Faith reposes on reason and must have its grounds. What grounds can we adduce for faith in Induced Autosuggestion? The examples of cures already cited are outside your experience and you may be tempted to pooh-pooh them. The experiment of Chevreul's pendulum, however, will show in a simple manner the power possessed by a thought to transform itself into an action. Take a piece of white paper and draw on it a circle of about five inches' radius. Draw two diameters _AB_ and _CD_ at right angles to each other and intersecting at _O_. The more distinctly the lines stand out the better--they should be thickly drawn in black ink. Now take a lead pencil or a light ruler and tie to one end a piece of cotton about eight inches long; to the lower end of the cotton fasten a heavy metal button, of the sort used on a soldier's tunic. Place the paper on a table so that the diameter _AB_ seems to be horizontal and _CD_ to be vertical, thus: [Illustration: Autosuggestion diagram] Stand upright before the table with your miniature fishing-rod held firmly in both hands and the button suspended above the point _O_. Take care not to press the elbows nervously against the sides. Look at the line _AB_, think of it, follow it with your eyes from side to side. Presently the button will begin to swing along the line you are thinking of. The more your mind dwells easily upon the idea of the line the greater this swing becomes. Your efforts to _try_ to hold the pendulum still, by bringing into action the law of reversed effort, only make its oscillations more pronounced. Now fix your eyes on the line _CD_. The button will gradually change the direction of its movement, taking up that of _CD_. When you have allowed it to swing thus for a few moments transfer your attention to the circle, follow the circumference round and round with your eyes. Once more the swinging button will follow you, adopting either a clock-wise or a counter clock-wise direction according to your thought. After a little practice you should produce a circular swing with a diameter of at least eight inches; but your success will be directly proportional to the exclusiveness of your thought and to your efforts to hold the pencil still. Lastly think of the point _O_. Gradually the radius of the swing will diminish until the button comes to rest. Is it necessary to point out how these movements are caused? Your thought of the line, passing into the Unconscious, is there realised, so that _without knowing it_ you execute with your hands the imperceptible movements which set the button in motion. The Unconscious automatically realises your thought through the nerves and muscles of your arms and hands. What is this but Induced Autosuggestion? The first time you perform this little experiment it is best to be alone. This enables you to approach it quite objectively. CHAPTER VIII PARTICULAR SUGGESTIONS