Encyclopedia > James Braid

  Article Content

James Braid

James Braid (1795-1860) coined the term and invented the procedure known as hypnotism.

He was a surgeon, who was born in Scotland and educated at the University of Edinburgh. After practicing in Scotland for a short time, he moved to Manchester, England, where he lived for the rest of his life.

Braid became interested in mesmerism[?] in November 1841, when he observed demonstrations given by a traveling mesmerist named Charles Lafontaine[?] (1803-1892). Convinced that he had discovered the key to understanding these phenomena, Braid began giving lectures the following month.

In 1843 he published Neurypnology: or the Rationale of Nervous Sleep, his first and only book length exposition of his views. In this book he coined the words "hypnotism," "hypnotize[?]," and "hypnotist[?]," which are still in use. Braid thought of hypnotism as producing a "nervous sleep," which was different from ordinary sleep. The most efficent way to produce it was through visual fixation on a small bright object held eighteen inches above and in front of the eyes. Braid regarded the physiological condition underlying hypnotism to be the over-exercising of the eye muscles through the straining of attention.

He completely rejected Franz Mesmer's idea that a magnetic fluid was responsible for hypnotic phenomena because anyone could produce them in "himself by attending strictly to the simple rules" that he lay down.

Suggested Reading

Alan Gauld, A History of Hypnotism, (Cambridge University Press, 1992).



All Wikipedia text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License

 
  Search Encyclopedia

Search over one million articles, find something about almost anything!
 
 
  
  Featured Article
Urethra

... vulva between the clitoris and the vaginal opening. In the human male, the urethra is about 8 inches (200 mm) long and opens at the end of the penis. Medica ...

 
 
 
This page was created in 24 ms