Standing in front of them I say: "When I snap my fingers you will all be wide awake".

I snap my fingers, and, behold! they are awake and looking at the queer things they find in their hands. They do not know whether they are awake or not and it is several seconds before the subjects are brought to their senses by the shouts of the audience. Finally they realize the whole situation, but still wonder how these funny looking things were brought to them and what they could be doing with them.

On the whole they cannot be blamed. Suppose you, student, were to suddenly awake in front of a large audience and find in your hands something like a cloth chicken, what would you do? And then, when you had recovered from the surprise somewhat, you were to look about you and see others with things just as peculiar. Would you be surprised? I believe any one would.

But my subjects gradually come out of it and understand the joke. They enjoy it almost as well as do those in the audience and have no ill-feelings whatever.

Albert and Harry collect the curious articles of food and return them to the fastness of the wings. My subjects are seated comfortably back now, and for the next act I will take two subjects and make them believe that they possess rubber noses. Although this has been seen so often it is always mirth-provoking.

"If you two boys will take seats out here," I say, turning to two who have not been troubled for some time, "I will be greatly obliged to you. Thank you".

"Close your eyes; that's right." And their eyes are closed ready to receive and put into action any suggestion that I may give them.

"When I count to three you will open your eyes, but your noses will be made of rubber. They will stretch easily and I will pull them away out and let them fly back".

They are sound asleep. So much for good subjects. If subjects are any good at all, they will respond to the commands of the operator readily when he offers them his suggestions; that is, after they have been on the stage a short time and have been through their share of the performance.

"One, two, three! There, your noses are of rubber. I am going to stretch them now. See them ? Here they are away out here. Now look out! I am going to let go of them!"

And as I "let go" they dodge and nearly fall over each other in their efforts to get out of the way. I have known subjects to have a nose-bleed through this alone. But as suggestion was the cause, suggestion usually has been the remedy, and the bleeding has been stopped in a short time.

"Now this time I am going to pull them out and tie them together. Then I will leave it to you to get them apart".

I reach and get hold of their "rubber noses" and pull my hand out a distance of several feet. Then I go through the motions of tying their noses together. Their faces are so funny that the audience find a new source of merriment. They squirm and twist and reach for their noses in vain. They apparently find the knot going farther away from them when they attempt to grasp it. So I relieve their efforts after a few seconds' work by telling them that the knot is no longer there and that their noses are all right.

"Sit down here," I say, motioning them to the chairs, and they are soon seated. "When I turn your faces to the right, you will laugh, everything will be very, very funny. But when I turn your faces to the left, you will be sad".

I stand behind them so that I can turn their heads without effort. "When I touch your heads you will offer no resistance, but you will move them as I indicate by my touch".

I turn both to the right and they are both laughing with all their might; the audience is laughing with them. I turn their heads to the left and the smiles fade into lines of deep grief. The audience ceases laughing and a silence falls over the throng. Again I turn their heads to the right and again all are laughing. Now, to vary it, I turn one head to the right and the other to the left. One laughs with all his might and the other is hopelessly despondent. I reverse the order and the opposite state of affairs takes place. The sad one laughs and the happy one is sad.

"Now your faces are all right, you feel first rate now. But. let me see! Yes, you have a stomach-ache, each one of you. How does it hurt you! What have you been eating, green apples ? You are all cramped up!"

And there is no mistake about it, for they are doubled up and groaning. It is a shame to leave subjects in this condition for any length of time, as the pain is real and not imaginary. The suggestions act upon their nervous systems directly and the pains are actually produced in their stomachs. So I tell them that they are all right and ask them to laugh over the joke. They just thought that they had stomach aches anyway. They were not real. And they burst out in a peal of laughter that is quite refreshing after their attack.

"Now, look out. my finger is red hot and if I touch you it will burn you. You can't get out of your chairs. You are there fast, very tight and my finger is hot. I am going to touch you!"

As I approach them, their faces assume the expression of terror and their fear is genuine. As I touch them they squirm backward, but I immediately allay their fears by telling them that the linger is not hot. In fact, I have no finger there. Where did it go to?

They look for the finger, feeling under their chairs and looking around for it their chairs in a position in which they will not be in the way of the "pond" I soon have them soundly sleeping. Here I wish to draw a lesson on the wonders of the subconscious mind, so, while the sleepers are still in dreamland, I address the audience on the subject:

Anaesthesia.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I will now call your particular attention to the powers of the subconscious mind and I wish to draw a parallel between the phenomena of dreams and the phenomena you see presented on this stage this evening. Theoretically, there is a waking mind and a dream mind; the latter carries on the system of life - it never sleeps. The conscious mind is the one that we use in our waking state. In natural sleep the five senses slumber, but in the case of the sleep-walker or the hypnotized subject, the five senses are intensified and used by this subconscious mind. Thus, when I awake these sleepers they will be skaters, taking and following my suggestions. In an ordinary sleep, we often dream that we see grotesque tilings, beings of an impossible nature. Yet. during that sleep we do not doubt that these things exist. So, with these somnambulists, they will take for granted that they are on an ice pond, that they have skates on, and they will believe that they are skating. They will see the chairs, but they will not think of them as chairs or anything else. Hence, they dodge them because they know the chairs are there. At the same time, they enjoy their skate. I will now awaken them." "You are skaters, all of you have skates on your feet and you are upon a frozen pond, the ice being smooth. I want you to awaken when I snap my fingers and start to skate. When I clap my hands, you will all come out your natural selves and you will remember all about your skate".