it might be photographed. 

And here we touch upon the Materialization of Thought, whichconception loses a part of the absurdity with which Spiritualists andOccultists have invested it, if we regard all nature as one substance. For, in truth, all that was ever perceived, even to the shadow of adream by a lunatic, had as real an existence while it lasted as thePyramids of Egypt, else it could not have been perceived. Sensecannot, even in dreams, observe what is not for the time an effect onmatter. If a man _imagines_ or makes believe to himself that he has afairy attendant, or a dog, and _fancies_ that he sees it, that mandoes really see _something_, though it be invisible to others. Thereis some kind of creative brain-action going on, some employment ofatoms and forces, and, if this be so, we may enter it among thePossibilities of the Future that the Material in any form whatever maybe advanced, or further materialized or made real. 

It is curious that this idea has long been familiar to believers inmagic. In more than one Italian legend which I have collected asorceress or goddess evolves a life from her own soul, as a fire emitsa spark. In fact, the fancy occurs in some form in all mythologies, great or small. In one old Irish legend a wizard turns a Thought intoa watch-dog. The history of genius and of Invention is that ofrealizing ideas, of making them clearer and stronger and morecomprehensive. Thus it seems to me that the word _Forethought_ asgenerally loosely understood, when compared to what it has been showncapable of expressing, is almost as much advanced as if like the fairyHERMELINA, chronicled by GROSIUS, it had been originally a vapor ormere fantasy, and gradually advanced to fairy life so as to become thecompanion of a wizard. 

If an artist, say a painter, will take forethought for a certainpicture, whether the subject be determined or not, bringing himself tothat state of easy, assured confidence, as a matter of course that hewill _retain_ the subject he will, if not at the first effort, almostcertainly at last find himself possessed of it. Let him beware ofhaste, or of forcing the work. When he shall have secured suggestiveInterest let him will that Ingenuity shall be bolder and his spiritdraw from the stores of memory more abundant material. Thus our powersmay be gradually and gently drawn into our service. Truly it wouldseem as if there were no limit to what a man can evolve out of himselfif he will take Thought thereto. 

Forethought can be of vast practical use in cases where confidence isrequired. Many a young clergyman and lawyer has been literallyfrightened out of a career, and many an actor ruined for want of avery little knowledge, and in this I speak from personal experience. Let the aspirant who is to appear in public, or pass an examination, and is alarmed, base his forethought on such ideas as this, that hewould not be afraid to repeat his speech to _one_ person or two--whyshould he fear a hundred? There are some who can repeat this idea tothemselves till it takes hold strongly, and they rise almost feelingcontempt for all in court--as did the old lady in Saint Louis, whofelt so relieved when a witness at _not_ feeling frightened that shebade judge and jury cease looking at her in that impudent way. 

Having read the foregoing to a friend he asked me whether I believedthat by Forethought and Suggestion a gentleman could be inducedwithout diffidence to offer himself in marriage, since, as is wellknown, that the most eligible young men often put off wedding foryears because they cannot summon up courage to propose. To which Ireplied that I had no great experience of such cases, but as regardedthe method I was like the Scotch clergyman who, being asked by awealthy man if he thought that the gift of a thousand pounds to theKirk would save the donor's soul, replied: "I'm na prepairet topreceesly answer thot question--but I wad vara warmly advise ye to_try_ it. "

It must be remembered that for the very great majority of cases, ifreally not for all, the practicer of this process must be of temperatehabits, and never attempt after a hearty meal, or drinking freely, toexercise Forethought or Self-Suggestion. Peaceful mental action duringsleep requires that there shall be very light labor of digestion, anddisturbed or troublesome dreams are utterly incompatible with reallysuccessful results. Nor will a single day's temperance suffice. Itrequires many days to bring the whole frame and constitution into goodfit order. Here there can be no evasion, for more than ordinarytemperance in food and drink is _absolutely indispensable_. 

It is a principle, recognized by all physiologists, that digestion andfixed thought cannot go on together; it is even unadvisable to readwhile eating. Thus in all the old magical operations, which were, infact, self-hypnotism, a perfect fast is insisted on with reason. Thisis all so self-evident that I need not dwell on it. It will beneedless for anyone to take up this subject as a trifling pastime, orattempt self-suggestion and development of will with as littleearnestness as one would give to a game of cards; for in such ahalf-way effort time will be lost and nothing come of it. Unlessentered on with the most serious resolve to persevere, and makegreater effort and more earnestly at every step, it had better be letalone. 

All who will persevere with calm determination cannot fail ere long togain a certain success, and this achieved, the second step is mucheasier. However, there are many people who after doing all in theirpower to get to the gold or diamond mines, hasten away even when inthe full tide of success, because they are fickle--and it is preciselysuch people who easily tire who are most easily attracted, be it tomesmerism, hypnotism, or any other wonder. And they are more wearisomeand greater foes to true Science than the utterly indifferent or theignorant. 

This work will not have been written in vain should it induce thereader to reflect on what is implied by patient repetition orperseverance, and what an incredible and varied _power_ that manacquires who masters it. He who can lead himself, or others, into a_habit_ can do anything. Even Religion is, in fact, nothing else. "Religion, " said the reviewer of "The Evolution of the Idea of God, "by GRANT ALLEN, "he defines as Custom or Practice--not theory, nottheology, not ethics, not spiritual aspirations, but a certain set ofmore or less similar observances: propitiation, prayer, praise, offerings, the request for Divine favors, the deprecation of Divineanger, or other misfortunes"--in short, Ritual. That is to say, it isthe aggregate of the different parts of religion, of which many takeone for the whole. But this aggregation was the result of earnestpatience and had good results. And it is by the careful analysis andall-round examination of Ideas that we acquire valuable knowledge, andmay learn how very few there are current which are more than verysuperficially understood--as I have shown in what I have said of theWill, the Imagination, Forethought, and many other faculties which areflippantly used to explain a thousand problems by people who canhardly define the things themselves. 

CHAPTER V. 

WILL AND CHARACTER. 

 "And I have felt A Presence that disturbs me with the joy Of elevated thoughts, a sense sublime Of something far more deeply interposed, Whose dwelling is . . . All in the mind of man; A motion and a spirit that impels All thinking things. "--_Wordsworth_. 

As the vast majority of people are not agreed as to what reallyconstitutes a Gentleman, while a great many seem to be practically, atleast, very much abroad as to the nature of a Christian, so it will befound that, in fact, there is a great deal of difference as regardsthe Will. I have known many men, and some women, to be credited byothers, and who very much credited themselves, with having iron wills, when, in fact, their every deed, which was supposed to prove it, wasbased on brazen want of conscience. Mere want of principle orunscrupulousness passes with many, especially its possessors, forstrong _will_. And even decision of character itself, as MAGINNremarks, is often confounded with talent. "A bold woman always getsthe name of clever"--among fools--"though her intellect may be of ahumble order, and her knowledge contemptible. " Among the vulgar, especially those of greedy, griping race and blood, the children ofthe thief, a robber of the widow and orphan, the scamp of thesyndicate, and soulless "promoter" in South or North America, boldrobbery, or Selfishness without scruple or timidity always appears asWill. But it is not the whole of the real thing, or real will initself. When MUTIUS CAIUS SCAEVOLA thrust his hand into the flames noone would have greatly admired his endurance if it had been found thatthe hand was naturally insensible and felt no pain. Nor would therehave been any plaudits for MARCUS CURTIUS when he leapt into the gulf, had he been so drunk as not to know what he was about. The will whichdepends on unscrupulousness is like the benumbed hand or intoxicatedsoul. Quench conscience, as a sense of right and obligation, and youcan, of course, do a great deal from which another would shrink--andtherefore be called "weak-minded" by the fools. 

There is another type of person who imposes on the world and on selfas being strong-minded and gifted with Will. It is the imperturbablecool being, always self-possessed, with little sympathy for emotion. In most cases such minds result from artificial training, and theybreak down in real trials. I do not say that they cannot weather astorm or a duel, or stand fire, or get through what novelists regardas superlative stage trials; but, in a moral crisis, the gentleman orlady whose face is all Corinthian brass is apt like that brass in afire to turn pale. These folk get an immense amount of undeservedadmiration as having Will or self-command, when they owe what stayingquality they have (like the preceding class) rather to a lack of goodqualities than their inspiration. 

There are, alas! not a few who regard _Will_ as simply identical withmere obstinacy, or stubbornness, the immovability of the Ass, or Bull, or Bear--that is, they reduce it to an animal power. But, as thisoften or generally amounts in animal or man to mere insensiblesulkiness--as far remote as possible from enlightened mental action, it is surely unjust to couple it with the _Voluntary_ or pureintelligent _Will_, by which all must understand the very acme ofactive Intellect. 

Therefore it follows, that the errors, mistakes, and perversions whichhave grown about Will in popular opinion, like those which haveaccumulated round Christianity, are too often mistaken for the truth. Pure Will is, and must be by its very nature, perfectly _free_, forthe more it is hindered, or hampered, or controlled in any way, theless is it independent volition. Therefore, pare Will, free from allrestraint can only act in, or as, Moral Law. Acting in accordance withvery mean, immoral, obstinate motives is, so to speak, obeying as aslave the devil. The purer the motive the purer the Will, and in verytruth the purer the stronger, or firmer. Every man has his own idea ofWill according to his morality--even as it is said that every man'sconception of God is himself infinitely magnified--or, as SYDNEY SMITHdeclared, that a certain small clergyman believed that Saint Paul wasfive feet two inches in height, and wore a shovel-hat. And here we maynote that if the fundamental definition of a gentleman be "a man ofperfect integrity, " or one who always does simply _what is right_, heis also one who possesses Will in its integrity. 

Therefore it follows that if the pure will, which is the basis of allfirm and determined action, be a matter of moral conviction, it shouldtake the first place as such. Napoleon the First was an exemplar of aselfish corrupted will, CHRIST the perfection of Will in its purity. And if I can make my meaning clear, I would declare that he who wouldcreate within himself a strong and vigorous will by hypnotism or anyother process, will be most likely to succeed, if, instead of aimingat developing a power by which he may subdue others, and make allthings yield to him, or similar selfish aims, he shall, before all, seriously reflect on how he may use it to do good. For I am absolutelypersuaded from what I know, that he who makes Altruism and thehappiness of others a familiar thought to be coupled with every effort(even as a lamb is always painted with, or appointed unto, St. John), will be the most likely to succeed. There is something in moralconviction or the consciousness of right which gives a sense ofsecurity or a faith in success which goes far to secure it. Hence thewilling the mind on the following day to be at peace, not to yield toirritability or temptations to quarrel, to be pleasing and cheerful;in short to develop _good_ qualities is the most easily effectedprocess, because where there is such self-moral-suasion to a good aimor end, we feel, and very justly, that we _ought_ to be aided by the_Deus in nobis_, or an over-ruling Providence, whatever its form ornature may be. And the experimenter may be assured that if we can byany means _will_ or exorcise all envy, vanity, folly, irritability, vindictiveness--in short all evil--out of ourselves, and supply theirplace with Love, we shall take the most effective means to secure ourown happiness, as well as that of others. 

All of this has been repeated very often of late years by Altruists;but, while the doctrine is accepted both by Agnostics and Christiansas perfect, there has been little done to show men how to practicallyrealize it. But I have ever noted that in this Pilgrim's Progress ofour life, those are most likely to attain to the Celestial City, andall its golden glories, who, like CHRISTIAN, start from the lowliestbeginnings; and as the learning our letters leads to reading thegreatest books, so the simplest method of directing the attention andthe most mechanical means of developing Will, may promptly lead to thehighest mental and moral effect. 

Prayer is generally regarded as nothing else but an asking or beggingfrom a superior power. But it is also something which is really verydifferent from this. It is a formula by means of which man realizeshis faith and will. Tradition, and habit (of whose power I havespoken) or repetition, have given it the influence or prestige of acharm. In fact it is a spell, he who utters it feels assured that ifseriously repeated it will be listened to, and that the Power to whomit is addressed will hear it. The Florentines all round me as I write, who repeat daily, "_Pate nostro quis in cell, santi ficeturie nometumme_!" in words which they do not understand, do not pray for dailybread or anything else in the formula; they only realize that theycommune with God, and are being good. An intelligent prayer in thislight is the concentration of thought on a subject, or a _definite_realization. Therefore if when _willing_ that tomorrow I shall be calmall day or void of irritation, I put the will or wish into a brief andclear form, it will aid me to promptly realize or feel what I want. And it will be a prayer in its reality, addressed to the Unknown Poweror to the Will within us--an invocation, or a spell, according to themind of him who makes it. 

Thus a seeker may repeat: "I _will_, earnestly and deeply, that duringall tomorrow I may be in a calm and peaceful state of mind. I _will_with all my heart that if irritating or annoying memories or images, or thoughts of any kind are in any way awakened, that they may bepromptly forgotten and fade away!"

I would advise that such a formula be got by heart till very familiar, to be repeated, but not mechanically, before falling to sleeps What isof the very utmost importance is that the operator shall feel itsmeaning and at the same time give it the impulse of Will by the dualprocess before described. This, if successfully achieved, will notfail (at least with most minds) to induce success. 

This formula, or "spell, " will be sufficient for some time. When wefeel that it is really beginning to have an effect, we may add to itother wishes. That is to say, be it clearly understood, that byrepeating the will to be calm and peaceful, day after day, it willassuredly begin to come of itself, even as a pigeon which hath been"tolled" every day at a certain hour to find corn or crumbs in acertain place, will continue to go there even if the food cease. However, you may renew the first formula if you will. Then we may addgradually the wish to be in a bold or courageous frame of mind, so asto face trials, as follows:

"I _will_ with all my soul, earnestly and truly, that I may be on themorrow and all the day deeply inspired with courage and energy, withself-confidence and hope! May it lighten my heart and make me heedlessof all annoyances and vexations which may arise! Should such come inmy way, may I hold them at no more than their real value, or laughthem aside!"

Proceed gradually and firmly through the series, never trying anythingnew, until the old has fully succeeded. This is essential, for failureleads to discouragement. Then, in time, fully realizing all itsdeepest meaning, so as to impress the Imagination one may will asfollows:

"May my quickness of Perception, or Intuition, aid me in the businesswhich I expect to undertake tomorrow. I _will_ that my faculty ofgrasping at details and understanding their relations shall be active. May it draw from my memory the hidden things which will aid it!"

The artist or literary man, or poet, may in time earnestly will tothis effect:

"I desire that my genius, my imagination, the power which enables manto combine and create; the poetic (or artist) spirit, whatever it be, may act in me tomorrow, awakening great thoughts and suggesting forthem beautiful forms. "

He who expects to appear in public as an orator, as a lawyer pleadinga case, or as a witness, will do much to win success, if after carefulforethought or reflecting on what it is that he really wants, he willrepeat:

"I will that tomorrow I may speak or plead, with perfectself-possession and absence of all timidity or fear!"

Finally, we may after long and earnest reflection on all which I havesaid, and truly not till then, resolve on the Masterspell to awakenthe Will itself in such a form that it will fill our soul, as it were, unto which intent it is necessary to understand what Will really meansto us in its purity and integrity. The formula may be:

"I _will_ that I may feel inspired with the power, aided by calmdetermination, to do what I desire, aided by a sense of right andjustice to all. May my will be strong and sustain me in all trials. May it inspire that sense of independence of strength which, allied toa pure conscience, is the greatest source of happiness on earth!"

If the reader can master this last, he can by its aid progressinfinitely. And with the few spells which I have given he will need nomore, since in these lie the knowledge, and key, and suggestion to allwhich may be required. 

Now it will appear clearly to most, that no man can long and steadilyoccupy himself with such pursuits, without morally benefiting by themin his waking hours, even if auto-hypnotism were all "mereimagination, " in the most frivolous sense of the word. For he who willhimself not to yield to irritability, can hardly avoid payingattention to the subject, and thinking thereon, check himself whenvexed. And as I have said, what we summon by Will ere long remains asHabit, even as the Elves, called by a spell, remain in the Tower. 

Therefore it is of _great_ importance for all people who take up andpursue to any degree of success this Art or Science, that they shallbe actuated by moral and unselfish motives, since achieved with anyother intent the end can only be the bringing of evil and sufferinginto the soul. For as the good by strengthening the Will makethemselves promptly better and holier, so he who increases it merelyto make others feel his power will become with it wickeder, yea, andthrice accursed, for what is the greatest remedy is often thestrongest poison. 

Step by step Science has advanced of late to the declaration that man_thinks all over_ his body, or at least experiences those reflectedsensations or emotions which are so strangely balanced betweenintellectual sense and sensation that we hardly know where or how toclass them. "The sensitive _plexi_ of our whole organism are alleither isolated or thrown into simultaneous vibration when acted on byThought. " So the Will may be found acting unconsciously as an emotionor instinct, or developed with the highest forms of consciousreflection. Last of all we find it, probably as the result of allassociated functions or powers, at the head of all, their Executivepresident. But _is_ it "the exponent of correlated forces?" Thereindeed doctors differ. 

There is a very curious Italian verb, _Invogliare_, which is thusdescribed in a Dictionary of Idioms: "_Invogliare_ is to inspire awill or desire, _cupiditatem injicere a movere_. To _invogliare_anyone is to awake in him the will or the ability or capacity, anearnest longing or appetite, an ardent wish--_alicujus rei cupiditatema desiderium alicni movere_--to bring into action a man's hankering, solicitude, anxiety, yearning, ardor, predilection, love, fondness andrelish, or aught which savors of Willing. " Our English word, _Inveigle_, is derived from it, but we have none preciselycorresponding to it which so generally sets forth the idea ofinspiring a will in another person. "Suggestion" is far more generaland vague. Now if a man could thus _in-will_ himself to good or moralpurpose, he would assume a new position in life. We all admit thatmost human beings have defects or faults of which they would gladly befreed (however incorrigible they _appear_ to be), but they have notthe patience to effect a cure, to keep to the resolve, or prevent itfrom fading out of sight. For a _vast_ proportion of all minor sins, or those within the law, there is no cure sought. The offender saysand believes, "It is too strong for me"--and yet these smallunpunished offenses cause a thousand times more suffering than all thegreat crimes. 

Within a generation, owing to the great increase of population, prosperity and personal comfort, nervous susceptibility has alsogained in extent, but there has been no check to petty abuse of power, selfishness, which always comes out in some form of injustice orwrong, or similar vexations. Nay, what with the disproportionategrowth of vulgar wealth, this element has rapidly increased, and itwould really seem as if the plague must spread _ad infinitum_, unlesssome means can be found to _invogliare_ and inspire the offenders witha sense of their sins, and move them to reform. And it is more thanprobable that if all who are at heart sincerely willing to reformtheir morals and manners could be brought to keep their delinquenciesbefore their consciousness in the very simple manner which I haveindicated, the fashion or _mode_ might at least be inaugurated. For itis _not_ so much a moral conviction, or an appeal to common sense, which is needed (as writers on ethics all seem to think), but somepractical art of keeping men up to the mark in endeavoring to reform, or to make them remember it all day long, since "out of sight out ofmind" is the devil's greatest help with weak minds. 

CHAPTER VI. 

SUGGESTION AND INSTINCT. 

 "Anima non nascitur sed fit, " ut ait. --TERTULLIANUS. 

 "Post quam loquuti sumus de anima rationali, intellectuali (_immortali_) et quia ad inferiores descendimus jam gradus animæ, scilicet animæ mortalis quæ animalium est. " --PETRUS GREGORIUS THOLOSANUS. 

It must have struck many readers that the action of a mind underhypnotic influence, be it of another or of self, involves strangequestions as regards Consciousness. For it is very evident fromrecorded facts, that people can actually reason and act without wakingconsciousness, in a state of mind which resembles instinct, which is akind of cerebration, or acting under habits and impressions suppliedby memory and formed by practice, but not according to what weunderstand by Reason or Judgment. 

All things in nature have their sleep or rest, night is the sleep ofthe world, death the repose of Nature or Life--the solid temples, thegreat globe itself, dissolve to awaken again; so man hath in him, asit were, a company of workmen, some of whom labor by day, while otherswatch by night, during which time they, unseen, have their fantasticfrolics known as dreams. The Guardian or Master of the daily hours, appears in a great measure to conform his action closely to averageduties of life, in accordance with those of all other men. He picksout from the millions of images or ideas in the memory, uses andbecomes familiar with a certain number, and lets the rest sleep. Thismaster or active agent is probably himself a Master-Idea--the resultof the correlative action of all the others, a kind of consensus madepersonal, an elected Queen Bee, as I have otherwise described him orher. 

But he is not the only thinker--there are all over the body ganglionswhich act by a kind of fluid instinct, born of repetition, and whenthe tired master even drowses or nods, or falls into a brown study, then a marvelously curious mental action begins to show itself, fordreams at once flicker and peer and steal dimly about him. This isbecause the waking consciousness is beginning to shut out the world--and its set of ideas. 

So consistent is the system that even if Waking Reason abstractitself, not to sleep, but to think on one subject such as writing apoem or inventing a machine, certain affinities will sleep or dreamsbegin to show themselves. When Genius is really at work, it sweepsalong, as it were, in a current, albeit it has enough reason left toalso use the rudder and oars, or spread and manage a sail. The reasonfor the greater fullness of unusual images and associations (_i. E. _, the action of genius) during the time when one is bent on intellectualinvention is that the more the waking conscious Reason drowses orapproaches to sleep, the more do many images in Memory awaken andbegin to shyly open the doors of their cells and peep out. 

In the dream we also proceed, or rather drift, loosely on a current, but are without oars, rudder or sail. We are hurtled against, orhurried away from the islands of Images or Ideas, that is to say, allkinds of memories, and our course is managed or impelled, or guided bytricky water-sprites, whose minds are all on mischief bent or onlyidle merriment. In any case they conduct us blindly and wildly fromisle to isle, sometimes obeying a far cry which comes to them throughthe mist--some echoing signal of our waking hours. So in a vision everon we go!

That is to say that even while we dream there is an unconsciouscerebration or voluntarily exerted power loosely and irregularlyimitating by habit, something like the action of our waking hours, especially its brown studies and fancies in drowsy reveries or play. 

It seems to me as if this sleep-master or mistress--I prefer thelatter--who attends to our dreams may be regarded as Instinct on theloose, for like instinct she acts without conscious reasoning. Shecarries out, or realizes, trains of thought, or sequences with littlecomparison or deduction. Yet within her limits she can do great work, and when we consider, we shall find that by following mere Law she haseffected a great, nay, an immense, deal, which we attribute entirelyto forethought or Reason. As all this is closely allied to the actionof the mind when hypnotized, it deserves further study. 

Now it is a wonderful reflection that as we go back in animated naturefrom man to insects, we find self-conscious Intellect or Reason basedon Reflection disappear, and Instinct taking its place. Yet Instinctin its marvelous results, such as ingenuity of adaptation, often farsurpasses what semi-civilized man could do. Or it does the same thingsas man, only in an entirely different way which is not as yetunderstood. Only from time to time some one tells a wonderful story ofa bird, a dog or a cat, and then asks, "Was not this reason?"

What it was, in a great measure, was an unconscious application ofmemory or experience. Bees and ants and birds often far outdo savagemen in ingenuity of construction. The red Indians in their persistentuse of flimsy, cheerless bark wigwams, were far behind the beaver ororiole as regards dwellings; in this respect the Indian indicated mereinstinct of a low order, as all do who live in circles of meretradition. 

Now to advance what seems a paradox, it is evident that even what weregard as inspired genius comes to man in a great measure fromInstinct, though as I noted before it is aided by reflection. As theyoung bird listens to its mother and then sings till as a grownnightingale it pours forth a rich flood of varying melody; so the poetor musician follows masters and models, and then, like them, _creates_, often progressing, but is never _entirely_ spontaneous ororiginal. When the artist thinks too little he lacks sense, when hethinks too much he loses fire. In the very highest and most strangelymysterious poetical flights of SHELLEY and KEATS, or WORDSWORTH, Ifind the very same Instinct which inspires the skylark andnightingale, but more or less allied to and strengthened by Thought orConsciousness. If human Will or Wisdom alone directed _all_ our work, then every man who had mere patience might be a great original genius, and it is indeed true that Man can do inconceivably more in followingand imitating genius than has ever been imagined. However, thus farthe talent which enables a man to write such a passage as that ofTENNYSON, "The tides of Music's golden sea Setting towards Eternity, "

results from a development of Instinct, or an intuitive perception ofthe Beautiful, such as Wordsworth believed existed in all things whichenjoy sunshine, _life_, and air. The poet himself cannot _explain_ theprocesses, though he may be able to analyze in detail how or why hemade or found a thousand other things. 

It is not only true that Genius originates in something antecedent toconscious reflection or intellect, but also that men have producedmarvelous works of art almost without knowing it, while others haveshown the greatest incapacity to do so after they had developed anincredible amount of knowledge. Thus Mr. WHISTLER reminded RUSKIN thatwhen the world had its greatest artists, there were no critics. 

And it is well to remember that while the Greeks in all their glory ofArt and Poetry were unquestionably rational or consciouslyintelligent, there was not among them the thousandth part of theanxious worrying, the sentimental self-seeking and examination, or theIntroversion which worms itself in and out of, and through andthrough, all modern work, action and thought, even as mercury in anair-pump will permeate the hardest wood. For the Greeks worked more inthe spirit of Instinct; that is, more according to certain transmittedlaws and ideas than we realize--albeit this tradition was of a veryhigh order. We have lost Art because we have not developed tradition, but have immensely increased consciousness, or reflection, out ofproportion to art It was from India and Egypt in a _positive_ formthat Man drew the poison of sentimental Egoism which becamecomparative in the Middle Ages and superlative in this our time. 

It is very evident that as soon as men become self-conscious of greatwork, or cease to work for the sake of enjoying Art, or its results, and turn all their attention to the genius or cleverness, or characteror style, self, _et cetera_, of the _artist_, or of themselves, adecadence sets in, as there did after the Renaissance, when knowledgeor enjoyment of Art was limited, and guided by familiarity with namesand schools and "manners, " or the like, far more than by real beautyin itself. 

Now, out of all this which I have said on Art, strange conclusions maybe drawn, the first being that even without self-conscious Thought orexcess of Intellect, there can be a Sense of Enjoyment in any or everyorganism, also a further development of memory of that enjoyment, andfinally a creation of buildings, music and song, with no reflection, in animals, and very little in Man. And when Man gets beyond workingwith simple Nature and begins to think chiefly about himself, his Art, as regards harmony with Nature, deteriorates. 

We do not sufficiently reflect on the fact that _Natura naturans_, orthe action of Nature (or simply following Tradition), may, as is thecase of Transition Architecture, involve the creation of marvelouslyingenious and beautiful works, and the great enjoyment of them byInstinct alone. It is not possible for ordinary man to even understandthis now in all its fullness. He is indeed trying to do so--but it istoo new for his comprehension. But a time will come when he willperceive that his best work has been done unconsciously, or underinfluences of which he was ignorant. 

Hypnotism acts entirely by suggestion, and he who paints or does otherwork entirely according to Tradition, also carries out what is or hasbeen suggested to him. Men of earlier times who thus worked forthousands of years like the Egyptians in one style, were guided by thefaith that it had been begun by the Creator or God. 

For men cannot conceive of creation as separate from pre-determinedplan or end, and all because they cannot understand that Creativeinnate force, _potentia_, must have some result, or that the simplestLaw once set agoing awakens, acquires strength in going and developsgreat Laws, which, with an all-susceptible or _capable_ material towork on, may, or _must_, create infinite ingenuities, so that in timethere may be an organic principle with sentiency, and yet no Will, save in its exponents, or working to end or aim, but ever tending tofurther unfolding "a seizing and giving the fire of the living" everonwards into Eternity, in which there may be a million times moreperfect "mind" than we can now grasp. 

Now, having for many years attempted at least to familiarize myselfwith the aspect or sound, of this problem, though I could not solveit, it seems at last to be natural enough that even matter (which somany persist in regarding as a kind of dust or something resistant tothe touch, but which I regard as infinite millions of degrees moresubtle), may _think_ just as well as it may act in Instinct. It is, indeed, absurd to admit souls to idiots or savages, who have not thesense to live as comfortably as many animals, and yet deny it to thelatter. When we really become familiar with the idea, it appearssensible enough. But its opponents do _not_ become familiar with it, it irritates them, they call it Atheistic, although it is nothing ofthe kind, just as if we were to say that a man who bravely and noblypursued his way in life, doing his duty because it was his duty, andgiving no thought as to future reward or punishment, must needs want_soul_ or be an Atheist. 

If all men were perfectly good, they would act morally andinstinctively, without consciousness of behaving well, and if we felta high ideal of Art it would be just the same. When Art was naturalmen never signed their names to their work, but now the Name takesprecedence of the picture. 

Therefore, as we go backward into the night of things, we find, thoughwe forget it all the time, that Instinct or the living in the Spiritof Law, had its stars or planets which shone more brilliantly thannow, at least in Faith. Thus, there are two sources of Creation orAction, both based on Evolution, one being unconscious and guided byNatural Law, and the other which is conscious and grows out of thefirst. Hence _cognito ergo sum_, which well-nigh all men reallyunderstand as _cogito, ergo sum Deus_. Or we may say that they assume

 "Because _I_ think, then God must _think_ like me!"

Now to come to Hypnotic thought, or suggested mental action. I wouldinfer that, according to what I have said, there may be two kinds ofmentality, or working of the mind--the one under certain conditions aseffective or resultant as the other; the first being--as it was in theorder of time--Unconscious or Instinctive; the other, conscious andself-observant. 

For the man who built a Romanesque Cathedral worked by thesuggestiveness of minds which went before him, or Tradition. He wastruly, as it were, in a kind of slumber; indeed, all life was more orless of a waking dream in those dim, strange days. "Millions marchedforth to death scarce knowing why, " all because they were _told_ to doso--they felt that they must do it, and they did it. "Like turkeys ledby a red rag, " says CARLYLE. And the red rag and the turkey is anillustration of Hypnotism in one of the books thereon. Instinct _is_Hypnotism. 

Now I have found that by suggesting to oneself before sleep, orinducing self by Will or Forethought to work gladly and unweariedlythe next day, we do not _think_ about self or the quality of what wedo to any degree like what we would in working under ordinaryconditions. Truly it is not thoroughgoing or infallible in all cases, but _then_ it must be helped by a little wide-awake self-consciouswill. But this is certainly true, that we can turn out _better_ workwhen we urge our creative power to awake in the morn and act or aid, than if we do not. 

 "For there are many angels at our call, And many blessed spirits who are bound To lend their aid in every strait and turn; And elves to fly the errands of the soul, And fairies all too glad to give us help, If we but know how to pronounce the spell Which calls them unto us in every need. "

That spell I have shown or explained clearly enough. 

And, finally, to recapitulate, Instinct in its earlier or simpler formis the following laws of Nature which are themselves formed by motivelaws. In Man the living according to Tradition is instinct of a higherorder, and the one or the other is merely being ruled by Suggestion. The more free Will is developed and guided by reflection, or variedtradition and experience, the less instinct and the more intellectwill there be. 

CHAPTER VII. 

MEMORY CULTURE. 

 'Twas wisely said by Plato, when he called Memory "the mother of the Intellect, " For knowledge is to wisdom what his realm Is to a monarch--that o'er which he rules; And he who hath the Will can ever win Such empire to himself--Will can do all. 

There is nothing in which the might of the Will can be so clearly setforth as in the _making_ of memory. By means of it, as is fully provedby millions of examples, man can render his power of recollectionalmost infinite. And lest the reader may think that I here exaggerate, I distinctly assert that I never knew a man of science, familiar withcertain facts which I shall repeat, who ever denied its literal truth. 

As I have already stated, there are two methods, and only two, bymeans of which we can retain images, facts or ideas. One of these isthat which in many varied forms, which are all the same in fact, isdescribed in the old _Artes Memorandi_, or Arts of Memory. There areseveral hundreds of these, and to the present day there are professorswho give instructions according to systems of the same kind. These areall extremely plausible, being based on Association of ideas, and inmost cases the pupil makes great progress for a short time. Thus, wecan remember the French for bread, _pain_, Italian _Pane_, by thinkingof the pan in which bread is baked, or the difficult name of theinventor, SSCZEPANIK (pronounced nearly _she-panic_) by thinking of acrowd of frightened women, and which I remembered by the fact that_pane_ is the Slavonian for Mr. Or Sir. For there is such a tendencyof ideas to agglutinate, and so become more prominent, as we can seetwo bubbles together in a pool more readily than one that we can verysoon learn to recall many images in this way. 

But after a time a certain limit is reached which most minds cannottransgress. VOLAPUK was easy so long as, like Pidgin-English, itcontained only a few hundred words and no grammar. But now that it hasa dictionary of 4, 000 terms and a complete grammar it is as hard tolearn as Spanish. It invariably comes to pass in learning to rememberby the Associative method that after a time images are referred toimages, and these to others again, so that they form entire categoriesin which the most vigorous mind gets lost. 

The other method is that of _direct_ Memory guided by Will, in whichno regard is paid to Association, especially in the beginning. Thus toremember anything, or rather to learn _how_ to do so, we takesomething which is very easy to retain--the easier the better--be it ajingling nursery rhyme, a proverb, or a text. Let this be learned toperfection, backwards and forwards, or by permutation of words, andrepeated the next day. Note that the repetition or _reviewing_ is ofmore importance than aught else. 

On the second day add another proverb or verse to the preceding, andso on, day by day, always reviewing and never learning anothersyllable until you are sure that you perfectly or most familiarlyretain all which you have _memorized_. The result will be, if youpersevere, that before long you will begin to find it easier toremember anything. This is markedly the case as regards the practiceof reviewing, which is invariably hard at first, but which becomes erelong habitual and then easy. 

I cannot impress it too vividly on the mind of the reader, that hecannot make his exercises too easy. If he finds that ten lines a dayare too much, let him reduce them to five, or two, or one, or even asingle word, but learn that, and persevere. When the memory begins toimprove under this process, the tasks may, of course, be graduallyincreased. 

An uncle of the present Khedive of Egypt told me that when he waslearning English, he at first committed to memory fifty words a day, but soon felt himself compelled to very much reduce the number inorder to permanently remember what he acquired. One should neveroverdrive a willing horse. 

Where there is a teacher with youthful pupils, he can greatly aid theprocess of mere memorizing, by explaining the text, putting questionsas to its meaning, or otherwise awaking an interest in it. After atime the pupils may proceed to _verbal memorizing_, which consists ofhaving the text simply read or repeated to them. In this way, after ayear or eighteen months of practice, most people can actually remembera sermon or lecture, word for word. 

This was the process which was discovered, I may say simultaneously, by DAVID KAY and myself, as our books upon it appeared at almost thesame time. But since then I have modified my plan, and made itinfinitely easier, and far more valuable, as will be apparent to all, by the application of the principles laid down in this book. Forwhile, according to the original views, Memory depended on Will andPerseverance, there was no method indicated by any writer how thesewere to be created, nor was energetic Forethought considered asamounting to more than mere Intention. 

Now I would say that having the task selected, first give energeticforethought, or a considerate determination to master this shouldprecede all attempts to learn, by everybody, young or old. And whenthe lesson is mastered, let it be repeated with earnestness andserious attention before going to sleep, with the _Will_ that it shallbe remembered on the morrow. And it will be found that this processnot only secures the memory desired, but also greatly facilitates thewhole course and process. 

It is to be noted that by this, or any process, we do not remembereverything, but only what is first considered and measured byForethought. Also that by it the Memory is never overcharged at theexpense of Intellect, for the exertion of will in any way strengthensthe mind. To explain the immense power which this all implies, Iobserve:

That previous to the invention of printing, it was usual for studentsto get their text-books by heart. Thus in India, according to MAXMULLER, the entire text and glosses of PANINI'S Sanskrit grammar werehanded down orally for 350 years before being committed to writing. This work is about equal in size to the Bible. 

There are Indian priests now living who can repeat accurately thewhole poems of the _Mahabarata_ of 300, 000 _slokas_ or lines. 

That these incredible feats were the result of a system of memorizingsimilar to what I have explained. 

That the _Guzlas_ or Slavonian minstrels of the present day have byheart with remarkable accuracy immensely long epic poems. I have foundthe same among Algonkin Indians, whose sagas or mythic legends areinterminable, and yet are committed word by word accurately. 

I have heard in England of a lady ninety years of age whose memory wasmiraculous, and of which extraordinary instances are narrated by herfriends. She attributed it to the fact that when young she had beenmade to learn a verse from the Bible every day, and then constantlyreview it. As her memory improved, she learned more, the result beingthat in the end she could repeat from memory any verse or chaptercalled for in the whole Scripture. The habit had marvelously developedher intelligence as well as memory. 

Now I confidently declare that if this lady had submitted what shelearned to the suggestive-will process she could have spared herselfhalf the labor. And it is to be observed that as in time the labor ofreviewing and the faculty of promptly recalling becomes easier andeasier till it is simply mechanical, so the memorizing by suggestionbecomes more _facile_ until it is, so to speak, only a form. And as itbecomes easier the foresight strengthens till it wields an _absolute_power. 

If the reader is interested in this subject of developing the memory, I would refer him to my work on Practical Education in which it isdiscussed with reference to recalling objects through all the Senses. 

No one who has made even a very slight trial of the process ofimpressing on the mind before sleep something which must beremembered, can fail to be convinced ere long of the truth that thereis in it a marvelous power which will with easy and continued practiceenable him to recall whatever he pleases. It follows as a matter ofcourse, that this would be of incredible value in education, butnotwithstanding the vast discussion of this subject which is evergoing on, it does not seem to occur to a living man that we shoulddevelop and train the mental faculties, such as memory and quicknessof perception, as well as set them to hard work. 

It is also safe to say that there is not a man living who was educatedfrom boyhood upon this principle, and yet I am confident that noscientist in existence, knowing the facts on which my statement isbased, will deny that it is as easy to develop the mental factorsalluded to, as to learn a language or play on the piano. It is not amatter of theory but of facts. Millions of men have in the pastacquired the faculty of being able to repeat and remember whateverthey heard, if they earnestly attended to it. Earnest attention inthis case means a strong exercise of forethought, or determination toan end or given purpose. In Iceland, that which has since become theEnglish common law, was at an early date very fully developed, withoutany books or writing. And there were lawyers who had by heart all thelaws, and incredible numbers of precedents, as appears from severalsagas, among others, that of The Burnt Njall. 

Our present system of Education is that of building houses withoutfoundations. No one suspects or dreams what mighty powers there arelatent in us all, or how easily they may be developed. It would not beso reprehensible if men entirely neglected the subject, but they arealways working hard and spending millions on the old system, and willnot even make the least experiment to test a new theory. One reasonfor this is the old belief that we are all born with a certain quantumof "gifts, " as for example memory, capacity, patience, _et cetera_, all more or less limited, and in reality not to be enlarged orimproved. The idea is _natural_, because we see that there are verygreat differences, hereditary or otherwise, in children. But it isfalse. So we go to work to fill up the quantum of memory as soon aspossible by violent cramming, and in like manner tax to the utmost allthe mental faculties without making the least effort to prepare, enlarge or strengthen them. 

I shall not live to see it, but a time will come when this preparationof the mental faculties will be regarded as the basis of alleducation. 

To recapitulate in a few words. When we desire to fix anything in thememory we can do so by repeating it to ourselves before we go tosleep, accompanying it with the resolution to remember it in future. We must not in the beginning set ourselves any but very easy tasks, and the practice must be steadily continued. 

It has been often said that a perfect memory is less of a blessingthan the power of oblivion. Thus THEMISTOCLES (who, according to CATO, as cited by CICERO, knew the names and faces of every man in Athens)having offered to teach some one the art of memory, received forreply, "Rather teach me how to forget"--_esse facturum si se oblivisciquæ vellet, quam si meminisse docuisset_. And CLAUDIUS had such anenviable power in the latter respect that immediately after he had putto death his wife MESSALINA, he forgot all about it, asking, "_Curdomina non veniret_?"--"Why the Missus didn't come?"--while on thefollowing day, after condemning several friends to death, he sentinvitations to them to come and dine with him. And again, there arepeople who have, as it were, two memories, one good, the other bad, aswas the case with CALVISIUS SABRINUS, who could recall anything inliterature, but never remembered the names of his own servants, oreven his friends. But he got over the difficulty by naming his nineattendants after the nine Muses, while he called his intimates Homer, Hesiod, and so on. This scholar would truly seem to have drunk of thetwo fountains sacred to Trophonius, by the river Orchomenus inBoeotia, one of which bestowed memory and the other oblivion. And likeunto them is the power of the Will, aided by Forethought andSuggestion, for while it properly directs and aids us to remember whatwe will, it _per contra_ also helps us to forget. 

CHAPTER VIII. 

THE CONSTRUCTIVE FACULTIES. 

 "He who hath learned a single art, Can thrive, I ween, in any part. " --_German Proverb_. 

 "He would have taught you how you might employ Yourself; and many did to him repair, And, certes, not in vain; he had inventions rare. " --WORDSWORTH. 

When I had, after many years of study and research in England and onthe Continent, developed the theory that all practical, technicaleducation of youth should be preceded by a light or easy training onan æsthetic basis, or the minor arts, I for four years, to test thescheme, was engaged in teaching in the city of Philadelphia, everyweek in separate classes, two hundred children, besides a number ofladies. These were from the public schools of the city. The totalnumber of these public pupils was then 110, 000. 

My pupils were taught, firstly, simple outline decorative design withdrawing at the same time; after this, according to sex, easyembroidery, wood carving, modeling in clay, leather-work, carpentering, inlaying, repoussé modeling in clay, porcelain painting, and other small arts. Nearly all of the pupils, who were from ten tosixteen years of age, acquired two or three, if not all, of thesearts, and then very easily found employment in factories or fabrics, etc. 

Many people believed that this was all waste of money and time, and, quite unknown to me, at their instigation an inquiry was made of allthe teachers in the public schools as to the standing of my art pupilsin their other classes, it being confidently anticipated that theywould be found to have fallen behind. And the result of theinvestigation was that the two hundred were in advance of the onehundred and ten thousand in every branch--geography, arithmetic, history, and so on. 

It was not remarkable, because boys and girls who had, at an averageage of twelve or thirteen, learned the principles of design and itspractical application to several kinds of handiwork, and knew thedifferences and characteristics of Gothic, Arabesque, or Greekpatterns, all developed a far greater intelligence in general thoughtand conversation than others. They had at least one topic on whichthey could converse intelligently with any grown-up person, and inwhich they were really superior to most. They soon found this out. Ihave often been astonished in listening to their conversation amongthemselves to hear how well they discussed art. They all well knew atleast one thing, which is far from being known among æsthetes inLondon, which is that in Decorative Art, however you may end in allkinds of mixtures of styles, you must at least begin with organicdevelopment, and not put roots or flowers at _both_ ends of a branchor vine. 

The secret of it all is that those who from an early age develop theconstructive faculty (especially if this be done in a pleasing, easymanner, with agreeable work) also develop with it the Intellect, andthat very rapidly to a very remarkable degree. There are reasons forthis. Drawing when properly taught stimulates visual perception or eyememory; this is strikingly the case when the pupil has a model placedin one room, and, after studying it, goes into another room toreproduce it from memory. Original design, which when properly taughtis learned with incredible ease by all children, stimulatesobservation to a remarkable degree. The result of such education is todevelop a great general quickness of perception and thought. 

Now, be it observed, that if anyone desires to learn design or anyart, it may be greatly facilitated by the application to it of Willand Foresight, and in the beginning, Self-Suggestion. He whounderstands the three as one, sees in it a higher or more energetickind of self-discipline than most people practise. In the end theycome to the same as a vigorous effort of the Will. 

Thus, having mastered the very easy principles of design which governall organic development or vegetable growth (as set forth in a plantwith roots, offshoots, or crochets, and end ornaments, flowers, orfinials, with the circle, spiral, and offshooting ornaments; ringsmade into vines and wave patterns; all of which can be understood inan hour with diagrams), let the beginner attempt a design, the simplerthe better, and reproduce it from memory. If on going to bed he willimpress it on his mind that on the morrow he would like to make moredesigns, or that it _must_ be done, he will probably feel the impulseand succeed. This is the more likely because patterns impressthemselves very vividly on the memory or imagination, and when studiedare easily recalled after a little practice. 

The manner in which most artists form an idea, or project their mindsto a plan or invention, be it a statue or picture; and the way theythink it over and anticipate it--very often actually seeing thepicture in a finished state in imagination--all amounts to foresightand hypnotic preparation in a crude, imperfect form. If any artist whois gifted with resolution and perseverance will simply make trial ofthe method here recommended, he will assuredly find that it is a greataid to Invention. 

It is probable that half the general average cleverness of men is dueto their having learned, as boys, games, or the art of makingsomething, or mending and repairing. In any case, if they had learnedto use their hands and their inventiveness or adaptability, they wouldhave been the better for it. That the innumerable multitude of peoplewho can do nothing of the kind, and who take no real interest inanything except spending money and gossiping, are to be really pitied, is true. Some of them once had minds--and these are the most pitifulor pitiable of all. It is to be regretted that novels are, with rareexceptions, written to amuse this class, and limit themselves strictlyto "life, " never describing with real skill, so as to interestanything which would make life worth living for--except love--which isgood to a certain extent, but not absolutely all in all, save to theeroto-maniac. And as most novelists now pretend to instruct and conveyideas, beyond mere story-telling, or even being "interesting, " whichmeans the love or detective business, I would suggest to some of thesewriters that the marvelous latent powers of the human mind, and alsosome art which does not consist of the names and guide-book praises ofa few great painters and the Renaissance _rechauffée_ would be arefreshing novelty. 

The ancient Romans were thoroughly persuaded that _Exercitatione etusu_ (by exercising the physical faculties in every way; by which theymeant arts as well as gymnastics; and by making such practicehabitual) they could develop intellect, in illustration of whichLycurgus once took two puppies of the same litter, and had the onebrought up to hunt, while the other was nursed at home in all luxury;and when grown, and let loose, the one caught a hare, while the otheryelped and ran away. So the word _handy_, in old English _hend_, meaning quick, alert, or gifted with prompt perception, is derivedfrom knowing how to use the hands. BRUSONIUS ("Facetiæ, " Lyons, 1562)has collected a great number of classic anecdotes to illustrate thissaying. 

_Recapitulation_. Those who desire to become artists, can greatlyfacilitate their work, if beginning for example with very simpleoutline decorative designs, and having learned the principles on whichthey are constructed, they would repeat or revise them to themselvesbefore sleep, resolving to remember them. The same principle isapplicable to all kinds of designs, with the proviso that they be atfirst very easy. This is generally a very successful process. 

_Fore thought_, or the projection of conception or attention withwill, is a marvelous preparation for all kinds of art work. He who canform the habit of seeing a picture mentally before he paints it, hasan incredible advantage, and will spare himself much labor andpainting out. 

CHAPTER IX. 

FASCINATION. 

 "Quærit _Franciscus Valesius, Delrio, Gutierrus_, et alii, unde vulgaris ilia fascini nata sit opinio de oculo fascinante visione et ore fascinando laudando. "--De Faseinatione Fatatus. A. D. 1677. 

I have in Chapter Fifth mentioned several of the subjects to attainwhich the Will may be directed by the aid of self-hypnotism, precededby Forethought. If the reader has carefully studied what I have saidand not merely skimmed it, he must have perceived that if the power befully acquired, it makes, as it were, new existence for its possessor, opening to him boundless fields of action by giving him the enviablepower to acquire interest--that is to say agreeable or profitableoccupation--in whatever he pleases. In further illustration of which Iadd the following:

_To recall bygone memories or imperfectly remembered sensations, scenes and experiences or images_. 

This is a difficult thing to describe, and no wonder, since it formsthe greatest and most trying task of all poets to depict that whichreally depends for its charm on association, emotion and a chiaroscuroof the feelings. We have all delightful reminiscences which makeridiculous Dante's assertion that

 "There is no greater grief than to recall in pain The happy days gone by;"

which, if true, would make it a matter of regret that we ever had ahappy hour. However, I assume that it is a great pleasure to recall, even in grief, beautiful bygone scenes and joys, and trust that thereader has a mind healthy and cheerful enough to do the same. 

What constitutes a charm in many memories is often extremely varied. Darkly shaded rooms with shutters closed in on an intensely hotAmerican summer day. Chinese matting on the floors--the mirrors andpicture frames covered with _tulle_--silence--the scent of magnoliasall over the house--the presence of loved ones now long dead andgone--all of these combined form to me memory-pictures in whichnothing can be spared. The very scent of the flowers is like musk in aperfume or "bouquet" of odors--it _fixes_ them well, or renders thempermanent. And it is all like a beautiful vivid dream. If I had mylife to live over again I would do frequently and with great care, what I thought of too late, and now practice feebly--I would stronglyimpress on my mind and very often recall, many such scenes, pictures, times or memories. Very few people do this. Hence in all novels andpoems, especially the French, description generally smacks ofimitation and mere manufacture. It passes for "beautiful writing, " butthere is always something in really unaffected truth from nature whichis caught by the true critic. I read lately a French romance which ismuch admired, of this manufactured or second-hand kind. Every thirdpage was filled with the usual botany, rocks, skies, colors, fore andbackgrounds--"all very fine"--but in the whole of it not one of thoselittle touches of truth which stir us so in SHAKESPEARE, make us smilein HERRICK or naïve PEPYS, or raise our hearts in WORDSWORTH. Thesewere true men. 

To be true we must be far more familiar with Nature than with scenepainting or photographs, and to do this we must, so to speak, fascinate ourselves with pictures in life, glad memories of goldenhours, rock and river and greenwood tree. We must also banishresolutely from our past all recollections of enemies and wrongs, troubles and trials, and throw all our heart into doing so. Forgiveand forget all enmities--those of Misfortune and Fate being included. Depend upon it that the brighter you can make your Past the pleasanterwill be your Future. 

This is just the opposite to what most people do, hence the frequentand fond quotation of pessimistic poetry. It is all folly, and worse. One result is that in modern books of travel the only truthful orvivid descriptions are of sufferings of all kinds, even down toinferior luncheons and lost hair brushes. Their joys they sketch withan indifferent skill, like HEINE'S monk, who made rather a poordescription of Heaven, but was "gifted in Hell, " which he depictedwith dreadful vigor. 

I find it a great aid to recall what I can of bygone beautifulassociations, and then sleep on them with a resolve that they shallrecur in complete condition. He who will thus resolutely clean up hispast life and clear away from it all sorrow _as well as he can_, andrefurnish it with beautiful memories, or make it better, _coûte quecoûte_, will do himself more good than many a doleful moral adviserever dreamed of. This is what I mean by _self-fascination_--themaking, as it were, by magic art, one's own past and self morecharming than we ever deemed it possible to be. We thus fascinateourselves. Those who believe that everything which is bygone has goneto the devil are in a wretched error. The future is based on thepast--yes, made from it, and that which _was_ never dies, but returnsto bless or grieve. We mostly wrong our past bitterly, and bitterlydoes it revenge itself. But it is like the lion of ANDROCLES, itremembers those who treat it kindly. "And lo! when ANDROCLES wasthrown to the lion to be devoured, the beast lay down at his feet, andlicked his hands. " Yes, we have all our lions!

_To master difficult meanings_. It has often befallen me, when I wasat the University, or later when studying law, to exert my mind tograsp, and all in vain, some problem in mathematics or a puzzlinglegal question, or even to remember some refractory word in a foreignlanguage which would _not_ remain in the memory. After a certainamount of effort in many of these cases, further exertion isinjurious, the mind or receptive power seems to be seized--as ifnauseated--with spasmodic rejections. In such a case pass the questionby, but on going to bed, think it over and _will_ to understand it onthe morrow. It will often suffice to merely desire that it shall recurin more intelligible form--in which case, _nota bene_--if let alone itwill obey. This is as if we had a call to make tomorrow, when, as weknow, the memory will come at its right time of itself, especially ifwe employ Forethought or special pressure. 

When I reflect on what I once endured from this cause, and how greatlyit could have been relieved or alleviated, I feel as if I could beg, with all my heart, every student or teacher of youth to seriouslyexperiment on what I set forth in this book. It is also to beobserved, especially by metaphysicians and mental philosophers, that ayouth who has shown great indifference to, let us say mathematics, ifhe has manifested an aptitude for philosophy or languages, will be inall cases certain to excel in the former, if he can be brought tomake a good beginning in it. A great many cases of bad, _i. E. _, indifferent scholarship, are due to bad teaching of the rudiments byadults who took no _interest_ in their pupils, and therefore inspirednone. 

_To determine what course to follow in any Emergency_. Many a manoften wishes with all his heart that he had some wise friend toconsult in his perplexities. What to do in a business trouble when weare certain that there is an exit if we could only find it--a sure wayto tame an unruly horse if we had the secret--to do or not to dowhate'er the question--truly all this causes great trouble in life. But, it is within the power of man to be his own friend, yes, andcompanion, to a degree of which none have ever dreamed, and whichborders on the _weird_, or that which forebodes or suggests mysteriesto come. For it may come to pass that he who has trained himself toit, may commune with his spirit as with a companion. 

This is, of course, done by just setting the problem, or question, ordilemma, before ourselves as clearly as we can, so as to know our ownminds as well as possible. This done, sleep on it, with the resolutewill to have it recur on the morrow in a clear and solved form. Andshould this occur, do not proceed to pull it to pieces again, by wayof improvement, but rather submit it to another night's rest. I wouldhere say that many lawyers and judges are perfectly familiar with thisprocess, and use it habitually, without being aware of its connectionwith hypnotism or will. But they could aid it, if they would add thispeculiar _impulse_ to the action. 

What I will now discuss approaches the miraculous, or seems to do sobecause it has been attempted or treated in manifold ways by sorcerersand witches. The Voodoos, or black wizards in America, professto be able to awaken love in one person for another by means ofincantations, but admit that it is the most difficult of their feats. Nor do I think that there is any infallible recipe for it, but thatthere are means of _honestly_ aiding such affection can hardly bedenied. In the first place, he who would be loved must love--for thatis no honest love which is not sincere. And having thus inspiredhimself, and made himself as familiar as possible, by quietlyobserving as dispassionately as may be all the mental characteristicsof the one loved, let him with an earnest desire to know how to securea return, go to sleep, and see whether the next day will bring asuggestion. And as the old proverb declares that luck comes to manywhen least hoped for, so will it often happen that forethought is thusfore-bought or secured. 

It is known that gifts pass between friends or lovers, to cause thereceiver to think of the giver, thus they are in a sense amulets. Ifwe believe, as HEINE prettily suggests, that something of the life orthe being of the owner or wearer has passed into the talisman, we arenot far off from the suggestion that our feelings are allied. All overItaly, or over the world, pebbles of precious stone, flint or amber, rough topaz or agate, are esteemed as lucky; all things of the kindlead to suggestiveness, and may be employed in suggestion. 

What was originally known as Fascination, of which the German, FROMANN, wrote a very large volume which I possess, is simplyHypnotism without the putting to sleep. It is direct Suggestion. Wherethere is a natural sympathy of like to like, soul answering soul, suchsuggestion is easily established. Among people of a common, average, worldly type who are habitually sarcastic, jeering, chaffing, andtrifling, or those whose idea of genial or agreeable companionship isto "get a rise" out of all who will give and take irritations equally, there can be no sympathy of gentle or refined emotions. Experiments, whose whole nature presupposes earnest thought, cannot be tried withany success by those who live habitually in an atmosphere of smalltalk and "rubbishy" associations. Fascination should be mutual; toattempt to exert it on anyone who is not naturally in sympathy is acrime, and I believe that all such cases lead to suffering andremorse. 

But where we perceive that there is an undoubted mutual liking andgood reason for it, fascination, when perfectly understood andsympathetically used, facilitates and increases love and friendship, and may be most worthily and advantageously employed. Unto anyone whocould, for example, merely skim over all that I have written, catchingan idea here and there, and then expect to master all, I can clearlysay that I can give him or her no definite idea of fascination. ForFascination really is effectively what the old philosophers, whohad given immense study and research to the subject in ages whensusceptibility to suggestiveness went far beyond anything now known, all knew and declared; that is to say, it existed, but that itrequired a peculiar mind, and very certainly one which is notfrivolous, to understand its nature, and much more to master it. 

He who has by foresight, or previous consideration of a subject ordesire, allied to a vigorous resolution (which is a kind of projectionof the mind by will--and then submitting it to sleep), learned how tobring about a wished-for state of mind, has, in a curious manner, madeas it were of his hidden self a conquest yet a friend. He has broughtto life within himself a Spirit, gifted with greater powers than thosepossessed by Conscious Intellect. By his astonishing and unsuspectedlatent power, Man can imagine and then create, even a spirit withinthe soul. We make at first the sketch, then model it in clay, thencast it in gypsum, and finally sculpture it in marble. 

I read lately, in a French novel, a description of a young lady, byherself, in which she assumed to have within her two souls, one good, of which she evidently thought very little, and another brilliantlydiabolical, capricious, vividly dramatic and interesting _esprit_--towhich she gave a great deal of attention. He who will begin by merely_imagining_ that he has within him a spirit of beauty and light, whichis to subdue and extinguish the other or all that is in him of what islow, commonplace, and mean, may bring this idea to exert a marvelousinfluence. He can increase the conception, and give it reality, bytreating it with forethought and will, by suggestion, until it givesmarvellous result. This better self may be regarded as a guardianangel, in any case it is a power by means of which we can learnmysteries. It is also our Conscience, born of the perception ofIdeals. 

The Ideal or Spirit thus evolved should be morally pure, else theexperimenter will find, as did the magicians of old, that all whodealt with any but good spirits, fell into the hands of devils, justas ALLAN KARDEC says is the case with Spiritualists. But to speak asclearly as I can, he who succeeds in winning or creating a higher Selfwithin himself, and fascinating it by sympathy, will find that he has, within moral limits, a strange power of fascinating those who are insympathy with him. 

Whereupon many will say "of course. " Like and like together strike. Birds of a feather flock together. _Similis similibus_. But it oftenhappens in this life, though they meet they do _not_ pair off. Veryoften indeed they meet, but to part. There must be, even where theaffinity exists, consideration and forethought to test the affinity. It requires long practice even for keen eyes to recognize the amethystor topaz, or many other gems, in their natural state as sea-wornpebbles. Now, it is not a matter of fancy, of romance, or imagination, that there are men and women who really have, deeply hidden intheir souls, or more objectively manifested, peculiar or beautifulcharacteristics, or a spirit. I would not speak here merely of_naïveté_ or tenderness--a natural affinity for poetry, art, orbeauty, but the peculiar tone and manner of it, which is sympatheticto ours. For two people may love music, yet be widely removed from allagreement if one be a Wagnerian, and the other of an older school. Suffice it to say that such similarities of mind or mood, of intellector emotion do exist, and when they are real, and not imaginary, ormerely the result of passional attraction, they suggest and may wellattract the use of Fascination. 

Those who actually develop within themselves such a spirit, regardingit as one, that is a self beyond self, attain to a power which fewunderstand, which is practical, positive, and real, and not at all asuperstitious fancy. It may begin in imagining or fancy, but as theveriest dream is material and may be repeated till we see it visiblyand can then copy it, so can we create in ourselves a being, asegregation of our noblest thoughts, a superb abstraction of soulwhich looks from its sunny mountain height down on the dark andnoisome valley which forms our worldly common intellect or mind, orthe only one known to by far the majority of mankind, albeit they mayhave therein glimpses of light and truth. But it is to him who makesfor himself, by earnest Will and Thought, a _separate_ and better Lifeor Self that a better life is given. 

Those who possess genius or peculiarly cultivated minds of a highlymoral caste, gifted with pure integrity, and above vulgarity andworldly commonplace habits, should never form a tie in friendship orlove without much forethought. And then if the active agent hasdisciplined his mind by self-hypnotism until he can control or managehis Will with ease, he will know without further instruction how tofascinate, and that properly and legitimately. 

Those who now acquire this power are few and far between, and whenthey _really_ possess it they make no boast nor parade, but ratherkeep it carefully to themselves, perfectly content with what it yieldsfor reward. And here I may declare something in which I firmlybelieve, yet which very few I fear will understand as I mean it. Ifthis fascination and other faculties like it may be called Magical(albeit all is within the limits of science and matter), then thereare assuredly in this world magicians whom we meet without dreamingthat they are such. Here and there, however rare, there is mortal whohas studied deeply--but

 "Softened all and tempered into beauty; And blended with lone thoughts and wanderings, The quest of hidden knowledge, and a mind To _love_ the universe. "

Such beings do not come before the world, but hide their lights, knowing well that their magic would defeat itself, and perish if itwere made common. Any person of the average worldly cast who couldwork any miracles, however small, would in the end bitterly regret itif he allowed it to be known. Thus I have read ingenious stories, asfor instance one by HOOD, showing what terrible troubles a man fellinto by being able to make himself invisible. Also another settingforth the miseries of a successful alchemist. The Algonkin Indianshave a legend of a man who came to grief and death through his powerof making all girls love him. But the magic of which I speak is of afar more subtle and deeply refined nature, and those who possess itare alone in life, save when by some rare chance they meet their kind. Those who are deeply and mysteriously interested in any pursuit forwhich the great multitude of all-alike people have no sympathy, whohave peculiar studies and subjects of thought, partake a little ofthe nature of the _magus_. Magic, as popularly understood, has noexistence, it is a literal _myth_--for it means nothing but whatamazes or amuses for a short time. No miracle would be one if itbecame common. Nature is infinite, therefore its laws cannot beviolated--_ergo_, there is no magic if we mean by that an inexplicablecontravention of law. 

But that there are minds who have simply advanced in knowledge beyondthe multitude in certain things which cannot at once be made commonproperty is true, for there is a great deal of marvelous truth not asyet dreamed of even by HERBERT SPENCERS or EDISONS, by RONTGENS orother scientists. And yet herein is hidden the greatest secret offuture human happenings. 

 "What I was is passed by, What I am away doth fly; What I shall be none do see, Yet in that my glories be. "

Now to illustrate this more clearly. Some of these persons who aremore or less secretly addicted to magic (I say secretly, because theycannot make it known if they would), take the direction of feeling orliving with inexpressible enjoyment in the beauties of nature. That, they attain to something almost or quite equal to life in Fairyland, is conclusively proved by the fact that only very rarely, here andthere in their best passages, do the greatest poets more thanimperfectly and briefly convey some broken idea or reflection of thefeelings which are excited by thousands of subjects in nature in many. The Mariana of TENNYSON surpasses anything known to me in any languageas conveying the reality of feeling alone in a silent old house, whereeverything is a dim, uncanny manner, recalled the past--yet suggesteda kind of mysterious presence--as in the passage:

 "All day within the dreary house The doors upon their hinges creaked, The blue fly sang in the pane, the mouse Behind the mouldering wainscot shrieked, Or from the crevice peered about; Old faces glimmered thro' the doors, Old footsteps trod the upper floors, Old voices called her from without. "

Yet even this unsurpassed poem does no more than _partially_ reviveand recall the reality to me of similar memories of long, long ago, when an invalid child I was often left in a house entirely alone, fromwhich even the servants had absented themselves. Then I can rememberhow after reading the Arabian Nights or some such unearthly romance, as was the mode in the Thirties, the very sunshine stealing craftilyand silently like a living thing, in a bar through the shutter, twinkling with dust, as with infinitely small stars, living and dyinglike sparks, the buzzing of the flies who were little blue imps, withnow and then a larger Beelzebub--a strange imagined voice ever about, which seemed to say something without words--and the very furniture, wherein the chairs were as goblins, and the broom a tall young woman, and the looking-glass a kind of other self-life--all of this as Irecall it appears to me as a picture of the absence of human beings asdescribed by TENNYSON, _plus_ a strange personality in every object--which the poet does not attempt to convey. This is, however, a verysmall or inferior illustration; there are far more remarkable anddeeply spiritual or æsthetically-suggestive subjects than this, andthat in abundance, which Art has indeed so reproduced as to amaze themany who have only had snatches of such observation themselves. 

But the magicians, SHELLEY, or KEATS, or WORDSWORTH, only convey_partial_ echoes of certain subjects, or of their specialties. It isindeed beautiful to feel what Art can do, but the original is worthfar more. And if the reader would be such a magician, let him give hisheart and will to taking an interest in all that is beautiful, goodand true--or honest. For that it really can be done in all fullness istrue beyond a dream of doubt. By the ordinary methods of learning onemay indeed acquire an exact, mechanically drawn picture, which wemodify with what beauty chance bestows. But he who will learn by theprocess which I have endeavored to describe, or by studying with the_will_, cannot fail to experience a strange enchantment in so doing, as I have read in an Italian tale of a youth who was sadly weary ofhis lessons, but who, being taken daily by certain kind fairies intotheir school on a hill, found all difficulties disappear and thepursuit of knowledge as joyful as that of pleasure. 

I have heard hypnotism, with regard to fascination, spoken of withgreat apprehension. "It is dreadful, " said one to me, "to think ofanybody's being able to exercise such an influence on anyone. " Andyet, widely known as it is, instances of its abuse are very rare. Thus, when Cremation was first discussed, it was warmly opposed, because somebody _might_ be poisoned, and then, the body being burned, there could be no autopsy! Nature has decreed some drawback to thebest things; nothing is perfect. But to balance the immense benefitslatent in suggestion against the problematic abuses is like condemningthe ship because a bucket of tar has been spilt on the deck. 

Sincere kindness and respect, which are allied unto identity, arethe best or surest key to love, and they in turn are allied tofascination. Here I might observe that the action of the eye, which isa silent speech of emotion, has always been regarded as powerful infascination, but those who are not by nature gifted with it cannot useit to much good purpose. That emotional, susceptible subjects ready toreceive suggestion can be put to sleep or made to imagine anythingterrible regarding anybody's glance is very true, just as an ignorantItalian will believe of any man that he has the _malocchio_ if he betold so, whence came the idea that Pope Gregory XVI had the evil eye. But where there is _sincere_ kindly feeling it makes itself felt in asympathetic nature by what is popularly called magic, only because itis not understood. The enchantment lies in this, that unconsciouscerebration, or the power (or powers), who are always acting in us, effect many curious and very subtle mental phenomena, all of whichthey do not confide to the common-sense waking judgment or Reason, simply because the latter is almost entirely occupied with commonworldly subjects. It is as if someone whose whole attention andinterest had been at all times given to some plain hard drudgery, should be called on to review or write a book of exquisitely subtlepoetry. It is, indeed, almost sadly touching to reflect how thisinnocent and beautiful faculty of recognizing what is good, is reallyacting perhaps in evil and merely worldly minds all in vain, and allunknown to them. The more the conscious waking-judgment has beentrained to recognize goodness, the more will the hidden water-fairiesrise above the surface, as it were, to the sunshine. So it comes thattrue kindly feeling is recognized by sympathy, and those who would beloved, cannot do better than make themselves truly and perfectly_kind_ by forethought and will, and with this the process ofself-hypnotism will be a great aid. For it is not more by winningothers to us, than in willing ourselves to them that true Loveconsists. 

Love or trusting sympathy from any human being, however humble, is themost charming thing in life, and it ought to be the main object ofexistence. Yet there are thousands all round us, yes, many amongour friends or acquaintances, who live and die without ever havingknown it, because in their egotism and folly they conceive of closerelations as founded on personal power, interest or the weakness ofothers. The only fascination which such people can ever exercise isthat of the low and devilish kind, the influence of the cat on themouse, the eye of the snake on the bird, which in the end degradesthem into deeper evil. That there are such people, and that theyreally make captive and oppress weaker minds, by suggestion, is true;the marvel being that so few find it out. 

But in proportion as this kind of fascination is vile and mean, that which may be called altruistic or sympathetic attraction, orEnchantment, is noble and pure, because it acquires strength inproportion to the purity and beauty of the soul or will which inspiresit. It is as real and has as much power, and can be exercised by anyhonest person whatever with wonderful effect, even to the performingwhat are popularly called "miracles, " which only means wonderful worksbeyond _our_ power of explanation. But this kind of fascination islittle understood as yet, simply because it is based on purity, morality and light, and hitherto the seekers for occult mysteries havebeen chiefly occupied with the gloomy and mock-diabolical rubbish ofold tradition, instead of scientific investigation of our minds andbrains. 

There is also in truth a Fascination by means of the Voice, which hasin it a much deeper and stronger power or action than that of merelysweet sound as of an instrument. The Jesuit, GASPAR SCHOTT, in his_Magio Medica_ treats of Fascination as twofold: _De Fascinatione perVisunt et Vocem_. I have found among Italian witches as with RedIndian wizards, every magical operation depended on an incantation, and every incantation on the feeling, intonation, or manner in whichit is sung. Thus near Rome any peasant overhearing a _scongiurasione_would recognize it from the _sound_ alone. 

Anyone, male or female, can have a deep, rich voice by simply subduingand training it, and very rarely raising it to a high pitch. _Notabene_ that the less this is affected the more effective it will be. There are many, especially women, who speak, as it were, all time initalics, when they do not set their speech in small caps or displayedlarge capitals. The result of this, as regards sound, is the so-callednasal voice, which is very much like caterwauling, and I need not saythat there is no fascination in it--on the contrary its tendency is todestroy any other kind of attraction. It is generally far more due toan ill-trained, unregulated, excitable, nervous temperament than toany other cause. 

The training the voice to a subdued state "like music in its softestkey, " or to rich, deep tones, though it be done artificially, has anextraordinary effect on the character and on others. It is associatedwith a well-trained mind and one gifted with self-control. One of therichest voices to which I ever listened was that of the poet TENNYSON. I can remember another man of marvelous mind, vast learning, andæsthetic-poetic power who also had one of those voices which exercisedgreat influence on all who heard it. 

There is an amusing parallel as regards nasal-screaming voices in thefact that a donkey cannot bray unless he at the same time lifts histail--but if the tail be _tied down_, the beast must be silent. So theman or woman, whose voice like that of the erl-king's is "ghostlyshrill as the wind in the porch of a ruined church, " always raisetheir tones with their temper, but if we keep the former down bytraining, the latter cannot rise. 

I once asked a very talented lady teacher of Elocution in Philadelphiaif she regarded shrill voices as incurable. She replied that theyinvariably yielded to instruction and training. Children under nodomestic restraint who were allowed to scream out and dispute on alloccasions and were never corrected in intonation, generally had vulgarvoices. 

A good voice acts very evidently on the latent powers of the mind, and impresses the æsthetic sense, even when it is unheeded by theconscious judgment. Many a clergyman makes a deep impression by hisvoice alone. And why? Certainly not by appealing to the reason. Therefore it is well to be able to fascinate with the voice. Now, _nota bene_--as almost every human being can speak in a soft orwell-toned voice, "at least, subdued unto a temperate tone" just aslong as he or she chooses to do it, it follows that with foresight, aided by suggestion, or continued will, we can all acquire thisenviable accomplishment. 

To end this chapter with a curious bit of appropriate folk-lore, Iwould record that while Saxo Grammaticus, Olaus Magnus, and a host ofother Norsemen have left legends to prove that there were sorcererswho by magic of the soft and wondrous voice could charm and capturemen of the sword, so the Jesuit ATHANASIUS KIRCHER, declares that onthe seventeenth day of May, 1638, he, going from Messina in a boat, witnessed with his own eyes the capture not of swordsmen but of sundry_xiphioe_, or sword-fish, by means of a melodiously chanted charm, thewords whereof he noted down as follows:

 "Mammassudi di pajanu, Palletu di pajanu, Majassu stigneta. Pallettu di pajanu, Palè la stagneta. Mancata stigneta. Pro nastu varitu pressu du Visu, e da terra!"

Of which words Kircher declares that they are probably of mingledcorrupt Greek and ancient Sicilian, but that whatever they are, theycertainly are admirable for the catching of fish. 

CHAPTER X. 

THE SUBLIMINAL SELF. 

While the previous pages of this work were in the press, I receivedand read a very interesting and able Book, entitled, "Telepathy andthe Subliminal Self, or an account of recent investigations regardingHypnotism, Automatism, Dreams, Phantoms, and related phenomena, " by R. OSGOOD MASON, A. M. , Fellow of the New York Academy of Medicine. Dr. MASON, on the whole, may be said to follow HARTMANN, since he placesThaumaturgy, or working what have been considered as wonders, miracles, and the deeds of spiritualists, on the evolutionary ormaterial basis. He is also far less superstitious or prone to seek themiraculous and mysterious for its own sake, than his predecessorsin _occulta_, and limits his beliefs to proofs sustained by goodauthority. He recognizes a second, or what he calls a subliminal Self, the Spirit of our Soul, acting independently of Waking ConsciousJudgment, a mysterious _alter ego_, which has marvelous power. 

This second or inner self I have also through this work of minerecognized as a reality, though it is, like the self-conscious soul, rather an aggregate than a distinct unity. Thus we may for conveniencesake speak of the Memory, when there are in fact millions of memories, since every image stored away in the brain is one, and the faculty ofrevising them for the use of the waking soul, is certainly apart fromthe action of bringing them into play in dreams. In fact if we regardthe action of all known faculties, we might assume with the Egyptiansthat man had not merely eight distinct souls, but eighty, or even acountless number. And as the ancients, knowing very little aboutmental action, classed it all as one soul, so we may call that whichis partially investigated and mysterious, a second or inner "soul, "spirit, or subliminal self--that is to say provisionally, till morefamiliar with its nature and relations. 

DR. MASON, to his credit be it said, has not accepted for Gospel, as certain French writers have done, the tricks of self-confessedhumbugs. He has only given us the cream of the most strictly attestedcases, as related by French scientists and people of unquestionedveracity. And yet admitting that in every instance the witnesssincerely believed that he or she spoke the truth, the aggregate is sofar from confirming the tales told, that consideration and comparisonwould induce very grave doubt. Thus, who could have been more sincere, purely honest or pious than JUSTINUS KERNER, whom I knew personally, SWEDENBORG, ESCHENMAYER and all of their school? Yet how utterlyirreconciliable are all their revelations!

Therefore, while I have cited illustration and example as affordingunproved or hearsay evidence, I, in fact, decidedly reject not onlyall tradition, as proof on occult subjects, but all assertion from anyquarter, however trustworthy, asking the reader to believe in nothingwhich he cannot execute and make sure unto himself. Tradition andtestimony are very useful to supply ideas or theories, but to actually_believe_ in anything beyond his experience a man should takesufficient interest in it to _prove_ it by personal experiment. And, therefore, as I have already declared, I not only ask, but hope thatno reader will put faith in anything which I have alleged or declared, until he has fully and fairly proved it to be true in his own person. 

The history of true culture, truth, or progress has been that of doubtor disbelief in all which cannot be scientifically proved or mademanifest to sensation and reflection, and even in this the mostscrupulous care must be exercised, since our senses often deceive us. Therefore, in dealing with subjects which have undeniably been madethe means of deceit and delusion thousands of times to one authenticinstance, it is not well to accept testimony, or any kind of evidence, or proof, save that which we can establish for ourself. The day is notyet, but it is coming, when self-evidence will be claimed, andgranted, as to all human knowledge, and the sooner it comes the betterwill it be for the world. 

But I would be clearly understood as declaring that it is only asregards making up our minds to absolute faith in what involves whatmay be called our mental welfare, which includes the most seriousconduct of life, that I would limit belief to scientific proof. As anexample, I will cite the very interesting case of the hypnotictreatment of a patient by DR. VOISIN, and as given by MASON. 

"In the summer of 1884, there was at the Salpètrière a young woman ofa deplorable type, Jeanne S----, who was a criminal lunatic, filthy, violent, and with a life history of impurity and crime. M. AugusteVoisin, one of the physicians of the staff, undertook to hypnotizeher, May 31. At that time she was so violent that she could only bekept quiet by a straight-jacket and the constant cold douche to herhead. She would not look at M. Voisin, but raved and spat at him. Hepersisted, kept his face near and opposite to hers, and his eyesfollowing hers constantly. In ten minutes she was in a sound sleep, and soon passed into a somnambulistic condition. The process wasrepeated many days, and she gradually became sane while in thehypnotic condition, but still raved when she woke. 

"Gradually then she began to accept hypnotic suggestion, and wouldobey trivial orders given her while asleep, such as to sweep her room, then suggestions regarding her general behavior; then, in her hypnoticcondition, she began to express regret for her past life, and formresolutions of amendment to which she finally adhered when she awoke. Two years later she was a nurse in one of the Paris hospitals, and herconduct was irreproachable. M. Voisin has followed up this case byothers equally striking. "

This is not only an unusually well authenticated instance, but onewhich seems to carry conviction from the manner of narration. Yet itwould be absurd to declare that the subject neither deceived herselfnor others, or that the doctor made no mistakes either in fact orinvoluntarily. The whole is, however, extremely valuable from its_probability_, and still more from its suggesting experiment in a muchmore useful direction than that followed in the majority of casesrecorded in most books, which, especially in France, seem chiefly tohave been conducted from a melodramatic or merely medical point ofview. Very few indeed seem to have ever dreamed that a hypnotizedsubject was anything but a being to be cured of some disorder, operated on without pain, or made to undergo and perform varioustricks, often extremely cruel, silly, and wicked--the main object ofall being to advertise the skill of the operator. In fact, if it wereto be accepted that the main object of hypnotism is to repeat suchexperiments as are described in most of the French works on thesubject, humanity and decency would join in prohibiting the practiceof the art altogether. These books point out and make clear in theminutest manner, how every kind of crime can be committed, and themind brought to regard all that is evil as a matter of course. Themaking an innocent person attempt to commit a murder or steal is amongthe most usual experiments; while, on the contrary, any case like thatof the reform of Jeanne S---- is either very rare, or else is treatedsimply as a proof of the skill of some _medico_. The fact that if thesuccesses which are recorded are _true_, there exists a _stupendous_power by means of which the average morality and happiness of mankindcan be incredibly advanced and sustained, and Education, Art in everybranch, and, in a word, all Culture be marvelously developed on a farmore secure basis than in the old systems, does not seem to haveoccurred to any of those who possessed, as it were, gold, withouthaving the least idea of its value or even its qualities. 

Happiness in the main is a pleasant, contented condition of the mind, that is to say, "a state of mind. " To be perfect, as appears from anenlarged study of all things or phenomena in their relations (sinceevery part must harmonize with the whole), this happiness implies dutyand altruism, every whit as much as self-enjoyment. This agrees withand results from scientific experience. Under the old _a priori_psychologic system, _selfishness_ (which meant that every soul was tobe chiefly or solely concerned in saving itself, guided by hope ofreward and fear of punishment), it was naturally the basis ofmorality. 

Now, accepting the definition of Happiness as a state of mind undercertain conditions, it follows that it can be realized to a greatdegree, and in all cases to some degree, firstly by forethought orcarefully defining what it is or what we desire, and secondly bymaking a fixed idea by simple, well-nigh mechanical means, without anyresource to _les grands môyens_. According to the old and now rapidlyvanishing philosophy, this was to be effected by sublime morality, prayer, or adjuration of supernatural beings and noble heroism, butwhat is here proposed is much humbler, albeit more practical. Readingimmortal poetry or prose is indeed a splendid power, but to learn theletters of the alphabet, and to spell, is very simple and unpoetic, yet far more practical. What I have described has been the mere dullrudiments. It is most remarkable that the world has always known thatthe art of RAFFAELLE, MICHAEL ANGELO, and ALBERT DURER was based, likethat of the greatest musicians, on extensive rudimentary study, andyet has never dreamed that what far surpasses all art in every way, and even includes the desire for it, may all proceed from, or bedeveloped by, a process which is even easier than those required forthe lesser branches. 

He who can control his own mind by an iron will, and say to theThoughts which he would banish, "Be ye my slaves and begone into outerdarkness, " or to Peace "Dwell with me forever, come what may, " _and beobeyed_, that man is a mighty magician who has attained what is worthmore than all that Earth possesses. Absolute self-control under theconditions before defined--since our happiness to be true must agreewith that of others--is absolutely essential to happiness. There canbe no greater hero than the man who can conquer himself and thinkexactly as he pleases. That which annoys, tempts, stirs us to beingirritable, wicked, or mean, is an aggregate of evil thoughts or imagesreceived by chance or otherwise into the memory, developed there intovile unions, and new forms like coalescing animalcule, and so powerfuland vivid or objective do they become that men in all ages have giventhem a real existence as evil spirits. 

Every sane man living, can if he _really_ desires it, obtain completeabsolute command of himself, exorcise these vile demons and bring inpeace instead, by developing with determination the simple processwhich I have described. I have found in my own experience a fiercepleasure in considering obnoxious and pernicious Thoughts as imps ordemons to be conquered, in which case Pride and even Arrogance becomevirtues, even as poisons in their place are wholesome medicines. Thus, he who is haunted with the fixed idea, even well nigh to monomania, that he will never give way to ill temper, that nothing shall disturbhis equanimity, need not fear evil results any more than the beinghaunted by angels. Now we can all have fixed or haunting ideas, on anysubject which we please to entertain--but the idea to create good andbeneficent haunting has not, that I am aware, been suggested byphilosophers. 

That mental influence can be exerted hypnotically most directly andcertainly by one person upon another is undeniable, but this requires, firstly, a susceptible subject, or only one person in three orfour, and to a degree a specially gifted operator, and very often"heaven-sent moments. "

 "However greatly mortals may require it, All cannot go to Corinth who desire it. "

But forethought, self-suggestion, and the bringing the mind to dwellcontinuously on a subject are absolutely within the reach of all whohave any strength of mind whatever, without any aid. Those of feeblerability yield, however, all the more readily (as in the case ofchildren) to the influence of others or of hypnotism by a master. Therefore, either subjectively or with assistance, most human beingscan be morally benefited to a limitless degree, "morally" includingintellectually. 

We often hear it said of a person that he or she would do well orsucceed if that individual had "application. " Now, as Application, or "sticking to it, " or perseverance in earnest faith, is the maincondition for success in all that I have discussed, I trust that itwill be borne in mind that the process indicated provides fromthe first lesson or experiment for this chief requisite. For the_fore-thinking_ and hypnotizing our minds to be in a certain state orcondition all the next day, by what some writers, such as HARTMANN, treat as magical process--but which is just so much magical as the useof an electrical machine--is simply a beginning in Attention andPerseverance. 

 "So, like a snowball rolled in falling snow, It gathers size as it doth onward go. "

When we make a wish or will, or determine that in future after awakingwe shall be in a given state of mind, we also include Perseverance forthe given time, and as success supposes repetition in all minds, itfollows that Perseverance will be induced gradually and easily. 

And here I may remark that while all writers on ethics, duty ormorals, cry continually "Be persevering, be honest, be enterprising, exert your will!" and so on, and waste thousands of books inillustrating the advantages of all these fine things, there is not onewho tells us _how_ to practically execute or do them. To follow thehint of a quaint Sunday School picture, they show us a swarm of Bees, with hive and honey, but do not tell us how to catch _one_. And yet aman may be anything he pleases if he will by easy and simple practiceas I have shown, make the conception habitual. I do not tell you asthese good folk do, how to go about it nobly, or heroically, orpiously; in fact, I prescribe a method as humble as making a fire, ora pair of shoes, and yet in very truth and honor I have profited farmore by it than I ever did from all the exhortations which I ever haveread. 

Now there are many men who are not so bad in themselves in reality, but who are so haunted by evil thoughts, impulses, and desires, thatthey, being taught by the absurd old heathenish psychology that the"soul" is all one spiritual entity, believe themselves to be as wickedas Beelzebub could wish, when, in fact, these sins are nothing butevil weeds which came into the mind as neglected seeds, and grew apacefrom sheer carelessness. Regarding them in the light, as one may say, of bodily and material nuisances, or a kind of vermin, they can beextirpated by the strong hand of Will, much more easily than under theold system, whereby they were treated with respect and awe as MILTONhath done (and most immorally too), DANTE being no better; and theywould both have exerted their gigantic intellects to better purposeby showing man how to conquer the devil, instead of exalting andexaggerating his stupendous power and showing how, as regards Humanity(for which expressly the Universe, including countless millions ofsolar systems, was created), Satan has by far the victory, since hesecures the majority of souls. For saying which thing a holy bishoponce got himself into no end of trouble. 

I say that he who uses his will can crush and drive out vile hauntingthoughts, and the more rudely and harshly he does it the better. Inall the old systems, without exception, they are treated with far toomuch respect and reverence, and no great wonder either, since theywere regarded as a great innate portion of the soul. Whether to becleared out by the allopathic exorcism, or the gentler homoepathicprayer, the patient never relied on himself. There is a fine Italianproverb in the collection of GUILLO VARRINO, Venice 1656, whichdeclares that _Buona volontà supplice à facolta_--"strong will ekesout ability"--and before the Will (which the Church has ever weakenedor crushed) no evil instincts can hold. The same author tells us that"The greatest man in the world is he who can govern his own will, "also, "To him who wills naught is impossible. " To which I would addthat "Whoever chooses to have a will may do so by culture, " or by everso little to begin with. Nay, I have no doubt that in time there willbe societies, schools, churches, or circles, in which the Will shallbe taught and applied to all moral and mental culture. 

He who wills it sincerely can govern his Will, and he who can governhis Will is a thousand times more fortunate than if he could governthe world. For to govern the Will is to be without fear, superior andindifferent to all earthly follies and shams, idols, cants anddelusions, it is to be lord of a thousand isles in the sea of life, and absolutely greater than any living mortal, as men exist. Smallneed has that man to heed what his birth or station in society may bewho has mastered himself with the iron will; for he who has conquereddeath and the devil need fear no shadows. 

He who masters himself by Will has attained to all that is best andnoblest in Stoicism, Epicureanism, Christianity, and Agnosticism; ifthe latter be understood not as doubt, but free Inquiry, and could menbe made to feel what all this means and what power it bestows, and howeasily it really is to master it, we should forthwith see all humanityengaged in the work. 

It has been declared by many in the past in regard to schooling theirminds to moral and practical ends that, leading busy lives, they hadnot time to think of such matters. But I earnestly protest that it isthese very men of all others who most require the discipline which Ihave taught, and it is as easy for them as for anybody; as it, indeed, ought to be easier, yes, and far more profitable. For the one wholeads by fortune a quiet life of leisure can often school himselfwithout a system, while he who toils amid anxious thoughts and withevery mental power severely taxed, will find that he can do his work_far_ more easily if he determines that he _will_ master it. Theamount of mental action which lies dormant in us all is illimitableand it can all be realized by the hypnotism of Will. 

CHAPTER XI. 

PARACELSUS. 

That our ordinary consciousness or Waking Intellect, and what isgenerally recognized as Mind or Soul, includes whatever has been takenin by sensation and reflection and assimilated to daily wants, orshows itself in bad or good memories and thought, is evident. Notless clear is it that there is another hidden Self--a power which, recognizing much which is evil in the Mind, would fain reject, orrule, or subdue it. This latent, inner Intelligence calls into actionthe Will. All of this is vague, and, it may be, unscientific. It ismore rational to believe in many faculties or functions, but theclassification here suggested may serve as a basis. It is effectivelythat of GRASSNER, or of all who have recognized the power of the Willto work "miracles, " guided by a higher morality. And it is verycurious that PARACELSUS based his whole system of nervous cure, atleast, on this theory. Thus, in the _Liber Entium Morborum, de EnteSpirituali_, chap, iii, he writes:

"As we have shown that there are two _Subjecta_, this will we assumeas our ground. Ye know that there is in the Body a Soul. (_Geist_. )Now reflect, to what purpose? Just that it may sustain life, even asthe air keeps animals from dying for want of breath. So we know whatthe soul is. This soul in Man is actually clear, intelligible andsensible to the other soul, and, classing them, they are to beregarded as allied, even as bodies are. I have a soul--the _other_hath also one. "

PARACELSUS is here very obscure, but he manifestly means by "theother, " the Body. To resume:

"The Souls know one another as 'I, ' and 'the other. ' They conversetogether in their language, not by necessity according to ourthoughts, but what _they_ will. And note, too, that there may be angerbetween them, and one may belittle or injure the other; this injury isin the Soul, the Soul in the body. Then the body suffers and is ill--not materially or from a material _Ens_, but from the Soul. For thiswe need spiritual remedy. Ye are two who are dear unto one another;great in affinity. The cause is not in the body, nor is it fromwithout; it comes from your souls (_Geisten_), who are allied. The same pair may become inimical, or remain so. And that ye mayunderstand a cause for this, note that the Spirit (_Geist_) of theReasoning Faculty (_Vernunft_) is not born, save from the _Will_, therefore the Will and the Reason are separate. What exists and actsaccording to the Will lives in the Spirit; what only according tothe Reason lives against the Spirit. For the Reason brings forth nospirit, only the Soul (_Seel_) is born of it--from Will comes theSpirit, the essence of which we describe and let the Soul be. "

In this grandly conceived but most carelessly written passage theauthor, in the beginning thereof, makes such confusion in expressingboth Soul and Spirit with the one word, _Geist_, that his real meaningcould not be intelligible to the reader who had not already masteredthe theory. But, in fact, the whole conception is marvelous, andclosely agreeing with the latest discoveries in Science, whileignoring all the old psychological system. 

Very significant is what PARACELSUS declares in his _FragmentaMedicina de Morbis Somnii_, that so many evils beset us, "caused bythe coarseness of our ignorance, because we know not what is born inus. " That is to say, if we knew our mental power, or what we arecapable of, we could cure or control all bodily infirmities. And howto rule and form this power, and make it obey the _Geist_ or Willwhich PARACELSUS believed was born of the common conscious Soul--thatis the question. 

For PARACELSUS truly believed that out of this common Soul, the resultof Sensation and Reflection, and all we pick up by Experience andObservation (and such as makes all that there is of Life for mostpeople), there is born, or results, a perception of Ideas, of rightand wrong, of mutual interests; a certain subtle, moral conscienceor higher knowledge. "The Souls may become inimical;" that is, theConscience, or Spirit, may differ or disagree with the Soul, as a sonmay be at variance with his father. So the flower or fruit may oftdespise the root. The Will is allied to Conscience or a perception ofthe Ideal. When a man finds out that he knows more or better than hehas hitherto done: as, for instance, when a thief learns that it iswrong to steal, and feels it deeply, he endeavors to reform, althoughhe _feels_ all the time old desires and temptations to rob. Now, ifhe resolutely subdue these, his Will is born. "The spirit of theReasoning faculty is not born, save of the Will. . . . What exists andacts according to the Will lives in the spirit. " The perception ofideals is the bud, Conscience the flower, and the Will the fruit. Apure Will must be _moral_, for it is _the_ result of the perception ofIdeals, or a Conscience. The world in general regards Will as mereblind force, applicable to good or bad indifferently. But the moretruly and fully it is developed, or as Orson is raised to Valentine, the more moral and optimistic does it become. _Will_ in its perfectionis Genius, spontaneous originality, that is Voluntary; not merely apower to lift a weight, or push a load, or force others to yield, butthe Thought itself which suggests the deed and finds a _reason_ forit. Now the merely unscrupulous use of Opportunity and Advantage, orCrime, is popularly regarded as having a strong Will; but this, ascompared to a Will with a conscience, is as the craft of the foxcompared to that of the dragon, and that of the dragon to Siegfried. 

And here it may be observed as a subtle and strange thing, approachingto magic apparently, as understood by HARTMANN and his school, thatthe Will sometimes, when much developed, actually manifests somethinglike an independent personality, or at least seems to do so, to anacute observer. And what is more remarkable, it can have this freedomof action and invention delegated to it, and will act on it. 

Thus, in conversation with HERKOMER, the Artist, and Dr. W. W. BALDWIN, Nov. 2d, 1878, the former explained to me that when he wouldexecute a work of art, he just determined it with care or Forethoughtin his mind, and gave it a rest, as by sleep, during which time itunconsciously fructified or germinated, even as a seed when planted inthe ground at last grows upward into the light and air. Now, that theentire work should not be too much finished or quite completed, and toleave room for after-thoughts or possible improvements, he was wont, as he said, to give the Will some leeway, or freedom; which is thesame thing as if, before going to sleep, we _Will_ or determine thaton the following day our Imagination, or Creative Force, or InventiveGenius, shall be unusually active, which will come to pass after somesmall practice and a few repetitions, as all may find for themselves. Truly, it will be according to conditions, for if there be but littlein a man, either he will bring but little out, or else he must waituntil he can increase what he hath. And in this the Will _seems_ toact like an independent person, ingeniously, yet withal obedient. Andthe same also characterizes images in dreams, which sometimes appearto be so real that it is no wonder many think they are spirits fromanother world, as is true of many haunting thoughts which comeunbidden. However, this is all mere Thaumaturgy, which has been sodeadly to Truth in the old _à priori_ psychology, and still worksmischief, albeit it has its value in suggesting very often in Poetrywhat Science afterwards proves in Prose. 

To return to PARACELSUS, HEINE complains that his German is harder tounderstand than his Latin. However, I think that in the followingpassages he shows distinctly a familiarity with hypnotism, orcertainly, passes by hand and suggestion. Thus, chap, x, _de EnteSpirituali_, in which the Will is described, begins as follows: "Nowshall ye mark that the Spirits rule their subjects. And I have shownintelligibly how the _Ens Spirituale_, or Spiritual Being, rules somightily the body that many disorders may be ascribed to it. Thereforeunto these ye should not apply ordinary medicine, but heal thespirit--therein lies the disorder. "

PARACELSUS clearly states that by the power of Foresight--he uses theexact word, _Fürsicht_--Man may, aided by Sleep, attain to knowledge--past, present or future--and achieve Telepathy, or communion at adistance. In the _Fragmenta, Caput de Morbis Somnii_ he writes:

"Therefore learn, that by Foresight man can know future things; and, from experience, the past and present. Thereby is man so highly giftedin Nature that he knows or perceives (_sicht_), as he goes, hisneighbor or friend in a distant land. Yet, on waking, he knows nothingof all this. For God has given to us all--Art, Wisdom, Reason--to knowthe future, and what passes in distant lands; but we know it not, forwe fools, busied in common things, sleep away, as it were, what is inus. Thus, seeing one who is a better artist than thou art, do not saythat he has more gift or grace than thou; for thou hast it also, buthast not tried, and so is it with all things. What Adam and Moses didwas to _try_, and they succeeded, and it came neither from the Devilnor from Spirits, but from the Light of Nature, which they developedin themselves. But we do _not_ seek for what is in us, therefore weremain nothing, and are nothing. "

Here the author very obscurely, yet vigorously, declares that we cando or learn what we _will_, but it must be achieved by foresight, will, and the aid of sleep. 

It seems very evident, after careful study of the text, that here, asin many other places, our author indicates familiarity with the methodof developing mental action in its subtlest and most powerful forms. Firstly, by determined Foresight, and, secondly, by the aid of sleep, corresponding to the bringing a seed to rest a while, and therebycause it to germinate; the which admirable simile he himself uses in apassage which I have not cited. 

PARACELSUS was the most original thinker and the worst writer of awondrous age, when all wrote badly and thought badly. There is inhis German writings hardly one sentence which is not ungrammatical, confused, or clumsy; nor one without a vigorous idea, which shows themind or character of the man. 

As a curious instance of the poetic originality of PARACELSUS we maytake the following:

"It is an error to suppose that chiromancy is limited to the hand, forthere are significant lines (indicating character), all over the body. And it is so in vegetable life. For in a plant every leaf is a hand. Man hath two; a tree many, and every one reveals its anatomy--ahand-anatomy. Now ye shall understand that in double form the linesare masculine or feminine. And there are as many differences in theselines on leaves as in human hands. "

GOETHE has the credit that he reformed or advanced the Science ofBotany, by reducing the plant to the leaf as the germ or type; andthis is now further reduced to the cell, but the step was a great one. Did not PARACELSUS, however, give the idea?

"The theory of signatures, " says VAUGHAN, in his _Hours with theMystics_, "proceeded on the supposition that every creatures bears insome part of its structure . . . The indication of the character orvirtue inherent in it--the representation, in fact, of its ideal orsoul. . . . The student of sympathies thus essayed to read thecharacter of plants by signs in their organization, as the professorof palmistry announced that of men by lines in the hand. " Thus, to adegree which is very little understood, PARACELSUS took a greatstep towards modern science. He disclaimed Magic and Sorcery, withceremonies, and endeavored to base all cure on human will. The name ofPARACELSUS is now synonymous with Rosicrucianism, Alchemy, ElementarySpirits and Theurgy, when, in fact, he was in his time a boldreformer, who cast aside an immense amount of old superstition, andadvanced into what his age regarded as terribly free thought. He wascompared to LUTHER, and the doing so greatly pleased him; he dwells onit at length in one of his works. 

What PARACELSUS really believed in at heart was nothing more or lessthan an unfathomable Nature, a _Natura naturans_ of infinite resource, connected with which, as a microcosm, is man, who has also within himinfinite powers, which he can learn to master by cultivating the will, which must be begun at least by the aid of sleep, or letting theresolve ripen, as it were, in the mind, apart from Consciousness. 

I had written every line of my work on the same subject and principleslong before I was aware that I had unconsciously followed exactly inthe footprints of the great Master; for though I had made many otherdiscoveries in his books, I knew nothing of this. 

CHAPTER XII. 

LAST WORDS. 

 "By carrying calves Milo, 'tis said, grew strong, Until with ease he bore a bull along. "

It is, I believe, unquestionable that, if he ever lived, a man who hadattained to absolute control over his own mind, must have been themost enviable of mortals. MONTAIGNE illustrates such an ideal being bya quotation from VIRGIL:

 "Velut rupes vastum quæ prodit in æquor Obvia ventorum furiis, exposta que ponto, Vim cunctum atque minas perfert cælique marisque Ipsa immota manens. "

 "He as a rock among vast billows stood, Scorning loud winds and the wild raging flood, And firm remaining, all the force defies, From the grim threatening seas and thundering skies. "

And MONTAIGNE also doubted whether such self-control was possible. Heremarks of it:

"Let us never attempt these Examples; we shall never come up to them. This is too much and too rude for our common souls to undergo. CATOindeed gave up the noblest Life that ever was upon this account, butit is for us meaner spirited men to fly from the storm as far as wecan. "

Is it? I may have thought so once, but I begin to believe that in thisdarkness a new strange light is beginning to show itself. The victorymay be won far more easily than the rather indolent and timid Essayistever imagined. MONTAIGNE, and many more, believed that absoluteself-control is only to be obtained by iron effort, heroic andterrible exertion--a conception based on bygone History, which is alla record of battles of man against man, or man with the Devil. Now theworld is beginning slowly to make an ideal of peace, and disbelieve inthe Devil. Science is attempting to teach us that from any beginning, however small, great results are sure to be obtained if resolutelyfollowed up and fully developed. 

It requires thought to realize what a man gifted to some degree withculture and common sense must enjoy who can review the past withoutpain, and regard the present with perfect assurance that come what mayhe need have no fear or fluttering of the heart. Spenser has asked in"The Fate of the Butterfly":

 "What more felicity can fall to creature Than to enjoy delight with liberty?"

To which one may truly reply that all delight is fitful and uncertainunless bound or blended with the power to be indifferent toinvoluntary annoying emotions, and that self-command is in itself thehighest mental pleasure, or one which surpasses all of any kind. Hewho does not overestimate the value of money or anything earthly isreally richer than the millionaire. There is a foolish story told byCOMBE in his Physiology of a man who had the supernatural gift ofnever feeling any pain, be it from cold, hunger, heat, or accident. The rain beat upon him in vain, the keenest north wind did not chillhim--he was fearless and free. But this immunity was coupled with aninability to feel pleasure--his wine or ale was no more to his palatethan water, and he could not feel the kiss of his child; and so we aretold that he was soon desirous to become a creature subject to allphysical sensations as before. But it is, as I said, a foolish tale, because it reduces all that is worth living for to being warm orenjoying taste. His mind was not affected, but that goes for nothingin such sheer sensuality. However, a man without losing his tastes orappetites may train his Will to so master Emotion as to enjoy delightwith liberty, and also exclude what constitutes the majority of allsuffering with man. 

It is a truth that there is very often an extremely easy, simple andprosaic way to attain many an end, which has always been supposed torequire stupendous efforts. In an Italian fairy tale a prince besiegesa castle with an army--trumpets blowing, banners waving, and all thepomp and circumstances of war--to obtain a beautiful heroine who ismeanwhile carried away by a rival who knew of a subterranean passage. Hitherto, as I have already said, men have sought for self-controlonly by means of heroic exertion, or by besieging the castle fromwithout; the simple system of Forethought and Self-Suggestion enablesone, as it were, to steal or slip away with ease by night and indarkness that fairest of princesses, La Volonté, or the Will. 

For he who wills to be equable and indifferent to the small andinvoluntary annoyances, teasing memories, irritating trifles, whichconstitute the chief trouble in life to most folk, can bring it about, in small measure at first and in due time to greater perfection. Andby perseverance this rivulet may to a river run, the river fall into amighty lake, and this in time rush to the roaring sea; that is to say, from bearing with indifference or quite evading attacks of _ennui_, wemay come to enduring great afflictions with little suffering. 

Note that I do not say that we can come to bearing all thebereavements, losses, and trials of life with _absolute_ indifference. Herein MONTAIGNE and the Stoics of old were well nigh foolish toimagine such an impossible and indeed undesirable ideal. But it may bethat two men are afflicted by the same domestic loss, and one with aweak nature is well nigh crushed by it, gives himself up to endlessweeping and perhaps never recovers from it, while another with quiteas deep feelings, but far wiser, rallies, and by vigorous exertionmakes the grief a stimulus to exertion, so that while the former isdemoralized, the latter is strengthened. There is an habitual state ofmind by which a man while knowing his losses fully can endure thembetter than others, and this endurance will be greatest in him who hasalready cultivated it assiduously in minor matters. He who has swam inthe river can swim in the sea; he who can hear a door bang withoutstarting can listen to a cannon without jumping. 

The method which I have described in this book will enable any persongifted with perseverance to make an equable or calm state of mindhabitual, moderately at first, more so by practice. And when this isattained the experimenter can progress rapidly in the path. It isprecisely the same as in learning a minor art, the pupil who candesign a pattern (which corresponds to Foresight or plan), onlyrequires, as in wood-carving or repoussé, to be trained by very easyprocess to become familiar with the use and feel of the tools, afterwhich all that remains to be done is to keep on at what the pupil cando without the least difficulty. Well begun and well run in the endwill be well done. 

But glorious and marvelous is the power of him who has habituatedhimself by easy exercise of Will to brush away the minor, meaninglessand petty cares of life, such as, however, prey on most of us; forunto him great griefs are no harder to endure than the getting a coatsplashed is to an ordinary man.