Mesmer left Paris and returned to Vienna to practice Mesmerism. Following the conclusions of the French committee, Dugald Stewart, an influential academic philosopher of the "Scottish School of Common Sense", called on doctors in his "Elements of the Philosophy of the Human Mind" (1818) to save the elements of Mesmerism by replacing the supernatural theory of "animal magnetism" with a new interpretation based on "common sense", the laws of physiology and psychology. During Braid's time, the Scottish School of Common Sense introduced the dominant theories of academic psychology, and Braid refers to other philosophers of this tradition in all his writings. Therefore, Braid revised the theory and practice of Mesmerism and developed his own method of hypnosis as a more rational alternative based on common sense.
