Hypnotic suggestion is by no means the only method we have of favorably impressing the mind. While the theories which have been advanced by the so-called Christian Scientists, mental healers, etc., are absurd in the extreme, there is nevertheless an element of truth in their teachings. Since it is the mind that perceives all pain, and since that pain can react upon the mind, it logically follows that, within certain limits, the converse of this is true.

Recent psycho-physiological experiments carried on at Harvard and Yale Universities in our own country, and in the universities abroad, throw much light upon many questions which ultimately must prove of great benefit. By means of suitable instruments it is possible to estimate the time which it takes a sensory impression to reach the consciousness and again be transformed into a motor impulse.

Again, it is now a recognized truth that all the sense perceptions are capable of such an extent of cultivation that one of them alone can, in a measure, substitute for, or take the place of another. Through every avenue of the mind the consciousness of a man can be reached in thousands of ways, and the psychic life is more infinite in its various sensations and impressions than are all of the combinations of tone and color ever dreamed of in music or in painting, and no man has ever yet learned the way to measure the relative and absolute amount of pain which can be borne, and which is being felt by another.

It has long since been recognized that nervous excitability and lack of self-control make pain more real and harder to bear. All men possess, in a greater or less degree, self-control. It is capable of development by various means and in differing ratios, and just so far as all members or parts of the body are under the control of the will, just so far can one be made oblivious to suffering. It is known by almost every one that some great excitement will for a time make the weak strong, and every medical man has seen, more than once, a puny, whining, sickly woman, under the stress of circumstances, arise from her degraded mental state, and be noble and strong, aye, a very heroine, in great emergencies. Now, in disease, hypnotism may be a proper means of influencing the mind. The emotions may be the channels through which the healthy mental stimulus may be given to the mind, and the intellect in another person may be the part in need of treatment. Again, the artistic desire, or the love of gain, aye, every trait, every attribute, if properly studied and understood, can, by a skilled hand, be played upon like the keys of a musical instrument, and the harsh discordant notes of the diseased consciousness may be changed into the divinest harmonies, and a halting vacillating character may be converted into one steadfast and true.

In the light of our modern research science promises grand things to the coming generations. There is hope for the weak, relief for the sick, not only through the discoveries of physiology and chemistry, but also through a proper understanding and classification of the various mental phenomena, which have been with us forever, and forever have been misunderstood. The field of suggestion, independently of the hypnotic state, is a broad one. Mental therapeutics in the broadest sense promises more than has ever been hoped for it by rational men. It is difficult because the chain of environment binds the human mind down. Habit, tradition and custom are among the keepers of the prison in which the soul is bound. How many aimless people there are in the world to-day, whining and complaining for the want of a purpose to make life worth living. They themselves do not know this want, and yet it acts powerfully upon them. How many great minds there are, too, who are wrung with suffering at the errors they see everywhere around them, and which they are incapable of remedying. And yet when one speaks of treating disease through the mind, either by hypnotism or by any other means of impressing the psychic life, the practising physician and most of the laymen will say, "Oh, yes, very true.

Imaginary disease can be cured by suggestion, but real disease cannot be." How great this error is the future will prove.

Coarse food, badly cooked, may possess the same chemical constitution as a well-cooked sumptuous meal served at the rich man's table. Slops, with which the sick are so often regaled, are said by chemists, many times to contain nourishment in a concentrated form, and yet what man does not loathe and despise this class of food. Every man who has enjoyed a good dinner, and I trust that every one has, can testify how often the sight of food and the faces of happy friends have banished pain and care. Every man who has listened to a lecture or sermon which would thrill his soul, can testify to the fact that it made him feel physically better. Every true mother will tell you, how, in the love and care of her children, she finds her own life made young again, and experiences in their pleasure the vigor and health of her early youth. These are all truisms, but for them a plea is necessary. The world needs more happiness. Individual constitution and disposition need more careful study. The power which one exercises over another is not due to any one factor. Its constitution is more complex than the molecules of organic matter.

The man does not live, who possesses within himself a vestige of those qualities which ennoble the race, who does not in a measure recognize and take pleasure in those with whom his soul finds an affinity.

The psychic impression which one person makes upon another is, at the same time, the most subtle and the most powerful socio-logical factor that exists. Is it not reasonable, then, that association with those who are congenial to us should prove a stimulus which tends to restore lost health 1 The opposite, every one recognizes to be true, therefore the mental constitution and disposition should be studied and understood by the practitioner of medicine before he attempts to cure the sick man.

How is this to be done? The soul inscribes upon every man's face a story which the skillful may learn to read. Every tone of the voice reflects the condition of the mind within, when one will stop to listen and understand it. There is not one attitude, not one pose of the human form that does not mean something. The mind is ever seeking, by every means within its power, to express itself to the outer world. Often its very attempt at concealment tells, plainer than words, of the storm of suffering and passion within.

The blind now see through their fingers and their ears, the deaf man hears with his eyes and touch, aye, and even those unfortunate ones who are both deaf and blind, learn to hear with their fingers, and literally speak words with their mouths. What glorious triumphs over matter! The human soul imprisoned, even by the death of the senses, cannot be kept in bondage. Hands will speak for paralyzed tongues if they are taught.

So let us hope that in the future the attempt will not be made to separate mind from matter, but that their inter-dependence may be recognized, and the proper relation of external causality to the subjective consciousness may be better understood.

Fanaticism, even of the most ignorant, has, in a great many directions, discovered much which the scientist and man of reason failed to find. So, while I feel pity for the sect which believes that man has no body to be hurt, I equally pity the inexplicably stupid materialism of the so-called scientific educated medical man who fails to understand the psychic constitution and persona] traits of the patient. I rejoice that I have lived to see the triumph of chemistry, of surgery, of physiological and pathological research; but the psycho-physiological research promises discoveries greater than all these; those which will reveal the laws which govern and control the actions, feelings and thoughts.

Whenever disease, then, affects conscious life, whether it he organic or inorganic, its manifestations may be altered in a degree by anything which may reach it, either by the external world, or by any cause which originates in the recesses of the consciousness. Let the plea for the study of the mind be made everywhere. Let its phenomena be read by the school children. Teach them not only reading and writing and the ordinary studies, but that by the exercise of their faculties they can ward off both mental and bodily ills.

The system of mental therapeutics here outlined is necessarily difficult. Its difficulty increases in that ratio that men and women fail to understand themselves and others. The little couplet that says,

" I do not love you, Doctor Fell, The reason why I cannot tell," will soon lose its force and power. Men will learn to analyze and find out that which is objectionable in others, and by judicious analysis learn their own faults as well.

The point that is sought to be made clear in this chapter is, that hypnotism and therapeutic suggestion are only specimens of some of the means which may be used to act upon the mind for the cure of disease.