An Early Hypnotic Subject Speaks
Dr. J.J.G. Wilkinson’s Account of James Braid’s Hypnotism
Dr. James John Garth Wilkinson
Excerpts from The Discovery of Hypnosis: The Complete Writings of James Braid, edited by Donald Robertson. www.James-Braid.com
In his book, The Human Body (1851), Dr. James John Garth Wilkinson gives an account of hypnosis, quoted favourably by James Braid, the founder of hypnotherapy. Wilkinson was a succesful contemporary writer, who used much more “purple prose” than Braid. Wilkinson had been hypnotised by Braid, observed him work several times, and appears to have made use of the hypnotic method with his own patients. Braid writes,
Regarding Mr. Wilkinson, however, I may observe that he possesses a mind of the very highest order, and was, therefore, peculiarly fitted for dealing successfully with the psychological part of the question. Another circumstance which gives so much greater value to his opinions is his practical experience of hypnotism in his own person as well as in others. Mr. W. not only carefully watched many cases when operated upon by me, and has continued ever since to practise the art when suitable, but he also submitted himself to me several times to be hypnotised; and, as he is one of those who remember when awake all which occurs during the condition, he was enabled to describe, with the greater accuracy, not only what he saw but also what he felt.
Wilkinson writes of Braid’s hypnotism,
We presume it is evident to the reader what a power Mr. Braid has methodised and called into play for the treatment of disease. As a curative agent, hypnotism contains two elements, each valuable in its kind:–
1. Where it produces trance, it has the benefits of the Mesmeric sleep, or furnishes so strong a dose of rest, that many cases are cured by that alone.
2. The suggestion of ideas of health, tone, duty, hope, which produce dreams influential upon the organisation, enables the operator by this means to fulfil the indication of directly ministering to that mind diseased, which always accompanies and aggravates physical disorders.
We have a direct proof of the continuation of the mind through the body, in the way in which suggestions, directed to the mind, respecting the organs, operate upon the latter. In the hypnotic state, the operator can play upon the emotions by a variety of suggestive means, and in this way give power to impotent parts, and hand them over to the will. Mr. Braid’s devices for these ends stamp him as a man of inventive genius; and we are surprised that such a piece of combined intellectual and scientific sagacity as hypnotism has not placed him, long ago, in the first rank of metropolitan physicians. The virtue of hypnotism, where it succeeds, is just this, that for the moment it unweeds the human soil so completely, that whatever faith is impressed can work and grow.
Wilkinson describes Braid’s hypnotism as follows, based on his own experience as subject, observer, and practitioner,
The atom of sleep is diffusion; the mind and body are dissolved in unconsciousness; they go off into nothing, through the fine powder of infinite variety, and die of no attention; common sleep is impersonal. The unit of hypnotism is intense attention, abstraction – the personal ego pushed to nonentity. The unit of Mesmerism is the common state of the patient, caught as he stands, and subjected to the radiant ideas of another person; it is mediate – or both personal and impersonal. Patients can produce the hypnotic state upon themselves, without a second party; although a second will often strengthen the result by his acts or presence, just as one who stood by and told you that you were to succeed in a certain work would nerve your arm with fresh confidence.
Adding,
The preliminary state is that of abstraction, and this abstraction is the logical premise of what follows. Abstraction tends to become more and more abstract, narrower and narrower, it tends to unity, and afterwards nullity. There, then, the patient is, at the summit of attention, with no object left – a mere statue of attention – a listening, expectant life – a perfectly undistracted faculty, dreaming of a lessening and lessening mathematical point, the end of his mind sharpened away to nothing. What happens? Any sensation that appeals is met by this brilliant attention, and receives its diamond glare, being perceived by force of leisure, of which our distracted life only affords the rudiments. External influences are sensated, sympathised with, to an extraordinary degree; harmonious music sways the body into graces the most affecting; discords jar it as though they would tear it limb from limb; cold and heat are perceived with equal exaltations, so smells and touches. In short, the whole man appears to be given to each perception; the body trembles like down with wafts of the atmosphere; the world plays upon it as upon a spiritual instrument finely attuned. This is the natural hypnotic state, but it may be modified artificially.
He proceeds to describe the influence of the hypnotist’s tone of voice on the hypnotic subject as follows,
The power of suggestions over the patient is excessive. If you say, ‘What animal is it?’ the patient will tell you it is a lamb, a rabbit, or any other. ‘Does he see it?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘What animal is it now?’ putting depth and gloom into the tone of now, and thereby suggesting a difference. ‘Oh,’ with a shudder, ‘it is a wolf.’ ‘What colour is it?’ still glooming the phrase. ‘Black.’ ‘What colour is it now?’ giving the now a cheerful air. ‘Oh, a beautiful blue,’ spoken with utmost delight. And so you lead the subject through any dreams you please, by variation of questions, and of inflections of voice; and he sees and feels all as real.
Of Braid’s experiments in “muscular suggestion” during hypnosis, he observes,
Another curious study is the influence of the patient’s postures on his mind in this state. Double his fist, and put up his arm, if you dare, for you will have the strength of your ribs rudely tested. Put him on his knees, and clasp his hands, and the saints and devotees of the artists will pale before the trueness of his devout actings. Raise his head while in prayer, and his lips pour forth exulting glorifications, as he sees heaven opened, and the majesty of God raising him to his place; then, in a moment, depress the head, and he is dust and ashes, an unworthy sinner, with the pit of hell yawning at his feet; or compress the forehead so as to wrinkle it vertically, and this little attitude of gloom glooms the whole mind, and thorny-toothed clouds contract in from the very horizon; and what is remarkable, the smallest pinch and wrinkle, such as will lie between your nipping nails, is sufficient nucleus to crystallise the man into that shape, and to make him all foreboding; as again the smallest expansion, in a moment, brings the opposite state, with a full breathing of delight. […] In this state, whatever posture of any passion is induced, the passion comes into it at once, and dramatises the body accordingly. Moreover, the patient’s mind directed to his own body does physical marvels. He can do in a manner what he thinks he can. Tell him that a tumour on his body is about to disappear, and his mind will often realise your prophecy. […] A patient in the full state obeys all motives in the most natural direction. If the arm is placed up, there it will stay; but a waft of air will cause it to fall. Why? Because it is already up, and the new motive changes the direction. If the arm be down, another waft will raise it. If down, and prevented from moving up, the impression will send it sideways. When the frame is erect, a touch behind the bend of the knees will send it into genuflexion, which will at once suggest prayer, as noticed before.
Wilkinson’s comments are of value as Braid quotes them enthusiastically, and clearly finds them agreeable, although Wilkinson writes more from the perspective of the subject, having been hypnotised by Braid himself, and in a much more colourful and expressive style, adding to our comprehension of the subjective side of hypnotism.
