"These phenomena (of hypnotism) do not indicate a diseased condition which ought to be feared or suppressed, but should be looked upon as gateways to a higher knowledge, and therefore worthy of investigation and certain to reward it."-Edward T. Bennett, P. R. S.

"The problem of health, then, rests primarily on the regulation of mental action. Illness is always a sign of weakness, ad, primarily, mental weakness. I have no wish to deny that unconscious action may be modified for good by the toxical action of drugs. It is undoubtedly through such action that curative effects are often produced. The irritant drug communicates a suggestion of augmented energy in certain areas, and organs, and nerve tracts, which effects desired results. That drug treatment does often effect cures in this manner cannot be denied. But drugs are uncertain in action and cannot be relied upon in a series of cases. without at the same time, by virtue of collateral irritation, doing possible harm. The great defect of the drug system is found in its unreliability. Uniform effects cannot be obtained. The advantage of mental treatment lies in the fact that it can be directe! with precision, while its effects are not scattering and collaterally harmful. It can also be made to reinforce drug action and thus render it efficient. Moreover and this truth should sink deeply into the memory), while in using drugs as a means of modify ing functional activities we are teaching reliance on artificial stimulation. In mental therapeutics the mind learns to acquire permanent control in its own realm."-Leavitt.

"Thought in the mind hath made us. What we are
By thought was wrought and built. If a man's mind
Hath evil thoughts, pain comes on him as comes
The wheel on ox behind.

All that we are is what we have thought and willed;
Our thoughts shape us and frame. If one endure
In purity of thought, joy follows him
As his own shadow-sure."

-Sir Edwin Arnold.

CHAPTER IV.

THE PRACTICE OF PSYCHO-THERAPY-CONTINUED.

How to Secure the Essentials of Success in the Patient.

Having reviewed at some length the methods of establishing in the physician the conditions of effective suggestion, we shall turn our attention to those equally important in the patient, and indicate as far as possible the means of securing them.

I have elsewhere dwelt upon faith as the most essential element in the giving and receiving of therapeutic suggestion, and it will be unnecessary for me to do more than mention it here.

The means of awakening faith have also been considered, and they will not be recapitulated.

Importance of Attention.

Nothing is more important than to gain the attention of the patient about to be treated. I do not say that it is all-important, inasmuch as the subjective mind may be impressed while the objective consciousness is turned to other things. But the desired effect is facilitated by capturing and holding the patient's conscious attention.

Very nervous patients are easily diverted, especially by their sensations, and find it difficult, or even impossible, volitionally to concentrate on anything. At the same time many of them are suffering the effects of involuntary concentration.

While treating a nervous patient a few days ago I found her getting more and more agitated, until I feared that inco-ordinate action would throw her from the chair. She finally ejaculated an allusion to the condition, and I explained that she was failing to follow the thought I was laboriously trying to give her. She had been contemplating the very conditions that I wanted her to forget.

"Listen now," I said. "You are not following my thought. Think of what I am saying and your jerking will cease.

On proceeding with the treatment she speedily quieted, and the suggestions were evidently enabled to take a better hold.

"I am getting better," she said at the conclusion, and a brighter face and renewed animation betokened what her lips expressed.

The subjective mind is supposed to note every word and act with most scrupulous care and to preserve it in the memory.

"Since it is the subjective faculty that works the cure," says one, "why need we be concerned regarding the objective thought?"

It is quite true that the subjective consciousness is chiefly involved in every cure; but we may reasonably infer that beneficial results are facilitated by recurrence of the consciousness, again and again, to the suggestion that has found lodgment in its registers.

Whatever the tenable theory, observation teaches the value, though not the absolute necessity, of securing the objective attention.

Media of Cure.

I have spoken of faith as an essential