Principles of Drama-Therapy by Stephen F. Austin, B. A. A Handbook for Dramatists, Dealing with the Possibilities of Suggestion and the Mass Mind Serere Ne Dubites New York Sopherim 1917 Copyright, 1917 by Robert Austin Brunjes BLANCHARD PRESS NEW YORK To My Mother 2019C40 . . . all things . . . are at the mercy of a new generaliza- tion. Generalization is always a new influx of the divinity into the mind. Hence the thrill that attends it. Emerson. Since these things are so, and since tremendous power lies occluded within the popular mind, may not America, with her genius for things practical, harness such unseen Niagaras to the general well-being of mankind? In do- ing so she would have revivified a theater that is already obsolescent, and would have created a truly American drama, based upon truly American ideals. CONTENTS I. THE FACTORS OF PERSONALITY 1 II. THE COMPOSITE PERSONALITY 8 III. THE BASIC CONCEPT 14 IV. THE BECOMING OF THE BODY '. 19 V. THE BECOMING OF THE FACULTIES. ... 27 VI. THE ORGANISM OF THE THEATER 35 VII. THE ULTRA-COMEDY 48 VIII. THE SUBJECTIVE STRUCTURE 58 IX. THE PLAY-PERSONALITY 60 X. THE PERSONALITY OF THE BACKGROUND 83 XI. DRAMATIC SELECTION AND CONCLUSION 99 THE ATOMIC, CORPUSCULAR AND ELECTRONIC THEORIES OF MATTER. . . 107 FOREWORD In approaching the subject matter of the pres- ent volume the author is beset at once with many difficulties of exposition. The conception with which it deals is still young and so far as the gen- eral reader is concerned there is little or no body of past experience to which appeal may be made by way of illustration. Since this is the case, and since in the subsequent pages abstract reasoning must play a considerable part, it is best at once to define our terms and briefly to state the ques- tion. What then is meant by drama-therapy? Therapy is derived from a Greek word mean- ing to heal or to cure, and in its present form im- plies the art or science of healing. It most fre- quently occurs, however, in connection with some modifying term. This is true in the case of the word, psycho-therapy; psycho being another Greek derivative meaning soul. Psycho-therapy, therefore, means the art or science of soul-healing, or preferably, the art or science of healing ~by means, or through the instrumentality, of the soul. It is today a recognized branch of medical prac- tice and as such is being employed in many of our leading hospitals. By analogy the term, drama-therapy, which the author has been forced to coin to cover a new idea and which he offers only in lieu of something bet- FOREWORD ter, would denote the art or science of healing by means, or through the instrumentality ', of the drama, or, by means, or through the instrumental- ity, of dramatic presentation. It is his purpose in the following pages to point out certain relations existing between audience and stage which, after careful consideration, would appear to render such an art or such a science as drama-therapy something more than a mere dream. In them the subject is dealt with in as much detail as is consonant with clearness and with the findings of scientific inquiry; and if the reader will follow the argument carefully, with a mind unwarped by preconceived ideas, the chances are he will find that a curative drama is not only a present possibility, but that it presup- poses, also, only a mere extension in the appli- cation of known laws. He will find, moreover, that these laws themselves, as well as their ex- tended application through the medium of the stage, are understandable and simple in the ex- treme. And if these findings be sound, and if the amelioration even of the most minor disorders can, in very fact, be made an appanage of author- ship, it is at once apparent that the subject of drama-therapy is of prime importance, not only to the writer and to all branches of the theatrical profession, but to the general public as well. It is because of such considerations that the FOREWORD author commends the contents of the present vol- ume to the thoughtful attention of the reader. Before closing these preliminary remarks there is another point that deserves mention: since the inception of this book a number of writers have begun working definitely for the goal herein in- dicated. These men and women, assembled in the first instance by a sympathy of aims and ideals, have, for purposes of practical co-opera- tion in the creation and disposal of their work, banded together into a literary fraternity, styling themselves Sopherim. This society invites cor- respondence with all creative workers, literary or otherwise, who feel an interest in the aims ex- pressed in this volume. THE AUTHOR, New York, January 1, 1917. The Bramhall Playhouse, 138 East 27th Street. CHAPTER I THE FACTORS or PERSONALITY THERE is today a formidable array of vol- umes dealing with the drama, but, although the delineation of human character is the one aim of the dramatic art, few writers upon the subject have devoted any great amount of space to the consideration of the one fundamental factor that is, to human personality itself. This basic error the present volume hopes to avoid by con- sidering briefly, first, the factor of personality as it appears in the individual; secondly, the factor of personality as it appears in the group; and finally, after moderately definite ideas in regard to personality itself have been formulated, to de- duce a method by which these ideas may find prac- tical application in dramatic composition. Ap- proached in this manner the chances are that a discussion of the laws of dramaturgy will lead us into most interesting fields. If the reader were asked to define human per- sonality he would probably reply that it con- sists of body and mind ; and his definition would be perfectly right as far as it goes, the only trouble being that it does not go deep enough. Let us, then, examine these two component parts of personality and see whether or not they may not be subjected to further analysis. 2 PRINCIPLES OF DRAMA-THERAPY The body has always been easily available for study, and today we are fairly well acquainted with its composition, structure and functioning, as our text-books upon anatomy and physiology show. But however we subject its various tis- sues to chemical analysis the result is always the same the body consists simply of so much mat- ter in varying degrees of organization. And al- though our views of matter itself have under- gone a most decided change during the past dec- ade, still, for present purposes, it is sufficient to regard it as the basic element in the economy of the body. And during the last century and a quarter scientists have been subjecting the second mem- ber of personality, the mind, to similar searching inquiry under the general heading of psychol- ogy. The results of these investigations have been uniformly the same; the mind has always been found to consist of two basic elements each of which is incapable of further analysis. This conclusion was reached in the following fashion: It was observed that in the normal state the mind was able to reason both inductively and de- ductively. In certain abnormal states, however, all inductive ability disappeared leaving only the deductive mind, or portion of the mind, active. Deductive reasoning is the pure syllogism, which, starting with given premises, shows why THE FACTORS OF PERSONALITY 6 such and such a conclusion must necessarily fol- low. Any or all of the premises may be false, and consequently the conclusion may be absurd and erroneous but to discover fallacies in a premise is not the province of the deductive method. Inductive reasoning, on the other hand, com- pares a number of isolated facts until it per- ceives the common factor embodied in all. It is thus concerned not with drawing the logical con- clusion proceeding from given premises, but rather with selecting and determining the truth of each and every premise itself. Now if the reader will carefully consider these two diametrically opposite modes of mental ac- tivity, he will see that inductive reasoning im- plies a power of totally independent action on the part of the thinking entity. And a state- ment of the power of independent action is, again, nothing more nor less than a statement of the power of choice, or of the ability to originate trains of causation. We cannot avoid the infer- ence, therefore, that there is, occluded away in every personality, an element whose distinguish- ing characteristic is its ability to select and to originate. Deductive reasoning, on the other hand, im- plies no such power of independent action. In- deed, the deductive method cannot be entered 4 PRINCIPLES OF DRAMA-THERAPY into until some premise has been selected; there- fore that element in the mind which reasons only in this fashion, is not identical with, but rather presupposes the existence, and the action, of an originative element. Thus our initial definition of human person- ality must be revised, for instead of being merely a composition of mind and body, it consists rather of an originative element, a deductive element, and a material element. All we can ever know of the originative mem- ber of human personality must be gleaned by observing its action as it manifests through the conscious faculties of the individual. These, since they are able to reason both inductively and deductively, appear to be, like personality itself, a synthetic product a composite, as it were, of an originative member and a deductive member, as these two factors function simultaneously through their physical instrument, the brain. For the connection between the conscious, or objec- tive, faculties and the brain is intimate in the ex- treme, the state of the latter at any given time conditioning the functioning of the former. In regard to the second member of human personality, however, we are much more for- tunately situated; for, as has been said, in cer- tain abnormal states all power of origination dis- appears, leaving the deductive mind, or portion THE FACTORS OF PERSONALITY 5 of the mind, dominant. When this condition supervenes its functioning and its effects can be observed with the greatest clarity. Now it is this mind, or portion of the mind, to which psy- chologists have affixed the names subconscious or subjective, that is active in hypnosis, and that gives rise to the hypnotic phenomena. And here it may be noted that the subjective mind is by no means dependent upon the brain, but seems to function indifferently throughout the entire body. The phenomena of hypnosis are most varied in kind, and some are more or less startling in na- ture; but one and all reveal the fact that the psychic element from which they spring, has, to produce them, been acting in accordance with some premise conveyed to it from a source pos- sessing the power of selection and of origination. Sometimes the premise originates in the conscious faculties of the individual himself, and when this occurs the resulting phenomenon is said to have been induced by self -hypnosis, or by auto-sug- gestion. Or the premise may originate in the conscious faculties of another. In this case the result is said to have been induced simply by suggestion, and should be classed among the phenomena of hypnotism. This does not mean, however, that the impulse to which the subjective element responds can pro- O PRINCIPLES OF DRAMA-THERAPY ceed only from the objective faculties of the in- dividual himself or those of another, for this would restrict the action of the originative ele- ment to the realm of consciousness. It means simply that the originative impulse frequently comes by way of the objective route. When it does, it comes in the shape of a concept, or an idea. From these considerations it appears that the psychic, or subjective, element is entirely under the control of the originative element; in fact, that is what the term subjective implies. Of it- self it is inert and dead until set in motion by the action of its associate. Once, however, it has been set in motion and has been provided with its nec- essary premise in the shape of a concept, or an idea, if the impulse come by way of the conscious route it proceeds to work upon it deductively, and to carry it out to its most rigorously logical result, its power in this respect appearing to be almost unlimited. Thus it is that the psychic element is receptive and executive in nature, its mode of action being always determined by the nature of the premise selected by its originative mate. But a careful consideration of the hypnotic phenomena reveals more than this : it reveals the fact that the same determining relation which sub- sists between the originative element and the THE FACTORS OF PERSONALITY 7 psychic element, subsists, also, between the psychic element and the third member of personality i.e. the body. And it is just this determining re- lation of the psychic element to the body which renders the sciences of psycho-therapy and psy- cho-analysis possible, and which will explain, moreover, all phenomena of religious healing. Concerning its mode and extent more will be said later on. Thus again we must modify our definition of human personality. It is, it appears, like a mathe- matical ratio of three terms an originative ele- ment, a psychic element, and a material element in which the psychic element bears to the other two the relation of the mean to the extremes. Thus, denoting the terms by x, y } and z, respect- ively, x is to y as y is to z: or simply, x \y\\y \z. If this formula be borne in mind it will make much that follows clearer. Now, from the above, we may draw the practi- cal inference that, if the three factors named con- stitute the living personality, the fact of life con- sists of the interaction which normally takes place among these three component parts. CHAPTER II THE COMPOSITE PERSONALITY The mesmeric, or as it is now called, the hyp- notic state, presents a condition in which there is no longer the normal interaction of an element which originates and an element which receives and executes, functioning simultaneously through their usual instrument, a single human body. On the contrary, it presents an analysis of these fac- tors, the operator, or hypnotizer, assuming the role of the originative member, and the subject, or per- son hypnotized, playing the part of the passive, receptive and executive member while their col- lective brain and body provides the physical in- strument through which the composite personality thus formed functions. Such a composite personality is by no means a new thing in the natural order. It will be re- membered that the first appearance of life was as a single cell which, if we grant the evolutionary hypothesis, must have contained within itself both the originative and the executive elements. At this point, it should be noted, reproduction is by means of simple cell division. Later on, however, one individual assumed the originative, and another the receptive and execu- tive, roles: and when their assumption of these two roles was complete the individuals had be- THE COMPOSITE PERSONALITY 9 come male and female cells respectively. Thence- forth, reproduction was accomplished by the action of the originative male upon the receptive and executive female the product springing, after a period of incubation, directly from the executive, formative member. At this point the male and female cells, considered as a unit, con- stitute a composite personality, reproducing in and among its component parts the same elements and relations which subsisted upon the inside in the case of the sexless cell of the earlier stage. Yet later the same life-impulse which had re- sulted in the integration of male and female ele- ments appears to have drawn the cells, for pur- poses of subsistence, together into a cell-colony. When this secondary process of integration was complete the colony, and not the cell, had become the individual. This is true as far down in the biological scale as the lower order of sponges, the first intimation of the process appearing, among existing species, with Volvox Globator a point where animal life is scarcely yet differen- tiated from the vegetable. With the new organisms thus formed the ear- liest method of reproduction was by means of budding a process in every way analogous to the cell division of the preceding stage for here again the originative and formative elements sub- sist within, and function through, a single body. 10 PRINCIPLES OF DRAMA-THERAPY Later, however, these new organisms, each com- posed of millions of tiny cells, became differen- tiated into male and female organisms ; and from thenceforth reproduction was by means of the action of the originative male upon the receptive and formative female the product springing, after a period of incubation, directly from the formative member. At this point, again, the male and female organisms, considered as a unit, con- stitute a composite personality, reproducing upon the outside the same elements and relations which subsisted upon the inside in the case of the sexless organism of the earlier stage. Yet higher in the scale, the same life-impulse which had resulted in the integration of male and female elements, is seen drawing the individuals, for purposes of subsistence, together into a col- ony. Thus we have the social insects such as the ants and bees. In these communities each individ- ual corresponds to a cell in a cell-colony; the only difference is that they have been welded simply into a group, and not into a single body. That larger and overruling individuality, how- ever, which always results from these processes of integration, appears as such a distinct entity that writers upon the subject have recognized it, and have named it the spirit of the hive. If, in the case of the ants and bees, this proc- ess of integration were carried a step further, THE COMPOSITE PERSONALITY 11 we might conceive of the hive or the ant-hill as becoming the individual at first devoid of sex, and reproducing by a process analogous to cell- fission. Later, however, sex would appear among the individuals thus formed, and thereafter gen- eration would be accomplished by means of the action of the originative male upon the receptive and formative female. And these two, consid- ered as a unit, would constitute another compos- ite personality, and would supply the starting- point for yet another process of integration, which, when complete, would give rise to another sexless product. In terms of human beings the same process is repeated, for if men and women be considered as the units, reproduction is by means of sex. How- ever, if the composite personality of the family be regarded as the unit, the originative and forma- tive elements subsist within, and function through, the unit itself, and reproduction is by means of budding. Thus the terms of the evolutionary or creative process are clear, for they consist of nothing more nor less than a series of analyses and integrations of the originative and formative elements, which subsist within the evolving and procreating en- tities. Each successive analysis or integration takes place, however, always at a higher level. But, whether the interaction take place upon 12 PRINCIPLES OF DRAMA-THERAPY the interior plane, as in the case of the sexless organisms, or upon the exterior plane between fully developed male and female entities, creation, it should be remembered, is always the result of the action of an originative element upon a recep- tive and formative one. And, no matter how we may delude ourselves into thinking otherwise, this is the only process that has yet appeared either in the evolutionary or in the human scheme. For the same elements and relations that have given rise to the biological tree are at work in the group, the state and the nation. In industry, for in- stance, it is the action of originative capital upon receptive and executive labor that gives rise to the commercial product the product springing, after its period of formation, directly from the executive member. And an analysis of any gath- ering, or of any organization, will reveal a dupli- cation and a reduplication of these same elements and relations, and of this same interaction taking place among them. But let us return to the phenomenon of hypno- tism, which, as has been said, presents an analysis of those factors which comprise the individual, and which is, also, the first step in forming that composite personality which appears in all groups. The state itself is produced through the opera- tion of the one process mentioned above : the oper- ator assumes the originative, masculine role, and THE COMPOSITE PERSONALITY 13 the subject the receptive, feminine one. But in or- der to make the subject's assumption of the femi- nine role complete, the control of his conscious fac- ulties must be removed, for it will be remembered that the conscious faculties possess the power of origination. This is accomplished by fixing the subject's attention in other words, by prohibit- ing for a time any act of conscious origination. Conversely, the operator assumes a bearing of authority he is nothing if not originative. He then begins to suggest to the subject the state which he desires to produce. He does this with- out arousing opposition, for opposition would im- ply an act of origination and would call the con- scious faculties back into play. And when the idea of the state desired has, by dint of reiteration, become fixed in the subject's mind, his executive, psychic fabric, having accepted it as a premise, works it out to its rigorously logical conclusion; and the state is, in reality, quickly produced. The subject is then said to be hypnotized, and to be en rapport with the operator, his only source of conscious origination. Thus a new personality consisting of an origi- native member, a psychic member, and a physical instrument through which they function, has been built up. CHAPTER III THE BASIC CONCEPT Now that we have analyzed the factors of human personality and have them embodied before us in the persons of the operator and the subject, we are in a position intelligently to ob- serve the interaction that goes on between them. And the first point to be noted is this: there is, operating within the psychic fabric of the sub- ject, that suggestion which was employed by the operator to produce the state. This suggestion, with the idea involved in it, acts as a basic concept: it is the foundation upon which the structure of the state has been built; and, since the psychic ele- ment acts only from a deductive standpoint, we shall now expect the subject to display no activity and no phenomenon that is not included in this basic concept, or that does not spring logically from it. The subject is thus shut up within a circle the confines of which are determined by the breadth of the basic concept which has given rise to the state. This circle prescribes limits even to the activity of the operator himself, for he can induce in the subject no phenomena that contra- dict this basic concept. What the operator can do, however, is to sub- stitute for any given state another state based upon a broader concept; and as soon as this is 14 THE BASIC CONCEPT 15 done the subject Mail display new activities cor- responding to the new state. This, the necessity of a basic concept, is a point that should always be borne in mind, for it is of prime importance in attempting those wider ap- plications of which the laws of suggestive therapy logically admit. It has, moreover, important bearings upon education, upon insanity, and, in fact, upon every phase of human life. For in the psychic fabric of every one of us, no less than in the psychic member of the composite personality which we have been considering, basic concepts are at work which determine and limit the activi- ties. It is this necessity of a basic concept which gives rise to the various phases of hypnosis, each with its peculiar phenomena, a few of which will now be considered. The suggestion usually employed to produce the hypnotic state contains as its basic concept the idea of sleep. When this suggestion has be- come operative in the psychic fabric the subject exhibits only those phenomena that are included under that caption. The muscles are relaxed ; the senses are dormant, or only slightly active. This stage is called the lethargic stage, because leth- argy is its dominant characteristic. However, if the suggestion employed convey, not the idea of sleep, but, let us say, the idea of 16 PRINCIPLES OF DRAMA-THEEAPY fright, a totally different state is produced. It is characterized by a statuesque immobility. The muscles are rigid and will retain the most diffi- cult postures for hours without apparent fatigue. This phase is called the cataleptic stage. In it the subject is little more than an automaton. Catalepsy may be induced, in general terms, by the application of any stimulus that implies recoil. A thunder-clap, or the sounding of an unexpected gong, is often sufficient to cause it in persons of a nervous temperament. A ray of light falling upon the eye of a subject in the lethargic state will produce it instantly. In the animal world the phenomenon of catalepsy plays a conspicuous role, for to it zoologists attribute the immobility of birds and of small mammals under the gaze of certain reptiles. Those insects, also, which feign death upon being touched, have, without doubt, been thrown into a cataleptic con- dition. But if the suggestion employed to produce an hypnotic state contain as its basic concept, not the idea of dormance, nor the idea of recoil, but, let us say, an idea of increased activity along one or more lines, yet a third state is produced which is often as far above normal as the states of lethargy and catalepsy are below. This is called the som- nambulistic stage, and to it the real wonders of hypnotism belong, including phenomena of per- THE BASIC CONCEPT 17 ception and of ideation which appear to set time and space at naught. These will be reverted to later on. The foregoing are typical and frequently oc- current hypnotic states; and, since the sole condi- tion of hypnotism is that some concept shall be- come dominant in the psychic fabric to the ex- clusion of objective control, one may postulate any number of hypnotic states, each taking its character from the nature of that concept. And many types of insanity, as well as moments of in- tense creative activity, are, without doubt, self- induced hypnotic states. But, no matter how great the number of pos- sible hypnotic states may be, the basic concepts which give rise to them must, of necessity, fall under one of two general headings. They must be either positive or negative with respect to the individual: they must be either concepts of good or concepts of bad. If they are negative with re- spect to the individual, the states to which they give rise are states of depression, and the phe- nomena pertaining to those states are phenomena of subnormality . If, however, they are positive with respect to the individual, the resulting states are states of stimulation whose phenomena are supernormal in nature. From these considerations we may draw the practical inference that the psychic element is per- 18 PRINCIPLES OF DRAMA-THERAPY petually in a state of becoming a becoming that may consist of a diminishing or an augmenting, of a deadening or a quickening, according to the nature of the basic concept operating in it at the time. But whether the concept operative at any given time result in depression or in stimulation, it should be remembered that the ability to change the state by altering the basic concept must for- ever reside in the originative member of the per- sonality. Thus, in the composite personality which we are now considering, the skilful operator is able to change lethargy into catalepsy and cata- lepsy into somnambulism at will. He may even produce one phase in one half of the body and an- other phase in the other half at the same time a circumstance which has revealed important anatomical relations. Here it may interest the reader to know that the psychic entity, or, if he prefer, the soul, residing in every one of us, is none other than "the poor little girl" of fairy-tale. At first she was hor- ribly maltreated, and, according to many of the stories, was clad only in rags, and in very dirty rags at that. Later, however, as in many of the versions of Cinderella, her apparel was woven "of sunlight of the stars and of night and of the pink tints of morning." And always in the end she is wedded to the Prince. CHAPTER IV THE BECOMING OF THE BODY It was pointed out in the opening chapter that the psychic element bears to the body the same determining relation that the originative mem- ber of personality bears to the psychic. And this determining relation is well illustrated in the common vaudeville trick where the hypnotic operator often induces catalepsy to such an ex- tent that the subject, with only the extremities of the body supported, is able to sustain the com- bined weight of four or five men. This influence of the condition of the psychic element upon the condition of its physical instru- ment, however, extends far deeper than mere mat- ters of muscular contraction. In fact, by tests conducted in the psychic clinic, it has been found to extend to, and to condition, every process of the body, from the functioning of the glands and organs to such interior matters as circulation, excretion of the cells, and even growth. Fifteen years ago the scientific world was far from accepting the psychic element in the role of determining agent in bodily conditions; and the reason for this was that the average man of medi- cine viewed the body itself as a cause, and not simply as an effect. This fundamental fallacy arose, it would seem, from the apparent rigidity 19 20 PRINCIPLES OF DRAMA-THERAPY of matter when viewed from the outside. And yet, if he had only remembered that the matter of which the body is composed had itself gone through successive stages of organization and growth, from the fertilized ovum so small as to be almost microscopic, on up into the adult being, he could scarcely have avoided the inference that, from the standpoint of the interior power which thus organizes it, matter is must be a perfect- ly plastic substance to be shaped and molded at will. Now the point of chief interest is this: since the close of the last century the final analysis of mat- ter has been accomplished : and we now know, by tests of actual experiment, that matter, in its in- most nature, is just the perfectly plastic substance which we might have inferred it to be by observ- ing the phenomenon of growth. And we are reasonably certain of a little more than this: we are now reasonably certain that matter has no existence in itself, but is simply a condition of the primary ether out of which all forms appear at last analysis to have been concentrated. These truths find their respective scientific ex- pression in the Corpuscular and Electronic the- ories of matter, and because of their importance the author has subjoined, on page 107, a brief statement of the theories themselves, together with an account of the discoveries which led up to them. THE BECOMING OF THE BODY 21 When this, the now definitely ascertained na- ture of matter, is borne in mind, it is no longer difficult to ascribe to the psychic element a deter- mining role in relation to the body, nor to explain the phenomenon of psychic cure nor, indeed, such bizarre occurrences as cases of stigmatiza- tion, or the spontaneous appearance upon the flesh of blisters, wounds, scars, or other disfigur- ing marks, of which the history of miracle is full. In F. W. H. Myers' work, Human Person- ality (Vol. 1; p. 492 ff.), the reader will find the records of two cases of stigmatization which illus- trate in the most striking manner the power of the psychic element in producing effects upon the body. Both involve the periodic appearance of bloody marks upon the flesh. They differ, however, in that in the first case the suggestion which afterwards externalized as the stigmata, was conveyed to the subject while in a state of hypnosis; while in the second, the suggestion clearly originated in the conscious faculties of the subject herself. It is from the consideration of such cases as these, and scores of others, that we have arrived at the practical inference that the body, like the psychic element itself, is continually in a state of becoming a becoming that may at any time con- sist of a diminishing or an augmenting, of a dis- integrating or of an integrating. And since the 22 PRINCIPLES OF DRAMA-THERAPY psychic element bears a determining relation to the body, it should be noted that the becoming of the latter depends upon the nature of the basic concepts operative in the psychic fabric at the time. As has been said, it is upon the truth of this induction that the twin sciences of psycho- therapy and psycho-analysis are based. These two sciences are, respectively, the ob- verse and the reverse of the coin: they are sim- ilar in that striking cures have been effected by both. These results, however, are arrived at by diametrically opposite methods. The method of the psycho-analyst, stated in general terms, is as follows: when confronted with a depressed, diseased condition, the phy- sician assumes that the body has already under- gone a certain amount of disintegration by vir- tue of some negative basic concept operating in the psychic fabric. Experience has shown that this concept usually arises from some misconcep- tion of the moral law, with the resulting effort on the part of the individual to repress some desire. Hence has arisen the axiom among one school of analysts that, "repression is the cause and ex- pression the cure." Be that as it may, however, the fact that it is causing trouble shows plainly that the concept is negative in nature. It then becomes the task of the physician to find and to eradicate it from the psychic fabric, assuming THE BECOMING OF THE BODY 23 that when this is done the body will undergo a corresponding change. But here a difficulty presents itself: the patient seldom knows what concept it is that is causing the depression. To bridge this difficulty, there- fore, the physician often has recourse to the pa- tient's dreams, for dreams are a symbolic state- ment of that which is operative within the sub- jective depths. These he records and analyzes, and although in adults their language is often involved and figurative, under careful scrutiny they will usually reveal the dominant concept, or, as some prefer to call it, the fixed idea, which is responsible for the depressed condition. When this has been found, the remaining por- tion of the treatment is simple : it consists merely of leading the patient to suspect some causal re- lation between his idea and his suffering. And the moment that this is done, the same impulse which led him to seek relief, calls his power of origination and selection into play. He now no longer accepts, but consciously rejects, the idea; and when this occurs restoration to health fol- lows, often in the most immediate fashion. The space at the author's disposal does not per- mit dilation of this most interesting subject of dream analysis, and consequently, for a more de- tailed discussion of its theory, its technique, and its achievements, the reader must be referred to 24 PRINCIPLES OF DRAMA-THERAPY standard works upon the subject. These he will find listed in the bibliography at the end of the book. Suffice it to say simply that such disorders as blindness and paralysis have vanished under this modern method of soul-surgery. Psycho-therapy, on the other hand, takes just the opposite approach to the problem, for here the physician, instead of endeavoring to eradicate that which is depressing, seeks rather to counter- act it by building in that which is stimulating. To this end the hypnotic state is induced, and the positive concept which the case seems to require is impressed directly upon the subjective fabric by means of suggestion. Thus, Wetterstrand in his work, Hypnotism and its Application to Practical Medicine (page 77) , relates the case of a patient in the last stages of tuberculosis. Acute suffering had been occa- sioned by the failure of the kidneys to function properly; consequently the hypnotic state was resorted to. The physician then suggested a co- pious excretion of urine, with the result that the kidneys responded almost immediately. Now, although in the literature available upon the subject, one will find records of disorders ranging from moral defects to organic troubles, that have been cured or ameliorated through its use, it should be observed that psycho-therapy, as it is practiced, has one vulnerable point. The THE BECOMING OF THE BODY 25 physician must depend upon his own diagnosis to tell him just what positive, constructive sugges- tion is required. And, in the case mentioned above, the fact that the patient died, shows clearly that while the proper functioning of the kidneys was desirable, this alone was not sufficient to save life. This is a difficulty which the psycho-analyst in a measure avoids, for, occupying himself only with the excision of negative concepts, he leaves the building-up process to the recuperative pow- ers of the patient himself. It is just because of this difficulty that psycho- therapeutists are to-day beginning more and more to generalize the positive concepts which they im- press upon their patients. Thus, instead of sug- gesting that this or that organ shall function in a normal manner, there is a tendency for them to suggest, rather, that a general state of health shall be produced; for this general concept of health will cover and correct the depression of any particular part. However, when one begins to generalize posi- tive concepts, one lands, through sheer sequences of logic, in a conception of the Universal, or of Deity. For, turn the matter which way you will, the terms, Universal and Deity, con- vey, to the modern mind at least, the idea of a complete generalization of all positive attributes. Consequently, a conception of Deity, or of the 26 PRINCIPLES OF DRAMA-THERAPY Universal, is a complete generalization of all positive concepts.. Therefore it is that, if a conception of the Uni- versal, or of Deity, embodying the idea of such generalized positive attributes as being, benefi- cence, omnipotence, omnipresence, etc., were ade- quately impressed upon the subjective fabric, one might reasonably expect this concept to act as a terrifically constructive agent, sufficiently broad in its nature to cover and to correct all de- pressed conditions. And this is exactly what takes place in all cases of religious healing, which are none the less di- vine for being intelligible and simple. CHAPTER V THE BECOMING OF THE FACULTIES Physical health is, of course, the most im- portant thing in the world, and it is just this circumstance which renders imperative the application of the simple laws of therapy to larger and larger units of humanity. But there is another phase of the subject that must not be overlooked, and this is the effect of positive, con- structive concepts upon the faculties. From a consideration of the hypnotic phenom- ena we find that the psychic element, which inte- grates or disintegrates the body according to the nature of the basic concept operative in it at the time, also deadens or quickens the intellectual and sensory faculties according to the same simple law. The deadening of the faculties is well illus- trated by another trick common upon the vaude- ville stage, in which the operator produces aphasia to such an extent that the subject upon waking cannot remember his own name. And unless the . inhibiting suggestion be removed, the aphasia will continue, sometimes for years, into the post- hypnotic state. In Animal Magnetism, a work by Binet and Fere, physicians at the Salpetriere clinic in Paris, the reader will find records of many cases of this kind, involving the suspension 27 28 PRINCIPLES OF DRAMA-THERAPY of one or more of the intellectual or sensory fac- ulties, and with reference either krone, or to all, sources of stimulation. The psychic element, however, is just as ready to respond to a positive premise as it is to a nega- tive, privative one ; and when it does the faculties are stimulated, in some instances, astonishingly far above normal. When occurring in terms of the composite personality of the psychic clinic, these phenomena of stimulation are called som- nambulistic phenomena, while the state of the sub- ject is termed somnambulism. When occurring spontaneously in terms of the individual person- ality, however, the individual himself is called a genius, or a prodigy. Now, in terms of the composite personality of the psychic clinic, somnambulism results from any suggestion that implies increased activity along one or more lines. If, simply, the methods of the operator stimulate the imagination of the subject, somnambulism supervenes. If the method in- volve continued tax upon any of the faculties, such as straining to see or to hear, this condition of extreme lucidity again results. Or, finally, any of the other hypnotic states may be turned into somnambulism, often by mere pressure upon the subject's head a gesture which, through an association of ideas if nothing more, would con- vey the required suggestion. And here it may THE BECOMING OF THE FACULTIES 29 interest the reader to note that the phenomenon of second wind, which occurs in the individual per- sonality under continued physical or mental ef- fort, is nothing more nor less than the response of the psychic element to a premise involving the idea of increased activity. In somnambulism, as has been said, all proc- esses are greatly accelerated. Thus, somnam- bules have been observed in whom the senses had been rendered so acute that they were able to fol- low the scent of a rose, or the ticking of a watch, at distances of forty or fifty feet. Such alertness of sense perception, however, scarcely deserves comment when compared with the prodigious feats of memory which the som- nambule is able to perform. For in this state the repeating of page after page of printed matter, which has not been read, perhaps, in years, is by no means an infrequent occurrence ; such phenom- ena indicating, it would seem, that a perfect rec- ord of all past impressions subsists within the subjective fabric a record which is unavailable to the majority of us because of inhibiting and limiting basic concepts operative during what we are accustomed to call the normal state. In somnambulism the purely intellectual fac- ulties also show a commensurate quickening. In- deed, they are sometimes so nearly instantaneous in their functioning that one may question 30 PRINCIPLES OF DRAMA-THERAPY whether the act of reasoning to a conclusion does not become merged in an immediate perception of abstract relations. For, if a somnambule be asked to abstract the square or cube root of a number, the answer is frequently forthcoming before the voice of the operator has died away. In the normal state the abstraction of roots is a laborious process : not so, however, with the som- nambule, once he has been assured that he pos- sesses the necessary ability and knowledge. And other phenomena, also, which involve, not an immediate perception of abstract relations, but an immediate perception of objects and events remote from the percipient either in time or space, occur frequently in the somnambulistic state. These may be summed up under the headings of clairvoyance, clair audience, prescience, psychom- etry, etc., for a detailed description of which the reader must again be referred to the records of the Salpetriere clinic. A good idea of these tran- scendental powers, however, may be gleaned from a case which came under the personal observation of the author several years ago. The incident oc- curred in a mining camp in the mountains of Col- orado, and in connection with a very melodra- matic robbery. In it the somnambules described in all detail a running fight between the robbers and a sheriff's posse a fight which had taken place several hours prior to the sitting, and at dis- THE BECOMING OF THE FACULTIES 31 tances of from twenty to thirty miles away. They then described the capture of the highwaymen by the same posse an event which, it was subse- quently learned, did not take place until the fol- lowing day. Interesting as these phenomena are, however, by far the most fascinating phase of the present question is the role played by the imagination in the economy of the composite personality of the psychic clinic. For it will be remembered that this composite personality, like the composite per- sonality of the family, presents all of those ele- ments which in the biological world appear to have given rise to the phenomena of sex and of generation. In other words, it consists of an origi- native, masculine element, and of a receptive and executive feminine element, as embodied in the operator and the subject respectively. There- fore, startling as it may sound, we might reason- ably expect some traces of actual creation to re- sult from the interaction of these two. For other- wise the relation between operator and subject would be like the relation of two lovers, between whom whatever interaction there is results merely in new states of consciousness, but stops short of the creative act itself. Binet and Fere set forth this sex aspect of hypnotism in a most illuminat- ing and fascinating manner, under the heading of elective somnambulism. 32 PRINCIPLES OF DRAMA-THERAPY Now it should be noted that traces of actual creation do occur in the psychic clinic, and up un- til the present time have been a source of much mystification and scientific worry. And these traces of actual creation appear just as soon as the subject's imaging faculty is stimulated into activity. The result is, of course, the hallucina- tion. In popular parlance the term, hallucination , is used to indicate something that has no existence of its own, but that exists merely as an image within the percipient's mind. Such a definition, however, can by no means be applied to the hal- lucinations produced in the psychic clinic. For here, although the projected image may remain invisible to all save the subject, it has been found, nevertheless, successfully to withstand every test of objectivity which the ingenuity of the oper- ator can devise. For instance, so far as the sub- ject is concerned, it will obey all of the laws of optics. An opera-glass will approach or dis- tance the image according to the end through which it is viewed, while the glasses themselves must be variously adjusted for the near-sighted and the far-sighted to enable both to see it. A magnifying glass, moreover, will enlarge the hal- lucination, and a refracting prism will double it the amount of displacement corresponding always with the prism's index of refraction. Further- THE BECOMING OF THE FACULTIES 33 more, the proximity of a magnet has been ob- served to have the effect of displacing, or of dis- persing, the illusory object, although it has not yet been determined whether this phenomenon is due to some suggestive influence exerted by the operator upon the subject, or to actual torsion ex- erted by the magnet upon the image itself. In line with the above, the author could not do better than quote the words of an eminent Swed- ish neurologist, Fredrik Bjornstrom, in regard to phenomena of this type observed at La Sal- petriere. "Although an optical illusion," says Bjornstrom, "seem to be fixed only in the brain of the one who sees it, it yet seems as though the hallucinator possesses a certain power of giving the image some kind of physical fixation in re- ality." Then, after citing several instances in which the image withstood all tests of objectiv- ity, he continues: "If the spiritualist were asked to explain such phenomena he would immediately have on hand an answer that would solve the enigma ; his doctrine of materialization if it were only true. For he claims in the human spirit, as in the absolute Spirit of the Universe, a certain creative power, and does not consider it impos- sible that the optical illusion of man, projected from the eye, deposits a fine ethereal substance, which imperceptible to ordinaiy eyes is yet easily visible to eyes sharpened by hypnotism. ... It 34 PRINCIPLES OF DRAMA-THERAPY must be reserved for future science to solve this enigma; the science of today can only acknowl- edge its want of power in this respect." This comment was made some years prior to the dis- covery of radium and the advent of the Corpus- cular and Electronic theories of matter. Now, from the foregoing considerations it would appear that the faculties, like the body, are continually in a state of becoming a be- coming that may at any time consist of a dimin- ishing or an augmenting, of a deadening or a quickening according to the nature of the basic concept operative in the psychic fabric. Since this is so, we would therefore expect the highest states, and the most varied and supernormal phe- nomena, to occur in those cases in which the basic concept most nearly approaches a complete gen- eralization of all positive concepts or in other words, an idea of the Universal. And not only do experiments with the com- posite personality of the psychic clinic bear this supposition out, but history offers corroborative testimony in terms of the individual personality. For the very highest states of consciousness, and the most supernormal powers, have occurred uni- formly in the case of those whose conscious thought was most habitually occupied with con- ceptions of Deity as omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent Being. CHAPTER VI THE ORGANISM OF THE THEATER "The world's a stage," wrote William Shakes- peare, and for three hundred years critics and authors have been content to let it go at that. But the converse is equally true and is much more il- luminating the stage is a world and, as the author has endeavored to point out in tracing the appearance and reappearance of the elements of personality in all groups, a world is a person. And surely no other institution in our civil fab- ric, not even the composite personality of the psychic clinic itself, presents the elements of per- sonality in such clear cut fashion as does the theater. For instance, in the author and producer we have the originative element, hidden, scarcely existent, so far as the major portion of the or- ganism is aware. Yet these two by their action upon a receptive and executive group, the actors, give rise, in the enacted play to a series of pictures in every way analogous to a train of conscious thought in the mind. In the economy of the theater-person, therefore, we may regard the stage as the head, the actors as the brain cells, and the enacted play as the functioning of the con- scious or objective faculties. We have found, moreover, that these conscious faculties are a syn- 35 36 PRINCIPLES OF DRAMA-THERAPY thetic product, arising from the action of an orig- inative element upon a receptive and executive element just as they appear to be in the case of the individual. However, no personality is complete without a subjective fabric upon which the concepts ema- nating from the originative member may be re- corded. And in the economy of the theater-per- son the place of the subjective fabric is supplied by that portion of the receptive and executive ele- ment not employed upon the stage in other words, by the audience. But it will be remem- bered that the subjective fabric responds always in accordance with some suggestion conveyed to it, and that it can respond in no other way. This, also, is the law of the audience, whose emotional states are determined from moment to moment by suggestions conveyed to it over the footlights. Nor does the matter stop there, for the response of the audience reacts upon the actors, just as the response of the subjective entity reacts upon the conscious faculties of the individual, and im- proves or depresses their functioning. It is, more- over, the quality of this emotional give and take between the originative member and the recep- tive member, maintained through the medium of the stage, that determines the tempo of life in, and consequently the duration of, any particular theater-personality. THE ORGANISM OF THE THEATER 37 Thus it is that a theater with a play in progress is a living organism, whose body like that of Vol- vox Globator } is composed of hundreds of living cells, and whose life-processes consist of the inter- action taking place among its component parts. It is curious, in view of the volumes that have been written upon the subject of the stage, that we have been so slow in perceiving the patent parallel between the individual and the theater. It is curious, also, that we have failed to identify the condition of mind obtaining in the audience with the hypnotic state, which is the normal state of the psychic member. And yet, among these writers upon the drama, there must have been men who realized that the first step in the pro- duction of hypnosis is to prohibit for a time any act of conscious origination in other words, to fix the attention. For Braid, among others, writing as far back as 1845 or 6, puts the matter plainly: "It is always," he says, "a process of mono-ideism (or of concentrated attention) that calls forth the hypnotic phenomena." And if this condition of concentrated attention does not obtain in a theater, especially during the more dramatic moments of a play, then indeed there is no such thing as concentrated attention. It is, moreover, just the fact that an audience during a performance is in a slight hypnotic condition that accounts for the standing criticism lodged 38 PRINCIPLES OF DRAMA-THERAPY by the producer against the public. "An audi- ence," he says, "will not think." As a matter of fact in that condition the theater-goer cannot think, for to start a train of conscious thought implies an act of origination, and this is prohib- ited so long as demands are made upon the atten- tion. The spectator, therefore, like the hypno- tized subject, is, by the very terms of his condi- tion, incapable of thought: all he can do is to receive and respond to impressions. This is a point which the public performers of the backward Orient never overlook, for one and all seem to realize that to fix the attention of a gathering is to induce an hypnotic state, and many of them are able to fix attention to such a degree that hallucinations, often on the part of an entire assembly, are sometimes produced. Thus it is that with these swarthy-skinned entertainers such stage effects as are involved in the rope trick, the basket trick, and the growing mango tree hecome possible and without such crude ac- cessories as drop and footlight. But the point that should prove of chief in- terest to us of the practical Occident is this : if a theater full of people presents such an exact ana- logue to the individual, and to the composite per- sonality of the clinic, it should be subject to the same laws of becoming. In other words, the author and producer, through the medium of the THE ORGANISM OF THE THEATER 39 actor, should be able to induce in the subjective member of the theater-person all of those physi- cal readjustments and supernormal states which the individual is able to induce in himself by means of auto-suggestion, or which the operator is able to induce in the subject, by means of the spoken word. And a little consideration will show that the theater-person is subject to the same simple law of becoming. For if the play convey destructive, depressing suggestion to its subjective member, the audience is depressed and ill-at-ease. The play is then said to lack popular appeal, and it is not a great while before the particular theater- person built up about it begins, likewise, to show signs of depression until finally it goes to pieces with the withdrawal of the play. If, however, a play convey constructive sug- gestion to its subjective member, stimulation en- sues, and the audience leaves the theater with a sense of exhilaration. The play is then said to possess popular appeal, and, all things being equal, the theater-person built up about it enters upon an indefinite period of healthy existence. It only remains then, to determine wherein the constructive or destructive suggestion conveyed by a play lies before we can judge with some de- gree of certainty its chances of success. And a little consideration will show us that this deter- 40 PRINCIPLES OF DRAMA-THERAPY mining quality can lie nowhere but in the origina- tive member of the theater-personality itself. Therefore, we will not look to the technique of the play ; we will not look to its cleverness of line, its theme, or its dramatic values, but we will look first, last, and always to the viewpoint of the author. For if his viewpoint be positive, no mat- ter with what disasters he may deal, he will pre- sent life in a positive aspect, and this positive view will constitute the basic concept involved in his play. If, however, his viewpoint be negative if all he can see of life is its ugliness and its short- comings this, also, will show in his work, and will constitute its basic concept. And, just as in the case of the composite personality of the clinic, it is the basic concept impressed upon the subjec- tive member which determines the nature of its becoming, causing either psychic stimulation or psychic recoil. Now if this, the nature of the basic concept, be borne in mind, all other things being equal, it will be found to explain every success or failure in the theatrical world. It will explain the popularity of the show that has nothing to recommend it but the exposure of its chorus; for that view of life which assumes that women are fair, and conse- quently to be desired, though for the sake of re- spectability we may condemn it, constitutes, nevertheless, a positive premise. THE ORGANISM OF THE THEATER 41 In this same antithesis of a positive or negative basic concept lies the secret of the perennial popu- larity of comedy. For comedy, dealing with love and marriage, treats broadly of fulfilled desire. And the assumption that the desires of life are good and capable of fulfillment again constitutes a positive premise. Allied to comedy, and even more satisfactory from the standpoint of the box-office, are those plays which deal with the regeneration of char- acter. For in such cases the authors have assumed that the individual possesses within himself the power to overcome all defects and difficulties a conception, which, when it becomes operative in the minds of the audience, cannot but result in stimulation. These are the plays to which people return night after night for strength and encour- agement. And the same antithesis explains, also, why truly great tragedy stimulates rather than de- presses. For, although tragedy deals with dis- aster and death, the basic concept involved in it is, nevertheless, powerfully constructive. In fact, it is just the presence of this constructive basic concept that distinguishes great tragedy from near-tragedy, which always depresses its audi- ence, and from melodrama, which frequently does. For great tragedy assumes the existence of a universal something, which manifests as im- 42 PRINCIPLES OF DRAMA-THERAPY mutable moral law. And, as we have seen from our consideration of the phenomenon of healing and of supernormal states, to assume the exist- ence, in any of its aspects, of that which is uni- versal, is to convey to the subjective member sug- gestion of the most powerfully constructive type. Hence the sense of great calm which tragedy cre- ates in the mind of the spectator ; hence, also, the reason why it holds the boards from century to century. Finally, this question of a positive or negative basic concept explains why the public cannot tol- erate the plays of certain gloomy, destructive northern writers. These plays are for the most part of magnificent workmanship, and are breathlessly interesting from the first to the final curtain. As a rule, however, they present life in a negative aspect ; and as for the average the- ater-goer, he prefers a very bad play which avoids this fundamental error to a very excellent one which does not. And his reasons are psychologi- cally sound: for the first, bad as it may be, con- tributes somewhat to his happiness : in the case of the second, however, the better and more convinc- ing it is, the more unhappy and depressed the spectator becomes. Thus, obviously, Shakespeare was wrong when he said, "The play's the thing." On the contrary the play is not the thing: it is the basic concept THE ORGANISM OF THE THEATER 43 involved in the play that is the main thing, and it is only by grasping this fact that the great- ness and success of the past can be made the start- ing-point for the greatness and success of the present. Since, then, the psychic stimulation or depres- sion produced by a play lies primarily in the na- ture of its basic concept, may we not postulate a type of play that will create in the minds of the audience the maximum amount of stimulation? Certainly we may, and the method of doing so is perfectly logical. Now, from our consideration of personality, we have found that the greatest bodily readjustments and the highest mental powers appear as the positive concept, which gives rise to them, more and more nearly approaches a complete generalization in other words, a con- ception of the Universal. Why, then, should not the dramatic author take as the basic concept of his play the immanence and actuality of the Uni- versal, and view and present life as set against a background of Being? Now the critical reader will remark that only a paragraph or so above the statement was made that tragedy fulfilled this condition. This is very true, and, it must also be observed, tragedy in- duces psychic stimulation the greatest amount that has yet been obtained in the theater. But even so, this stimulation falls far short of that 44 PRINCIPLES OF DRAMA-THERAPY which is induced in the individual, and in the com- posite personality of the clinic, as the basic con- cept approaches universality. And a careful con- sideration of the method of tragedy will show us why. Tragedy assumes the existence of the Univer- sal in the aspect of moral law. It then suggests its immanence and actuality by pitting against it a disobedient mortal. The mortal is, of course, overwhelmed ; but since the emphasis of the play is put, not upon his suffering, but upon the law, opposition to which causes his suffering, this serves to indicate all the more vividly the existence of the Universal. Now it will be seen at once that as long as this method of presentation is followed the active element in the play is, and must con- tinue to be, the disobedient mortal a circum- stance which, ipso facto, reduces the Universal to a passive role. Its part, therefore, becomes mere- ly the part of permanence and of immutability, and, it should be noted, a corresponding sense of permanence and calm is induced in the spectator the intenseness of the phenomenon depending directly upon the vividness with which these quali- ties have been suggested. And, although we may turn the pages of dra- matic literature in vain in search of a play which reverses these conditions, in real life instances are not wanting in which a conception of the Univer- THE ORGANISM OF THE THEATEK 45 sal as an intensely active agent has been convey- ed to the mass mind. Whenever this has occurred the most astonishing things have happened, in- cluding terrific emotional upheavals, supernormal mental states, and phenomena of cure. One of the most clearly cut cases of this kind occurred in eighteenth century France : for Fred- erick Anton Mesmer fulfilled just the conditions described, and fulfilled them in the following manner. He postulated the existence of a force called animal magnetism, which bore an active, beneficent relation to individual life. According to his thesis it was universal, being occluded in all matter, and through its agency relief from all manner of physical depression might be found. How matters went in Mesmer's clinic, once this universalized, positive basic concept became oper- ative in the minds of his patients, is described by I. P. Broberg in his lectures, Animal Magnetism and Mysticism of the Eighteenth Century, from which the following is taken. "Mesmer's parlors at the hotel in the Place Vendome soon became the resort of the Paris fashionable world. In the so-called experiment- ing room there stood in the middle of the floor a round tub, a baquet, with a diameter of about five feet and provided with a lid. On the bottom of it bottles were so placed that some had their necks converging towards the center, while others di- 46 PRINCIPLES OF DRAMA-THERAPY verged outwards. The tub was filled with water so that the bottles were covered; through the lid, which was provided with several holes, bent iron bars protruded. The walls of the room were covered with mirrors, by the reflection of which the magnetism was increased, according to the doctrine of Mesmer. The patients were placed in a circle around the tub, or loaquet, so close that they were in contact with each other's knees. Each one held in his hand one of the iron bars that protruded from the baquet. Generally there was placed a second row of patients behind the first and often there were several rows who formed closed chains by holding each other's hands, and who were in contact with the tub by means of long, magnetized cords. Besides, all the patients were mutually connected by a cord twisted around each one's waist. . . . "A mystic twilight prevailed in the room. The ear was charmed by sweet melodies played on harp and piano and during the pauses a harmo- nium sounded its soft, vibrating tones an instru- ment that Mesmer played with a master hand. Men and women were now sitting beside each other, holding the mystic bars from the tub be- sides each other's hands; first one, then another, began to experience strange sensations and twitchings which were soon imparted to all of them. Then Mesmer solemnly entered, dressed THE ORGANISM OF THE THEATER 47 in a violet robe of embroidered silk, holding in his hand an iron staff. With majestic dignity he walked around and stroked the patients. Within a short time the healing crises appeared. The pa- tients jumped up, wept, laughed, embraced each other, etc. 'Those who have not actually wit- nessed the scenes in Mesmer's parlors,' writes a contemporary, 'can hardly form any idea of them. On the other hand if we witness them we can only be astonished, partly at the complete tranquillity and repose displayed by some, partly also at the violent excitement shown by others. . . . ' " CHAPTER VII THE ULTRA-COMEDY If a therapeutic drama be possible at all, it must, as we have seen, assume as its basic concept the immanence and actuality of the Universal in some active, beneficent aspect. If this be as- sumed, and if the concept be driven home but half so successfully as Mesmer succeeded in driving it, it is safe to say that before the performance is over the suggestion will have become operative in the subjective mass-mind beyond the footlights. Should this occur, phenomena corresponding to the aspect of the Universal that had been suggest- ed will begin to appear. Now in the case of Mesmer's ceremonial it re- quired but a comparatively short time for the basic concept to become operative a circum- stance which indicates that his method of convey- ing it was both powerful and efficacious. And a careful consideration of the account given in the preceding chapter will show that the merit of his method lay in its absolute singleness of purpose. For Mesmer had advertised abroad his theory of animal magnetism, and when his patients assem- bled at his hotel it was for the sole purpose of be- ing acted upon by this mysterious, beneficial force. Upon their arrival they found themselves in an environment every detail of which was cal- 48 THE ULTRA-COMEDY 49 culated to keep the idea of its existence always in the foreground of thought. There was no straying from the point. Everywhere in the mirrors upon the walls, in the furnishings of the room, in its inexplicable but harmless apparatus, and in the attire and bearing of the therapeutist himself they were confronted with the sugges- tion of its immanence, a suggestion that was reit- erated at every moment and at every turn. Profiting by Mesmer's example, therefore, the author of a therapeutic play would certainly seek to drive his basic concept home by means of reiter- ative suggestion, and it would be this considera- tion, doubtless, which would determine the struc- ture of his entire play. However, before an idea can be suggested by means of the spoken word it must be phrased. The author would, then, seek in some way to phrase his basic concept. The result of his ef- fort would be, doubtless, some line of connota- tive value. This he would introduce into his open- ing scene where its presence would be accepted as a vagary of characterization, or as a mere ac- cident of writing. But thereafter he would never allow it to be lost sight of. It would recur and recur, each time with added significance and with broader meaning: it should stand to the play as the theme to the music. By the intelligent and artistic employment of such a device the imma- 50 PRINCIPLES OF DRAMA-THERAPY nence and actuality of the Universal could be in- sisted upon and insisted upon, until an audience were all but wild with suspense and anxiety. So far as the present writer is aware there is only one instance in dramatic literature where reiterative suggestion, as embodied in such a re- curring phrase, is used for the purpose of creat- ing predetermined states in the mass mind: and even here the device is not applied directly to the minds of the audience, but only to the minds of a stage mob. The incident occurs, of course, in Julius Caesar, in which Marc Antony, by the repeated use of a single ironical expression, is rep- resented as sowing the seeds of sedition and civil strife among the Roman people. But if such a recurrent theme is to be employ- ed by the therapeutic writer, it will be seen at once that the device will, in a measure, determine the nature of the scenes themselves. For if it is to possess a broader meaning every time it oc- curs, the intervening scenes must occupy them- selves with expanding that meaning. We cannot avoid the inference, therefore, that every scene in a therapeutic play will, in a sense, be a duplica- tion of the preceding scene, but will, nevertheless, represent an advance upon it. This double necessity of repetition and advance lands us in a structure in every way analogous to the musical scale. Upon the keyboard each THE ULTRA-COMEDY 51 octave begins and terminates with the same note. This note, therefore, stands to the scale in the same relation as such a recurrent theme would stand to the play; while the intervening notes, con- stituting the octaves, would correspond to the scenes: and each octave, while it is an exact du- plication of the preceding octave, presents, never- theless, an advance upon it, in that it is higher in the scale. A little consideration will show that the struc- ture postulated above will bear an important and determining relation to the subject matter of the play itself ; for the only themes that can be pressed into such a mold are themes which deal with de- velopment that is, with a constant transition from one state to another. And, since the drama deals primarily with human character, we cannot avoid the conclusion that the therapeutic play must occupy itself with a constant transition, or with a becoming, of character. It has long been an axiom of dramatic criti- cism that no play is a great play unless it present such a becoming on the part of one or more of its roles. And when we view the theater as an or- ganism in which new states of consciousness are being continually created by the suggestive ef- fect of a series of scenes, the reason for this axiom becomes apparent. Since, then, we cannot avoid presenting a be- 52 PRINCIPLES OF DRAMA-THERAPY coming of character, the next step is to determine in what direction this becoming shall be viewed as taking place. A little consideration, however, will show that if it be presented as taking place in a negative direction, depression and final death will result. In such a case we would be dealing with tragedy, and, as we have seen, tragedy in- volves presenting the Universal, not in an actively beneficent role, but in the role of passive immu- tability. The only alternative then, is to present becoming in its positive aspect. To do this is to follow the general method of comedy. Heretofore comedy has occupied itself with these positive developments of character only in the most vague and nebulous fashion ; its nearest approach to a pure method of treatment occur- ring in the case of plays of regeneration. And the sole purpose of this chapter is to deduce the pure structure of a play which shall follow comedy's lead in presenting positive developments, and which shall, also, like tragedy, have as its avowed purpose the suggestion of the immanence and ac- tuality of the Universal. Such a type of play, for want of a better title, we may call the ultra- comedy. Thus far in our consideration of ultra-comedy we have two factors the Universal, the fact of whose immanence and actuality is to be suggest- ed, and a positively developing character. And THE ULTRA-COMEDY . 53 combining these, we have a character who is de- veloping into a consciousness of the Universal. Upon this basis, therefore, each scene beginning with the suggestion that the Universal exists, would proceed to show the character as becoming somewhat conscious of its existence. In the next scene he would become more conscious of it, and so on. Now, in connection with the character's grow- ing consciousness of the immanence and actuality of the Universal, there are two points to be con- sidered, both of which are of extreme importance. The first is the process by which the character him- self shall become aware of Universal presence, and the second is the dramaturgical method by which his growing awareness may be most vividly impressed upon the audience. Discussion of the first point, however, will have to be postponed until the nature of the environment and the back- ground against which the developing role is set can be considered; and so, asking the reader to make a mental note of it, we will pass at once to the discussion of the second. As we have seen from our consideration of per- sonality, whatever is present in the conscious thought of the individual, or whatever is voiced by the operator in the case of the composite per- sonality of the psychic clinic, constitutes a basic concept to which the subjective member of the 54 PRINCIPLES OF DRAMA-THERAPY personality responds, to the upbuilding or de- pressing of the entire organism. Let us suppose, then, that the developing role, in a manner yet to be discussed, is beginning to arrive at the conclu- sion that the Universal is immanent and actual in such and such an aspect. Now it will be re- membered that the Universal has been defined as a complete generalization of all positive attri- butes. Consequently, the recognition by the in- dividual of some particular attribute would be nothing more nor less than his acquisition of some positive concept. This positive concept, then, would become impressed upon his subjective fabric, and his subjective fabric would immediate- ly respond. Thereafter, the author would pre- sent him as being in a state of stimulation, with definitely increased powers of the kind included in, and springing logically from, the positive basic concept acquired. And the sudden appear- ance of this state of stimulation, and of these powers, as the obvious effect proceeding from the character's growing recognition of the Universal, would vividly suggest to the audience the imma- nence and actuality of the latter as an underlying, active cause. From these considerations it follows that the suggestive effect of a play of this type will lie, not so much in the astonishing nature of the gifts acquired by the developing character, as in the THE ULTRA-COMEDY 55 fact of their appearance. Consequently, the more frequently the author can represent a state of stimulation as supervening, and the more definite, instantaneous and clear-cut this state of stimula- tion is, the better and more powerful the play will be. Indeed, not the degree of change, but the fact of change, is the point that should at all times claim the author's chief attention: for the play which he is writing is like an induction-coil, in which the voltage of the induced, or secondary, current depends, not so much upon the strength of the primary current, as upon the suddenness and frequency with which the primary current can be started and stopped. This rule of frequent and sudden transition from state to state should be applied, moreover, throughout every depart- ment of the play. Now the present writer is well aware that no finite mind may ever be conceived of as attaining a complete conception of the attributes of the Universal, for these, by the terms of our defini- tion, are infinite in number. The most the author can be expected to do is to represent his character as acquiring a large number of positive concepts the more the better. And fortunately this pro- gressive acquisition of positive concepts can, like a mathematical progression, be accelerated in any ratio that the author may desire. It is this cir- cumstance which permits a therapeutic play to be 56 PRINCIPLES OF DRAMA-THERAPY drawn to a definite climax. Concerning this cli- max, and its accompanying phenomena, more will be said later on. Such, as the author conceives it, is the essential character development with which ultra-comedy must deal, if the play is to build up in the minds of the audience such a generalized conception of good that the actual elimination of depressed con- ditions may result. Its method may be graph- ically represented by an inverted truncated pyramid, thus: z. 1 1 1 ] 1 1 1 I } \ 1 I. 1 1 If/ J\ . A A J L 4 A * * In the above figure we have a series of 13 scenes. On this scene-clef the base-line, A A, represents the character's conscious horizon at the opening of the play. The vertical lines, Ab, repre- sent the amount of growth taking place in scene 1. At the points To, however, the character begins THE ULTRA-COMEDY 57 a second scene, which results in the acquisition of a positive concept at c. When this concept be- comes operative, growth takes place along the lines cd, bringing the character up to the level of the third scene ; and so on. In scene 13 the great- est number of positive concepts and the widest outlook are attained. This is the essential structure: it is the frame- work of the therapeutic play. As will be seen it presupposes only the successive acquisition of positive concepts and their resulting states of stimulation. It takes into account, therefore, only the making of the current in the primary coil. Its breaking will be considered in the next chapter. CHAPTER VIII THE SUBJECTIVE STRUCTURE In the preceding chapter it was pointed out that the really vital element in a therapeutic play will lie, not primarily in the states attained by the developing role, but rather in the transitions to those states. And while it is, of course, conceiv- able than an author might present such a progres- sion of high, and yet higher, states that the con- trast between each state and its predecessor would be noticeable to the audience, it is also true that he will, at times, find it desirable to present a tem- porary retrogression on the part of the character. Now, since progression results when a positive basic concept becomes operative in the psychic fabric, retrogression will begin the moment that a negative basic concept lodges and becomes oper- ative therein. This phenomenon of progression and retrogression is well illustrated in the com- posite personality of the clinic ; for here the oper- ator, by conveying to a somnambule a privative concept, destroys thereby all of his wonderful powers of sense and of ideation, and converts him instantly into a frozen, cataleptic statue. Now, in the case of the developing role of a therapeutic drama, if the character has attained maturity before the opening of the play, and if he be conceived of, moreover, as having grown up 58 THE SUBJECTIVE STRUCTURE 59 under our present social and moral regime, it is safe to say that there is, operating within his subjective depths, an entire structure of limiting and depressing basic concepts, or, as the psycho- analysts call it, a structure of "psychic com- plexes." These, it is true, may not yet have ex- ternalized as such definite subnormalities as dis- eased conditions. In the majority of cases, how- ever, the structure is there. But, since the general trend of the play is to- wards the complete generalization of positive con- cepts, it follows that all negative concepts must ultimately be eliminated. This structure, there- fore, may be graphically represented by a dis- appearing, or right, pyramid, thus: In this figure, as formerly, we have a series of 13 scenes. On the clef the line, AA, corresponds 60 PRINCIPLES OF DBAMA-THERAPY to the character's conscious horizon at the opening of the play. At &' a scene begins which results hi the excision of a negative concept at c',and dur- ing which the negative structure diminishes along the lines b'c'. This process is repeated until, in the final scene, the negative structure vanishes at the point B. Now, from our consideration of psycho- therapy and psycho-analysis, we have seen that advance may take place by either of two routes: a positive concept may be added to the psychic fabric in which case the corresponding negative concept automatically disappears and stimula- tion ensues ; or a negative concept may be eradi- cated from the psychic fabric in which case the corresponding positive concept automatically ap- pears and again stimulation ensues. These two methods of expanding a given quantity are clearly exemplified in mathematics by the Law of Signs, for in algebra it will be remembered that a positive magnitude may be indefinitely augmented, either by adding positive magnitudes to it, or by subtracting negative magnitudes from it. Thus it is that the therapeutic playwright has a choice of two methods of advancing his develop- ing role. He may either add positive concepts to his conscious thought, or he may bring the char- acter to a point where he perceives a causal re- THE SUBJECTIVE STRUCTURE 61 lation between some negative concept and a de- pressed condition, in which case he would portray him as consciously abandoning the idea. Let us, therefore, for purposes of discussion, make an ideal combination of these two funda- mental processes, representing the result by a combination of the two figures already employed, thus: In this figure the line, AA 3 represents the char- acter's outlook at the opening of the play. At the points b a positive scene begins, resulting in the acquisition of a positive concept at c. During this scene the corresponding negative concept automatically disappears, and the negative struc- ture is diminished by a commensurate amount. At the points c growth takes place, bringing the character up to the level of the third scene. At 62 PRINCIPLES OF DRAMA-THERAPY the points d, however, a negative concept be- comes operative, and a scene begins which results in the excision of that concept at ef. During this scene the corresponding positive concept is being automatically acquired, and the positive struc- ture is expanded by a commensurate amount. Thereafter, these processes are viewed as alter- nating with one another until the final scene-level is reached. From these considerations it is apparent that the author of a therapeutic play, from the mo- ment that his character begins to develop, up un- til the time when the final elimination of the nega- tive structure is accomplished, will be dealing in effect with a case of dual personality. During those scenes in which positive concepts are domi- nant, his character will approximate the somnam- bule: during those, however, in which negative concepts are in the ascendant, his character will approximate the cataleptic. And, as has been said, the more sharply these two personalities can be contrasted, and the more definitely linked their respective states of stimulation and depression are with concepts of good and of evil, the better and more powerful the play will be. As it pro- gresses, however, the somnambule will gradually displace the cataleptic a circumstance which has a most important bearing upon the structure of the negative scenes. THE SUBJECTIVE STRUCTURE 63 In the ideal play which we are considering, it will be seen that each negative scene will consist of two parts. In the first portion, in which some negative concept is becoming operative, the char- acter will be tumbling headlong down an abyss of depression his acquired powers disappearing all the while like vapor. Since, however, the scene is to terminate with the excision of the con- cept, during the second portion he will be climb- ing out, with gradually reappearing powers, un- til, at the climax of the scene, he will perceive what it is that has caused the depression, and will dismiss the concept from consciousness. Let us, therefore, take a section of our two pyramids upon which we may represent this double nature of the negative scene, thus: In the accompanying figure the base-line, A A, represents, as formerly, the character's outlook 64 PRINCIPLES OF DRAMA-THERAPY at the opening of the play. In the third scene, at d', a negative concept becomes operative, and immediately all growth that has taken place be- tween A and d begins to disappear, and the char- acter approaches the base-level as far, let us say, as the points d". Here depression reaches its maximum ; here the character begins endeavoring consciously to readjust, and to regain his lost powers. He will recall the fact that formerly he possessed them that formerly he was not de- pressed and these memories will constitute posi- tive concepts which will gradually become opera- tive in his psychic fabric, and will build him back to the level at which the negative concept was acquired. This is represented by the points e' in the diagram, where the excision of the concept is viewed as taking place. Immediately growth oc- curs, bringing the character up to the points f, or to the level of the fourth scene ; and so on. If the reader cares to go into the subject he will find this dual nature of the negative scene admirably beautifully illustrated in many of the dream records kept by practicing psycho- analysts. For instance, in one case, a popular ac- count of which appeared in Good Housekeeping Magazine for February, 1915, the patient had dreamed continuously for over fourteen years of fighting. Nearly every night he dreamed that he entered the ring; not once, however, during all THE SUBJECTIVE STRUCTURE 65 that time, had he failed to be beaten in great style. This fourteen-year period corresponds to the down-leg of the negative scene, the depression reaching its maximum, in this case, with the ap- pearance of hysterical blindness. With the loss of vision, however, the patient determined that something must be done. Consequently, he ap- plied, and a month later was admitted, to a New York hospital, where he was placed in the psycho- pathic ward. This period corresponds to the up- leg of the negative scene, and the point to be noted is that the dreams belonging to this portion of the record assume a totally different character. The patient continued to dream of fighting, it is true, but now always of winning. And within four days from the time he entered the hospital, he had succeeded, under the direction of the psycho- analyst in charge, in building himself up to a point where the excision of the concept was pos- sible, through the functioning of the conscious faculties. When this occurred sight was regained immediately. Now, for the practical playwright, there are only two points in connection with these negative scenes that are of real importance. The first is this : when the character is upon the down-leg of the scene, the author should by all means shift the dramatic emphasis from the character to some other, and to some more positive, element in the 66 PRINCIPLES OF DRAMA-THERAPY play. For, if he allow the attention of the audi- ence to remain fixed for any length of time upon a character who is falling down an abyss of de- pression, the chances are that the same negative concept which is causing his fall will be communi- cated to the mass mind beyond the footlights. Should this occur, it would destroy in the audience whatever states of stimulation the author might have succeeded in building up. This shift of em- phasis, of course, can be accomplished simply by shifting the thread of dramatic action over to a minor role. The second point to be noted is that the moment the character takes a decisive stand, and begins to fight for readjustment, he is being actuated by a positive, not by a negative, premise. The second portion, or the up-leg, of the negative scene, therefore, although still negative as compared with other scenes in the play, is, nevertheless, posi- tive in nature. Consequently, during its course the attention of the audience may, without danger to its own states of stimulation, be centered again upon the developing role. Hereafter, this latter portion of all scenes of depression will be spoken of as the positive leg of the negative scene. Let us now consider a sequence of scenes which may be regarded as typical of a therapeutic play. In the opening lines a train of thought is, in some manner, started in the character's mind perhaps THE SUBJECTIVE STRUCTURE 67 by the occurrence of the play's theme, which catches his attention and upon which he reasons inductively. At any rate the train of thought cul- minates in the acquisition of a positive concept, and immediately growth takes place. This sud- den growth corresponds to the making of the current in the primary coil, and during its prog- ress the positive member of the temporarily dual personality is dominant. In the next scene, how- ever, a negative concept, a product of past modes of thought, becomes lodged in the character's con- sciousness. When this occurs his stimulation and his powers begin to disappear, and as soon as the process is well under way the emphasis of the play shifts. Some other character takes up the thread of action, and retains it until the develop- ing role has struck rock bottom and begins to re- adjust. This sudden disappearance of growth corresponds to the breaking of the current in the primary coil, and during its course the negative member of the dual personality is in the ascend- ant. In the later half of the scene, however, the character begins to rebel against negative con- ditions and their accompanying depression this rebellion being precipitated, perhaps, by a recur- rence of the play's theme. At any rate when it occurs the negative scene becomes positive in na- ture, and the emphasis is shifted back to the de- veloping role. This portion of the scene is full 68 PRINCIPLES OF DRAMA-THERAPY of internal strife and turmoil conditions which will be faithfully reproduced upon the outside, as we shall see later on. However, the scene culmi- nates in the character's recognition of the nega- tive concept as the source of depression, and with its excision from consciousness. When this oc- curs, sudden growth takes place. With the ex- cision of the negative concept, however, the cor- responding positive concept has automatically ap- peared, and this provides the starting point for another train of inductive reasoning, which will result in the acquisition of another positive con- cept, and yet further growth. Such, as the present writer conceives it, is the generalized statement of the mental processes which the author of a therapeutic drama must concede to his developing role. These interior processes bear a most important and determining relation to the remaining elements of the play, as will appear from a consideration of the next chapter. CHAPTER IX THE PLAY-PERSONALITY Returning to our premise for a moment, it will be remembered that the author's sole aim in writ- ing a therapeutic play will be to suggest to his audience the immanence and actuality of the Uni- versal. It will be remembered, also, that the Uni- versal has been defined as a complete generaliza- tion of all positive attributes. Let us examine this proposition carefully : the play must suggest that which is a complete generalization. Now it is obvious that no author can ever re- duce to definite statement the vast sum of all possible attributes, for, as has already been pointed out, these are infinite in number. The most he can do is to suggest the existence of such factors as, by their indefinite interaction, might logically give rise to any conceivable attribute. He would then proceed to generalize these factors to whatever extent his skill and time permitted, and when this had been done he would have con- veyed as adequate a conception of the Universal as could be hoped for. But, as we have seen from the earlier chapters, organic evolution may be accounted for upon the supposition that there subsists within the evolving entity, an element which originates, a receptive and executive element, and a physical instrument 69 70 PRINCIPLES OF DRAMA-THERAPY through which these two function. Moreover, from our consideration of the analysis of matter, page 107, we have found that evolution begins, not in the organic, but in the inorganic world. Thus it is that all forms, and consequently all attributes, that have yet appeared in the natural order may be accounted for by postulating of manifesting Nature the same inner, three-fold constitution that appears in man. And if we ex- tend our conception to the Universal, which in- cludes both manifested and unmanifested Na- ture, we are able to explain thereby its possession, real or potential, of any attribute of which it is possible to conceive. This, of course, is a self-evi- dent proposition : for to invest the Universal with an originative element, is to invest it with the power of choice; and to concede it an executive element, is to invest it with the power to create that which it chooses to originate; while to view it as embodying, also, a universally distributed material element, which we may equate with the ether of physics, is to supply it with the potter's clay in which its desires may be wrought out in actual form. To postulate these elements of the Universal, however, is to invest it with all of the characteristics of personality. Therefore it is that the author of a therapeutic play, who would side-step the difficulty of sum- ming up the attributes of the Infinite, may seize THE PLAY-PERSONALITY 71 upon the elements of personality and generalize them throughout his work. Let us examine this proposition a little further : to generalize a concept is to abstract the idea of the quality conceived of, from its association with any particular thing. It must be noted, however, that these three ele- ments of personality have already been conceded to the developing role. The author's first step in generalizing them, therefore, would be to abstract the idea of them from association with that par- ticular role, and to concede them, not only to the character, but to the environment in which he is set as well. When this is done the author will view the en- tire cast of his play as a single personality, com- posed of an originative element, a receptive and executive element, and a physical instrument in this case the collective brain and body of the troupe through which the first two function. His play, therefore, becomes merely the state- ment of the interaction occurring among the com- ponent parts of this play-personality. And this interaction, it will be remembered, takes place al- ways according to one definite law the identical law which governs the individual, and the com- posite personality of the clinic, and which has al- ready been summed up briefly in the mathemati- cal ratio, ac:y::y:z. As will be seen, this view of 72 PRINCIPLES OF DRAMA-THERAPY the matter reduces all questions of dramatic tech- nique and of character reaction to the simplest possible terms. Now viewing the cast as a single personality, the author's first task would be to determine just where, within this composite organism, the origi- native element lay. However, the central charac- ter himself is to be represented as developing a process which, since it involves the acquisition and excision of concepts, implies the activity of an orginative element as it functions through his conscious faculties. We cannot avoid the infer- ence, therefore, that during those moments in which the developing role is actively engaged in acquiring or excising a concept in other words, during the positive scenes, and during the posi- tive leg of the negative scenes the originative member of the play-personality resides in the de- veloping role himself. The author's next task would be to determine just where, within the proscenium picture, the second, or psychic member of the play-personal- ity lay. And obviously, during the scenes in which the principal role himself plays the part of the originative element, the role of the psychic member will be filled by the remaining portion of the cast, which, during these scenes, will re- spond to the character according to the one law of subjective mind. THE PLAY-PERSONALITY 73 This, the subjective relation of the environ- ment to the developing role, is a matter of prime importance. It means not only that the environ- ment will accept, and carry out to its rigorously logical result, any suggestion conveyed to it by the originative role, but also that it will, at all times, present an exact correspondence with his inner, mental states. This correspondence between the character's conscious thought and his environment holds good even during the earlier portions of the nega- tive scenes, when the character is not actively en- gaged either in acquiring or in eradicating con- cepts, but is simply responding blindly to some negative idea. In these portions of the negative scenes the conditions mentioned above are re- versed: the environment is playing the part of the originative element in the play-personality, and the character, the role of the subjective, psychic member. However, by virtue of the mere fact that he is responding to a negative concept, the character has consciously abandoned the origi- native role, and has himself attributed it to the environment. This arises from the fact that the basic idea involved in every negative concept is the idea of an opposing something possessing the power of origination, and consequently the power to do harm. And when this basic concept becomes impressed upon the subjective member 74 PRINCIPLES OF DRAMA-THERAPY of the play-personality, this subjective member, accepting the idea as a premise and working it out to its rigorously logical result, does, in fact, assume, relatively to the character, the origi- native role. This is a condition which obtains in Romeo and Juliet, in which the lovers, starting with a set of negative concepts, play the part of the psychic member out to its bitter and disastrous end, without once assuming the originative role themselves. Thus it is that at all times, during positive and negative scenes alike, an exact correspondence between the character's mental states and his en- vironment must be maintained: the only differ- ence is that during the positive moments the orig- inative element in the play-personality resides in the developing role, while during the negative moments the role himself has conceived of it as residing in his environment. Now upon the basis of an exact correspond- ence between the character's mental states and his environment, the people by whom he is surround- ed will correspond to basic concepts, or "com- plexes," operative in his own mind; while their relations to him and to one another, and the con- ditions to which they give rise, will represent ac- curately his states of consciousness. The author would, therefore, consider what particular line of development he wished the central figure to THE PLAY-PERSONALITY 75 pursue what particular concepts were to be added or excised from his conscious thought and would then proceed to cast the minor parts, and to plot his play, in accordance with these considera- tions. And here it may be observed that if each character in the play be viewed as embodying one, clear-cut concept, the role itself will become a clear-cut role, and the character a genuine liter- ary creation. Now at the opening of the play the central fig- ure will be surrounded by such and such charac- ters, each corresponding to a concept in his own mind. These at first will not be clearly differen- tiated into groups. The moment that the char- acter begins to develop, however, a line of demar- cation will appear among them, and thereafter the author will be dealing with two factors in the environment a group of characters corre- sponding to the positive concepts of the develop- ing role, and a group corresponding to his struc- ture of negative concepts. As the play progresses the first group will be augmented, growing all the while more and more definitely positive in nature : the second group, however, will constant- ly diminish, growing more and more definitely negative in nature, until finally it is eliminated altogether. Thus, upon the basis of a strict correspondence between the conscious thought of the central fig- 76 PRINCIPLES OF DRAMA-THERAPY ure and his environment, the environment may be made to reproduce upon the outside, and to un- dergo, the identical development that is taking place within the mental depths of the character himself. It is this circumstance above all others which renders a therapeutic drama possible, for it permits the most interior processes to be ob- jectified upon the boards. It gives rise, also, to a secondary process which is of extreme impor- tance, and which will be discussed in a subsequent chapter. Now, as the play progresses, it is apparent that those readjustments between positive and negative which are taking place in the character's mind, will find their counterpart in readjustments taking place between the positive and negative groups in his environment. And since the posi- tive is finally to dominate, it follows that the posi- tive group is to be augmented in some fashion at the expense of the negative. How this is to be accomplished is, of course, a matter for the individual artist to solve. We may observe, however, that it must take place in one of three general ways. A character may be added to the positive group. His appearance would then correspond to, and be coincidental with, the acquisition of a positive concept on the part of the developing role: his presence would then give rise to new conditions and to new rela- THE PLAY-PERSONALITY 77 tions in the environment, which would accurately represent the states of consciousness resulting from the acquisition of the concept. Or a char- acter may be subtracted from the negative group. In this case his disappearance would correspond to, and be coincidental with, the excision of a neg- ative concept. Upon his disappearance the con- ditions and relations to which his presence gave rise would automatically vanish, and again the environment would have undergone a change. Or, finally, the leading role's attitude towards a character, and towards the idea for which he stands, may change. In this event the character in question would pass from the negative to the positive group the transfer corresponding both to an excision and an acquisition of concepts and thereafter the character would be presented in an entirely new light. Now, just as in the case of the varying states of the developing role himself, it will be seen that the really vital element in a process of this kind will lie, not so much in the intensity of the struggle that must necessarily take place between the positive and negative elements in the environ- ment, as it will in the fact of readjustment be- tween them. Consequently, the more frequent, definite and clear-cut these readjustments can be made, the greater suggestive power the play will possess. As it progresses, therefore, we cannot 78 PRINCIPLES OF DRAMA-THERAPY avoid the inference that the author will find it de- sirable perhaps even necessary to accelerate these environmental readjustments, just as he will wish to accelerate the character's oscillations between states of relative depression and stimu- lation. Here a difficulty will present itself to any author whose technique is hampered by laws of nineteenth century realism; for, if he attempt to adhere to photographic methods, he will find it impossible to accelerate the readjustments be- tween positive and negative in the environment in the same ratio at which they can be accelerated in the developing character himself. The reason for this is simple; in the environment he is deal- ing with entities functioning under the apparent conditions of space and time ; in the mind of the developing role, however, he is dealing with men- tal images which are not so conditioned. And yet, if actual results are to be obtained, the corre- spondence between the inside and the outside can by no means be sacrificed. Under these conditions, there will be an inevit- able tendency on the part of the author to shift the action of his play more and more definitely over into the psychic realm, where the primary conditions of time and space do not obtain, and where the figures of the environment may be handled with the maximum amount of ease. THE PL AY- PERSONALITY 79 Such a shift of action into the psychic realm re- quires no revision of the play's premise, the estab- lishment of no new theatrical convention, nor, in- deed, any line of demarcation between the psychic and the objective worlds. The only thing that is necessary is to apprise the audience of f the fact that, during the positive scenes, and during the positive leg of the negative scenes, when both the character and the environment are in states of relative stimulation, discrepancies in time and space are likely to occur. Thereafter, the mo- ment that a state of stimulation supervenes, the spectator will expect new laws to apply. When this premise has once been planted the author may, during the scenes of stimulation, make his characters conform more and more definitely to the laws governing mental images. Their ap- pearances and disappearances can be made more and more nearly spontaneous, and their readjust- ments more rapid. The moment that a negative concept becomes dominant in the mind of the leading role, however, the author will return with- out comment to such laws of realism as are com- patible with the relative negativity of the scene. This progressive elimination of the laws of time and space will constitute an added element of terrific suggestive power. Let us, therefore, consider a sequence of scenes which may be regarded as typical of a therapeu- 80 PRINCIPLES OF DRAMA-THERAPY tic drama, at a point where this elimination of the conditions of time and space is to be got under way. The character, we will say, at the close of a cer- tain scene has acquired a positive concept. Im- mediately af terwards growth takes place, and the characters of his environment undergo a corre- sponding readjustment in their relations to him, and to one another. In the next scene, however, the character expresses a certain fear, arising from his structure of negative concepts. The moment that this occurs he has conceded the origi- native role in the play-personality to his environ- ment, and the character corresponding to the negative concept that has given rise to the fear conveys to him some negative suggestion. As this becomes dominant the character begins tum- bling down an abyss of depression, and the em- phasis of the play shifts to some member of the positive group, who, for the time being, takes up the thread of dramatic action. This condition continues until the character begins to fight for readjustment, and until the scene becomes posi- tive in nature. Finally a point is reached where stimulation is of the same degree that it was at the moment at which the negative concept became operative, and where the excision of the concept is effected. Immediately thereafter sudden growth takes place, and the environment under- THE PLAY-PERSONALITY 81 goes a corresponding change through the ex- cision, temporary or final, of the corresponding character. Here a second positive scene begins, precipitated, perhaps, by a recurrence of the play's theme, and throughout its course progres- sive degrees of stimulation occur. It is here, let us say, that the conditions of time and space shall begin to be eliminated. As the scene progresses the characters involved in it gradually almost imperceptibly begin to obey the laws of the psychic realm. Their en- trances and exits are more and more intimately related to the spoken thought of the developing role, and their readjustments become more rapid. During this scene the time, perhaps, is noted ; and when the next period of relative depression oc- curs it will be observed that, although the scene has been of appreciable length, it has occupied, according to the stage clock, perhaps only the fraction of a second. During the next period of stimulation the characters will yet more nearly conform to the laws of the mental world, and when this is done the discrepancies in time and space may be extended, until finally a character may appear who is subsequently discovered to have been many miles away at the time a cir- cumstance which, during the next negative scene, will be explained by the fact that the developing role had been clairvoyant. 82 PRINCIPLES OF DRAMA-THERAPY Now the explanation of such phenomena, like the explanation of the periods of stimulation and depression on the part of the developing charac- ter, and of the readjustments taking place in his environment, will involve a process which stands to the therapeutic play in the same relation in which the secondary winding stands to the induc- tion coil. It is in the involutions of this secondary process that the extreme voltages will be devel- oped, as will appear from a consideration of the next chapter. CHAPTER X THE PERSONALITY OF THE BACKGROUND If the reader will pardon the repetition we will again revert to the conditions of the play : a thera- peutic drama must convey to the audience a conception of the immanence and actuality of the Universal. And the Universal, as redefined in the previous chapter, is a complete generalization of the factors of personality. Again, to generalize a conception is to abstract it from its association with any particular thing. Now the author of a therapeutic play has al- ready abstracted the elements of personality from the developing role, and has generalized them somewhat by attributing them, not only to the role, but to the cast as a whole as well. These factors, however, may be generalized yet further, and in the following fashion : the developing role himself may be represented as recognizing the elements of personality, as abstracting them from their particular associations, and as generalizing them thus reproducing upon the boards the identical process which the author has followed in the composition of the play itself. Hereafter, this, the character's recognition and generalization of the elements of personality, will be spoken of as the secondary process of generali- zation, while the process which has taken place in 83 84 PEINCIPLES OF DRAMA-THEBAPY the author's mind, and which has determined the structure of the play, will be referred to as the primary process of generalization. Now, it may be asked, how is this secondary process of generalization to be conveyed to the minds of the unthinking audience? The answer is, in the simplest and most natural manner imaginable; for, if the author has so plotted his play that his character shall oscillate perceptibly between stimulation and depression oscillations which produce their exact correspondence in the environment he can scarcely avoid allowing the character, sooner or later, to become conscious of these phenomena. And the moment that he be- comes conscious of them the character will begin to work upon them inductively; for it is charac- teristic of the human mind to seek a cause for all observed action. As the play progresses, there- fore, and the character perceives that time after time negative concepts cause depression, and posi- tive concepts stimulation, he will gradually arrive at the conclusion that in his truly normal state only positive concepts have, or shall have, any place. These inductive processes, started in the first instance, perhaps, by the occurrence of the play's theme, and kept up by the occurrence of alternat- ing phenomena of stimulation and depression, constitute the method by which the character ac- THE PERSONALITY OF THE BACKGROUND 85 quires fresh positive concepts, or eradicates old, negative ones to the precipitation, as we have seen, of more phenomena, upon which he again works inductively. Now, after the character has observed that his own personality responds instantly to positive and negative concepts, and after he has exercised for a while his powers of selection to permit only positive concepts to become operative in his mind, he will build himself up to a point where he is able to perceive that his environment responds to him, and has always responded, in identically the same manner. He will now consciously alter his thought to attain any desired end, and will ob- serve that his environment likewise becomes al- tered. However, when he has observed that the environment obeys the law of personality, there will be an inevitable tendency upon his part yet further to generalize that law just as science, by observing its repeated operation, has at last completely generalized the law of gravitation. Again he will abstract the qualities of personality from their particular associations, and this time will attribute them directly to the background, or to the world of Nature, whose presence upon the stage is indicated by means of paint and can- vas. We cannot avoid the inference, therefore, that as the play progresses the character will grad- 86 PRINCIPLES OF DRAMA-THERAPY ually acquire the idea that he is living in the midst of a universal something, whose distinguishing characteristic is its response to conscious thought. And then, since a strict correspondence is at all times to be maintained between the concepts of the developing role and his surroundings, the author will endeavor to indicate, by every resource of art and stagecraft, the presence in the world of Nature of just such a responsive element. This growing responsiveness will manifest as phenom- ena occurring in proximity to the character phenomena which are definitely linked, in the re- lation of effect to cause, with his mental life as it is expressed in his actions and in his lines. Now the point to be noted is that responsive- ness is the very earmark of personality, and when this quality has been built up, first in the char- acter, then in his environment, and finally in the world of Nature, the author will have generalized the factors of personality as far as the mere struc- ture of his play will permit. From the preceding paragraphs it will be seen that this secondary process of generalization falls roughly into three stages a circumstance which, in the ideal play we are considering, provides us with three natural act divisions. Upon this basis, therefore, in Act I the character will be occupied primarily with his own oscillations between stimulation and depression. His environment is THE PERSONALITY OF THE BACKGROUND 87 all the while undergoing similar changes, but these do not come within the range of his con- sciousness until, by the repeated selection of posi- tive and the repeated elimination of negative con- cepts, he has built himself up toward the close of the act to a point where he is able to perceive these environmental readjustments. In Act II the character no longer looks to his periods of stimulation and depression, although these continue; but he looks to, and works induc- tively upon, these more general phenomena of the environment to the tremendous acceleration of his own and of the play's development. Toward the end of the act, however, the personality of the background begins to appear, and before its close the character has built himself up to a point where its phenomena, in turn, pass within the range of consciousness. In Act III the character's attention is no longer occupied either with phenomena of stimu- lation and depression, or with environmental re- adjustments: on the contrary, it centers upon these yet more general phenomena of the back- ground to the yet further acceleration of his own and of the play's development until the cli- mactic scene of the play is at last precipitated. Thus it is that the author may lead his audience by successive steps to a generalized conception of personality. 88 PRINCIPLES OF DRAMA-THERAPY From these considerations it is apparent that we must again modify our figure of the double pyramid, in order to take into account this natural act-structure, as well as the increasingly general- ized nature of the concepts acquired and eradicat- ed as the play develops. This has been done in the accompanying diagram. Here, as formerly, we have a sequence of 13 scenes, the act divisions falling between scenes 5 and 6, and between scenes 9 and 10. The line, A A, represents the character's conscious horizon at the opening of the play, and the line, ZZ, his outlook at the close of Act III. The diminishing pyramid, ABA, represents the struc- ture of negative concepts which precipitate the negative scenes with their moments of relative depression, and which keep the character oscillat- THE PERSONALITY OF THE BACKGROUND 89 ing between the scene level and the line AW. Now, considering for the moment only that por- tion of the figure which lies to the left of the prin- cipal axis, MM, the three triangles, Awx, Axy and Ayx, represent areas of generalization. In the first belong the character's concepts which pertain primarily to his own personality, and which are derived from observing his own periods of stimulation and depression. In the area Axy, however, belong the more generalized concepts pertaining to the personality of the environment, derived from observation of environmental changes. In the area Ayz belong the yet broader concepts pertaining to, and derived from obser- vation of, the growing personality of the back- ground. The corresponding negative areas fall in the same order to the right of the secondary axis, Aw. Now it will be remembered that ascent may be made either by the positive or the negative route, and in the play we are considering, which presents an ideal combination of these two methods, this circumstance breaks the line of advance up into sections a section for each scene whose start- ing-points, marked by small crosses, lie alternate- ly to left and right of the axis Aw. Beyond these starting points the amount by which the char- acter's positive concepts are generalized, or the negative structure diminished, in any given scene, 90 PRINCIPLES OF DRAMA-THERAPY is measured by the distance, left or right, gained during that scene. The vertical lines, on the other hand, which bring the character up to the next scene-level, represent the amount of growth resulting from the acquisition or excision of such concepts. Now, in the accompanying figure, it will be observed that in Act I the starting-points of the scenes are viewed as oscillating only within the area Axaf in other words, the character is ob- serving, and working inductively upon, only those phenomena which pertain to his own per- sonality. In Act II, however, the starting-points of the various scenes oscillate more widely, with- in the area Ayy' in other words, although per- sonal phenomena continue, the character is occu- pied mainly with the more general concepts aris- ing from observation of the personality of the en- vironment. But while the act is in progress the personality of the background begins to appear, and at its close the character becomes aware of its immanence. And in Act III he is occupied main- ly with concepts arising from the phenomena of the background, and consequently, the starting- points of the scenes must be represented as oscil- lating within the still more extended area Azsf. In the right hand half of the figure the author has abandoned the convenient but arbitrary meth- od of representing generalization of concepts and THE PERSONALITY OF THE BACKGROUND 91 character growth by horizontal and vertical lines respectively, and has simply plotted the result- ants of these two processes. The result is two broken, but complementary, curves of ascent, one lying in the negative and one in the positive area in this case to the left and right of the second- ary axis. Now, considering the right-hand portion of the figure for a moment, it will be observed that in scene 13 the negative structure is viewed as vanishing. When this occurs, the positive con- cepts will become completely generalized a con- dition which obtains hypothetically at the level Z. It is obvious, therefore, that the amount of gen- eralization attained in this scene must be infinite- ly great, and that, adequately to represent it, the horizontal component of the positive curve must be made infinitely long before the character can ascend to the final level. Consequently, our posi- tive curve turns sharply at this point, and, al- though it will constantly approach the line Z as a limit, by the terms of the case it can intersect it only at infinity. We may, however, conceive of this final scene as bringing the curve just as close to the line Z as we please. This, translated into terms of character expansion, means that we may present the central figure as displaying any de- gree of attainment that we choose, once the nega- tive structure has been eliminated. 92 PRINCIPLES OF DRAMA-THERAPY However, before discussing this climactic scene of the play, in which the positive curves turn sud- denly out towards infinity, the author wishes to call attention to two other points, viz: the effect of this process of generalization upon the devel- oping role, as compared with the other characters of the play; and the nature of the phenomena which it precipitates in the background. Now, in the character himself, it is obvious that these inductive processes by which he acquires and generalizes concepts, will give rise, as it were, to an inner margin of personality which finds its correspondence, not in any particular person or thing in the environment, but rather in the com- pletely generalized personality that appears in the world of Nature as the play progresses. This margin of personality will increase in breadth as the generalizations which give rise to it become broader and broader. In each succeeding scene it will lift the character more and more definitely away from the groundwork of the play. He will thus never become merged in either the positive or the negative group, but will move against them, a figure set, as it were, in high and growing relief. Now, in the negative scenes in which the character is depressed below normal, it is this margin of personality which keeps before him the memory of less depressed conditions, and which provides him both with the faith that read- THE PERSONALITY OF THE BACKGROUND 93 justment is possible, and with the will to read- just. In the positive scenes, also, it is this margin of personality which enables him to stand back, even from those persons who correspond to his positive concepts, and to perceive the workings of the law to which they unconsciously respond. Thus, as the play develops, the central figure will draw further and further ahead of both the posi- tive and the negative characters, who, represent- ing particular concepts, may not be depicted as perceiving and as generalizing the law. Now, in regard to the phenomena by means of which the author will suggest the immanence of a personality in the background, a little considera- tion will show that these may be of any kind which the imagination of the artist can devise. For, upon the supposition that the Universal embodies the three elements of personality, and upon the supposition that the Universal includes the all, there is obviously no reason why the originative element, as it appears in the individual, should be confined in its action upon the psychic element to the limits of that individual's physical personal- ity nothing, save the fact that the individual himself habitually conceives of it as operating only in that fashion. When this limiting basic concept is shattered, however, the originative ele- ment, as embodied in the individual, is set free. It may then start whatever trains of causation in 94 PRINCIPLES OF DRAMA-THERAPY the universal psychic it chooses, and whenever and wherever it will. This is what happens, ap- parently, in the psychic clinic, where hallucina- tions conforming to tests of materiality may be projected at any point in space. Now it should be observed that a character who is consciously generalizing his conception of personality, is shattering the basic concept which limits his powers of origination in the manner described above. As this process continues, there- fore, we shall expect his conscious thought to be recorded in the universal psychic in other words, upon the world of Nature and that the charac- ter of the phenomena will be determined by noth- ing save by the nature of the concepts which call them into being. Thus it is that the author of a therapeutic drama may give his imagination free rein; or, if he will but turn to the histories of miracle and of magic, explaining their narratives upon the basis of a three-fold Universe, he will find as large an assortment of phenomena as he is likely to require. However, although the phenomena presented may include all things from the local modifica- tion of natural laws to the association and disso- ciation of matter they will be definitely limited in intensity and in magnitude by the amount of development portrayed in the leading role up to the moment of their occurrence. For, if they be THE PERSONALITY OF THE BACKGROUND 95 not adequately motivated in terms of character, the author will be dealing with the supernatural. The audience will then fail to follow, and half the power of the play will be lost. But let us return to the climactic scene, in which the positive curves stretch away suddenly to complete generalization, and examine, as it were, a cross-section of the play at this point. For three acts, perhaps, a reiterated theme has subtly and skilfully insinuated the basic idea of the play into the ears of the audience. The lead- ing role has eliminated from his consciousness many negative concepts, and each time stimula- tion has ensued, until the spectator now feels that in the truly normal order no negative concepts, and consequently no depression, can exist. More- over, these oscillations from positive to negative, and back, have kept the idea in his mind of an immanent and active cause. Next, he has seen the environment come within the pale of person- ality, and has watched the principal role grow to a place where he can manipulate the conditions of his life at will. Finally, he has seen the back- ground pass under the same law, and become in- creasingly responsive to the character's conscious thought. Now it should be borne in mind that the cli- mactic scene of such a play may be approached either by the positive or the negative route in 96 PRINCIPLES OF DRAMA-THERAPY other words, the final step in development may involve either the acquisition of the last positive, or the eradication of the last negative, concept. If the first is the case, there is a sense of growing calm: if the second method has been followed, however, there will be a sense of growing struggle. But in either case, as we have seen from our consideration of the negative scenes, the character will be acting from a positive premise. The scene, therefore, even though negative in nature, becomes positive, and consequently deep- ly psychic, toward its close. Because of this, the minor characters are now conforming more and more nearly to the laws governing mental images, the elimination of the elements of time and space has been made most nearly complete, and the powers of the leading role himself are ex- panding with the utmost rapidity. All the while the background is being personalized and person- alized through the recurrence of phenomena, until the audience is momentarily expecting it to as- sume some strange new aspect. Finally, however, if the positive route has been followed, the generalization of positive concepts is most nearly complete. All particular concepts, and consequently all characters corresponding to them, vanish, and a moment of intense quiet supervenes. Or, if the negative route has been followed, struggle becomes severer and severer THE PERSONALITY OF THE BACKGROUND 97 until finally the last negative concept is elimi- nated. When this occurs the character corre- sponding to it disappears; a moment later all positive concepts become generalized, and again a moment of intense quiet supervenes. Now what phenomenon shall be represented as occurring in the background that shall be as posi- tive and as general in its nature as the last men- tal act which calls it forth? Obviously, there is only one adequate correspondence momentary, but intense, general and overpowering light. Such a phenomenon is, of course, in accord with the statements of those who have most nearly approximated the state of mind contemplated; but whether it be in accord or not, its suggestive effect upon an audience, especially if its passing be preceded by a darkened stage, would be simply terrific. This moment, in which the background is rep- resented as flashing light, is supposed, of course, to mark the merging of the individual and the Cosmic consciousnesses. It is the "marriage of Heaven and Earth" looked forward to and de- scribed by all of the great religions; and ade- quately to dramatize it should be the sole aim and purpose of the therapeutic playwright. His play, however, need not stop at this point ; nor need it suffer any anti-climax thereby. On the contrary, after a recrudescence of negative 98 PRINCIPLES OF DRAMA-THERAPY concepts, it might work again and again to the passing of the light, until the character has be- come steady, and is no longer human but divine. The dramatist would then view his character as perceiving that the individual originative ele- ment can, and always is, initiating trains of cau- sation in the universal psychic thus weaving the web which we call circumstance. He would view him as perceiving, also, that the trains of causation started and maintained in the individ- ual psychic by the Universal originative the action taking place subconsciously in the ma- jority is that which gives rise to the continuous phenomenon of life. He will thus represent him as perceiving that the individual and the Uni- versal, are, in fact, one; and that he, like the Cos- mos, is a self-maintaining, self-evolving unit. At this point all conceivable phenomena compatible with cosmic advance might be associated with his personality, until at last he might be represented as passing beyond the range of sense perception. CHAPTER XI DRAMATIC SELECTION AND CONCLUSION In the foregoing pages the author has endeav- ored to deduce a method by which the laws of suggestion, upon which the entire fabric of the theater depends, may be turned by the play- wright to some great, constructive purpose. The discussion has of necessity been purely theoreti- cal in nature. However, remembering that theo- retical work is the basis of all practical achieve- ment, let us sum up the conclusions arrived at in as brief and as tangible a form as possible. 1. A drama, in order to apply constructive suggestion in blanket fashion to large gatherings of individuals, must take as its premise the most general positive concept possible ; for the broader the premise, the greater the number of particular cases of depression that it will cover. And, as we have seen, the broadest premise that it is possible to assume is the immanence and actuality of Uni- versal Being. 2. Remembering Braid's dictum, that hypno- sis is always the result of a process of mono-ide- ism, or the concentration of the entire attention upon one object or idea, a therapeutic drama must adhere most rigidly to its premise a pre- mise which can best be conveyed by depicting the effect of Universal Being upon the individual. 99 100 PRINCIPLES OF DRAMA-THERAPY This requirement of mono-ideism lands us in a structure in every department of which the ele- ments both of repetition and of advance obtain. 3. In the developing role, sharply defined states of stimulation above normal, and depres- sion below, must be presented. These oscilla- tions must, in the lines of the play, be linked di- rectly, and in the relation of effect to cause, with the character's growing recognition of the Uni- versal. 4. A strict correspondence between the char- acter's conscious thought and his immediate en- vironment must be maintained; and all environ- mental changes must be linked directly, and in the relation of effect to cause, with the same process of growing recognition. 5. As this process of recognition continues, bringing about repeated generalizations of posi- tive concepts, a growing personality must be in- dicated in the background, until the very atmos- phere of the theater becomes alive with an un- seen, but with a definitely responsive, presence. These five rules may be condensed yet further ; for if an author assume the existence of person- ality with respect to his developing role, and, thereafter, subject this personality to successive and rapid expansions throughout every depart- ment of his work, he will most assuredly approxi- mate therapeutic results. DRAMATIC SELECTION AND CONCLUSION 101 Plays which conform to the above require- ments, and which courageously present the super- normal developments of character involved in them, will constitute a radical departure from the realistic drama of the last century. The point to be noted, however, is that they will transcend the laws of past realism, not because of a less faithful portrayal of life, but because of a wider outlook on the part of the author, and because of a more intelligent and comprehensive appli- cation of the law of dramatic selection than has obtained hitherto. The law of dramatic selection is easily defined : it is that necessity which requires an author to pass over the commonplace and the trivial, and to select, perhaps from an entire lifetime, only those few pivotal moments in character development that are dramatically interesting only those steps by which the story is actually advanced and to discard all else as valueless. But if the vision of the author be such as to render the steps selected typical, not only of the character whose story he is presenting, but of the audience and of humanity as well, his work is said to possess the quality of universality. In the past, such compositions have frequently been incor- porated into the sacred writings of the race which produced them ; always they have been considered great, and have survived all change of custom. 102 PRINCIPLES OF DRAMA-THERAPY We cannot avoid the inference, therefore, that the greatest play is the play which, like the embryo, most completely epitomizes racial experience dur- ing the course of its development. Now, looking back over racial progress, from the point where the human mind first emerges from the gloom of unrecorded history, to its pres- ent highly sensitive and cultured state, the one fact that stands out saliently in the complex of conquest and of change is this: no advance is perceptible until some race, or some portion of a race, had transcended its primal beliefs in ani- mism, and had arrived at a monotheistic concep- tion of the Universe. Psychologically this could not have been otherwise : for animistic beliefs are beliefs in the existence of overruling, malignant powers; and it was not until these negative basic concepts had been dissipated that the racial mind began to be released from a conditon of cataleptic recoil. Then, and only then, was this mind able to express itself in the development of the arts and sciences. It is these circumstances that have given rise to the dictum that the history of civil- ization is nothing more nor less than the history of the development and spread of monotheism. Therefore it is, also, that the modern play- wright who would most completely epitomize ra- cial experience, could not do better than select for purposes of dramatic presentation, those DRAMATIC SELECTION AND CONCLUSION 103 pivotal moments by which the individual mind passes from the domination of negative concepts which are nothing more nor less than the dis- guised beliefs of animism into the conception of such a pantheistic-monotheism as is contem- plated in the foregoing pages. And the fact that therapy will follow naturally in their wake is an additional, and a highly practical, reason why such transitions should be presented. Moreover, if the presentation of such transitions should be- come the general aim of authorship, it would give rise to a drama whose effect upon the social fabric would lie beyond the range of wildest con- jecture. Before closing, let us examine the conditions under which a play of this type would receive its premier. There are today thousands of people in the United States who accept such a pan- theistic-monotheism as the very corner-stone of their lives. Hundreds of them, through an es- pecially vivid realization of the immanence and actuality of Deity, have experienced some inner readjustment for the better, and it is safe to say that one or more of these would witness the play. Now if, during its course, author and actor could bring about another such vivid realization, the chances are that the same inner readjustment would take place again to the elimination of whatever depressed conditions might have ob- 104 PRINCIPLES OF DRAMA-THERAPY tained at the time. Suppose this should happen, and suppose the fact should become known. The news would not only attract growing numbers of people, but would constitute a basic concept in the popular mind, creating just the conditions which would render further readjustments pos- sible. Once the thing started it is highly probable that it would assume the proportions of an epi- demic only instead of an epidemic resulting in deaths, it would be an epidemic resulting in cures. Such waves of psychic stimulation, with all of their accompanying phenomena of physical cure and of supernormal states, have swept western Europe from time to time. In the past their prog- ress has been written in the blood and ashes of heretics, and of those accused of witchcraft. The roster of such martyrs runs into the thousands. Nor, when one stops to consider the amazing rap- idity with which these psychic contagions have spread, until at times entire provinces had been involved, is one surprised that those in authority resorted to drastic methods, and endeavored to stamp them out before they had completely revo- lutionized the existing order. The history of the Albigeois, the Montanists, the Paulicans, the Huguenots, and of many other of the so-called heretical sects, furnish instances of such phenom- ena on the part of the mass mind ; and the author herewith attaches the terse and suspicious com- DRAMATIC SELECTION AND CONCLUSION 105 ment of a neurologist of the old school in regard to one of them : "Such nervous conditions," he writes, "show great contagiousness. In the beginning of the eighteenth century a single Clavinist priest, hail- ing from the village of Dauphine, was sufficient to impart a prophetic spirit to the entire popula- tion. By a magnetic inspiration of this spirit through the mouths of some persons, who after- wards communicated it to others, no less than eight or ten thousand prophets arose in Dauphine, Vivarais and the Cevennes. Men, women, chil- dren, old men, all prophesied the future. Chil- dren, three years old, who had never before spoken anything but the patois of the province, now, during the trance, spoke the purest French with astonishing ease " (Hypnotism; Fredrik Bjornstrom.) Now, since these things are so, and since tre- mendous power lies occluded within the popular mind, may not America, with her genius for things practical, harness such unseen Niagaras to the general well-being of mankind ? In doing so she would have revivified a theater that is al- ready obsolescent, and would have created a truly American drama, based upon truly American ideals. The author, however, who undertakes Amer- ica's investiture, will not accomplish his aim by 106 PRINCIPLES OF DRAMA-THERAPY looking to Europe, or to the past. On the con- trary, since there is in every human being a me- dium which works to its result by means of the purest sequences, the palm will go to him who, starting with the broadest premise, can thereafter most completely emancipate Cinderella from the smothering toils of sterile criticism and from slavery to her pots and pans. One word more: the critic and the student of dramatic literature may not agree with the author in holding that a therapeutic drama is the next logical step in the development of the stage. Be- fore dissenting, however, let them reflect that the drama is essentially religious in nature: that no matter in how many different lands it may have found independent origin, it originated always in some form of worship. Let them reflect, also, that, whether we be dealing with the development of biological species or with the development of institutions, development itself appears always to go in cycles, each cycle reproducing the start- ing-point of the previous cycle, but always at a higher level. THE END. THE ATOMIC, CORPUSCULAR AND ELECTRONIC THEORIES OF MATTER The human mind has always demanded an har- monius universe a universe which, despite out- ward appearances, is not a fortuitous combination of totally unrelated factors, but which is, in itself, a homogeneous unit. This primary intuition found expression dur- ing the Middle Ages in widely accepted theories concerning the transmutability of matter. It gave rise, also, to endless search on the part of alchemists for the philosopher's stone, which by its touch should convert the baser into the more precious metals. It is interesting, in the light of modern discoveries, to note that until as late as the Napoleonic wars certain individuals claimed actually to have accomplished this feat of trans- mutation. As element after element was isolated from its compounds, however, and as alchemy merged into chemistry, a spirit of skepticism grew up among the searchers, who were now occupied with the practical application of known laws rather than with physical and metaphysical speculations. The Atomic Theory of matter was then put forward. It was arrived at in the following fashion : It was observed that the elements, such as hydrogen, oxygen, chlorine, calcium, iron, gold, 107 108 PRINCIPLES OF DRAMA-THERAPY etc., combined with one another in proportions that remained fixed. For instance, two parts of hydrogen combined with one part of sulphur and four parts of oxygen to produce sulphuric acid; and if any of these elements were present in ex- cess of the required amounts, just that excess re- mained after chemical action had ceased. To explain this phenomenon of constant ratio it became necessary to postulate a certain inner structure for each of the elements. Consequently, science came to regard them as made up of min- ute particles called atoms. When this view was taken, the phenomenon of constant ratio in such a chemical reaction as the above, could be explained by saying that the atom of sulphur possessed the power of combining with two atoms of hydrogen, and with four of oxygen, but with no more. The result of this combination of atoms was then called a molecule of sulphuric acid the molecule being the smallest possible particle of any given compound, just as the atom was held to be the smallest possible particle of any given element. The structure of the molecule and the proportions in which its constituent atoms were combined, were then embodied in the chemical symbol for sulphuric acid, H 2 SO^ Then, in 1815, the English chemist, Prout, made observations which seemed to indicate an underlying relation between the atoms of the va- THEORIES OF MATTER 109 rious elements themselves, and which tended, con- sequently, to revive the medieval dream of trans- mutation. He observed that, taking the weight of the atom of hydrogen, the lightest known sub- stance, as 1, the weights of the atoms of many of the other elements worked out to whole numbers. Thus, the atom of oxygen appeared to be just 16, and the atom of mercury just 200, times as heavy as the atom of hydrogen. It seemed reasonable to Prout, therefore, that oxygen might not be oxygen, nor mercury, mercury, but that both might be hydrogen condensed 16 and 200 times respectively. However, it was soon discovered that while the atomic weights of many of the elements worked out to whole numbers, many, also, worked out to fractional numbers; consequently, Prout's ex- planation had to be abandoned. A little later, however, Dobereiner discovered that here and there in the list of elements little groups could be picked out, each member of which bore strongly similar properties. Thus, calcium, strontium and barium, all greatly alike, fell into one group; chlorine, bromine and iodine formed a second; and sulphur, selenium and tel- lurium, a third. These elements, it was observed, tended to form the same compounds ; w r here their combining ratios varied they varied with a per- fect regularity. 110 PRINCIPLES OF DRAMA-THERAPY Then, in 1863, Newlands pointed out that if the elements were written in the order of their atomic weights, beginning with hydrogen, 1, and ending with uranium, 240, those elements posses- sing strongly similar properties fell, like the oc- tave notes in music, with just seven elements in between. This observation contained the germ of a most important discovery the discovery of what is known as the Periodic Law. It was ar- rived at independently, and almost simultane- ously, by Mendeleeff in Russia, and Meyer in Germany. These two scientists discovered that the proper- ties exhibited by the elements are periodic func- tions of their atomic weights,, which, ki simple lan- guage, means that chemical characteristics of the various substances periodically recur as the weight of their respective atoms increases. It now became obvious to the more philosophi- cal investigators that there was, in fact, an under- lying relation between the atoms of the various elements, just as Prout had suspected. It was apparent, also, since this relation was a numerical relation, and since some of the atoms bore a frac- tional aspect, that the existence of something yet smaller than the atom must be postulated some- thing out of which the atoms themselves could be built up in order to satisfy the conditions im- posed by the Periodic Law. THEORIES OF MATTER 111 The honor of discovering these infinitely min- ute particles, however, did not go to the chemists, but to the physicists, who first detected them by means of the electroscope. The electroscope is an extremely sensitive, yet simple apparatus. It consists of two strips of gold- foil attached to the end of a metallic rod which in turn is thrust through the stopper of a glass jar so that the leaves hang inside. Now, when an elec- trically charged body is brought in proximity to the metallic rod, an electrical charge is communi- cated through the rod to the leaves. These, being similarly electrified, are repelled from one an- other and stand apart at an angle the amount of the angle measuring the amount of the com- municated charge. Now, in experiments with the electroscope, it was discovered that air, ordinarily a very poor conductor of electricity, became a very excellent conductor after having been in the proximity of a candle-flame. It then possessed the power of discharging an electroscope, causing the gold leaves to collapse. Nor was a candle-flame the only agent that would affect the air in this fash- ion ; it was soon observed that contact with glow- ing metals, or with metals exposed to the action of ultra-violet light, imparted a similar property. An electrical discharge would also render the sur- rounding air a conductor, and this conductivity 112 PRINCIPLES OF DRAMA-THERAPY remained after the discharge had ceased. The mere presence of certain elements produced a like effect: it was even found that the simple expedient of bubbling it through water gave air the power to disperse an electrostatic charge. In fact, it was found that "all forms of matter under special conditions and special forms of matter under all conditions" affected the air in this fashion. But, and what was more striking still, this ac- quired conductivity could be removed by passing the air through some adequate filter, such as a wad of glass wool. Obviously there was something in the air something given off by the forms of matter with which it had come in contact something in the nature of particles since filtration would remove it that was responsible for the phenomenon. In this way the gaseous ions were discovered. Subsequently, experiments with positively and negatively charged electroscopes revealed the fact that the ions were of two kinds one possessing the power to disperse a negative charge of static electricity, and which, therefore, were themselves positively charged; and a kind possessing the power to disperse a positive charge, and which, therefore, were negatively electrified. The posi- tive ions are still called ions. About them very little is known save that they betray a positive THEORIES OF MATTER 113 electrical nature; that they possess little or no mass at all, but that they appear, nevertheless, to be about the size of the atom of hydrogen, which is the unit of chemistry. Concerning the nega- tive ion, however, quite a good deal is known, and because of the importance it has assumed it has been given a special name. It is now called the corpuscle. The reason so much is known about the cor- puscle is that a beam of these tiny particles, ema- nating from a heated metal plate, or shot from the cathode of a Crookes tube, or derived from any source whatever, can be bent by magnetic stresses. With refined and highly sensitive appa- ratus scientists have deflected such a beam, by the application of known magnetic forces, through an arc which could easily be measured. And, with the amount of the deflecting force and the radius of the resulting arc known, it was possible to calculate the velocity with which the corpuscles traveled. This was found to be prodigious, ap- proximating at times as much as half the speed of light, or, roughly, 90,000 miles per second. Next, the electrical charge carried by each cor- puscle was determined a calculation which its peculiar property of forming clouds in moist air rendered possible. And when the velocity and the electrical charge had been found, the mass of the corpuscle could be worked out. This, no mat- 114 PRINCIPLES OF DRAMA-THERAPY ter from what source the corpuscle was derived, turned out to be a constant quantity : it possesses, roughly, a mass 1,000 times less than that of the hydrogen atom. Thus, in the corpuscle, physicists discovered that of which the chemists stood in need they discovered a particle 1,000 times smaller than the smallest atom, out of which all atoms, and con- sequently all matter, might be built up; and which, if this were the case, might easily invest each element with a numerical relation to its neighbor. But were the atoms of the elements built up out of these tiny, negatively charged particles? This question was answered by the discovery of radium. Radium is an element, fitting nicely into its place in the Table of Elements with an atomic weight of 226.4. It possesses, moreover, wonderful dynamic properties, for it continually emits energy at a rate that is stupendous when compared with its mass. This energy takes sev- eral forms. It appears as heat, and this heat is sufficient to keep the temperature of a specimen of radium salts several degrees above that of sur- rounding objects: it appears also as motion motion which is communicated to the surrounding ether, and which gives rise to rays resembling in many respects those emitted by the Rontgen, or X-ray bulb. All of these properties are summed THEORIES OF MATTER 115 up under the general heading of radio-activity. At the time of its discovery the phenomenon of radio-activity could be accounted for only upon the supposition of atomic disintegration. It appeared as though the atoms of radium were like time-bombs: at a certain predetermined mo- ment they seemed to explode, releasing thereby vast stores of intra-atomic energy. With this supposition in mind, M. Henri Becquerel, the original discoverer, not of radium, but of radio- ^activity, determined, to analyze the radium rays. This he accomplished by subjecting them to mag- netic torsion. Under the action of a powerful electro-magnet M. Becquerel found that the rays emitted by a specimen of radium salts became split up into two beams. One beam appeared to be unaffected by the magnetic stress; the other was greatly de- flected. This latter and easily deflected portion, M. Becquerel called the beta-ray. Subsequently, Professor Rutherford, by the application of tremendous magnetic fields, suc- ceeded in splitting the former, and hitherto un- deflected, portion of the beam up into two parts, one of which was deflected and one of which was not. This second deflected portion, however, was not attracted towards the magnetic pole as the beta-ray had been, but was repelled from it. This was called the alpha-ray. The residual ray, 116 PRINCIPLES OF DRAMA-THERAPY which refused to deviate from its course, was called the gamma-ray. Yet further investigation by means of the elec- troscope revealed the fact that the beta-ray was nothing more nor less than a beam of negatively charged corpuscles, identical with those emitted by candle-flames, by hot metals, and by the cath- odes of vacuum tubes. The alpha-ray, on the other hand, was found to consist of positively charged ions; while the third and undeflected gamma-ray appeared to be wave motions set up in the ether by the vibrations of ion and corpuscle. Thus it was shown that the element radium, at least, was composed at last analysis of ions and corpuscles ; and in 1904 this proof was extended to another element one which betrayed no radio- active properties whatever. This occurred in the following manner: It was observed that substances left in the neighborhood of radium themselves acquired a quasi-radio-activity. Investigation showed that this was due to something given off by the radi- um something distinguished from the rays men- tioned above by the fact that it behaved in every particular, not like a ray, but like a gas. This was called the radium emanation. And in the sum- mer of 1904 Sir William Ramsey and Mr. Soddy determined to make a spectroscopic analysis of air containing this emanation. At first they dis- THEORIES OF MATTER 117 covered lines in the spectrum which they attrib- uted to the emanation; after the instrument had been allowed to stand for several hours, however, the spectrum of helium, clear and well-defined, appeared. Helium is an element with an atomic weight of 4. It was discovered some thirty years ago in the sun. Later it was found to exist in small quantities upon earth. Here, then, was the dream of the medieval al- chemist come true ; here was one element, radium, with an atomic weight of 226.4, transmuting itself into another, helium, whose atomic weight was only 4. And, obviously, both radium and helium were composed of ions and corpuscles. Now it is from the consideration of such phe- nomena that scientists have put forward the Cor- puscular Theory of matter. This theory does not involve the abandonment, but merely the exten- sion, of the Atomic Theory. For the Corpus- cular Theory views all matter simply as an ag- glomeration of corpuscles, the difference between an atom of hydrogen and an atom of mercury being only a difference in number between their constituent parts. Upon this basis, therefore, the hydrogen atom, whose corrected weight is 1.008, would consist of 1,008 corpuscles: the atom of mercury, however, whose weight is 200, would consist of 200,000. 118 PRINCIPLES OF DRAMA-THERAPY But it will be remembered that the corpuscles are all negatively charged, and a number of sim- ilarly charged bodies cannot remain in a state of equilibrium unless they be associated with an equal and opposite charge. And in the economy of the atom the positive charge, necessary to the stability of the structure, is supplied by the ion, which, it will be remembered, possesses no appre- ciable mass, and which may best be described as a sphere of positive electrification. Professor J. J. Thompson has shown how, upon mathematical grounds, the corpuscles would arrange themselves within this positive sphere; and Professor Mayer has worked out a beautiful analogue with floating magnets. The result of these calculations and experiments have been to invest the atom with a structure in every way an- alagous to that of the solar system, in which the corpuscles in rapid orbital motion correspond to the planets, and in which the enclosing sphere of positive electrification corresponds to the centrip- etal pull of gravity. Now, if we accept the usual definition of mat- ter as that which possesses, mass, it is apparent from the foregoing that only one of the constitu- ent parts of matter conforms to the test of ma- teriality. This is the corpuscle; the ion is simply a sphere of influence. However, as far back as 1881, Professor THEORIES OF MATTER 119 Thompson pointed out that a charge of electric- ity in motion sets up a drag in the ether through which it moves just as the armature of a dyna- mo sets up a drag in its magnetic field, which makes it increasingly difficult to turn. This drag, or resistance to motion, makes the charge appear to possess inertia, weight or mass, which is a characteristic of matter. Subsequently, Sir Oliver Lodge calculated how much this increase in inertia would be in a body of given mass, and carrying a given electrical charge, at varying speeds. He found that at half the speed of light, which travels at the rate of 186,000 miles per second, this apparent increase in mass would be equal to .12 of the body's actual mass when in a state of rest. At .9 the speed of light the body would behave as though it were 1.8 times as heavy, while at 99 per cent of the speed of light its mass would appear to be 3.28 times as great. At 99.5 per cent, this number jumped suddenly to 5 ; and between 99.5 per cent and the actual speed of light, it jumped from 5 to infinity. From the foregoing it is obvious that no par- ticle of matter can ever attain a speed greater than that of light for, though it were only the size of a corpuscle when it started, if it be conceived of as attaining a speed greater than that of light, it must be conceive4 of, also, as having acquired a mass greater than that of the universe. 120 PRINCIPLES OF DRAMA-THERAPY Now in 1881 these findings of Professor Thompson and of Sir Oliver Lodge caused little comment, for then no particles of matter were known which any where nearly approximated such enormous velocities. Since then, however, they have been discovered in the corpuscle, which attains at times a speed of 90,000 miles per second. When this discovery was made a startling idea flashed across the intellectual horizon, for it sud- denly occurred to scientists that perhaps the en- tire mass of the corpuscle, itself the only material element in matter, might be due to nothing in the world but to its electrical charge and to its mo- tion. This consideration has given rise to what is called the Electronic Theory of matter. The Electronic Theory does not involve the abandonment either of the Atomic or the Corpus- cular theories ; it does not contradict, but includes both. Its distinguishing characteristic is that it views the mass of the corpuscle as due entirely to its motion and to its charge. If this view be correct, it means that every element, and conse- quently that all matter, is nothing more nor less than electrical and motional conditions subsist- ing in the primary ether. Now, in arriving at the Electronic Theory, the science of the past decade has made many second- ary, but none the less important, deductions. THEORIES OF MATTER 121 The chief of these has resulted in the extension of the Evolutionary Hypothesis so as to include not only the organic, but the inorganic world as well a view to which the work of Sir Norman Lockyer in astro-physics largely contributed. Sir Norman Lockyer discovered, through spectroscopic analysis of the fixed stars, that the chemical constitution of the heavenly bodies va- ried directly as their temperature. In the cooler stars many of the heavier elements which are common upon earth were present. As the tem- perature rose to that of the greater suns, how- ever, the chemical constitution became less com- plex, until, in the very hottest, only the lightest elements such as hydrogen, and a form of hydro- gen known as proto-hydrogen, appeared. This seemed to indicate that as the temperature rose or fell, element was evolved from element, just as in the biological world species is evolved from species, and just as in the laboratory helium is evolved from radium. Sir Norman Lockyer, however, as well as all of those distinguished physicists whose work has given us the Corpuscular and the Electronic theories, assumed, apparently without question that the Helmholzian theory of the Conservation of Energy was correct. This theory postulates that there is a fixed amount of energy in the universe, which, although it may be converted 122 PRINCIPLES OF DRAMA-THERAPY from one form into another until it is diffused as radiations of heat, can, notwithstanding, never be augmented or diminished hy so much as the millionth part of a calory. Laboring under the spell of such an assump- tion the result was unavoidable : all of these men contemplated a dying universe a universe in which the fixed amount of energy doled out at some supposititious and far-off creation, was be- ing, not destroyed, but dissipated beyond use- fulness by radiation into outer space. The sun, they argued, is continually giving up heat: therefore one day it will grow cold. Many of them went so far as to calculate how long the celestial furnace would hold out, and thus fixed an approximate date upon which our own solar system would pass into a state of eternal stag- nation. Thus it was that Sir Norman Lockyer, apparently, assumed that the order of evolution among the stars was from the extremely hot to the extremely cold. Now the only point that is of interest to us at the present moment is this: the Theory of Conservation, upon which the entire structure of 19th century physics rested, is to-day being subjected to the most critical scrutiny and largely through the work of American scientists. The heavy guns of reason were first turned upon it when the Frenchman, Babinet, definitely THEORIES OF MATTER 123 exploded the La Placian theory of the origin of worlds. For, although Helmholz did not formulate the Theory of Conservation until after La Place's Nebula Hypothesis had been ad- vanced, the Nebula Hypothesis, nevertheless, pre- supposed the Law of Conservation. According to La Place who, by the way, is said never fully to have accepted his own ex- planation, the solar system originated in a vast, incandescent nebula. This nebula, losing heat by radiation, contracted, and finally condensed into a central sun surrounded by a family of growing planets. As cooling continued, the sup- position was that the planets at least the planet Earth became habitable, and that life appeared. The heat of the central body was, therefore, due to its primordial state of incandescence: its fu- ture, therefore, was the future of a dark and icy star. In 1861, however, Babinet took the calculated and combined mass of the sun and his attendant worlds, and expanded it into a sphere with a radi- us equal to the radius of Neptune's orbit. Nep- tune, the outermost planet, revolves at the enor- mous distance of 2,791,600,000 miles from the sun. And when the available material had been spread out over this huge space, Babinet discov- ered that the average density of so tenuous a body was somewhat less than that of the most 124 PRINCIPLES OF DRAMA-THERAPY perfect vacuum that can be obtained, and that, consequently, its mean temperature, instead of approximating incandescence, approximated much more nearly the absolute zero of outer space. Thus it is that modern astronomers Pro- fessor See, among others declare the Nebula Hypothesis to be untenable, despite the fact that it provided the basis for collegiate text-books un- til as late as 1912. Coincidentally with the passing of the Nebula Hypothesis among astronomers, comes a ten- dency upon the part of the younger physicists seri- ously to question the Law of Conservation, which it unconsciously presupposed. These men by no means contemplate a dying universe, or a sun growing cold through the loss of heat. On the contrary, they view the produc- tion of radiant energy as a condition of matter when matter is agglomerated in large masses. The sun, they say, is hot, not by virtue of some primordial incandescence, nor by virtue of subse- quent contraction as some have supposed, but purely and simply by virtue of his own immense mass. His heat, they hold, is evolved from mo- ment to moment, partially, perhaps, by the im- pact of infalling meteoric material, but princi- pally by the pressure of his outer upon his inner layers just as they hold that the inner heat of THEORIES OF MATTER 125 the earth arises from the pressure of the crust upon the interior. This heat has been termed gravistatic heat; the energy which produces it is not the energy of motion, but the energy of posi- tion not the energy of impact, which is dissi- pated in heat the moment that motion is arrested, but the energy of pressure, which is continuous impact. Now the point to be noted is that the heat resulting from pressure cannot give out, for the simple reason that as long as pressure con- tinues, just so long is heat being evolved. Upon this basis, therefore, all dark stars and "dead" planets are not dead, if the term implies a former loss of heat. On the contrary they are hotter now than they ever have been; and if, through the accretion of material, they should one day acquire sufficient mass, they will burst sud- denly into flame, fused by their own great weight. Such a conception as the above, which views the entire amount of energy in the universe as being expended every moment, and every moment as being thoroughly and completely renewed, is a far cry from the Theory of Conservation, which has sapped the life-blood of science for half a century. And possibly within the next few years, this same conception will supplant the now generally accepted theory of atomic disintegration as the explanation of radio-activity, for, by referring to 126 PRINCIPLES OF DRAMA-THERAPY the Table of Elements, it will be observed that the radio-active substances are, atom for atom, the densest known forms of matter. Should this occur, scientists would then postulate that a con- dition of radiant activity is a function of mass: It will be most interesting to see. Now, before quitting the Law of Conserva- tion, the author wishes to call attention to the in- tellectual process by which these latter day think- ers are, apparently, arriving at the conception of a self -maintaining, self -evolving universe, as dis- tinguished from the dying universe of the 19th century. It is, of course, obvious that no work is possible unless there be a difference in potential. The sun is hotter than the earth: this difference in tem- perature constitutes the difference in potential which has given rise to all the forms of life, and to all the particular manifestations of energy, with which we are familiar. Then, since all forms and all manifestations of energy are, according to the Electronic Theory, conditions subsisting in primary ether, it is obvious that we must concede to ether itself the ability to alter its own equilib- rium, and to establish within itself differences in potential. Now, when we are dealing in terms of Nature, it is purely academic and unwarranted to conceive of a natural law as operative at one time and not at another. Yet this is precisely THEORIES OF MATTER 127 what the thinkers of the last century did. They perceived that differences in potential existed, but conceived of the cause which produced those dif- ferences as operative only at the time of a far-off beginning. To-day, however, we recognize the fact that if we conceive of a natural law at all, we must conceive of it as being operative, like the law of gravitation, at overy moment of time. Consequently, we cannot avoid the inference that to establish and to maintain differences in poten- tial between her constituent parts, is a quality in- herent in Nature, and as universal as the ether itself. It is, doubtless, some such necessity as the above that is to-day leading scientists to discard the idea of a cooling sun, and to conceive of a sun hot by virtue of his own mighty efforts a sun to whom the intense cold of outer space is the neces- sary negative pole of the battery not enemy, but wife. If this view be adopted, and be transferred from the solar system to the atom, we have three elements entering into its structure. One of these we shall call oc, or that which maintains that purely local difference in potential, between posi- tive ion and negative corpuscle, by virtue of which the atom exists, and which, therefore, mani- fests as the orbital motion of the corpuscles, and in radio-active bodies as the gamma-ray. The 128 PRINCIPLES OF DRAMA-THERAPY other two are the ion and the corpuscle them- selves. If, however, the atom be expanded by a process of evolution into the man, these elements become an originative element, a receptive and ex- ecutive element, and a physical instrument* *For a more detailed discussion of these theories, see The New Knowledge; R. K. Duncan; and From Nebula to Nebula; G. H. Lepper. BIBLIOGRAPHY Psychanalysis; A. A. Brill. On Dreams; Sigmund Freud. The Psychopathology of Everyday Life; Sig- mund Freud. Human Personality; F. W. H. Myers. Psychotherapy; Hugo Miinsterberg. The Psychology of Suggestion; Boris Sidis. Hypnotism and Its Application to Practical Medicine; A. G. Wetterstrand. Animal Magnetism; Binet and Fere. Hypnotism; Fredrik Bjornstrom. History of the Supernatural; William Howitt The Lost Language of Symbolism; Harold Bay- ley. A New Light on the Renaissance; Harold Bay- ley. The Huguenots; S. Smiles. Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (Chapter LIV) ; Edward Gibbon. The Edinburgh Lectures; T. Troward. Bible Mystery and Bible Meaning; T. Troward. The Golden Bough; J. G. Frazer. Biography and Discoveries of T. J. J. See; W. L. Webb. 129 The New Knowledge; Robert Kennedy Duncan. From Nebula to Nebula; George Henry Lepper. The Earth: Its Origin and Evolution; A. T. Swaine. Growth of the English Drama from the Liturgy of the Church; Mary Angelique. Greek and English Tragedy; Gilbert Murray. The Origins of the English Drama; A. W. Ward. Encyclopedia of Ethics and Religion. The Upanishads. 130 University of California SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 405 Hilgard Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90024-1388 Return this material to the library from which it was borrowed. NON-RENEWABLE FEB 1 7 1999 DUE 2 WKS FROM DAfE RECEIVED . MAK i .ds A 0000234"";