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THE KEY OF KNOWLEDGE.
tion to counteract its effect. The suggestion of wholeness' may be made by one person to another, as by a mental healer to his patient; it may also be made by the patient himself, in which case it is known as autosuggestion. In the words of Hudson, “ Other things being equal, an auto-suggestion is more potent than a suggestion from an extraneous source, for the simple reason that an auto-suggestion is generally backed by the objective convictions of the patient, whereas a suggestion by another may directly contravene the patient's objective reason and experience, not that the latter may not be effective when it is made with force and persistence, but that the former is more easily and naturally effective, either as a moral or therapeutic agency."
As regards preventive suggestion, the same writer maintains :
"It is always easy to prevent an adverse suggestion from taking effect in the mind; and that is by not allowing it to find an entrance, To that end one should never allow himself to think, much less to talk, on the subject of the wholesomeness or digestibility of food that is set before him."
What is true in respect of physical health is, also, equally true in respect of mental well-being, the rule governing them both being the same, namely, 'as one thinks, so one becomes.' We see the power of thought conspicuously in evidence during epidemics, when more persons suffer from fright than from the epidemic itself.
Prevention and cure of evil, therefore, lie within the power of all, the certainty and permanency of results depending on the degree of knowledge and its legitimate use. Mr. Hudson is seemingly right in saying :
"When that knowledge is attained, every mother will have in
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