l of
which were presumably due to opium.

The causes which Dr. Cocke thinks produced the hypnotic condition in his
case, namely, belief, desire to be hypnotized, and strained attention,
united with a vivid imagination, are causes which are often found in
conjunction and produce effects which we may reasonably explain on the
theory of self-hypnotization.

For instance, the effects of an exciting religious revival are very like
those produced by Mesmer's operations in Paris. The subjects become
hysterical, and are ready to believe anything or do anything. By
prolonging the operation, a whole community becomes more or less
hypnotized. In all such cases, however, unusual excitement is commonly
followed by unusual lethargy. It is much like a wild spree of
intoxication--in fact, it is a sort of intoxication.

The same phenomena are probably accountable for many of the strange
records of history. The wonderful cures at Lourdes (of which we have
read in Zola's novel of that name) are no doubt the effect of
hypnotization by the priests. Some of the strange movements of whole
communities during the Crusades are to be explained either on the theory
of hypnotization or of contagion, and possibly these two things will
turn out to be much the same in fact. On no other ground can we explain
the so-called "Children's Crusade," in which over thirty thousand
children from Germany, from all classes of the community, tried to cross
the Alps in winter, and in their struggles were all lost or sold into
slavery without even reaching the Holy Land.

Again, hypnotism is accountable for many of the poet's dreams. Gazing
steadily at a bed of bright coals or a stream of running water will
invariably throw a sensitive subject into a hypnotic sleep that will
last sometimes for several hours. Dr. Cocke says that he has
experimented in this direction with patients of his. Says he: "They have
the ability to resist the state or to bring it at will. Many of them
describe beautiful scenes from nature, or some mighty cathedral with its
lofty dome, or the faces of imaginary beings, beautiful or demoniacal,
according to the will and temper of the subject."

Perhaps the most wonderful example of self-hypnotism which we have in
history is that of the mystic Swedenborg, who saw, such strange things
in his visions, and at last came to believe in them as real.

The same explanation may be given of the manifestations of Oriental
prophets--for in the Orient