This is an excerpt from the forthcoming collection of James Braid's
writings, The Discovery of Hypnosis, to be published in 2009 by the National
Council
for Hypnotherapy (NCH). This excerpt was recently published as an article in
the journal of the National Council for Hypnotherapy.
“On Braid’s Hanover Square Talks”:
Report & Letter in The Medical Times (1842)

Excerpt from The Discovery of Hypnosis, Copyright © Donald Robertson, 2008
Editor’s Preface (D. Robertson)
This is possibly Braid’s very earliest publication on hypnotism; his letter
was dated March 7th 1842 and published in the March 12th edition of The
Medical Times. In it he does not use the term “hypnotism”, though
elsewhere he
suggests it was already in use by him at his lectures. The anonymous report
which precedes his letter mentions his use of the expression
“neuro-hypnology”
, albeit spelt incorrectly.
Indeed, this is one of Braid’s most interesting letters, providing a neat
summary of his early theory and practice. It illustrates how, from the
outset, Braid’s work was independently reported, and publicly examined and
endorsed
by a wide variety of observers, including some of the most distinguished
scientists and physicians of his day. In his first booklet on the subject,
published shortly after this letter, a frustrated Braid reminds his critics of
the sincere and persistent efforts which he made in order to substantiate his
views,
Had I not, moreover, stated the fact that impressed with the importance of
the subject, I had, at great personal inconvenience as well as pecuniary
sacrifice, gone to London, that my views might be subjected “to a rigid
examination
” of the most learned men in our profession, to propound to them the laws by
which I consider it to act, and above all, to prove to them “the uniformity
of its action” and its practical applicability and value as a curative
agency, by [my] mode of operating. (Satanic Agency, etc., 1852)
This journalist’s report and Braid’s subjoined letter, show the extent to
which, with the limited means available to him, Braid attempted to develop his
theory in a credible manner. In Neurypnology (1843), Braid comments on the
role of Dr. Herbert Mayo, one of the most distinguished medical scientists
of the period, at the meeting,
I am fully borne out by the opinion of that eminent physiologist, Mr.
Herbert Mayo, in my view of the subject, that my plan is ‘the best, the
shortest,
and surest for getting the sleep,’ and throwing the nervous system, by
artificial contrivance, into a new condition, which may be rendered available
in the
healing art. At a private conversazione, which I gave to the profession in
London on the 1st of March, 1842, he examined and tested my patients most
carefully, submitted himself to be operated on by me both publicly and
privately, and was so searching and inquisitive in his investigations as to
call forth
the animadversions of a medical gentleman present, who thought he was not
giving me fair play; but which he has assured me proceeded from an anxious
desire to know the truth, not being biased by having any peculiar views of his
own to bring forward; and because he considered the subject most important,
both in a speculative and practical point of view.
In his Electro-Biological Phenomena (1851) Braid describes a successful
public demonstration delivered by him in Manchester, adding,
I was equally successful in operating upon a number of strangers together at
a private conversazione, given to the profession in London, in March 1842,
sixteen out of eighteen having passed into the sleep, simply by maintaining a
steady fixed stare and fixed act of attention, whilst gazing at root of a
chandelier. Most of these had never been so tried before. I never touched
any one of them until their eyelids closed. Mr Herbert Mayo, the eminent
physiologist and surgeon, tested them, and ran a needle from the back to the
palm
of the hand of one patient without his (the patient) evincing the slightest
consciousness of pain, or remembrance of it after awaking.
Dr. Mayo subsequently published his own favourable account entitled ‘On Mr.
Braid’s experiments’, in the next volume of the Medical Times for 1852.


[Report by Anonymous Correspondent]
Mr. Braid delivered two very excellent lectures on this subject last week,
one on Tuesday the 1st of March, at the Hanover Square Rooms, the other, the
following day, at the London Tavern.
The lecturer commenced by giving his audience a detailed explanation of the
theory and phenomena of animal magnetism, and entered fully into the subject,
illustrating the paper by physiological facts, and several interesting
anecdotes. He prefers the term “neuohypnology [sic., an obvious typographical
mistake], or the rationale of nervous sleep,” to that of animal magnetism,
and
thinks that that term is more proper, inasmuch as the effect is produced
through the medium of the nervous system. Several experiments performed after
the
lecture.
The first was a young woman, whom Mr. Braid directed to look at her own
finger; in two minutes the face became flushed, the woman sighed, and the eyes
closed. She was then requested to sit down, which she did; her arms were
raised and also her legs; ammonia was placed under her nose, the galvanic
battery
applied, pins stuck in the forehead and legs, and without the woman evincing
the slightest pain. The second experiment was upon two deaf brothers, one of
them was magnetised by looking upwards, and in three minutes the effect was
produced. Mr. Braid extended both arms, which remained so for some time; he
then clapped his hands, and the boy instantly became de-mesmerised. The
experimenter stated that the hearing was increased twelvefold during the time
the patient was under the influence of the magnetising process. The elder
brother was then subjected to the same process, and became magnetised in about
three or four minutes; a percussion cap was fired at his ear when in this
state,
but no effect supervened. It is a singular thing that [presumably at a
different stage in the lecture] the pulse in this boy increased from 84 to
140[bpm], and Mr. Braid remarked that such was generally the case. [Braid
repeatedly makes this observation in his writings, which seems to be verified
by the
reporter. The induction of rigid catalepsy seems to roughly double the pulse,
raising it to a level more typical during intense aerobic exercise.]
The third experiment was upon his own footman [perhaps the young “man-servant
” discussed in Neurypnology]. In this case he bandaged the man’s eyes and
in three minutes he was asleep; he was subjected to nearly the same
experiments as the preceding. Mr. Braid then recovered him and directed the
man to
turn his eyes to the side; in a few minutes the eyes closed, and the most
curious effect was produced; the man began gradually to turn round, a
circumstance
by no means uncommon with those who turn the eyes to the side (so the
lecturer informed us). [This phenomenon might be compared to Braid’s later
observations on “muscular suggestion.”]
The fourth experiment was upon a young lady, whom Mr. Duncan [who had
previously conducted lectures introducing Braid’s work to the London audience
prior
to his arrival] had been in the habit of experimenting on. This was a very
interesting case; after being magnetised, several objects were placed before
her eyes (which were closed), and she distinctly names each article in
succession [an illusory feat, later attributed by Braid to the ability to see
through eyelids which are not properly closed]; she then walked about the
platform,
and knelt and arose at the request of the lecturer.
The last and concluding experiment was upon a young woman, who after going
through nearly the same operations, finished by singing “off, off, says the
stranger,” and it really seemed as if she were about to go off.


[Braid’s Letter to the Editor]
To the Editor of the Medical Times,
Sir,
I feel obliged by the kind note you have sent me stating your intention of
honouring me by a report of my lecture. I much regret you could not attend
the conversazioni, but I shall furnish you with a brief account of what took
place on that occasion. When I had briefly explained to those present my
theoretical views, and the ground on which I had come to such conclusions, I
expressed my intention to exhibit the phenomena on some of the subjects I had
brought with me; some stranger proposed that it might be still more
satisfactory
and convincing to all present, were I to operate on a stranger, to which I
readily assented, provided any one present was willing to become the subject of
experiment. It was then announced that a person born deaf and dumb was
present, and had come with the express desire to be operated on, and would now
come forward if I chose to begin with him. I assented, and the patient came
forward accordingly. He was totally deaf, was never known to have heard sound
at any time in his life, and was 32 years of age. In about eight minutes, I
evinced to all present the most incontestable proof of hearing being restored.
I then operated on another stranger successfully, and on a third, who was
one of my subjects; the varied phenomena intended, and expressed as meant to
be exhibited by said patient, were all demonstrated, to the satisfaction of
all present. The next operated on was Herbert Mayo, Esq., so well known to the
profession; afterwards my other subjects were operated on, exhibiting these
varied phenomena, both mental and corporeal. As the last experiment of the
evening, eighteen were subject to their operation at once, and in ten minutes
16 of the number [89%] were all in a state of somnolency, and some in the
cataleptiform state, with insensibility to pain, as tested both by myself and
Mr.
Mayo [who seems to have shoved a pin straight through his hand]. The other
two did not comply with my injunctions. For the correctness of this
statement, I beg to refer you to Dr. [Archibald] Billing [a physician and
medical
author] and Mr. Herbert Mayo, who tested the patients, and neither of whom I
had had the honour of knowing till that evening. [In Hypnotic Therapeutics,
1853, Braid adds, that of this group, ‘twelve of whom had never been tried
before
’, the sixteen responsive subjects ‘went into the condition at same time,
by gazing fixedly and abstractedly on the root of a chandelier.’] I should
feel obliged by your recording the fact now stated, in addition to what your
reporter might see or hear at the public lecture. In short, the whole of my
experiments go to prove, that there is a law of the animal economy by which a
continued fixation of the visual organ, and a constrained attention of the mind
to one subject, which is not of itself of an exciting nature; a state of
somnolency is induced, with a peculiar mobility of the whole system, which may
be directed so as to exhibit the whole or greater part of the mesmeric
phenomena.
The remarks of your talented correspondent, Mr. Barrallier, relative to Mr.
Catlow’s experiments, are quite in accordance with my own views. I had made
experiments to prove this, and had come to the same conclusion as Mr.
Barrallier before I was aware of his experiments, and have confirmed them many
times
since on different subjects. Mr. C.’s cases on the sense of hearing, touch,
taste, smelling, and muscular motion, were nothing beyond natural sleep, at
any rate totally different from mesmeric sleep, unless in those cases where
the patients had been repeatedly operated on in my way, or through the eye.
After a certain time, and frequency of being operated on in this way, the brain
has an impressibility stamped on it which renders the patient subject to be
acted on entirely through the imagination, and this is the grand source of
the follies which have misled Mr. C. and the animal magnetisers. I feel most
confident of this, and shall feel obliged by your publishing this letter to
record what I believe to be the fact.
On my return home, I delivered a lecture at Birmingham on Thursday evening,
3rd inst. [3rd March 1842], when I exhibited a series of experiments which
were quite conclusive on the subject. I am to deliver another lecture in
Manchester next Saturday evening, when I shall exhibit the same, and many more,
illustrative of the imagined transposition of the senses [i.e., seeing with the
stomach, and other supposed paranormal abilities called the “higher phenomena
” of Mesmerism], and the magnetic power of attraction, a report of which
shall be sent to some of our papers, which I shall correct if any mistakes
should appear before I send it.
I beg leave further to state, that as I have operated successfully on the
blind, it is evident it is not the optic nerve so much as the ganglionic or
sympathetic systems and motor nerves of the eye, and state of the mind, which
influence the system in this extraordinary manner.
I have the honour to be, Sir, your much obliged and obedient servant,
James Braid.
3, St. Peter’s Square, March 7th 1842
PS. I may add, that last night I was called to a lady suffering the most
agonizing Tic Douloroux. In five minutes by my mode of inducing refreshing
sleep, I succeeded in putting this patient into comfortable sleep, from which
she did not awake till Sunday in the morning, being five and a half hours, and
was then quite easy. By what other agency, I now ask, could such an effort
have been induced.

Yours Sincerely,

Donald Robertson
College Principal & Executive Director

Senior Clinician Hypnotherapist (NCH)
Registered Psychotherapist (UKCP)
Member of the European Register of Psychotherapists (ERP)
Fellow of the Royal Society for the Promotion of Health (RSPH)


The UK College of Hypnosis & Hypnotherapy Ltd.
_www.UKhypnosis.com_ (http://www.ukhypnosis.com/)

Freephone (UK) 0800 195 9809
Fax: 01403 265 015
International +44(0)1403248266
UKCHH, Suite 127, 17 Piries Place, Horsham, West Sussex, RH12 1BF

Hypno-CBT® is the registered trademark of The UK College of Hypnosis &
Hypnotherapy Ltd.
Registered in England as Company No. 05499462, UK Register of Learning
Providers No.10008042
VAT Registration 920 1916 52

UKCHH Ltd. Disclaimer, Terms, & Copyright
Copyright (c) UKCHH Ltd., unless otherwise stated. This email is
confidential and intended solely for the use of the addressee. If you are not
the
intended recipient then the disclosure, copying or distribution to others of
any
part or whole of this message is strictly prohibited. Please notify the sender
imediately and delete the email.

This message has been scanned for viruses before sending. UKCHH Ltd. accepts
no responsibility for infection and recommends you scan both email and
contents.


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]