In Bramwell’s view, the theoretical position advocated by Braid at the end of his life (i.e. 1860) was much more advanced than anything propagated by the “suggestion school” in Nancy thirty-five years later.
In the history of hypnotism, especially in relation to its development from mesmerism, there are some facts that should never be forgotten.
Elliotson and Esdaile, however wrong they were in their theories, were far ahead of their colleagues.
In the midst of much falsehood, they discovered real phenomena, investigated them in a scientific spirit, and successfully applied their knowledge to relieve pain and cure disease.
Further, when we deal with theories, we shall see that their errors and mistakes were reproduced in exaggerated form by Charcot and his disciples.
Braid did not destroy mesmerism by the root, and substituted hypnotism as something entirely different in its place.
One might rather say that he took over the business of his predecessors, wrote off as worthless much of what they regarded as assets, and reconstructed an enterprise on new lines.
Braid’s views, too, as already mentioned, were subject to constant change and development; and I hope to show, in discussing hypnotic theories, that in the end he held opinions far in advance of those generally accepted today.
Bramwell, Hypnotism, etc. (1903), p.39.
Together with other members of the Society for Psychical Research, such as Henry Sidgwick (1838-1900), William James (1842-1910), Frederic Myers (1843-1901), Charles Lloyd Tuckey (1854-1925), Eleanor Sidgwick (1845-1936), Edmund Gurney (1847-1888) and Arthur Myers (1851-1894) – Gurney and the two Myers brothers had visited both the Salpêtrière and Nancy in 1885 – Bramwell thoroughly investigated hypnosis and hypnotic phenomena scientifically and through his lectures, public demonstrations, research and publications did much to expand knowledge of the potential of hypnosis, particularly as an effective form of medical intervention.