A Brief History of Hypnosis 1

A BRIEF HISTORY OF HYPNOSIS
" In scientific truth there is no finality, and there should therefore be no dogmatism. When this is forgotten, then science will become stagnant, and its high-priests will endeavour to strangle new learning at its birth." R. A. GREGORY.
The history of hypnosis Firstly, while this is still a brief history of hypnosis, it is somewhat longer than most. I would ask you bear with me, as I feel that in recent years much has been excluded for one reason or another that really should have been included for the sake of clarity. To explore the history of hypnosis, one must first provide some form of definition, albeit in a fairly broad sense. Without this, how would you know where to look; what questions to ask, and how to determine the truth or otherwise of the answers? While the nature and detail of hypnosis will be dealt with in depth elsewhere, a fitting description would be that Modern hypnosis is the art and science of communication in all its forms; Communication between individuals; between groups; between the world outside us and our minds [what would you call sensory input seeing, hearing , feeling, taste etc. if not communication? These are the means by which we experience the world they encompass all communication that originates outside our selves. And of course there is the communication that takes place within the individual - within us between mind and body; between body and mind; as well as purely within your mind; between what can perhaps best be described as the parts of our selves we all have internal dialogue in one form or another, and often in many forms whether we are aware of it as such or not. From words and tonality to gestures, expressions and more, used in a manner intended to facilitate another human being in altering their state of awareness so that they can achieve new understandings; information / knowledge and the choices and freedoms that stem therefrom. This is a very broad and generalised definition, but no less fitting for that. Both Hypnosis and NLP encompass the entire sphere of communication; they are that art made manifest, and then utilised to facilitate change in another; to assist another human being in liberating themselves from their limitation, whatever they may be. From problems; Pains; fear; bad experiences and in some cases illness. When the first micro organism awoke in the primordial ooze, and reached out for another of its kind or when the first monkey told the second monkey where the ripe fruit was, it may have done so by touch; by pheromones or in some other way, but however it was achieved, it could
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E Bailey www.theinnercircleschool.com 07/02/2014
easily be argued that this was the beginning of what we now think of as hypnosis, in that the simplest definition or perhaps description of hypnosis is that it is the action of facilitating the flow of data within the mind; between mind and body or between individuals. It is the art and science of communication. Hypnosis has many forms, many descriptions and many definitions. To a degree, some of these become more or less appropriate, contingent on the context in which they are used. The history of hypnosis is the history of humanity. It is the history of communication and the history of story telling; it is the history of the development of psychology, philosophy, art and religion. You could almost say it is the history of the human race. While the majority of people are unaware of it, all of us use hypnosis on a daily basis; the main difference is that those who study and practice it as a specific art and science are aware of it and refine it into precisely that An art and a Science. I would emphasise, however, that there is a difference between Hypnosis and trance. We all of us, also use trance every day, and in fact, many times a day in many ways. A Trance is a state of mind; a specific state utilised for one function or another. When you drive you are using a trance state; when you go to work, you use another trance state; we have states of trance for being with our families; for lovers; for relaxation and for learning etc. etc. In formal hypnosis, the trance is purely a state of concentration, and inward focus a means of bringing every atom of your mind to bear on a specific item; it is a tremendously empowering state. Most of the Christian bible for example, can be seen as a means of teaching by story, as can The Vedas; and a large portion of most religious texts - conveying information that can radically alter an individuals understanding and state of awareness, as in fact is reported of Christ telling stories to teach, but not so much to convey objective data as to change the understanding / perspective / state of mind and or awareness and behaviour of the listener. Hypnosis is a complex subject. Constantly being debated and often derided especially in medical circles, yet it continues to exist and it continues to work. This much can be said for certain: artists, poets, musicians, great teachers and philosophers; even the odd truly great scientist, have all made use of trance states when they were at their most brilliant. These include Einstein, Alfred lord Tennyson, Mozart; Rachmaninov, Chopin, Goethe; Thomas Edison; Tesla; Aldous Huxley; Confucius; Gautama Buddha and many more. Even Freud once stated that if the science of the mind were ever to be of practical use to the common people, it would have to be through the medium of hypnosis. To point at any particular time, date or country and say "hypnosis started there, on such and such a date, would be impossible. Hypnosis is communication. Anything that successfully gives you more information than you previously had or changes that information, changes your state of awareness; from pheromones to finger signals, smiles or words. Even pictures, sounds, smells and tone of voice. Changing the state of awareness is both what hypnosis is and what it does.
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The practice of inducing altered states in one form or another has existed all over the world for as long as history can recall and very probably for as long as language has existed. Hypnosis could be defined as having it's true beginning with the first story that was ever told [whatever that was] or the first sound uttered by a living being with the intention of conveying something to another. A few of years ago, Richard Bandler was given as a present, a very early Tibetan gong; at the time, he was busy researching the applications of tonality in the induction of altered states, and was looking for a particular frequency or tone that would of itself induce an altered state. He quickly realised that, when struck, this was precisely the tone that the gong emitted, so there is evidence to show that not only have altered states been around for a very long time, but the means of inducing them in a very sophisticated manner has also been known for a very long time. Many of the eastern traditions and even martial arts make some use of altered states, and mention can be found in many places. In 2600 BC, Wong Tai, known as the father of Chinese medicine, wrote of techniques concerning incantations and passes of the hands, not dissimilar in many ways to mesmerism, and to some forms of hypnosis still currently in use. The application of altered states, including deep trance have been used throughout the ages for purposes of healing, learning and personal evolution among others, in virtually all the Medical, philosophical, spiritual, magical and mystical paths around the world. Forms of hypnosis, or more specifically, forms of therapeutic action that, to a greater or lesser degree can be considered as analogous to early hypnosis and animal magnetism, have been documented in the ancient Sumerian civilisation; Ancient Egypt; Ancient Greece; Persia; India [arguably as far back as 9000 years before Christ Much of the core of the Vedas can be found in the form of a book called The Atharva Veda. The origin of The Atharva Veda is generally somewhat vague Scholars have placed it at varying dates from the 6th century BC to as early as the Indian iron age, in 1000BC, but evidence of Vedic tradition and its people now seems to indicate that it may well have preceded The Atharva Veda considerably, following archaeological discoveries at Surat, India where buildings were found off the Gulf of Khambhat, from which radio carbon dating has indicated the age of artefacts discovered there as ranging from 7500 to in excess of 9500 years, although David Wilcox, in his book The Science of Oneness, says: The vedas date themselves as 18000 years old and goes on to argue that the rejection of this by the west is erroneous. Parts of the Vedas, which are the core and essence of what may be the oldest system of medicine and healing still in use [widely used and found to be effective in much of India and elsewhere you can buy Vedic toothpaste on Amazon, for example], refer to hypnotic procedures - although not by that name.]. It can be found in the Roman empire the word Hypnosis originates from Hypnos, the ancient Greek goddess of sleep, although hypnosis Is not sleep a misnomer that still persists [Hypnosis was far from being the first choice of James Braid, who had eventually appended the name to what is now considered modern
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hypnosis; The ancient Greeks, however, did apparently use analogous techniques. The use and application of such techniques has, it seems been virtually continuous since pre history in one form or another. Hypnosis in its current form, however, came together from a number of sources. Perhaps the beginning of what was to become hypnosis as it is known today, stems from Anton Mesmer, who is generally used as the starting point for the subject. IT appears that no respectable hypnosis website or book is complete without some form of abridged history; having read quite a few of these, I am more than a little perplexed by the various contradictions and anomalies they seem to represent, so in writing this, I am going into a bit more detail than some, and trying to clear up one or two things to the best of my ability based on those resources of the period that I have been able to lay my hands on. I also intend to do something to redress the balance a little regarding Animal Magnetism, Mesmerism, and some of the early pioneers of these approaches which, despite vitriolic and largely questionable aggression that has dogged the footsteps of the evolution ever since, Succeeded in ensuring the survival of what became modern hypnosis to a time when it can be considered in a more open minded and civilised manner, even by its detractors, some of which still seem to have a rather odd idea of furthering science to the benefit of humanity. It seems to me that a great deal of valuable work and information has been completely ignored, while the [very unscientific] reactions of some have been given a remarkable amount of attention and, which is worse, credence. Thereby allowing something capable of becoming what can be argued to be the greatest and most powerful tool for human evolution currently available and which has thus far only just touched on its vast potential to reach a point where it was almost lost, and is only now being recognised for a small portion of its potential. We, who can do so much in so many ways for so many are still largely the last resort sought only after all other routes have failed and it should be a matter of wonder that we achieve what we do given this fact. Historical documents dealing with the era of animal magnetism and Mesmerism in English have proven hard to find. It appears that while a huge amount was written about Mesmerism / animal magnetism and what was actually achieved using it, the vast majority of academic writing on the subject was produced in Europe. Little of it was translated into English and even less is available today. If anyone has access to additional information [including an English translation of Mesmers original thesis Physico Medica de Planetarum Influxu or The Influence of the Planets in the Cure of Diseases (1766) [preferably digital], I would be immensely grateful for any and all legitimately documented information both as a matter for personal interest and so that I can update this. Before I go further, with regard to clearing up anomalies etc. according to Binet and Fere In their work Animal Magnetism 1887, the term Animal Magnetism originated somewhere in the 16th century and referred to phenomena very similar in nature to mesmerism, if not the same. I include this because there seems some confusion over who called what which and when. The Principles, in one form or another, seem to have been developed in many areas of the world at many times it is merely the path from those things in those places to Mesmerism and thence to current forms of Hypnosis and NLP
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Mesmerism is connected with a tradition which had its origin towards the middle of the sixteenth century, a tradition which, as the name of animal magnetism implies, not invented by Mesmer, ascribed to man the power of exercising on his fellows an action analogous to that of the magnet. It seems to be established that a profound impression had been produced upon the human mind by the natural magnet and its physical properties, the existence of two poles, endowed with opposite properties, and a remote action without direct contact. Even in ancient times it had been observed, or assumed, that the magnet possessed a curative power, and it had been employed as a remedy. This belief still subsisted in the middle ages. In a work by Cardan, dated 1584, there is an account of an experiment in anesthesia, produced by the magnet. It was then customary to magnetize rings which were worn round the neck or on the arm, in order to cure nervous diseases. The idea gradually dawned that there are magnetic properties in the human body. The first trace of this belief appears in the works of Paracelsus. This remarkable thinker maintained that * Many authors have written the history of animal magnetism : Dubois, Dechambre, Bersot, Figuier, etc. The only study of the subject entitled to be called critical is that of Paul Richer, in the Nouvelle Revue, August 1, 1882. t Richet, Bulletin de la Sociti de Biologie, May 30, 1884. 1 Cardan's Works, book vii., on Precious Stoues. ANIMAL MAGNETISM IN ITS BEGINNINGS. 3 the human body was endowed with a double magnetism;that one portion attracted to itself the planets, and was nourished by them, whence came wisdom, thought, and the senses; that the other portion attracted to itself the elements and disintegrated them, whence came flesh and blood; that the attractive and hidden virtue of man resembles that of amber and of the magnet; that by this virtue the magnetic virtue of healthy persons attracts the enfeebled magnetism of those who are sick.* After Paracelsus, many learned men of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries-Glocenius, Burgrave, Helinotius, Robert Fludd, Kircher, and Maxwell-believed that in the magnet they could recognize the properties of that universal principle by which minds addicted to generalisation thought that all natural phenomena might be explained. These men wrote voluminous books, filled with sterile discussions, with unproved assertions, and with contemptible arguments. Mesmer drew largely from these sources; it cannot be disputed that he had read some of these many books, devoted by early authors to the study of magnetism,although such study was forbidden. Where he showed his originality was in taking hold of the so-called universal principle of the world, and in applying it to the sick by means of contact and of passes. Animal Magnetism by Binet and Frere
Franz Anton Mesmer, [23rd may 1734-1815], christened Franciscus Antonius Mesmer.
According to Gilbert Frankau, in his introduction to the 1948 translation of Mesmers key work Mesmerism originally published in 1779, Mesmer was originally destined for the priesthood. He apparently went to monks' school, apparently till he was fifteen; thence to the Jesuit University at Dillingen in Bavaria; and from there to Ingoldstadt University, where he finally decided that the Church was not for him. Binet and Frere state that: At what university he obtained his degree in philosophy Schurer-Waldheim tells us, " is not known". In 1759 he arrived at the University of Vienna as a law student; but soon abandoned the law for medicine, passing his final on the 20th of November 1765, and in 1766 took his degree at the University of Vienna [a prestigious establishment at the time.].
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Mesmer wrote his inaugural dissertation De Planetarum Influxu] on the influence of the planets on the human body that the sun, moon and fixed stars affect each other in their orbits, suggesting: the sun, moon and fixed stars mutually affect each other in their orbits; that they cause and direct on earth a flux and reflux, not only in the sea, but in the atmosphere, and affect in similar manner all organised bodies through the medium of a subtle and mobile fluid, which pervades the universe, and associates all things together in mutual intercourse and harmony." R.B.Ince, in his book Franz Anton Mesmer 1920 points out that this bore a remarkable similarity to the work and views of physicists still holding sway at the time of his writing [1920] it is certainly very close to the ideas put forward by Newton, on which he largely predicated his calculations of the positions etc of the stars and planets, through the medium of what was at the time the new form of mathematics that Newton developed namely calculus. It is worth noting that using his system, Newton was able to come remarkably close to current measurements / calculations, and while the concept of aether [or ether] has been I and out of fashion, it has now returned to a degree of popularity with a number of respected physicists, who postulate that Newtons Aether may well be related to current theories of the zero point energy field and perhaps dark matter. Ince also points out that there is a parallel between Mesmers thesis and principles behind Mesmers animal magnetism suggesting that he already had the seed of the idea of mesmerism in his mind when writing his thesis. Information seems sketchy at best, but it appears that on graduating, Mesmer became a practicing doctor, settled in Vienna, using both conventional means, magnets and a growing amount of what became mesmerism. Mesmer was also greatly influenced by a German Philosopher, Father Hehl a Jesuit professor of astronomy that he met while studying at the University of Vienna. Father [or professor] Hehl, used a loadstone to heal, and to stop bleeding. Father Hehl sent Mesmer some magnets to experiment with [later, Hehl became an irrevocable enemy of Mesmer after a disagreement when Mesmer cured a patient with magnets and Hehl published an account of it, claiming it as his own. However, it appears that Mesmer was already on the way to developing his own approach. It may be that the incident with father Hehl was instrumental in encouraging Mesmer to stop using magnets but there were other factors, some of which are explained below. The historical background in the English translation of the report commissioned by the King of France makes a brief mention of this:
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Mefmer became very early a convert to the principles of this writer, and actually carried them into practice with diftinguifhed fuccefs. In the midft however of his attention to the utility of the loadftqne, he was led to the adoption of a new fet of principles, which he conceived to be much more general in their application and importance.
From the 1785 translation of the original text of the report
Binet and Frere said:

Mesmer discovered some analogy between Hehl's experiments and his own astronomical theories, and tried what effect the magnet would produce in the treatment of diseases. An account of his cures filled the Vienna newspapers. Several people of importance gave evidence that they had been cured, among whom was Osterwald, director of the Munich Academy of Science, who had been affected by paralysis; and Bauer, a professor of mathematics, who had suffered from an obstinate attack of ophthalmia. On the other hand, the learned bodies of his native country did not accept his experiments, and the letters which he wrote to most of the academies of Europe remained unanswered. He soon abandoned the use of the magnet and of Hehl's instruments, and restricted himself to passes with the hand, declaring animal magnetism to be distinct from the magnet.
Animal magnetism Binet and Frere
According to Ince [1920], Mesmer stopped using the magnets a short time after the argument with Hehl, when he was present while a patient was being bled and noticed that the flow of blood increased as he moved away from the patient and decreased as he moved towards them; As stated elsewhere, It seems that Mesmer was considering the elements of what became mesmerism when writing his thesis, and was developing them by the time he began practicing as a doctor, so while his disagreement with father Hehl apparently encouraged him to stop using magnets, it may be that the observations regarding the reported effect of his proximity on bleeding may have been more significant, although this is only conjecture on my part; both events are cited by various people as being significant. Later in Paris, Mesmer began using magnets again, in a somewhat different manner - to facilitate the treatment of large numbers of people simultaneously, in accordance with his ideas that magnetism could be used to enhance the energies / ether he considered responsible for the effects of mesmerism as his fame / popularity grew and the number of patients requiring his attention became overwhelming and therefore impossible to treat one at a time.
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The approach that Mesmer adopted is interesting in a number of ways; aside from his use of magnets, there is a significant correlation with much of eastern philosophy and healing practice, still in use today, although the terms differ, being largely Chi or Qi, rather than animal magnetism, from Acupuncture to shiazu, since the majority of eastern medicine was and still is concerned with the flow of energies through the body, blockages in and balancing of that flow, even in their herbal and medicinal practices. The primary difference at this point being the name and nature of the energies concerned.]. Having said that, while I have read in a number of recent histories of hypnosis that Mesmer spent considerable time studying in the east, I have yet to find any historic documentation relating to it that originates from Mesmers era or those who followed him. From what I have read, I find it difficult to create sufficient space in his time line for such a journey, and It appears that Mesmer began his development to mesmerism [insofar as he did develop it much of it appears to have come from extant writings reaching back to the 16th century and possibly earlier.]. With his doctoral thesis, aided by his acquaintance with Father Hehl and continued evolving it from that point incorporating it in his work from the inception. Apparently he spent some time studying works that were considered quite old by Mesmers time and largely considered forbidden [one must remember that the last witch burnings took place not long prior to Mesmers emergence.] By the time Mesmer returned to Vienna after a tour in Switzerland in 1766, he was becoming quite famous and was already upsetting the medical fraternity. In the words of Ince [Franz Anton Mesmer His life and teaching, 1920]:
His fame was already considerable, and his unorthodox methods had aroused the active hostility of the Medical Faculty. Mesmer's patients were drawn chiefly from desperate cases which the doctors had failed to cure. Many remarkable successes were reported. These the orthodox practitioners denied. They were by no means satisfied that " a charlatan," as they called Mesmer, should bring their own methods into disrepute. Baron von Stoerck, President of the Faculty of Vienna, and First Physician to the Emperor, advised Mesmer not to make his discovery public, lest he should incur the enmity of the profession. This advice came somewhat late, since Mesmer was already well hated by his professional brethren. They laughed at his theory and denied his practice, adopting the tactics which they have used, in similar circumstances, since the days of AEsculapius. They refused to examine his patients before treatment began, and afterwards denied that there had been any serious illness. Mesmer, however, had the courage of his opinions, and refused to be silenced or ignored. He considered the pursuit of truth to be of more value than professional reputation. Franz Anton Mesmer His life and teaching by Ince, 1920
I am including here an account from Ince of Mesmers last patient in Vienna, for a number of reasons although it is long [a bit too long to put in a text box], I feel it is relevant to the subject
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at hand and to hypnosis as a whole. You are of course welcome to skip over it if you wish, but I hope you will read it: His final encounter with the medical men of Vienna was brought about by his treatment of a gifted young pianist, Mademoiselle Paradis. Mademoiselle Paradis, a protegee of the Empress Maria Theresa, from whom she received a pension, had lost her eyesight from paralysis of the optic nerve. Having undergone treatment from the leading physicians of Vienna without benefit, she was placed under the care of Mesmer. After a brief treatment from Mesmer Mademoiselle Paradis was able to distinguish the outlines of articles brought near her. At first her returning sense of vision was very sensitive. If a lighted candle was held near her eyes, even though bound by a thick cloth, the effect upon her sight was as a flash of lightning. The appearance of the human form, seen for the first time, distressed her greatly. The nose on the human countenance moved her to laughter. Speaking of noses, " They seem," she said, " to threaten me, as though they would bore my eyes out." At first she found it of the utmost difficulty to remember the names of colours. The relative distances of objects puzzled her so that she was afraid to move about freely as formerly. Her improving sight also occasioned her difficulty in playing the piano. Whereas, when she was blind, she could execute the most difficult movements, she now found it no easy task to play even the simplest piece. Her eyes persisted in following her fingers as they moved over the keys, with the result that she was continually missing the notes. The case of Mademoiselle Paradis became something like a cause celebre in the medical circles of Vienna. Despite the obvious facts, the doctors who had treated her without success denied that any improvement of sight had taken place. Mademoiselle Paradis, they declared, merely " imagined that she could see." At first Herr Paradis, her father, was delighted. He caused particulars of the case to be published in the newspapers. Herr von 'Stoerck himself came and witnessed the cure and admitted its genuineness. Opposition, however, came from Professor Hehl, Herr Ingenhaus, a friend of his, and Herr Barth, professor of anatomy and specialist in diseases of the eye. To Mesmer, in private, Herr Barth admitted that Mademoiselle Paradis could see; but afterwards, in public, he declared that she was " still quite blind." These three united to get Mademoiselle Paradis out of Mesmer's hands before he should have time to complete the cure. With this object they successfully appealed to the avarice of Herr Paradis. They persuaded him that, so soon as his daughter regained her sight completely, the pension she received from the Empress would cease. The argumentum ad hominem proved entirely successful. Mademoiselle Paradis was taken home by her parents. For the time it appeared as though Mesmer's enemies had triumphed. DISGUSTED with his treatment at Vienna, Mesmer shook the dust of the city off his feet and went to Paris. His rapidly growing reputation had preceded him. expectation was a-tiptoe. On all sides he was cordially received. It is interesting to note the following from page 13 historical introduction of the 1785 English translation of the report:
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Struck with the clearness and accuracy of his reasonings, the magnificence of his pretentions, and the extraordinary and unquestionable cures he performed, some of the greateft physicians and most enlightened philosophers of France became his converts.
Now, it appears that Mesmer was in fact using a combination of approaches, from energy he referred to as Animal Magnetism, by which I suspect the may have been referring to the energies utilised in so many eastern traditions to this day, to the use of physical magnets [now well documented for their effects on broken bones including those that refuse to heal see, for example The body Electric by Robert O Beecker, MD and Gary Selden], and processes that are still recognisable as hypnotic induction, such as the passing of hands in a rhythmic manner over the arms and head [ The approach generally favoured by later authorities on the subject of Mesmerism many of whom produced remarkable results.]. which is nowadays mostly focussed on the eyes for fixation, unless used as a physical stroking in time with breathing to bring about deep rapport and allow leading into a more relaxed state in a form of direct kinaesthetic communication. Mesmer maintained that he could store his magnetic force in baths of iron filings and pass it to his clients through the use of rods or mesmeric passes. He also incorporated a great deal of work on sound and the effects of different qualities and frequencies of sound, which he generated in some quite interesting ways. These may very well have had a similar effect on his clients to the ancient Tibetan gongs - a sound or rather frequency still duplicated in many forms of chanting and meditation [some of which have been found to duplicate the tone of the Schumann resonance and / or the sound of the sun generated by translating the electromagnetic emanations of the sun into sound and bringing it within the range of human hearing [oddly enough, it is widely recognised to make a sound very similar to that of the Om] thereby facilitating a sense of profound wellbeing]. See the study presented at the Royal Astronomical Society's National Astronomy Meeting in Lancashire, England, Robertus von Fay-Siebenburgen of the Solar Physics and Space Plasma Research Center at the University of Sheffield; Robert Alexander and space science research fellow Jason Gilbert The Solar and Heliospheric Research Group at the University of Michigan, and others. In terms of a modern hypnotic induction, Mesmers methods could be said to be more than slightly long winded, but in truth he was working not simply with a predecessor of hypnosis, but with forms and methods of energetic healing. It may be worth noting at this point that some interesting effects can be achieved by passing the hands over the hands and arms in a manner very reminiscent of Mesmer, without actually touching the client [see Shen, Chi Kung, Reiki, Magnetic healing [ a form of auric or energetic healing] and many others, arguably including acupuncture and shen. Based on the accounts of the time and the remarkable aggression of the opposition, I it seems very likely indeed that Mesmer was in fact getting far better results than the doctors of the time and gaining quite a reputation which did not help his popularity in professional circles. As stated above, Mesmer was somewhat flamboyant, and a showman; something that was, no doubt, exacerbated by his marriage On the 10th of January 1768, to the rich and " nobly born " widow, Maria Anna von Posch (also spelled Bosch)., as a result of which he no doubt gained - 10 - E Bailey www.theinnercircleschool.com 07/02/2014
considerable latitude, which was certainly the only reason he was able to accommodate a performance by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, whose father was a friend of Mesmers, along with Gluck and Hadyn [Gilbert Frankau preface to 1946 publication of mesmerism by Dr Mesmer]. This resulted in behaviours and a certain reputation that left him very vulnerable to attack - a weakness that was exploited very effectively when his enemies decided to act, although it is conceivable that to an extent, his mannerism also contributed to the success he had with many of his patients, as by his manner as much if not more than his actions, he conveyed the expectation that something was about to happen to his clients in a very convincing manner [see congruence /creation of expectation of change] Indirect suggestions of this nature can in themselves be extremely effective in the right circumstances]. I understand that there were in fact several enquiries into Mesmers work, although the most relevant is the enquiry commissioned by the King of France. Some recent commentaries indicate that this was commissioned at Mesmers request [this is at best questionable] in an attempt to prove the efficacy of his work once and for all, He was discredited, ridiculed, discredited and eventually publicly humiliated, even though the report was quite careful in limiting its criticism to the lack of VISUAL PROOF that any form of magnetism flowed from him not entirely surprising given the numerous accounts of his successful treatment including many among the cream of society, and some reported in the text of the enquiry itself. Although in the same year [1784], Mesmer appealed to the French parliament, who commissioned et another enquiry, the report for the King of France was just about the end of Mesmer. The enquiry that resulted from Mesmers appeal to parliament did not really help. It was not particularly friendly to Mesmer. The preface to the English translation of the King of France report refers to it and quotes:
" Arret, of the 6'Sept. 17.84. " The parliament ordains that Mefmer Jhall be obliged to expofe, before four doctors of the faculty of medicine, two furgeons and two matters in pharmacy, the dodtrine, which he profeffes to have difcovered, and the methods which he pretends muft be adopted for the application, of his principles: they likewife ordain that a report of his communications fliall then be delivered to the attorney general, to be laid before parliament for their fentence." This report seems to have centred around the research of M. Thouret, Regent Physician of the faculty of Paris and Member of the society who was apparently not a great fan of Mesmer ; The above quote continues: THE Underwritten were charged by the royal fociety of medicine, with the examination of a work of M. Thouret, member of the fociety, entitled. Enquiries and Doubts refpedting the Animal Magnetifm. In the attentive perufal of this work, it is obvious to remark^ that it has two very diftinft objedts; bne of thern which is in a manner hiftorical, is to explain the coincidences of the animal magnetifm, as it was known to the ancients, with that which is admitted by the moderns: the other contains critical refledtions and doubts in regard to the evidences upon which the dodtrine is founded, the uncertainty of B which M. Thouret undertakes to difplay.
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It is however worth remembering that his methods did work, and had it not been for the somewhat questionable outcome, both hypnosis and medicine might have advanced a great deal further by now. For all his faults, Mesmer appears to have been quite successful in fixing the people who came to him both through hypnosis and the application of magnetic fields [separate from his theories regarding animal Magnetism, Mesmer did a lot of work using magnets and it is only now that medical science is beginning to understand the effects of magnets or magnetic fields on the human body, but Mesmer was there already]. In the late 1700s everyone who was anyone went to Dr Mesmer for one of his magnetic cures. Mesmer became very successful; his work was highly popular especially with the more notable cream of society. The medical community of the time were in general very much against mesmerism and were quite vocal about it. While Mesmer earnestly wanted to explain his work t them, he was reluctant to do so because of their antagonism towards him. I rather suspect that his downfall was to a large extent, caused by the simple fact that it was working and that threatened the doctors of the time who decided to challenge Mesmers methods. Some of the accounts I have read indicate that with the passage of time and as the difference of opinions between Mesmer and the medical fraternity escalated, Mesmer became more and more angry, eventually asking the French king to convene a Board of Inquiry [not the action of a fraud, I think he must have been fairly confident of his abilities to provoke a show down of such a public nature]. However, the preface to the English translation of the report on the board commissioned by the king of France states:
In the mean time the new fyftem was by no means deftitute of enemies. Some of the firft pens in France were drawn to oppofe it, and among others that of M. Thouret, regent-phyficiai) pf the faculty. The faculty indeed had all along beheld its progrefs with the the extremeft jealoufy. At length jt was thought to deferve the attention of government, and a committee, partly phyficians, and partly members of the royal academy of fciences, with doctor Benjamin Franklin at their head, were appointed to examine it, M. Mefmer refufed to have any communication with thefe gentlemen; frut M. Deflon, the moft confiderable of his pupils, confented to difclofe to them his principles, and aflift them in their enquiries. Their Report forms the principal piece in the enfuing pamphlet. M. Mefmer however has appealed from their decifion to the parliament of Paris.
If the preface to the report for the king of France is accurate, Mesmer neither requested nor consented to this investigation, and furthermore, he was not a party to it His student, M. Deflon went before the committee and NOT Mesmer. Again, this contradicts many of the current accounts of these events. There does seem to be some disagreement over the sequence of events, so I have done what I can here to go to the original source, and make it clear where I found the information. The Board that was convened included three people still notable today: The chemist Lavoisier; the famous American Benjamin Franklin; and a medical doctor named Guillotine [just about everyone has heard of him or if not him then his invention.].
Lavoisier was an administrator of the Ferme Generale - kind of privatised tax collectors, famous for tax farming, a powerful man, well connected and on a number of the aristocratic councils of the time. Ironically, he was a customer of Mr guillotines most famous invention during the French revolution. As a chemist, Lavoisier is still remembered for discovering of the role oxygen plays in combustion, identifying and naming oxygen and Hydrogen; he also helped construct the metric system and wrote the first detailed list of the elements. Benjamin Franklin really needs very little introduction Polymath, scientist; politician; one of the founding fathers and more. Guillotine was a specialist in pain control, [given the role that mesmerism came to play in pain control, I find this interesting,] but he was far more famous for inventing THE guillotine. The report concludes:
they have concluded with an unanimous voice respecting the existence and the utility of the magnetism, that the existence of the fluid is absolutely destitute of proof, that the fluid having no existence can consequently have no use,. The commissioners were of consequence obliged to Conclude that not only the measures in a particular mode of proceeding, but the measures of the magnetism in general, might in the end produce, the most pernicious effects.
I feel one could be forgiven for having some concern regarding the somewhat mixed messages in both the body and conclusions of the report. Personally, having read it, I am disinclined to believe that Mesmers techniques were entirely without merit.
{The version I have is entitled:Report of Benjamin Franklin and others commissioners charged by the King of France with the examination of Animal Magentism as now practiced at Paris translated from the French with an historical introduction. Printed for J.Johnson St Pauls Churchyard 1785. I would be delighted If anyone has a source for an alternative account.} The introduction to his report states: In April 1778, M. Mesmer Retired to Greteil with the patients he had collected, and in a few months almost all of them returned to Paris perfectly reftored. One of them in particular Was a paralytic deprived of the use of her limbs, and who now walked with all the ease arid firmness in the World
The findings of the board effectively discredited Mesmer, who left Paris and went back to Vienna to practise mesmerism or Animal Magnetism. On the issue of Mr Franklin and the board being unable to see the magnetism flowing from Mesmers hands [although personally I would have thought Franklin would have known enough about magnets to realise it magnetism cannot be seen], I have not been able to find this quote, which seems to turn up in a lot of accounts now, but did find the following:
[ 10 5 ] The commiffioners having convinced themfelves, that the animal magnetic fluid is capable of being perceived by none of our fenfes, and had no adition either upon themfelves or upon the fubjets of their feveral experiments; being allured, that the touches .and compreffions employed in its application rarely occafioned favourable changes in the animal ceconomy, and that the impreffions thus made are always hurtful to the imagination j in fine having demonftrated by decifive experiments, that the imagination without the magnetifm produces convulfions, and that the magnetifm without the imagination produces nothing; they have concluded with an unanimous voice refpefting the exiftence and the utility of the magnetifm, that the exiftence of the fluid is abfolutely deftitute of proof, that the fluid having no exiftence can confequently have no ufe, Page 105 English translation of report commissioned by the King of France, published 1785
With regard to Mesmer being a fraud and a charlatan a phrase I have come across more than once, I personally doubt this very much. He was evidently quite flamboyant, but given the documented accounts of his many successes, not only with the public as a whole but with highly educated, highly respected people who can be held as being far from gullible or easily swayed, I find it very hard to conclude that he was anything other than earnest and genuine. I would also point out that it is evident from Mesmers own writings as well as those who studied his work that when he referred to animal magnetism, he intended no correlation in any way with electromagnetic phenomena, using the word magnetism primarily as an analogous term for what he saw as a separate phenomena of a similar but different nature. Possibly some of the bitter and disturbingly aggressive denigration of both his work and that of later researchers in associated areas arose from superstitious fears originating in the primitive and barbarous dark times of Christianity and the burning of those who appeared in any way different, but this in itself seems doubtful, given that the majority of the attacks stem from the medical fraternity supposedly among the more intelligent, discerning portion of the population, most dedicated to the advancement of knowledge, understanding and science, dedicated to healing it is a behaviour that can be seen perpetuated from this point in time forward for quite some way, and given that Mesmer and his followers did have significant positive results, one can only wonder as to the motivations of those attackers. Surely, as men of science, their first instinct would have been to seek understanding of any phenomena frequently achieving results equal to and / or exceeding their own? Please note that I am neither defending nor attacking merely seeking truth. Meanwhile:
John Elliotson [1791 1868], a professor at London University, who among other things,
brought the stethoscope to the uk, also attempted to promote the concept of mesmerism and although forced to resign as a result, continued to demonstrate to anyone who would listen at his home, leading to a significant increase in literature on the subject. According to Bramwell, John Elliotson was the leader of a great mesmeric movement which began in England in 1837. Ellioston, was far from popular in medical circles, for being something of a revolutionary in terms of medical treatment, due to his enthusiasm for new developments like the stethoscope, Smallpox inoculations and pain control, among other things, which for some reason disturbed and upset his colleagues Promoting Mesmerism for pain control did nothing to help his case, and although he was highly respected for his knowledge and abilities, it was his enthusiasm for the evolution of medicine and healing that was his downfall. A firm believer phrenology [as were many doctors of the time], Elliotson appears to have been sincerely concerned with the betterment of mankind through medical science. However, when he encountered Mesmerism, he was fascinated and, with a great deal of research, experiments and study, became an enthusiast advocating mesmerism for pain control and the treatment of some problems. Among the phenomena that arose from - 14 - E Bailey www.theinnercircleschool.com 07/02/2014
mesmerism were a certain amount of early spiritualism [a fascinating phenomena in itself, if viewed objectively, and with an open mind.], and related activities. Ellistons enthusiasm for mesmerism and his constant advocacy of it were met with aggressive and virulent responses for his colleagues, which appeared completely disproportionate and when finally certain individuals demonstrating at a sance arranged by Elliotson were discredited, he was very much compromised and [in my opinion unjustly] tarred with the same brush by his enemies. His colleagues made life difficult for him, he lost most of his private practice and eventually left the medical profession to start the Zoist magazine, in order to continue promoting the use of medicine which he genuinely believed had tremendous potential. After the hostility of the general medical fraternity and certain religious circles [which extended well beyond Elliotson to include any and all who had an interest in mesmerism], The activity and interest in what was then generally termed animal magnetism or mesmerism, continued, albeit in a more than slightly contentious manner, and while it was generally losing ground in terms of credibility, it still evoked a considerable amount of interest when, in the mid 19th century, James Braid came on the scene, almost in parallel with Elliotson. BEFORE I get on to James Braid, I am inserting a section of the introduction to second publishing of Braids most significant writing, re titled for this edition as Braid on Hypnotism. You will find additional reference to this book elsewhere in this document, and I know it is out of context, but I feel it has significant bearing on Elliotson; on the stigma that attached itself to what was, even then, a very promising approach to both anaesthesia which still occasionally kills people around one in 200 now, I believe and a variety of illnesses; on the mentality of those associated with medicine and medical science at the time and of course the situation as it stood when braid arrived on the scene: Writing in the year 1839, the Rev. Chauncy Hare Townshend observed that the majority of Englishmen have derived their ideas of mesmerism from the experiments of Dr John Elliotson, and there can be no doubt that the English history of Animal Magnetism centred at the period in this eccentric personality, and he remains its typical representative, as he was indeed its most active exponent. A man whose untiring energy had largely assisted then foundation of University College Hospital, a professor of Practical Medicine in the University of London, and the President of the Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society, it is difficult to understand how his testimony could be set aside by his professional brethren, but the fact itself is indubitable, and it is not less true that Dr Elliotson suffered irretrievably for espousing the detested cause. It is particularly unaccountable at the present day that feeling should have been so strong in the matter; the physiological conditions induced, or supposed to be induced, by Animal Magnetism did not so seriously threaten the established positions, or even the accepted preconceptions, of medical science as was the case later on with Spiritualism when the exponents of general science had pronounced definitely for materialism, and the allegation of " spirit return " constituted a direct challenge to the message of modern science.
But the hostility was honest in its way, though based on a priori considerations which are somewhat humiliating to recall, as, for example, that mesmerism had been practised by impostors and quacks; that most of its believers were ignorant or mere smatterers; and that many of their stories were undeniably exaggerated, if not actually invented. These were good grounds for caution, but they were no grounds at all for passing over the evidence of those who were not charlatans, whose integrity and ability had never been questioned previously, whose statements were strongly documented. However, they were the rule of the moment, they justified a persecution which could not well have been more bitter if Elliotson had been a convicted cheat. They forced him to resign his professorship, they destroyed his practice, and there was a perceptible tone of triumph when his ruined prospects were recited. At the same time there were persons committed to neither issue who saw that the contempt and incredulity excited by the conversion of Elliotson were largely rooted in an illiberal prejudice, and these were not backward in demanding a dispassionate investigation. The foundation of the Zoist, a quarterly magazine containing the most elaborate records of experiments in the curative powers of Animal Magnetism, gave additional force to the demand, and in the year 1843 there is ground for believing that the hostile parties were conscious of their strained position. In that year James Braid came forward as something little short of a saviour of society, and he made retreat honourable. The publication of his work on "Neurypnology, or the Rationale of Nervous Sleep,"created a new era in the history of Animal Magnetism, and was destined to change in a material manner the relations previously subsisting between the two parties.
James Braid 19 June 1795 25 March 1860, was primarily a doctor from Scotland, born at Rylaw House in Fifeshire about 1795, was educated at Edinburgh, and qualified there as a surgeon. After practising in Scotland for some years, he removed to Manchester, where he remained up to the time of his death, and gained a high reputation as a skilful physician and surgeon.
The preface to the 1899 re publication of his major work originally named Neurypnology or the Rationale of Nervous Sleep. and published in 1843, when it was amended in the later publication to Braid on Hypnotism, states: JAMES BRAID, the Manchester surgeon, is regarded as " the initiator of the scientific study of Animal Magnetism," and this is a title to distinction which possesses the guarantee of permanence. Braid, apparently was curious about mesmerism, and attended a number of demonstrations, the first being gentleman by the name of Lafontaine at the Manchester Athenum, on Saturday, 13 November 1841. Some accounts state that Braid became interested in the subject when, arriving late for an appointment he found his client staring into a lamp, with a glazed look on his face, but so far I have not found reference to this as a specific event in his work or other writings published closer to his lifetime. This event is frequently said to have interested Braid, who gave his client a series of instructions which the client obeyed without question, closing his eyes and going to sleep. - 16 - E Bailey www.theinnercircleschool.com 07/02/2014
Based on what I have been able to find thus far, What I believe is missing from this, is its place on Braids timeline, as being subsequent to his interest in and study of Mesmerism / animal magnetism. It makes more sense that, on observing his client, he would relate this to his pre existing experiences with mesmerism, and indeed he was not the first to postulate the subjectivity of hypnosis, or the significance of eye fixation. Braids most significant contribution was in identifying the significance of providing the client with a focus of attention, and speculating that the cause of the altered state demonstrated by mesmerism was in fact a subjective process within the client rather than, as was maintained by the advocates of animal magnetism / mesmerism, who maintained that the phenomena was generated by their own intention / energy / effect on the client. There is little doubt that Braid had more than a passing familiarity with animal magnetism and its remarkable successes and failures before his work in transforming it into hypnosis, and this is strongly indicated both in his paper titled Braids paper electro Biological Phenomena, and the title of his major work on the subject : Neurypnology or the rationale of nervous sleep considered in relation to animal magnetism [originally published under this title in 1843, and re printed in 1899 as Braid on hypnotism after his death.]. Braid first tried Neurypnology as a name for his development of what became hypnosis, but it didnt catch on; originally settling on hypnosis.] Again, in Braids paper electro Biological Phenomena, delivered a the Royal Institution in Manchester, 1851, he indicates forays into Electro-Biology or the electrical science of life which was being demonstrated in Manchester and elsewhere by the Americans, Stone and Darling, around the same time that Lafontaine was demonstrating animal magnetism [Electro Biology appears to have been very similar to animal magnetism, but with more fixation of attention, which braid remarked upon.]. In this paper, Braid states Nine years ago I entered upon the experimental investigation of mesmerism, believing, from what I had read and heard of it,
that the whole was a system of collusion or illusion. I very soon discovered, however, that there was a reality in some of the phenomena, notwithstanding I had reason to differ from the mesmerists regarding the cause. My experiments proved that similar phenomena, of abnormal sleep and peculiar condition of mind and body, might be self-induced, by the patient's maintaining a steady fixed gaze at any inanimate object, the mental attention being concentrated on the act. This at once proved the subjective or personal nature of the influence, and that it did not arise from the transmission of any magnetic or occult influence passing from the operator into the patient, which the mesmerists contended for.
He continues:
I was equally successful in operating upon a number of strangers together at a private conversazione, given to the profession in London, in March 1842 And: It will be observed, that the processes resorted to by these Americans is merely a variety of my old process for inducing what I called the hypnotic or mesmeric state.
SO, it is apparent that by 1842, he had been studying, researching and experimenting on animal magnetism, as well as his own theories of hypnosis for some time.
Braid figured out that getting the client to fix their attention on something was one of the most important elements of inducing trance. In identifying fixation of attention as the crucial element, braid effectively reversed the roles as defined by mesmerism in that rather than being an external influence, the alteration of the state of awareness that resulted trance became a subjective state produced by the client. Personally, I suspect that in reality, what happened amounted to a division I feel it is highly likely that a large part of animal magnetism / mesmerism was originally predicated on an energetic basis not dissimilar to Chi Kung, Shen, Shiatsu or indeed Reiki or rather the common denominator of all such approaches, which can be considered to have been prevalent in the west as well as the east, prior to the advent of Christianity and its lamentable predilection for ridiculing, persecuting murdering, torturing and incinerating all those who had an opinion or lifestyle contrary to its own. An exploration of the various works on the subject reveals a great deal of attention and emphasis being placed on the earnest desire to help; on personal character, integrity and strength of will / intention and differing levels of power or energy in different people, which sounds very much like the basis of the eastern energetic traditions. so one could effectively say that Braids development of what became hypnosis was a tangenital evolution of the more pragmatic portions of the original. This, however is only my speculation, based on my research so far. As an interesting aside, it is worth pointing out that Bramwell, in the second edition of Hypnotism, its history, theory and practice points out that:
In 1814, the Abbe Faria suggested that the phenomena were subjective in origin, but his views made little impression and were soon forgotten.
I feel it is likely that when the Abbe Faria first noticed the possible subjective origin of mesmerism, there was far too much enthusiasm for anyone to take serious notice, and the majority of medical professionals were far too busy decrying the whole phenomena to pay attention. Braid was a respected doctor and, as stated below, was determined to separate what he thought of as, for lack of a better word, the legitimate phenomena in mesmerism from mesmerism itself and was therefore attacked with significantly less enthusiasm than devotees of Mesmerism in its normal from. Braid who later published a work calling for the introduction of the name of hypnotism from the Greek Hypnos The ancient Greek god of sleep. I cant help thinking that this was as much or possibly more an effort to separate what he was doing from association with animal magnetism and mesmerism as it was an effort to evolve the subject. The Phrase Hypnosis in itself is something of a misnomer, upon which we will expand elsewhere, although it is worth noting that it was already a bone of contention when Braid died according to the preface of Braid on hypnotism [the 1898 republication of Neuypnology
, the lectures of Durand de Gros did little to advance the science. He sought to perpetuate its association with the English discoverer by adopting the term Braidism in preference to hypnotism, "because just as animal magnetism implies a debated theory, so hypnotism makes sleep the essential and constant character of the phenomena," . According to Bramwells s hypnosis it history, theory and practice:
Then, for the sake of brevity, suppressing the prefix " neuro," he gave the following terms :-Hypnotic, the state or condition of nervous sleep. Hypnotise, to induce nervous sleep. Hypnotised, put into the condition of nervous sleep. Hypnotism, nervous sleep. Dehypnotise, to restore from the state of nervous sleep. Hypnotist, one who practises neuro-hypnotism. Braid was well aware both of the stigma that was falling on mesmerism, and in coining the phrase Hypnosis, distanced his work and research from association with it, although he was not satisfied with the name, attempting to change it to Nerurypnology, signifying that it was a tangible phenomena based on more tangible grounds the name never caught on. As Braid put it in the introduction to his book: Neurypnology or the rationale of nervous sleep considered in relation to animal magnetism and illustrated by numerous cases of its successful application in the relief and cure of disease:
It will be observed, for reasons adduced, I have now entirely separated Hypnotism from Animal Magnetism. I consider it to be merely a simple, speedy, and certain mode of throwing the nervous system into a new condition, which may be rendered eminently available in the cure of certain disorders.
James Braid returned an element of credibility to what then became Hypnosis, and is widely considered the saviour of the subject. At around the same time, a British surgeon called James Esdaile, while working for the East India Company, in India, began to explore the world of Mesmerism and hypnosis. JAMES ESDAILE, Was the son of the Rev. Dr. Esdaile of Perth, was born on February 6th, 1808. He graduated at Edinburgh university in 1830, and began working for the East India Company. According to Bramwell [Hypnotism History Theory and Practice, 1905], On April 4th, 1845, when in charge of a Hospital at Hooghly, West Bengal in India, Esdaile began experimenting with mesmerism by working on a Hindu convict on whom the conventional approach failed, causing the man great pain. He was suffering with double hydrocele [briefly an accumulation of fluid in human tissue, frequently associated with the testes]. Esdaile, who had for some time been following the work of Elliotson in using mesmerism, tried to mesmerise the patient. He did not expect to succeed, having no practical experience at that time and knowing nothing about mesmerism except what he had read of Elliotson's work. The man, however, fell into a deep trance, and became profoundly analgesic. Encouraged by this success and by a second, greater success with the same patient, he continued his experiments, reporting seventy-five operations successfully completed using only mesmerism as the anaesthetic to the Medical Board.
His letter was not even acknowledged. At the end of the year, having completed over a hundred, such operations, he placed the results before the Government. The Deputy-Governor of Bengal, Sir Herbert Maddock, at once appointed a Committee of Investigation, mainly composed of medical men. Their report was an extremely favourable one. On receiving it, the Government sent the following official communication to the President of the Committee :
"The Committee's report has been ordered to be published, and the Deputy-Governor entirely concurs with the remark of the President in Council, that it is sufficient for the present that it should be allowed to work its own way towards producing conviction among the profession and the public, and, at this stage, any more direct encouragement on the part of the Government to the general introduction of mesmeric practice would be premature. But so far has the possibility of rendering the most serious operations painless to the subject of them been, in his Honour's opinion, established by the late experiments performed under the eye of the Committee appointed for that purpose, as to render it incumbent on the Government to afford to the meritorious and zealous officer by whom the subject was first brought to its notice, such assistance as may facilitate his investigations, and enable him to prosecute his interesting experiments under the most favourable and promising circumstances. "With this view his Honour has determined, with the sanction of the Supreme Government, to place Dr. Esdaile for a year in charge of a small experimental hospital, in some favourable situation in Calcutta, in order that he may, as recommended by the Committee, extend his investigations to the applicability of this alleged agency to all descriptions of cases, medical as well as surgical, and all classes of patients, European as well as Native. Dr. Esdaile will be directed to encourage the resort to his hospital of all respectable persons, especially medical and scientific, whether in or out of the service, who may be desirous of satisfying themselves of the nature and effect of his experiments, and his Honour will nominate, from among the medical officers of the Presidency, "Visitors," whose duty it will be to visit the hospital from time to time, inspect Dr. Esdaile's proceedings, without exercising any interference, and occasionally, or when called upon, report upon them, through the Medical Board, for the information of the Government. On these reports will mainly depend what future steps the Government may deem it expedient to take in the matter.-I have the honour to be, Gentlemen, your most obedient servant, FRED. JAS. HALLIDAY, Secretary to the Government of Bengal."
Reproduced form Hypnotism its history practice and theory by Bramwell 1906 A small hospital in Calcutta was placed at Esdaile's disposal by the Government in November, 1846, and the following official visitors appointed: R. Thompson, M.D.; D. Stewart, M.D.; J. Jackson, F.RC.S.; F. Mouatt, M.D.; and R. O'Shaughnessy, F.R.C.S. From the outset, Esdailes work continued to be as effective in the new hospital as it was at Hooghly. The type of cases and operations being performed were very similar. At the end of the year (December, 1847), the official visitors [observers?] reported that when mesmerised, Esdailes patients experienced no pain even in the most severe operations, and that
mesmerism greatly reduced the shock [both physical and mental] that accompanies major surgery. In June, 1847, Esdaile wrote the following letter to the Government of Bengal :
"Since his Honour the Deputy-Governor has determined upon printing the Report of the Mesmeric Hospital for the last six months, I hope that I may be permitted to take this opportunity to make a few remarks on the working and prospects of the experimental hospital so liberally and benevolently established by the Government. " For some months we were almost exclusively occupied with surgery, the fame of painless operations having eclipsed the less striking, but even more important, medical relations of the subject; but these are now becoming more generally known by the public, and medical results have already been obtained of an important and highly encouraging description, and other cases now in hand of the gravest nature, such as palsy, epilepsy, madness, and other painful nervous affections, promise to repay our labours amply. But these cases are so old and inveterate that it requires long treatment to make an impression on them, and protracted observations before we can be sure of our results. "The surgical cases, for reasons well known to you, are almost all of one description (the removal of the enormous tumours of elephantiasis), but fortunately for the demonstration of the anodyne and narcotic power of mesmerism, the operations have generally been the most severe and dangerous that are required to be performed on the human body. A greater variety of both surgical and medical cases is, however, desirable, and could be easily found in the public hospitals of Calcutta. It is in the practice of large hospitals, with their ever-varying patients and incidents, that the general utility of mesmerism will be best and most speedily illustrated . . . ".. .In conclusion, I would beg leave to direct respectfully the attention of the Government to the statistics of the subject, it being a point of much interest to ascertain the ratio of mortality under the old and the new school of surgery. For this purpose I have the honour to append a return of all the mesmeric operations performed by me, now amounting to 133, and I hope the Government will think the subject of sufficient importance to call for the necessary means of comparison from the different hospitals in Calcutta."
Before the end of the initial trial year, the gentlemen residents of Calcutta had submitted a petition with over 300 signatures to the Governor-General, stridently requesting that the Mesmeric Hospital project be continued on the grounds that they had studied the reports, personally witnessed many of the operations and their results, and had satisfied themselves of their value. Despite the favourable report of the official visitors, and the above petition, the Mesmeric Hospital was closed. In reaction to the closure of the official hospital, second one, entirely supported by voluntary subscriptions, mainly drawn from Native sources, was opened on September 1st, 1848, and Esdaile placed in charge. The hospital continued for six months, and then was unfortunately closed, as the DeputyGovernor appointed Esdaile to the Sarkea's Lane Hospital and Dispensary [Presumably in India, since to the best of my knowledge, Esdaile remained there until 1851 although I have as yet been unable to determine its location], for the express purpose of combining mesmerism with the common practice of medicine, which in itself could be seen as either a step forward, or a deliberate depotentiation, perhaps of what was happening in India? By the time Esdaile left India he had performed thousands of painless minor operations and about 300 major ones, including nineteen amputations and one lithotomy, but by far the
greatest number were for the removal of the enormous scrotal tumours so common in India at that time. The removal of the larger scrotal tumours was considered so dangerous that few surgeons cared to attempt it. Dr. Goodeve (Trans. Medical and Physical Society of Calcutta, vol.vii.) put the mortality at 50 per cent. Although many of Esdaile's cases were difficult ones which other surgeons had refused to operate on, his death rate in 161 consecutive cases was only 5 per cent. Further, none of the fatal cases died immediately after operation, all deaths subsequently resulting from fever, cholera, or like causes. At first, Esdaile mesmerised all of his patients himself in addition to carrying out all the surgery. but, after six weeks, he became extremely exhausted, and suffering from irritability and sleeplessness. As a result, he taught his Native hospital assistants how to mesmerise, and except on rare occasions, confined himself to the performance of operations from then on. The following is an excerpt from Bramwell [1906]; it is too big to put in a text box, but I am reproducing it here as it is at least as goods an account as I could give, and I am disinclined to plagiarise it. On a personal note, please do realise that the quotes I have included are unabridged from the original at that time, the use of words like coolies was considered acceptable. I have left the quotes unaltered as they are historical documents and for no other reason, so please do not be offended by such references the people who made them are long dead and lived in very different times:
Esdaile's mesmeric work was constantly attacked in the Indian medical journals. It was asserted that the coolies of Bengal enjoyed being operated on, and that, knowing Esdaile's hobby, they came from all quarters in order to please him. Esdaile was described as an honest fool, who was deceived by his patients-a set of hardened and determined impostors. In reply, Esdaile drew attention to the following facts:(1) During the six years previous to 1845, he had only operated on eleven cases of scrotal tumour, but, since using mesmerism, he had had more operations of this kind in a month than took place in all the other Native hospitals in Calcutta in a year. (2) During operation the patients remained perfectly quiet, and showed neither the ordinary nor the physiological signs of pain, i.e. the characteristic changes in pulse and pupil did not occur. (3) The same patients showed signs of acute pain when operated on in the waking state. (4) There was no pain after operation, when this had taken place during mesmeric trance, and the patients on awaking generally asked for food. In conclusion, Esdaile pointed out that his patients constantly sent him others, and asked whether it was more likely they had told their friends that they had cheated him into believing they were asleep, or truly assured them that they had had their tumours removed during painless trance. It was asserted also that if Esdaile's patients were not all impostors, they were certainly all hysterical. Esdaile replied that he did not see how hysteria could have got into his hospitals, where he had never seen it before-coolies and felons not being at all nervous subjects. If that charge were true, fashionable surgeons, who had the disease and antidote ready to their hands, should have no difficulty in performing painless operations.
He therefore would soon expect to hear that "Lady Tantrum" had had her arm cut off in a fit of hysterics without knowing it.
Esdaile complained that no account of his painless operations was published in any of the medical journals, and that their editors purposely kept the facts from the profession. Yet in a year's report of the Calcutta Mesmeric Hospital were to be found accounts of 62 capital operations, with 3 deaths, and 640 miscellaneous operations. As all this had been going on regularly for four years, surely it was worthy of mention, if only as an example of epidemic insanity. What reader of English medical journals, he asked, had ever heard of the report of the Mesmeric Committee and Hospital, published by order of the Government, or of the second Mesmeric Hospital in Calcutta, which was still in full operation ? Chloroform was introduced into India before Esdaile left, and he attempted to show its inferiority to mesmerism. Some of his objections were undoubtedly due to his strong feeling in favour of mesmerism; others arose from the frequency of the disagreeable or dangerous results, which not unnaturally followed the use of a new and little - understood method of inducing anaesthesia. Esdaile found nine cases of death from chloroform reported in the only medical journal he happened to have at hand at the time, and contrasted this with 100 capital operations performed by him in the mesmeric trance. Of the latter only two died within the month-one of cholera and one of tetanus-and there had been neither pain during or after operation, nor disagreeable local or general after-effects. When the American Congress, of 1853, offered a prize of 10,000 dollars to the discoverer of the anaesthetic powers of ether, described as the earliest anesthetic, Esdaile sent an indignant protest. He did not claim the reward, but drew attention to the well-known fact that painless mesmeric surgery was daily performed in his hospitals years before ether was heard of. Although Esdaile's operations formed the most striking part of his work, many of his medical cases are interesting, and some of the more remarkable will be cited in the chapter on " Hypnotism in Medicine." He frequently obtained brilliant results in cases of functional paralysis, but warned both practitioner and patient that time and perseverance were often necessary, especially in longstanding cases. His explanation of the action of mesmerism in diseased conditions will be discussed when dealing with " Theory." Until he left India in 1851, Esdaile devoted himself entirely to mesmeric work. Not only did this bring him no pecuniary profit, for it involved no increase in his official salary, but he also sacrificed for its sake all private practice and other chances of money-making. After leaving India, Esdaile settled in Perth, but his interest in mesmerism remained unabated. On September 15th, 1851, he wrote to Elliotson as follows: "Before leaving Calcutta, I had the satisfaction of seeing Dr. Webb, Professor of Anatomy, gazetted as my successor at the Mesmeric Hospital." This was the same Dr. Webb who said, in his introductory lecture at the Medical College of Calcutta:-"The practicability, which has been daily demonstrated in the Mesmeric Hospital in this city, of performing the most dreadful operations of surgery without pain to the patient, must be regarded as the greatest medical triumph of our day. I cannot recall without astonishment the extirpation of a cancerous eye, while the man looked at me unflinchingly with the other one. In another case, the patient looked dreamily on with half-closed eyes the whole time of the operation, even while I examined the nature of the malignant tumour I had removed, and then, having satisfied myself, concluded the operation." I was for some time puzzled by the fact that I could discover no mention of Dr. Webb in connection with the Mesmeric Hospital after Esdaile left India, but the following letter from Webb to Elliotson supplied the information:--"I had risen," wrote Dr. Webb, "so high in the estimation of my friend Esdaile that he made it a last request with the Government that I should succeed to the Mesmeric Hospital Should you see him, he will learn with surprise that the charge which was promised him and given me, as I understood, was supposed never to have been given, and conferred on some one else who never had a mesmeric case." In a letter to Elliotson, on September 29th, 1851, Esdaile thus explained why he had left India:-" My reasons for leaving India were simply that I hated the climate, the country, and all its ways from the moment I set foot in it, and had long determined to quit it at the first practicable moment, which I have accordingly done. Knowing that all the wealth of India
could not bribe me to remain a moment after the expiration of my period of service, I was perfectly indifferent to being called an advertising quack, etc., for addressing the public through the newspapers-their only source of information-the medical journals having combined to suppress all evidence on the subject of mesmerism. I could well afford to laugh at the attempts to injure me and my practice, the truth being that I did not care a straw about it. If I lived a few years, I knew that my actions would give the lie to the friendly commentators on my conduct, who gave out that I was agitating for a place in Calcutta, in order to drive a great trade there like themselves. You may imagine their astonishment and delight at seeing me give up, almost as soon as got, what to them is the summum bonum of good fortune-a good place in Calcutta with the prospect of a great practice. .. ." On December 9th, 1852, Esdaile informed Elliotson that the inhabitants of the Far North were as susceptible to mesmerism as those of the Farthest East. Dr. Fraser Thompson, surgeon to the Perth Infirmary, became a convert, and employed mesmerism in a variety of diseases. He successfully operated also on some patients in that institution, but his colleagues promptly called a meeting of the directors, and stated that they would resign if the practice of mesmerism were permitted in the hospital. In March, 1852, Esdaile published a pamphlet on The Introduction of Mesmerism as an Ancesthetic and Curative Agent into the Hospitals of India, which he dedicated to the members of the medical profession. In this he complained bitterly of his treatment by the editors of different medical journals, and of their determined attempt to suppress all evidence in favour of mesmerism. Professor J. Y. Simpson, of Edinburgh, had written to Esdaile to the effect that he owed it to himself and his profession to let his proceedings be known in England. In response to this, Esdaile sent an account to an English medical journal of 161 scrotal tumours removed during mesmeric trance. The history of what followed, and Esdaile's opinion of the treatment he received, I shall give in his own words:" My article was not published, and I then sent a more general paper containing a resume of my surgical work. This was rejected for its unpractical character ! I have heard that it is given as a reason for not printing my paper that, though no one now denies my facts, these apply to the Natives of India only. But, as far as I know, no medical journal has admitted the reality of painless mesmeric operations, even for India, or inserted one of the , numerous European cases reported from London, Paris, Cherbourg, etc . . . They will not admit, or permit you even to hear of, such indisputable facts, through fear of the consequences. But, supposing the Natives of India were alone concerned, is it of no interest to the surgeon, the physician, the physiologist, and the natural philosopher, to know that the hundred and twenty millions of our Eastern subjects (one would suppose they were monkeys) are so susceptible to mesmeric influence that painless surgical operations, and other medical benefits from mesmerism, are their natural birthright? You have been told all along by your journals that your medical brethren engaged in studying mesmerism are either fools or quacks. But how men like myself, who neither want, nor will accept, private practice, can be reduced to the category of quacks I do not well see. If we are fools, we ought to be encouraged to write ourselves down as such, as the speediest and most effectual way of exposing us. I am convinced that you and I are agreed on one point, namely, in liking to be allowed to judge for ourselves, and that you will not submit to be hoodwinked or led by the nose by persons we pay to keep us well informed of new facts, and the progress made in our profession all over the world. To pretend that there is a free medical' press in Great Britain is a mockery and a delusion. And the proof of this is that medical men, who pledge their unblemished private and professional reputation for the truth of their statements, are not allowed to be heard by you in your professional organs, if what they advance is contrary to the prejudices and foregone conclusions of the editors. .. ." After a time Esdaile found the climate of Scotland too cold, a weakness of the lungs having been his reason for going to India in the first instance, and he removed to Sydenham, where he died, on January 10th, 1859, at the age of fifty. He had been married three times, but had no children.
Now, there is a small glitch in this account, which takes place in February of 1845. The East India Company, in some respects, acted as an extension of the British military at this time, and It seems that Esdaile was instructed to travel to the Punjab and join with the forces responding
to what became known as The first Sikh war. In preparation for this event, he wrote and posted to his brother the account of his work to date- which is brother edited and had published for Esdaile, in London, under the title Mesmerism in India and its Practical application in surgery in 1646. with the following letter attached to the preface:
MY DEAR FATHER, However new and strange the subject of this Work may be to you, I am sure that it will afford you pleasure to know that I have introduced, and I hope I may say established, a new and powerful means of alleviating human suffering among the natives of Bengal. I shall soon ascertain to what extent other varieties of mankind are capable of benefiting by this natural curative power, as I am ordered to join the army in the field, and depart to-morrow, by dak, a journey of eleven hundred miles! I am Your affectionate Son, JAMES ESDAILE Hooghly, Feb. 1st, 1846.
[A dak, by the way, is a means of travel whereby fresh horses etc. are stationed at specified points along the route, so that one can travel significant distances without having to wait for the horses to rest it made such journeys a lot faster, in those days.]. At this time, he had been practicing on Hooghly [a small town not far from Calcutta], for around 6 months, and I was at first a little puzzled by accounts of his work having him in two places at once, until I found that the first sikh war was in fact concluded on The tenth of February, when the Sikh army was defeated and destroyed. Now, I am reliably informed, by a very horsey person, that in the conditions offered by Indias climate, a man on horse back could, if they did not sink to an unacceptable level of barbarity, expect to travel perhaps 50 miles a day. Given that Esdaile states quite clearly that he will depart on the 2nd of February, on a journey of 1100 miles,, by the tenth of February, he would have covered around 450 miles when the war was won, so it makes sense that he just turned round and went back to work, hence the continuance of his work. Again, should anyone have better information, please please update me! [with documented support, preferably from the same era]. Just as a matter of interest and final note on Esdaile, I am adding this quote from the preface that this brother wrote to Esdailes Mesmerism in India: I would now respectfully invite the attention of the medical profession to the facts detailed by my brother. He is neither a quack nor an enthusiast, but a regularly educated, truth-loving physician, whose reputation for talent and honesty is unquestionable. The facts he adduces cannot be controverted, and, as I was happy to learn from a medical man just arrived from Hooghly, are admitted both by Europeans and natives, on the spot where they occurred. If he, then, in eight months, has performed no less than seventy-six operations, besides relieving eighteen medical cases, how can medical men in this country justify their heartless apathy in regard to Mesmerism? It is a fact, in the highest degree disgraceful to them, that our doctors will not be persuaded even to try whether their patients can be benefited by the mesmeric agency. They insist on going on inflicting tortures, without an attempt to ascertain whether they may not be obviated by Mesmerism. The Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society of London permitted Dr. Copland, without a word of disapprobation, to declare that " pain is a wise provision of nature; and patients
ought to suffer pain while their surgeon is operating; they are all the better for it, and recover better." A London dentist has announced that several of his fraternity have resolved not to extract the teeth of persons in the mesmeric sleep ! By this combination of doctors and dentists, we are threatened with the infliction of pain, whenever we are so unfortunate as to fall into their hands; and our agonies are to be soothed by Dr. Copland's pious assurance that pain is a wise infliction intended for good! Let others do as they please, for myself I shall only say, that, having twice suffered under the surgeon's knife, all the doctors in Europe shall not persuade me to permit them again to mangle my "pleasant flesh," until a persevering attempt has been made to reduce me to insensibility by means of Mesmerism. As the best persuasive to induce sufferers to form a similar resolution, I request their attention to the subjoined resume of my brother's mesmeric practice, as published by him in a Calcutta newspaper, on the eve of his departure for the army of the Punjaub.
Sigmund Freud, a subject all by himself, began his career by working with a gentleman called Breur, relieving what they referred to as hysterical symptoms through the use of hypnosis. Freud, we are told, later gave up the use of hypnosis for a number of reasons that he wasnt really very good at it; that by the time he abandoned hypnosis, his drug addiction was well established, his teeth blackened, gums receded and speech very much impeded by this. {Im not entirely convinced regarding the drug problem, having heard much to the contrary and intend more in depth research at a later date.}. He designed his later methods in order to arrange things so that the client could not see him and he would not have to speak any more than absolutely necessary; Freud stated that his reason for abandoning hypnosis was that he was more interested in the process whereby a particular cause became a specific symptom; it can easily be argued that in fact certain of his early techniques subsequent to abandoning hypnosis were in fact arguably very much hypnotic in nature, such as his pressure Technique which, in many ways is very much a hypnotic approach, though primitive as an induction. In later life, Freud stated that if the science of psychology were ever to be of use to the masses it would have to be through the medium of hypnosis. It may be of interest that Freud, himself a victim of child abuse and an opium addict, single handedly caused a great deal of the suffering of western women in the his lifetime and thereafter, through his approach and attitude to the female of the species, once stating at a public lecture that women were, themselves, the main problem, he also concluded that there was no such thing as sexual abuse, it was a fabrication on the part of young women out of their envy for the male genitalia and their desire to possess their father. In my opinion, basically Freud was higher than a tree full of monkeys on nitrous oxide. His primary contribution was that by applying the scientific method to the study of the mind, he legitimised it and forced a degree of recognition from thee medical and scientific fraternities. It is unfortunate that in so doing he also dramatically limited the efficacy of those who came after him, as the whole point of the scientific principle is to be objective, and all so called legitimate studies of the mind and therapies have therefore utilised the same scientific principle in their approaches, striving for that same legitimacy while in fact the human mind and its experiences are nothing if not subjective in nature, so they were and still are effectively using completely the wrong set of software. Freud also managed to confuse a number of other issues for people, and convince them that change and self development had to be both difficult, slow and painful.
More recently, A gentleman came on the scene who quite literally blew away the more respectable elements and turned the world of therapy upside down. His name was Milton H Erickson M.D.; and he was still is, in my opinion, the greatest hypnotherapist who ever lived. Milton Erickson, [1901 1980] was an amazing man and an incredibly effective therapist. In my opinion, he was the greatest hypnotherapist ever to have lived. Growing up as part of a small farming family, he was both colour blind and dyslexic both of which he overcame. Having at the age of 17, Erickson contracted Polio. He was so severely paralyzed that doctors believed he would die;
As I lay in bed that night, I overheard the three doctors tell my parents in the other room that their boy would be dead in the morning. I felt intense anger that anyone should tell a mother her boy would be dead by morning. My mother then came in with as serene a face as can be. I asked her to arrange the dresser, push it up against the side of the bed at an angle. She did not understand why, she thought I was delirious. My speech was difficult. But at that angle by virtue of the mirror on the dresser I could see through the doorway, through the west window of the other room. I was damned if I would die without seeing one more sunset! I only saw half of it. I was unconscious for three days. I didn't tell my mother. She didn't tell me.
From my voice will go with you by Rosen He chose not to, and over time began to recover some movement. When advised to exercise, although he did not have the use of his legs, he planned and executed a 1000 mile canoe trip, by the end of which he had regained a great deal of his mobility and was able to walk with a stick. This was his first bout of polio he had more. While immobilised, there was little he could do, and occupied his mind by observing the other members of his family; In his own words:
We learn so much at a conscious level and then we forget and use the skill. You see, I had a terrific advantage over others, I had polio, and I was totally paralyzed, and the inflammation was so great that I had a sensory paralysis too. I could move my eyes and my hearing was undisturbed. I got very lonesome lying in bed, unable to move anything except my eyeballs. I was quarantined on the farm with seven sisters, one brother, two parents, and a practical nurse. And how could I entertain myself? I started watching people and my environment. I soon learned that my sisters could say "no" when they meant "yes." And they could say "yes" and mean "no" at the same time. They could offer another sister an apple and hold it back. And I began studying non verbal languag e and body language. 1 had a baby sister who had begun to learn to creep. / would have to lear n to stand up and walk. And you can imagine the Intensity with which I watched as my baby sister grew from Creeping to learning how to stand up. And you don't know how You learned how to stand up. You don't even know how you walked. You can think that you can walk in a straight line six blockswith no pedestrian or vehicular traffic .You don't know that you couldn't walk in a straight line at a steady pace!
From my voice will go with you by Rosen
Erickson was a highly intelligent, perceptive individual with an incredibly strong will, who overcame many disadvantages to become an M.D; He was a hugely enthusiastic student, obtaining a degree in psychiatry while still studying medicine. Milton Ericksons approach was unique; in many ways, he did not so much excel in the study of hypnosis as write his one book he became a school of hypnosis of his own. Renowned for both his innovative and remarkable approach, as he was for his miraculous achievements in the field, which few if any could entirely understand. He healed through stories, through metaphor, through surprise, humour confusion and anger; he used every aspect of humanity to cure humanity; He was a [arguably THE] master of indirect suggestion. Erickson delighted in language and his use of ambiguity and confusion was demonstrated throughout his work, - my personal favourite regarding confusion as an approach to hypnosis was a case later published as a book called The February man. Ericksonian hypnosis incorporated the use of informal trance through conversation and Utilisation the use of whatever the client presented to help them, rather than a formulaic approach. He methods were largely predicated on the ideas that: A]: every human being is unique and therefore must be approached in a manner appropriate only to them created by and from their individual experiences and communication. B]: that every human being has within them all the resources necessary to resolve their problems; it was therefore merely necessary to enable the client to access and utilise those resources. His work is crucial to the modern hypnosis and psychotherapy; He was the prime creator of brief therapy and his work was also the fundamental basis for the development and evolution of Neuro Linguistic Programming, and although Fritz perls, Virginia Satir, Gregory Bateson and some other highly accomplished, remarkable people were also modelled in the development of NLP, I rather feel that their modelling really only creates a backdrop for the work of Erickson which can still be seen very clearly in NLP today. Please understand that I am not diminishing those worthies or their contribution. I lay the emphasis on Erickson because From what I have read and experienced, the majority of what was gleaned from these exquisite people was identified and categorised in terms of transformational Linguistics and of the language, behaviours and patterns of Milton H Erickson even up to and including Carl Rogers the progenitor of Person Centred Counselling, who, as Bandler pointed out, was [although it is highly unlikely that he knew it], using Ericksonian hypnotic patterns / gestures when he was working. Hypnosis has been the focus of significant contention since the time of Mesmer; the hostility of certain parties towards hypnotherapy was still considerable in Ericksons time, and he was a figure of some controversy; many doubted the efficacy of his work which seemed too good to be true, and some vitriolic criticisms were published. According to Richard Bandler, Erickson was also called before at least one medical board in an attempt to discourage him from using hypnosis.
While one of what came be considered the three primary parts of NLP is named directly after him, much of the contents of the remaining parts [The Meta Model and the Modelling process can be found in Ericksons work. While it is unequivocal that modelling came largely from transformational linguistics, Erickson exhibited many similar elements in the elicitation of data and observation, although he would not have explained them as such. It is interesting to note that when Bandler and Grinder where developing NLP, they m=noted many of the same elements being used unconsciously by other therapists who were, at that time considered magical I there ability to create change, including Carl Rogers, the creator of Person Centred counselling, who advocated a principle of elicitation without intervention but was, it appears, manipulating his clients without actually realising he was doing it.. Since Erickson, hypnosis has begun to gain a slightly better image, perhaps partially because the rest of the world is catching up with it and perhaps because communications have advanced people are finding things out for themselves more now; many medical doctors and even some psychologists now recognize the benefits of hypnosis. Sadly, the general public, having been exposed to numerous B movies and similar giving the stereotypically poor image, combined with the depredations heaped on the subject over the years by the medical and psychological professions, are still a little distrusting, to say the least. Hypnosis itself has not helped the situation there are many inconsiderate stage hypnotists who trade in sensation and have damaged the profession considerably. In fairness, one must say that some stage hypnotists do try to promote it with integrity and to illustrate, in their performances, some small part of its potential - but not enough. Its not simply a matter of fixing what is wrong hypnosis can be used to realise every ounce of your potential. On average, it is said that we use perhaps 7 to 10 percent of our brains [or perhaps the term mind is more appropriate]; what happens when we use 100 % ? Well, in the words of Cyrano De Bergerac:if you aim for the moon, you may reach it. If you aim for the stars, who knows how far you will go? The next great leap in the evolution of hypnosis occurred with the arrival of Richard Bandler and John Grinder, whose research and discoveries made readily accessible much of what Milton H Erickson and others were doing but could neither express systematically nor teach consistently because they themselves were not entirely certain what made them so successful, and no suitable media no language or common denominator was really available to break it down. Richard Bandler provided this among other things. A number of highly gifted people began working with Bandler and Grinder, evolving and exploring the concept then termed NLP, and have taken it further in some remarkable directions. These included Robert Dilts, Steve and Connirae Andreas, and Judith Delozier others too have contributed significantly, such as Tad James. In studying these people and developing NLP, Bandler and Grinder profoundly impacted the therapy industry as a whole, and effectively defragmented hypnosis. TO a large extent, NLP could be said to BE hypnosis it is not possible to us NLP without using hypnosis, any more than it is possible to carry out competent
hypnosis without some element of NLP, be it intentional or otherwise. Both NLP and Hypnosis are naturally inherent in the structure of communication. Please understand that this is far from a comprehensive history - many truly great people have had a hand in the history of hypnosis and most of them are sadly not included here. Perhaps when I have finished my current projects, I will turn my attention to a truly comprehensive history of hypnosis as a book. I plan for it to be more interesting and far more revealing than you might think! [IF I can get my hands on the right information.
Animal Magnetism, Mesmerism, Hypnosis and their association with satanic influences I am placing this section right down here at the bottom, because it covers a lot of the ground already covered above, but does so in a different way. though it is, I feel quite relevant and gives additional context to the whole; it covers quite a span of time and, dealing with a specific aspect of the subject in a way that is really a bit of a tangent, it could not really be incorporated into the general account and retain its continuity, but it does need to be included as this particular aspect of the history of hypnosis is not one I have seen addressed in any detail at all I have been practicing hypnotherapy now for around 20 years, and in that time, every now and then, I have encountered someone who thinks that hypnosis is in some way connected to evil usually these individuals connect it with the devil and similar things. Apart from the obvious films [usually old B movie horror flicks], I have often wondered where these people got such a strange idea, and as I am writing this short historical piece for the website, it seemed appropriate to use this as an opportunity to find out. In the 1700s, when Mesmer first began working with Mesmerism, it was not that long after the last which was burned [Scotland 1727 condemned for using her own daughter as a flying horse for travel], so one can understand that people were a little sensitive regarding the strange and unusual; However, while Mesmer and his students did encounter a lot of dissent, I have not seen much [if any] in the way of accusations of deviltry. It was only when mesmerism / Animal Magnetism once again gained popularity in the 1800s that this seems to arise. When Elliotson, who was a highly intelligent and inquisitive individual began exploring Animal Magnetism / mesmerism, he came a cross a number of phenomena that piqued his interest some of them rather odd, and he insisted on not simply communicating his findings, but demonstrating them publicly. IN addition to the therapeutic phenomena such as anaesthesia associated with the subject, he expanded on some of the phenomena noted in Mesmers work, such as sufficient sensitivity to light to be able to see in the dark and a few that - to the best of my knowledge Mesmer never mentioned. These were largely the phenomena that were later to form the beginnings of both Spiritualism and the Christian Science movement. Gilbert Frankau, in the introduction to the first English translation of Mesmers own work Mesmerism [originally published in 1779 and translated into English in 1948] said:
to me a possibility. Indubitable, however, is the fact that they led up, through " somnambulism ", as it was originally called, to hypnotism, a word coined by the Scottish doctor James Braid in the eighteen-forties. This fact, I claim, entitles Mesmer to be regarded as the father of modern psychotherapy. Because not only was James Braid the first medical man to formulate the concept of " double consciousness but because it was only after hearing Velpeau read a paper on "Braidism" that Ambroise-Auguste Liebault decided to found his clinic at Nancyfrom which, through Lidbault's brilliant pupil Bernheim and the coincidental work of the misguided pathologist Charcot at the Salpetrifcre, it is the shortest step in medical history to " the Breuer experiment" under hypnosis, starting-point of the entire concept that still dominates psychotherapy, Freud's. Present-day spiritualism, also, owes some debtin so far as it is based on the evidence of mediumsto Mesmer. And so does the Church of Christ Scientist, which was not founded by Mary Baker Eddy until after her treatment at the hands of Phinehas Parkhurst Quinby at Boston, Massachusetts, in 1875. So as you can see, a fairly diverse can of worms could be said to have originated from the work of Mesmer, and Elliotson not only explored all of it, but demonstrated it in public, intriguing some and exasperating others. Much of the community, were, I suspect, rather disturbed by some of the more esoteric phenomena, and even though with Elliotson, we are moving well into the 1800s with science being the leading light of the age; The whole thing about light as both energy and particle was well under way; the word Quantum was hiding in the corners and the industrial revolution was, if you will pardon the pun gathering steam, it is quite possible that a large segment of the community was uncomfortable about some of what Elliotson and others were both demonstrating and discussing. For example, one of the things that came out of this was mediumship and sances, which were an almost immediate hit with some sections of the Victorian community. Elliotson was conducting public sances etc. He wasnt the only one, but did attract a lot of attention. Perhaps the fact that many people of note were paying a lot of attention and becoming advocates of Mesmerism / hypnosis and Spiritualism too, made it worse for certain groups- with Dickens as an ardent advocate of Mesmerism saying as a result of his experiences everything I believed is true and such worthies as Arthur Conan Doyle and others embracing spiritualism. Now, in 1842, James Braid, on his way to establishing Hypnosis as a separate and distinctly different SCIENCE, divorced from Animal Magnetism and Mesmerism, Was busy arguing that very subject with La Fontaine and others in Manchester, when in April of that year when:
In the midst of this debate, the Rev. James M'Neil, apparently a clergyman of the district, undertook to exhibit the diabolical character of all Mesmeric operations, which at that period was not an unfamiliar accusation, and Braid replied in a pamphlet, which, though it is not of any special moment as regards his discovery, is practically the first memorial concerning it, and is therefore of some interest. 4. RECEPTION OF THE DISCOVERY. Though Braid survived his discovery by not more than eighteen years, he lived to know that it was well on the road to acceptance by the competent opinion of the
time." It possessed the recommendation which belongs 1 Mr Herbert Mayo, a London member of the profession, was about this time one of Braid's witnesses, and recorded his unqualified concurrence in the general conclusions. 2 " I feel no great anxiety for the fate of Hypnotism, provided it only has ' a fair field and no favour.' I am content to bide my time, in the firm conviction that truth, for which alone I most earnestly strive, with the discovery of the safest, and surest, and speediest modes of relieving human suffering, will ultimately triumph over error."-" Magic, Witchcraft," etc., [From Arthur Edward Waites introduction to Braid on Hypnotism Apparently, the Rev. James McNeil, who originally made his opinion known from the pulpit then decided to ignore the response from Braid, and published his sermon in the newspapers. Braid, in response, produced the pamphlet referred to above. Sadly, I have thus far been unable to find a copy of the pamphlet Braid produced, which according to Bramwell was titled: "Satanic Agency and Mesmerism," a letter addressed to a clergyman, i.e., the Rev. H. M'Neil, in reply to his strictures in a sermon. Just to add fuel to the fire, Edgar Allen Poe, in 1846, wrote Mesmerism In articulo Mortis An astounding & Horrifying Narrative, shewing the extraordinary power of mesmerism in arresting the progress of death, which SURELY didnt help! The title alone would certainly have worried me. This is the advert from the front cover of copy I have:
ADVERTISEMENT THE following astonishing narrative first appeared in the American Magazine, a work of some standing in the United States, where the case has excited the most intense interest. The effects of the mesmeric influence, in this case, were so astounding, so contrary to all past experience, that no one could have possibly anticipated the final result. The narrative, though only a plain recital of facts, is of so extraordinary a nature as almost to surpass belief. It is only necessary to add, that credence is given to it in America, where the occurrence took place.
This was - apparently - an account of a specific case, but somehow, I doubt that this helped! He could, perhaps of been a little less sensational in his title and description. It is perhaps not surprising that Hypnosis became associated with one or two less advantageous traits, even though they were rather undeserved. I suspect that there may be more to this little story, but as yet I have not found it. Certainly, throughout the ages many people have used techniques that were not dissimilar from mesmerism, Animal Magnetism and indeed hypnosis to focus and enhance their minds in order to explore and / or achieve many things, some of which could well be deemed metaphysical, but as with any tool, there is a difference between the tool and the use to which it is put. Perhaps the actions of gurus; Lamas;
Shaman etc. had some part in colouring the reputation of hypnosis? I have as yet not found such a reference, and if it exists, it seems doubtful to me that their impact would be great, as it is only really since the beginning pf public air travel that the world has become small enough for the majority to be aware of such things, so I believe that the above may well explain the majority of the lingering beliefs or possibly doubts still held by a few people today.
The following are extracts from books by various significant individuals that I thought might interest or amuse, and are appended here for that purpose:
Hypnosis its history practice and theory by Bramwell: The subjects of the various surgical operations were universally regarded either as impostors or as persons insensible to pain. In Nottinghamshire, in 1842, Mr. Ward, surgeon, amputated a thigh during mesmeric trance; the patient lay perfectly calm during the whole operation, and not a muscle was seen to twitch. The case, reported to the Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society, was badly received; and it was even asserted that the patient had been trained not to express pain. Dr. Marshall Hall suggested that the man was an impostor, because he had been absolutely quiet during the operation; if he had not been simulating insensibility, he would have had reflex movements in the other leg. Dr. Copland proposed that no account of such a paper having been read before the Society should be entered in its minutes. He asserted that "if the history of the man experiencing no agony during the operation were true, the fact was unworthy of their consideration, because pain was a wise provision of nature, and patients ought to suffer pain while their surgeons were operating; they were all the better for it and recovered better." Eight years afterwards, Dr. Marshall Hall publicly stated at a meeting of the Society that the patient had confessed that he had suffered during the operation. The doctor was promptly challenged to give his authority, and replied that he had received the information from a personal acquaintance, who, in his turn, had received it from a third party, but that he was not permitted to divulge their names, and would not give any further information on the subject. The man was still living, and signed a solemn declaration to the effect that the operation had been absolutely painless. Dr. Ash burner attended the next meeting, and asked permission to read this statement in opposition to Dr. Marshall Hall's, but the Society would not hear him ..Thus, in referring to the treatment of a case of nervous exhaustion by blood-letting, he [Elliotson] said ammonia and not the lancet was required. He asserted that the indiscriminate use of blood-letting, and other debilitating measures, had caused the death of thousands of human beings, and had left a still greater number enfeebled for the rest of their lives. Formerly, the surgeries of country practitioners were crowded at spring and fall with healthy persons waiting to be bled. He had protested against this practice thirty years ago,
His views on the management of children were remarkable, and he drew a vivid picture of their sufferings from the cruelty of parents, medical men, and teachers. What he said about corporal punishment might be read with profit by those who are still advocating its retention in girls' schools. Children suffering from nervous diseases were made worse, he said, by being needlessly tortured with blisters and other external irritants. Yet the little creatures were far more sensitive than we were, and felt more pain from an equal cause. When he thought of medical men's cruelty to innocent little children, he often wished their complaints had been left to nature. If well treated and managed, children were positively heavenly beings, far superior to their elders in moral excellence. They were affectionate, confiding, and disposed to truth, and yet, at home, at school, and elsewhere, they were the most persecuted of all human beings. Their faults resulted from bad management, and could be corrected by good example and advice. Dullness and crossness were often the result of over-fatigue, and the poor child was punished when he ought really to have been sent to bed. Many little things made us cross, but no allowance was made for the young. Convulsions sometimes arose from over-work, and terror was no uncommon cause of nervous affections. Such maladies were often not recognised, and punished as obstinate faults. St. Vitus' dance, local twitchings and the like were often supposed to be due to bad habits or obstinacy. Momentary fits of epileptic unconsciousness, little paroxysms of insanity, causing absurdity or anger for a few minutes, were frequently mistaken for bad conduct, and the child punished accordingly. Although Elliotson was firmly convinced of the value of mesmerism as a remedial agent, he contented himself with urging its claims in the Zoist. He did not consider it universally applicable, and only suggested it in cases which he thought specially suitable, and where, in addition, there existed no prejudice concerning it. In all other instances he treated his patients by ordinary methods, and still displayed the same high diagnostic and therapeutic powers for which he had been so justly celebrated. Despite this, he was constantly abused and attacked in the grossest manner possible, the term madman being one of the mildest that was applied to him. Of this he complained at last in strong and pathetic terms. For fifteen years, he said, he had supported the unprovoked persecution of his, professional brethren. He had been ridiculed and abused by them in their daily conversations among themselves and their / patients, and in all the medical journals. Those who had formerly called him in consultation had now not only ceased to do so, but were untiring in their efforts to prevent his being employed by others, and thus his professional income had been reduced two-thirds. This, however, was not his greatest affliction; one, in whose judgment he had confided, had caused him losses equal to his professional ones, and, what was worse than all, those whom he had loved from infancy had unexpectedly turned upon him without provocation, and conducted themselves in such a way as nothing but mental aberration could explain. In 1829, Elliotson delivered the Lumley Lectures, his subject being " The Recent Improvement in the Art of distinguishing various Diseases of the Heart." These he published in 1830. He also contributed many papers on different subjects to the medical journals, translated Blumenbach's Physiology, and, at a later date, brought out an independent work on the same
subject, as well as on the Principles and Practice of Medicine. He was Censor of the Royal College of Physicians, and President of the Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society of London. Elliotson, who had never married, died, after a lingering illness, on July 29th, 1868, in Davies Street, Berkeley Square, in the house of his friend, Dr. Symes, a former pupil who had always been devoted to him.
In April 1778, M. Mefmer Retired to Greteil with the patients he had collected, and ill a few months almoft all of therri returned to Paris perfectly reftored. One of them in particular Was a paralytic^ deprived of the ufe of her limbs, and who now walked with all the eafe arid firmnefs in the World. Page Vii Preface report by b franklin etc. From The body of the report submitted by B Franklin: [ 10 5 ] The commiffioners having convinced themfelves, that the animal magnetic fluid is capable of being perceived by none of our fenfes, and had no adition either upon themfelves or upon the fubjets of their feveral experiments; being allured, that the touches .and compreffions employed in its application rarely occafioned favourable changes in the animal ceconomy, and that the impreffions thus made are always hurtful to the imagination j in fine having de monftrated by decifive experiments, that the imagination without the magnctifm produces convulfions, and that the magnetifm without the imagination produces nothing; they have concluded with an unanimous voice refpefting the exiftence and the utility of the magnetifm, that the exiftence of the fluid is abfolutely deftitute of proof, that the fluid having no exiftence can confequently have no ufe, Mesmerism in India and its practical application in surgery and medicine By Esdaile I would now respectfully invite the attention of the medical profession to the facts detailed by my brother. He is neither a quack nor an enthusiast, but a regularly educated, truth-loving physician, whose reputation for talent and honesty is unquestionable. The facts he adduces cannot he controverted, and, as I was happy to learn from a medical man just arrived from Hooghly, are admitted both by Europeans and natives, on the spot where they occurred. If he, then, in eight months, has performed no less than seventy-six operations, besides relieving eighteen medical cases, how can medical men in this country justify their heartless apathy in regard to Mesmerism? It is a fact, in the highest degree disgraceful to them, that our doctors will not be persuaded even to try whether their patients can be benefited by the mesmeric agency. They insist on going on inflicting tortures, without an attempt to ascertain whether they may not be obviated by Mesmerism. The Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society of London permitted Dr. Copland, without a word of disapprobation, to declare that " pain is a wise provision of nature; and patients ought to suffer pain while their surgeon is operating; they are all the better for it, and recover better." A London dentist has announced that several of his fraternity have resolved not to extract the teeth of persons in the mesmeric sleep ! By this combination of doctors and dentists, we are threatened with the infliction of pain, whenever we are so unfortunate as to fall into their hands; and our agonies are to be soothed by Dr. Copland's pious - 35 - E Bailey www.theinnercircleschool.com 07/02/2014
assurance that pain is a wise infliction intended for good! Let others do as they please, for myself I shall only say, that, having twice suffered under the surgeon's knife, all the doctors in Europe shall not persuade me to permit them again to mangle my "pleasant flesh," until a persevering attempt has been made to reduce me to insensibility by means of Mesmerism. As the best persuasive to induce sufferers to form a similar resolution, I request their attention to the subjoined resume of my brother's mesmeric practice, as published by him in a Calcutta newspaper, on the eve of his departure for the army of the Punjaub.
Intro to Mesmerism by dr Mesmer
Indubitable, however, is the fact that they led up, through " somnambulism ", as it was originally called, to hypnotism, a word coined by the Scottish doctor James Braid in the eighteen-forties. This fact, I claim, entitles Mesmer to be regarded as the father of modern psychotherapy. Because not only was James Braid the first medical man to formulate the concept of " double consciousness but because it was only after hearing Velpeau read a paper on Braidism" that Ambroise-Auguste Liebault decided to found his clinic at Nancyfrom which, through Lidbault's brilliant pupil Bernheim and the coincidental work of the misguided pathologist Charcot at the Salpetrifcre, it is the shortest step in medical history to " the Breuer experiment" under hypnosis, starting-point of the entire concept that still dominates psychotherapy, Freud's. Present-day spiritualism, also, owes some debtin so far as it is based on the evidence of mediumsto Mesmer. And so does the Church of Christ Scientist, which was not founded by Mary Baker Eddy until after her treatment at the hands of Phinehas Parkhurst Quinby at Boston, Massachusetts, in 1875.
Had we no more, except the man's own words, to substantiate his contention that he both could and did effect permanent cures of nervous diseases (Margaret Goldsmith says he did not claim to cure any others) it would be difficult to dismiss the charge, so constantly levelled against him, of charlatanry. But, from the day he began his treatments to the day he retired into exile, independent witnesses, both lay and professional, to his success were legionincluding Wolfgang Mozart, who writes from Vienna on the 17th of March 1780 about that very same " young lady aged twentynine named Oesterline" (factually Fraulein Franziska von Oesterling) with whose case history the factual part of the Dissertation opens
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A Brief History of Hypnosis 1

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A BRIEF HISTORY OF HYPNOSIS

E Bailey www.theinnercircleschool.com 07/02/2014

E Bailey www.theinnercircleschool.com 07/02/2014

E Bailey www.theinnercircleschool.com 07/02/2014

E Bailey www.theinnercircleschool.com 07/02/2014

E Bailey www.theinnercircleschool.com 07/02/2014

E Bailey www.theinnercircleschool.com 07/02/2014

Binet and Frere said:

Animal magnetism Binet and Frere

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From my voice will go with you by Rosen

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Intro to Mesmerism by dr Mesmer

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