ent who can touch the relics of the saints or
bathe in the waters of Lourdes or at least feel on his forehead the hand
of the minister, is wrought up to a state of suggestibility which makes
suggestions easily effective. The objective value of religion again has
nothing to do with it, as exactly the same effect can result from the
most barbarous superstition. The amulets of a gypsy might secure the
same resetting of the psychophysical system which the most sacred
symbols awaken, and even many an educated person is unable to cross the
threshold of a palmist or an astrologist, or to attend the performance
of a spiritist, or to sit down with a purchasable trance medium without
feeling an uncanny mental state which is objectively characterized by an
increased suggestibility. But finally, the same effect sets in when the
symbols of other emotional spheres are applied, perhaps for the
patriotic soldier the flag of his country.

All the states of increased suggestibility which we have characterized
so far still remain within the limit of normal wakefulness. We may turn
now to the methods of the psychotherapist which produce in the interest
of the suggestions an artificial state. However we have no right
superficially to claim that the effectiveness of the suggestions is
always greater in such unnatural states. On the contrary, we know that
sometimes well applied suggestions work on wide-awake persons with
increased suggestibility more strongly than on hypnotized subjects. Here
even the instinct of the experienced physician may easily go astray, and
it may need practical tests to find out which way will be the most
accessible to the particular case. Often a certain role belongs even to
natural sleep. It cannot be denied that some people can be influenced to
some degree by words spoken to them during sleep. Most adults either
wake up or show no signs of influence beyond effects on their dreams.
But some absorb especially whispered words in such a way that their
power becomes evident after the waking of the sleeper. Much more is this
true of children. A suggestion to give up vicious habits, perhaps in the
sexual sphere, or to speak fluently and no longer stammer may thus be
beneficial. Yet the danger of this method is not small and extensive use
of it is certainly not advisable. The more easily it can be carried into
every bedchamber and can thus give to every mother and nurse the tools
of a rather powerful therapy, the more a dan