to say, in ordinary language, it was "all
imagination"--but here, as in many other cases, a very comprehensive
and apparently common-sensible word is very far from giving an
adequate or correct idea of the matter in question--for what the
imagination itself really is in this relation is a mystery which is
very difficult to solve. I have heard of an old French gentleman
who, when in a circus, expressed an opinion that there was nothing
remarkable in the wonderful performances of an acrobat on a
tight-rope, or trapeze. "_Voyez-vous monsieur_" he exclaimed;
"_Ce n'est que la mathematique--rien que ca_!" And only the
Imagination--"all your Imagination" is still the universal solvent in
Philistia for all such problems.

Hypnotism reduced to its simplest principle is, like the old
Fascination, the action of mind upon mind, or of a _mind upon itself_,
in such a manner as to produce a definite belief, action, or result.
It is generally effected by first causing a sleep, as is done in
animal magnetism, during which the subject implicitly obeys the will
of the operator, or performs whatever he suggests. Hence arose the
term Suggestion, implying that what the patient takes into his head to
do, or does, must first be submitted to his own mental action.

Very remarkable results are thus achieved. If the operator, having put
a subject to sleep (which he can do in most cases, if he be clever,
and the experiments are renewed often enough), will say or suggest to
him that on the next day, or the one following, or, in fact, any
determined time, he shall visit a certain friend, or dance a jig, or
wear a given suit of clothes, or the like, he will, when the hypnotic
sleep is over, have forgotten all about it. But when the hour
indicated for his call or dance, or change of garment arrives, he will
be haunted by such an irresistible feeling that he _must_ do it; that
in most cases it will infallibly be done. It is no exaggeration to say
that this has been experimented on, tested and tried thousands of
times with success and incredible ingenuity in all kinds of forms and
devices. It would seem as if spontaneous attention went to sleep, but,
like an alarm clock, awoke at the fixed hour, and then _reflex_
action.

Again--and this constitutes the chief subject of all I here discuss--
we can _suggest_ to ourselves so as to produce the same results. It
seems to be a curious law of Nature that if we put an image or idea
into our minds with the