Braid’s work became influential throughout the Western world, and developments occurred mainly focused in France after his research was presented to the French Academy of Science by the eminent neurologist Dr. Étienne Azam. Azam’s enthusiasm for hypnotism influenced Ambroise-Auguste Liébeault whose renowned hypnotherapy clinic was discovered by Hippolyte Bernheim who subsequently became one of the two most influential figures in late 19th century hypnotism. The other figure was Jean-Martin Charcot, who was based in Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital in Paris. Charcot, believing that hysteria was the result of an inherited neurological disorder in women and used hypnosis to induce this state to study the results, argued that only this group could be hypnotised. Bernheim argued against this saying anyone could be hypnotised as it was an extension of normal psychological functioning, and that its effects were variable being primarily due to suggestion. After several decades of debate, Bernheim’s argument prevailed and Charcot’s theory of hypnosis is now viewed a little more than an historical curiosity.

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