From what has been said, the supreme folly of legislation to prohibit experiments in hypnotism is manifest. No one will deny that when a hypnotist permits himself to exercise his art in private he is in possession of opportunities which, under other conditions, might give him an undue advantage over a subject of the opposite sex; but, from the very nature of things, that advantage is infinitely less than that enjoyed by physicians in their habitual intercourse with their patients. Until it is shown that physicians never take advantage of their confidential relations with their patients; until it is shown that physicians are exempt from human passions and frailties; or, at least, until it is shown that physicians are more platonic in their emotions than the ordinary run of human beings,--the world will continue to regard their demand that the study of experimental psychology shall be restricted by legislation to the medical profession, as an exhibition of monumental impudence. It cannot be forgotten that it was the medical profession that drove Mesmer into a dishonored exile and a premature grave for the sole reason that he healed the sick without the use of pills. The faculty ridiculed, proscribed, and ostracized every medical man who dared to conduct an honest investigation of mesmeric phenomena. And now that the scientists of Europe are compelled to admit the therapeutic value of the science, they are instant in demand that no one but physicians shall be permitted to make experiments. It is perhaps natural and right that the treatment of disease by means of drugs should be restricted to those who are educated in the proper use of drugs; but the employment of psychic powers and remedies rests upon an entirely different footing. Their demand that hypnotism be reserved for their exclusive use rests not upon their knowledge of its laws, but is founded upon their wilful ignorance of the fundamental principles which underlie the science. FOOTNOTES: [Footnote 20: Hypnotism, p. 337.] [Footnote 21: Suggestive Therapeutics, p. 214.] [Footnote 22: Hypnotism, p. 171.] [Footnote 23: Gregory on Animal Magnetism, p. 4.] [Illustration] CHAPTER XI. PSYCHO-THERAPEUTICS. Historical Notes.--Mind Cure in Ancient Times.--Bible Accounts.--Miracles of the Church.--Healing by the King's Touch.--Views of Paracelsus and Pomponazzi.--Bernheim's Experiments.--The Modern Schools.--Their Theories.--The True Hypothesis applicable to all Systems.--Illustrations of the Theory.--Producing a Blister by Suggestion.--Bloody Stigmata.--Letters of Blood.--Objective Control of Subjective Mind.--Subjective Control of Bodily Functions.--The Necessary Mental Conditions.--The Precepts and Example of Christ.--Subjective Faith alone required.--Discussion of Various Systems.--Christian Science, etc.--General Conclusions.