To account for the phenomena of hypnotism, the doctrine of "Suggestion" has been accepted by many observers as meeting most of the requirements of a philosophical solution. The celebrated medical school of Nancy, France, of which Liebault is the founder, is accredited with introducing methods of suggestion, although we may tender to Braid, the English student of mesmeric or transiform conditions, our respect, as antedating both the Nancy and Charcot schools, in formulating the procedure by which hypnotism is produced in their practice.

Looking with disfavor on the view of a fluid or force operating from or through the hypnotizer, Braid was led to think that the effect produced on a subject was of a.subjective nature, - the subject magnetized himself, or put himself to sleep, - it was only necessary for him to concentrate his gaze or attention for a few minutes on some object; a bright point or any common object might be sufficient to produce the trance. This theory certainly simplified the matter, and disposed of much of the marvelous environment that had rendered the subject discreditable in the opinion of scientific men for many years after Mesmer's time. But when we review the data of Braid's many interesting experiments, we do not find that he is altogether successful in either their explanation or interpretation on the line of a self-induced subjectivity. Equally successful is a much later writer, presumably of the Charcot circle, who in certain allusions to the work of the Manchester surgeon considers modern science indebted to him "for having drawn the line sharply between the erroneous pretensions of those who believe more or less in what purports to be animal magnetism, or neuric force, that may issue from the nerves of one individual and enter those of another, and the very interesting effects that may be produced in sundry parts of the nervous system of an individual under the influence of a special irritation coming from another part of that system."

Mesmer in his doctrine of a fluid or force proceeding from the magnetizer, but echoed the ancient teaching, and injured his cause in the esteem of learned people, by his resort to trickery and the arts of the mountebanks for the sake of gain and a cheap reputation. Braid in his early espousal of the side of those who in their zeal for science, saw in animal magnetism nothing more than the effect of a deluded imagination upon a credulous mind, neglected or failed to appreciate the bearing of many facts obtained in his experiments; indeed, he was not complete master of his own data. However, it should be said that in the correspondence with Mr. M. Brooke, a well known lecturer on animal magnetism of that day, it would appear that Braid changed his position somewhat with reference to the relation of hypnotism and animal magnetism. Mr. Brookes remarked in a letter to Braid, "I am very glad you have believed it your duty to change your original view as to the identity of your phenomena with those of Mesmerism. From the first day I admitted the importance of your discovery, but could not accept this identity, and I found fault with you for the violence with which you condemned the partisans of animal magnetism, because they would not agree with you."

In his book entitled "Neurypnology, or the Rationale of Nervous Sleep," published in 1843, Braid writes: "I long believed in the identity of the phenomena produced by my method and by that of the believers in mesmerism; but, nevertheless, judging from what the magnetizers declare that they produce in certain cases, there seems to be sufficient difference to regard hypnotism and mesmerism as two distinct agents." Thus the leader of modern observers in psycho-physiological phenomena had become less confident of his position in respect to the idea of an influence or force proceding from the agent in cases of somnam-bule expression; and one would think that experiments such as those with the uneducated factory girl would have inclined him to doubt the possibility of a merely subjective consciousness being competent to the exhibition of such extraordinary musical powers as were hers in the trance state.

The term "suggestion," introduced with such frequency of late years, has assumed an importance much beyond its common significance. Having a direct relation to the activity of the mental faculties in all processes of normal apperception and reflectiou, it could easily become a factor ready to hand, in attempted analyses of intellectual and psychological operations in the primary or the subjective consciousness of a given person. It is easily seen, therefore, that the principle embodied in the term has its application in attempts to interpret hypnotic or magnetic phenomena in positive or "scientific" terms.

The methods commonly employed for hypnosis are suggestive, especially for therapeutic purposes; so, too, in the case of experiments having in view somnambulic effects for the most part; and it may matter little whether resort is had to a procedure that fatigues the optic nerve centers, or is gently persuasive of repose and sleep. The later writers, like Bernheim, admit the method of gentleness as more serviceable for medical purposes. It is in the hypnotic sleep that impressions made upon the mind have their effect upon either the physical or psychic condition. This hypnotic sleep, according to the Nancy or Charcot school, is similar to the ordinary sleep, - an assertion that we may not controvert, - but to say that the hypnotic sleep is similar to the magnetic, in general, we can not accept, for in the hypnotic trance the individual is merely subject or responsive to the suggestion or impression made by the agent or physician. But in the magnetic trance, he may indicate peculiar properties and powers of mind entirely independent of suggestion, and speak in a manner having no relation to the purpose or thought of the agent.

There may be, indeed, a spontaneous expression of mental capacity entirely beyond that of the agent, and without any intimation or knowledge on the latter's part of its character.