--- In hypnosis-hypnotherapy-UK@yahoogroups.com, "Ron Hubbard"
<hubbard_ron@...> wrote:
> Mesmer started something, but he-- like so many others of his time--

Franz Mesmer was the originator of "Mesmerism" (animal magnetism) not
Hypnotism. James Braid introduced hypnotism in the 1840s in his
attempt to debunk the supernatural claims of the Mesmerists and replace
them with a more empirical explanation. You're basically confusing
something with its opposite.

See my book, The Discovery of Hypnosis: The Complete Writings of James
Braid, due for publication by NCH next year, for Braid's own account of
the origin of hypnosis.

Donald Robertson