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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    ■1 From various observations which I have read and heard on the subject, I feel satisfied that the creatures fascinated do not voluntarily surrender themselves to their fate; and this, I consider, is proved by the agitation and alarm which many of them display when advancing to meet tlicir fate, viz., their plaintive cries, and the agitation of their bodies, and the instant escape which they make when any circumstance has occurred to avert from their sight the glaring eyes of the serpent. Their ability to escape so speedily, moreover, under such circum- stances, proves that the charm had not been the result of any poisonous emanation proceeding from, or projected by, the serpent. After due consideration, I feel satisfied that the ap- proach and surrender of itself by the bird, or other animal, is just another example of the uumoideo-dynamic, or unconscious muscular action from a dominant idea possessing the mind, which I was the first to publish as the true cause of “ table- turning,” and which has since been confirmed by others, and most satisfactorily so by the report of the medical committee published in the Medical Times and Gazette, and by Professor Faraday, in the London Times newspaper, and in the Athcna um, which contained reports of this acute and profound philo- sopher’s ingenious experiments, and unexceptionable physical tests, for determining the question according to this view. The law\ipon which these phenomena arc to be explained has long been familiar to me, from observations made during my investigation of hypnotic and mesmeric phenomena, and it is simply this—that when the attention of man or animal is deeply engrossed or absorbed by a given idea, associated with movement, a current of nervous force is sent into the muscles which produce a corresponding motion, not only without any ' conscious effort of volition, but even in opposition to volition, in many instances ; and hence they seem to be irresistibly drawn, or spell-bound, according to the purport of the dominant idea or impression in the mind of each at the time. 1 he volition is pro-
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