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Indian J. Psychiat. 1974) 1 6 3 0 7 -3 11

ABBE DE FARIA ( First to exp lain hypn otism )

SHRIDHAR SHARMA, M.D., D.P.M., M.R.C.Psych.1

(Received 19th November 1973)

It is controversial as to who offeredfirst the scientific explanation of hypnotism . One of the earliest bu t not wellknown conributors to the understanding ofhypnotism was Abbe de Faria, a priest,from Goa (Fa ria L 'Abbe 1819, Moniz Eg as1925, Dalgado D. G . 1906) thou gh hy pnotism was known and practised by Hindupriests in the temples of ancient India.

EARLY LIFE

Jose Custodio de Fa ria (Faria L'Ab be1819), later the celebrated A bb eFaria , was born at Candolism, a villageof Barde z-Go a, on 31st M ay 1756. H ewas baptized in the Church of Our Ladyof Hope and Parish of the same name, onthe 7th June, 1756.

His father, Caetano Vitorino de Fariaw as a na tive of t he village of Colvale,Ba rdez . He was a descenda nt of A nan taSinai, a Saraswat Brahmin by caste,village clerk and Patil of the same villagewho embraced Christianity at the end ofthe 16th century.

On 21st Fe bru ary 1771, Fa ria sailedfrom Goa in the ship S. Jose and arrivedat Lisbon on 23rd November, 1771.

EDUCATION

In 1772, the two Farias went to Romevia Genova with letters of recommendationfrom the Papae Nuncio to various personalities of Rome.

Jose Custodio Faria continue d hisstudies in Rome as Internee, in the College of Pro pa gan da Fid e upt o 1780. Heobtained doctorate in Theology on a profound subject De Exis tentia Dei, Deo Unoet Divina Re vela tione (Faria L'Abbe1819) (About G od's existen ce, Ab out oneGod and Divine Re vela tion ). He wasordained on 12th M arch 1780. After completion of his studies, Abbe Faria returnedto Lisbon, where he was also received atth e co ur t. The romjantic fact th at Hisfather was a priest and his mother a nuncaused a certain stir, mainly in the eyesof the aristocratic public.

CHANGE IN CAREER

Abbe Faria, convinced that there wasno chance of advancement in an ecclesiastical career in Portugal, decided to seekelsewhere an appropriate field for hisintellectual activity based on his experiences, practice and to master the art andscience of hy pn oti sm . He left for Pa risin the sp rin g of 1788, to fulfill his ambitions

Curiously the first trace of his existence in the big city is recorded in theRegistrar of Denunciation (1792) of theSection of Ponc eau (be tter know n after1793, as of t h e friends of the m otherland ) in the Nation al Arch ives.

Faria arrived in Paris, four yearsafter the de par ture of M esm er. Bu t thefashion was still alive, the appeal for

1 Professor and Head, De par tme nt of Psy chiatry , Goa M edical College, Pan aj iand C onsu l tan t Psychia t r i s t , M enta l Hospi ta l , Pana j iG oa.

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marvellous things as burning as ever.One would be interested in knowing howAbbe Faria was attracted to Mesmerism.There is a suggestion that he brought the

Science with him from India where hypnotism was known and practised by HinduPrie sts in the temples of India. Bein g aPhilosopher, he was highly observant andpossessed a passion for no ve lty. It islikely that the mysticism in mesm erisminterested him.

It is not easy to fix the exact timeof the beginning of his public demonstrations of hyp otism . Th e first reference to

Fa ria as a mag netiser is in the M em oirof C hat eau bria nd (Chateaubriand 1768-1848 published after his death in 1843 ; therelevant passage was probably written in1802.

It seems, Faria continued his experiments and practice in Paris till 1811. Laterhe went to Marseilles as a Professor ofPhilosophy in the Academ y Lyceum ofthat ci ty. Du ring his stay there he wa selected a member of the Medical Societyof Marseilles (Dalgado D. G. 1906,Chateaubriand 1768-1848) in recognition ofhis contribution to the phenomena ofhypnotism.

La ter, in 1812, F ar ia join ed th e Academy of Nimes as a Professor of Philosophy, but he was not pleased with thisnew position as it was inferior to the previous one he held at M arseilles. H e

retu rne d to Pa ris in 1813, wh ere he w asconferred the title of Professor and starteda public course on L uc id S le ep .

On obtaining permission from the Prefect of Police, be began on 11th August1813 to hold conferences every Thursdayat N o. 49, Clichy St ree t. The cha rge wasfive francs for each m eetin g. The semeetings at tracted the cream of Parisian

society. H e wa s mu ch spoken of andobtained great publicity from the Press forhis contribution to the phenomena oflucid sleep an d h ypn otis m .

HIS THEORY

As such, Far ia (F ari a L'Abbe 1819sMoniz Egas 1925) was the true founder ofthe m odern doctrine of sugge stion. Inorder to understand his ideas well, it isessential to compare them with those ofhis contemporaries.

He refuted all contemporary theorieson Mesm erism saying I can't conceive,

all the human species was so foolish, togo to search the cause of this phenomenonin a tub, in an external wish, in magneticfluid, in animal heat and in thousands ofdifferent ridiculous things of this type.There is nothing that can justify the denomination of animal magnetism, to signifythe 'Action of S le ep ' . He replaced theterm ' animal m ag net ism ' by ' concentration ', ' m agn etise rs ' by ' con cen trato rs 'and ' mag net ised ' by ' concen tra ted ' .

As for the existence of any kind ofmagnetic f luid, a remarkable departurefrom the theory of Mesmer, Faria showedthe absurdity of this in the following demonstration

A certain number of people wereplaced near the tree of Mesmer and Puy-segu r, (Dalgado, D . G . 1906) bu t noth inghapp ened ; the same people were placed

near another tree and were convinced thattree was magnetised without it actuallybeing so ; it was observed that m an y fellinto deep sle ep . He concluded tha t thesupposition of magnetic fluid as suggestedby Mesmer at that time is completelyabsurd, whether one considers i ts nature,its application or its res ult s. Faria u nde rstood the mechanism of hypnotism and itwas he who first marked out its natural

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Abbe Faria hypnotising a Woman(Statue in Goa)

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l i m i t s . His op in io n wa s f i rm and un-s h a k e a b l e . I n h i s o w n w o r d s n o t h i n gcomes out in hypnot ic s leep that is notn a t u r a l . H e n o t o n l y o b s e r v e d f a ct s b u ta lso sc ru t in ized hy pnot ic sus cep t ib i l i ty.He was qu ick to apprec ia te tha t somep t o p l e s u c c u m b q u i c k l y w h i l e o t h e r s r em a i n r e f r a c t o r y. H e g a v e m o r e i mp o r t a n c e t o t h e h y p n o t i s e d t h a n t o t h eh y p n o t i s e r. H e e x p l a i n e d t h a t p e o p l ew h o a r e a n a e m i c ( f l u i d i ty of b l o o d ) ,who s leep eas i ly, who swea t much , whoare much impress ionab le and hys te r ica l ,

a r e m o r e s u s c e p t i b l e t o s o m n a m b u l i s m .These observa t ions by h im a re very impor tan t , cons ide r ing how l i t t l e w as kn ow nabout the phys io logy of the nervous sys temat tha t t im e . He thoug ht tha t wo me n a reb e t t e r h y p n o t i c s u b j e c t s t h a n m e n , a n dt h a t p r a c t ic e i m p r o v e s p e r f o r m a n c e , i . e .hypnot i sm works more eas i ly on sub jec t swho a re o f ten hypn ot i sed . Susc ep t ib l i ty inshort , was not seen by him as f ixed ands ta t i c a t t r ibu te .

F a r i a c o n s i d e r e d t h a t t h e i m m e d i a t e

cause of hypnosis lay in what he cal ledT h e c o n c e n t r a t i o n of s e n s e s of t h e

hypn ot i sed person and for th i s M enta lpeace and phys ica l ca lmness i s essen t ia l .He add ed O ne ca n ' t be put to s leep aslong as the min d i s occupied e i the r by th eagi ta t ion of blood or worr ies or t roubles ,e t c .

H e a d m i t t e d t h a t s u g g e s t i o n p l a y e d a nimpor tan t pa r t bu t a l so sa id i t was no t the

only factor.

W h i l e m a n y l a t e r w r i t e r s c o n t i n u e dto a t t r ibu te the cause o f hypnos i s to suchth ings as ' conc en t ra t ion of a t t e n t io n '(P rey er ; Moniz Egas 1925, Da lgado D .G .1 9 0 6 ) c o n n e c t io n of s l e e p ( D e J o n g ;Moniz Egas 1925) au tosugg es t ion (O ch o-rowic Varsov ia ; Moniz Egas 1925) , o thersackn ow ledged the i r deb t to Fa r ia . L ie bau l t

f or e x a m p l e w r i t e s , t h e c a u s e of h y pnot ic s leep l i e s in the re t rea t o f a t t en t ionout o f the senses and concen t ra t ion o f them i n d o n o n e i d e a w h i c h i s t h e m a i n p o i n t .H e r i g h t l y s t a t e s t h a t t h i s i n s i g h t w a sga ined f ir s t no t by Ja m es B ra id (MonizEgas 1925) as w as com mo nly supp osed bu tby Ab be de F ar ia .

FARIA'S TECHNIQUE

F a r i a e m p l o y e d t h e f o l l o w i n g p r ocedures fo r hynnos i s :

1. First Method : Fa r ia used to s i t comfor tab ly and ask the person to s i t l ikewise , to c lose h i s eyes and imagineh imse l f go ing to s leep . W he n th eperso n wa s ca lm, he wo uld ex c la im ina l o u d v o i c e D O R M E Z ( S l e e p ) a n dthe person would fa l l in to luc id s leep .

2 . Second Method : Fa r ia use d to ask thepe rso n to f ix his gaze on his (F ar ia ' s )h a n d . F r o m a d i s t a n c e h e w o u l ds l o w l y a p p r o a c h u n t i l h i s h a n d w a sc lose to the eyes o f the person whow o u l d s o m e t i m e s t h e r e u p o n f a ll i n t oluc id s leep .

3 . Third Method : Fa r ia use d to tou chthe fon ta l r eg ion , the b r idge o f then o s e , t h e c h e s t u p t o t h e e p i g a s t r i u m ,the knees and the fee t and s lowly theperson used to fa l l a s leep .

If the f i rs t t r ia l , d id not induce s leep,h e u s e d t o r e p e a t t h e m . I f t h e f o u r t h

a t tempt a l so fa i l ed , he would dec la re tha tthe ind i v idu a l i s inca pab le o f fa l l ing in tol u c i d s l e e p .

T h e p r o c e d u r e s a r e e n t i r e l y s u g g e s t i v ea n d p s y c h i c a l . A c c o r d i n g t o B e r n h e i m(Moniz Ega s 1925) th is is th e s le ep by su gges t ion , wh ich i s ins inu a te d in the m ind oft h e p a t i e n t . T h e r e i s n o d o u b t , t h a t F a r i ai s the foun der o f th e m et ho d .

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Some English writers who were notaware of Faria 's contribution have attr ibuted discovery of hypnotism to JamesBraid, an English Surgeon.

It is obvious from the above facts thatBraid's discovery of Lucid Sleep, wassecondary to that of Faria, who discoveredthe same 30 yea rs earlie r. It is also interesting to note that Braid first practisedhis technique in Calcutta, India, and notin the West, again showing that India hada prominent role to play in influencinghis ideas on the subject.

Fa ria's wo rk De la cause Du Somn eilL u ci de (Faria L'Abbe 1819) about th ecause of lucid sleep, is divided into fourvolumes, out of which only one was published after his de ath . It was w ritte n inFrench and published in 1819 (Faria diedon 28th September 1819 due to apoplexy)by a publisher of Paris and it was repub lishe d in 1906, by o ne of his G oanfriends Dr. Gelasio Delgado, also in Paris.

Le Abbe Faria is one of the Principalcharacters of Alexander Dumas' (DumasA lex and er 1959) famous book Co unt ofM onte Cristo . Le Abbe de Fa ria is alsomentioned by the celebrated Chateaubriand,(Chateaubriand 1968-1848) another great

Fre nch autho r, in his book Mem ories deAlem Jum ule this wo rk has been alsotranslated into Portuguese and English.

It is clearly evident from the availablerecords mentioned, that Faria was the

first: a) to deny th e existence of ma gnetic

fluid.

tion and the psychic impressionability of the hypnotised subject.

c) to discover the suggestive psychicprocedure for provoking somnambulism.

d) to employ the same suggestiveprocedure to step the somnambulistic state and the division of thepersonali ty.

e) to observe and describe some newsymptoms by suggestion.

f) to propose a psychological theory ,explaining the phenomenon of somnambul i sm.

g) to give ex per im ent al and therapeutic suggestions in a really extraordinary fashion.

R E F E R E N C E S

Cha teaubr ia nd : Mem or ias de Alem Tum ule ,1768-1848.

Dalgado. D. G . (1906) : M emo ire sur la vie del 'Abbe de Far ia , Paris , Hen ri Jo uv e E diteur.

Du ma s Al ex and re (1959 ) : The Count of M onteCris to Complete and unabridged, Jaico Book.

Faria L 'Abbe de (1906 ): De la cause du Somne illuc ide ou Etu de de la Na ture de l 'Hom me .Edi led by Dr. D . G . D algado . Par i s Henr iJou ve edi teu r, 15 Ru e Racin e 15. Reim-pression de l 'edition De 1819.

Moniz Egas (1925) : O pa dre F aria na his tor iad o h y p n o t i s m .

b) to at tr ibute the phenomenon ofsomnambulism to the anaemic condi-