for an
occasional word of advice Mademoiselle was quite indifferent to them.
Her whole attention was given to the child on her knee; her thought
went out to him in a continual stream, borne along by a current of love
and compassion, for she has devoted her life to the children and loves
them as if they were her own. The atmosphere of the room was more like
that of a church than a hospital. The mothers seemed to have left
their sorrows outside. Their faces showed in varying degrees an
expression of quiet confidence.

When this treatment had continued for about ten minutes, Mlle.
Kauffmant returned the child to its mother and, after giving her a few
words of advice, turned to her next patient. This was an infant of
less than twelve months. While suffering from no specific disease it
was continually ailing. It was below normal weight, various foods had
been tried unsuccessfully, and medical advice had failed to bring about
an improvement. Mademoiselle resumed her seat with the child on her
lap. For some time the caresses, which were applied to the child's
head and body, continued in silence. Then she began to talk to it.
Her talk did not consist of connected sentences, as with the elder
child who had learned to speak, but of murmured assurances, as if her
thoughts were taking unconsciously the form of words. These
suggestions were more general than in the previous case, bearing on
appetite, digestion, assimilation, and on desirable mental and moral
qualities. The caress continued for about ten minutes, the speech was
intermittent, then the infant was returned to its mother and
Mademoiselle turned her attention to another little sufferer.

With patients who are not yet old enough to speak Mlle. Kauffmant
sometimes trusts to the caress alone. It seems to transmit the
thoughts of health quite strongly enough to turn the balance in the
child's mind on the side of health. But all mothers talk to their
children long before the words they use are understood, and Mlle.
Kauffmant, whose attitude is essentially maternal, reserves to herself
the same right. She adheres to no rigid rule; if she wishes to speak
aloud she does so, even when the child cannot grasp the meaning of her
words.

This is perhaps the secret of her success: her method is plastic like
the minds she works on. Coue's material--the adult mind--is more
stable. It demands a clear-cut, distinct method, and leaves less room
for adaptation; but the a