The power of control over the impressible condition (which is so easily developed into hypnotism) has been recently illustrated in France, and reports of the phenomena published in the _London News_, concerning which Mr. Charles Dawbarn has published the following in the _Banner of Light_:
"According to the reports published in the _Daily News_ of London, Eng., an attempt has been made by physicians in Paris, France, to determine the duration of an hypnotic influence. Some of my readers may not be aware that 'hypnotism' is a word coined by the medical faculty to replace the term 'mesmerism,' which they consider disreputably associated with spiritualism. These physicians seem to have had some very fine sensitives upon whom to operate. The first experiment was upon a lady of some means, but having a mother and sister dependent upon her for support. The hypnotizer first established his influence in the usual manner, and then told the lady he wished her to go to a lawyer the next day, and make her will in his favor. She protested, but finally gave way. All memory of this promise seemed to be lost as soon as she returned to her normal condition. But next day she went to a lawyer, and although he begged her to remember her mother and sister, the will was made just as suggested by the physician. She was an affectionate daughter and told the lawyer she was impelled to leave her property to a stranger by _an influence which she could not resist_.
"A second experiment with another sensitive was then tried. This time the poor girl promised to poison a friend next day, she carried away with her a dose prepared by the doctor. Not knowing why, and like the other sensitive, _under an influence she could not resist_, she gave her friend the harmless drug in a glass of milk, and thus enacted the part of a murderer.
"These experiments have the novelty of having been made by the regular faculty; but thousands of Spiritualists have proved the truth of an hypnotic influence lasting long after the apparent release of the sensitive. We know, or ought to know, that the hypnotic condition can be induced without visible passes; and many of us have seen a sensitive under influence sitting quietly, showing no sign of her slavery to the will of another. We may go yet a step further and assert that men and women, visible and invisible, are constantly psychologizing each other, although we only use the term "sensitive" when the effect is visible to our dull senses.