Modern spiritism; its science and religion - SpiritArchive.org

COLLECTIVE HYPNOSIS 171
pages, but I doubt not that each of my readers can
give just as good instances of this gigantic national
hypnosis as I can.
Sanity no Protection
No falsehood seemed too great to believe,
and no
person too truthful to tell it. No amount of sanity
seemed a sufficient protection against the overwhelming
delusion. Surely anything in "collective
hypnotism" at seances or elsewhere is easily possible
after this.
The belief moreover was not vague, it was circumstantial;
it gave dates and places, the smallest and
most accurate details, and even sketches of what
never occurred, and was never heard nor seen
only believed in. The hallucination was universal
!
Consider the circumstances. Our forces were
retreating; the dreaded Huns were at our throats.
The fall of Paris was but a matter of a very short
time, the Government already having left it. England
had strained every nerve to place adequate
forces in the field; but all were too few, all was
insufficient, there was no help.
When, suddenly, there was light in the darkness!
"The Russians were coming!" "But how?" for
European travel was impossible. "Direct from
Archangel" came the reassuring answer, and England
drew one long breath of relief. "Yes, they were
coming! In thousands, in tens of thousands, in
hundreds of thousands!"