ABNORMAL IMPRESSIONS. 265 



methods of education, brain building and soul 



development. It has been demonstrated that one 



person can so lodge a suggestion in the mind of Experimental 



another as to greatly accentuate or stimulate any 



given power. This seemingly affords an almost 



unlimited means of cultivating the mind and 



molding the character of the young. Some of the 



more sanguine advocates of the suggestive 



method assure us that any element of mind can 



be greatly strengthened by a few treatments. 



With this proposition, however, I am not fully 



agreed. The normal increase in the poiver of the Normal Growth 



objective or conscious mind cannot exceed the Requires Time. 



brain development; and brain areas .and nerve 



tracks are not built up by a few mental or hypnotic 



suggestions. 



It is true, that persons under psychological 

 treatment do frequently manifest extraordinary 

 mental power, but all such manifestations are 

 abnormal, the result of stimulation, and are usu- R . , 

 ally followed by more or less reaction. Mr. Wm. Hypnotic Con- 

 A. Barnes, a specialist of Boston, tells of the* 101 * 

 case of a child who was so poor in mathematics 

 "that he generally had nine problems out of ten 

 wrong. After the second treatment of a few 

 minutes, the boy improved so he was able to get 

 nine out of ten right." 



If this statement is true, it merely proves the Mental Stimu- 

 possibility of hypnotic stimulation. Mr. Barnes lation, 

 does not tell us that his subject continued to be 

 an expert mathematician, for .he knows very well 

 that the extraordinary power was abnormal and 

 would therefore largely disappear when the mind 

 returned to its normal state. 



