World Four Chapter One

Lore & Background

Braid was born on 19 June 1795 at Ryelaw House, in the Parish of Portmoak, Kinross, Scotland. He was apprenticed to the Leith surgeons Thomas Anderson and Charles Anderson, and attended the University of Edinburgh from 1812 to 1814. He obtained the diploma of the Licentiate of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh in 1815. He was appointed surgeon to Lord Hopetoun's mines at Leadhills in 1816, set up private practice at Dumfries in 1825, and moved to Manchester in 1828. He first observed animal magnetism at a performance by Charles Lafontaine on 13 November 1841. Braid developed hypnotism, demonstrating that hypnotic phenomena are independent of any supposed influence of the hypnotist.

In Their Own Story

Tim stands before the great wall clock, its hands ticking with a heavy, deliberate rhythm. To his left, dust motes dance slowly in the stagnant air; to his right, they blur into streaks of motion. He steps forward, feeling the sudden lurch as gravity and momentum shift between zones. A spike rises rapidly on one side while remaining dormant on the other. He calculates the gap not in distance, but in seconds lost or gained.

Reader's Guide

Braid's work on hypnotism is central to understanding his legacy. He stressed that hypnotic suggestion was a valuable remedy in functional nervous disorders but not a universal remedy. He held that similar diseases often arose from opposite pathological conditions, and treatment ought to be varied accordingly.

Did You Know?

• Braid operated on 262 cases of talipes, 700 cases of strabismus, and 23 cases of spinal curvature up to 1841.
• Braid was a Corresponding Member of the Wernerian Natural History Society of Edinburgh and the Royal Medical Society of Edinburgh.
• Braid married Margaret Mason on 17 November 1813.