Inquiry revealed the startling fact that at the very hour in which it did so the magnetizer had died.

Quite as suggestive is the case, vouched for by several hypno- tizers, where the sleeping subject was ordered to do a certain act at some designated interval after he was awakened. The hypnosis was then removed, and the subject to all appearances widely awake - quite free to think and act as he pleased. Yet, when the time arrived at which he was commanded to do it, he obeyed as implicitly as though he were yet completely hypnotized. But, though acting with apparently full consciousness and knowledge of what he did, he denied immediately afterward that he had performed any such action at all, and could not be convinced to the contrary. This experiment, verified by many similar ones, showed plainly that, though apparently awake, as far as human observation could detect, the subject was not so fully and completely, and that a portion of his normal consciousness was entirely suppressed and under the subjugation of the will of another.

From a criminal standpoint, also, these suggestions obeyed after long intervals of apparently complete self-control have a most important bearing. Suggestions have been carried out down to the most minute, trifling detail after even a year had elapsed since the hypnosis. It is easy to see how a hypnotizer could cause any crime which avarice or revenge might dictate to be accomplished without its being possible to connect him legally with that for which he is morally responsible.

Again, a suggestion often, if not always, acts like a physical stimulus in a dream, as when a drop of water on the face has caused the dramatization of a whole sequence of thunder-storm, shipwreck, etc., by the dreamer. Similarly, a seemingly simple suggestion may set up a train of desires, utterly out of proportion to the primary impulse, as a city may be destroyed by the accidental lighting of a match. Thus, in one instance * it was suggested to the subject that she desired some cherries. Instead of passing off when awakened this desire increased in intensity, and was only satisfied by the purchase of some the next day.

It is now, also, after a stormy denial on the part of science, universally admitted that hypnotism can be produced from a distance, without the subject knowing it, against his will, and even during sleep. In all these instances so far recorded there has been a magnetic rapport established by a submission to hypnosis before these disputed phenomena could be accomplished, which only adds strength to the view that the hypnotized is never free from the will of the hypnotizer again, the rapport simply meaning in these cases a state of partial hypnosis. It also emphasizes the fact that one ought to submit to any torture rather than be hypnotized, and that he had far better "experiment" with the most deadly physical poisons than with this equally deadly moral one. There is no apparent reason why all of these terrible powers for evil could not be exercised upon any one by a Black Magician, sufficiently versed in his art. And there is no question that a pursuit of the study, together with a practice, of hypnotism will ultimately end in Black Magic for all its lay practitioners. The distinction between Black and White Magic is in MOTIVE only; the forces used are the same.

There must be a perfect and complete altruism, an utter abandonment of self, before we can rise to the planes of Mesmerism and White Magic. The sweetest, purest, most ethereal "Christian Scientist" who accepts a fee for her "denial" that her patient is ill or her affirmation that he is well, has taken the first step on the declivity which will sooner or later lead to the awful precipices of the Black Magician, from which there is no escape; for there is the element of self, no matter how seemingly justifiable, which will prove the germ that will ultimately poison her whole being. The operations of most "healers" have this in common with White Magic and Mesmerism, that their "suggestions" are made with the subject in full possession of all his mental faculties and consciousness, and are not accompanied with that soul-tainting, will-destroying, obsessing vampirism of the hypnotic "sleep." It is true that the latter may be apparently justified in order to overcome a peculiarly stubborn will or vicious habit, but where it is resorted to the motive ought to be as pure as the snow upon the heights of the Himalayas.

* Bjornstrom, ioc. cit.

This brings us to the consideration of the question as to the extent to which hypnotism may be justifiably practiced. Its field would seem to be limited to attempts to cure disease and to overcome bad habits; and, in selecting cases, the nicest discrimination, guided by considerations pointed out, must be used. Madame Blavatsky, * whose knowledge of occult subjects far exceeded that of any living writer, defines its legitimate uses and points out some of its abuses thus:

* Lucifer, loc. cit.

"Hypnotic suggestion may cure forever, and it may not. If Karmic, diseases will only be postponed, and will return in some other form, not necessarily of disease, but as a punitive evil of another sort. It is always right to try and alleviate suffering whenever we can, and to do our best for it. Thought is more powerful than speech in cases of a real subjugation of the will of the patient to that of his operator. But, on the other hand, unless the suggestion made is for the good only of the subject, and entirely free from any selfish motive, a suggestion by thought is an action of Black Magic still more pregnant with evil consequences than a spoken suggestion. It is always wrong and unlawful to deprive a man of his free will, unless for his own or society's good, and even the former has to be done with great discrimination. Occultism regards all such promiscuous attempts as Black Magic and sorcery, whether conscious or otherwise. As to whether it is wise to hypnotize a patient out of a vicious habit, such as drinking or lying, it is an act of charity and kindness, and this is next to wisdom.