Can any facts be produced to show that the members of the medical profession have given more study to this branch of psychology than other advanced thinkers? Have they exerted themselves so energetically in their efforts to place hypnotism on a scientific basis and to make it useful as a therapeutic agent, that they can now consistently demand that its use be restricted to themselves? Does not the whole history of the science prove that it has struggled to its present eminence in the face of their opposition, rather than by the aid of their assistance? Or can it be demonstrated to the satisfaction of any reasonable man that the study of medicine is more elevating to the mind, purifying to the heart, or ennobling to the character than the study of the other sciences, or of law or theology? Physicians are no more platonic, and no more capable of resisting temptation, than other men are, and there is no reason which commends itself to the unprejudiced thinker why the legislature should favor them by restricting hypnotic experiments to their profession. This attempt has been made in two State legislatures, and quite recently some misguided but probably well-meaning gentleman started a motion to petition Congress to take the matter under advisement.

Although in recent years so much of the time of many of the State legislatures has been consumed in debating and passing useless, unwise, and often mischievous measures, it is not probable that either they or Congress will go so far in this direction as to give serious consideration to the unreasonable demands of the medical profession, and thus throw a serious obstacle in the path of this now rapidly advancing psychical science.

Though the history of hypnotism dates back to the beginning of civilization, it has so recently been placed upon a scientific basis that it may be regarded as yet in its infancy. With the light which we now have on the subject no one who has carefully and thoughtfully studied this science will dare to predict what psychical truths its future development may disclose. But it may be safely asserted that, as the subjective faculties become more perfectly developed, many of the mysteries which now puzzle the human understanding

will be made plain. Many of the problems concerning the relationship of the mind and the soul about which philosophers have wrangled so continuously, and with so little benefit to mankind, will doubtless become simplified. Who knows but that then the mysterious veil which no mortal eye has yet pierced, the veil which separates the material from the spiritual, the animal life from the soul life, may be lifted, and the wonders of the unseen universe revealed to man? Thus may death be unmasked, the grave robbed of its terrors, and physical dissolution prove to be but a transition state more to be desired than feared who knows? These questions will not be satisfactorily answered as long as psychological scientists continue to debate vague and unimportant theories, and refuse to recognize and accept as a basis for their investigations the simple but inflexible law which produces and controls the phenomena of the psychophysiological condition known as hypnotic sleep.

SUICIDE: IS IT WORTH WHILE?

BY CHARLES B. NEWCOMB.

"I am Knowledge Absolute - Thought Absolute - Bliss Absolute; I

am it - I am it."- From the Sanscrit.

TH

HERE is a marked increase in the tendency to suicide.
This tendency develops oftenest among men. They

furnish more than two-thirds of the subjects, and are generally men of intelligence and in responsible positions.

There is but one motive that can drive a man to suicide: it is fear. This incentive manifests itself in many different forms. It is generally a fear of the consequences of a man's own acts loss of reputation, property, health, or happiness. It is an act of supreme selfishness in any case. Suicide is evasion. It is not necessary to offer insanity as an excuse. If it were, we must admit that insanity itself is but the result of egotism. It proceeds from a morbid condition of mind, a danger to which we are all subject when our thoughts dwell too persistently upon ourselves, when we look in instead of out-the danger of inverted thought.

This can arise only from a misconception of life. The remedy lies in a fresh statement. We have lived too much in the marshlands and among the fogs. We have lingered too long in the cemeteries of dead faiths. We have been led astray by the fireflies and ignes fatui of false ambitions.

Every individual is a complete judicial system, an autonomy, within himself. He is his own lawmaker, prosecutor, judge, and jury. We are our own jailers. We apply our own thumbscrews. We stretch ourselves upon the racks, and handle the levers. It is not "fate" nor "Providence" nor “circumstances" from which we suffer. There is no despot but self. Every act of a man's life is sooner or later passed upon by his own conscience. All expiations will be assessed and painfully worked out by and for himself with perfect equity. He governs in his own system myriads of cell life, microbes and elementals, each endowed with an intelligence

of its own, but subject to his rule. This is the true field for the discipline of his powers before he seeks dominion over others. In his own kingdom he must learn to reign supreme. His purified will must be accepted as law by the subjects of his personal realm, his own body and own mind.

Life is flexible and plastic, and is moulded by our thoughts. Man is at the same time a pupil and an architect. Let him accept the proposition that all things work together for good, and he will find abundant confirmation of it in his daily life. When we humor our weaknesses they force themselves continually upon our attention like spoiled children. When we assert our mastery of ourselves and compel its recognition we stand secure in our sovereign rights.

The supreme folly of the suicide is in the delusion that by breaking the slate he can solve his problem or escape it. He may for a time attempt the role of truant from life's school, but, like the schoolboy, he only delays his task and complicates it. Sometime, somewhere (and doubtless sooner and nearer than he thinks), these problems of to-day must be worked out. There is no reason whatever to suppose that any lesson of life can be really evaded. Dame Nature is an honest and expert accountant. Her debits and credits are kept with unerring accuracy. She herself meets every obligation promptly, and, in her turn, exacts the same of us, and will not be cheated of her dues. How can we be so stupid as not to see that this planetary schoolroom is very beautiful indeed, and contains every appliance helpful to our education? What apparatus is lacking, and where could we find more delightful and entertaining classmates? How unreasonable to whine continually about a distant heaven, like a homesick schoolboy crying for his holiday! Why not improve the golden opportunity of the class-room, and the buoyant life of the playground, with the keen zest of a wholesome, healthy nature?

"The world is so full of a number of things,

I am sure we ought all to be happy as kings."

To the mature and well-balanced mind every moment of existence is the best, every present plan and circumstance is the one most favorable to its purpose. It looks neither for

ward nor backward, knows no longings or regrets, experiences neither elation nor depression. It simply lives, and life is gladness, strength, and peace.

Life is often called a voyage. Yet on a voyage one would scarcely fling himself overboard because of a foggy day. It has been truly said that "He is a bad sailor who thinks there is no land because he sees nothing but ocean." A good sailor is indifferent to weather. He is as confident in storm as in calm, for is he not equipped with nautical education, experience, and instruments adapted to all the emergencies of the voyage? If the heavens are clouded above, he sails by sounding the depths below. He has learned the science of "deadreckoning," and he knows no fear. He remembers that

"That night is long that never finds the day."

We often speak of life as a hard taskmaster and as something we should be glad to have done with. We call it an illusion and a dream. But we are beginning to learn (and every discovery of science emphasizes the fact) that death is the only "illusion," and that life in ever-varying form goes on forever. We cannot put it away from us. No man can be really burned, drowned, frozen, or buried. He may change his garment, but he must live on. Through all experiences he comes unscathed, untouched, and conscious still.

Doubtless among the greatest surprises that await us in the future is the realization with a clearer vision than we possess to-day that life is infinitely kind and tender, and wonderfully wise in its adaptation of our experience to our necessities. We shall yet admit that it has been a skilful surgeon performing the necessary operation as gently as we would permit, and alleviating to the utmost the pains of the sufferer. Life itself inflicts no pain upon us. All suffering comes from within. It proceeds from the inharmonious conditions of our own souls. No pang can endure beyond the moment when we have restored harmonious vibration to the mind have adjusted our own relations to people and events. The necessary and infallible result of mental harmony is health of body, opulence of environment, and love of friends.