Book-bot.com - read famous books online for free

Memoir and Letters of Francis W. Newman by Giberne Sieveking
page 91 of 413 (22%)
midst. It was Braid, indeed, who caused the name of "hypnotism" to eject
that of "mesmerism" in England. He was never properly appreciated during
his lifetime. But if he was not, he was only one of numerous examples
which are always being brought up before our eyes (among those of our
countrymen who have rendered their country signal services), who
illustrate the famous English quotation, "Thus angels walked the earth
unknown, and _when they flew were recognized_"

Braid, however, proved effectually that the mesmeric phenomena depend
altogether on the physiological condition of the person operated on, and
not on the power of the operator.


_Dr. Martineau from Newman._

"7 P.V.E.,
"_17th Feb._, 1855.

"My dear Martineau,

"You will believe that the state of your sister's health gives me much
concern. She has kindly written twice to me. The second letter tells of
formidable fainting fits, which I cannot explain away; yet, as I told her
in my reply to her first, her symptoms _in general_ are so similar to my
own that I cannot but hope her physician views them too seriously, and
_does her harm by it_. I, on the whole, believe that my own heart is
unsound organically (distended), but my experience certainly is that the
less I attend to it _in detail_ the better, though I must in prudence
avoid impure air and other evils. Her second letter tells me as a decisive
proof how very bad she is, that every day she feels _shot_ in the head.
DigitalOcean Referral Badge