Course of Instruction In Hypnotism, Mesmerism, Clairvoyance, Suggestive Therapeutics, and The Sleep Cure

THE PURPOSE OF THESE EXPERIMENTS. I give, here, there-fore, a series of six graded experiments whose purpose is to develop in the operator that poise of character which we call self-confidence, at the same time showing him the basic law through which hypnotism has become a scientific fart. The first point for the student to remember is that it is not necessary to put a subject to sleep in order to produce in him the phenomena of hypnotism in their earlier stages.

How To Avom FAILURE. The beginner, of course, fears failure and consequent ridicule more than anything else and therefore I say at the start that you can protect yourself absolutely from both.

First By studiously omitting the word hypnotism and firmly avoiding the idea that the experiments are even of a hypnotic character. Call them "curious experiments in magnetic or nervous attractions," if you like.

Second By explaining carefully the very evident fact that the success of the experiments depends entirely upon the strength of will-power and concentration exercised by the subject. The operator is merely a guide. If the subject has sufficient will-power to forcibly drive back and keep from his mind all other thoughts than those supplied by the operator, success is sure. If the subject is weak-willed and lacks concentration he cannot do this. You should explain this to your subjects and show them clearly that the interest and value of the experiments rest entirely upon the determined intelligence of their co-operation. A dumb brute is much harder to hypnotize than an intelligent man. A clear explanation of these facts places you beyond the reach of ridicule or failure.

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