596 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



hypnotism, originated, ardent discussions arising, even from the beginning over 

 this pretended discovery. I received letters from Manchester entreating me 

 to return, and I did so on a date when Dr. Braid had announced a demonstra- 

 tion. His experiments were given but unfortunately, on this occasion none of 

 them succeeded; neither sleep nor catalepsy was obtained, and every moment 

 I was appealed to. In the facts that were advanced on this occasion by Dr. 

 Braid, there was in my opinion, absolutely nothing that was remarkable, and 

 had not that gentleman been honorably known in the town, I should have 

 supposed that he was mystifying his audience. The next day, and for six 

 days consecutively, I experimented after his own fashion on fifty or sixty sub- 

 jects and the results were practically nil. I then gave a magnetic seance and 

 the results on Eugene and Mary were marked and positive. 



The value of the quotation rests solely on the opportune remark that 

 Braid was the first to apply the name hypnotism to animal magnetism. 

 One should not forget that Eugene and Mary were two subjects whom 

 Lafontaine carried with him from town to town and on whom he could 

 rely for phenomena. 



Though Braid survived his discovery by not more than eighteen 

 years, he lived to know that it was well on the road to acceptance 

 by the competent opinion of the time. In the latter part of his life 

 he said, " I feel no great anxiety for the fate of hypnotism, provided it 

 only has ' a fair field and no favour.' I am content to bide my time, 

 in the firm conviction that truth for which alone I most earnestly 

 strive, with the discovery of the safest, and surest, and speediest modes 

 of relieving human suffering, will ultimately triumph over error" 

 (' Magic, Witch/ p. 53). 



The enemies of Braid were as vociferous in their denunciation of - 

 him as his friends were earnest in their praise. And what may seem 

 the greatest surprise and yet what seems to be a natural consequence 

 of opposition, the Mesmerists themselves were the ones who were the 

 loudest in opposing him. However, his method has stood the test of 

 years and still prevails among those who practise the art now-a-days. 



As was said before, the first exhibition that Braid ever attended 

 was one given by this same Lafontaine. One fact, the inability of the 

 patient to open his eyelids, arrested his attention. He considered this 

 a real phenomenon and was anxious to discover the physiological cause 

 of it. 



In two days afterward, he says, I developed my views to my friend Captain 

 Brown, as I had previously done to four other friends ; and ini hisj presence 

 and that of my family and another friend, the same evening, I instituted a 

 series of experiments to prove the correctness of my theory — namely that the 

 continued fixed stare, by paralyzing nervous centers in the eyes and their ap- 

 pendages and destroying the equilibrium of the nervous system, thus proved 

 the phenomenon referred to. The experiments were varied so as to convince 

 all present, that they fully bore out the correctness of my theoretical views. 

 My first object was to prove, that the inability of the patient to open his eyes 

 was caused by paralyzing the upper muscles of the eyes, through their con- 

 tinued action during the protracted fixed stare, and thus rendering it 



