CONCENTRATIONof panic, fright, or deep emotion of any kind, manifest the
imitative tendency of sheep, and the tendency of cattle and
horses to "stampede" under imitation.
... [In both hypnosis and revival meetings] the attention
and interest is attracted by the unusual procedure; the element
of mystery and awe is induced by words and actions calculated
to inspire them; the senses are tired by monotonous talk in an
impressive and authoritative tone; and finally the suggestions
are projected in a commanding, suggestive manner familiar to all
students of hypnotic suggestion. The subjects in both cases are
prepared for the final suggestions and commands by previously
given minor suggestions such as, in the case of the hypnotist,
"stand up" or "look this way" and so on; in the case of the
revivalist, by something like "all those who think so-and-so,
stand up" or "all who are willing to become better, stand up:'
The impressionable subjects are thus accustomed to obedience
to suggestion by easy stages. And, finally, the commanding
suggestion: "Come right up ... right up ... this way-right
up ... come, I say, come, come, cornel" ... which takes the
impressed ones right off their feet and rushes them to the
front are almost precisely the same in the hypnotic experiment
or seance, on the one hand, and the sensational revival, on
the other. Every good revivalist would make a good hypnotic
operator, and every good hypnotic operator would make a
good revivalist, if his mind were turned in that direction.
In the revival, the person giving the suggestions has the
advantage of breaking down the resistance of his audience by
arousing their sentiments and emotions. Tales depicting the
influence of mother, home, and heaven ... tend to reduce one to
the state of emotional response, and render them most suscep-
tible to strong, repeated suggestions along the same line ....
The element of fear is also invoked in the revival .... The
fear of a sudden death in an unconverted condition is held
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