The Discovery of Hypnosis: The Complete Writings of James Braid (2009)

The Discovery of Hypnosis

The Discovery of Hypnosis:

The Complete Writings of James Braid, the Father of Hypnotherapy

Foreword by Dr. Michael Heap
Edited with detailed prefatory essays by Donald Robertson
Published by the National Council for Hypnotherapy (NCH)

From the author: This is a major new publication which every hypnotherapist should possess. Just as you’d expect every psychoanalyst to have read Freud, every hypnotist should be familiar with the writings of James Braid, the founder of hypnotherapy. Braid’s writings are particularly relevant today with the growing emphasis upon evidence-based practice in psychological therapies. Contrary to popular misconception, which tends to confuse hypnotism with mesmerism, hypnotism actually originated as an early scientific critique of pseudoscientific Victorian therapies such as animal magnetism. Braid, as these writings clearly demonstrate, was an arch-sceptic and passionate empiricist, seeking a rational and common sense explanation for the phenomena of hypnotism.

Braid’s views help to powerfully counteract some of the most common misconceptions which undermine the confidence of clients and other professionals in hypnotherapy. Braid’s common sense approach makes hypnotism understandable and accessible, cutting through the confusion which followed in later decades. His ideas are surprisingly consistent with modern research on hypnosis and pre-empt certain aspects of contemporary cognitive-behavioural therapies (CBT). Braid’s writings even contain “forgotten” hypnotherapy strategies and techniques, which deserve to be revisited in modern times.

Available now from Amazon UK and Amazon.com

You can also browse the whole text online free-of-charge through Google books or visit our website and blog www.James-Braid.com

Some Reviews from Readers on Amazon

An Important Book for All Hypnotherapists – Paul Howard, hypnotherapist

This should be essential reading for all hypnotherapists, and for anyone with an interest in the history of psychology or psychotherapy. Most of Braid’s writings have been pretty much unavailable until now. 150 years on many of Braid’s ideas are still relevant. Braid’s writings show that hypnotism began as a thoroughly scientific therapy, based on criticisms of Victorian quack remedies.

Obligatory Reading – John O’Flynn, hypnotherapist

This quintessential work should be obligatory study for anyone in the field of Hypnotherapy. Donald Robertson unfolds the history of this most powerful therapy, through the words and works, the experiments and demonstrations, of Dr. James Braid, in a straightforward, deeply educational and most enlightening fashion. Excellently researched, it recounts the journey of a highly respected doctor who set out to debunk the follies of Mesmerism and found the jewel of Hypnosis. If you wish to simply understand hypnosis, or study the subject in depth, this is most certainly the book to have. I would go so far as to say, shame on anyone in the field of Cognitive Behavioural Hypnotherapy, who remains ignorant of what this book contains.

Fascinating – Tom Butler-Bowdon, self-help author

Braid was the first to put hypnotherapy on a scientific, rational footing, so today’s hypnotherapists have a lot to thank him for.

A Manchester surgeon, Braid discovered hypnotism reasonably late and like most doctors of his time considered stage hypnotists charlatans. It was only his physical examination of a hypnotised subject that convinced him an actual bodily change had taken place with non-mystical causes.

The Discovery of Hypnosis puts together Braid’s key writings and provides succinct commentary and historical context. This is an exhaustive survey and the editor has obviously mastered the material, revealing an underrated figure in the history of psychology and psychotherapy.

One of Robertson’s fascinating ideas is that Braid should not be considered simply the father of hypnotherapy, but the father of psychotherapy, given his early work into what is now called cognitive behavioural therapy.

Robertson’s clear writing style and to-the-point comments enliven the historical material, and the book itself is large and well laid out. Any hypnotherapist serious about their subject should have this book in their library. It is also a intriguing read for the layman.

Available now from Amazon UK and Amazon.com

You can also browse the whole text online free-of-charge through Google books or visit our website and blog www.James-Braid.com

What Braid Really Said: The Original Meaning of Hypnotism

Copyright (c) Donald Robertson 2009

For more information on the origins of hypnotism see my new book The Discovery of Hypnotism: The Complete Writings of James Braid (2009).

James Braid was the Scottish physician and surgeon who coined the term “hypnotism” and essentially founded hypnotherapy as we know it today, in opposition to the “animal magnetism” of the Mesmerists.  Fourteen years after discovering hypnotism, Braid wrote his last book on the subject, The Physiology of Fascination (1855), the text of a lecture to be read before the prestigious British Association.  By this time, Braid had come to define hypnotism as “the study of the reciprocal actions and reactions of mind and matter upon each other”, the key term here being “reciprocal” because hypnotism originally involved not only the power of the mind over the body but also the power of the body over the mind.

Braid carried out many ingenious experiments to test the claims of the mesmerists and convinced himself that their perceived effects were not due to animal magnetism or any special force or subtle energy transmitted by the mesmerist.  Instead,  he found that “the condition arose from influences existing within the patient’s own body, viz., the influence of concentrated attention, or dominant ideas, in modifying physical action, and these dynamic changes re-acting on the mind of the subject.”  Hence, although the terms “mesmerism” and “hypnotism” are often confused today, Braid was clear that he introduced the term “hypnotism” to distinguish his psychological and physiological theory from the supernatural theory of Mesmer and his many followers.  However, after over a decade of experimentation and clinical practice in hypnotism, Braid now proposed to modify his terminology. 

First, Braid rejects the notion that hypnotism refers to a single state of mind.  “This term has met with most favourable consideration from many able writers on the subject; still it is liable to this grave objection – that it has been used to comprise not a single state, but rather a series of stages or conditions, varying in every conceivable degree, from the slightest reverie, with high exaltation of the functions called into action, on the one hand, to intense nervous coma, with entire abolition of consciousness and voluntary power, on the other.”

The word “hypnotism” was originally an abbreviation for the term “neuro-hypnotism” meaning “nervous sleep”, as Braid puts it, or neurological inhibition, as we might put it today.  Braid never intended the term to imply that subjects were asleep in the ordinary sense of the word, and this turn of phrase caused much confusion among his patients.

I am well aware that, in correct phraseology, the term hypnotism ought to be restricted to the phenomena manifested in patients who actually pass into a state of sleep, and who remember nothing on awakening of what transpired during their sleep.  All short of this is mere reverie, or dreaming, however provoked, and it, therefore, seems highly desirable to fix upon a terminology capable of accurately characterising these latter modifications which result from hypnotic processes.  This is the more requisite from the fact that, of those who may be relieved and cured by hypnotic processes of diseases which obstinately resist ordinary medical treatment, perhaps not more than one in ten ever passes into the state of oblivious sleep, during the processes which they are subjected to.  The term hypnotism, therefore, is apt to confuse them, and lead them to suspect that, at all events, they cannot be benefited by processes which fail to produce the most obvious indication which the name imports. 

So, according to Braid here, as elsewhere, only 10% of his patients experienced complete amnesia during hypnotism, or anything which could be compared to a sleep-like state.  It may surprise many people to realise that this observation agrees with that of Bernheim and most other Victorian hypnotists.  Only a small minority of their patients entered the sleep-like state called “somnambulism” and it was not generally considered particularly important to the practice of hypnotherapy.

Braid apparently intended to continue using the established term “hypnotism” to refer to the subject of mind-body interaction in general, when speaking loosely, but to clarify that, strictly speaking, the term “hypnotism” should only be taken to describe a minority of subjects who experience profound amnesia during the process.

Let the term hypnotism be restricted to those cases alone in which, by certain artificial processes, oblivious sleep takes place, in which the subject has no remembrance on awaking of what occurred during his sleep, but of which he shall have the most perfect recollection on passing into a similar stage of hypnotism thereafter.  In this mode, hypnotism will comprise those cases only in which what has hitherto been called the double-conscious state ["somnambulism"] occurs; and let the term hypnotic coma denote that still deeper stage of the sleep in which the patient seems to be quite unconscious at the time of all external impressions, and devoid of voluntary power, and in whom no idea of what had been said or done by others during the said state of hypnotic coma can be remembered by the patient on awaking, or at any stage of subsequent hypnotic operations.  

Far from sleep, the essence of hypnotism was awareness.  Braid now defined hypnotism as a state of mental focus or concentration upon a dominant conscious idea.

Then, inasmuch as I feel satisfied that the mental and physical phenomena which flow from said processes result entirely from the mental impressions, or dominant ideas, excited thereby in the minds of the subjects, changing or modifying the previously existing physical action, and the peculiar physical action thus superinduced re-acting on their minds – and that, whether these dominant, expectant ideas existed in the minds of the subjects previously, or were suggested to them, after passing into the impressible condition, by audible suggestions or sensible impressions excited by manipulations of a second party – under these circumstances, I consider the following terms calculated to realise all the precision which we need desire on this point…

Braid proposed to use the term “monoideism”, and various cognate expressions, instead, meaning the concentration of the mind upon a single dominant idea or train of thought.  Braid borrowed the terms “ideo-motor reflex” and “ideo-motor reflex” from his friend Prof. W.B. Carpenter who proposed a theory of unconscious muscular action caused in a semi-reflex manner by certain ideas or images.  Braid added the concept of expectation and focused attention to this simple model of suggestion, to form the basis of his theory of hypnotism.

In order that I may do full justice to two esteemed friends, I beg to state, in connection with this term monoideo-dynamics, that, several years ago, Dr. W. B. Carpenter introduced the term ideo-motor to characterise the reflex or automatic muscular motions which arise merely from ideas associated with motion existing in the mind, without any conscious effort of volition.  In 1853, in referring to this term, Dr. [Daniel] Noble said, “Ideo-dynamic would probably constitute a phraseology more appropriate, as applicable to a wider range of phenomena.”  In this opinion I quite concurred, because I was well aware that an idea could arrest as well as excite motion automatically, not only in the muscles of voluntary motion, but also as regards the condition of every other function of the body.  [Braid had long recognised that hypnosis could either stimulate or depress nervous functioning in general.]  I have, therefore, adopted the term monoideo-dynamics, as still more comprehensive and characteristic as regards the true mental relations which subsist during all dynamic changes which take place, in every other function of the body, as well as in the muscles of voluntary motion.

To this he adds, “as a generic term, comprising the whole of these phenomena which result from the reciprocal actions of mind and matter upon each other, I think no term could be more appropriate than psycho-physiology.”  Of course, “psycho-physiology” means something like “mind-body” and Braid prefers it as an umbrella term for the many respects in which the mind and body inter-act reciprocally upon each other.  He concludes,

It must be obvious that these terms would comprehend every conceivable variety of phenomenon, according to the function of the part on which the dominant idea of the subject might be concentrated, and the liveliness of his faith.  Thus, let the mind of the subject be engrossed with the notion that he is to be irresistibly drawn, repelled, paralysed, or catalepsed, and the monoideo-dynamic or ideational condition of the muscles corresponding with this idea will take place, without any conscious effort of volition of the subject to that effect. 

In brief, contrary to popular misconception,

1. Braid opposed hypnotism to mesmerism, they are not the same thing.
2. Only 10% of Braid’s subjects felt as if they were asleep or unconscious, and this was not essential to hypnotism.
3. Far from being a passive state like sleep, hypnotism was defined as a variety of states revolving around focused conscious attention and heightened expectation.
4. Hypnotism was not simply a theory of the power of suggestion but of the reciprocal power of psycho-physiology, of the mind and body inter-acting in both directions.
5. In addition to verbal suggestion, therefore, Braid emphasised what he termed “muscular suggestion”, in which subjects changed their body posture or facial expression to evoke mental states.

I hope these brief comments will encourage some hypnotists to read Braid’s work more closely and rediscover the true nature of the original hypnotism, because many of the misconceptions about hypnotherapy which abound today are the result of confusing hypnotism and mesmerism, and a “return to Braid” would allow us to set the record straight in a way that can only benefit our clients.

Online Preview of The Discovery of Hypnosis, The Complete Writings of James Braid, The Father of Hypnotherapy (2009)

The Discovery of Hypnosis on Google Books

The Discovery of Hypnosis:
The Complete Writings of James Braid, the Father of Hypnotherapy (2009)

Published by The National Council for Hypnotherapy (NCH)
Edited with commentary by Donald Robertson
Foreword by Dr. Michael Heap

You can now browse a free online copy (limited preview) of the complete writings of James Braid with Google Books.  James Braid coined the term “hypnotism” in 1841 and was, essentially, the founder of hypnotherapy as we know it today.  See our website www.James-Braid.com for more information on Braid’s life and work.

Google Books: The Discovery of Hypnosis: The Complete Writings of James Braid

Review by Tom Butler-Bowdon, author of Fifty Self-Help Classics

Braid was the first to put hypnotherapy on a scientific, rational footing, so today’s hypnotherapists have a lot to thank him for.

A Manchester surgeon, Braid discovered hypnotism reasonably late and like most doctors of his time considered stage hypnotists charlatans. It was only his physical examination of a hypnotised subject that convinced him an actual bodily change had taken place with non-mystical causes.

The Discovery of Hypnosis puts together Braid’s key writings and provides succinct commentary and historical context. This is an exhaustive survey and the editor has obviously mastered the material, revealing an underrated figure in the history of psychology and psychotherapy.

One of Robertson’s fascinating ideas is that Braid should not be considered simply the father of hypnotherapy, but the father of psychotherapy, given his early work into what is now called cognitive behavioural therapy.

Robertson’s clear writing style and to-the-point comments enliven the historical material, and the book itself is large and well laid out. Any hypnotherapist serious about their subject should have this book in their library. It is also a intriguing read for the layman.

Tom Butler-Bowdon, author of 50 Psychology Classics: Who We Are, How We Think, What We Do; Insight and Inspiration from 50 Key Books

Braid’s Theory of Hypnotic Suggestion

Excerpt from The Discovery of Hypnosis: The Complete Writings of James Braid (2009) edited by Donald Robertson.

Contrary to common misconception, Braid appreciated and employed the technique of verbal suggestion in hypnosis.  Moreover, he considered suggestion essential to the practice of hypnosis and utilised an array of suggestion methods.  Braid clearly distinguishes between suggestions given by the hypnotist and those arising from within the subject, e.g., due to expectant ideas, which we would now call “autosuggestion”.

            In Magic, Witchcraft, etc. (1852), Braid acknowledged that in addition to those “fully” hypnotised, many subjects were “partially” hypnotised, and that others did not respond to the induction at all.  Nevertheless, they could be influenced by a variety of suggestive factors which he claimed were essential to the production of phenomena even in susceptible hypnotic subjects.  In one passage alone, he lists the following six factors, which I have labelled using more contemporary terminology, supplying Braid’s description in quotes, 

1. Spoken Verbal Suggestion.  ‘The patients hear the ideas suggested when uttered in a language known to them.’  Braid clearly recognises that changes in voice tonality have a profound effect upon verbal suggestions, and refers to this several times in his later writings.
2. Written Verbal Suggestion.  ‘When they see them written (which is sufficient to affect many).’
3. Role-Modelling or Imitation.  ‘When they can see, by ordinary vision, the movements made in their presence which it is intended they should be forced to imitate, through the power of sympathy and imitation.’
4. Mental Association.  ‘When they feel sensible impressions, associated with certain ideas or previous feelings.’  For instance, the subject may hear a piece of music which reminds them of sad feelings; or sense the hand passes of the Mesmerist, and by association, imagine being a child once again, soothed by its mother’s touch.  Note that the Victorian concept of psychological association was a subjective precursor of the later physiological theory of conditioned responses pioneered by Pavlov’s laboratory research.
5. Muscular Suggestion.  ‘When they feel sensible impressions […] which call subjacent muscles into action.’  For instance, when the body posture or facial expression (“Anatomy of Expression”) is manipulated so as to evoke the corresponding idea or state of mind.  For instance, the hypnotist may firmly grasp and briskly straighten a subject’s arm in such a way as to suggest that it should become stiff and cataleptic.  Alternatively, by clenching a subject’s fist and furrowing his brow, Braid would evoke feelings of aggression, etc.  In fact, this was the form of suggestion primarily employed by Braid in Neurypnology (1843), and used by him as the basis of his radical re-interpretation of phrenological phenomena.  This notion, perhaps surprisingly, has many parallels in modern therapy, e.g., the notion of “acting as if” in George Kelly’s work and subsequent cognitive-behavioural therapy.
6. Focused Attention.  ‘Direct attention to the special organs of sense, which excites ideas corresponding with the functions of these different organs, or arouses former ideas arbitrarily or accidentally associated with such and such sensible impressions.’  As in the experiments on attention, debunking the Reichenbach phenomena, which show that prolonged or focused attention, can, by itself, lead to hyperacuity or create spontaneous hallucinatory sensations.  Several modern studies have likewise shown that merely asking subjects to stare at a wall, or even sit with their eyes closed and contemplate their experience, tends to evoke a flow of surprisingly unusual experiences.

At the start of Hypnotic Therapeutics (1853), Braid again writes of ‘suggestions received through words audibly uttered in his hearing [verbal suggestion], or ideas previously existing in his mind [autosuggestion], or excited by sensible impressions made by touches or passes of the operator [association], which direct the attention of the sleeper to different parts [focused attention], or excite into action certain combinations of muscles [muscular suggestion], and thereby direct his current of thought’.  To a large extent, Braid’s common sense philosophy of hypnotism and suggestion can be seen as deriving from the three basic laws of psychology adopted in his writings: the law of sympathy and imitation, the law of habit and association, and the ideo-dynamic response, which might be termed the “law of dominant ideas”.

Hypnotic Sleep Therapy: Some Basic Instructions

Copyright (C) Donald Robertson 2008

This is an excerpt from the Coping with Noise self-help workbook from the chapter on improving sleep…

It helps if you can try different methods that other people have found helpful and pick the one that appeals to you, or seems to work best.  Try using the techniques you’ve already learned first of all, or the methods below, if they appeal to you.  Many different relaxation techniques are known to be effective, but you have to practice most of them regularly to get the most benefit.  The most important thing, therefore, is probably that you pick a simple technique that you feel comfortable using, and are willing to use every day for a few weeks or more. 

James Braid’s Method of “Sleep at Will”

The physiologist and physician Dr. Edmund Jacobson concluded after many decades of research, conducted at leading universities in the USA, that relaxation of the facial muscles, eyes and voice were particularly conducive to sleep and relaxation.  It’s certainly true that people tend to find this kind of technique useful, and similar approaches have been used for over 150 years.  James Braid, the Scottish surgeon who invented hypnotism, wrote in 1843 of a method for inducing “sleep at will.”  Braid observed quite simply that by relaxing, focusing on the idea of falling asleep and fixing one’s attention on an unexciting image or sound, sleep tended to be induced.  He recommends a number of ways of doing this, but a modern account might read as follows, 

1. Focus your gaze.  Stare at a point on the ceiling and keep your eyes glued to the spot.  Make them feel tired and sleepy, without straining them too much.  Close them slowly when they begin to feel tired.  This shouldn’t take more than a few minutes, if you really imagine your eyes feeling tired.  Alternatively, close your eyes and imagine you’re staring up at an image, like a star in the sky.
2. Relax your breathing.  All the while, act relaxed, lie still, and let your breathing become shallow and steady, as relaxed as possible.  Make your body comfortable, and try to feel as pleasantly relaxed as you can throughout the whole process.
3. Focus your mind on sleep.  All the while, keep your attention fixed upon on the idea of falling asleep.  Don’t try to force yourself to sleep, that won’t work.  There’s a knack to focusing on an idea in a relaxed, pleasant and passive way.  Forget about absolutely everything else for a while.  Have faith, believe you can do it easily and expect to drift off to sleep.
4. Rest and repeat.  When your eyes close, continue to relax for a few more minutes.  If you’re still not falling asleep then fix your gaze again and repeat the process as many times as is necessary and you will fall asleep eventually.  It’s unusual to have to repeat it more than 3-4 times, though.

As Braid observed, this kind of technique tends to become much easier with practice, as you get the knack of doing it and your body starts to respond out of habit.  

Conscious Autosuggestion

Braid also recommends repeating a monotonous phrase, like a lullaby.  This technique was popularised in the 1920s by the French pharmacist Emile Coué, renowned as the father of modern self-help.  Coué developed a technique which he called “conscious autosuggestion.”  These are his instructions for insomniacs,

Having settled themselves comfortably in bed they will repeat (not gabble) “I am going to sleep, I am going to sleep,” in a quiet, placid, even voice, avoiding of course, the slightest mental effort to obtain the desired result.  The soporific [sleep-inducing] result of this droning repetition of the suggestion soon makes itself felt; whereas, if one actually tries to sleep, the spirit of wakefulness is kept alive by the negative idea, according to the law of converted effort.  Insomnia indeed affords a striking demonstration of the disastrous effect of the exertion of the will, the result of which is just the contrary of the one desired.  (Coué, 1923: 31-32)

Coué’s law of “converted effort” or “reversed effect” is also known as the principle of “paradoxical” effect.  It refers to the fact that in many ordinary situations, the more effort we make to do something, the more we may achieve the opposite.  One notorious example of this is sleep.  The more we try to force ourselves to fall asleep, the more we tend to become tense and alert, and to keep ourselves awake.  It’s well-known that when people who suffer from insomnia are asked to try to stay awake as long as possible, paradoxically, they tend to fall asleep more quickly.

            In the 1970s, Herbert Benson, another scientist who became a well-known authority on relaxation techniques, developed a similar method called the “Benson method” for inducing what he termed the “relaxation response.”  Benson compared many popular relaxation and meditation techniques, and found that although most worked, and produced measurable physiological signs of relaxation, there was little difference between them.  They all seemed equally effective, although some were more complicated than others, so he tried to develop a simplified approach that worked as well as the existing ones, but was much easier to learn.  Benson’s method simply requires that you sit still with your eyes closed and repeat any word or short phrase over and over for about 20 minutes.  Benson found that the most important aspect of the technique was the client’s attitude toward distraction.  People who try too hard to relax, or worry about their mind wandering, etc., tend to remain tense, but people who say “So what?”, shrug off distractions, and patiently return to the monotonous exercise, tend to relax more easily and more deeply.  Benson’s method is used both to overcome stress and to help people fall asleep.  It’s really just a modern variation of the old method introduced by Braid and popularised long ago by Coué.

The Principal Writings of James Braid, The Father of Hypnotherapy

Principal Works by Braid

Copyright © Donald Robertson, 2008
This is an excerpt from The Discovery of Hypnosis: The Complete Writings of James Braid (2009)

 

On the Curative Agency of Neuro-Hypnotism (1841, unpublished)

Practical Essay on the Curative Agency of Neuro-Hypnotism

Soon after the Lafontaine incident, Braid wrote to the Medical Section of the British Association in order to arrange delivery of a professional report entitled ‘Practical Essay on the Curative Agency of Neuro-Hypnotism’ (q.v. Neurypnology, 1843).  However, his offer was declined; apparently because of concern over the controversial nature of the subject.  Braid therefore advertised his own public reading of the “Rejected Essay” on 27^th December 1841, attended by many of the British Association Members.  He seems likely to have repeatedly delivered this report in whole or part at subsequent lectures.  It is probable that the material from this essay was largely incorporated into Neurypnology (1843).  This report precedes his Satanic Agency, etc., Reviewed (1842) and probably contained Braid’s first use of the word “hypnotism”.

 

Neurypnology (1843)

Neurypnology, or the Rationale of Nervous Sleep, Considered in Relation to Animal Magnetism, Illustrated by Numerous Cases of Successful Application in the Relief and Cure of Disease.

Braid’s first and most famous work on hypnosis.  As Bramwell observes, however, this presents a very primitive picture of views which were to be fundamentally revised as his research progressed.  Nevertheless Braid expresses a number of important views in this book which are often overlooked because of his writing style and the lack of descriptive chapter or section headings.

 

On the Power of the Mind over the Body (1846)

The power of the mind over the body: an experimental inquiry into the nature and cause of the phenomena attributed by Baron Reichenbach and others to a “new imponderable”.

A discussion of Braid’s experiments on Reichenbach’s claims regarding the subjective sensations and muscular responses experienced in response to magnets, etc., which Braid proves to be due to attention, suggestion and imagination.  This is perhaps the work to which Braid himself tends to refer back most often in his later writings and seems to have marked a change of emphasis in his writings due to a greater appreciation of the role of suggestion in the waking state.

 

Observations on Trance (1850)

Observations on Trance, or Human Hybernation.

A discussion of the notion of “human hibernation” in relation to hypnotism and the alleged feats of Indian fakirs who survive entombed for many days without food or water.  Not particularly relevant to modern hypnotherapy.  It may serve to illustrate the fact that Braid drew parallels between hypnotism and yogic meditation, and that he saw the deepest stages of hypnotic sleep as loosely analogous to coma, hibernation, catatonic disorders, and the trances of fakirs.

 

Electro-Biological Phenomena (1851)

Electro-Biological Phenomena, Considered Physiologically and Psychologically.

Perhaps the rarest of Braid’s major works contains his response to J. Stanley Grimes’ theory of electro-biology, an American technique, which had been recently exhibited in England and attracted much interest.  Braid was rightly concerned that the proponents had copied his eye-fixation technique and turned it into yet another pseudo-scientific “energy therapy”, based on the contention that psychological effects were due to the electro-magnetic properties of composite metal discs which were held in the palm of the hand and stared into.  This rival theory, nevertheless, further motivated Braid to extend his theory and encompass mind-body interactions in the ordinary waking state as well as “nervous sleep”.

 

Magic, Witchcraft, Animal Magnetism, Hypnotism, and Electro-Biology (1852)

Magic, Witchcraft, Animal Magnetism, Hypnotism, and Electro-Biology; Being a Digest of the Latest Views of the Author on These Subjects.

A detailed defence of hypnotism and critique of Mesmerism by Braid written in response to a book by J.C. Colquhoun in which he is seemingly maligned.  Despite the potentially off-putting title, this is one of Braid’s most important works, and contains many references to hypnotism and suggestion – and (strangely) none to witchcraft.

 

Hypnotic Therapeutics (1853)  

Hypnotic Therapeutics, Illustrated by Cases, With an Appendix on Table-Turning and Spirit-Rapping.

Undoubtedly one of Braid’s most comprehensive and important later works, discussing in detail his mature views on hypnosis and the ideo-motor theory of suggestion.  As the title suggests, this is perhaps the text by Braid which should be considered first in appraising his contribution to modern hypnotherapy, though it has been much neglected in the past.

 

The Physiology of Fascination (1855)

The Physiology of Fascination and the Critics Criticised.

Two short booklets, published together, the first briefly describing his later theory of monoideism, and the latter a combative response to attacks on Braid and Carpenter published in The Zoist.

 

On Hypnotism (1860, unpublished)

This 36-page manuscript, summarising Braid’s final views on hypnotism and related phenomena, was written by him in January 1860, according to Bramwell’s bibliography.  It was sent by the author to Dr. Étienne Eugène Azam, a distinguished French surgeon and psychologist, a few months later in March 1860, just before Braid’s death.  It was translated into French as Note sur le sommeil nerveux ou hypnotism (‘Note on nervous sleep, or hypnotism’) by Azam and subsequently published as an appendix to Dr. Jules Simon’s French translation of Neurypnology (1883).  A copy was passed to Dr. George Miller Beard, a distinguished American neurologist who then lent it to Wilhelm T. Preyer, professor of physiology at Jena University.  Preyer published a German translation entitled Über den Hypnotismus (‘On Hypnotism’) in his Die Entdeckung des Hypnotismus, etc., 1881, but it was never published in English – and it seems the original manuscript is now missing.  (I have been unable to trace any subsequent reference to the existence of the original text.)

            At this time, following favourable recommendations made to them by Azam, Paul Broca, and others, the French Academy of Sciences, which had established a joint committee to investigate Mesmerism in 1784, formed a new committee to investigate Braid’s hypnotism.  Braid therefore addressed the foreword to the Academy and it seems Azam was entrusted with the task of conveying his writings to them for their consideration.

            This text summarises many points made in Braid’s other writings, especially The Power of the Mind over the Body (1846) and Electro-Biological Phenomena (1851), but nevertheless it provides essentially the last word on his mature views, showing which aspects of his thought he considered most important and highlighting the key aspects of his final theory of hypnotism.  As such, it represents a much better introduction to his theory of hypnotism than Neurypnology, his best-known publication.

 

Psycho-Physiology (Unpublished)

Psycho-Physiology: embracing Hypnotism, Monoideism, and Mesmerism.

In several of Braid’s other writings he comments on his intention to publish another major textbook on hypnotism.  It looks as though Braid delayed publication of a revised edition of Neurypnology, perhaps because ongoing changes prevented him from settling upon a definitive account of his later theory.  In The Power of the Mind over the Body (1846), Braid writes,

It would be inconsistent with the scope of this paper to enter into an elaborate detail of my views as to the philosophical explanation of the modes of exciting and varying certain trains of ideas, and their consequent manifestations during the nervous sleep.  The inquiry is not only curious, but also one of great interest, in respect to the power of the mind in controlling physical action, and of physical impressions in reacting on the mind.  I have given a pretty ample discussion on these topics in a second edition of my little work on hypnotism [Neurypnology, 1843], now preparing for the press, to which I beg leave to refer those who feel desirous of prosecuting the inquiry, and particularly those who desire to do so for curative purposes.

Braid introduced his Magic, Witchcraft, etc. (1852) by writing,

[…] by this means, moreover, I am making up, in some measure, for the delay in the publication of another edition of my work on hypnotism [Neurypnology, 1843], which has long been out of print, and so frequently called for.  That call I hope shortly to be able to respond to, with fullness of detail as the importance of the subject merits; more particularly as regards its practical application to the relief and cure of some forms of disease, of which numerous interesting examples will be adduced.

In The Physiology of Fascination (1855), he then stated, ‘It is my intention shortly to publish a volume entitled “Psycho-Physiology: embracing Hypnotism, Monoideism, and Mesmerism”.’ 

            It is possible that these comments refer to the same work, and that Braid was planning, or had written, a second, significantly revised edition of his major work on hypnotism but felt that the changes in his position were so fundamental as to require a change in the title from Neurypnology to the much more general Psycho-Physiology, etc.  His views seem to have expanded beyond the initial focus upon “nervous sleep” to a wider conception of psycho-physiological (“mind-body”) phenomena, encompassing waking suggestion and a variety of interacting and overlapping psycho-physiological states, including nervous sleep (hypnosis), excitation and muscular rigidity (catalepsy) and mental abstraction (monoideism), etc.

James Braid: His Work and Writings by John Milne Bramwell

James Braid; His Work and Writings (1896)

An excerpt from the article by Dr. John Milne Bramwell
Republished in The Discovery of Hypnosis: The Complete Writings of James Braid

The name of James Braid is familiar to all students of hypnotism and is rarely mentioned by them without due credit being given to the important part he played in rescuing that science from ignorance and superstition.  Regret is usually expressed, however, that he held many erroneous views, which it is claimed the researches of more recent investigators have disproved.  The following, as far as I can gather from hypnotic works and from conversation with those interested in hypnotism, are the almost universally adopted opinions in reference to Braid. 

(1) He was an English surgeon.

(2) He believed in phrenology.

(3) He was the discoverer or rediscoverer of the subjective origin of hypnotic phenomena.

(4) He knew nothing of suggestion.

In all this, one thing, and one alone, is correct, namely, that Braid was the rediscoverer of the subjective nature of hypnotic phenomena.  This estimate of Braid has arisen from imperfect knowledge of his writings.  Few seem to be acquainted with any of his works except “Neurypnology” or with the fact that this was only one of a long series on the subject of hypnotism, and that in the later ones his views completely changed.  The necessarily limited length of this article will prevent my dealing with each of these separately and in detail.  I propose, therefore, first to refer shortly to his earliest publication, then to give an account of the theories which are found in “Neurypnology” alone, and finally to present a general picture of his later opinions.

Meanwhile, a word as to Braid’s nationality and to the events which led to his hypnotic researches.  The names of Elliotson, Esdaile and Braid stand out prominently in the history of Mesmerism and hypnotism in this country, and it is not without interest to note that all of them studied at Edinburgh University and that both Esdaile and Braid were of Scotch birth and parentage, the latter being born at Rylaw House, Fifeshire, about 1795.

On November 13^th, 1841, Braid, for the first time, was present at a Mesmeric séance [as they were known], the operator being [Charles] Lafontaine.  At this time Mesmeric phenomena were believed to be due either to mysterious force or fluid, self-deception or trickery.  Braid held the latter theory and, on the first occasion, saw nothing to cause him to alter his views.  At the next séance, six days later, he noticed that one subject was unable to open his eyes [a phenomenon now known as ‘eyelid catalepsy’].  Braid regarded this as a real phenomenon and was anxious to discover its physiological cause; and the following evening, when the case was again operated on, he believed he had done so.  After making a series of experiments, chiefly on personal friends and relatives, he expressed his conviction that the phenomena he had witnessed were purely subjective, and began almost immediately to place these views before the public, his first lecture being delivered on December 27^th, 1841.

In 1842 Braid offered a paper on the subject of hypnotism to the Medical Section of the British Association.  This was refused, whereupon he gave a conversazione [a kind of medical symposium or workshop] at which many members of the Association were present, read his paper and showed cases.  [...]  [His first full-length book] “Neurypnology, or the Rationale of Nervous Sleep”, was published by Braid in 1843, and 800 copies were sold in a few months.

At [Lafontaine's] séance already referred to, Braid had observed that the Mesmeric condition was induced by fixed staring, and concluded that the inability to open the eyes arose from paralysis of certain nerve centres and exhaustion of the levator muscles [the pair of muscles which raise the upper eyelids].  “I expressed,” he said, “my entire conviction that the phenomena of Mesmerism were to be accounted for on the principle of the derangement of the state of the cerebral spinal centres, and of the circulatory, respiratory and muscular systems, induced by a fixed stare, absolute repose of body, fixed attention and suppressed respiration, concomitant with that fixity of attention.  That the whole depended on the physical and psychical condition of the patient, arising from the causes referred to, and not at all on the volition, or passes of the operator throwing out magnetic fluid, or exciting to activity some mystical, universal fluid or medium.”

Braid induced hypnosis by making the subject look at a bright object, held in such a position above the forehead as was calculated to produce the greatest possible strain upon the eyes and eyelids, while at the same time the mind was to be riveted on the idea of that one object.  Braid not only maintained that the condition was a purely subjective one, produced in this mechanical way, but also claimed to have successfully demonstrated that it could be induced in like manner in persons who had never heard of Mesmerism and who were ignorant of what was expected of them.  In illustration of this, he mentioned that he had hypnotised one of his servants, who knew nothing of Mesmerism, by giving him such directions as were calculated to impress his mind with the idea that his fixed attention was required merely for the purpose of watching a chemical experiment with which he was already familiar. [...]

Braid at this date came to the following general conclusions:– 

1. [Hypnotic Induction.]  “That the effect of a continued fixation of the mental and visual eye, in the manner and with the concomitant circumstances pointed out, is to throw the nervous system into a new condition, accompanied with a state of somnolence, and of a tendency, according to the mode of management of exciting a variety of phenomena different from those we obtain either in the ordinary sleep, or during the waking condition.

2. [Stages of Hypnotism.]  “That there is at first a state of high excitement of all the organs of that the senses afterwards become torpid in a much greater degree than what occurs in natural sleep.

3. [Nervous Arousal.]  “That in this condition we have the power of directing or concentrating nervous energy, raising or depressing it in a remarkable degree at will, locally or generally.

4. [Heart Rate.]  “That in this state, we have the power of exciting the force and frequency of the heart’s action, and the state of the circulation, locally or generally, in a surprising degree.

5. [Muscle Tone.]  “That whilst in this peculiar condition, we have the power of regulating and controlling muscular tone and energy in a remarkable manner and degree.

6. [Physiological Changes.]  “That we also acquire the power of producing rapid and important changes in the state of the capillary circulation, and on the whole of the secretions and excretions of the body, as proved by the application of chemical tests.

7. [Hypnotic Therapy.]  ‘‘That this power can be beneficially directed to the cure of a variety of diseases which were most intractable, or altogether incurable, by ordinary treatment.

8. [Hypnotic Anaesthesia.]  “That this agency may be rendered available in moderating, or entirely preventing, the pain incident to patients while undergoing surgical operations.

9. [Muscular Suggestion.]  “That during hypnotism, by manipulating the cranium and face, we can excite certain mental and bodily manifestations, according to the part touched.”

After hypnotising his patients, Braid manipulated them in various ways [positioning their body, facial expression, etc.], with a view to producing changes in the muscular and circulatory systems, believing that this excited the different hypnotic phenomena and played an important part in the cure of disease.  He also held that cures could sometimes be effected by similar methods in the waking condition.  From the description of his manner of inducing hypnosis, it is evident that he employed verbal suggestion, but, at this time, this was apparently done unconsciously and in ignorance of its value. [...]

The subjective explanation of the origin of Mesmeric phenomena was not a new one, and had already been given both by the Abbé Faria and [Alexandre] Bertrand.  Their views, however, if not entirely forgotten, exercised no practical influence on Mesmeric theory, and Braid evidently was unacquainted with them when he commenced his Mesmeric researches; thus, his conclusions were arrived at independently, and successfully substituted for those universally held in his day.  At a later date, when his opponents pointed out the similarity between the theories, Braid asserted that this was more apparent than real, as Faria had attributed everything to the effect of the imagination; on this point they differed, but were alike in asserting that neither contact nor magnetic fluid was necessary.

www.James-Braid.com

Contents of The Discovery of Hypnosis: The Complete Writings of James Braid

The Discovery of Hypnosis

The Contents of
The Discovery of Hypnosis: The Complete Writings of James Braid

“For the serious student of hypnosis, now is the time to pay or repay a visit to the writings of James Braid.” – Dr. Michael Heap

This book contains the complete writings of James Braid, the founder of hypnotherapy.  It includes many works which were previously rare and remained unpublished since his death.  It also includes the first English edition of a “lost manuscript” by Braid (On Hypnotism, 1860), written just before his death, in which he summarised his mature theory and practice of hypnotism for the French Academy of Sciences (republished from The International Journal for Clinical & Experimental Hypnosis).  Detailed prefatory essays and annotations are included to make these writings on the origins of hypnotism more accessible to the modern reader.  Dr. John Milne Bramwell’s unsurpassed essay on the life and work of Braid is included in full.  Dr. Michael Heap, one of the UK’s leading academic authorities on hypnotism has provided a foreword introducing the subject’s relevance to the modern reader.

Purchase the book from Amazon

James Braid’s blog: www.James-Braid.com 

Contents

Acknowledgements
Editor’s Preface by Donald Robertson
Foreword by Dr. Michael Heap

SECTION I: Articles on Braid

James Braid’s Life & Work
The Original Philosophy of Hypnotism
Principal Works by Braid
Glossary of Braidism
Braid’s Hypnotic Induction Technique
Braid’s Mature Theory of Hypnotism
Braid’s Theory of Suggestion
James Braid’s Work & Writings (Bramwell, 1896-1903)
Braid’s Discovery of Hypnotism (Williamson, 1896)

SECTION II: Braid’s Collected Works

On Hypnotism (1860)
The Physiology of Fascination & The Critics Criticised (1855)
Hypnotic Therapeutics (1853)
“Psycho-Physiology & the Ideo-Motor Reflex” (1853)
Magic, Witchcraft, Animal Magnetism, etc. (1852)
Lecture on Electro-Biology (1851)
Electro-Biological Phenomena Considered Physiologically & Psychologically (1851)
Observations on Trance or Human Hybernation (1850)
“On Mesmerism & Chemical Anaesthesia”: Letter (1849)
“On Esdaile & Hypnotic Anaesthetic”: Letter to The Medical Times (1847)
The Power of the Mind over the Body (1846)
“Observations on Mesmeric & Hypnotic Phenomena”: Letter to The Medical Times (1844)
“On Thomas Wakley & John Elliotson”: Letter to The Medical Times (1844)
“On Muscular Suggestion”: Braid’s Letters on Phreno-Hypnotism (1843-1844)
Neurypnology: The Rationale of Nervous Sleep (1843)
“On Neuro-Hypnotism”: Letter to The Medical Times (1842)
“The Discovery of Hypnotism”: “Satanic Agency & Mesmerism” Reviewed (1842)
“On Braid’s Hanover Square Talks”: Report & Letter in The Medical Times (1842)
Bibliography of James Braid’s Writings

The Original Theory of Hypnotism & Suggestion

I recently spent about a year researching the work of James Braid, the founder of hypnotherapy, and compiling his letters, articles, and books into a new book called The Discovery of Hypnosis: The Complete Writings of James Braid (2009).  When I first began to study hypnotism properly, about fifteen years ago, I was surprised to find so little written about its founder. 

The Discovery of Hypnosis on Amazon

Many people believe, mistakenly, that Franz Anton Mesmer invented hypnotism but this is completely erroneous.  Mesmer never hypnotised anyone.  In fact, he developed a method known as “animal magnetism” which claimed to cure various illnesses by channelling a magnetic force from the body of the Mesmerist, as his followers were known, into that of their patient.  Braid was sceptical, denounced this earlier tradition as “humbug”, and set about developing a more credible theory and practice based on simple experimental studies on “psycho-physiology”, the interaction between mind and body.  To distinguish his scientific theory from the supernatural theories of the Mesmerists, Braid coined the term “Neuro-hypnotism” (nervous sleep) to describe an unusual state of nervous inhibition in which the mind becomes progressively “abstracted” (dissociated) from external distractions and “focused” upon a single train of thought or “expectant dominant idea”.  He later abbreviated this term to “hypnotism” and was therefore, basically, responsible for coining the term.  Braid’s approach was always intended to be eminently “common sense” and scientific and, despite the latter mytique surrounding it, the original hypnotism was a primitive psychotherapy and prefigures modern evidence-based approaches such as Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy (CBT) in many respects.

You can purchase a copy of Braid’s collected writings from Amazon via the link below.  I believe every hypnotherapist should own a copy of this book; just as every psychoanalyst is expected to have read Freud, every hypnotherapist should know what the man who founded hypnotism actually said.  What he said cuts through many subsequent misconceptions and is surprisingly simple and plausible compared to the many potboilers subsequently written on the subject of hypnotism, which have fostered misinformation throughout the 20th century.

The Discovery of Hypnosis: The Complete Writings of James Braid (Amazon)

The passages below are excerpts from Hypnotic Therapeutics (1853) perhaps the principal work on Braid’s mature theory and practice of hypnotherapy.  He defines hypnotism here as a state of “mental concentration”, as opposed to ordinary or unconscious sleep, in which subjective ideas and images dominate consciousness and produce exaggerated effects upon the mind and body.  Though sometimes appearing to be asleep, the subject is conscious, albeit concentrating his attention within a narrowing sphere and to the progressive exclusion of certain external stimuli or distractions.  In this state of mind, the subject becomes more attuned to certain stimuli.  Contrary to misconception, Braid specified several forms of suggestion here, and in his other writings.  These include,

1. Audible verbal suggestions.
2. Spontaneous thoughts (autosuggestions) arising in the subject’s mind.
3. Physical contact which directs the subject’s attention to certain areas of the body, where unusual sensations may be experienced.
4. Physical contact which calls into action certain muscles and thereby evokes subjective feelings by what Braid termed “muscular suggestion.”

Here are his own remarks from the book The Discovery of Hypnosis: The Complete Writings of James Braid (2009).

[Braid on the Nature of Hypnotism]

My researches have led me to conclude that the hypnotic state, which may be induced by various processes described elsewhere, is essentially a state of mental concentration, in which the faculties of the mind of the patient are so engrossed with a single idea or train of thought, as for the nonce, to be dead or indifferent to all other considerations and influences.  The consequence of this concentrated attention to the subject in hand, therefore, intensifies, in a correspondingly greater degree, whatever influence the mind of the individual can produce upon his physical functions during the waking condition, when his attention is so much more diffused and distracted by other impressions.  Moreover, inasmuch as words spoken, or other sensible impressions made on the body of an individual by a second party, act as suggestions of thought and action to the person impressed, so as to draw and fix his attention to one part or function of his body, and withdraw it from others, whatever influence such suggestions and impressions are capable of producing during the ordinary waking condition, should naturally be expected to act with correspondingly greater effect during the nervous sleep, when the attention is so much more concentrated, and the imagination and faith, or expectant idea in the mind of the patient, are so much more intense than in the ordinary waking condition.

I am persuaded that this is the most philosophical mode of viewing this subject, and it renders the whole clear, simple, and intelligible to the apprehension of any unprejudiced person.  The real object of the various processes for inducing the state of hypnotism or Mesmerism is obviously to induce a state of abstraction or concentration of attention, whether that may be by requesting the subject to look steadfastly at some unexciting and empty inanimate thing or ideal [i.e., imaginary] object, or inducing him to watch the fixed gaze of the operator’s eyes, his pointed fingers, or the passes and other manoeuvres of the Mesmeriser.

So far as I have seen, the principal difference between the hypnotic or nervous sleep and common sleep consists in the state or condition of the mind.  In passing into common sleep the mind is diffusive or passive, flitting from one idea to another indifferently, thereby rendering the subject unable to fix his attention effectively on any regular train of thought, or to perform any acts requiring much effort of the will.  The consequence is this, that a state of passiveness is manifested during the sleep, so that audible suggestions and sensible impressions addressed to the sleeper, if not intense enough to awake him entirely, seldom do more than excite a dream, in which ideas pass through his mind without exciting definite physical acts; but, on the other hand, the active and concentrated state of mind engendered by the processes for inducing the nervous sleep are carried into the sleep, and, in many instances, excite the sleeper, without awaking, to speak or exhibit physical manifestations of the suggestions received through words audibly uttered in his hearing, or ideas previously existing in his mind, or excited by sensible impressions made by touches or passes of the operator, which direct the attention of the sleeper to different parts, or excite into action certain combinations of muscles, and thereby direct his current of thought.

www.James-Braid.com

Braid’s “Rejected Essay”:Practical Essay on the Curative Agency of Neuro-Hypnotism

Braid’s “Rejected Essay”:
Practical Essay on the Curative Agency of Neuro-Hypnotism (1842)

Braid’s very first writing on hypnotism was an unpublished essay which was rejected by the British Association but read publicly at other meetings, as he explains in the excerpt below.  The Section from his first booklet, subjoined, seems to reproduce part of this essay, probably the first text ever written on hypnotism. – Donald Robertson

[From Neurypnology]

It was my intention to have published my “Practical Essay on the Curative Agency of Neuro-Hypnotism”, exactly as delivered at the conversazione [a medical lecture and discussion] given, to the members of the British Association in Manchester, on the 29^th June, 1842.  By so doing, and by appending foot notes, comprising the data on which my views were grounded, it would have conveyed a pretty clear knowledge of the subject, and of the manner in which it had been treated.  It has since been suggested, however, that it might readily be incorporated with the short “Elementary Treatise on Neuro-Hypnology”, which I originally intended to publish, and which I am earnestly solicited to do, by letters from professional gentlemen from all quarters.  I now, therefore, submit my views to the public in the following condensed form. 

[From Satanic Agency, etc.]

The various theories at present entertained regarding the phenomena of Mesmerism may be arranged thus:

1. First, those who believe them to be owing entirely to a system of collusion and delusion; and a great majority of society may be ranked under this head. 

2. Second, those who believe them to be real phenomena, but produced solely by imagination, sympathy and imitation. 

3. Third, the animal magnetists, or those who believe in some magnetic medium set in motion as the exciting cause of the Mesmeric phenomena. 

4. Fourth, those who have adopted my views, that the phenomena are solely attributable to a peculiar physiological state of the brain and spinal cord.

In answer to the first, or those who believe the whole to be a system of collusion and delusion – or in plain terms, a piece of deception – the UNIFORM and general success of the results by my method must be sufficient to prove that the Mesmeric phenomena are not “humbug”, [as Braid’s colleague Mr. Wilson had said at the lecture of Lafontaine] but real phenomena.  In answer to the second I have to state that I by no means deny that imagination, sympathy or imitation, are capable of producing the phenomena; that I believe they do so in many cases, especially in cases where the impressibility has been determined by operating as I direct, and may heighten their effects in others; but my experiments clearly prove that they may be induced and are generally induced in the first instance, independently of any such agency.  In answer to the third I have to state that I consider the theory of the animal magnetists as a gratuitous assumption, unsupported by fact and that it is far more reasonable to suppose that an exaltation of function in natural organs of sense is the cause of certain remarkable phenomena and a depression of them the cause of others, than that they arise from a transposition of the senses [i.e., through ESP], or are induced by a silent act of the will of another [i.e. through a kind of telepathic influence].  We know the exercise of the will is not adequate to remove sensibility to pain and hearing in our own bodies; and would it not be passing strange if it could exercise a greater effect on the bodies of others, whilst inoperative in our own?[1]

            I shall merely add that my experiments go to prove that it is a law in the animal economy [i.e., a law of human physiology] that by the continued fixation of the mental and visual eye on any object in itself not of an exciting nature, with absolute repose of body and general quietude, they become wearied; and provided the patients rather favour than resist the feeling of stupor which they feel creeping over them during such experiment, a state of somnolency is induced, and that peculiar state of brain, and mobility of the nervous system, which render the patient liable to be directed so as to manifest the Mesmeric phenomena.  I consider it not so much the optic as the motor and sympathetic nerves and the mind through which the impression is made.  Such is the position I assume; and I feel so thoroughly convinced that it is a law of the animal economy that such effects should follow such conditions of mind and body that I fear not to state as my deliberate opinion that this is a fact which cannot be controverted.

            I have already explained my theory to a certain extent, namely that the continued effort of the will to rivet the attention to one idea, exhausts the mind; that the continuance of the same impression on the retina exhausts the optic nerve, and that the constant effort of the muscles of the eyes and eyelids, to maintain the fixed stare quickly exhausts their irritability and tone; that the general quiet of body and suppressed respiration which take place during such operation, tend to diminish the force and frequency of the heart’s action; and that the result of the whole is a rapid exhaustion of the sensorium [i.e., sense organs] and the nervous system which is reflected in the heart and lungs; and a feeling of giddiness with light tendency to syncopy [faintness], and a feeling of somnolency [drowsiness] ensue; and thus and then the mind slips out of gear.

            I must beg, however, that it be particularly understood that I by no means hold up this agency as a universal remedy.  Whoever talks of a universal remedy, I consider must either be a fool or a knave; for as diseases arise from totally opposite pathological conditions, all rational treatment ought to be varied accordingly.  I must also warn the ignorant against tampering with such a powerful agency.  It is powerful either for good or for evil according as it is managed and judiciously applied.  It is capable of rapidly curing many diseases for which, hitherto, we knew no remedy; but none but a professional man, well versed in anatomy, physiology and pathology is competent to apply it with general advantage to the patient, or credit to himself, or the agency he employs.  My experiments, moreover, open up to us a field of inquiry equally interesting as regards the government of mind as of matter.

 

 

---

[1] [Braid refers to an argument repeated elsewhere, that there are obvious limits to the scope of mere willpower alone within one’s own body, and therefore that it seems a priori unlikely that a person lacking complete conscious control over their own physiology, should be able to influence the bodies of others, at a distance, by sheer willpower alone.]