First off, let's define what hypnosis is. Even practicing hypnotists don't always agree on a definition for "hypnosis," but I hope I can offer a definition that will satisfy both the practitioner and the curious layman. How's this:
Hypnosis is a way of offering suggestions to a client in a way that influences their subconscious mind and bypasses their conscious resistance, so they accept new behaviors and concepts or alters their existing perceptions. How's that? Usually, it means talking to the client in a way that guide them into a relaxed state where they are open to accepting therapeutic suggestions.
You can look up all sorts of information about hypnosis, including it's history and methods, so I won't waste your time with a lot of that, except to say that it's generally accepted that modern hypnosis dates back to the 19th. century with the Nancy School in France, and with James Braid in the England. Braid, in particular, is given the credit for the term hypnosis (actually, he said "neuro-hypnosis," though he preferred "neurypnology"). Braid's method, as far as I've been able to discover, was fairly straightforward: He would hold a shiny silver scalpel-case, about the size of a pencil case, slightly above eye level of his subjects and bid them stare at it while he gave them suggestions to sink into a deeply relaxed state, until their eyes were fatigued. They would eventually close their eyes and go deeper, but still maintaining a certain mental focus developed from staring at the silver case. in this state, his subjects were open to therapeutic suggestions, accepting them uncritically (OK, there's more to the process, but you get the idea).
Hypnosis rapidly replaced the much older practice of Mesmerism. Their therapeutic goals were similar, but as one practitioner of both noted, Mesmerism was a much slower and less reliable process. While an hypnotic trance could be induced in 15 minutes or less, mesmerism typically took a half hour or more, and might require more than one sitting just to get it to work at all. Today, Mesmerism is a nearly lost art.
What is Mesmerism? Some elements of mesmerism are identical to hypnosis, particularly the idea of inducing a relaxed state in the subject in order to achieve therapeutic effects. But from the ground up, mesmerism is very different.
The basis of Mesmerism is "Animal Magnetism" which is not a 1960s cologne, but a kind of energy generated by all living things. The theory was that a healthy individual produced a lot of it and it flowed naturally throughout a person's body, but an unhealthy person might chalk his illness up to weak or badly circulating energy. So a Mesmerist would use his own animal magnetism, or occasionally actual magnets, to influence the energy and flow of of the patient to flow correctly. A Mesmerist might engage in healing by laying on of hands, or he might even work with a partner and induce rapport between the patent and the partner which would cause the illness to travel to the partner, and by treating the partner, was able to heal the patient through a metaphysical connection.
Historically, the word "Mesmerism" comes from Anton Mesmer, who may not have originated the theory himself, but as a young, highly regarded medical doctor married to a wealthy noble woman, was in a unique position to devote both his good name and his wife's fortune to creating a clinic to study and spread the "science" of Mesmerism. His clinic attracted hundreds of patients, most of which he didn't charge, and he seems to have gotten very good results, which for a time, made him very popular. Sadly, times turned and facing an increasingly more criticism from both the public and the science community, his reputation eroded.
Most commonly, a Mesmerist would use downward "magnetic passes" of his hands in front of the patent to create a trance state in the patient do the work called for, and re-energizing them by making upward magnetic passes afterwards. Some older 20th century hypnotists, like Ormond McGill, still employed the occasional magnetic pass in their hypnotism.
In order to be an effective Mesmerist, a practitioner had to build up his own animal magnetism and to learn how to project it reliably, and some of the old books describe exercises for that, such as practicing projecting their energy towards and empty chair, and a Mesmerist would learn to project their power both with their hands and also with their eyes, (just like Dracula!).
There is no question that when Mesmerism worked, it worked. James Esdaile, a 19th century British surgeon working in India, was able to remove horrific, 80 pound tumors from his patients with minimal bleeding and rapid healing, using mesmerism as an anesthetic. (he achieved a kind of "hypnotic coma" to do the surgery, which is named after him, the Esdaile State).
Whether the mesmeric results were achieved by animal magnetism or by simple suggestion is debatable. Braid and others felt that all the passes and mystery were simply psychological suggestions and there was no magnetism. And scientific thought of the 20th century closed the book on the animal magnetism theory.
Maybe it was Chi or Prana? The cultivation of Animal Magnetism may be a lost art, but the concept seems to be a universal one, still alive and well in other cultures. In Indian culture they call the magnetic energy Prana, in Asian cultures is Chi or Ki. Most of these systems cultivate their magnetic energy for personal health. Some of the Asian ones also practice a kind of hands-on healing similar to some Mesmeric practices. Some of the Indian practitioners talk about the sort of psychic effects that Mesmerists used to talk about. To the best of my knowledge, however, the extensive use of metaphysical force to produce trance was a particular specialty of the Mesmerists.
I suppose this article wouldn't be complete without mentioning Dr. Marco Paret in France, who seems to be the only person still teaching Mesmerism. I don't really know anything more about him that I've seen on his website and Youtube videos, but you can find his site here: http://www.marcoparet.com/
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