MORE THAN A THIRD OF A CENTURY ago a Committee was organized consisting of two United States Senators, five Congressmen, one newspaperman and a scientific investigator, for the purpose of determining by direct observation the actual results of the training methods employed under this system. This Committee was in charge of a Congressman, the Hon. Adolph Meyer, prior to the time when he became a Member of the Board of Trustees of our Ralston University, which position he held for many years and up to the time of his death. He was a man of great ability and was Chairman of the important Naval Committee in Congress.

Twelve men were selected from twelve walks of life; chiefly because of their total lack of personal magnetism. One was an unsuccessful business man, one a lawyer who had never won a case, one a laborer, one an unskilful dentist, one a poor doctor, one a carpenter, one a teacher of whom it was said that "he would never set the world on fire," one a clerk in government service, one a salesman in a very modest store, one a clerk in a real estate office, one a painter, and one a photographer in failing circumstances. Of course these selections were purposely sought, with the intention of making the work us difficult as possible.

We had previously announced that every person of ordinary intelligence could be made to recognize in four weeks the fact that personal magnetism was natural to all individuals; that it was latent in all; and that what was needed was some gating cause to awaken it.

We had also stated that distinct and marked evidence be obtained in the same four weeks of the awakening of this power, and of its rank as the supreme gift of life; that it was a part of existence; that it nevertheless could be amply manifested in this short time; and, finally, that the most unmagnetic men and women might he easily brought into the possession of this gift if they earnestly desired to do so. It v. the last assertion that we found ourselves about to teach this great power to twelve really "hopeless cases" if our statements had not been accurately made.

The Committee were told in confidence that our elementary method by which we were able to show astounding results in a few weeks followed our "Rule of Four," as we called it. Bear is mind that this "Rule of Four" is not a large part of our system but is a mighty one as far as it goes. It consisted of the following steps:

1. Kill the worst forms of Leakage at once; for neither magnetism nor self-control can be acquired when they exist.

2. Kill the worst forms of monotony; for there isnothing so repellant in human intercourse as sameness of sound sameness of voice, sameness of pitch, and sameness of color spoken words.

3. Fire the mind; not the brain; nor the nerves; but the mind by opening its portals to the reception of mental pictures

4. Turn the voice into a human dynamic energy, by sounddams.

These steps, as we have stated, are all elementary, but necessary and effective in the highest degree.

The first session was devoted to the discovering and reducing the worst forms of Leakage. We showed that natural magnetism was all the time developing of itself, and constantly running to waste. In the next session we made clear the offensive forms of monotony, such as sameness of tone, sameness of pitch, colorless voices, and one color only when any was used at all. The question has often been asked, why tone color is taught; and the answer is that all un-magnetic persons have colorless voices, and these depict the character as holding the same relation to magnetism as the spineless jelly fish holds to the powerful lion. These principles were made very clear at once and were as quickly grasped and acted upon.

Now came the only difficult part of the work. The mind must be fired by opening its portals to mental pictures. A mental picture is a scene that lives in the thoughts. We selected the historic battle between the Swiss and the Austrians at that stage when the latter had surrounded the former and were advancing on them in a circle which projected spears from which there seemed no escape. The following quotations make the connected story when put together; but we used them singly because each one presented a mental picture in itself. With body free of Leakages, and with voice free of sameness, each quotation was repeated fifty times, slowly and very deliberately, with the picture fully alive in the mind.

"All Switzerland is in the field."—Think of the little army completely surrounded by a vast army that is advancing with levelled spears, intent upon the complete destruction of the Swiss. As soon as the mental picture is vividly present in the mind, speak the words very firmly; and so proceed with all the quotations: "She cannot fly, she will not yield, she must not die." ' Here are three pitches: one in the middle range; one below it; and one very low. Here are also three colors: hopelessness; absolute firmness; and solemn hope. Be sure to give these full expression. "Her better fate here gives her an immortal date." This is a look into the future, full of bright hope. "Few were the numbers she could boast, but every freeman was a host, and felt as though himself were he on whose sole arm hung victory. It did depend on one indeed; behold him-ArnoldWinkelried! Unmarked he stood amid the throng in rumination deep and long, till you might see with sudden grace the very thought come o'er his face; and by the motion of his form anticipate the bursting storm. 'Make way for liberty,' he cried, then ran with arms extended wide, as if his dearest friend to clasp; ten spears he swept within his grasp. Swift to the breach his comrades fly: 'Make way for liberty they cry, andthrough the Austrian phalanx dart as rushed the spears through Arnold's heart, while, instantaneous as his fall, rout, ruin, panic seized them all; an earthquake could not overthrow a city with a surer blow. Thus Switzerland again wasfree; thus death made way for liberty."

Here are not less than eighteen mental pictures, and each one should live in the mind and be viewed as accurately as if it were beheld openly. This is the secret of opening the mind and awakening in it the fires of magnetism. As soon as the student is able to see one mental picture his success is assured. In these quotations eighteen different colors may be developed.

The fourth step in the Rule of Four is the most potent of all. It develops dynamic power in the voice by treating all vowels as sounds, and all consonants as dams. A consonant is a shutting off of a vowel prior to its utterance or as soon as uttered. A consonant may precede or end a vowel; it cannot exist of itself. The sound-dams are all finals; meaning they all follow vowel sounds. The firm closing off of a vowel by a consonant holds in check the magnetism of the voice. The union of two final consonants doubles this power. The union of three final consonants triples it. The union of four final consonants in one ending quadruples it. Rufus Choate, probably the most magnetic man of the last century, next possibly to Junius Brutus Booth, the actor, always before a speech spent minutes in four-consonant endings, such as KAMSKT, KAMSTK and others, which are too difficult for beginners. But Choate also practiced Greek words having three consonant endings. Wilson Barrett, the most magnetic of English actors, ascribed his success in this power chiefly to consonant practice.

To our class of twelve "hopeless cases" we gave the consonant combinations that attend the Department of the Magnetic Voice in this book; and we personally drilled them every day until they mastered this part of the work. To show the value we placed on such practice, we opened each session with unison repetition of the word, IRKUTSK, fifty times very slowly and firmly; and every ten minutes we came back to some similar practice. In a few days the muscles of the tongue of each student began to develop great flexibility and strength, which is an invincible combination.

At the end of four weeks all twelve men had acquired perfect mental pictures of the scenes stated; had mastered their most offensive faults; had risen to the expression of great intensity of feeling held in perfect check and reserve power; and were so clearly changed, one and all without exception, that the Committee unanimously pronounced their progress "astounding."

As a result the Chairman became an official of OUT Ralston University; and took great satisfaction in following the after history of these twelve "hopeless cases." The unsuccessful business man founded a department store by gradations, rising from small beginnings. The lawyer who had never won a case acquired slowly but surely a large practice. The unskilled dentist won success in his profession. The poor doctor bade farewell to his poverty. The carpenter became a contractor and builder. The teacher obtained an appointment as Superintendent of Schools, after a few years. The clerk in the government service was made Chief in his own division. The painter became a master contractor. The salesman established a business of his own. The clerk in the real estate office succeeded to the ownership of the business in the course of time. The laborer became a builder and contractor. And the photographer, the last we heard from him, was at the head of a business syndicate.

The important fact that stands out in these histories is that there comes a time in the affairs of men, and women too, when failure can be combated and success secured by the development of the natural gifts that are stored away in every individual life; and that, instead of long and weary years of practice, the maximum amount of progress can be achieved with the minimum amount of work. Of course nothing comes of itself in this world.

We depend largely on the formation of mental pictures; but mental pictures are the glory of genius; and the difference between the power to see mental pictures within the mind, and not to see them, is now, always has been, and always will be, the difference between common clay and the noblest human achievement.

It has always been the chief pleasure of the author to take in hand those men and women who are regarded by their fellow beings as "worthless cases," meaning merely that they are in fixed ruts in life and are incapable of rising in the world. All that the author has required is that each one should be in earnest, and should be endowed with a fair share of good sense, or practical intelligence; something to build on. The result has also been that every one of these cases has been successful and such persons have risen to prominence.