sleeping, it will _do so_. And here I beg the reader to recall what I
said regarding the resolving to begin any task, that it can be greatly
aided by even a brief pre-determination. In all cases it is a kind of
self-suggestion. There would seem to be some magic virtue in sleep, as
if it preserved and ripened our wishes, hence the injunction in the
proverbs of all languages to sleep over a resolve, or subject--and
that "night brings counsel."

It is not necessary that this sleep shall be _hypnotic_, or what is
called hypnotic slumber, since, according to very good authorities,
there is grave doubt as to whether the so-called condition is a sleep
at all. _Hypnotism_ is at any rate a suspension of the faculties,
resembling sleep, caused by the will and act of the operator. He
effects this by fixing the eyes on the patient, making passes as in
Mesmerism, giving a glass of water, or simply commanding sleep. And
this, as Dr. COCKE has experienced and described, can be produced to a
degree by anyone on himself. But as I have verified by experiment, if
we, after retiring to rest at night, will calmly yet firmly resolve to
do something on the following day, or be as much as possible in a
certain state of mind, and if we then fall into ordinary natural
sleep, just as usual, we may on waking have forgotten all about it,
yet will none the less feel the impulse and carry out the
determination.

What gives authority for this assertion, for which I am indebted
originally to no suggestion or reading, is the statement found in
several authorities that a man can "hypnotize" another without putting
him to sleep; that is, make him unconsciously follow suggestion.

I had read in works on hypnotism of an endless number of experiments,