ions
by the clown into his main theme, and keep in mind only the theme
itself, that is to say, the divers attitudes, capers and movements
which form the strictly "clownish" element in the clown's art. On two
occasions only have I been able to observe this style of the comic in
its unadulterated state, and in both I received the same impression.
The first time, the clowns came and went, collided, fell and jumped up
again in a uniformly accelerated rhythm, visibly intent upon affecting
a CRESCENDO. And it was more and more to the jumping up again, the
REBOUND, that the attention of the public was attracted. Gradually, one
lost sight of the fact that they were men of flesh and blood like
ourselves; one began to think of bundles of all sorts, falling and
knocking against each other. Then the vision assumed a more definite
aspect. The forms grew rounder, the bodies rolled together and seemed
to pick themselves up like balls. Then at last appeared the image
towards which the whole of this scene had doubtless been unconsciously
evolving--large rubber balls hurled against one another in every
direction. The second scene, though even coarser than the first, was no
less instructive. There came on the stage two men, each with an
enormous head, bald as a billiard ball. In their hands they carried
large sticks which each, in turn, brought down on to the other's
cranium. Here, again, a certain gradation was observable. After each
blow, the bodies seemed to grow heavier and more unyielding,
overpowered by an increasing degree of rigidity. Then came the return
blow, in each case heavier and more resounding than the last, coming,
too, after a longer interval. The skulls gave forth a formidable ring
throughout the silent house. At last the two bodies, each quite rigid
and as straight as an arrow, slowly bent over towards each other, the
sticks came crashing down for the last time on to the two heads with a
thud as of enormous mallets falling upon oaken beams, and the pair lay
prone upon the ground. At that instant appeared in all its vividness
the suggestion that the two artists had gradually driven into the
imagination of the spectators: "We are about to become ...we have now
become solid wooden dummies."

A kind of dim, vague instinct may enable even an uncultured mind to get
an inkling here of the subtler results of psychological science. We
know that it is possible to call up hallucinatory visions in a
hypnotised subject by simple s