Neurypnology Chapter I

Neurypnology Chapter I

HAVING in the introduction, presented a cursory view of certain points, and given a few explanatory remarks, I shall now proceed to a more particular and detailed consideration of the subject. I shall explain the course I have pursued in prosecuting my investigation; the phenomena which I discovered to result from the manipulations had recourse to; the inferences I was consequently led to deduce from them; the method I now recommend for inducing the hypnotic condition, for applying it in the cure of various disorders, and the result of my experience, as to the efficacy of hypnotism as a curative agent. By the impression which hypnotism induces on the nervous system, we acquire a power of rapidly curing many functional disorders, most intractable, or altogether incurable, by ordinary remedies, and also many of those distressing affections which, as in most cases they evince no pathological change of structure, have been presumed to depend on some peculiar condition of the nervous system, and have therefore, by universal consent, been denominated 'nervous complaints;' and as I felt satisfied it was not dependent on any special agency or emanation, passing from the body of the operator to that of the patient, as the animal magnetisers allege is the case by their process, I considered it desirable, for the sake of preventing misconception, to adopt new terms, as explained in the introduction. I was led to discover the mode I now adopt with so much success for inducing this artificial condition of the nervous system, by a course of experiments instituted with the view to determine the cause of mesmeric phenomena. Front all I had read and heard of mesmerism, (such as, the phenomena being capable of being excited in so few, and these few individuals in a state of disease, or naturally of a delicate constitution, or peculiarly susceptible temperament, and from the phenomena, when induced, being said to be so exaggerated, or of such an extraordinary nature) I was fully inclined to join with those who considered the whole to be a system of collusion or delusion, or of excited imagination, sympathy, or imitation. The first exhibition of the kind I ever had an opportunity of attending, was one of M. Lafontaine's conversazione, on the 13th November, 1841. That night I saw nothing to diminish, but rather to confirm, my previous prejudices. At the next conversazione, six nights afterwards, one fact, the inability of a patient to open his eyelids, arrested my attention. I considered that to be a real phenomenon, and was anxious to discover the physiological cause of it. Next night, I watched this case when again operated on, with intense interest, and before the termination of the experiment, felt assured I had discovered its cause, but considered it prudent not to announce my opinion publicly, until I had had an opportunity of testing its accuracy, by experiments and observation in private. In two days afterwards, I developed my views to my friend Captain Brown, as I had also previously done to four other friends; and in his 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 paralysing nervous centres in the eyes and their appendages, [Footnote: By this expression I mean the state of exhaustion which follows too long continued, or too intense action, of any organ or function.] and destroying the equilibrium of the nervous system, thus produced 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 paralysing the levator muscles of the eyelids, through their continued action during the protracted fixed stare, and thus rendering it physically impossible for him to open them. [Footnote: Attempts have been made to prove, that I got this idea from a person who publicly maintained that the patient referred to could have opened his eyes if he liked; to this the patient having replied, 'I have tried all I could and cannot;' the individual referred to, in support of his opinion, alleged, that the inability was only imaginary; that he 'could easily believe that a man may stand with his back to a wall, and may really believe that he has no power to move from the wall.' It is therefore clear this individual attributed the phenomena to a mental, whilst I attributed it to a physical cause.] With the view of proving this, I requested Mr Walker, a young gentleman present, to sit down, and maintain a fixed stare at the top of a wine bottle, placed so much above him as to produce a considerable strain on the eyes and eyelids, to enable him to maintain a steady view of the object. In three minutes his eyelids closed, a gush of tears ran down his cheeks, his head drooped, his face was slightly convulsed, he gave a groan, and instantly fell into profound sleep, the respiration becoming slow, deep and sibilant, the right hand and arm being agitated by slight convulsive movements. At the end of four minutes I considered it necessary, for his safety, to put an end to the experiment. This experiment not only proved what I expected, but also, by calling my attention to the spasmodic state of the muscles of the face and arm, the peculiar state of the respiration, and the condition of the mind, as evinced on rousing the patient, tended to prove to my mind I had got the key to the solution of mesmerism. The agitation and alarm of this gentleman, on being roused, very much astonished Mrs Braid. She expressed herself greatly surprised at his being so much alarmed about nothing, as she had watched the whole time, and never saw me near him, or touching him in any way whatever. I proposed that she should be the next subject operated on, to which she readily consented, assuring all present that she would not be so easily alarmed as the gentleman referred to. I requested her to sit down, and gaze on the ornament of a china sugar basin, placed at the same angle to the eyes as the bottle in the former experiment. In two minutes the expression of the face was very much changed; at the end of two minutes and a half the eyelids closed convulsively; the mouth was distorted; she give a deep sigh, the bosom heaved, she fell back, and was evidently passing into an hysteric paroxysm, to prevent which I instantly aroused her, on counting the pulse I found it had mounted up to 180 strokes a minute. In order to prove my position still more clearly, I called up one of my men-servants, who knew nothing of mesmerism, and gave him such directions as were calculated to impress his mind with the idea, that his fixed attention was merely for the purpose of watching a chemical experiment in the preparation of some medicine, and being familiar with such he could feel no alarm. In two minutes and a half his eyelids closed stoutly with a vibrating motion, his chin fell on his breast, he gave a deep sigh, and instantly was in a profound sleep, breathing loudly. All the persons present burst into a fit of laughter, but still he was not interrupted by us. In about one minute after his profound sleep I roused him, and pretended to chide him for being so careless, said he ought to be ashamed of himself for not being able to attend to my instructions for three minutes without falling asleep, and ordered him down stairs. In a short time I recalled this young man, and desired hint to sit down once more, but to be careful not to go to sleep again, as on the former occasion. He sat down with this intention, but in the expiration of two minutes and a half his eyelids closed, and exactly the same phenomena as in the former experiment ensued. I again tried the experiment by causing Mr Walker to gaze on a different object from that used in the first experiments, but still, as I anticipated, the phenomena were the same. I also tried him à la Fontaine, with the thumbs and eyes, and likewise by gazing on my eyes without contact, and still he effects were the same, as I fully expected. I now stated that I considered the experiments fully proved my theory; and expressed my entire conviction that the phenomena of mesmerism were to be accounted for on the principle of a derangement of the state of the cerebrospinal centres, and of the circulatory, and respiratory, and muscular systems, induced, as I have explained, by a fixed stare, absolute repose of body, fixed attention, and suppressed respiration, concomitant with that fixity of attention. That the whole depended on the physical and psychical condition of the patient, arising from the causes referred to, and not it all on the volition, or passes of the operator, throwing out a magnetic fluid, or exciting into activity some mystical universal fluid medium. I farther added, that having thus produced the primary phenomena, I had no doubt but the others would follow as a matter of course, time being allowed for their gradual and successive development. [Footnote: It has been asserted, for the mere purpose of proving the contrary, that I had claimed being the first to discover that contact was not necessary, and that a magnetic fluid , was not required to produce the phenomena of mesmerism. I never made any such claim, but illustrated these facts by the most simple and conclusive experiments probably which were ever adduced for that purpose. In one of my lectures, I gave a history of mesmerism, including Mesmer's attempt to mesmerise trees in Dr Franklin's garden, to prove to the Commission of l784, that the patients would become affected when they went under the mesmerised trees, from the magnetic fluid passing from the trees to the patients. This was proof sufficient, that even Mesmer did not hold that contact was necessary. I farther stated the fact, that the experiment was a failure, as the patient became affected, not under the mesmerised, but under the unmesmerised trees, which led the Commission to infer, that the phenomena resulted from imagination, and not from the influence of a magnetic fluid. Here, then, we had two theories, neither of which considered contact necessary. Surely no one could suppose that I wished to lay claim to these facts as discoveries of my own, seeing I gave the dates when the occurrence took place, which was many years before I was born.] Moreover, I explained, at the same lecture, the different modes of mesmerising, by passes at a distance, and by pointing the fingers at the eyes and forehead, adopted by others, long before I made any experiments on the subject; and at subsequent lectures, from observing the graceful attitudes some patients assumed during the hypnotic state, and the ease with which they could maintain any given position, by becoming cataleptiformly fixed in it, I hazarded the opinion, that it may have been to hypnotism the Grecians, were indebted for their fine statuary; and the Fakirs for their power of performing their remarkable feats. I also expressed my belief, that the rapt state of religious enthusiasts, such as that of the monks of Mount Athos, arose from the same cause, although none of the parties might have understood the true principle by which they were produced. For a considerable time I was of opinion that the phenomena induced by my mode of operating and that of the mesmerisers, were identical; and, so far as I have yet personally seen, I still consider the condition of the nervous system induced by both modes to be at least analogous. It appeared to me that the fixation of the mind and eyes Was attained occasionally during the monotonous movements of the mesmerises, and thus they succeeded sometimes, and as it were, by chance; Whereas, by my insisting on the eyes being fixed in the most favourable position, and the mind thus riveted to one idea, as the primary and imperative conditions, my success was consequently general and the effects intense, while theirs was feeble and uncertain. However, from what the mesmerisers state as to effects which they can produce in certain cases, there seem to be differences sufficient to warrant the conclusion that they ought to be considered as distinct agencies; and for the following reasons. The mesmerisers positively assert that they can produce certain effects, which I have never been able to produce by my mode, although I have tried to do so. [Footnote: The effects I allude to are such as, telling the time on a watch held behind the head, or placed on the pit of the stomach; reading closed letters, or a shut book; perceiving what is doing miles off; having the power of perceiving the nature and cure of the diseases of others, although uneducated in medical science; mesmerising patients at miles' distance, without the knowledge or belief in the patient that any such operation is intended.] Now, I do not consider it fair or proper to impugn the statements of others in this matter, who are known to be men of talent and observation, and of undoubted credit in other matters, merely because I have not personally witnessed the phenomena, or been able to produce them myself, either by my own mode or theirs. With my present means of knowledge I am willing to admit that certain phenomena to which I refer have been induced by others, but still I think most of them may be explained in a different and more natural way than that of the mesmerisers. When I shall have personally had evidence of the special influence and its effects to which they lay claim, I shall not be backward in bearing testimony to the fact. However, the greatest and most important difference is this, that they can succeed so seldom, anti I so generally, in inducing the phenomena which we both profess thus to effect. Granting, therefore, to the mesmerisers the full credit of being able to produce certain wonderful phenomena which I have not been able to produce by my plan, still it follows, that mine is superior to theirs in as far as general applicability and practical utility are concerned. Mine has also this advantage, that I am quite certain no one can be affected by it, in any stage of the process, unless by the free will and consent of the patient, which is at once sufficient to exonerate the practice from the imputations of being capable of being converted to immoral purposes, which has been so much insisted on to the prejudice of animal magnetism. This has arisen from the mesmerisers asserting that they have the power of overmastering patients irresistibly, even whilst at a distance, by mere volition and secret passes. 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. Whatever I advance, therefore, in the following remarks, I wish to be distinctly understood as strictly in reference to my own mode of operating, and distinct from that of all others. The latter I shall merely refer to in as far as is necessary to point out certain sources of fallacy by which the phenomena of the one may be confounded with those of the other. In proof of the general success of my mode of operating, I need only name, that at one of my public lectures in Manchester, fourteen male adults, in good health, all strangers to me, stood up at once, and ten of them became decidedly hypnotised. At Rochdale I conducted the experiments for a friend, and hypnotised twenty strangers in one night. At a private conversazione to the profession in London, on the 1st of March, 1842, eighteen adults, most of them entire strangers to me, sat down at once, and in ten minutes sixteen of them were decidedly hypnotised. Mr Herbert Mayo tested some of these patients, and satisfied himself of the reality of the phenomena. 0n another occasion I took thirty-two children into a room, none of whom had either seen or heard of hypnotism or mesmerism : I made them stand up at three times, and in ten or twelve minutes had the whole thirty-two hypnotised, maintaining their arms extended while in the hypnotic condition, and this at mid-day. In making this statement, I do not mean to say they were in the ulterior stage, or state of torpor; but that they were in the primary stage, or that of excitement, front which experience has taught me confidently to rely that the torpid and rigid state will certainly follow, by merely affording time for the phenomena to develop themselves. In the Stockport Chronicle of 4th February, 1842, there is a report of a lecture delivered in that town a few days before. A dozen male patients were made to stand up at once, and treated according to my method, six of them became hypnotised, and two of them so deeply, as to cause the lecturer very considerable trouble to rouse them. With one named 'Charlie', all the usual means, including buffeting and frictions before a fire, did not succeed in restoring speech until he had been made to swallow nearly half a tumbler glass of neat gin. I consider this important as being the testimony of an enemy. It can take place also in the dark, as well as by day or by gas light; when the eyes are bandaged, as when they are uncovered, by merely keeping the eyes fixed, the body in a state of absolute rest, and the mind abstracted from all other considerations. In cases of children, and those of weak intellect, or of restless and excitable minds, whom I could not manage so as to make them comply with these simple rules, I have always been foiled, although most anxious to succeed. This I consider a strong proof of the correctness of my views. By arresting the attention, and fixing the eyes, it is also successful with brute animals. This general success of my plan, both with man and brute animals, I consider sufficient to prove it proceeds from a law in the animal economy. The exceptions to success are so few as to lead to the conclusion that they arise from a non-compliance with the conditions. It is, however, unquestionable, that there exists great difference in the susceptibility of different individuals, some becoming rapidly and intensely affected, others slowly and feebly so. I am aware that some say they have tried my mode, and failed to produce the phenomena. The reason, I presume, is simply this. They will not believe the necessity of complying with the WHOLE of the conditions I have distinctly insisted on. But, in all fairness, if they do not comply with the WHOLE conditions, they have no right to expect the promised results, nor to be disappointed because they fail. If the patient and operator comply in all respects as I direct, success is almost certain; but, on the contrary, he is almost equally certain to fail if all the conditions are not strictly complied with. When we consider the great difficulty to some persons of abstracting their minds, and the greater difficulty of ensuring that patients operated on in a public room shall be able to abstract their minds entirely from the circumstances with which they are surrounded, and from other considerations concentrate their ideas entirely on the subject in hand, and the equally great difficulty of securing absolute quiet where a large number of people are assembled, and the extreme quickness of hearing when patients are passing into the hypnotic state, which makes them liable to be roused by the slightest noise, it must be evident, that a public lecture-room is by no means a favourable place for operating on patients for the first time. Prosecuting the investigation, as I have been doing, by experiments and observations, I have, as might be expected, had occasion to modify and alter some of my views and manipulations; but still the principle remains the same.

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