GAIN we extend the work and come into a differ­ent line of practice. The preceding chapters make almost no demand upon your time; here we present something that will; but it is proper to state that what is sought here through mechanical exercises may be reached in the preceding chapter by the forming of new habits. If you succeed in doing that, you may omit most or all of this list of exercises, and depend upon the plan presented in the chapter that has just closed. That plan is a new one in books, but we have used it in private lessons for a long time, its great success leading us to publish it. But the old method is also given, and will appear in this volume in the present chapter, with fully three times as much new matter added as was given in the preceding edition.

We may better call these exercises mechanical, for that is exactly what they are; while those of the previous chapter are natural. Being natural, they do not require separate time for practice. Between the two series there is a middle class that is called semi-natural; and these we will give first in the present chapter. More than twenty-five years ago the author employed them in connection with his own develop­ment of magnetism, supplemented by other work as presented in parts of this book; and he found these semi-natural exer­cises the best of them all, as they prepared the way for the natural practice. These are now published for the first time.

SEMI-NATURAL TEST

FIRST MEETING: Go to some room where you will not be in fear of interruption, and allow no person to enter while you are practicing. This precaution is necessary in all the meetings hereinafter.

"Alone with a friend."

You are to admit a pretended person, and go through all the details of conversation, you taking your own part aloud. Every rule of the preceding chapter is to be observed here. We give an example of the one-sided conversation with an imaginary friend.

Y. You go to the door, open it, greet A. and show him to a seat. All the following remarks are made aloud by you:

"You are looking tired."

"No, I was not expecting you, but I had been thinking of you and hoped you would come."

"Yes, I have been in all the evening."

"Oh, no; not at all."

"Well, that's good; that's the best yet."

And so on. It is not necessary for you to use the above language; merely carry on a conversation with a supposed friend, taking your side of the affair aloud. It is useless to sit and think of what you are saying. Say it right out.

SECOND MEETING.

"Accosting an Acquaintance."

In your room you are to pretend that you are walking along the street, by actually walking. You meet an acquaint­ance, stop to shake hands and exchange a few remarks. The language is all yours.

"Well, well, who would have thought of meeting you, andhere of all places."

"You did? Yesterday?"

"'No, indeed; I have no time to spare. I'm just crowded for time. When do you go back?"

"I wish I could. I'll try to see you for a few minutes, Good-bye."

Remember the principles of dead-stillness.

THIRD MEETING.

"A Headache."

A friend calls upon you and insists upon talking volumi­nously, while your throbbing head causes you intense suffer­ing. You separate the sense of pain from consciousness as far as you're able. This may be done by cultivating a mag­netic will. No evidence of your own discomfort must be shown the friend. The one-sided conversation is maintained by you alone, and all is imaginary.

"Won't you be seated?"

"No, I did not care to go out this evening. The weather is not as agreeable as I would like." Your head may rest upon your hand, or you may take any easy position that you prefer, avoiding the movements of an invalid, and making no lost motion.

"I did not get the book. I meant to do SO, but I de­ferred the matter until it was too late."

"It must be very interesting."

"Yes."

"Certainly, I see."

"Yes, yes; it was unique, to say the least. Very inter­esting."

"Not a bit. Go on."

"I presume it was a success."

And so on.

FOURTH MEETING.

"A Speech."

All orators have practiced alone. Those who wish to win the favor of audiences must do their practicing and de­veloping before imaginary people. History is full of anec­dotes in the lives of the greatest orators, including many hu­morous and interesting episodes. The man who thinks out his words and prepares himself in only a mental way, is as little qualified to speak in public as the pianist who touches thekeys for the first time in the presence of his audience. Private practice has accomplished more good in developing the orator, the conversationalist and the gentleman than any other means.

So sure are we of this proposition, which we have watched and tested for years, that we assert in most positive terms that no orator can do well in public, except by years of bad effort, unless he has addressed imaginary audiences in private. When a speaker of average ability asserts that he never has done anything of the sort, but that he got his experience in years of actual public work, we can reply that Daniel Webster, Henry Clay, Patrick Henry, Gladstone, Beaconsfield, Beecher, Spurgeon and countless others of fame and success were constant practicers before imaginary audi­ences. In the cases of men such as Conkling, Blaine, Grady, Everett, Phillips, and scores of others, the evidence of private practice before imaginary hearers has come direct to the author.

Ladies and gentlemen who are trained to be easy, grace­ful, polite and refined in society, are made to pass through this same kind of practice. Imaginary meetings attended by real conversations on the part of those who engage in the exercises, are the best, the quickest and the most substantial means of acquiring the great results. It is better to go into society, some one may say. Yes, that is true; but the expe­rience gained in real society costs many a sigh and often a heartache; and so why not aid it by the kind of special training that does the most good?

One thing is certain—if you wish to develop magnetism, you must be a grand master of dead-stillness. Every law and principle set forth in this book must be used. Now it is very difficult to attain anything like dead-stillness in the midst of the distractions of society. Lay a good foundation outside, and carry the practice into the real opportunities of life.

Use the voice aloud. Thinking is very good, even when done silently; but the. mind can go galloping off in a dozen directions and be pulled back again by as many strings when you meditate or plan. The wandering moods destroy the keenness of thought and weaken the mental processes. These are impossible if you speak aloud, for then the brain must keep within the channels of a set direction; the reasoning must be under control; the thoughts cannot drift, and speech becomes more exact. Then there is a very important reason in addition to all these: the reflex action of the sound of the voice upon the brain and nervous system carries to brain and nerves the same value that the voice itself gives out; if seri­ous, thoughtful and earnest, the same qualities are stimu­lated; if light, aimless and flippant, the results are equally faulty. Remember this.

In making a speech, stand up. Get to end of the room and look upon a hall filled with people, all supposed to face you and to eagerly listen to what you have to say. Com­mence with care and dignity. Be as deliberate as if the people were really there, and do nothing that you would not do in their presence. We cannot prepare practice speeches for you, as the advantage comes from your own extemporiz­ing. Think on your feet. Commit nothing to memory; keep the hands at the sides unless you wish to give action that will illustrate the meaning of your thoughts. We would suggest that you speak upon one subject only at each meet­ing, and rest when you are tired. Commence all over again as many times as you wish. Talk directly to the audience, just as you would in fact.

Practice all the rules of dead-stillness as given in the preceding chapter.

We now present a few introductions to your imaginary audiences. Let these be as refined and earnest as possible:

"Ladies and gentlemen: I have the honor to present to you this evening the gentleman whom you are all anxious to hear, Mr. Beriah Huston."

Then as the party introduced you come forward appar­ently and say:

"I thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for this hearty welcome.I have some misgivings as to whether I shall deserve it or not. When I am through it may be seen that my kind friend has overshot the mark in saying that you were anxious to hear me. It must be understood that these pleasant allu­sions are formalities that prevail in public life and mean noth­ing in particular. But, on the other hand, I am anxious to address you and to spend a brief period in the consideration of one of the most important themes of the day."

You are both introducer and introduced. Except for the step or two which you take forward in the latter charac­ter, there is no occasion for action of any kind. Dead-still­ness is absolutely essential. We now present another ex­ample.

"Ladies and gentlemen: We are assembled here this evening to listen to one who has spent the greater part of his life on the other side of the water. His public services and widespread fame render him no stranger to us, and I am performing an almost superfluous act in introducing to you Mr. Herbert D. Browning."

Then you advance and say:

"My friends,—I think I can call you friends after this splendid reception,—I am highly gratified at this indication that you are in accord with the views that I am about to express."

We advise the pantomime practice of social introduc­tions, of introducing others and of being presented. Nothing so quickly refines the manners as this practice. It gives you a confidence and smoothness in meeting people that no other plan will bring about.

But we must proceed to other things, and hasten to take up the

MECHANICAL DEAD-STILL TESTS

While these are neither natural nor semi-natural, as they are apart from life, they certainly are beneficial in the highest degree if done correctly. We therefore call attention to the

RULES FOR CONDUCTING EXPERIMENTS

THEfollowing Rules apply only to the exercises and experiments of chapter nineteen.

Rule 1.—Always practice in a room or place where no other person is present, unless it is somebody who owns a book, and is practicing with you. This latter arrange­ment is better, as mutual aid and advice will hasten the prog­ress and develop better results. A class of pupils and fellow-students working together will find the practice both pleasant and profitable.

Rule 2.—When any fatigue or excessive irritation is ap­parent, stop and rest, closing the eyes; then resume. The tired feeling will pass away after a few rests.

Rule 3.—Before devoting, yourself exclusively to one ex­periment try all of them a few times. If any can be per­formed satisfactorily, omit such in future experimenting.

Rule 4.—If there is no likelihood of immediate progress in some of the more difficult experiments, pass them for awhile and finish the mastery of the easier ones. Otherwise follow the directions given.

Rule 5.—In order to record success the pupil must either master all the experiments satisfactorily or else devote thirty minutes daily, either consecutively or otherwise, to these ex­periments exclusively, for four days in four weeks. Sixteen consecutive days will not do. There should be a three days rest after four consecutive days of practice.

Rule 6.—Any pupil who fails to perform the experi­ments satisfactorily after a four weeks' drill must carry along with his work, in subsequent stages, any unfinished experi­ments in this.

Rule 7.—If the nerves are sapped of their vitality by ex­cesses of any kind, the overdoing of these and subsequent ex­ercises will produce a feeling of exhaustion.

In other words, it is advisable to keep in good health; eat only the best of nutritious food; take care of the vitality by proper regime, and allow no neglect of the laws of hygiene to interfere with your progress here.

FIRST EXPERIMENT

Take a sheet of note paper, neither too stiff nor too thin; tear it in halves; hold one-half of it in the hand by placing the thumb and two fingers at the lower corner of the paper, holding the hand about a foot from the chest, and the elbow away from the body. The entire arm must be free—that is, must not touch anything, nor have any means of support.

If a mirror is convenient it is well to locate some fine spot on the glass (if it has none, place an ink spot there), and hold the paper so that the upper opposite corner from that in the hand shall be on an exact line with the eye and the spot on the mirror. Hold this for twelve seconds, and note the de­viation of the corner of the paper from the spot. If there is no deviation, you are ready to undertake the second experiment. If there is, you should practice this until you can pre­vent any departure, however slight, from the spot indicated; unless exempted by the Rules.

SECOND EXPERIMENT

Take a sheet of Congress paper, tear it in halves and hold it in the same manner as in the first exercise. Persist in practicing until there is no deviation even of a hair's breadth. Do not be discouraged if it requires patience. The left hand may be employed about one-quarter of the time, or vice versa, if the pupil is left-handed. It may be necessary to resort to Regime for aid in hard cases.

THIRD EXPERIMENT

When the last exercise has been mastered the pupil may takea sheet of the larger size foolscap paper, tear it in halves, and continue as before.

FOURTH EXPERIMENT

When the third exercise has been accomplished the pupil may take an entire sheet of foolscap paper, and, without tearing it, open the whole sheet and hold it by the lower corner, having the thumb and two fingers upon as small a portion of it as possible. The paper must be just stiff enough to stand alone. Making a hollow curve diagonally across the centre will aid in keeping it stiff.

Be sure that the elbow has no support and is extended from the body.

FIFTH EXPERIMENT

Fill a goblet two-thirds full of water; take it at the small part just above the bottom, by the thumb and first finger only, and hold it for thirty seconds on a level with the chin, the elbow being away from the body and the whole arm free. The water must not shake or even tremble. Rest.

Hold it in the same way, employing the thumb and sec­ond finger only, for thirty seconds. Rest.

Hold it in the same way, employing the thumb and third finger only, for thirty seconds. Rest.

Hold it in the same way, employing the thumb and little finger only, for thirty seconds. Rest.

Your patience will be sorely tried.

These experiments will seem to make you "nervous;" you will say that instead of making you control yourself better; they irritate and vex your nerves. So it will seem at first, and likewise at all times when your leakage is going on rap­idly. This apparent "nervousness" is really the rebellious leakage being checked. It dislikes to be stopped. A "nerv­ous" person wants to let the leakage go on until complete prostration ensues. There is a temporary agony in the check­ing of the outflow of this vital force. While the loss is going on the person walks and moves about, swings the feet or twitches the hands, tears paper, fingers some button or watch chain, gets in a rocking-chair sometimes, and shows every manner of restlessness. The down hill grade has begun.

Fig. 4. Floating the Rose-Leaf.

To check it at first is to make the person suffer. Yet the great men and women of the world have somehow learned to stop this waste. Those who want to achieve greatness, or even wish to learn to control others, must endure the suffering.

In conversation with those who have been magnetic and have been successful in life, it was learned that every one had made some effort to check this waste of vital force. Not one knew the principle involv­ed, and not one had the advantage of any guide or help; and stranger yet, none knew that any other person was endeavoring to reach the same result. Such conversa­tions proved that our great men and women do more for themselves in private than the public suppose. Some of their efforts are often simple, child-like, and even ridicu­lous. Yet they accomplish great ends.

You who give up now would better cease to hope for much in this world in the way of commanding talents.

Fig. 5. Extending the Floating

Leaf

SIXTH EXPERIMENT

Take a goblet (not a tumb­ler) even full at the top with water. Place the bottom in the flat palm of the hand and hold the same at arm's length. The water must not be allowed to spill or even shake or tremble. The other hand may be tried occasionally. Then procure the aid of a friend who is to give you two goblets of water, one in each hand, the water coming to the top and slightly rising above the edge. Hold these in the two hands out at arm's length for thirty seconds, without the slightest tremor or shake of the water. You will not be able to do this at first, but perform it daily for month, and you will be surprised at the result If yougive it up before the full design is effected you will yet learn what patience is, and patience helps to overcome the erratic action of the vital-force.

Fig. 6. Raising the Floating

Leaf, The fact that the water trembles or overflows at the top need not discourage you. "We are constantly receiving reports from our members who have failed utterly and have given up all hope of ac­complishing anything in this practice. One says:

"The water shakes out and spills. I can no more do that exercise than I can jump over the moon." And we reply, "Oh, yes, you can. The very fact that you cannot do it is proof of the need you have of it"

No one need fail ultimately. All can do it in time. Those who have given up completely have in most instances, come back to the practice drawn by the fascination of it and they have succeeded in the most difficult of all experiments, the great Rose Leaf Test, which is now for the first time made public, although we have given it many times to our private pupils. It will be presented in the next chapter.

The goblet experiments have great value in bringing the nerves to absolute perfection. They are tests that never tell anuntruth. The nerves may be alive, jumping, irregular, erratic and out of normal health, while it is possible for a person of strong will to keep all the muscles dead-still. So we see that the present experiments reach a condition that may always escape the previous exercises. They give smoothness to the flow of the nerve-currents; they tone down the irritated fiber; they do for the direct electric system of the body what dead-still practice will do for the muscles. Experience alone can show the great benefits of this practice.

THEY OFTEN STOP PAIN"

You can easily see why some persons will have neuralgia under conditions that should give freedom from all such pain; but the distracted beating, throbbing pulsations of the nerves, vibrating in discords, keep the soreness there. Toothache has often resulted from the same erratic action of the nerves, there being some sensitiveness in the tooth, but not enough to account for the steady ache. Many and many a time has an hour's sleep in the middle of the day or early evening, driven away a severe toothache. Why? Because the nerv­ous system has been quieted by the sleep. The tooth has not been repaired.

On exactly the same principle will the experiments of this series of exercises quiet the nerves and still the pain of an aching tooth and of neuralgia. The same test has proven true in cases of pregnancy. Some women suffer very much from neuralgia and from toothache where the teeth are all in good condition. Why is this suffering? Physicians say it is due to pressure upon some great nerve. The fact is it is due to the new life within the body, the excitement of the whole nervous system causing that throbbing of special nerves, at first reaching the stomach and later on the upper parts of the body.

These experiments have removed such pains. Magnet­ism will cure any ache that is due to the abnormal pulsing or beating of the nerves, for it brings the life-currents into smooth movements and stills all excitement. That body is in most perfect health when this smoothness of the nerves is attained.

DENTISTS

Many of our pupils have been dentists. They of all persons require not only muscular dead-stillness, but nervous dead-stillness, and these experiments have so qualified them for exactness of movement and delicacy of touch that their skillas well as their income have been greatly increased.

Thesensitive spot on a tooth is often very small; a careless oruncontrolled movement of the hand would cause severe painto the patient. The dentist who allowed a drill to slip andpenetrate the flesh of the cheek, coming through on the outside of the face, would never have had the accident had ^{he b}een a student of magnetism and his patron would not nowbe disfigured for life. The person of steady nerve will, if the instrument slips, not allow it to pass an eighth of an inch in any direction.

SEVENTH EXPERIMENT

Hold the arm free from the body and wholly unsup­ported, and very slowly and smoothly cause the thumb and forefinger to approach each other, touching as lightly as possible, without pressure. Both thumb and finger should meet half way. Repeat this with each of the other fingers and the thumb.

NINTH EXPERIMENT

Hold the arm out at full length, in front, the hand on a height with the eye. Form an index hand, the back facing upward, the point of the first finger on a line with the eye andsome spot on the wall. Hold this forty-five seconds without allowing the point of the finger to move a hair's breadth.

TENTH EXPERIMENT

Approach some object (a table or desk is sufficient), and gently lay the points of the fingers upon it, commencing with the little finger, then the others in turn, and finally the thumb. This must be done slowly and without jerks.

ELEVENTH EXPERIMENT

While in a large room try to follow with the steady eye a line on a height with the head, or if there is no line, then an imaginary one, first from left to right, and reverse. Do this slowly fifty times each way. The eye must not move by small muscular jerks, but very smoothly and slowly. It is not easy to do, and to do well. Do not wink while doing it.

If outdoors, try it by following a horizontal line of mortar on a brick building, or the clap-board of a wooden one.

To those to whom the object of the foregoing experi­ments may not seem clear, it will be necessary to say a word:

The pupil is asked to remember that the vital-force is the life of the body; from it is generated the Magnetism which controls others. It is constantly being formed, and some portion of it is constantly in motion. It propels the action of the involuntary organs by the decree of its Maker, and without the direction of the human will. The heart cir­culates the blood; the diaphragm attends to the breathing; and the stomach propels itself during digestion; and thus the trinity of life's movements, without each and all of which life itself would cease, may be traced to the action of the vital-force, and through that to some power beyond.

But here the line is drawn, and one of the Principles of Personal Magnetism is called into requisition:

"No movement of any voluntary muscle of the human body must be made unless directed by the will."

The voluntary muscles are those whose motions may be operated by the conscious being.

As had been stated heretofore, nervousness is a leakage of the Magnetic-force unpropelled by Internal Energy.

How much takes place may be seen in the foregoing experiments. Any trembling of the paper held in the hand, or any deviation of the chalk from the straight or curved lines is caused by the erratic action of the above-named forces, or, in other words, it shows a leakage of the Magnetic Power; for, as we move the hand in one instance, so we move thewhole body in others. Leakage occurs in the following ways:

1. By unsteadiness of the hands, arms or body.

2. Twitching of the eyelids, or constant winking.

3. Drumming with the fingers after the habit has been formed, or with the feet.

4. Sighing.

5. Gaping.

6. Wakefulness.

7. Swinging of the arms, hands, legs, feet, head or body.

8. Rocking, after the habit has been formed.

9. Restlessness.

10. Twitching of the fingers, or any movement of any part of the body during embarrassment, or while speaking or being spoken to.

11. All kinds of embarrassment.

12. Awkwardness.

13. Shorter exhalations (in point of time) than inhalations. 14. Stammering and stuttering.

15. Lack of fluency in speech where it cannot be attributed to want of words or ideas.

16. Allowing the ankle to be turned or a strain to be put upon any muscle by an uneasy standing position. Never have the foot on its side. Never twist the body.

Who are exempt from all these ?

The cool, determined, successful, magnetic people of the world.