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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    fluence, we ought naturally to expect as great difference in the results as there are differences in the mental and physical constitu- tions of the patients subjected to the processes. Upon this prin- ciple, therefore, I contend that the variety manifested by different indi- viduals is the strongest proof of the genuineness of the phenomena. In the ordmary mesmeric state, where the eyes are closed and the patient passes into that condition called the double-conscious .state,—that is, a state in which the patient forgets, when aroused from the sleep, all which had occurred during that condition, but of which he recovers a perfect recollection when he passes into the sleep again,—it is generally found that the mind of the subject is very much in the same condition as in ordinary dreaming, every idea arising in the mind spontaneously, or suggested to it by words spoken in his hearing, or by other impressions made upon his organs of spe- cial sense, being instantly accepted by him as truths, and invested by him with all the force of present reality. In this state the ima- gination seems to assume a supremacy over the reason, will, and natural functions of the organs of special sense, and the concentrated state of mind enables them readily to be imposed upon, and induced to act out their dreams, excited by such suggestions, precisely in the manner referred to by Dr Abercrombie, in the case of the officer whom his companions could converse with in his sleep, and con- vince of anything; and whom they even conducted through the whole process of a duel, till the firing of the pistol awakened him by its report. On another occasion, being asleep on the locker of the cabin, he was made to believe that he had fallen overboard, and was told to save himself by swimming. He imitated the act of swim- ming, Avhen they told him to dive for his Hfe, as a shark was pur- suing him, which he attempted so energetically tliat he threw him- self from the locker, by which he bruisecl himself severely. The sense in action may through suggestion be rendered inordi- nately active, or its natural function may be temporarily suspended, by mental impressions strongly imprinted on the minds of the sub- jects by repeated and appropriate suggestions. In short, in this condition the mind seems ready to accept as truth the first sugges- tion ; and, from its abstractive tendency, becomes so absorbed with that as to be dead, or comparatively indifferent, to all else during the dominance of that idea or train of thought. We see an analo- gous condition in individuals noted for absence of mind; indeed, in a less degree, it must have been observed by most people in their own persons, as they may have been so engaged in a train of thought as not to observe a passing friend, or have had any distinct appre- hension of conversation going on around them. With most patients, so long as they remain in that condition in which they can remember on awaking what had been said and done during the sleep, there remains a degree of reason and volition suffi- cient to enable them to distinguish true from false and merely sug- gested ideas, and to enable them, moreover, to resist complying with