The Washington herald., 1922-12-18
By DR.. EMILE COUE.

and II Is easy to understand why.
Indeed, by following out my ad-
vice. it is impossible to fail, ex-
cept in the case OF the two
classes Of persons previously men
toned. who represent barely .
per cent OF the whole.
The two classes are, first,
those incapable mentally of grasp
ing the principle of AutosuEges-
ton and, second, those who will
not understand.
II. however, you try to put
your subjects to sleep right away
without the explanations and
preliminary experiments neces-
sary to bring them to accept the
suggestions and to transform
them into Autosuggestions, you
cannot. and Will not. succeed, ex-
cept with peculiarly sensitive sub
jects.
And sensitive subjects are rare.
Everybody may become SO by
training, but few are sufficiently
so without the preliminary in
struction.
CHALLENGE SKEPTICS.
Formerly. imagining that sug.
gestions could be given only dur
ing sleep, I always tried to put
my patient to sleep; but on dis
covering that it was not indis-
pensable, l left off doing it in
order to spare him the dread and
uneasiness he almost always ex-
perienced when he is told that
he is going TO be sent to sleep,
and which often makes him offer,
in spite of himself. an involun-
tary resistance to the treaement.
II. on the contrary, you tell
him that you are not going to
put him to sleep, as there is no
need to do so. you gain his con-
fidence. He listens to you with
out fear or any ulterior thought.
and it often happens-if not the
first time, anyway very soon
that, soothed by the monotonous
sound OF your voice. he falls
into a deep sleep from which he
wakes. astonished at having slept
at all.
II there are sceptlcs among
my readers-as I am quite sure
there are-all i have to say TO
them is: Come to my house
and see what is being done. and
you will be convinced by fact"
NOT ONLY METHOD.
You must not, however, run
away with the idea that auto
suggestion can be brought about
only in the way l have described.
1t is possible to make sugges-
tions to people without their
knowledge and without any prep
aration. For instance. if a doc
tor who. by his title alone, has
a suggestive influence on his pa
tient. tells him that he can do
rothing for him and that his
illness is incurable, he provokes
in the mind of the patient an
autosuggestion which may have
the most disastrous consequences.
II, however, he tells the pa
tienl that his illness is. it is
true. a serious one, but that with
care. time and patience he can
be cured. the physician some
times, and even often. obtains
results which will surprise him.
VALUE OF MEDICINE.
Here is another example: II a
doctor, after examining his pa
tient, writes a prescription and
gives it to him without any COM
ment, the remedies prescribed
will not have much chance OF
succeeding. If. on the other
hand, he explains to his patient
that such and such medicines
must be taken in such and such
conditions, and that they will
produce certain results, those
results are practically certain to
be brought about.
II among my readers there
are medical men or brother chem
lists, I hope they will not think
me an enemy. ! am. on the
contrary, their best friend On
the one hand. I should like to
see the theoretical and practical
study of Suggestion on the syl-
labus of the medical schools for
the great benefit not only Of
the sick, but of the doctors
themselves.
And on the other hand, In my
opinion, every time a patient goes
to see his doctor, the Doctor
should order him one. or even
several medicines. even IL they
are not necessary.
As a matter Of fact. when a
patient Visits his Doctor. u 70 n