e from our present point, which is rather that
of giving out influence than of receiving it. Through the
instrumentality of this impersonal cosmic soul we can send out our
Thought for the healing of disease, for the suggestion of good and happy
ideas, and for many other beneficial purposes; though the extent of the
result will of course be considerably influenced by the mental attitude
of the recipient, which is therefore a factor to be reckoned with.

But this power of sending out a subtle influence, call it magnetism or
what you will, is not confined to operations upon the human subject. Two
ladies of my acquaintance experimented on two rose-trees, which, to all
appearances, were both in equally good condition. They daily blessed one
and cursed the other, with the result that at the end of a month the
anathematized plant had withered up from the roots, while the other was
in an abnormally flourishing condition. Nor are we entirely without
scientific backing even in such a case as this; for Professor Bose tells
us in his work on the "Response of Metals," that not only can they be
poisoned by certain chemicals, so as to deprive them of their normal
qualities, but that they can be mesmerized into a similar condition.
Such facts as these therefore give considerable support to the theory of
the existence in everything of a "soul of the subject," which responds
after its own manner to the power of human thought.

In what manner, then, is this influence conveyed? It is here that our
study of etheric waves comes to our assistance, by carrying the same
principle further, and picturing the working of the known Law under
unknown conditions. It will at least enable us to form a working
hypothesis. I have stated that our actual commercial application of the
etheric waves extends from the ultra-violet waves used in photography,
and measuring only 1/254,000 of an inch, to those measuring many miles
employed in wireless telegraphy; but this practical application by no
means exhausts the conceivable possibilities of etheric vibrations; for
not only do we find a gap of five octaves of as yet unknown waves
between the dark heat group and the Hertzian group, but mathematically
there is no limit to the greatness or smallness of the waves, and the
scale may be prolonged indefinitely in either direction. Nor is this to
be wondered at; for if we consider that vibration is not a progress of
individual particles from one place to another, but