The seance— where people are seemingly under some
hypnotic spell — suggests collective hypnotism. A large
gathering of jyeople, coming under the spell of an orator,
becomes a giant personality, that can wield a great
power for evil or good. All great orators are close
students of mass-psychology.
The best illustration of collective hypnotism on a
national scale was given by England and America dur-
ing the World War.
All England and Scotland were involved in one
gigantic delusion of the supposed presence of tens of
thousands of Russian soldiers, at the close of 1914.
Grave parsons had seen trainloads of Russian soldiers,
sticking out their heads out of the train Windows shout-
ing Russian as they passed some station. Constables
guarded bridges over which Russian trains crossed.
Prom Aberdeen came letters to friends in London from
persons who had seen four trainloads of Russians dis-



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patched south. Some helped to serve them refreshments
at stations and others saw thousands of them off at the
docks.
What was the psychological situation? The English
forces were heing driven back, and Paris was in danger
of being captured. From whence could help come?
Why from Archangel direct to England. This news
spread like wildfire and all England drew a breath of
relief. Yes, they were coming in thousands^ tens of
thousands and hundreds of thousandB.
All England went out to welcome them. They stood
on the bridges and cheered the Russianfi — , they saw
them in thousands; they heard their language, but
there were no Russians. All England was hypnotized.
