I’m Going to Post It Again and Again

I saw an On This Date item, and felt mysteriously compelled to post about it:

James Braid (1795-1860) was a Scottish surgeon and natural philosopher. Braid studied medicine in Edenborough and began his work as a surgeon. However, it was Braid’s work on hypnosis and hypnotism that immortalized his name. Today he is regarded as the “father of modern hypnotism”.

Braid laid the foundation for the scientific study of hypnosis and hypnotism, which was free from the metaphysical aura of animal magnetism.

On 13 November 1841, while living in Manchester, Braid attended the demonstration of “animal magnetism” by the Swiss mesmerist Charles Lafontaine. Braid initially rejected Lafontaine as a charlatan. He went to the event out of curiosity thinking he will witness bunch of rubbish. Braid participated in two more of Lafontaine’s demonstrations. After the presentation Lafontaine invited Braid and his fellow critics from the medical community to the platform. Braid examined the physical condition of Lafontaine’s “magnetized” (in today’s terms “hypnotized”) subjects. He found out that they were indeed in quite a different physical state. The demonstration and the discussion with Lafontaine convinced Braid that there was something worth investigating. Later he became interested in the phenomenon of hypnotism and dedicated his whole life to the research of the dynamics behind it.

Nothing to add, but it reminded me of a little side quest involving Nathaniel Hawthorne.  Oh, and I did run across an interesting doctoral thesis about the "gentleman scientist" Braid.

<exits, singing Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer>