The constant dwelling of the mind upon any one subject is very apt to produce a concentration of thought that results in self-hypnotism. Some persons invent wonderful tales of what occurred to them on hunting or fishing expeditions and repeat their stories over and over again so frequently that they finally actually believe in their truthfulness, although in reality knowing they are mere fabrications.

A certain gentleman of liberal income, obtained through questionable methods, became possessed of the idea that he would like to become famous as an author. He could not write an ordinary letter correctly and had no knowledge whatever of the subjects upon which he desired others to think him an authority. He thereupon paid gentlemen of literary attainments a meager sum for writing books for him. These books he had printed with his own name upon the title page as author. They met with a ready sale and he was frequently quoted by various writers who had never met him, and who were not acquainted with the facts. His acquaintances, however, quickly realized his bogus authorship and took delight in carrying on conversations with him upon various topics treated in his books, laughing to themselves at his crude opinions that were at such variance with those printed under his name. But the constant reference to him as an author impressed itself deeply upon his mind, until he grew to actually experience a "realizing sense" of his ability, and finally became convinced that he had exhausted his nervous system by too much brain work expended in writing his books.

He would expatiate upon his many months of arduous literary labor in the midst of business, and do it with such sincerity that friends began to realize that he labored under a mental delusion. He had simply hypnotized himself, and as there is no counteracting influence, his condition will probably remain unchanged until some one rudely awakens him to the fact that his bogus authorship is generally known, and that he has long been a "laughing stock" to many on account of it.

Such incidents in various lines are common. A manufacturer, who had secured over a thousand patents on contrivances devised by his employes, became convinced that he was one of the greatest inventors of the age and was made an officer in the Society of Inventors, although the only work he had ever done in that line was to invent methods of securing, without remuneration, the results of the genius of his employes.