758 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



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 condi- 

 tion 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 sug- 

 gestions ; that is, by afiirming the presence of these various con- 

 ditions. 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 phe- 

 nomena 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 role 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 Li^bault, of Nancy, came to the front 

 with new facts and original views of hypnotism. "We can not 

 follow Lidbault 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 



