James Braid
James Braid - A Famous Scottish Physician & Hypnotist
James Braid (1795-1860) was born on June 19, 1795 , in Fife, the son of James Braid and Anne Suttie. He was apprenticed to the surgeons Charles Anderson & Son and studied medicine at Edinburgh Univesity from 1812 to 1814. On the 17th of November 1813 he married Margaret Mason (or Meason).
In 1815 he was awarded the LRCS (Edinburgh), diploma of the Licentiate of the Royal College of Surgeons of the City of Edinburgh.
In 1816 he moved to Leadhills in South Lanarkshire where he was employed as surgeon to Lord Hopetoun's mines. In he moved to Dumfries where he set up in private practice.
In 1828 he moved his practice to Manchester, England where he practiced as a physician and surgeon. He remained in Manchester until his death in 1860.
James Braid & Hypnosis
James Braid became interested in mesmerism (as it was then called) following a demonstration, in November 1841, by the French mesmerist Charles Lafontaine (1803-1892). Lafontaine came from a theatrical family and his displays were very similar to modern day stage hynotists. The demonstrations concentrated on the more dramatic aspects of the phenomena of hypnosis usually employing the use of a subject previously planted in the audience who was called up to the stage for purposes of demonstration.
Braid was fascinated and conducted tests upon some of Lafontaine's subjects. Concluding that the subjects were in a different physical state than usual consciousness he immediately began a series of experiments. On the 27th of November 1841 he began a series of five public lectures, in Manchester, on the subject of mesmerism, inviting open discussion and criticism.
At that time little was known about hypnosis. The theatrical presentations of mesmerists like Lafontaine caused the public to consider it a form of trickery. Braid's discovery that no trickery involved must have caused concern amonst many. At the beginning of 1842 a Manchester cleric delivered and published a sermon which heavily criticised Braid and his work. In response Braid wrote to the cleric in an attempt to correct the cleric's missunderstandings. The letter did not receive a response and Braid published it in the form of a twelve page booklet, entitled "Satanic Agency and Mesmerism Reviewed" and in it he first used the term hypnotism (Braid was the first person to use the words hypnotism, hypnotize and hypnotist in English, previously there had been useage of the french words hypnotique, hypnotisme and hypnotiste).
In 1843 Braid published, the very popular, "Neurypnology" which was a thorough exposition of his views on hypnosis. Braid drew comparisons between sleep and hypnosis and described hypnosis as a "nervous sleep". Although Braid never really formulated a detailed theory of Hypnotism he maintained a deep interest in the subject until his death.
James Braid died on March 25th 1860, after only a few hours illness, of either heart disease or Apoplexy.
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