It is well known that the early mesmerists constantly and habitually developed telepathic powers in their subjects. Causing their subjects to obey mental orders was a common platform experiment half a century ago. These experiments were often made, under test conditions, by the most careful and conscientious scientists, and the results are recorded in the many volumes on the subject written at the time. Many of these works were written by scientists whose methods of investigation were painstaking and accurate to the last degree. In the light of the developments of modern science, in the light of the demonstrations, by the members of the London Society for the Promotion of Psychical Research, of the existence of telepathic power, we cannot read the works of the old mesmerists without having the conviction forced upon us that telepathy was developed by their experiments to a degree almost unknown at the present day. Why it is that the power to develop that phenomenon by mesmerists has been lost or has fallen into desuetude, is a question of the gravest scientific interest and importance. The hostility and ridicule of the academicians undoubtedly had its effect on many minds, and caused many scientific investigators to shrink from publicly avowing their convictions or the results of their investigations. But that does not account for the fact that mesmerists, who believe in the verity of the phenomena, are rarely able to produce it at the present day. The first question which presents itself is one of dates. When did the higher phenomena show the first signs of decadence? A moment's reflection will fix it at or about the date of the promulgation of the theories of Dr. Braid. It is a historic fact, well known to all who have watched the progress of hypnotic science, that as soon as it was found that the mesmeric or hypnotic sleep could be induced by causing the subject to gaze upon a bright object held before his eyes, all other methods were practically abandoned. It was much easier to hold an object before the subject's eyes for a few minutes, with the mind at rest, than to make passes over him for an indefinite length of time, accompanying the passes by fixity of gaze and intense concentration of mind. The important point to bear in mind right here is the fact that in the old mesmeric method, fixity of gaze and concentration of will on the part of the operator, were considered indispensable to success. It seems clear, then, that it is to this change of methods that we must look for an explanation of the change in results. That being conceded, we must inquire how the conditions were changed by the change of methods. What effects, if any, either in the condition of the subject or of the operator, or in both, are missing when the new methods are applied?