n happens--if not the
first time, anyhow very soon--that, soothed by the monotonous
sound of your voice, he falls into a deep sleep from which he
awakes astonished at having slept at all.

If there are sceptics among you--as I am quite sure there are--all I
have to say to them is: "Come to my house and see what is being
done, and you will be convinced by fact."

You must not however run away with the idea that autosuggestion
can only be brought about in the way I have described. It is possible
to make suggestions to people without their knowledge and without
any preparation. For instance, if a doctor who by his title alone has a
suggestive influence on his patient, tells him that he can do nothing
for him, and that his illness is incurable, he provokes in the mind of
the latter an autosuggestion which may have the most disastrous
consequences; if however he tells him that his illness is a serious
one, it is true, but that with care, time, and patience, he can be cured,
he sometimes and even often obtains results which will surprise him.

Here is another example: if a doctor after examining his patient,
writes a prescription and gives it to him without any comment, the
remedies prescribed will not have much chance of succeeding; if, on
the other hand, he explains to his patient that such and such
medicines must be taken in such and such conditions and that they
will produce certain results, those results are practically certain to be
brought about.

If in this hall there are medical men or brother chemists, I hope they
will not think me their enemy. I am on the contrary their best friend.
On the one hand I should like to see the theoretical and practical
study of suggestion on the syllabus of the medical schools for the
great benefit of the sick and of the doctors themselves; and on the
other hand, in my opinion, every time that a patient goes to see his
doctor, the latter should order him one or even several medicines,
even if they are not necessary. As a matter of fact, when a patient
visits his doctor, it is in order to be told what medicine will cure him.
He does not realize that it is the hygiene and regimen which do this,
and he attaches little importance to them. It is a medicine that he
wants.

In my opinion, if the doctor only prescribes a regimen without any
medicine, his patient will be dissatisfied; he will say that he took the
trouble to consult him for nothing, and often goes to another doctor.
It se