Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 33.djvu/778

758 in the belief that its action was in some manner analogous to that of the magnet.

In 1841 Braid, of Manchester, showed that the majority of the phenomena which Mesmer had sought to explain by means of "animal magnetism" could be just as well if not better explained without the hypothesis of a magnetic fluid. He demonstrated, in other words, that we have no reason whatever to believe in the existence of a magnetic fluid as a cause of hypnotic phenomena, and this was certainly a most important step in our progress. Braid showed that it was possible to throw persons into a condition of trance or sleep without the use of any so-called magnetic passes, and without contact of any kind. In order to induce this sleep, he simply required his patient to look fixedly at a brilliant object placed before his eyes, at the same time that he concentrated his thoughts upon the idea of going to sleep. After a variable period, generally two or three minutes, the eyes closed suddenly, the head fell to one side, and the patient was asleep. Braid found that the intensity of this sleep varied considerably in different cases, and that he could sometimes give rise to hallucinations, emotions, paralyses, etc., by simply giving the subject verbal suggestions; that is, by affirming the presence of these various conditions. The various phases of sleep induced by Braid resembled one another so much that he had no doubt they were essentially manifestations of one and the same condition. This condition he palled "nervous sleep," or hypnotism.

We may justly say that Braid was the first to study the phenomena of hypnotism in a scientific spirit, and to show that they were in no way miraculous or mysterious. Still, his observations were very incomplete, for he failed to appreciate the nature of suggestion and the subtle rôle it plays in the manifestations of hypnotism. In consequence of this. Braid eventually confused hypnotism and phrenology in such a way as to lead him greatly into error concerning the former, and it is probable that, at the end of his life, he was much further from the truth than many years before.

After the appearance of Braid's work, the subject remained in statu quo for a number of years. In England, Braid was looked upon with suspicion, and had scarcely any adherents, while in France a number of scientific men became interested in his work, and contributed many observations upon hypnotism.

These observations in general confirmed those of Braid, and it was not until 1866 that Liébault, of Nancy, came to the front with new facts and original views of hypnotism. We can not follow Liébault into his somewhat vague theories of the cause of hypnotism and its various states. It is enough to say that he maintained that the different physical conditions included under