The physiology of fascination, and the critics criticised / by James Braid.

  • James Braid
Date:
1855
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The physiology of fascination, and the critics criticised / by James Braid. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    As regards the influence of passes, again, I have fully ad- mitted that, independently of the mechanical influence pro- duced thereby, by the agitation of the air or by touch, they may also produce impressions in some cases through the influence of temperature or electric agency, as it is an undoubted fact that a change in the electrical polarity takes place from the mere proximity or contact of every substance in nature, animate or inanimate, independently of any occult, magnetic, or odyljp force, such as the mesmerists contend for. That electricity, however, was not the chief or important agency was obvious, I remarked, from this fact, that I have found similar results to arise from touching a patient with a glass rod, 3£ft. long, or from making passes with an artificial hand attached to the end of the said glass rod, as when doing so with my own hand or any other conductor of electricity. Now, bearing these facts in mind, will the Rev. G. Sandby presume to say that because the poor woman, Ann Donaldson, was blind, and was not expecting any mesmerising process to * take place, that therefore she could rut be influenced in her organic functions and sensations by the agitation of the air by the passes made over the painful part, or over the feet, so as to draw' the circulation to the feet, and thus relieve the op- pressed brain, unless there was some occult agency at work, such as a mesmeric fluid or force projected from the body of the operator and charging the body of the blind woman ? Is Mr. Sandby not aware, moreover, that feeling, hearing, and smell are generally prodigiously exalted in blind people, to com- pensate for their loss of sight; and that from this cause his notable example, Ann Donaldson, was the more likely to be easily af- ectcd by the passes, irrespectively of the transference to her body of any magnetic fluid or force from the body of the operator r Again, is Mr. Sandby not aware that very slight impressipns may be sufficient to change existing physical action, through their influence on the organic nerves, which preside over
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