In the ordinary practice of hypnotism now, the patient is placed sitting on a comfortable chair and the operator on one side facing prepares the mind of the subject by proper assurances. The patient must be brought into a thoroughly assured and comfortable state of mind and must be quite ready to submit to hypnotism. Then in most people, if the finger is held rather close to the patient and well above the line of sight, requiring special effort {158} on the part of the superior recti muscles as well as of the power of convergence, a tired feeling will come over the subject with a tendency of the lids to droop. When this happens the subject is asked to allow the lids to drop and to quietly concentrate the attention on the idea of sleep so as to permit the drowsy feeling gradually to increase. On a first seance this may take ten minutes, subsequently much less time will be needed, and, as a rule, in five minutes the subject is quite predisposed to sleep. In more difficult cases a much longer time may be needed, and repeated efforts may have to be made. Great patience is required. The operator soon learns to adjust himself to certain peculiarities of individuals in predisposing them to the hypnotic condition. Hypnotism Simple, Natural, Not Mysterious.--The most important thing to know about hypnotism is the fact that any one who wishes can hypnotize. There may be need for favoring circumstances, but there is no need for any special faculty in the operator. If he has confidence in himself so as to take up the question of hypnotizing seriously, if the subjects are reasonably susceptible and if they are persuaded that they may be hypnotized, or even if they are not, so long as they take the operator seriously a hypnotic state will result. Nothing is more surprising to the operator himself, the first time he succeeds, than his success. This at once gives him renewed confidence, and future hypnosis becomes a comparatively simple matter. To have this idea widely diffused would do much good, since it would at once strip the charlatans, who abuse hypnotism, of most of the mystery that surrounds them. The general diffusion of such knowledge would also do good in another way. It would expose the supposed wonderful power that some people are presumed to possess. Hypnotism works no wonders; it is a mere natural manifestation not unlike sleep, and probably not a whit more mysterious. Stages.--A number of divisions of the hypnotic state have been suggested, but probably the simple division into three stages is the best for ordinary teaching purposes, and helps to the understanding both of the conditions themselves and of many things that are written about hypnotism.