Hypnotic therapeutics : illustrated by cases : with an appendix on table-moving and spirit-rapping / by James Braid.

  • James Braid
Date:
[1853]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Hypnotic therapeutics : illustrated by cases : with an appendix on table-moving and spirit-rapping / 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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    aicVof crutches, and th.cn without tneiri, ahcl 'how' he walk at the' rat^ of three and a-half miles an hour, with only a shght degree of lameness, and without even the aid of a stick. WHen I saw hiiij ]i' fe'\^ days ago, he was walkine; at this i^ate'; and, when I asked him how far he could walk in a day, he said he did' ji'6t^ ktiow, htit thaj;^ he occasionally walked six mites before brealcfast!' '' / ' M Moreover, there are many'important cures effected by mahipulall- in'g patients during the loaking condition, so as tb' change phySiciil action, by the mental direction of the mitid of 't\\e'j)atient; and eveii without manipulation or any process whatever of a second pai-^yj' beyond desiring the subjects to sit still and 6on'eeiiti*ate their minds on the ideas which we wish to be realiked ; 'examples of Avhich I' have already referred to in reference to ^hy experiments with the coloured'\tater made to act as dh emetic^ ahd th^' aiiti-6metw When d'etermiiiing the probable natnre (if th^ 'effectb' of medicines said to produce their effects through gl^ss' and .on the alleged Od foice of Baron Von Reichenbach.'? .^Z^'^; yT'^'f^... ''T'hate frequently produced full vomiting in hypnotised patients, simply by giving them a mouthful of water to drink, and then sug- gesting to Uiem in audible language that they had taken an emetic; or simply by moving my own lips and jaws, whicih' tlifey'heard and imitated; and on my suggesting that they had taken an emetic, the idea alone was quite adequate to produce vomiting. _ I have never, how- ever, seen hypnotised, mesmerised, or magnetised water produce; specific effects, Avithout some mode of suggesting the id6ato the tiiind of the patient, by words spOkeri or movements made, or by tihe pccn- har manner of the operator or some one present, as has been alleged by the niesnierists to take place with some of their patients. '' With' rciaiiy hypnotised patients I have also produced action on thci bowels in a few minutes hy similar suggestions, or by audible suo-rrestions, accompanied by drawuig the tips of the finprs gently albn^ the course of the cbloli;'fe6 d^'Hb'e^eite its peristaltic mot^ion. Tiie%lio\Viho-is U remarkable ihstante^ 6f this, and how an idea siigffesfeddm'ihg'the sleep may maiiifbst its powers for a leneth of time after the patient aWakes. I had hypilotised a gentlemdii tor some thrie, with cbnSideVable feeneftt, fdr epilepsy of long standing, and which h^d resisted aU ordinary treatraentt)re6cribed by first-rate medical men. Oh one occasion 1 m6ved riiV Hps, and imitated tlie act of swallowing, which acts h6' hieayd and imtiiediatefy nnitated rWien^'^ti^gested that he had taken soin^'aloes, the mere idea ot which made him assume all the physical expression of disgust (and also touttbr words to that effect) at the Well-kiiown bitterness of the drug. I then feaid it wotlld soon give-hiin stilh gi-eatbr cause of uneasiness by'its action oh his bowels, and very soon he began to writhe Ins body as if he were labouring under the griping influence of an active cattaic. I said nothing further, but, in four or five minutes he ai'b^y 'frbtii'.HiS^feat and Walked up stairs tb the water-closet, and caififr^doWri iigaih, still asleep, after having left unmistakeable proof