Evening star., 1923-01-10
Coue Planning to Stamp Out
Crime by Autosuggestion
French SaUant Sees Cure for Social IUs
of World in Practice of His Method
for Helping Physically Infirm.

some time ago the papers were huli
of details of daring train robbery.
Immediately afterward there was a
repetition of the crime perpetrated In
exactly the same manner and WITHIN
fortnight five or six similar train
assaults took place, the details of
execution being identical in all cases.
The epidemic was the result of sug-
geStion.
Epidemic in Paris.
Only week or so ago Paris had q
strange and striking illustration OF
the power of suggestion and auto
suggestion, the one provoking the
other and translating them into acts.
A maniac pricked a woman shopping
in a dry goods tore, with a needle
or syringe, injecting some liquid
which caused a swelling of the part
affected CASUALLY the arm or hfp).
about 1t and the next day two or
three other similar cases were re-
corded. The number continued to
grow till the victims were counted In
scores, and not the least strange
feature was that. while suggestion
created the "prickers," autosugges-
tion created the victims. numbers OF
women being led by sheer magma
tion TO believe themselves "priCked
, and to feel the pain of a sudden jap
lCuriously enough, there was a SINH
lar epidemic In the time of Louis Nv.
gion is to be found in the "scalping
series in the seventeenth century
when for a certain period not day
passed without one or more women
being shorn of their hair by mad
Drained ruffians. Twenty years ago
there was a similar epidemic
The cinema-the movies-again
must be regarded in some respects as
school of crime by reason of the
terrible effects of suggestion on ILL
M fO a6 mi AND
the the craze of the Nick Carter style
of story has been responsible for the
wrecking of many young lives in my
country.
Good for Reformatories.
The role of suggestion in provoking
crime being thus demonstrated, 1t is
logical to assume that suggestion Is
crime. The idea is everything, since
it carries the germ of action. There
is vast scope for suggestion in re,
formatories. 1t could be practiced
at first, the good ground would soon
be discovered by its fruit. Then the
good should be separated from the
bad, for, by virtue of the eternal Ia"
of the contagion of ideas, the SUD
jects Influenced by the suggestions
the neighborhood of the refractory
ones would tend to add to their re-
sistance to good suggestions.
To people who ask il vice really
can be conquered, 1 answer, emphati-
cally. yes. BY suggestion. long and
Ioft-repeated, the character can be
modified. A proof that education Cor
suggestion) does modify character is
that the instinct of Representation.
the strongest of all, can be overcome
as witness the many acts of sublime
and total self-sacrifice in favor OF
others recorded by every epoch.
Could Rescue Criminals.
Suggestion acts as a brake to bad
instincts; that is its negative role.
ing as a propelling force for good
impulses. Applied systematically,
scientifically, there is no doubt that a
large portion of the classes branded
as "criminar" could be reclaimed and
thousands of outcasts transformed
into clean thinking, clean-llVlng anu
useful citizens.
This is naturally especially true In
regard to the young, with their keen.
vigorous imagination open to every
impression. Surely it is the duty or
those in authority to see that their
better than the germs of crime. The
susceptibility of youth is such that
il is easy (save in the fortunately
rare cases of wholly bad characters
to create vivid images or ideas of
good actions in their minds. Once
anchored in the subconscious. those
ideas must inevitably develop and
eventually exteriorize themselves in
acts.
Copyright 1923. United States. Great
Britain. Canada and South America, by North
American Newspaper Alliance and New, York
reserved. Unlicensed Reproduction in full or
in part expressly prohibited