Lasting impressions made upon passive minds - Learning to spell - Expectancy a hypnotic influence - Seeking pleasure - Determined to be gloomy - "Sunset Cox" and his postponed lecture - Public gatherings - Spirit of the meeting - Magnetic speakers - Hypnotic power necessary to successful public speaking - Powerful preachers - All more or less obedient - Sleight of hand exhibitions - Oriental magicians - An East India exhibition - Hypnotized through objects.

All persons are more or less influenced by others, whether consciously or unconsciously. When the mind is comparatively passive, then it receives impressions more readily, and those impressions .are usually very lasting. A child can learn to spell correctly because of this fact, and he will remain a correct speller. But an adult who is a poor speller will have great difficulty in acquiring correctness. For the same reason, all through life, even to old age, a person may vividly remember trifling occurrences that made a vivid impression upon his mind during childhood.

Expectancy likewise exerts an emphatic hypnotic influence upon the mind. "Those see best who desire to see" is an old saying. Traders often go into raptures while looking upon the scenery of the mountains or valleys of which they have read descriptions, while equally beautiful scenery at home does not even attract their attention. It is anticipation that renders the actual realization most enjoyable.

Pleasure parties setting out with the determination to enjoy themselves will be able to take delight in the most commonplace occurrences, and on the other hand a person determined to see nothing of interest anywhere will find himself gloomy and morose even in the midst of pleasures.

An incident well illustrating the influence of expectancy is related of the late Hon. S. S. Cox, well known as "Sunset Cox," the congressman and humorist. At one time he was announced to deliver a comic lecture in a Pennsylvania city, and before the hour arrived the hall was crowded to overflowing with persons who had come anticipating a feast of laughter.

Just before the curtain should arise Mr. Cox was given a telegram announcing the sudden death of his wife's mother at his home in New York City. He was greatly shocked by the news and told the manager it would be impossible for him to deliver his lecture under the circumstances. After a brief conference it was decided that Mr. Cox should step in front of the curtain and state the facts to the audience and announce that the lecture would be postponed for one week. He accordingly proceeded to the front of the stage and was received with vociferous applause. After this had subsided he said:

"Ladies and Gentlemen: I hold in my hand a telegram, just received, announcing the death of my mother-in-law"------

His voice was then drowned by uproarious laughter. It was the period when "the mother-in-law joke" was going the rounds, and the audience took it for granted that Mr. Cox was introducing his lecture in the most comical manner, and his apparent solemnity seemed to be so well feigned that it added to their appreciation. He stood for some moments, dazed by the unexpected reception of his words, until it dawned upon him that they had mistaken his announcement for a joke. When quiet was restored he proceeded:

"Friends, my statement is a solemn fact. The telegram is from my home in New York City. My mother-in-law made her home with me, and I dearly loved her. It is with feelings of great grief that I learn of her death. Under the circumstances I cannot proceed with my lecture, and it will be postponed until one week from to-night. The audience is now dismissed, and you will receive your tickets upon leaving the hall."

It was amidst laughter and shouts that he managed to say what he did, and when he retired from the stage the applause was deafening. Surely for a humorous lecture there couldn't be a better introduction, and his imitative powers seemed perfect. The audience had come to hear fun and jokes, and Mr. Cox evidently was not going to be a disappointment. Before quiet could be restored the manager was compelled to step forth and emphatically corroborate Mr. Cox's statements.

In public gatherings we are often more influenced by the "spirit of the meeting" than by what has been actually said or done. If we should put into plain English the few words uttered at revival meetings, they might seem commonplace, but in the meeting they "burn with fire" when spoken in the midst of excitement and to receptive minds. A magnetic political speaker can sway his audience by a few threadbare assertions spoken in a convincing manner. By his voice and demeanor he suggests the character of the reception he desires his words to receive.

Speakers and orators would do will to study thoroughly this phase of hypnotic power.. It is a valuable acquisition to knowledge and must be possessed in order to make a success of public speaking. Old-time ministers used to sing-song their sermons at the start, and then slowly get warmed up and "cap the climax" by loud and rapid talk and wild gestures. Whoever could do this was accounted "a powerful preacher." It was simply a method of hypnotizing his listeners. He did not call it hypnotism, and perhaps gave little thought to how he managed to work up enthusiasm; but, regarded in the light of hypnotic science, it was identical with modern methods of mentally controlling others. First, the mind anticipates being influenced; second, the quietude of the surroundings, with concentration of thought upon what is about to be said; third, the monotonous sound of the "sing-song" voice; fourth, the emphatic suggestion.

We are all more or less obedient to others, and under certain circumstances we implicitly obey without question. This fact is well illustrated by our behavior in public. For instance, at a "sleight-of-hand" exhibition, the performer depends largely upon the obedience of the audience for his success. The spectators follow his suggestions with unanimity as soon as they are uttered. He says, "Look at the ceiling," and instantly all eyes are turned upward. He commands absolute silence for a moment, and it is promptly secured. In fact, he has announced his intention of doing mysterious things, and everyone present spontaneously aids him in his work. It is this exercise of hypnotic influence that aids the Oriental magician in his performances that sometimes seem to be almost beyond belief, but which his spectators declare they saw with their "very eyes."

The following incident, related by a traveler in Eastern India, is an interesting example of hypnotic influence:

"We had scarcely become comfortable, or, rather, settled, in our apartments in the inn, when a servant announced that a band of magicians were about to give a performance in the courtyard. I had always desired to see such a performance by natives in their own country, and hastened below. Seated on the ground was a man of dark complexion, with a turban about his head and wearing the regulation costume. About him were several other natives, evidently his assistants, one of whom spoke English and acted as interpreter. In front of the magician were several small jars and boxes and other implements pertaining to his calling. It is needless to go into detail as to what was said and done. The performance started with an exhibition of several small snakes taken from one of the boxes. The snakes were undoubtedly real, and as the magician sang a monotonous song and occasionally touched the snakes with a peculiar wand, they became gradually larger and larger, until they assumed the proportions of large boa constrictors and caused consternation among us; then, at a command, they grew smaller, and entered the box from which they had been taken - a box scarcely large enough to hold a pound of tea.

"One of the assistants drew a circle in the sand and stood in the center of it, seeming to take great pains to ascertain just where the exact center was. The magician then touched him and he spun around like a top, and with a shout ascended high into the air and vanished amid the clouds. In a short time he reappeared and fell down upon the spot from whence he started.

"Several other equally remarkable feats were performed, to the details of which being actual occurrences we would have testified. But several of the ladies of our company, who viewed the scene from a concealed balcony, declared that they saw nothing more than ordinary-sized snakes, a man spinning around on one spot, and other simple manifestations. They had been without the sphere of influence, and the rest of us, in some remarkable manner, had been hypnotized and our senses rendered susceptible to spoken and acted suggestions. We saw what did not take place, but that which the operator had willed us to see, and had it not been for the ladies on the balcony we would never have realized that we had been controlled by fascination."

We do not always like to acknowledge hypnotic control; but a few instances will serve to demonstrate that we are all more or less influenced by a peculiar fascination exercised over us by the sight of unusual or suggestive objects.

We cannot watch a tight-rope walker in midair without becoming dizzy or experiencing the sensation of falling.

When standing upon the top of a very high building, the suggestion of jumping off comes to us at once, and many have given way to their impulse and committed suicide who had no intention of doing so. The sight of a very high bridge not infrequently fascinates persons to such an extent that they have been impelled to walk upon it and then jump from it into the river.

Some persons upon a railroad platform have difficulty in keeping themselves from jumping in front of a fast-approaching train. Others cannot handle a. revolver without a suggestion coming to them of what destruction it might perform, and without any premeditation and almost involuntarily they are pointing it at themselves or others, and possibly pulling the trigger.

These performances are due to a species of hypnotic influence. The object fascinates and concentrates the thought, which immediately forms the idea and is very frequently instantly transferred to the seat of physical action, with most disastrous although unpremeditated results.