Electro-biological phenomena considered physiologically and psychologically / by James Braid, M.R.C.S.E.

  • Braid, James, 1795?-1860.
Date:
1851
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Electro-biological phenomena considered physiologically and psychologically / by James Braid, M.R.C.S.E. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    circulation of the part so regarded, and in a more marked degree, according to the imagination and behef. of the patient. From this cause the most grave and fatal diseases may be engendered, and by withdrawing the attention, and fixing the train of thouglit on some new object or pursuit, relief and cures may be effected in cases which would utterly fail without such management of the mind. In sup- port of this doctrine, I beg to refer to Dr Holland's Medical Notes and Reflections, where he treats of the effects of mental attention on the bodily organs with his usual ability. _ Voluntary motion arises from a mandate of the will giving a spe- cial direction to the nervo-vital influence, so as to excite into action the_ class of muscles which naturally produce such motion, whilst their antagonists remain passive. In these electro-biological experiments or vigilant phenomena, however, the suggestion of the operator excites a greater flow of nervous force into the class of nmscles which produce the action suggested^ than the patient is able to throw into the opposite class. Both classes of muscles, therefore, are called strongly into action, but the suggested idea being the stronger, there is no efficient volun- tary motion, notwithstanding a great amount of nervous influence may be expended by the patient, as e%'inced by his rapid exhaustion. In this manner I lately caused a patient's hands to become involun- tarily closed on a walking-stick, so that he could not relax his hold of the stick ; and then, by saying aloud in his hearing, I will now make it so heavy that it will be impossible for him to support its weight, the idea excited by this simple auricular suggestion was more than a match for his energetic but misdirected muscular efforts, for there he struggled, until at last he fell upon the floor, quite ex- hausted by his efforts to support his imaginary load. The patient assured us, after the experiment was over, that he firmly believed he saw a fifty-six pound weight put upon each end of the stick at points indicated, and that he felt the weight increase at each addition, and that its weight at last became quite overpowering. It was obvious, from the condition of the patient, that he was quite as much ex- hausted by his efforts to support the imaginary weight as he could have been had it been real. Most people must have experienced a similar feehng and result from an attack of nightmare, during com- mon sleep. The struggle and exhaustion are in both cases analo- gous. On the other hand, if the suggested idea and strongly fixed belief go along with the will of the patient, his volition may thereby be so much intensified as to enable him to lift a weight which he would be quite incapable of doing in his ordinary state. The his- tory of cases of panic in an army from slight causes, and deeds of daring and achievements almost superhuman, during fits of enthusi- asm, are examples in point on a large scale. Neither a play upon tlie will, nor sympathy, nor imitation, can account for patients feeling insufferable heat or cold, or for havini^ the organs of sight, hearing, smell, and taste, paralysed or perverted