make clear in the
minutest manner, how every kind of crime can be committed, and the
mind brought to regard all that is evil as a matter of course. The
making an innocent person attempt to commit a murder or steal is among
the most usual experiments; while, on the contrary, any case like that
of the reform of Jeanne S---- is either very rare, or else is treated
simply as a proof of the skill of some _medico_. The fact that if the
successes which are recorded are _true_, there exists a _stupendous_
power by means of which the average morality and happiness of mankind
can be incredibly advanced and sustained, and Education, Art in every
branch, and, in a word, all Culture be marvelously developed on a far
more secure basis than in the old systems, does not seem to have
occurred to any of those who possessed, as it were, gold, without
having the least idea of its value or even its qualities.

Happiness in the main is a pleasant, contented condition of the mind,
that is to say, "a state of mind." To be perfect, as appears from an
enlarged study of all things or phenomena in their relations (since
every part must harmonize with the whole), this happiness implies duty
and altruism, every whit as much as self-enjoyment. This agrees with
and results from scientific experience. Under the old _a priori_
psychologic system, _selfishness_ (which meant that every soul was to
be chiefly or solely concerned in saving itself, guided by hope of
reward and fear of punishment), it was naturally the basis of
morality.

Now, accepting the definition of Happiness as a state of mind under
certain conditions, it follows that it can be realized to a great
degree, and in all cases to some degree, firstly by forethought or
carefully defining what it is or what we desire, and secondly by
making a fixed idea by simple, well-nigh mechanical means, without any
resource to _les grands moyens_. According to the old and now rapidly
vanishing philosophy, this was to be effected by sublime morality,
prayer, or adjuration of supernatural beings and noble heroism, but
what is here proposed is much humbler, albeit more practical. Reading
immortal poetry or prose is indeed a splendid power, but to learn the
letters of the alphabet, and to spell, is very simple and unpoetic,
yet far more practical. What I have described has been the mere dull
rudiments. It is most remarkable that the world has always known that
the art of RAFFAELLE, MICHAEL ANGELO, and ALBE