ity of these suggestions only
when they free themselves from them. But, as long as they are under
their influence, the suggestions appear to them so certain, so true,
that to argue about them is regarded as neither necessary nor possible.
With the development of the printing press, these epidemics became
especially striking.

With the development of the press, it has now come to pass that so soon
as any event, owing to casual circumstances, receives an especially
prominent significance, immediately the organs of the press announce
this significance. As soon as the press has brought forward the
significance of the event, the public devotes more and more attention to
it. The attention of the public prompts the press to examine the event
with greater attention and in greater detail. The interest of the public
further increases, and the organs of the press, competing with one
another, satisfy the public demand. The public is still more
interested; the press attributes yet more significance to the event. So
that the importance of the event, continually growing, like a lump of
snow, receives an appreciation utterly inappropriate to its real
significance, and this appreciation, often exaggerated to insanity, is
retained so long as the conception of life of the leaders of the press
and of the public remains the same. There are innumerable examples of
such an inappropriate estimation which, in our time, owing to the mutual
influence of press and public on one another, is attached to the most
insignificant subjects. A striking example of such mutual influence of
the public and the press was the excitement in the case of Dreyfus,
which lately caught hold of the whole world.

The suspicion arose that some captain of the French staff was guilty of
treason. Whether because this particular captain was a Jew, or because
of some special internal party disagreements in French society, the
press attached a somewhat prominent interest to this event, whose like
is continually occurring without attracting any one's attention, and
without being able to interest even the French military, still less the
whole world. The public turned its attention to this incident, the
organs of the press, mutually competing, began to describe, examine,
discuss the event; the public was yet more interested; the press
answered to the demand of the public, and the lump of snow began to grow
and grow, till before our eyes it attained such a bulk that there was
n