THE more interesting part of our study and practice is now reached.

We have in the previous chapters taken two steps; one series of exercises stopped the leakage of vitality that was constantly taking place; the other series overcame and corrected the erratic action of the nerves.

The pupil who has mastered both of these will find him­possessed of normal self-control, which will be sufficient for the work now to be undertaken, although it may also be the fact that he is further advanced.

The following presentation of the system of develop­ment may be interesting.

1. A person who wastes the nerve-force of the body faster than it accumulates, belongs to the class of people called nervous.

2. A person who uses his nerve-force no faster than it accumulates, possesses normal self-control.

3. A person who accumulates more nerve-force than ought to be used in a healthy and well-constituted daily life, is magnetic to a certain degree.

4. Electricity and its consequent magnetism lie dormant or latent in every drop of blood and every particle of matter in the human body.

5. A person who can develop this latent electricity to an unusual degree possesses an irresistible power.

6. Any person who has stopped the leakage of the vitalforce and has corrected the erratic action of the nerves, will be able to develop electricity to an unusual degree by the exercises of this and the following chapters.

If we will constantly keep in mind the fact that we are filled with latent electricity, we shall better succeed in the work immediately before us.

The principle of life cannot be explained, yet it is a proc­ess constantly generating the magnetic power. The author has known of many persons who have so mastered the exer­cises of this series of lessons that they could easily feel the life principle at work within them. This has proven the seat of life to be co-extensive with the brains and the organs enclosed within the walls of the chest, the spinal column and the diaphragm. Physiologists who analyze this agency will at once comprehend the deeper questions of life.

FORTY-SIXTH GRAND PRINCIPLE Tense conditions magnetize.

It is the central law of magnetism. In the first place, it is necessary to understand what is meant by the word tense. The dictionary very nearly expresses it when presenting the definition as not lax. It is also called rigid, or possessing the power of firmness. In this study the meaning of the word tense is this: The power or condition that exists when any part of the body is passing from a state of laxity to a state of rigidity.

It is the opposite of laxity.

It is not rigidity.

In a condition of laxity the muscles are devitalized or devoid of life-expression. In a condition of rigidity the muscles are set; the work is done; the end is attained. Nothing is going on at the time except that the nerves are holding the muscles in place just as a man might hold a stone or a wall. To make this matter clear several principles must be presented at this place and discussed together.

FORTY-SEVENTH GRAND PRINCIPLE

Setting the muscles produces muscular energy only.

We see illustrations of the various uses of the muscles in the way calisthenics are performed in classes, as much in the high schools as elsewhere. When the movements are languid, we call the muscles devitalized or lax. You may try these and see what is meant: Stand; raise the hands to the shoulders; shut up the fingers lightly, half clinching the fists. Extend the arms slowly in the front, oblique front, lateral, andother directions, and back a few times, keeping the mo­tions as languid as possible, and in every sense lazy. Then do them rapidly but lazily. You see it does not make much difference what degree of speed you use, if the muscles are lax. In such manner are most of the exercises, calisthenics andother movements performed in schools and under the direction of teachers of physical culture, and the time is more than wasted. Lax movements and lax conditions produce weariness. Lax walking is the cause of exhaustion. Like begets like. It is not good logic to suppose that a muscular action can originate of itself; if it can, why will not an ampu­tated arm act as well by itself as when it has life to move it? Or why does an electric current cause a detached leg of a frog to move its muscles?

There must be energy behind the motion, or it will have no vitality, and the nearer we get to the condition of energy the farther we go from the tendency to weariness and exhaus­tion. For this reason any lax movement is a detriment to the vitality of the body; it is plain to understand that it loses its own stored-up force without having it replenished from thesource of supply. Therefore, lazy walking, or lax walking, to use a more polite term, is wearying. Therefore, also, the lax manner in which gymnastics, calisthenics and physical culture movements are performed destroys all their value and even detracts from the condition of the body prior to their employment. This is why so many hundreds of thousands of persons fail to get benefit from the most valuable of all means of health.

If the growth of the muscular strength is what is sought, this end is to be attained under the present grand principle. It is by setting the muscles that we make them strong. The attempt to hang by the arms from a horizontal bar without setting the muscles will tear away tissue that is necessary to health. Pulling in the same way is injurious. But just as soon as the muscles are set the tissue is protected and vitality supplants laxity. Any experienced person knows what we mean. The method by which strength is attained is found in this law; yet nothing but muscular strength comes from such practice. The facts may be concisely stated as follows:

1. Lax movements weary and exhaust.

2. Set movements strengthen the muscles.

3. The continual use of set movements leads to stiffness and awkwardness, unless relieved by counter-movements. The farmer and common laborer never make use of the counter-effects; their bodies lose their graceful shapes; they are strong enough, but never graceful or magnetic. It is almost always possible to find grace among skilled artisans, for they relieve the body of its set condition by counter-effects. It is also generally possible to detect a magnetic person by a single movement, and often by the attitude taken when in a position of rest.

FORTY-EIGHTH GRAND PRINCIPLE

Magnetic tensing is the transit from laxity to rigidity.

The tensing is not the laziness of devitalization, nor is it the stiffness of rigidity. In other words, it is not a condi­tion of rest or of fixed strength, but a process of change. It is the progressive increase of energy. The process is one that may he easily understood. When nerves and muscles are lazy, they depend upon no supply of power from the vital sources of the body. When they are set, they are held by a fixed degree of energy, which is alive but not progressive.

When the muscles are taken from a lax condition to one of strength,but not allowed to reach a limit or to become setthe nerves are kept in a progressive condition. This everchanging effort makes a continual demand on the source of suply, and the creation of energy is the result of that demand. There can be no growth of vitality where there is no occasion for its use. Nature ordains that a demand shall be necessary to create a supply. The same law holds true every­where. The muscles will not grow at all if they are not used.Being used, they break down their tissue; the blood is excited toward this breakdown, and it leaves its nutrition to repair the waste, a thing it would not do had there been no effort, no breakdown, no waste.

The only process by which man is able to generate elec­tricity within his body is by tensing. This consists in many waysof using the body. We see the most noticeable exam­ples of it in persons who appear before audiences to speak, sing,act or otherwise hold the interest. They are more readily observed, more readily singled out, and we find their actions more generally understood. A person possessed of magnetism does not tense and set the body all at once, for, if he were to do this, the influence would soon be gone.

We recall hundreds of cases of lost magnetism owing to this mistake. Here is a lawyer, young and inexperienced; he rises to address the jury on an issue of great importance; he is full of his case; his magnetism springs from eye and voice and bewilders his listeners in the opening sentences; he does not begin easily and increasing his energy gradually, as one of skill in the magnetic art would be sure to do; he plunges into the case with pent-up power blowing off all its steamon the first words; he holds all hearers in thralldom; then, in five minutes, he feels that it is all gone, and the inter­est flags. His case is lost. He wearied the jury. He com­menced like an Alexander and ended like a tired child. When his magnetism was blown off in the first few minutes all his zeal, his earnestness, his power had to vent itself in force; hshouted and gestured vehemently; having allowed his mag­netism to escape, he wearied the jury.

Many and many a speaker has told us that this has been a common experience. They did not know the cause or the process of the loss, but they knew that they began with a magnetic charm and soon felt its collapse; then how empty and hollow the voice sounded. Speakers who know nothing of the technical laws of magnetism are obeying those laws on the negative or the affirmative side; they are failing or succeeding by them. To commence any effort with a full head of energy means a blow-off, and no opportunity is afforded for generating the power, for there is no tensing.

All greatness is plain, simple, humble and quiet in its introductory efforts. This allows opportunity for tensing, for growth, for an increase. Whether a conversation, a trans­action or a speech, it is to be likened to movements of the arm, thus:

1. When the lax arm and hand are passed forward and back as in calisthenics, no energy is expressed, and this would represent the indifferent speaker.

2. When the fist is held tightly clinched in the move­ments, the physical and noisy speaker is represented.

3. When each motion of the arm begins languidly and energy is called in gradually and increasingly instead of all at once, the magnetic speaker is represented.

It is worth one's while to watch such a person, whether speaker, actor or conversationalist. Let us look at the first named, the speaker. He steps forward on the platform, calm and easy. The audience may be regarded as strangers to him, or he to them. What will his effort prove him to be? We cannot tell as yet, for we know nothing of him by repu­tation or experience; but the student of magnetism may detect in his repose and coolness the evidence of a magnetic power yet to show itself. This, however, may be born of stupidity and cheap conceit. A few minutes of time will tell; for, if he is of the latter mold, the moment he attempts to warm up he will evince nervousness, and he will warm up suddenly.

He proceeds as easily as he began, but he has not displayed any evidence of the great orator. To be sure hspeaks fluently and steadily, if somewhat slowly. His languageis interesting; it shows thought, care in preparation anda belief in its declarations. The audience listens well.

Theyreally know that it is not above the average quiet efforts of oratory, but it seems smoother and pleasanter. They like it. They feel that it is going to be more interesting; that something greater is at hand. The very atmosphere seems to contain that information. The man does not rear, or leap, or plunge; he makes no strides, no bursts of speed, zeal or power. It is as though his faculties were horses of fine mettle, capable of all that could be desired, yet checked in and trotting along at an easy jog.

Soon the interest deepens. It appears to be in the facts presented, but the voice and manner present them so pleas­ingly that the audience would rather hear them than read them. Now the student of magnetism notices that the eyes of the speaker have darkened; no one else pays any attention to the tiny fact. The gray or brown or blue or hazel has not changed, but the pupil has distended, and this always appears ^black.Then the student of magnetism, sitting on the platform or in the front row, has observed that the body of this speaker, untrained in the art as he probably is, has changed; the chest is gradually, very slowly indeed, solidifying; it is full, large and firm, but motionless; the arms no longer hang devitalized, nor have they suddenly become rigid. The shift­ing from the easy repose of the opening lines to the energy thatfollows has been imperceptible to everybody except the keenest observer. The speaker is not only holding his magnetism, he is collecting more, generating it rapidly by slow tensing; and soon it is felt upon the waves of his voice. Every ear is attentive. Little by little, unconsciously to the audience, the speaker has increased the tension of every partof his body and of every faculty. He himself may have no knowledge of it, for he may not think of it, but the fact exists in him as in all magnetic persons, that there can be no increase of power unless it is accompanied by a correspond­ing increase of tensing. How was this fact ever seized upon for exercises in this art? Simply because it was universally noticed that all men and women who were possessed of per­sonal magnetism were always in a tensed condition while cool and under perfect control. They were not devitalized, lax, flabby, on the one hand, nor were they set and physical on the other. They kept themselves in a condition between the two extremes. When the speaker is getting control of his audience he is very quietly tensing his body. It is a gentle change, but nevertheless a powerful one in its effects.

FORTY-NINTH GRAND PRINCIPLE

Tensing is a vibratory condition that acts upon the ether.

By the present use of the word we refer to that quiet form of increase in the development of energy that never reaches its limit of power. It is gentle, but not lax. It is firm, but not set. Between the extremes there is opportunity for a long range of increase without too great firmness. If we can make this clear we shall be able to get you started right in the present period; and that will mean much to you.

We have met students who have failed, and we can always tell in advance why they have failed. A gentleman called upon the author some years ago and said, "I have not made as much progress in the development of magnetism as I ought, although some of my friends have done remarkably well." We replied, "It is possible to write down the cause of your failure before you explain anything in detail," and we wrote and sealed a brief statement which we gave him. Then we asked him to perform the tension movement a half-dozen times. This he did. We said, "The cause of your failure is in that envelope. Open it." He did so, and read, "You tense too suddenly and reach the limit of force. Both these faults or either of them, will stop all progress." The ideas seemes new to him. Then came the natural inquiry, What is the book intended for?

Careless persons rarely ever grasp the essential idea of anything, In this line of practice the first thought is to make the arms and body tremble. It may not always occur that this can be avoided, especially under the strain of great in­tensity of feeling; but the vibrations of a trembling body are as large compared with those of magnetic waves as the billows of the ocean are greater than the pulsations of light. Nothing can vibrate the ether, or inner air, except light and magnet­ism, and the latter is the finer. This means a great deal when one understands the fine character of light-waves.

All movable masses are made for vibrations. The ocean sends out its rhythmic motion as a medium for the transpor­tation of matter. The air is a gaseous ocean intended to vibrate in sound. Where there is no air there is no sound. The higher up we go the less dense is the air and the less energetic is the tone, until, amid the attenuated sky, it vanishes into space, and then all is ether. Between the beings of the earth the atmosphere is the connecting sea, the medium of sound and speech. We hear because the air vibrates upon the drum of the ear, and this wave-process travels over the nerves into the brain, beating there against the sensitive gray matter which converts it into meaning.

It is not possible anywhere in the universe for an influ­ence or a communication to span a chasm of nothingness. In space, where there is no atmosphere, man could not talk to his fellow-being, if sound were to be the means of speech. Yet one kind of wave-communication would give way to another. Light shines everywhere, in the dead calms of space as well as in other conditions; for light employs the thinner sea of ether. The brain amid the excitement of earthly existence requires the bold force of sound as a means of bringing it information; but if it were free from this racket its super-sensitive nature would hear and interpret the vibra­tions of the inner air or ether, with equal ease and greater certainty.

This ether is everywhere. There is no solid so dense that the fine inner air does not bathe each and every one of its molecules; they float and roll in it as the planets roll in the sky. This ether is not only in solids, but it is omnipres­ent in air, earth, water, flesh, blood and brain. There is not a thought, feeling or pulsation of your mind that is not a generator of ether-waves, nearly all of which die in the room around you, for they lack force. This ether connects your mind and your soul with the mind and soul of every human being, just as the atmosphere connects your bodies and voices. As you cannot reach all or even many by what you speak, so you cannot influence many by what you feel or will, all because you lack the energy required to effect control.

A tense condition of any faculty supplies this energy, but it must have the power of magnetism back of it, just as a live electric wire must have a battery or generator to supply its force. It could be alive and yet weak. Tensing calls into action the magnetic stores of the body, even increases them, and co-operates with the dead-still processes in producing both quantity and power.

FIFTIETH GRAND PRINCIPLE The magnetic touch is always tense.

The first test of a person of magnetism is in the hand. If it is cold there is either a withdrawal of vitality for the time being, or the individual is lacking in magnetism. Warmth alone is not sufficient. It is necessary, but not all that is required. When you clasp the hand of one who pos­sesses this quality, the effect is not marked in any way except by a slight muscular interest. The tight grasp is set and valueless, while the lax touch is dead. No one likes to take a cold and flabby hand.

There are men and even women who delight in hurting the hand by giving a tight squeeze every time they welcome an acquaintance.This physical, and not in good taste. To set the muscles for vigorous pressure is just as far from magnetism as is the lax hand which weak persons adopt from necessity. Marital affection is the quickest generator of magnetism, in a temporary way, that is known, as is fully explained in the new volume, "Sex Magnetism," which is one of the companion volumes to this book. Even the ancients, fourthousand years ago and less, knew that warm lips and warm hands were two of the evidences of love. Nature or­dains this to be so, for she compels the two sexes to attract each other, and gives them the power to win, to enchain, to enthrall, in order that the race may be perpetuated. Yet in many cases this is a blind magnetism. The loveless hearts, or those that never felt the power, are non-magnetic.

The delights of friendship are generally thrown away by impetuous or careless individuals. What is the use of graspingthe hands as if they were tools of ice, or setting them as in a vice? Neither gives pleasure. One is affectation or weakness; the other is physical and emotionless. The true lover never hurts the hand of his sweetheart; the latter never gives the light grip. While timidity may vibrate the hand and make it tremble, there is a series of inner, finer waves of pulsation that are in no way related to the former, just as the ocean may roll and toss in a storm, while its billows transmit the vibrations of sound and the still tinier pulsations of light, all at the same time. The feelings in a human body are variously expressed, but the magnetism of love always tenses the body and proves itself in touch, voice and sight.

If in your own life or in the experience of others you wish to know the truth, and separate the real from the sham, apply thisrule, and watch the results. When the hands clasp each other weakly, there is a negation of the avowals that have been uttered by the tongue or pen; when they are set in their clasp, there is the affirmative evidence of pretence, the attempt to seem in earnest. If love—genuine, honest love—prompts thegreeting, the touch is at first as light, but soon holds the hand in a slowly increasing pressure that never clasps tightly.

The interchange of opposite magnetic currents is the most delightful sensation in the world. It is because of this great law of human life that the book of "Sex Magnetism" has been written. It has done, and is doing to-day, more good than any other work or school of special education, for which rea­son it should be placed within reach of all persons without cost but under proper conditions.

As we write there is an old couple, as they call them­selves, although the man is not sixty and the woman not much over forty, sitting in a room across the way watching the November fires die in the western sky. They hold each other's hand as sweetly as the tenderest lover of nineteen; none too old to evince the keenest interest without impetuous display. Look at the maiden and her fiance; they meet and greet with a handshake that is perfunctory because they may not be altogether alone. But when time and place are theirs they yield to each other a far different tribute; it may be the good-by of the evening, or the more prolonged farewell of the visit. Their eyes meet with deeper glance, moist with fervor; large, full eyes charged with the expression of kindred emotions. They know instinctively that the lips are the agents of speech, that words are idle vows, but that the tokens of speech coming from the very source itself are deeds of exchange that may be impressed with the seal of approval; and, in a delicacy of approach that drifts like a golden vapor nestling against the silvery moon, he bends over the uplifted face, while a pressure of the arm obliterates their identity, and the crimson bloom mounts her fair cheeks and paints roses in a garden of lilies. The cold-lipped reader of this page will shudder at our description and think it strange. Without magnetism there is no sentiment in life, no poetry, no sweet­ness, no charm, nothing but the plainness of mechanical existence.

There is no better way of developing the power of mag­netism than in the touch of the hand through the ordinary greeting. Avoid the two extremes. Remember that the lax hand is worthless, and that the set grasp is insincere, if not an automatic fault. Do not think that mere firmness is all that is required. Tensing is an increasing approach to a rigidity that is never reached when the increase cannot be maintained, a limit is found and that is non-magnetic. Nothing better indicates progress than this power, and progress never stands still. It is in the first delicate growth toward firmness that the body, the arm and the hand evince magnetism. Experi­ments can be made all day long with decided results. It is hardly necessary to add that nothing unusual in your conduct should attract attention, for it would at once end the useful­ness of the practice.

FIFTY-FIRST GRAND PRINCIPLE The magnetic voice is always tense.

Magnetism, exerted through the voice in speaking and singing, is so very important an accomplishment, that we devote one entire Step in this course to the subject. Here, we briefly sketch some phases of the use of magnetic voice.

There are three general classes of voices: the flat, the tense and the emotional. The first is the common sound which is everywhere heard, from the simplest remark up to the vigorous tones of the huckster or the wearisome orator; a mere mechanism of sound. Flat voices are never tense, never vibrant, never possessed of feeling; for which reason the street vender would never succeed in the lecture field; and for which reason also the vast majority of public speakers, preachers, advocates and others fail who might be greatif they had the enterprise to get better delivery.

In daily conversation this flatness of sound is the univer­sal experience. When a voice tires you, the cause is easily ascertained. No tense voice is ever wearisome. Some vibrant voices are. Some emotional voices are. There are so many characteristic classes of sound vibration involved that the subject seems endless. Sound itself is a wave-force, but when kept within its own range it is always sound. It is possible to add other vibrations to it. Even the church organ is given a tremolo that corresponds to the same action of the singing and speaking voice; but this is neither evidence of tenseness nor of feeling.

Many persons wonder why the piano or the organ yields a more impressive sound under the touch of a genius than when the amateur manipulates it; and why at times the expert is more skillful than usual. Technique and finish are factors of importance, but there is the indescribable something that cannot be accounted for by any rules of execution. It is magnetism. But how can magnetism affect a musical instru­ment ? Is the latter not a mechanical affair that is what it is made to be, a mere tool? Yes, but so are the vocal cords of the throat. So is everything; bones, flesh, muscles, nerves, all are parts of a machine of matter. Back of the material is the soul, the vital-spark, the magnetic quality. So when the gifted musician touches the keys of the musical instrument this quality lives in the vibrations of a tense hand, waves as small as light-pulsations that go out into the air and awaken a harmony in all other life.

If your voice is flat it can never be magnetic; and the first step to be taken is towards the destruction of the flatness. This is done by the adoption of the tremolo in all degrees of coarseness and fineness; an old attempt to substitute the ap­pearance for the reality. The throat tremolo is used much in musical training, but it is not natural. Emotion springs from the diaphragm, a large muscle situated at the base of the lung cavity and just above the stomach. To find this muscle place the fingers over the stomach at that place where the apex of the rib-arch is found. It is at the highest part of the abdomen and the lowest part of the chest, at the soft bone.

When you cough the diaphragm jumps up and its edge gives a leap forward. This can be detected by the fingers. Now take a deep breath, place the palm of the left hand on this edge of the diaphragm and the palm of the right hand over back of the left hand. Pronounce the sound "oo" as long as possible, while shaking the lower chest with the rapid action of thehands. This will make the tone shaky. It is the only natural tremolo, for the diaphragm by its vibrations produces laughter, gladness, joy, grief, sorrow, weeping, crying, hysterics and every mood known to the human heart.

This class of vibrations is divisible into a hundred or more grades. The usual series in the study of expression embraces ten only and they should be fixed in the voice by practice. After the hand has caused the tremolo the next step is to produce it without the aid of the hand. Prolong the sound "oh" instead of "oo," with a decided tremolo, and keep at it until it is very easy to say such sentences as the following with ease: "Pity the sorrows of a poor old man," "Oh, the long and dreary winter;" "Dear master, I can go no further," and the like. When this can be done the next step is to increase and decrease the range of the vibrations; that is, to make them wider and narrower at will. The doing of this is of the utmost importance, and is not an easy task.

We recommend that you make a gamut of the tremolos, from one to ten. Take a large piece of brown paper and a heavy pencil. Across the top make a wavy line, about ten inches long and two inches wide, and mark this the tenth degree of the tremolo. Under it make another wavy line ten inches long, but with waves only an inch high, calling it the ninth degree; under that put another wavy line, three-fourths of an inch high, as the eighth degree; then under that put the seventh degree, which will have waves a half inch high; then the sixth degree, with waves three-eighths of an inch high; then the fifth degree with waves one-fourth of an inch high; then the fourth degree with waves one-eighth of an inch high ; the third degree with waves one-sixteenth of an inch high; the second degree, with waves one-thirty-second of an inch high, and a straight line for the first degree, representing a flat voice. The rule of practice is to begin at the middle de­gree and increase then decrease in turn. It will be seen that the scale of increase is not regular. When the finer tremolos can be used at will it is necessary to exclude the plain ones. A plain tremolo is one that is audible; it expresses emotion rather than magnetism. A concealed tremolo is one that is present but not noticeable. It attracts no attention as a wave-action of sound, but it affords an easy transit to a tense voice. To develop the latter we advise the foregoing prac­tice, and then the use of the sentences given in connection with the tense eye under the following methods.

FIFTY-SECOND GRAND PRINCIPLE The magnetic eye is always tense.

There is here another opportunity for a volume on a single subject. The eye sees and is seen. The sense it em­bodies is the most important of all. A deaf person can compel the eye to perform some of the functions of hearing, just as a blind person uses the sense of touch with greater delicacy and power. When a person speaks to another the latter gets some of the meaning from the eye. It is not only natural but common to look into the eye to see the individual. All persons in an audience look at the speaker's eye whenever he interests them; in dull moments only they are attracted to some other part of the body, some peculiarity, or some mat­ter that distracts attention.

The magnetic person generally holds attention by the power of the eye when there is a direct effort made toward one or more others; but the latter will have no consciousness of such influence. The tensing of the eye comes out of the same power as the touch or voice when either is magnetic. All energy is vibrant. The muscles are controlled by waves of force; sound is likewise propelled; so is light; so is thought; and magnetism moves by a similar law. Each has its origin, its source of supply, and its method of transfer; and, above all, each has its kind of pulsation. We never mistake light for sound. When science shall have laid bare the secrets of life it will be known what the difference is between all these energies.

The use of the tense eye changes every part of the face by somestrangelaw of our natures. It also invites a glow into the eye itself that even the photograph will record. This special brightness is due to the electrical energy which is aroused by the tensed condition. This does not arise in the eye-ball, but has its origin in the brain, which is the most powerful electric battery of its size in existence; so that the tensing of the latter organ is the real cause of it. We have For years used a plan of shifting locations which we find to be the best method of tensing the brain and eye. We present this arrangement here in a different light from any elsewhere given. We take the nine locations of the eyes from a former plan, as follows:

The first practice is to look (1) at some imaginary per­son whose eyes are directly in front of you and on a level with your eyes, adopting a dead-still body all through, but holding the eyes two seconds only in a fixed gaze.

From one (1) change to two (2), which means to move the gaze to the left lateral, but do not wink or move a muscle of the face. Hold the gaze at two (2) for the same space of lime, two seconds.

Then come back to one (1) and hold the gaze for two seconds.

From one (1) change to three (3), and hold the gaze dead-still for two seconds.

Come back to one (1) for two seconds.

From one (1) change to four (4). Then back to one

From one (1) change to five (5). Then back to one (I).

From one (1) change to six (6). Then back to one (1). From one (1) change to seven (7). Then back to one

From one(1) change to eight (8). Then back to one (1).

From one (1) change to nine (9). Then back to one (1).

Each position must be held two seconds.

In shifting the gaze, do it suddenly and by a blow, so as to excite the nerves of the eye-balls.

Always shift to the extremes and back to one (1), and never pass from any extreme to another without first coming to centre each time.

The movement should not only be hard, but it should be carried as far as possible. Thus, if the eyes are to be raised to seven (7), they should be turned up so as to see the ceiling of the room; then come to one (1) ; then to whatever extreme is sought. The extremes are all the numbers ex­cept one (1).

After perfecting the foregoing movements let the eyes pass from eight (8) to six (6) ; and from six (6) to eight (8) ; and repeat ten times. Then from five (5) to nine (9) and reverse; then from two (2) to three (3) and reverse; then from four (4) to seven (7) and reverse; each ten times, hard, full and tense.

After all the foregoing movements have been mastered so that the eyes may be moved to extremes with force, let the same be repeated with great rapidity while the body is dead-still. This will prepare you for the real work, which is called

THE REPETITIONAL

While holding the eyes in the positions indicated by the numbers, repeat the following remarks with their full mean­ing stamped in your tones:

When the eyes are at one (1) repeat: "I am talking to you and you must hear me." Let the voice be low, clear and firm, even severe.

When the eyes are at two (2) repeat: "You cannot escape me." The words should be spoken in deep tones as though some person were planning to get beyond your influence. Remember that the face is to remain to the front and no part must move except the eyes themselves.

When the eyes are at three (3) repeat: "Beware! Do not make me angry."

When the eyes are at four (4) repeat: "I will not do wrong."

When the eyes are at five (5) repeat: "Get thee behind me, Satan."

When the eyes are at six (6) repeat: "I am stronger than my enemies."

When the eyes are at seven (7) repeat: "Thou God seest me."

When the eyes are at eight (8) repeat: "Right is mighty and will prevail."

When the eyes are at nine (9) repeat: "Angels hold watch and ward over my life."

The first few repetitions may be mental, continuing them until the spirit of the sentiments in connection with the posi­tions shall be absorbed, after which it is better to use the voice aloud. Get familiar with the locations as belonging to the sentiments uttered.

In repeating them aloud, speak the sentiment once; then come back to the central position one (1).

After five days' practice in the Repetitional, repeat each sentiment five times aloud while holding the eyes fixed in whatever position they take, and go through them all.

After five more days in the last-named practice, repeat each sentiment ten times in the position to which it belongs.

The success in tensing the eyes will depend upon the tone-color in your voice. An actor could easily accomplish this end at once. You may have to keep at it for weeks, but the power will come sooner or later, and, once come, it always remains.

GENERAL TENSING EXERCISES

In the following exercises the mental conception will be correct if the pupil thinks of the inner lower chest as the centre of a powerful battery, from which a vast amount of electrical energy may be developed. The connection of the brain with this battery will be referred to hereafter as the electrical centre.

Action of some kind develops all the electricity of the universe; we may call it friction, or chemical, or chemico-frictional, as one scientist puts it—it matters but little. Some kind of action is necessary. While the life principle within us furnishes a kind of action that generates this force, it does not, in most cases, develop a sufficient amount to make a person as magnetic as can be done by assisting nature.

When, after some lapse of time, the pupil begins to recognize the existence of the life principle, to estimate the amount of electrical energy on hand, to know at what times, and why, the quantity gets low, or at what times, and why, it is in superabundance, he will begin to realize the exact­ness of the science of Personal Magnetism, and his interest will be thoroughly aroused, for the first time, perhaps, in this course of study.

Exercise I. The Tense Arm Straight. Raise the right arm in front on a level with the shoulder and keep it perfectly straight. By an act of the will tense all the muscles from the shoulder to the hand, including the fingers, with­out moving the arm. Repeat this slowly and deliberately six times. Then use the left arm in the same way. While the left arm is being so used the right should hang at the side lifeless, and likewise the left when the right is in use. Re­turning to the right arm, place it at full length at the right of the body, extended in a horizontal position. Slowly and deliberately tense all the muscles six times, without moving the arm. Use the left in turn. Repeat the exercises until each arm has been placed in at least twenty different posi­tions, keeping it always straight. The positions may be made in a greater number than twenty if desirable. Never set the muscles, nor use much force. Read all that precedes in this Period.

Practice the Tense Arm as often and as long as you wish eachday. It can be done without taking time, as in walking, driving, and on almost every occasion. It is very beneficial to the health.

Exercise II. The Tense Fist. This requires the open hand with lax muscles as a beginning, and the very gradual increase of pressure as the fingers are closed. Never set the fist hard, and avoid all rigidity. Sometimes the very power­ful clinching of the fist will arouse a muscular heat that is afterward useful in true tensing.

Exercise III. Separating the Nervous Action. This is done by the act of the will, and consists in tensing the arm while the fist is lax, and tensing the fist while the arm is lax.

The separation of the nervous action may seem diffi­cult, but in a short time, by persistent practice, it can be accomplished, and, when mastered, the opposition to the flow of nerve-force in its accustomed paths will cause the same friction that develops lightning in the storm clouds.

Are we understood?

When the arm is tense and the hand is free, the flow of nervous force is stopped at the wrist and hurled back upon the centres. A soldier whose hand has been amputated at the wrist often feels the presence of the hand with as much realism as when it was in place. This indicates a flow of nerv­ous force beyond the wrist, and such experiences produce great weakness to the person, sometimes causing an over­flow of all the nerve-force, and ending in death.

Many persons whose arms or legs have been amputated lose their lives because the nerve-force flows away at these places.

Whoever can learn in a perfect way to stop the nerve-force at the wrist, keeping the arm very tense and the hand free, will recognize in time the flow of the life principle along the arms.

The last part of this exercise consists of moving the arms about in space, held with powerful tensity from the shoulders to the wrists, while the hands are lifeless or free from tension.

These exercises will grow better and better as long as the pupil practices them, if it be for years. At first there will appear to be nothing in them. A child cannot learn to walk in a day or a month.

Exercise IV. Union Tension of Arm and Fist. Hold the arm in any position free from the body. Make it as lim­ber as possible, without any muscular rigidity whatever. Try to imagine it lifeless and limp as a piece of cloth. While in this position, very gradually and very slowly cause it to pass from a limp to a rigid muscular tension, while the energy flows from the fingers to the shoulders. If this is not done gradually, the design of the exercise is lost. A quick setting of the muscular strength of any part of the body has but little benefit for the nerves. Do this over and over again, with each arm singly. The first few days it would be better to use the muscles sparingly, as lameness ensues from this as well as from any new exercise. This tension includes arm and fist together.

Exercise V. The Tense Neck. There are muscles be­tween the head and trunk of the body, along the neck. They are intimately associated with the base of the brain (an im­portant part of the nerve-force of the body), and they like­wise lie close to the spinal column.

1. Turn the head to the right as far as possible, and, while holding it there, gradually increase the tension of the muscles, until they have been made firm, but not rigid.

2. Turn the head to the left and repeat in the same way.

3. While looking straight ahead, the chin being on a level, and the chest being well filled with air, the shoulders down, but not back, endeavor to throw the muscles of the neck into a tension, commencing very gradually and increas­ing slowly until great firmness is reached, but no rigidity.

A quick setting of the full muscular strength is to be avoided, as the only benefit derived therefrom is in the growth of the muscles. A slowly increasing tension keeps the nerves at work, and excites them to an action that in time will gen­erate the latent electricity of the body.

FIFTY-THIRD GRAND PRINCIPLE

The tense chest generates vital-magnetism.

To the man or woman who would become magnetic in the shortest possible time this principle is most important, for it is most helpful. It is not enough that the vital organs be raised and maintained; that is of the inestimable value, but the life itself of the chest and all its contents must be kept energized. This does not mean that the chest is to be set or strained by muscular effort, for that will lead to no good.

Direct the mind as closely as possible to the inner por­tion of the chest, keeping the outward part immovable. Think of a point as near the centre as possible. Make the whole internal portions tense, and as gradually as possible. It will be some time before this can be accomplished. The nerves and not the muscles are, in fact, exercised by this process.

A magnetic person can in an instant generate, also, a heat within that can be felt very distinctly, giving a glow of warmth that is transmitted by the vibratory process through the eye, voice or touch to any person within reach of these.

Explanation.—The mind dwelling intently upon any invisible agent or process within the body will develop a mental recognition of what would otherwise be unrecognized, provided the mental conception of the agent or process is a correct one. The tensing of the muscles and nerves must be performed with some degree of care and thoughtfulness. The under­lying reason is this: tension employs in a healthful manner the nervous forces of the ganglia, and this employment uses these forces so as to create a demand for more vitality and a larger use of it without wastefulness. To supply the de­mand is merely an act of ordinary sense. Thus, if the body is starved of its phosphorus, or even of its ordinary foods, the demand for more vitality cannot be supplied, and weakness follows. Sometimes neuralgia is the result as the nerves have been robbed of their vitality. A hungry person cannot be­come magnetic. The realms of space reaching from the unknown to the unknown, without height or depth, without width or breadth, are crowded with magnetism. Life springs spontaneously from its restlessness. Accident gives us our certain proportion, but art can claim more.

If weariness results, rest. Sometimes a few days' or a week's rest will be beneficial. Growth is often retarded by too rapid advancement. Do not hurry. Be calm and de­termined at all times.

Probably at this stage of the work the two best habits that can be adopted are these:

1. The continual elevation of the vital organs as a fixed custom.

2. The continual tense condition of the chest and its organic life within.

The advantages of these two habits are exceedingly great; and they may be adopted in all the duties of the day without taking a minute of time. The vital organs must be somewhere, and they might as well be up and vigorous as to be down and flat.

FIFTY-FOURTH GRAND PRINCIPLE Tense walking is a rapid generator of magnetism.

Here we have the most wholesome and healthful of all exercises, and the one that is most easily adopted, for all per­sons who hope to possess vitality in a strong degree must depart to some extent from a purely sedentary life, and walk­ing is common to all.

We have watched those women who, as queens of their homes or in the fashionable drawing-rooms, take leadership because of that commanding charm which the world calls personal magnetism, and they have never been the weak affecters of dignity, nor the set muscular types of strength; but they always have shown unmistakable evidences of the tense character. We have closely studied many a speaker who has aroused his audience to the highest realms of pleas­ure and enthusiasm by the same quality; and we never yet one who did not gradually become tense as the magnetic vitality grew and increased. We have observed the men and women of the great activities of life, as they were engaged in the commonest duties, and the same law held true. Even in walking they are different from the lax and lazy, on the one hand, and from the stiff and muscular on the other hand.

There are two kinds of magnetic walking; the plain method is that of easy and gentle tensing; the beautiful method is that of alternating tenseness and release. Both are very valuable as means of culture as well as of develop­ment in vitality. The reader of these pages who is able to adopt as the fixed habit of life either one of these two styles of walking, has already gone a long way toward victory in the present study; for the practice of such walking is like an electric generator that is always creating the needed power. Habitual tense walking takes the place of nearly all other practice in this period. Continue with it the two other great exercises, and you have

THE MAGNETIC TRINITY.

1. Elevate vital organs as a permanent habit.

2. The tense chest as a permanent habit.

3. Tense walking as a permanent habit.

And the advantage is that they do not require a minute of time, nor take you from the regular duties of life.

The tense walk is acquired at first by comparisons. The beginning of the practice is in the lazy walk, which represents the languid condition of the body. This is always wearying. The next effort is to take rigid steps, allowing the knee to spring back with firmness as the weight comes wholly on each leg. Then increase the speed a little, and avoid spring­ing the knee fully back. Here we have an excellent example of tensing in walking. To set the muscles firmly on each step will accomplish the same results provided there is not great rigidity; and this permits of slow walking. Rapid lax walking is injurious to the nervous powers, Rapid set walking exhausts the muscles. Rapid tense walking is midway between the two, and is highly beneficial to the health and nervous system. Let some form of tense walking be made a habit.

TENSE AND RELEASE.

The most beautiful and most valuable type of walking is that which embodies the same practice as is seen in the tensing of the arm preceded and followed by laxity; each change being gradual. To do this in walking the whole leg is devitalized as it becomes free after the weight leaves it; and is tensed as it again assumes the weight; each action being gradual, although done quickly. When properly executed the walk has every appearance of being unstudied and easy; although a crude experimenter would make it labored and unnatural. There is nothing gained by lifting a free foot tensed; and the more this walk is considered the more natural it seems. A compromise is secured by the fol­lowing method:

Walk slowly and firmly with a tension in both legs, made stronger on each alternate leg as the body passes the weight over it in walking. Thus it will be noticed, that, while the tension is to be kept great during the entire exercise, it be­comes greater while the leg carries the weight of the body, as is done in every step. The will power should be kept con­stantly on this slight increase of tension at these times.

When several weeks have been spent in this practice, the habit should be formed and applied permanently to every day pedestrianism. It then, of course, becomes more rapid, and varies itself with the circumstances attending each mode of walking.

A magnetic person is known by his walk.

At first the new method may seem awkward, but when it has become a habit, it is the most graceful carriage of the body known.

Grace and personal magnetism always coincide.

FIFTY-FIFTH GRAND PRINCIPLE

Tensing the whole body while inhaling generates magnetism.

It embodies one of the most important laws of this study. In the first place it is necessary to recognize each part of the body as it is tensed; the head, the eyes, the scalp, the temples, the face, the neck, the shoulders, the arms, the hands, the chest, the abdomen, the legs, the knees, and the feet. Then, when any part can be energized at will, the whole body should be tensed all at one time. During such tensing take a deep breath, and do not release the energy until the air has passed out. Repeat this as often as you can while walking in or out of doors. It may be made a habit in a few weeks. Nothing can exceed it in point of value for health or magnetic vitality.

We now bring this period to a close; the exercises should be carefully studied and faithfully performed; for the skim­mer of these pages will accomplish nothing.