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Abstract
Following his November 1841 Manchester encounter with Charles Lafontaine, and due to the mesmerism-induced ‘somnolence’ that Lafontaine had demonstrated, and the sporadic reports of (mesmeric) pain-free surgery elsewhere, James Braid soon began investigating the potential of hypnotism as an anaesthetic agent. In addition to describing Braid’s use of hypnotism for surgical anaesthesia, this article exhumes and examines the (long hidden) significant role of Braid as a committed advocate, experienced commentator, and early adopter of chemical anaesthesia—revealing the extent to which the erroneous misrepresentation of Esdaile’s Jhar-Phoonk procedure (with which Esdaile performed hundreds of ‘pain-free’ operations) as either ‘mesmerism’ or ‘hypnotism’ has resulted in Braid and his (hypnotic and chemical) efforts being completely written out of the history of anaesthesia. This article concludes with an exposition of Braid’s final developed theoretical position, his sophisticated representation of the domain of interest, and his far more appropriate set of technical terms
