Mesmerism. It
is a word that conjures images and feelings of entrancement,
hypnosis, seduction, rotating
black and white spirals,
being subdued by a spell, or giving your will over to that of a
blank-eyed magician. The word, however, comes from a man named Franz
Anton Mesmer and mesmerism, originally called animal
magnetism, did not mean
quite the same thing in his day. His unique practice of healing was
supposed to make the sick strong again but more importantly, it made
him and his assistants a lot of money.
Mesmer was born in 1734 in
Swabia, Germany. He originally planned on becoming a Jesuit priest
but later took interest in the writings of Sir Isaac Newton whose
treatise on the planetary influences over the human body formed the
basis for Mesmer’s further studies. Newton believed that magnetic
forces from each planet effected the functioning of different body
parts. While this idea in today’s world would be considered a type
of astrological pseudo-science or alternative health care, in the
18th
century it was respected by scientists and was actually classified as
a branch of astrophysics. Mesmer via Newton reasoned that since the
moon influenced the tides of the ocean, it must also influence fluid
in the human body. Since the moon was able to influence events on
Earth, then, by logical extension, so must all the planets in the
universe. Franz Anton Mesmer did a doctoral thesis on this theme. It
has since been proven that he plagiarized the dissertation, copying
it mostly from another student’s writing.
Mesmer set off for Vienna to
start a medical practice. In
1774, he claimed to have discovered a magnetic tide inside a female
patient’s body. She
had been diagnosed as having “female hysteria”, a condition that
at first was believed to originate in the uterus but, after later
revisions, was thought to originate in the brain. Symptoms of
hysteria were anxiety, shortness of breath, blurred vision,
hypersexuality, annoying behavior, and a wide range of other symptoms
that appeared seemingly out of nowhere. Mesmer gave his first patient
a drink with a high iron content. He then attached magnets to various
parts of her body. The
patient claimed to feel fluids flowing all through her.
After the treatment, he symptoms disappeared for a couple of hours.
Mesmer coined the term vital
fluids to describe the
sensations of internal liquid
movement felt by the
patient. He claimed the human body is permeated with this liquid
which is meant to flow freely throughout
every
organ and limb;
when these vital fluids get trapped or their flow is impeded,
sickness and disease result. Therefore, by releasing these vital
fluids from their stagnation, the body can be restored to health.
Mesmer later eliminated the magnets, stating that he could move the
trapped vital fluids himself simply through the laying on of hands.
Those were, of course, his hands and his patients were usually
female.
Mesmer began calling his
technique animal
magnetism. He refined
and perfected it and began using it to, so he claimed, cure any
illness be it physical, mental, or imaginary. A typical session
involved him sitting face to face with a patient; their knees would
be touching and he stared deeply into their eyes. He would move his
hands all over their body, hold their hands, and then press his
fingers against their
sternum. The receptive patient would break into a sweat then begin to
have a seizure or convulsion that sometimes lasted for several hours.
Mesmer said this was the
intended consequence as the seizure was the result of trapped vital
fluids being released. One has to wonder if these women were actually
going through a nervous reaction from
having a lecher touch them in what might be considered some funny
ways. When the shaking subsided, Mesmer ended the treatment by
playing music on an armonica, an 18th
century musical instrument made of glass cups that rang when they
were rubbed.
Animal magnetism caught on in
popularity but soon a scandal hit. An 18 year old opera singer named
Maria Theresia Paradis had begun to go blind. The two were introduced
by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart who Mesmer had befriended along with other
members of the Austrian aristocracy. He performed his animal
magnetism cures on her several times and her vision began to return.
At least, it did for a short time. By 1777, her blindness had come
back. The aristocracy had
lost their trust in Mesmer. Not knowing if animal magnetism was
dangerous or merely just fraud, they chased him out of Vienna.
Franz Anton Mesmer restarted
his life in Paris. He made his debut in the social scene by
publishing a pamphlet explaining the theory and practice of his
medicine. The popularity of animal magnetism spread quickly through
the salons of the wealthy and powerful upper classes. He soon
attracted the attention of the Royal Academy of Sciences and the
Royal Academy of Medicine. Mesmer agreed to allow them to study
animal magnetism. Both societies concluded that the treatment did
appear to cure some illnesses but they also claimed that there was
not evidence it was anything other than a placebo effect. They
remained neutral in their final judgments.
But that did not matter. Animal
magnetism became a craze that took the aristocracy by storm. Franz
Anton Mesmer could not keep up with demand; he began to recruit other
practitioners, especially people he believed
to be naturally possessed of powerful magnetic influences over other
people’s vital fluids. He trained them and they went to work; soon
institutes of animal magnetism were established all over France.
If so many people were
interested in the movement of their vital fluids, why not make it
possible to cure a whole group of people at once? Mesmer took the
next step of his career by inventing the baquet.
This was a low wooden
vessel, about a foot high, and hollow inside. A lid covered the top
with holes drilled close to the edges, one for each member of the
session. As many as twenty people could sit at a baquet at once. A
metal rod, bent at a right angle, was placed in each hole; the
afflicted patient would touch the end of the rod to the part of their
body they wished to heal. Mesmer
would enter the room, pass his hands over each person’s body
without touching them and stare intensely
at the places where the
trapped vital fluids were believed to be located. Once the fluids
began to flow, a rope with one end touching the baquet was passed
from person to person in order to induce the medicinal seizure. The
aristocrats adored Mesmer and baquet parties, given for a modest fee
of course,
were soon all the rage. Regardless of what you might think about the
validity of this particular treatment, one has to admit the sight of
twenty or so aristocrats in their powdered wigs, knee-high stockings,
frilly gowns, and velvet jackets all convulsing in unison must have
been something to see. Some say that the animal magnetism had an
aphrodisiac effect and possibly could even cure infertility. True to
the French character, a direct line from the soiree at the baquet to
the boudoir resulted from many a session.
King Louis XVI became
suspicious of animal magnetism. In 1784, he appointed a committee
made up of members from the Faculty of Medicine and the Royal Academy
of Sciences to investigate
whether vital fluids actually existed or not. One member of the
committee was the American founding father Benjamin Franklin. They
conducted experiments with one of Mesmer’s disciples. The purpose
was not to learn what animal magnetism actually did, but solely to
find out the truth about the vital fluids. Their conclusion was
negative, citing a lack of evidence to support the reality of such a
substance. They did concur, however, that animal magnetism did appear
to have some sort of vague effect on some people in some cases.
Franz Anton Mesmer was
disgraced again. The baquet parties faded from popularity. He was
told to leave France. He returned to Vienna where he also was told to
move on. He sold all his property and settled down to a quiet life in
Switzerland where he died in 1815.
Subsequent historians and
scientists eventually replaces the term animal
magnetism with the word
mesmerism, having
a negative connotation packed with the implication of fraudulence and
the selling of snake oil. More recently mesmerism
has become a synonym for
hypnotism. His theory of vital fluids saw a revival with the New Age
movement of the late 20th
century. With the exception
of a few charlatans, animal magnetism is a dead art, perhaps
permanently relegated to the annals of pseudoscience.
Reference
Mackay, Charles. Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness
of Crowds. Wordsworth Editions Ltd., 1995
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