Magnetism before the Academy
Since it was barred at the main door, Magnetism entered through the
window, thanks to a disguise and another name. Instead of saying: I
am magnetism, which was not likely to get it through, it then said: My
name is Hypnotism (from the Greek “Hypnos”, sleep). Thanks to such
a gimmick it finally got in, after twenty long years, but it did not lose
much for the wait because it found a way of being introduced by one of
the greatest luminaries. He was careful enough to avoid its entourage of
passes, somnambulism, and remote visions, and ecstasies which would
have been a betrayal. He simply said: you are good and human; your heart
is broken by the sight of your neighbor’s agony, in his sickness; you must
find a way of mitigating the patient’s pain, hurt by your scalpel; it can be
really dangerous. I bring you a simpler way, yet with no drawbacks. I was
certain that I would be heard, speaking in the name of humanity. He then
wisely added: “I am family; I owe my life to one of you”. He thought, and
not without reason, that such an origin wouldn’t do him any harm.
If we lived in the time of the brilliant and poetic Greece, we would
say: Magnetism, child of nature and of a mere mortal, was banned from
the Olympus because it had hurt Aesculapius privileges, marching by his
side, boasting about the ability of healing without his help. It wandered
around Earth for a long time, teaching human beings the art of healing in new ways. It unveiled a wealth of wonders to the people, mysteriously hidden
in the temples until then, but those whose secrets were revealed, and
whose charlatanism was exposed, stone-chased Magnetism, and it was
then banned by the gods and abused by people. Nevertheless, it continued
to spread its benefits by alleviating humanity, certain that its innocence
would be one day recognized, and that justice would be served. It had a
child called Hypnotism whose birth was carefully hidden for the fear of
persecution. It shared its long exile with the child, a learning period.
When the child was thought to be ready, Magnetism then said:
• Go and present yourself to the Olympus, but be careful not to
say that you are my child. Your name and a disguise will facilitate
your entry. Aesculapius will introduce you.
• How come father! Aesculapius, your most bloodthirsty enemy!
The one who banned you!
• He is the one who will reach out to you!
• But if he recognizes me I shall be expelled.
• Well then! If you are expelled you will come to me and we shall
continue our beneficent work amidst human beings, waiting for
better days. But, easy now. I have a lot of hope. Aesculapius is
not bad. After all, he seeks the progress of Science otherwise he
would not deserve to be the god of medicine. As a matter of fact,
I might have made a few mistakes myself. Since I felt offended for
having my image vilified, I was exalted and insensibly attacked
him: I cursed, insulted and called him ignorant. Well, this is not
a proper way of treating people and the gods. He was upset with
me for a while since his self-love was hurt. Don’t you do what I
did my child. Be more sensible and civil, above all. If others are
not with you it is their problem and you will be on the right side.
Go child and remember that one cannot catch flies with vinegar.
That is how the father spoke. Hypnotism then timidly left to the
Olympus; he could feel his heartbeat when he showed up at the sacred door. But, ah surprise! Aesculapius himself shakes his hand and introduces
him!
There we have Magnetism in its place then. What to do? Oh! Don’t
believe in victory yet; these are still the preliminaries of peace. It is a
first hurdle which was taken down, and that is all. An important step,
no doubt, but don’t you think that the enemy will acknowledge defeat.
Aesculapius himself, the great Aesculapius, who recognized you by your
family traces, would greatly impair your defense; hence they would take
you to the Charenton. They will say that it is something… but for sure
it is not Magnetism… That is fine! We will not play with words. It will
be anything that they want but while we wait, it is a fact which will have
consequences.
Well, here are the consequences. First they shall deal with the anesthetic
point of view only (from the Greek aesthesis, sensitivity, and private,
general or partial loss of the ability to feel), and that as a result of the
predominance of materialistic ideas, because there are still so many people
who insist, for modesty no doubt, to be reduced to the role of a roasting
stick, which when broken, is thrown into the scrap yard, without a trace
left behind! Thus, they will exam the fact from all angles, even if just out
of mere curiosity. They will study the effect of various substances in the
production of catalepsy; then, on a given day, they will acknowledge that
a finger is sufficient. However, that is not all. Observing the phenomenon
of catalepsy there will be the spontaneous occurrence of others. The freedom
of thought during the suspension of the organic faculties has already
been observed. Thus, thought is independent of the organs and there is
in the human being something beyond matter. Strange faculties shall be
observed: the vision will acquire unusual amplitude, beyond the boundaries
of the senses; all perceptions shall be displaced; in short, a vast field of
observations and there will be no lack of observers. The sanctuary is open,
and let us keep up with the hope that light will shine from there, unless
the Celestial Areopagus denies such an honor to anybody else.
May our readers kindly read the remarkable article published by
Mr. Victor Meunier, editor of the Ami des Sciences (Friend of Sciences), about this interesting subject, in the weekly scientific Review Siècle, on
December 16th, 1859:
“Animal magnetism, taken to the Academy by Mr. Broca; introduced
to the illustrious Society by Mr. Velpeau; experimented with by Messrs.
Follin, Verneuil, Faure, Trousseau, Denonvilliers, Nélaton, Azam, Ch.
Robin, etc., all medical surgeons, is the great news of the day.”
“The discoveries, like the books, have their destinies. The one we are
going to talk about is not new. It is about twenty years old, with no lack
of publicity in England, where it was born, nor in France, where at the
moment they don’t talk about anything else. A Scottish doctor, Dr. Braid,
who discovered it, wrote the book: Neural-hypnotism or the rationale of the
nervous sleep, considered in relation to the animal magnetism.” 3
“A renowned English doctor, Dr. Carpenter, carefully analyzed
Dr. Braid’s findings in the article “Sleep” found in the Encyclopedia of
Anatomy and Physiology. An illustrious French scientist, Mr. Littré, reproduced
Dr. Carpenter’s analysis in the second edition of the Manuel
de Physiologie, by J. Mueller. Finally, we have dedicated one of our newspapers
in the Presse, on July 7th, 1852 to Hypnotism, name given by Dr.
Braid to the set of facts which are discussed. The most recent publication
regarding this subject is then seven years old. When it all seemed forgotten,
it finds this huge repercussion.”
“There are two things in Hypnotism: a group of nervous phenomena
and the process by which they are produced.”
“The process formerly employed by Abbot Faria, if I am not mistaken,
is of great simplicity.”
“It consists of keeping a shiny object before the eyes of the subject,
close to the root of the nose, so that the subject can only see it by crossing
the eyes inwardly; the subject must stare at the object in that way. In the
beginning the pupils will contract, later they dilate significantly and soon
after the cataleptic state is produced. Once the limbs of the subject are raised they remain in that position. This is only one of the phenomena
which are produced. We shall talk about the others in due time.”
“Mr. Azam, a substitute professor at the Surgical Clinic of the
Bordeaux School of Medicine, having successfully repeated Dr. Braid’s
experiments, exchanged ideas with Dr. Paul Broca, who thought that
hypnotized patients would be insensitive to the pain of surgical procedures.
The letter he has just sent to the Academy of Sciences contains the
summary of his experiments in that regard.”
“First he had to be assured about the reality of Hypnotism, which
he did without difficulties. Visiting a patient, a lady about forty years
old, somewhat hysterical, who had fallen ill due to a light indisposition,
Dr. Broca pretended to be examining her eyes, holding a golden flask at
about fifteen centimeters from the root of her nose, asking her to stare at
it. About three minutes later her eyes were reddish, her facial traces immobile,
her answers slow and difficult, but perfectly rational. Dr. Broca
raised the patient’s arm and it remained in that position; he moved her
fingers to the most extreme positions and those fingers would stay there;
he pinched her skin at several points, with certain force, and as it seems
the patient felt nothing. Catalepsy, insensitivity! Dr. Broca did not continue
since he had already learned from that patient what he wanted to know.
A scrub of the eyes and some cold air blown on the forehead brought the
patient back to her normal state. She had no recollection of what had just
happened. The information about the hypnotic insensitivity to surgical
procedures was still missing.”
“Among the patients from Necker Hospital, under Dr. Follin’s responsibility,
there was a 24 year-old poor lady victimized by extensive
burns on her back and on both sides of her inferior limbs, presenting
an extremely painful abscess in one leg. Any minor movement
would produce excruciating pain. Worn out by the pain and afraid of
the treatment, the unfortunate lady was horrified by the prospects of
the required surgery. She was the one, according to Dr. Follin, that
Dr. Broca decided to use as the subject to complement the test of
hypnotism.”
“She was placed on a bed by the window, informed that she would
fall asleep. After two minutes her pupils were dilated. Her left arm was
raised, almost vertically above the bed, remaining still in that position.
After four minutes her responses were slow and almost painful, but perfectly
reasonable. Fifth minute: Dr. Follin pinches the skin of the left arm
and the patient does not react; a new and more profound pinch, leading
to some bleeding, still with no reaction. Then the right arm was lifted, remaining
in the air. The blankets are then removed and her inferior limbs
separated, allowing access to the seat of the abscess. The patient consents,
and calmly says that they are going to hurt her. The abscess is open and
she releases a weak scream. It was the only indication of reaction, lasting
less than a second. Not the slightest shake of facial muscles or limbs, not
a single agitation of arms, always vertically raised above the bed. The eyes
somehow deep, always wide open, the face showing the immobility of a
mask…”
“Once raised, her left foot remains in the air. The shiny object is
removed, and the catalepsy persists. She has her left arm pinched for the
third time, blood runs and she feels nothing. The arm is in that position
for thirteen minutes already.”
“Finally, a rub of the eyes and some fresh air blown or her forehead
and the young lady is almost immediately awake. Once relaxed, her arms
and the left leg immediately fall on the bed. She rubs her eyes, recovers
consciousness, recalls nothing and is surprised for having had gone
through the surgical procedure. The experience had lasted between 18 to
20 minutes. The period of anesthesia lasted between 12 to 15 minutes.”
“These are, in short, the essential facts reported by Dr. Broca to the
Academy of Sciences. Those are no longer isolated facts. A large number
of surgeons from our hospitals had the honor of repeating it, and
have successfully done so. Dr. Broca’s objective and that of his illustrious
colleagues was, and should be, surgery related. We hope that hypnotism
may have every advantage of the anesthetics, not showing their inconveniences.
However, Medicine is not in our domain and to avoid moving beyond its boundaries, our Review should not consider the fact but under
the physiological point of view.”
“After verifying Dr. Braid’s veracity about the essential point, one
must certainly verify everything that may be related to such a singular
state, called Hypnotism. The phenomena attributed to that state might
be classified as:”
“Exaltation of sensitivity – The sense of smell is raised to a degree of
sensitivity at least equal to that observed in animals of best sensitivity.
Hearing also becomes far reaching. The tactile ability, particularly with
respect to temperature, assumes an incredible subtleness.”
“Suggested feelings – Once the face, the body or limbs of the patient are
placed in a given position, adequate to the expression of a particular feeling
and soon the corresponding mental state is induced. Thus, having the
hand of the subject placed on top of the head the subject spontaneously
stretches, inclining the body backwards; the attitude is of pure pride. If at
that point in time the subject’s head is bent forward, slightly bending the
body and the limbs, pride is then replaced by the most profound humbleness.
Slightly spreading the corners of the mouth as in a smile, the subject
quickly shows happiness. Bad mood overcomes all that state immediately
after the eyebrows are made to converge downwards.”
“Provoked ideas – Take the subject’s hand above the head; fold the
fingers over the palm of the hand and the idea of climbing, swinging or
pulling a rope is suggested. If, on the contrary, the fingers are folded but
the arm is let down, the idea of lifting a weight is suggested. If the arm is
stretched horizontally and the fist is made, the idea of boxing is suggested
(the scene takes place in London).”
“Increase in muscular strength – If one wishes to suggest an extraordinary
strength onto a group of muscles it is enough to suggest to the
patient the idea of an action which requires such strength, ensuring the
subject that the action can be easily performed, if the subject so wishes.
Dr. Carpenter says: - We saw a patient hypnotized by Dr. Braid, showing
a remarkable lack of muscular development, lifting a fourteen kilograms weight with his pinky, turning that weight around his head, certain that
it was as light as a feather.”
We stop for now with the indication of that program. Let the facts
speak; the reflections will follow.
