If you have applied the technique outlined in this book with care and perseverance, you may have observed reactions which have occasioned you surprise.

If this is so, you may he interested in the description of experiments that have been made, of the apparatuses used in these experiments, and of the results obtained. I hope that some doctors and physicists may be sufficiently interested to repeat these experiments and solve the problems they raise.

Having written and re-written what was to have been this Chapter, I submitted my attempt to the criticism of doctors, physicists, and other authorities; and their advice, by which I abide, is that I should confine myself to a plain statement of facts, leaving it to specialists, and in particular to physicists, to decide whether these facts justify an investigation, and to offer an interpretation of them.

I was led to make the experiments I describe in the following circumstances.

Whilst serving with the Royal Flying Corps during the Great War, I contracted dysentery and malaria, and suffered from a nervous breakdown, which was aggravated by a serious head injury. Mental depression and acute insomnia were natural sequels. I was invalided out of the Service in August, 1919, after about eighteen months in hospital, and my papers were marked: " 100% disability, permanently unfit for any duty.''

Although medical science had done all that it could, neurasthenia and insomnia remained with me. Bitter necessity led me to experiment, and by 1921, I had evolved and applied the main principles of the technique of sleep, outlined in this book to such good effect that I could command sound sleep at any time of the day or night, and had attained better health than I had ever known. My complete cure was acknowledged by the cancellation of the 100% pension awarded me on my discharge from hospital.

My recovery naturally stimulated me to make further experiments with collaborators as diverse as I could secure, and these forced on me a conclusion from which, rightly or wrongly, argue as I would, I did not seem able to escape.

By 1922, I was convinced that in most of the cures I had obtained, a " force," mysterious in its nature and workings, had been a contributory therapeutic agent, and that whilst suggestion had undoubtedly played a part in the patient's recovery, it had only been one of the factors at work.

The role of suggestion seemed to me to be limited to that of a directive control of the " force," efficient in proportion to the quantities of the " force " at its disposal, and powerless without it.

It appeared clear to me that in addition to being a valuable therapeutic agent, this " force " could be transferred from one part of one body to another part of that body, and from one body to another body, by means of a metal wire, to perform its healing work either uncontrolled or under deliberate direction by suggestion.

Successful patients and friends, and amongst them many medical men and women, summed up their impressions as follows: " I accept your facts; there is no doubt that you do your patients good; that you have discovered something of value; but, I reject your explanation."

There was always agreement on one point: " I used suggestion, and judging by results, those innovations I had introduced into its use were sound." But disagreement remained on the other point: " Was not suggestion alone at work, and had I any valid evidence of the presence and action of the ' force ' I spoke of?"

I realized that I must evolve a series of scientific experiments, which could easily be reproduced by others under the strictest scientific supervision, and which would clearly isolate the action of suggestion from that of the " force " in dispute.

My object in describing the experiments I have devised and the apparatus necessary to their performance is to induce as many as possible of those whom the subject may interest to repeat these experiments independently, and to draw their own conclusions.

In all cases the experiments are easy to perform, the apparatus required is inexpensive, and only time and interest are wanted. Many variations, improvements, and safeguards will no doubt occur to minds approaching the experiments from a new angle.

Early in 1925, I devised a first apparatus (A), which enabled me to work with from two to six subjects at a time. This apparatus consists of a box 10 in. by 8 in. by 5 in., in the vulcanite lid of which are fitted six revolving pointers, numbered 1 to 6. Each pointer is connected with two copper wires some ten feet long, the ends of which are held respectively in the right and left hands of one of the six subjects.

The apparatus has the appearance of a complex electric switch-board, and plainly suggests "electric current." There is, in fact, nothing electrical about it, and it merely enables the operator, by revolving the pointers, to connect the left hand of any subject with the right hand of any other by means of these wires, to vary at will the order of subjects in a closed circuit, and to leave any subjects out of the circuit, all without the knowledge of any of the subjects.

It is of cardinal importance that investigators should always bear in mind the following three points—

(1) All subjects do not produce equally clear results.

(2) The results produced by a given subject may vary with the different subjects placed in circuit with him, and

(3) No subjects can produce reliable results unless they are efficiently relaxed in body and quiet in mind for some time before the experiments begin.

Experiments With Apparatus A

First Experiment.

The apparatus itself suggests: " Electric current "; no other suggestion is made.

Each left hand is connected with a right hand, haphazard, a closed circuit thus being formed.

The average reactions are: progressive sense of warmth, relaxation and well-being, slower and stronger pulse, slower and fuller respiration, and progressive drowsiness.

When results are fully developed, these are discussed, and a frequent comment is: " Just what I would have expected from a mild electric current."

The lid of the box is then lifted, showing it to be empty, to which subjects frequently react by showing annoyance at having " been had," followed by: " That shows the power of suggestion."

Second Experiment.

As all subjects now realize that the box is not electrical, the suggestion of " electric current " no longer operates.

Nevertheless, shortly after the circuit has again been closed, the subjects show the same signs and reluctantly report the same symptoms.

Sensitive subjects, after a few experiments, get to know when they are within the circuit and when not, and some can even identify their immediate neighbours in the circuit.

Third Experiment.

Unknown to all subjects, the wires held by one subject are crossed, his left hand being thus connected with another left hand, and his right with another right. The effects previously observed are reversed, with progressive and sometimes unbearable discomfort in his case, and milder discomfort in that of his immediate neighbours in the circuit.

When, unknown to all subjects, he is given two new neighbours in the circuit, they experience discomfort, and his former neighbours relief.

All subjects used in my early experiments were right-handed. The accidental introduction of a left-hander in the circuit with wires uncrossed (all right hands connected with left hands), produced the same disorder as that caused by the right-hander with wires crossed.

This was repeatedly checked with right- and left-handers in equal numbers, all subjects being kept in ignorance of the type of circuit formed until results had been obtained, thus eliminating suggestion.