Neurypnology, or, The rationale of nervous sleep, considered in relation with animal magnetism : illustrated by numerous cases of its successful application in the relief and cure of disease / by James Braid.

  • Braid, James, 1795?-1860.
Date:
1843
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Neurypnology, or, The rationale of nervous sleep, considered in relation with animal magnetism : illustrated by numerous cases of its successful application in the relief and cure of disease / by James Braid. 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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    prove to my mind I liad got the key to the solution of mesmerism. The agitation and alarm of this gentle- man, 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 augle to the eyes as the bottle in the for- mer 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 gave a deep sigh, the bosom heaved, she fell back, and was evidently pass- ing into an hysteric paroxysm, to prevent which I instantly roused 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 slowly with a vibrating motion, his clan fell on his breast, he gave a deep sigh, and in- stantly was in a profound sleep, breathing loudly. All the persons present burst into a lit of laughter,