The power of the mind over the body : an experimental inquiry into the nature and cause of the phenomena attributed by Baron Reichenbach and others to a "new imponderable" / by James Braid.

  • Braid, James, 1795?-1860.
Date:
1846
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The power of the mind over the body : an experimental inquiry into the nature and cause of the phenomena attributed by Baron Reichenbach and others to a "new imponderable" / by James Braid. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    In about half-a-minute he felt an aura like a breath of air pass¬ ing along the hand ; in a little after, a slight pricking, and pre¬ sently a feeling passed along the arm, as far as the elbow, which he described as similar to that of being slightly electrified. All this, while I had been doing nothing, beyond watching what might be realized. I then desired him to tell me what he felt now,'— speaking in such a tone of voice, as was calculated to lead him to believe I was operating in some different manner. The result was that the former sensations ceased ; but, when I requested him once more, to tell me what he felt now, the former sensations recurred. I then whispered to his wife, but in a tone sufficiently loud to be overheard by him, observe now, and you will find his fingers begin to draw, and his hand will become clenched,— see how the little finger begins to move, and such was the case; see the next one also going in like manner, and such effects followed; and finally, the entire hand closed firmly, with a very unpleasant drawing motion of the whole flexor-muscles of the fore-arm. I did nothing whatever to this patient until the fin¬ gers were nearly closed, when I touched the palm of his hand with the point of my finger, which caused it to close more rapidly and firmly. After it had remained so for a short time, I blew upon the hand, which dissipated the previously existing mental impression, and instantly the hand became relaxed. The high respectability and intelligence of this gentleman ren¬ dered his testimony very valuable; and especially so, when he was not only wide awake, but had never been either mesmerised, hypnotised, or so tested before. Another gentleman, twenty-one years of age, was tried by drawing a gold pencil-case along the palm of the hand, without contact. At the fourth traction, he looking at the part and my process, he described a cold aura following the course of the pencil, then a pricking, and after a few more courses, he des¬ cribed it as rather a warm pricking sensation; such as that experienced from the sun’s rays concentrated on the skin by a lens. By reversing the passes, from the points of the fingers towards the wrist, the aura was changed, and he described the sensation as that of forcing back the blood in the veins, when