moved to Paris where he further developed his theory. He became
very popular. He wasn’t using hypnotism per se, but he was using
words to create suggestion, probably unknowingly, to influence his
patients.
In 1784 Louis XVI set up a commission to investigate Mesmer.
It included Benjamin Franklin, M. La Guillotin, and Antoine-
Laurent Lavoisier. They concluded that magnetism with imagina-
tion had some effect, but Mesmer’s magnetism and magnet
healing theories were discredited.
Le Marquis de Puysegur believed magnetic power was produced
in his own mind and was transferred to the patient via his finger-
tips. He found that he could produce a sleep in which the patient
would follow his commands.
In 1841 the British doctor James Braid saw a demonstration of
mesmerism by a Frenchman named La Fontaine. He was im-
pressed, and started using the mesmerism techniques in his prac-
tice. He used a shiny bright lancet case to induce his patients to
enter a deep “hypnotic sleep.” In that state his patients would ac-
cept his suggestions. He coined the word Neurypnology(literally
‘nervous sleep’), from Hypnos, the Greek god of sleep. This was the
first use of the word hypnosis.
Dr. Braid didn’t care for magnetism, believing rather in “fasci-
nation” (fixation) and verbal suggestion. He also instituted the use
of hypnosis as anesthesia for both minor and major operations.
In 1884 Dr. Ambroise-August Liebeault of France proclaimed
that he could cure people in a hypnotic state by suggestion. In 1886
he was joined by Professor Bernheim from Paris, and together they
published De La Suggestion, which further rejected the concept of
magnetism.
During World War I, between 1914 and 1918, the Germans real-
ized that hypnosis could help treat victims of shell-shock. It al-
lowed soldiers to return to the trenches almost immediately. A
formularized version of hypnosis, called Autogenic Training, was
devised by Dr. Wilhem Schultz.
After World War II, Milton Erickson—arguably the most fa-
mous hypnotist of all time—had a major impact on the practiceHYPNOTIC WRITING