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Mesmer, Franz☆
Mesmer, Franzq JT Lanska, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, United States DJ Lanska, Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Great Lakes VA Healthcare System, Tomah, WI, United States Ó 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Franz Anton Mesmer (1734–1815) was a German physician who gained temporary fame and fortune in Paris from 1778 to 1784 by his promotion of his “animal magnetism” as a panacea (Fig. 1). Patients were drawn to Mesmer’s new therapy because of his charisma, testimonials of dramatic cures from socially prominent individuals, and the relative harmlessness of the treatment compared with the conventional practices of bleeding, blistering, and purging. Although traditional physicians in the late 18th century had little to offer their patients therapeutically that had any real potential benefit, and instead often harmed their patients with their treatments, Mesmer could demonstrate cases “cured” by his treatment that had previously failed all conventional approaches. Although some might dismiss his therapeutic successes as only applicable to hysterical or imagined illness, some of his patients went on to lead functional lives when earlier they had been deemed hopeless invalids, a point that even his detractors acknowledged. Mesmer adapted his magnetic therapy to accommodate the overwhelming number of patients that flocked to his clinic in Paris. His mass treatment method involved the use of a baquet, a large vat of “magnetized” water, from which the magnetic energy was purportedly directed. Mesmer and his disciples used rods to further direct the magnetic energy to patients’ afflicted areas. During these treatments Mesmer provided soothing ethereal musical sounds from an armonica (also called a “glass harmonica”), a musical instrument that had been invented by Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790) in 1761 to provide sounds resembling those produced on the edges of wine glasses; the armonica consisted of a series of graduated bowls with holes and corks in the center placed on a horizontal spindle and rotated by a flywheel and a foot pedal. Responses to the magnetic therapy varied widely but were sometimes quite dramatic: the commission noted that “Some are calm, quiet, and feel nothing; others cough, spit, feel slight pain, a warmth either localized or all over, and perspire; others are agitated and tormented by convulsions.” Some patients experienced violent convulsions during the treatments, sometimes requiring further management in an adjoining padded room.
These convulsions are extraordinary in their number, duration, and strength. As soon as a convulsion begins, many others followdsome lasting for more than 3 h. These convulsions are characterized by quick, involuntary movements of limbs and the entire body, by a tightening of the throat, by the twitching of the hypochondrium [upper-lateral abdomen] and epigastric area, by blurred and unfocused vision, by piercing shrieks, tears, hiccups, and excessive laughter. They are preceded or followed by a state of languor and dreaminess, of a kind of prostration and even sleepiness.
Figure 1 Franz Anton Mesmer (1734–1815) promulgated “animal magnetism” as a pervasive property of nature that could be channeled as an effective therapy for a wide variety of conditions. Courtesy of the US National Library of Medicine.
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Change History: October 2015. DJ Lanska updated the text including keywords, figures, and added a reference.
Reference Module in Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Psychology
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-809324-5.04065-7
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Mesmer, Franz
Figure 2 Caricature of Mesmer. Mesmer is standing on a large balloon (being inflated by two men in the right foreground), and is engulfed in incense wafting from a burner in the foreground (held by one of the men). Mesmer directs rays from his right hand and through a wand held in his left hand. From his right hand, Mesmer reflects rays off the moon onto a woman attended by a child satyr (left foreground). Behind the satyr is a baquet, and to the right of that is a glass armonica. The woman is also being influenced by rays (sounds) from a trumpet played by a man in the background on the far right. In the right foreground two men are blowing into a large balloon to loft Mesmer into the air, and a jester suspended by a balloon is holding a faux halo over Mesmer’s head (upper right). From Paulet, J.-J., 1784. L’antimagnétisme, ou Origine, progrès, décadence, renouvellement et réfutation du magnétisme animal. [The antimagnetics or Origin, progress, decadence, renewal and refutation of animal magnetism.] London [and Paris?] Desenne.
Despite Mesmer’s success in Paris (or perhaps because of it), orthodox medical and scientific societies refused to endorse Mesmer’s new therapy. Mesmer managed to win over the support of one prominent physician, Dr. Charles d’Eslon (1750–86), but the Faculty of Medicine (Faculté de Médecine) subsequently censured d’Eslon for his support of Mesmer. Public and professional outcry induced King Louis XVI to appoint a Royal Commission of nine members selected from the Royal Academy of Sciences and the Faculty of Medicine to assess the veracity of Mesmer’s claims. Notable members of the Commission included Benjamin Franklin and Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier (1743–1794). The Commissioners defined the purpose of their investigation as determining the existence and effectiveness of animal magnetism. In their report, they reasoned, “Animal magnetism may well exist without being useful but it cannot be useful if it does not exist.” However, Mesmer’s magnetic fluid was con-veniently claimed to be intangible, and so its existence could only be demonstrated by its effects on patients. The Commissioners reasoned that it would be impossible to separate the long-term effects of animal magnetism from spontaneous recovery and thus focused their investigations on animal magnetism’s immediate effect on patients. When the effects attributed to animal magnetism could not be consistently demonstrated, the Commissioners posited a rival hypothesis that the real cause was the power of suggestion and the patients’ imagination. The Commissioners reproduced the full mesmeric crises by misleading the subjects to believe they were being magnetized, thus demonstrating that the patients’ imagination and expectation was the real cause of the effects misattributed to Mesmer’s animal magnetism. The Commission’s subsequent report was widely distributed and quickly devastated public opinion of Mesmer’s therapy (Fig. 2). He left Paris to escape the rising controversy and died in Switzerland in 1815. Mesmer played an important role in the history of psychotherapy, psychosomatic illness, and hypnosis. Perhaps most important, however, was his role in the development of therapeutic evaluation, as the Royal Commission was among the first to assess a proposed treatment with a controlled scientific methodology rather than with case series or testimonials.
Further Reading Bloch, G., 1980. Mesmerism: A Translation of the Original Scientific and Medical Writings of F.A. Mesmer. William Kaufmann Inc, Los Altos, CA. Darnton, R., 1968. Mesmerism and the End of the Enlightenment in France. Harvard University Press, Cambridge.
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Duveen, D.I., Klickstein, H.S., 1955. Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790) and Antoine Laurent Lavoisier (1743–1794). Part II. Joint investigations. Ann. Sci. 11, 271–302. Franklin, de Borey, Lavoisier, et al. 1784/2002a. Secret report on mesmerism, or animal magnetism. Int. J. Clin. Exp. Hypn. 50, 364–368. Franklin, B., Majault, le Roy, Salin, et al. 1784/1997. The first scientific investigation of the paranormal ever conducted: testing the claims of mesmerism: commissioned by King Louis XVI: designed, conducted, & written by Benjamin Franklin, Antoine Lavoisier, & others. (C. Salas and D. Salas, Trans.). Skeptic 4, 66–83. Franklin, B., Majault le Roy, Salin, et al. 1784/2002b. Report of the commissioners charged by the king with the examination of animal magnetism. Int. J. Clin. Exp. Hypn. 50, 332–363. Lanska, D.J., Lanska, J.T., 2007. Franz Anton Mesmer and the rise and fall of animal magnetism: dramatic cures, controversy, and ultimately a triumph for the scientific method. In: Whitaker, H., Smith, C.U.M., Finger, S. (Eds.), Brain, Mind, and Medicine: Essays in Eighteenth Century Neuroscience. Springer, New York, NY, pp. 301–320. Mesmer, F.A., 1779/1948. Mesmerism by Doctor Mesmer (1779): Being the First Translation of Mesmer’s Historic ’Mémoire sur la découverte du Magnétisme Animal’ to appear in English, (VR. Myers, Trans.). London, Macdonald & Co. Pattie, F.A., 1994. Mesmer and Animal Magnetism: A Chapter in the History of Medicine. Hamilton. Edmonston Publishing, New York. Zweig, S., 2013. Mental Healers: Mesmer, Eddy and Freud. Pushkin Press, London.
Franz Anton Mesmer (1734–1815) was a German physician who gained temporary fame and fortune in Paris from 1778 to 1784 by his promotion of his “animal magnetism” as a panacea (Fig. 1). Patients were drawn to Mesmer’s new therapy because of his charisma, testimonials of dramatic cures from socially prominent individuals, and the relative harmlessness of the treatment compared with the conventional practices of bleeding, blistering, and purging. Although traditional physicians in the late 18th century had little to offer their patients therapeutically that had any real potential benefit, and instead often harmed their patients with their treatments, Mesmer could demonstrate cases “cured” by his treatment that had previously failed all conventional approaches. Although some might dismiss his therapeutic successes as only applicable to hysterical or imagined illness, some of his patients went on to lead functional lives when earlier they had been deemed hopeless invalids, a point that even his detractors acknowledged. Mesmer adapted his magnetic therapy to accommodate the overwhelming number of patients that flocked to his clinic in Paris. His mass treatment method involved the use of a baquet, a large vat of “magnetized” water, from which the magnetic energy was purportedly directed. Mesmer and his disciples used rods to further direct the magnetic energy to patients’ afflicted areas. During these treatments Mesmer provided soothing ethereal musical sounds from an armonica (also called a “glass harmonica”), a musical instrument that had been invented by Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790) in 1761 to provide sounds resembling those produced on the edges of wine glasses; the armonica consisted of a series of graduated bowls with holes and corks in the center placed on a horizontal spindle and rotated by a flywheel and a foot pedal. Responses to the magnetic therapy varied widely but were sometimes quite dramatic: the commission noted that “Some are calm, quiet, and feel nothing; others cough, spit, feel slight pain, a warmth either localized or all over, and perspire; others are agitated and tormented by convulsions.” Some patients experienced violent convulsions during the treatments, sometimes requiring further management in an adjoining padded room.
These convulsions are extraordinary in their number, duration, and strength. As soon as a convulsion begins, many others followdsome lasting for more than 3 h. These convulsions are characterized by quick, involuntary movements of limbs and the entire body, by a tightening of the throat, by the twitching of the hypochondrium [upper-lateral abdomen] and epigastric area, by blurred and unfocused vision, by piercing shrieks, tears, hiccups, and excessive laughter. They are preceded or followed by a state of languor and dreaminess, of a kind of prostration and even sleepiness.
Figure 1 Franz Anton Mesmer (1734–1815) promulgated “animal magnetism” as a pervasive property of nature that could be channeled as an effective therapy for a wide variety of conditions. Courtesy of the US National Library of Medicine.
q
Change History: October 2015. DJ Lanska updated the text including keywords, figures, and added a reference.
Reference Module in Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Psychology
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-809324-5.04065-7
1
2
Mesmer, Franz
Figure 2 Caricature of Mesmer. Mesmer is standing on a large balloon (being inflated by two men in the right foreground), and is engulfed in incense wafting from a burner in the foreground (held by one of the men). Mesmer directs rays from his right hand and through a wand held in his left hand. From his right hand, Mesmer reflects rays off the moon onto a woman attended by a child satyr (left foreground). Behind the satyr is a baquet, and to the right of that is a glass armonica. The woman is also being influenced by rays (sounds) from a trumpet played by a man in the background on the far right. In the right foreground two men are blowing into a large balloon to loft Mesmer into the air, and a jester suspended by a balloon is holding a faux halo over Mesmer’s head (upper right). From Paulet, J.-J., 1784. L’antimagnétisme, ou Origine, progrès, décadence, renouvellement et réfutation du magnétisme animal. [The antimagnetics or Origin, progress, decadence, renewal and refutation of animal magnetism.] London [and Paris?] Desenne.
Despite Mesmer’s success in Paris (or perhaps because of it), orthodox medical and scientific societies refused to endorse Mesmer’s new therapy. Mesmer managed to win over the support of one prominent physician, Dr. Charles d’Eslon (1750–86), but the Faculty of Medicine (Faculté de Médecine) subsequently censured d’Eslon for his support of Mesmer. Public and professional outcry induced King Louis XVI to appoint a Royal Commission of nine members selected from the Royal Academy of Sciences and the Faculty of Medicine to assess the veracity of Mesmer’s claims. Notable members of the Commission included Benjamin Franklin and Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier (1743–1794). The Commissioners defined the purpose of their investigation as determining the existence and effectiveness of animal magnetism. In their report, they reasoned, “Animal magnetism may well exist without being useful but it cannot be useful if it does not exist.” However, Mesmer’s magnetic fluid was con-veniently claimed to be intangible, and so its existence could only be demonstrated by its effects on patients. The Commissioners reasoned that it would be impossible to separate the long-term effects of animal magnetism from spontaneous recovery and thus focused their investigations on animal magnetism’s immediate effect on patients. When the effects attributed to animal magnetism could not be consistently demonstrated, the Commissioners posited a rival hypothesis that the real cause was the power of suggestion and the patients’ imagination. The Commissioners reproduced the full mesmeric crises by misleading the subjects to believe they were being magnetized, thus demonstrating that the patients’ imagination and expectation was the real cause of the effects misattributed to Mesmer’s animal magnetism. The Commission’s subsequent report was widely distributed and quickly devastated public opinion of Mesmer’s therapy (Fig. 2). He left Paris to escape the rising controversy and died in Switzerland in 1815. Mesmer played an important role in the history of psychotherapy, psychosomatic illness, and hypnosis. Perhaps most important, however, was his role in the development of therapeutic evaluation, as the Royal Commission was among the first to assess a proposed treatment with a controlled scientific methodology rather than with case series or testimonials.
Further Reading Bloch, G., 1980. Mesmerism: A Translation of the Original Scientific and Medical Writings of F.A. Mesmer. William Kaufmann Inc, Los Altos, CA. Darnton, R., 1968. Mesmerism and the End of the Enlightenment in France. Harvard University Press, Cambridge.
Mesmer, Franz
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Duveen, D.I., Klickstein, H.S., 1955. Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790) and Antoine Laurent Lavoisier (1743–1794). Part II. Joint investigations. Ann. Sci. 11, 271–302. Franklin, de Borey, Lavoisier, et al. 1784/2002a. Secret report on mesmerism, or animal magnetism. Int. J. Clin. Exp. Hypn. 50, 364–368. Franklin, B., Majault, le Roy, Salin, et al. 1784/1997. The first scientific investigation of the paranormal ever conducted: testing the claims of mesmerism: commissioned by King Louis XVI: designed, conducted, & written by Benjamin Franklin, Antoine Lavoisier, & others. (C. Salas and D. Salas, Trans.). Skeptic 4, 66–83. Franklin, B., Majault le Roy, Salin, et al. 1784/2002b. Report of the commissioners charged by the king with the examination of animal magnetism. Int. J. Clin. Exp. Hypn. 50, 332–363. Lanska, D.J., Lanska, J.T., 2007. Franz Anton Mesmer and the rise and fall of animal magnetism: dramatic cures, controversy, and ultimately a triumph for the scientific method. In: Whitaker, H., Smith, C.U.M., Finger, S. (Eds.), Brain, Mind, and Medicine: Essays in Eighteenth Century Neuroscience. Springer, New York, NY, pp. 301–320. Mesmer, F.A., 1779/1948. Mesmerism by Doctor Mesmer (1779): Being the First Translation of Mesmer’s Historic ’Mémoire sur la découverte du Magnétisme Animal’ to appear in English, (VR. Myers, Trans.). London, Macdonald & Co. Pattie, F.A., 1994. Mesmer and Animal Magnetism: A Chapter in the History of Medicine. Hamilton. Edmonston Publishing, New York. Zweig, S., 2013. Mental Healers: Mesmer, Eddy and Freud. Pushkin Press, London.