ied away by the crowd in the direction of the
strongest movement. But if the crowd is immobile and tranquil the same
man may make himself heard, and may even force his way through the
crowd and impel it in his turn by the impression that his words have
made on it.

Something analogous to this occurs in the action of an idea according
as it is produced in a brain which is awake, active and strongly
associated, or on the contrary in a brain which rests and sleeps. The
brain which is active and strongly associated resembles the agitated
crowd which carries away everything by its activity. In this case a
single idea, like a single man, cries out in vain, _i.e._, is produced
strongly; it will not impel, but will be carried away or stifled,
unless it already possesses, by the former remembrances (engrams)
which it may revive, a particular power over the brain. It is the same
with the agitated crowd; if the man who cries out is already known and
has influence and power, he may arrest it and even bring it toward the
center of his agitation. The brain which is at rest or sleeping,
_i.e._, feebly associated and not active, resembles the immobile
crowd. Even when it is new and has not yet become fixed in the memory,
an idea may produce a deep impression, and awaken activities in its
own direction. I repeat, if this idea has already acted more or less
powerfully on the cerebral activity that it has often carried with it,
it has accustomed this to follow it (_i.e._, fortified the engrams and
facilitated their ecphoria), and then the powerful associated engrams
which it has left in the organ of thought, will often be capable of
carrying everything with them, even to the center of the agitation.

In this way I succeeded in suddenly calming by hypnotism a woman who
was mad with despair over the tragic death of half her family in a
fire, by the simple fact that I had often hypnotized her previously.
Immediately after the hypnosis she went away quietly to the place of
the disaster and was the only one to keep her presence of mind and put
things in order.

I refer the reader to what has been said concerning the mneme (Chapter
I). Semon's theory throws light on these questions.

The first thing necessary for suggestion or hypnotism is to put the
brain of the subject in a state of relative repose, so as to prepare a
soil ready to receive suggestions. These are then made so as to always
increase the cerebral repose, in order to weaken th