honest men will examine well into their motives and into the truth of their

cause, before seeking to influence men by suggestion.

 

Three fundamental conditions make us all susceptive to suggestion:

 

_We naturally respect authority._ In every mind this is only a question of

degree, ranging from the subject who is easily hypnotized to the stubborn mind

that fortifies itself the more strongly with every assault upon its opinion. The

latter type is almost immune to suggestion.

 

One of the singular things about suggestion is that it is rarely a fixed

quantity. The mind that is receptive to the authority of a certain person may

prove inflexible to another; moods and environments that produce hypnosis

readily in one instance may be entirely inoperative in another; and some minds

can scarcely ever be thus moved. We do know, however, that the feeling of the

subject that authority--influence, power, domination, control, whatever you wish

to call it--lies in the person of the suggester, is the basis of all suggestion.

 

The extreme force of this influence is demonstrated in hypnotism. The hypnotic

subject is told that he is in the water; he accepts the statement as true and

makes swimming motions. He is told that a band is marching down the street,

playing "The Star Spangled Banner;" he declares he hears the music, arises and

stands with head bared.

 

In the same way some speakers are able to achieve a modified hypnotic effect