“Whatever his mentality may be, and of its range I am not competent to judge, the man has what I can only call a largeness of soul which has an effect upon others. One of our old men, one of our deranged fine intellects, of whom we have several, and very pathetic they are, has christened him the Light-Bringer, and somehow we feel it is a title that he thoroughly deserves.” “That is to say, he is a good influence among your patients?” “Yes; in fact a moral force. The staff tell me that since he came here their work is less by one-half. As an instance of what I mean, let me give you a little anecdote which our head attendant told me only this morning. We have an old German professor, who has been here some time. He is apt to be very cantankerous and now and again gives a great deal of trouble. On his bad days no one can do anything with him. But it seems that John is now an established exception to the rule and that he can simply make him do anything. This morning it appears the Herr Professor had decided that he would no longer wear a tie. ‘Put it on at once,’ said Boswell, our head attendant. ‘I shall not,’ said the Herr Professor, ‘except by the command of God and the Emperor.’ ‘Very well,’ said the head attendant, ‘then I shall ask the Master to come to you.’ Well, the Master came--that, by the way, is the name the patients have given him. The head attendant stated his case and the Master said to the Herr Professor, ‘Put on your tie, my dear friend. It is the rule here in Elysium and you are bound to obey it. Otherwise the gods will turn you out and you may find yourself wandering in outer darkness for another hundred years or so.’” “And did the Herr Professor put on his tie?” asked Brandon. “He put it on at once,” said Dr. Thorp with a laugh. “Of course it’s a very trivial anecdote. But to me the whole thing is a remarkable piece of make-believe.” “I’m afraid I don’t quite understand.” “Well, you see, our friend John has persuaded the old fellow that he is Goethe, talks to him in German and treats him with a deference which raises a smile. And the odd side of the affair is that the poor old chap now firmly believes himself to be Goethe and does his best to act up to his part.” “I see,” said Brandon. “And John Smith has taught us already that in the administration of a place of this kind, there is practically no limit to the power of suggestion. We have a hundred patients here, and his power over them is astonishing. There seems to be nothing he can’t make some of them do; and as he is a great upholder of law and order we bless the day he came among us.” “As I understand your theory, this moral ascendancy has been gained over your patients by the power of suggestion?”