It has become customary to look askance at the great ecsta- sies of the old mystics; we have come to feel that there is nothing particularly sacred, or religiously exalted, about the God-Intoxication, even though it be brought about by the concentration of attention upon God viewed as a huge, nebulous blank, exuding the "honey of devotion." Most of us are ready to listen to science when it explains these obsolete, voluptuous, wonders s the natural effect, - normal or abnormal, but in any case, independent of any intervention on the part of the Divinity - of particular ideas and of a definite psychic attitude, an attitude sufficiently well described in the preceding pages.

We add without commentary a few lines concerning an ecstatic woman recently seen at La Salpetriere. Her trances are induced or accompanied by religious imagery, generally the vision of the Savior. During her ecstasies she stands up in the position of the crucifixion. She is then unconscious of what goes on about her, but on awakening she remembers in part her ecstasies and takes pleasure in describing them in writing. It would often be difficult to say whether one is reading St. Theresa or an inmate of La Salpetriere. "I felt an ineffable sweetness upon my lips; soon they became as glued together; my limbs grew numb, but it is a numbness full of delight, a Volupte suave' which overspreads the whole body. I saw the Holy Sacrament in a blaze of light such as one never sees."

Her feet, even during her waking state, are contracted; she walks on tiptoe. Twice she presented stigmata. When she returns to her normal mental condition, she frequently complains of dryness of heart; the contractures disappear and her appetite increases considerably. The trances can easily be brought about by suggestion made during her waking state. She is a pious soul and looks upon hypnotism as the work of the devil. Pierre Janet has, therefore, taken the habit of using the idea of God to cause the trance: he asks her to pray God to grant her the favor of an ecstasy. * So much for the complete degree of Union with God, as understood and practiced by F. de Sales, Meister Eckhard, Ruysbrock, St. Theresa, Miquel de Molinos, Loyola, Mme. Guyon and the host of their followers.

It need hardly be remarked that if the higher degrees of Divine Union may be produced by powers inherent in human nature, so much more is it possible for its less complete degrees, i. e., for the "spiritual" states familiar to most devout Christians under the name "Communion with God." From the practical religious point of view, their superiority to the mystic trance depends upon the degree of fullness of the consciousness retained and the quality of its contents. The sense of fellowship with God is, to many, a priceless source of ennobling strength while mystic ecstasy is a debauching indulgence.

* See. for a preliminary report, Nevroses Idees fixes, pp. 98 and 99.

Christian Conversion is, according to theology, the process by which the "natural" man is "reborn" and becomes a "spiritual" and a "saved" man. It is, therefore, the most momentous work of the Grace of God in His Dealings with man, the pre-eminently excellent testimony of God's power and of His love for man, and it is also the most characteristic of all the manifestations of Christianity.

Conversion may take place more or less suddenly and tragically, or it may be a slow growth without any startling crisis. There are souls born, as it were, in the inheritance of the salvation obtained by their parents. Let it not be imagined that it is simply a change of conviction touching religious doctrines, a mere intellectual turn about. Were it nothing more than that, it would not deserve the place made for it in Christian theology; but true Christian conversion is much more. McClintock and Strong Biblical Cyclopedia defines it, "that change in the thoughts, desires, dispositions and life of a sinner which is brought about when the Holy Ghost enters the heart as the result of the exercise of a saving faith in the atonement by which the sinner is justified."

There are a number of historical conversions known to most people as St. Paul's, St. Augustin's, Ch. Wesley's, etc. It is less well known that they can be matched by numberless noteworthy ethico-religious transformations of our humblest contemoo-raries. The following recent instance taken from the appendix to the author's paper, "Studies in the Psychology of Religion, Amer. Jr. of Psy. Vol. VII., will add definiteness to the experience under consideration.

G., age 40, converted twenty months ago. Now Superintendent of a Mission:

Until the ago of twenty-one he lived in a Christian home. He took his first glass of whiskey at that age and gradually became a drunkard. Three years ago, after the ruin, through dissipation, of his business establishment, he went to Canada, where no one knew his antecedents, with the intention of beginning life anew. But soon he fell a prey to his old enemy. He had signed enough abstinence pledges to "cover the wall of a room." They were never kept more than a month, generally only a few days, and sometimes but a few hours, in spite of hard struggles to be true to his promise. In Montreal he lost a very good position ($70 a fortnight) and was thrown into prison for disorderly conduct. Disgusted and tired of life, he left Canada to go to W.;, where he arrived intoxicated. He secured a position, but was soon dismissed for drunkenness, and then found himself once more without money, without friend and without home. Gladly would he have welcomed death. As he was in this wretched situation, a lady showed him sympathy and invited him to a Mission. Her kindness made him look within. For years no one had ever cared about him; this unwonted kindly interest went to his heart.