Animal magnetism, also known as mesmerism, is a pseudoscientific theory promoted by German physician Franz Mesmer in the 18th century. It posits the existence of an invisible natural force (Lebensmagnetismus) possessed by all living things, including humans, animals, and vegetables. He claimed that the force could have physical effects, including healing.Wolfart, Karl Christian; Friedrich Anton Mesmer. Mesmerismus: Oder, System der Wechselwirkungen, Theorie und Anwendung des thierischen Magnetismus als die allgemeine Heilkunde zur Erhaltung des Menschen (in German, facsimile of the 1811 edition). Cambridge University Press, 2011. . Foreword.
The vitalist theory attracted numerous followers in Europe and the United States and was popular into the 19th century. Practitioners were often known as magnetizers rather than mesmerists. It had an important influence in medicine for about 75 years from its beginnings in 1779, and continued to have some influence for another 50 years. Hundreds of books were written on the subject between 1766 and 1925, but it is no longer practiced today except as a form of alternative medicine in some places.Adam Crabtree Animal Magnetism, Early Hypnotism, and Psychical Research, 1766–1925 – An Annotated Bibliography This theory also had a strong influence on the development of Kardecism.
Etymology and definitions Magnetizer The terms magnetizer and mesmerizer have been applied to people who study and practice animal magnetism.Dictionnaire Notre Famille, (1987), Magnetiseur, notrefamille.com. Accessed 19 August 2015 These terms have been distinguished from mesmerist and magnetist, which are regarded as denoting those who study animal magnetism without being practitioners;Hector Durville, Theory and Animal Magnetism procedures, Rio de Jan ed. Léon Denis, 2012 . and from hypnotist, someone who practises hypnosis.
The etymology of the word magnetizer comes from the French magnétiseur ('practicing the methods of mesmerism'), which in turn is derived from the French verb magnétiser.Thouvenel, Pierre, Mémoire et medical physique Paris Ed. Didot Chez le jeune, Quai des Auguftins. (1781) p. 300 The term refers to an individual who has the power to manipulate the "magnetic fluid"Baron du Potet, Student Handbook Magnetizer , ed. Life – 3rd ed,, 2013 with effects upon other people present that were regarded as analogous to magnetic effects.Franz Anton Mesmer, Mémoire sur la découverte du animals magnétisme , 1779, Édition numérique disponible sur Wikisource. Il ya aussi une édition papier chez Allia, 2006 This sense of the term is found, for example, in the expression of Antoine Joseph Gorsas: "The magnetizer is the imam of vital energy".Gorsas, Antoine-Joseph, L'Ane promeneur, 1784, pp. 41, 342
Mesmerism A tendency emerged amongst British magnetizers to call their clinical techniques "mesmerism"; they wanted to distance themselves from the theoretical orientation of animal magnetism that was based on the concept of "magnetic fluid". At the time, some magnetizers attempted to channel what they thought was a magnetic "fluid", and sometimes they attempted this with a "laying on of hands". Reported effects included various feelings: intense heat, trembling, trances, and seizures.Connor C. (2005). A People's History of Science, Nation Books, pp. 404–05
Many practitioners took a scientific approach, such as Joseph Philippe François Deleuze (1753–1835), a French physician, anatomist, gynecologist, and physicist. One of his pupils was Théodore Léger (1799–1853), who wrote that the label "mesmerism" was "most improper".Léger, 1846, p. 14.
Noting that, by 1846, the term galvanism had been replaced by electricity, Léger wrote that year:
Royal commission
In 1784 two French royal commissions appointed by Louis XVI studied Mesmer's magnetic fluid theory to try to establish it by scientific evidence.Orsucci, 2009, p. 66Lopez, 1993 The commission of the Academy of Sciences included Majault, Benjamin Franklin, Jean Sylvain Bailly, Jean-Baptiste Le Roy, Sallin, Jean Darcet, de Borey, Joseph-Ignace Guillotin, and Antoine Lavoisier. The commission of the Royal Society of Medicine was composed of Poissonnier, Caille, Mauduyt de la Varenne, Andry, and Antoine Laurent de Jussieu.
Whilst the commission agreed that the cures claimed by Mesmer were indeed cures, it also concluded there was no evidence of the existence of his "magnetic fluid", and that its effects derived from either the imaginations of its subjects or charlatanry.
Royal Academy investigation A generation later, another investigating committee, appointed by a majority vote in 1826 in The Royal Academy of Medicine in Paris, studied the effects and clinical potentials of the mesmeric procedure, without trying to establish the physical nature of any magnetic fluidum. The report says:
Among the conclusions were:
Mesmerism and hypnotism
Faria and "oriental hypnosis" Abbé Faria was one of the disciples of Franz Anton Mesmer who continued with Mesmer's work following the conclusions of the Royal Commission. In the early 19th century, Abbé Faria is said to have introduced oriental hypnosis to ParisSee: Carrer (2004), passim. and to have conducted experiments to prove that "no special force was necessary for the production of the mesmeric phenomena such as the trance, but that the determining cause lay within the subject himself"—in other words, that it worked purely by the power of suggestion.Hull, Clark L. "Hypnotism in Scientific Perspective", The Scientific Monthly 29.2 (1929): p. 156.
Braid and "hypnotism" Hypnotism, a designation coined by the Scottish surgeon, James Braid,Yeates, (2013), passim. originates in Braid's response to an 1841 exhibition of "animal magnetism", by Charles Lafontaine, in Manchester.Gilles de la Tourette. "The Wonders of Animal Magnetism", The North American Review 146.375 (1888): pp. 131–32. Writing in 1851, Braid was adamant that, in the absence of the sorts of "higher phenomena" reportedly produced by the mesmerists,
and in contra-distinction to the Transcendental [i.e., metaphysical] Mesmerism of the Mesmerists … [allegedly] induced through the transmission of an occult influence from [the body of the operator to that of the subject,] Hypnotism, [by which] I mean a peculiar condition of the nervous system, into which it can be thrown by artificial contrivance … [a theoretical position that is entirely] consistent with generally admitted principles in physiological and psychological science [would] therefore [be most aptly] designated Rational Mesmerism. Braid (1850), p. 6.
"Mesmerism" and "hypnotism" While there is a great range of theories and practices collectively denoted mesmerism,See, for example, The Zoist, 1854-1855, Vols. 1-13, passim; Podmore (1909), pp. 1- 150; Edmondston (o1986), pp. 1-121; Gauld (1992), pp. 1–270; and Crabtree (1993), pp. 109–44. research has clearly identified that there are substantial and significant differences between "mesmerism" and "hypnotism" however they may be defined.See, for example, Hallaji (1962); Völgyesi (1966); MacHovec (1975, 1979); Pulos (1980); Chester (1982), McGarry (1987); Gauld (1988, 1992); and Gibson & Heap (1991), etc.
Vital fluid and animal magnetism A 1791 London publication explains Mesmer's theory of the vital fluid:
Modern philosophy has admitted a plenum or universal principle of fluid matter, which occupies all space; and that as all bodies moving in the world, abound with pores, this fluid matter introduces itself through the interstices and returns backwards and forwards, flowing through one body by the currents which issue therefrom to another, as in a magnet, which produces that phenomenon which we call Animal Magnetism. This fluid consists of fire, air and spirit, and like all other fluids tends to an equilibrium, therefore it is easy to conceive how the efforts which the bodies make towards each other produce animal electricity, which in fact is no more than the effect produced between two bodies, one of which has more motion than the other; a phenomenon serving to prove that the body which has most motion communicates it to the other, until the medium of motion becomes an equilibrium between the two bodies, and then this equality of motion produces animal electricity.Wonders and mysteries of animal magnetism displayed; or the history, art, practice, and progress of that useful science, from its first rise in the city of Paris, to the present time. With several Curious Cases and new Anecdotes of the Principal Professors. Eighteenth Century Collections Online. London (1791): pp. 11–12
According to an anonymous writer of a series of letters published by editor John Pearson in 1790, animal magnetism can cause a wide range of effects ranging from vomiting to what is termed the "crisis". The purpose of the treatment (inducing the "crisis") was to shock the body into convulsion in order to remove obstructions in the humoral system that were causing sicknesses.Pearson (1790), p. 12. Furthermore, this anonymous supporter of the animal magnetism theory purported that the "crisis" created two effects: first, a state in which the "[individual who is] completely reduced under Magnetic influence, although he should seem to be possessed of his senses, yet he ceases to be an accountable creature",Pearson (1790), pp. 13–15. and a second "remarkable" state, which would be "conferred upon the [magnetized] subject … [namely] that of perfect and unobstructed vision … in other words, all opacity is removed, and every object becomes luminous and transparent".Pearson (1790), p. 15. A patient under crisis was believed to be able to see through the body and find the cause of illness, either in themselves or in other patients.
The Marquis of Puységur's miraculous healing of a young man named Victor in 1784 was attributed to, and used as evidence in support of, this "crisis" treatment. The Marquis was allegedly able to hypnotize Victor and, while hypnotized, Victor was said to have been able to speak articulately and diagnose his own sickness.
Jacob Melo discusses in his books some mechanisms by which the perceived effects of animal magnetism have been claimed to operate.Lecture given at the III World Meeting of Magnetizers
Skepticism in the Romantic Era