Miss Marguerite McAlister, of Chicago, for years had a great reputation for being a most successful nurse, and commanded the highest salary for her services. She was often spoken of as a woman who had a peculiarly soothing influence over patients. She privately informed me that her success lay almost altogether in her hypnotic ability which she had discovered by accident in a peculiar manner, and she had kept her secret to herself, lest persons might object to her on account of it.

At one time she had for a patient a very sensitive and irritable young woman suffering from a broken leg. This caused her to worry greatly about her work, she being a school teacher and fearful lest she should lose her position. The worry caused loss of sleep for several nights and threatened to bring on brain fever from insomnia and exhaustion. Miss McAlister tells the story in these words:

"My patient was a devout Catholic, and one night after every effort to quiet her and induce natural sleep had failed, I suddenly decided to try to affect her through her faith in religion. I picked up a little crucifix and fastened it to the bed post at the foot of the bed and told her to look at it steadily for ten minutes and to think of nothing but that her Savior would allow her to go to sleep. I kept my watch in my hand to notice when the ten minutes should be up. She kept her eyes on the crucifix steadily throughout the whole time and at the end of ten minutes I said: 'Now, shut your eyes and you'll go to sleep.' I no sooner said it than her eyes closed tightly and she slept soundly all night. I had no thought of hypnotizing her when I commenced, but I soon realized what had been done, for I had read a great deal on the subject. The next night I repeated the experiment and when the ten minutes of looking at the crucifix had expired I said: 'Now, you are going to sleep, and after this, every night that you look at the crucifix this way you will have a good night's rest,' and so she did."

Miss McAlister said that when she had Catholics for patients she always used the crucifix in this way when they were sleepless, and it always brought about the desired effect. With others, she would call their attention to some object for the required space of time, telling them that such a plan had always brought sleep to restless persons she had nursed, and sleep was sure to follow under the combined influence of their steady gaze and her emphatic assurance and her hypnotic influence, which she cultivated with much earnestness, taking pains to keep all thoughts of hypnotism from her patrons, lest prejudice might injure her reputation as a successful nurse. Happily such prejudice is fast giving away to public approval of such methods.