in which he appears original was that he not
only made his patients sleep or become insensible by ordering them to
do so but caused them to raise their arms and legs, tremble, feel any
kind of pain, as is now done by the hypnotist. "'In a young lady of
good family' he caused laughter and weeping, stiffness of the limbs,
absence of sight and hearing, and _anaesthesia_ so as to make the pulse
beat at his will."

M. FIGUIER and others do not seem to have been aware that a century
before GASSNER, a PIETRO PIPERNO of Naples published a book in which
there was a special exorcism or conjurations, as he calls them, for
every known disorder, and that this possibly gave the hint for a
system of cure to the Suabian. I have a copy of this work, which is
extremely rare, it having been put on the Roman prohibited list, and
otherwise suppressed. But GASSNER himself was suppressed ere long,
because the Emperor, Joseph II, cloistered--that is to say, imprisoned
him for life in the Monastery of Pondorf, near Ratisbon. One must not
be too good or Apostle-like or curative--even in the Church, which
discourages _trop de zele_.

But the general accounts of GASSNER give the impression, which has not
been justly conveyed, that he owed his remarkable success in curing
himself and others not to any kind of theory nor faith in magnetism,
or in religion, so much as unconscious suggestion, aided by a powerful
Will which increased with successes. To simply _pray_ to be cured of
an illness, or even to be cured by prayer, was certainly no novelty to
any Catholic or Protestant in those days. The very nature of his
experiments in making many people perform the same feats which are now
repeated by hypnotizers, and which formed no part of a religious cure,
indicate clearly that he was an observer of strange phenomena or a
natural philosopher. I have seen myself an Egyptian juggler in Boulak
perform many of these as professed _tricks_, and I do not think it was
from any imitation of French clairvoyance. He also pretended that it
was by an exertion of his Will, aided by magic forms which he read
from a book, that he made two boys obey him. It was probably for these
tricks which savored of magic that GASSNER was "retired."

Having in the previous pages indicated the general method by which
Will may be awakened and strengthened, that the reader may as soon as
possible understand the simple principle of action, I will now discuss
more fully the important t