Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-05-14

Mob" In introducing the subject he told
of the study of the mob psychologists In
seeking an explanation for the actions of
people who act in crowds. He told Of the
sober citizen. but who goes to a base ball
game one day. Mr.. Brown becomes in
terested in his home team. AS the team
makes runs his enthusiasm warns and
when the other side gets ahead he becomes
depressed. In the last half of the ninth
inning the score stands to for the Wis
itors. There are two outs and two men on
bases. Things are looking pretty bad for
the home team. and there is a deep under
current of excitement. Then Casey comes
to the bat, and at a critical point lines out
a home run and turns defeat into victory.
instantly the sober, dgnified Mr.. Brown
leaps to his feet yelling like a mailman.
He is another Brown-an emotional Mr.
Brown. He hugs all of his neighbors that
ne can get his arms around. He puts his
silk hat on the end of his umbrella and
waves it frantically. Two hours later he is
sitting quietly in his home giving nom
committal answers to the questions of his
children Why did Brown act so at the
ball game?
Professor Vincent then told of the polit-
lcal rally. There is a brass band, and a big
audience has gathered in expectation of
nearing the great spellbinder. The commit
tee on applause has been stationed in yari-
Gus parts of the great hall to provide for
the spontaneous uprising of the people,
If you want to have spontaneous up
rising of the people arrive on schedule
time SAID the lecturer, you must provide
for it in advance"
At the proper moment the band COM
mences to play lively air and three fig
ures appear at one of the doors which the
crowd Is expectantly watching. One of
them Is the great spellbinder. The commit
tee on applause takes its cue and starts
great ovation" The people applaud
wildly. At missionary convention at Old
Orchard, Me-, once crowd of people who
books. after hearing an address by re-
turned missionary. gave $4,000 for mis-
sions. Men took watches from their pock-
cts and women stripped their fingers of
rings and threw them on the collection
plates.
Up at Chicago an audience of 5000 wo-
men gathered to hear Paderewski. They
were held spellbound by the music and re-
FUSED to let the great pianist go until some
men came In and took the piano out bodily.
Professor Vincent told these incidents In
detail as illustrating what a crowd will
sometimes do when acting in unison. He
and like events. He told of the Jumbo
craze in London. when the late Mr. Bar
mum worked the London press for some
free advertising about Jumbo, and for ten
days London went wild over Jumbo. Pic
lures of Jumbo were everywhere One
minister preached a sermon on Jumbo
children were named after him. and 200
boxes OF buns were sent to the big elephant
Every crowd is not a PSYCHOLOGICAL
crowd, Professor Vincent said. A psychoIog-
fcal crowd has four characteristics: Tn il
there is concentration of attention. each
person is OFF guard as to his individuality.
the central attitude toward life disap-
pears, and the psychological crowd Is ..sug-
gestible"-capable of receiving suggestions.
The lecturer told of an experiment made
by a psychologist in which a young man
was hypnotized and told that when a per-
son entered the room he would rise, strike
match and light the gas. Then he was
awakened from his hypnosis, and the sub
ject and hypnotist conversed together The
subject had no recollection of anything that
had been told him. But the minute that
person entered the room he arose and
lighted the gas, although the room was al
ready lighted. When asked why he did 1t
he sheepishly said he did not know, but
that the idea just came into his mind to
do 1t. A second and third time the same
impression came to him when persons en-
tered the room.
This, Professor Vincent explained, is sup
posed to be the lower self asserting itself
over the higher self of the dual PERSONAL
ity. He then elaborated on the arts of the
spellbinder, telling how the patent medi-
cine vendor on the street corner describes
certain symptoms until thirty out of fifty
men In his audience will put their hands