n
example of diligence and perseverance, and soon got promoted.
The second case was that of a young idiot. He was incapable of
intellectual culture, and could not be taught reading or
arithmetic. Dr. Liebeault submitted him to many hypnotic
sittings, making a very great effort to rouse his attention,
though he seemed to have no capacity for being instructed.
Finally he succeeded so well that after two months he could
read, and could cipher in the four rules of arithmetic. A
great number of similar cases were treated by Dr. Dumont at
Nancy with decided success.

In one of his clinics Prof. Bernheim maintained that all
children are receptive of hypnotic suggestion or transference
of thought, and even more so when they enter the age of
reasoning. Not only in sleep, but also in the waking
condition, they may be affected; and the school of Nancy
deserves great credit for presenting this important matter to
the world in its true light.

One of the signs of the hypnotic sleep or state is the
automatic condition of the individual. In consequence of
having for the time an enfeebled will, the individual will
yield to all impressions upon it; and this weakness of will
may take place in a wakeful state, when, if there is no
opposition, the individual will accept all assurances in good
faith. In case there is no exertion of influence by others,
the subject will act by his or her own imagination. Such
auto-suggestion is the result of a tendency to imitation which
seems to be developed in children particularly, and develops
in the waking state in undisciplined minds or in a fatigued
and passive state.

These important principles and facts render it the duty of
every educator to study the efficacy of suggestion and
imitation in children. The experiments made thus far,
authorize us to establish the following rules for practice:

If we have to deal with children of lazy, unintelligent, and
indifferent character, we should confine ourselves to
practicing verbal suggestion in their waking state, and to be
effective it would be best to follow the experiments at Nancy,
especially of Dr. Liebeault, and make great effort to gain the
implicit confidence of the child. Seat it by itself on a
chair, place your hand on its forehead, and enforce the
suggestions by a mild voice and